A Russian ship that went to the Antarctic to research global warming has been trapped in the ice under blizzard conditions since Christmas Eve. Now all the crew and passengers have been rescued, thanks to a Chinese helicopter which flew them from their ship to an Australian icebreaker.
In other news, North Korean Christians were able to celebrate Christmas this year, but only by gathering in underground tunnels in twos or threes, where the authorities could not find them.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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French Borrowing Costs Rising at ‘Worrying’ Rate
France’s borrowing costs continued to rise as latest figures revealed the manufacturing sector underperformed even Greece
France’s borrowing costs have continued to rise as latest figures revealed the manufacturing sector underperformed even Greece.
The ten-year bond yield climbed as much as 4.5 basis points on Wednesday as a gauge of activity in its manufacturing sector slipped to a seven month low, to the lowest of the eurozone’s major economies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Paychecks Nearly Static in 2012
Foreigner monthly pay down 18 euros
(ANSA) — Rome, December 30 — Average monthly Italian paychecks in 2012 only went up four euros compared to 2011, Italian statistics agency Istat reported Monday. “They remained almost static for Italians,” said the survey report coordinated along with the labor ministry and social security agency INPS. Meanwhile foreigners’ monthly paychecks in Italy were down an average of 18 euros.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Pitchfork Movement Organising Ahead of New Protests
Anti-austerity protesters to choose local representatives
(ANSA) — Turin, January 2 — Members of the anti-austerity Pitchfork Movement are to gather in the northern city of Verona on Saturday to elect regional and provincial representatives and decide their future course of action. The meeting aims to give greater form and force to the protest movement launched in December by farmers and truckers angry at government economic and social policy, and which has since attracted disparate elements from Italian society including some who have committed acts of violence.
“We are not a political party, we are an association that aims to protect citizens’ rights and this is a battle that must be fought on the ground, not in Rome,” said leader Lucio Chiavegato Thursday. Meanwhile divisions between moderates such as Chiavegato and right-wing elements, including members from the neo-Fascist CasaPound and Forza Nuova groups, deepened Thursday following a demonstration in Sicily called by bankrupt farmer with rightist sympathies Danilo Calvani outside regional headquarters in Palermo.
Moderate Sicilian leader Mariano Ferro described the demonstration as “ridiculous”. Fear of violence and infiltration by right-wing elements has been blamed as one of the reasons for a poor showing of Pitchfork protesters at a Rome demonstration on December 18.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Spread Closes 13 Points Down
Yield below 4% for first time since May
(ANSA) — Rome, January 2 — The spread between Italian 10-year bonds and their AAA-rated German equivalents, the premium investors pay to hold Italian paper, on Thursday closed a whopping 13 points down on Tuesday’s mark of 216 points, at 203, a fresh low since July 2011.
The yield was 3.96%, down from 4.08% Tuesday.
It was the first time the 10-year bond rate had fallen below 4% since May. A narrower spread indicates greater investor confidence in the Italian economy and Rome’s ability to pay down its huge debt.
Analysts said investors were responding to a good bond sale and the prospect of political stability as Italy’s left-right government embarks on reforms in the New Year, although pointers were seen as weak in thin holiday trading.
European markets posted mostly moderate losses after a recent string of gains on optimism that the US economy is strong enough to withstand the gradual withdrawal of monetary stimulus.
The Milan bourse closed 0.20% down despite a 16% surge by Fiat after completing its takeover of Chrysler.
London was 0.46% down, Frankfurt 1.59% down, Paris 1.60% down and Madrid 1.58% down.
Athens bucked the trend with a 3.64% rise.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Apple Denies Aiding NSA With iPhone Hack Technology
Apple is denying it helped the National Security Agency develop and use a system that taps into iPhones and monitors users’ texts and voice mails — technology that was alleged by recently released documents published by a Germany newspaper.
Der Spiegel published this week a story that accused the NSA of aggressively pursuing software that gave agents remote access to all iPhones and the ability to tap into text messages, photographs, contacts, voice-mail message, videos and information disclosing the users’ location.
The newspaper claimed the NSA launched an operation in 2008 called DROPOUTJEEP, a “software implant” that allowed for the retrieval of iPhone data and was actually a “trojan” malware program for hackers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
As of January 1, ObamaCare is the law of the land. Or more accurately, those parts of ObamaCare that weren’t unilaterally changed or delayed to serve the interests of the Obama administration and the Democratic Party heading in the 2014 election.
Despite those efforts, it would appear that 2014 will bring no respite from the criticism associated with what might be best described as the biggest government boondoggle of all time. As the nation straddles the passage from the old year into the new, the hits just keep on coming…
In a piece entitled “Here Comes the ObamaCare Tax Avalanche,” columnist John Hayward details the series of levies that are now in effect. These include a 2 percent tax on every healthcare plan, and $2.00 fee per policy to support the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, a new medical-research trust fund. Individual Americans who earn $200,000 and families with an income of $250,000 or above will be subjected to a 0.9 percent Medicare surtax in addition to the existing 1.45 percent Medicare payroll tax, along with a 3.8 percent tax on all unearned income, such as capital gains or other investment income. “Hidden” taxes include raising the threshold of income tax deductions for those with high out-of-pocket medical expenses from 7.5 percent to 10 percent.
One insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, is refusing to play along. They’re adding a separate line item on their bills entitled, “Affordable Care Act Fees and Taxes.” In an example provided by the company, the hit on one insurance bill came to $23.14 a month, or $277.68 annually. It boosted the cost of that policy from $322.26 to $345.40 per month. If other companies follow suit, it will undoubtedly blow a giant hole in the administration’s efforts to re-focus the blame for escalating insurance costs from the Obama administration and Democrats onto the insurance companies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Triple-Threat Method Sparks Hope for Fusion
The secrets to its success are lasers, magnets and a big pinch.
With its relatively slim US$5-million annual budget, MagLIF is a David next to two fusion Goliaths: the $3.5-billion National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and the €15-billion (US$20-billion) ITER experiment under construction in France. (Sandia has about $80 million to operate the Z machine each year, but it serves other experiments in addition to MagLIF.) The NIF squashes fuel capsules using nearly 2 megajoules of laser energy, and ITER will use 10,000 tonnes of superconducting magnets in a doughnut-shaped ‘tokamak’ to hold a plasma in place to coax self-sustaining fusion.
Both of the big projects have run into problems.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jamie McDonald, 27, from Gloucester, was attacked on New Year’s Eve in the ski resort of Banff, Alberta, and his so-called ‘man bag’ containing computer hard drive, camera and wallet was taken.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
10 Coolest Archaeology Discoveries of 2013
1. Richard III bones
In February, researchers announced a grave suspected of harboring the bones of King Richard III did indeed hold the royal’s remains. The tomb was found under a parking lot in Leicester, England. Since then, a host of studies have revealed more about the once-reviled, crippled king’s life and death.
7. Stonehenge hunting grounds
Stonehenge has inspired speculation for millennia. But this year researchers revealed a new theory on why the enigmatic megaliths were raised: The area around Stonehenge was a sacred hunting ground where wild aurochs and other beasts congregated long before the mysterious monument was erected. Hundreds of animal bones and thousands of stone tools found near the site suggest humans congregated from far and wide to feast and butcher wild beasts about 5,000 years before the first stones were raised.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cigar Consumption Could End in Britain by 2026
(AGI) London, Dec 31 — Cigars could disappear from Britain, the island where Winston Churchill turned a cylinder of tobacco leaves into a symbol of dogged resistance to Hitler in splendid isolation off the coast of a Europe crushed under the Nazi heel. Disregarding history, Revenue and Customs used the cold language of statistics to inform that over the last five years cigar consumption has dropped by a fifth and that it has fallen by 80 percent over the past twenty years.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
City of Athens Determined to Keep Capital Graffiti-Free
The City of Athens will continue efforts to keep the Greek capital free of unsightly graffiti and so-called “tagging” signatures, the deputy mayor for sanitation, Andreas Varelas, said on Thursday, warning taggers not to “bother writing on the walls we have already cleaned.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Czech Republic: Palestinian Ambassador in Prague Killed in Bomb Blast After Opening Safe
Ambassador Jamel al-Jamal, 56, was at home with his wife in the capital, Prague, at the time of the explosion, which is believed to have been a booby-trap.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Muslim Apostate Faces Hate Speech Charges
by Andrew Harrod
“Muslims love to take advantage of” free speech, Danish-Palestinian poet Yahya Hassan says, “and as soon as there is someone else saying something critical against them, they want to restrict it.” In an action previously indicated by this writer, Hassan is now personally facing this double standard in Danish “hate speech” charges for his anti-Islam comments.
Following Danish-Iranian artist Firoozeh Bazrafkan’s conviction under Danish Penal Code Section 266b (in Danish here) for condemning Islam as misogynist, a local Muslim Aarhus politician demanded a similar prosecution of Hassan. His poetry “says that everybody in the ghettos like Vollsmose and Gellerup steal, don’t pay taxes and cheat themselves to pensions,” the Somali-Dane Mohamed Suleban stated after reporting Hassan to the police on November 27. “Those are highly generalizing statements and they offend me and many other people.” Authorities are currently considering Section 266b charges for, according to one English translation, any public “communication by which a group of persons are threatened, insulted or denigrated due to their race, skin color, national or ethnic origin, religion or sexual orientation.”
The 18-year-old Hassan’s eponymous debut book contains about 150 poems, “many of which are severely critical of the religious environment he grew up in” according to Wall Street Journal reporters Clemens Bomsdorf and Ellen Emmerentze Jervell. Written in all capital letters, Hassan’s poems treat “issues like the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, child abuse, and the interplay between violence and religion” with “[p]rofanity and vivid analogies.” Yahya Hassan has sold 80,000 copies following an October 17 release in the comparatively small Danish market and is expected to exceed 100,000 copies by Christmas. Hassan’s publisher Gyldendal reports that Danish poetry books are fortunate to sell 500 copies. A recent book forum honored Hassan as the debut author of the year and an English translation of his poetry is underway.
Hassan first became prominent with an October 5 Danish newspaper interview entitled “I F**king Hate My Parents’ Generation.” In it he blamed poor Muslim parenting for the juvenile delinquency and social maladjustment experienced by many Danish Muslim youth such as Hassan himself. With more than 85,000 social media shares, the interview became the most shared Politiken article of the year.
Days thereafter Hassan recited from his “LANGDIGT” or “LONG POEM” before his book’s release on the Danish news program Deadline. Extract: “between the Friday prayers and the Ramadans/you want to carry a knife in your pocket/you want to go and ask people if they have a problem/although the only problem is you.” Such verses brought Hassan more death threats than any other previous Deadline guest. Hassan has subsequently reported 27 Facebook threats against him, of which the police investigated six as serious and pressed charges in one case of a 15-year old boy. A subsequent assault against Hassan occurred on November 18 in Copenhagen Central Station by a 24-year old Palestinian-Danish Muslim who had previously received a seven-year terrorism sentence.
Hassan now wears a bulletproof vest and receives protection from Denmark’s domestic intelligence agency PET at speaking engagements. A November 26 reading by Hassan from his book in a school in the Danish town of Odense, moreover, required an estimated one million kroner in security costs, more than the amount spent on a high-risk soccer game. Several hundred policemen had observed the school for two days before the event occurred with road checkpoints, a bomb sweep, and a five kilometer no-fly zone around the school.
Police safety concerns had forced the cancellation of an earlier, sold-out reading at a public library in Odense’s troubled district of Vollsmose. Along with Hassan, Culture Minister Marianne Jelved and several other Danish politicians criticized the Vollmose cancellation as “completely unacceptable.” Jelved demanded that police in Vollmose “make the necessary precautions” in order “to hold on to what democracy is, or otherwise we reduce it day by day.”
Yet Suleban’s charges might succeed in silencing Hassan where violence has failed…
| [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Pepper Spray Should be Legalised, Says Kjærsgaard
Politician supports celebrity who was charged after posing with canisters of the illegal spray
Pepper spray should be legalised so that residents can protect themselves from assailants, argues Dansk Folkeparti’s values spokesperson Pia Kjærsgaard.”Pepper spray is a useful tool for temporarily incapacitating robbers and other violent criminals. It leaves no lasting negative effects so I don’t understand why pepper spray wasn’t legalised long ago,” Kjærsgaard told Politiken newspaper.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Lego Launches Mars Curiosity Rover, 5 More Toy Brick Spacecraft Await Liftoff
NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover has landed in LEGO’s toy catalog and is now available for order. The fifth in a line of fan-created, LEGO-produced building kits, the six-wheeled science laboratory could be followed by the now Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft, Hubble Space Telescope, or other space-themed kits, if the public votes for them online.
The 295-piece “NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover” is now for sale for $29.95 through the Danish toy company’s webshop. Created and suggested by engineer Stephen Pakbaz, who worked on the real Curiosity before its launch to the Red Planet, the model faithfully recreates many of the actual car-size rover’s features, including its “rocker-bogie” suspension.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Pension Funds, Invest More Money Abroad
Dutch banks and pension funds increased their investments abroad at the expense of the Netherlands in the third quarter of 2013. New central bank figures show a 1% increase in foreign investments, taking the total to €1.77 trillion. Pension funds accounted for two-thirds of extra foreign investments.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Forza Italia After Frustrated M5S Voters
(AGI) Turin, Dec 30 — A large number of disappointed voters for the Five Star Movement (M5S) will support Forza Italia in the next elections, said the party’s leader, Silvio Berlusconi.
“Those who voted for M5S are not too attached to the movement because it is new, and most of all because they are very disappointed and disgusted by the behaviour of the MPs picked by (M5S leader) Grillo,” Berlusconi told a Club Forza Silvio meeting in Turin. “Polls show that 40 to 41 percent of them don’t even know if they’ll go to the polls. The remaining 60 percent are divided between us, PD and M5S,” he added.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Social Democrats Say CSU Coalition Partners ‘Have Not Understood Europe’
The Social Democrats and the crucial Bavarian arm of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrat alliance — now supposed partners — have begun trading barbs over the EU’s extension of freedom of movement to Bulgaria and Romania.
Senior Social Democrats told Thursday’s edition of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany’s most prominent left-leaning daily newspapers that is also based in Munich, that the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) was using “stupid slogans” to stoke debate on immigration from Romania and Bulgaria…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Corruption Case Implicates Radar Firm
A Greek government corruption scandal has dragged a Swedish company into the quagmire after accusations were made that a Swedish radar salesman lined a public servant’s pockets in the procurement bid. The case has been deemed too old to make it to a Swedish court.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Higher Road Tolls Await Italian Motorists in 2014
Fees to get a 3.9% bump
(ANSA) — Rome, December 31 — Higher traffic tolls await Italian motorists in 2014. Starting Wednesday, highway toll booths will charge drivers an average 3.9% more per vehicle, the infrastructure ministry said Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Multiple Decree Extends Deadlines of Government Provisions
(AGI) Rome, Dec 31 — The first article of the decree published on December 31 in the official gazette, including financial provisions envisaged by the annual decree extending the life of several government measures, refers to the budget law which was passed on December 27. Several provisions have been postponed until July 2014, such as the compulsory Italian VAT web tax for online advertising, and regional provisions to handle costs of stabilising the lives of workers in temporary but precarious jobs.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: M5S Reports ‘Dirty Tricks’ In Budget Amendment
(AGI) Rome, Dec 31 — M5S MP Riccardo Fraccaro has posted a message on Facebook stating “We have discovered another dirty trick concerning privileged rental agreements that this amendment effectively makes it impossible to withdraw from.” Fraccaro’s colleague Giulia Di Vita explained on Twitter that in order for parliament to cancel these contracts it would have had to take action on Monday seeing that the amendment establishes 6-months notice must be given.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Nine Out of 10 New Mothers Had Full-Time Contracts in 2012
Only 9% on temp contracts, study says
(ANSA) — Rome, December 30 — Some 90% of Italian women who have recently had children held full-time employment contracts in 2012, putting job stability ahead of family, according to the latest data released by national statistics office Istat. Only 9% had a temporary contract, according to the new report on social cohesion released by the government agency in coordination with the labour ministry and State pension body Inps.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Stresses Senate Reform, Abolition of Provinces
PD leader makes ‘suggestions’ for new govt pact
(ANSA) — Rome, January 2 — Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi on Thursday stressed the importance of stripping the Senate of its equal law-making status with the House as he unveiled a number of proposals for the government’s upcoming reform agenda.
In Italy, unlike several other countries, laws have to be passed in the same form in both houses and an election winner must have a majority in both in order to rule.
The PD fell short of a Senate majority in February, leading to two months of stalemate and the current, unprecedented left-right government led by the PD’s Enrico Letta.
Renzi said the Senate should be turned into a regional body.
He also underscored the importance of parliament carrying through on pledges to abolish Italy’s provinces to cut political spending amid public anger over bloat and graft.
The proposals were framed as “suggestions” for a pact the PD is set to seal next week with its centre-right partner, the New Centre Right (NCD), a group led by Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano.
The NCD temporarily broke with former premier Silvio Berlusconi last month, refusing his bid to sink Letta because of the PD’s insistence on applying an anti-corruption law to evict Berlusconi from the Senate over a tax-fraud conviction.
Letta is now supported by much more PD MPs than NCD ones, with Berlusconi having taken most of his supporters into opposition in his resurrected Forza Italia (FI) party.
Renzi also advanced three suggestions for a new electoral law.
While the abolition of the Senate’s powers and the provinces is not contentious, parties have resumed long-time wrangling over election reform since the last law, blamed for February’s inconclusive result, was judged unconstitutional last month.
They received fresh urging from President Giorgio Napolitano to hammer out a new electoral law this year in the head of State’s year-end address to the nation.
The PD, boosted by the dynamic 38-year-old Renzi, has a slight poll lead with leftist allies over the centre right composed of FI, the NCD and the populist Northern League.
The date of the next election is uncertain but most pundits think Letta should be able to make it through 2014 if he enacts promised reforms and lifts the economy out of its longest postwar recession.
Berlusconi, 77, who has won three elections thanks to charisma and canny campaigning, has vowed to lead the centre right to victory over Renzi, who has been likened to Tony Blair.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Fiat Stocks Soar After Gaining Full Control of Chrysler
Up 12.78% in early trading
(ANSA) — Milan, January 2 — Fiat stocks soared 13.3% in early trading Thursday, a day after the Italian automaker announced it had gained full control of American carmaker Chrysler in a $4.35-billion deal. The deal was made final after more than a year of negotiations with VEBA, a healthcare trust associated with the United Auto Workers union, to acquire the remaining 41.46% share of Chrysler. In exchange Fiat and Chrysler will pay out $3.65 billion in cash to VEBA, sharing the cost evenly, while Chrysler has agreed to paying it over the next three years an additional $700 million.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Fine Dining in Pompeii Not Just for the Rich
In Pompeii, a team led by University of Cincinnati archaeologist Steven Ellis has discovered evidence that challenges the traditional perception of Roman dining, which holds that the rich feasted on exotic animals while the poor were reduced to eating simple fare. In a two block area near the city’s Porta Stabia gate, the team excavated some 20 shop fronts that would have served food and drink to the general public.
Scraps of food recovered from latrines and cesspits show that these businesses weren’t just serving gruel, but a wide variety of foods, including cuts of expensive meat and salted fish imported from Spain. In one drain the archaeologists found shellfish and a leg joint of a giraffe, the first giraffe bone to be reported at a site in Italy. “The traditional vision of some mass of hapless lemmings—scrounging for whatever they can pinch from the side of a street, or huddled around a bowl of gruel—needs to be replaced by a higher fare and standard of living, at least for the urbanites in Pompeii,” said Ellis.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More German Tax Evaders Now Coming Clean
There’s been a rapid rise in the number of Germans turning themselves in to tax authorities under the conditions of a special law shielding them from harsher sanctions. A prominent case served as an additional catalyst.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Details of both cases have emerged in written rulings following separate hearings in the Court of Protection in London.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Strong Support for Prostitution Laws — Survey
Six out of ten Norwegians support the country’s anti-prostitution laws, which ban the sale of sex, a new opinion poll shows. According to the poll, carried out by Sentio for left-wing paper Klassekampen, 65 percent say they are in favour of the ban, while 20 percent are against.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Only’ 1,067 Vehicles Set Ablaze on New Year’s Eve in France
By French standards, it was a peaceful New Year’s Eve. Only 1,067 cars and vans were destroyed by arson, a “significant” reduction of more than 10 per cent compared to the number of vehicles set ablaze last year, according to Manuel Valls, the Interior Minister. All things considered, it was a “positive result”, Mr Valls told a press conference on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Catalan President Calls on EU Support for Referendum
Letter to EU-27 leaders cites ‘democratic process’
(ANSAmed) — MADRID — Catalan government chief Artur Mas on Thursday wrote a letter to EU-27 leaders and 20 non-EU presidents requesting support for a referendum on Catalan independence this year. The letter published by media today is dated December 20 and is translated into several languages.
Recipients include German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, and French President Francois Hollande. “I trust I can count on you to support this democratic and peaceful process”, the Convergence and Union (CiU) party chairman wrote.
The referendum set for November 8 contains two questions that were agreed upon by the three Catalan leftist independence parties (ERC, ICV and CUP) on December 12.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Swastikas Daubed on Stockholm Mosque
Unknown perpetrators daubed black swastikas on the front door of a Stockholm mosque overnight, police said Thursday. The incident happened amid growing concern about racism in Sweden, a country otherwise enjoying a reputation for tranquility and tolerance…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Colour Blind’ Social Workers Couldn’t See Glaring Racial Clues to Rochdale Sex Abuse
An obsession with being “colour blind” left social workers and police in Rochdale unable to see glaring evidence of sexual grooming under their noses, official inquiry finds
A “dangerous” inability to recognise the importance of race meant social workers and police missed glaring warning signs about a gang of Pakistani men grooming white girls for sex in Rochdale, an official inquiry has concluded.
An obsession with being “colour blind” meant they failed even to notice the pattern of abuse going on under their noses, it found.
Although they carefully documented a spate of young white girls from troubled backgrounds in relationships with older men from a community they rarely otherwise mixed with, no one questioned what was going on, it said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: BBC Radio 4 Today Criticised for ‘Left-Wing Tosh’ Chosen by Guest Editor Pj Harvey
Listeners flood Twitter with complaints over musician’s selection of contributors for special edition of flagship radio programme, including Julian Assange and John Pilger
Scores of listeners have criticised the BBC for broadcasting “left-wing tosh” after the musician PJ Harvey was invited to be guest editor of Radio 4’s flagship current affairs programme Today.
Angry Radio 4 devotees took to the internet to complain about the use of a series of contributors linked to left-wing issues, among them Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, John Pilger, the campaigning journalist, and Phil Shiner, the lawyer who has represented Iraqis who allege they were tortured by British troops. They also protested at the inclusion of “dreary” songs and poetry, including verse by Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and Shaker Aamer, the last British resident held by the United States in Guantanamo Bay…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: David Cameron’s New Year Message for 2014
David Cameron’s New Year message (and his accompanying Times op-ed) is an upbeat call to stick with the Tories to get the job done. He writes of his desire to ‘turn Britain into the flagship post-Great Recession success story. A country that is on the rise’. And in his video message he focuses on the signs that the country is already rising…
[Reader comment by Colonel Mustard on 1 January 2014.]
Speak to the hand Cameron. The country that is ‘rising’ is one I do not wish to participate in. A country where authoritarian socialist government colludes with corporate big business to enslave the ordinary population and to poke its nose into every aspect of our ordinary lives. China might be your admired model Cameron, with your soviet-inspired Common Purpose friends, but it is not mine. How is that promise to ‘sweep away’ the nanny state going?
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Hanley’s Regent Road Mosque Hailed ‘Credit to the Community’
A NEW mosque in the city centre has been labelled as a “credit to the community” since its opening a few months ago. Hanley’s £2 million Regent Road mosque finally opened its doors in July after years of delays and an attempt to blow it up. Centre director Rana Tufail said he is delighted with the end result. “The location is much more convenient for people than at the old Islamic centre in Shelton,” he said. “That means more are turning up at the mosque to worship. I think the community are very happy with it and quite a large number attend. The area was an eyesore for many years but now we have a beautiful and unique building.” Mr Tufail added: “I hope we can use the building to welcome other communities to lead harmonious lives.”
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Two-Thirds Jailed for Islamist Terror Offences Remain Attached to Extremist Ideology
Some 110 of the 150 convicted jihadists in Britain have refused to engage with a programme designed to stop them posing a threat to the public, it was reported.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Young Finns Shunning Hockey Over Costs
The number of children playing ice hockey is declining, thanks to high costs and a demanding competitive schedule at the elite level.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Benghazi — the Signs of Al Qaeda
by Dawn Perlmutter
In addition to the tremendous amount of evidence and statements by members of the House Intelligence Committee claiming that intelligence indicates al Qaeda was involved and that Ansar al Shariah is widely believed to be affiliated with al Qaeda, there are simpler, more obvious indicators. Ms. Harf is correct, they don’t carry ID cards or wear T-shirts that say “I belong to al Qaeda,” but they do throw hand signs and leave graffiti behind in the same manner as gangbangers that just marked their territory after murdering their rival.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Briton ‘Shot Dead’ In Western Libya
A Briton and a New Zealander, both with gunshot wounds, found dead in western Libya near oil complex
A Briton and a New Zealander, both with gunshot wounds, were found dead in western Libya on Thursday, while two Americans were arrested in the eastern city of Benghazi.
The security situation has deteriorated in recent months in the North African country where the government is struggling to rein in militias and tribesmen who helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and kept their guns.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Christopher Ross Meets Sahrawi and Moroccan Parties in January
The Saharawi Coordinator with the UN mission for the referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), Mr. Mhammed Khadad said Tuesday in Awserd province, Sahrawi refugee camps, that the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Christopher Ross, will hold a meeting with Saharawi and Moroccan parties in January 2014, as part of UN efforts to resolve the conflict in the Western Sahara…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Supporters Attack Police Guarding Church as Christians Pray Inside
CAIRO — Egyptian Islamists clashed with police Tuesday outside a church in Cairo, security officials said, as Christians held prayers to mark the New Year. The Islamists, with the Muslim Brotherhood movement, had been marching when they clashed with police standing guard outside the church.
The movement of deposed president Mohamed Morsi was designated a terrorist group last week, furthering a crackdown on the Islamists since Morsi’s overthrow in July. The Islamists have blamed Christians for supporting Morsi’s ouster by the military on July 3, following days of massive protests demanding the Islamist’s resignation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt’s Latest Terror Suspect: The Popular Felt-and-Yarn Puppet Abla Fahita
CAIRO — The Egyptian government’s crackdown on dissent has come to this: a terrorism probe focusing on a popular puppet. Abla Fahita — a felt-and-yarn puppet who makes regular appearances on Egyptian television — went on the air Wednesday night to deny allegations that her lines in a recent commercial were veiled bomb threats and coded messages to the recently banned Muslim Brotherhood organization.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libyan Army Detains Two Americans in Benghazi
Two Americans have been detained in Benghazi, Libya, just days after four U.S. military personnel were taken into custody and then released by the Libyan government. The identity of the Americans being held by the Libyan Army is not yet known, according toReuters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lost ‘Biblical Blue’ Dye Possibly Found in Ancient Fabric
Three scraps of fabric found in Israeli caves had been dyed indigo, purple and crimson — the hues of the rich and regal during the Roman era — using sea snail ink some 2,000 years ago, a new analysis shows.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinian, 85, Dies After Clashes With Israelis — Witnesses
NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) — An 85-year old Palestinian died on Thursday after inhaling tear gas fired by the Israeli army to disperse protesters in the occupied West Bank, witnesses said. He is the first Palestinian casualty of the conflict with Israel in 2014 following the clash with soldiers on the outskirts of Kufr Qaddoum village near Nablus. An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed that a clash had broken out…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Al-Qaeda Attacks in Western Iraq
By Bing West
Al-Qaeda-affiliated gangs are fighting in the streets of Fallujah and Ramadi. This illustrates that the Sunnis of Anbar are so disillusioned with the Maliki government that the population is turning a blind eye to the presence of radicals. Terrorist gangs do not drive into cities unless they are confident that the residents will not betray or take up arms against them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Chance of a Century’: International Investors Flock to Tehran
Since the West reached a landmark deal with Iran on its controversial nuclear program late last year, many Iranians are hoping for an end to sanctions. Western companies are also gearing up do big business.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Deadly Explosion Hits Hezbollah Stronghold in Southern Beirut
A large blast has hit Lebanon’s capital city Beirut, with early reports of casualties. The southern part of the city is known as a stronghold of the Hezbollah militant group.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan’s Endgame: Corruption Scandal Threatens Turkish Leader
A corruption scandal is expanding into a government crisis in Turkey. The governing party is divided and the political future of Prime Minister Erdogan, with his despotic style of leadership, is in jeopardy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Heavy Fighting Reported in Iraq’s Anbar Province
Iraqi security forces are engaged in battles with Islamist militants who seized control of Sunni-majority cities this week. The fighting erupted after a Sunni lawmaker was arrested and a protest camp dismantled.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sorcerer Threatens Saudi Police With Unleashing ‘Jinn’
A 44-year-old Egyptian man threatened Saudi police trying to arrest him for sorcery to unleash ‘jinn’ (ghosts) against them. But despite his arrest, he did not carry out his threat.
Police in the Western Saudi town of Makkah raised a house and seized the unnamed sorcerer after reports that he used magic to control a Saudi family.”He succeeded in controlling the Saudi family by making them believe that there is a treasure under their house and he was trying to unearth it for them,” the Saudi Arabic language daily Sabq said, quoting police sources.
It said the Saudi couple and their two daughters aged 33 and 35 years had allowed the sorcerer to live with the in the same house after he cast a spell on them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Two weeks of bombing by the regime and the rebels left nearly 500 people dead. At Christmas, 12 bombs fell on the city’s Christian neighbourhoods. “People are exhausted by war, hunger and cold,” but “The solidarity between Muslims and Christians is a sign of hope for the future,” said Mgr Antoine Audo, Chaldean archbishop of Aleppo said.
Aleppo (AsiaNews) — “The Church in Aleppo is standing steadfast despite the bombs, hunger and cold of recent weeks,” said Mgr Antoine Audo, Chaldean Archbishop of Aleppo. “We want to live and have faith, and show our solidarity to everyone without distinction of religion or faction. This is our mission, our task,” he added. In talking about how people lived through Christmas under “a shower of bombs” that killed 500 people, he also described how Christians and Muslims expressed solidarity and shared. For the prelate, the pope’s repeated appeals for peace have helped priests, prelates and ordinary believers not to lose hope or faith in God.
“On 25 December, at least 12 bombs fell on various neighbourhoods, many of them Christian, killing scores of people,” Mgr Audo said.
Although the situation has improved in the past few days, the city is full of poor people, the bishop noted.
Air strikes by government forces, shelling by the rebels, the cold weather and the skyrocketing food prices have reduced the population to the point of starvation. Even the middle class has fallen into poverty.
“Unfortunately, we cannot see the end of this violence,” he noted. “No one knows when this war will end. We can accept everything, except this confusion without hope for change.”
Still, the situation has not stopped Christians and the Church from helping others and praying for peace in Syria.
Despite the explosions and the danger of death, hundreds of people attended Mass in the Chaldean cathedral, one at 5 pm on Christmas Eve and one on Christmas morning.
At the same time, the hatreds and divisions that are destroying Syrian society have not stopped the flow of help to the poor and to displaced families.
“In recent months, thousands of families from Aleppo’s suburbs and surrounding villages found refuge in the city centre, particularly in Christian neighbourhoods,” Mgr Audo said.
“The Church has welcomed everyone, without distinction, although sometimes some Christians fail to understand such bigheartedness that sees no differences between religions and political factions.” In fact, every day, at the local Chaldean church, Caritas serves lunch and hands out food to the poor and to displaced people, most of whom are Muslims.
“A few days ago an elderly Muslim man ran after me and loudly expressed his gratitude for our work,” the prelate said. “You see real gold when you are having hard times,” he said. “For Muslims, Christian charity is gold.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Sea-Turtle Killed With Stone Tied to Its Fin
The caretta caretta found dead on Mediterranean coast
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, DECEMBER 30 — A caretta caretta sea-turtle has been found dead on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey with a paving stone tied to its fin that caused the animal drown, as Dogan News Agency reports.
Amateur fishermen found the caretta caretta, which was said to be almost 40-year-old, on the coast in Arpacbahsis today as the animal was washed up onto the shore after an unknown person or people killed it by tying a stone to its fin. The Izmir representative for the Protecting Nature and Animals Association (DOHAYKO), Semih Igdigul, strongly condemned the incident, saying that killing the animal in this way was inhumane. “I think that this animal got caught in a fishing net, then the fisherman got angry and threw it to the sea after tying a stone to its fin,” Igdigul said.
Caretta carettas are classified as an endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and measures have been taken in Dalyan and Antalya’s Cirali area for more than 20 years to ensure a safe environment for the turtles.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
All Passengers of Ice-Bound Russian Ship in Antarctic Rescued
All the passengers of the Russian ship Akademik Shokalsky, stuck in the Antarctic since Christmas Eve, have been rescued after a Chinese helicopter delivered them to an Australian icebreaker. A total of 52 scientists and tourists have been transported to the Aurora Australis vessel, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which has supervised the rescue operation…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Schneider: ‘Develop a Russian Islam’
How can we prevent the spread of terrorism in Russia? DW put the question to Eberhard Schneider, a political scientist on the advisory board of the EU-Russia Center in Brussels.
Deutsche Welle: In the past few days more than 30 people have died in suicide bombings in the Russian city of Volgograd. So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Who do you consider to be possible suspects?
Eberhard Schneider: I assume there’s a connection with the self-styled “Emir of the Caucasus Emirate,” Doku Umarov. He announced these terrorist attacks a year ago, with the aim of disrupting the Winter Olympics. Some 150 years ago the region of Sochi, where the games are to take place, was home to around one million Circassians. The Circassians are an Islamic Caucasian people who for many years resisted incorporation by the tsar into the tsarist empire. About 400,000 Circassians fell in battle. A further 400,000 were driven out. Umarov has promised to avenge what happened back then…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai to Free Scores of Taliban Fighters
The US only recently transferred the prison north of Kabul to Afghan control after it had become a serious source of tension with the government in Afghanistan
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Malaysia’s Islamic Authorities Seize Bibles as Allah Row Deepens
(Reuters) — Islamic authorities in Malaysia on Thursday seized 321 Bibles from a Christian group because they used the word Allah to refer to God, signalling growing intolerance that may inflame ethnic and religious tension in the Southeast Asian country. The raid comes after a Malaysian court in October ruled that the Arabic word was exclusive to Muslims, most of whom are ethnic Malays, the largest ethnic group in the country alongside sizeable Christian, Hindu and Buddhist minorities…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Police ‘Hijack’ Hearse and Try to Forcibly Cremate Body of Indian Gang-Rape Murder Victim
The girl, whose body is pictured with her grieving mother, was gang-raped in October in Madhyamgram, near Calcutta, by a group of six men.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
North Korean Christians Celebrate Christmas in Secret Underground Tunnels
A refugee from Kim’s regime says “there are secret places where the faithful, in groups of two or three, come together to perform religious functions.” In the South, a Protestant church, led by Rev Chun, brought together the exiles for the birth of Jesus.
Seoul (AsiaNews) — Christians in North Korea “celebrated Christmas as others did around the world, but in underground tunnels that are hidden from the authorities. They risked their lives, and continue to risk their lives every time they pray. Although here in South Korea there are many churches, Christians in the South have no idea how fervent the prayers of those in the North are,” said Han Min, a North Korean who fled Pyongyang’s Stalinist regime. With the help of a Protestant Church, he was able to escape persecution and converted.
Han is a member of the Durihana Church in Seoul, which is run by Rev Chun Ki -won. For about 14 years, this community has been committed to helping those who want to leave the northern part of the peninsula.
According to his estimates, the congregation has helped about 1,000 North Koreans flee over this period of time. After escaping to China, they usually travel to Southeast Asia and then South Korea.
The clergyman is convinced that the aid his Church provides these desperate people “naturally” leads them to Christianity.
“In North Korea, a virtual cult is in place,” he said. “Everything is focused on Kim Il-sung, the way a religious believer would focus on God. Exiles know this reality and so can easily adapt to the Christian system.”
In one of the last totalitarian regimes in the world, some state-controlled churches exist, but “just for propaganda, to show the world that they have freedom of religion.”
“I do not recognise these churches because their intentions are not sincere. But in North Korea, there are places that we could call churches but they are underground, places where two or three gather in secret, risking their life, to celebrate religious functions.”
This Christmas, about hundred people celebrated the holy day together with Han Min in freedom, in Rev Chun’s church.
“This is a time when one should be with those one loves, especially one’s family. For me, it would be enough to know if my family is still alive, since I have not heard from them for about 16 years.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Al-Shabab Claims Responsibility for Deadly Somalia Bombings
Somali militant group al-Shabab claimed it was behind an attack utilizing bombs and gunmen late Wednesday in Mogadishu that killed at least 11 people. The group claimed responsibility in a statement on Thursday for the attack, which occured outside of a hotel near the city’s international airport that is popular with government officials and foreigners…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Angola: Bishop of Luanda Urges Society to Love One Another
Luanda — The archbishop of Luanda, Dom Damião Franklin, urged Tuesday the Christian community and society to love one another as the bible says. According to the bishop who was speaking at the year-end mass, the society needs to reflect more on the history of the country, the latest events and phenomenon registered. The bishop urged the Christian community and society to love others in order to contribute in sustaining the moral and civic values of each family.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Delta Man Arrested in Kafanchan Mosque With Bullet Casings
Kaduna — A man was arrested on Tuesday in Kafanchan central mosque with a bag containing 24 bullet casings and powders. Chairman of the mosque committee, Auwalu Yahaya, said the man who claimed to be an indigene of Delta State refused to reveal his name and was carrying suspicious items in his bag when he came to the mosque…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Identifies Peaceful Co-Existence as Solution to Nigeria’s Crisis
The Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis, Wednesday identified peaceful coexistence as the only solution to the crisis in some parts of Nigeria. The Pope said this in his message at the celebration of the World Day of Peace, which is an annual event of Catholic faithful worldwide. Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States have been under siege by the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, leading to the killing of thousands of persons and resulting in the declaration of a state of emergency by President Goodluck Jonathan in May last year. The Pope’s message was read by the Archbishop, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Most Rev Adewale Martins, at the Holy Cross Catholic Church, Lagos. “It is easy to realise that fraternity is the foundation and pathway of peace. When we have the value of fraternity, a feeling of brotherhood, love and care for one another, many of our problems would not be there.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Diabetes Risk May Come From Neanderthal Gene
Mexicans and other Latin Americans have a higher risk of diabetes because of a Neanderthal gene mutation, researchers say.
The higher-risk version of this gene is seen in up to half of people who have recent Native American ancestry, including Latin Americans. The fact that this gene mutation is more common in Latin Americans could account for as much as 20 percent of their increased levels of Type 2 diabetes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A Total Lack of Planning Over EU Immigration
Last time the EU expanded its borders, we were told there would be only limited migration. Why should we believe them this time?
When eight eastern European countries joined the EU in 2004, expectations of a “migrant invasion” were largely discounted by ministers and officials. Not only did the Home Office predict an upper limit of 13,000 per annum arriving to work in the UK, but most academic studies also concluded that there would be no mass movement of labour. They were wrong. More than one million Poles and other nationals from the old Warsaw Pact nations have come to Britain alone — principally because ours was the only major economy to open its doors immediately after enlargement. Germany, France and other “old EU” countries restricted access to the labour market for seven years.
The accession of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007 brought two of the continent’s poorest countries into the EU, with their citizens able to avail themselves of the free movement of people that is a fundamental principle of membership. Again, transitional controls were imposed on access to the labour markets of other member states. This time, the UK kept restrictions in place, but had to lift them along with the rest of the EU when they expired yesterday. The particular concern in this country about the prospects for significant immigration from Romania and Bulgaria stems, therefore, from its experience with the previous enlargement. Matters are different this time because we are not the only country opening its labour market, though there are more job prospects in the UK than elsewhere and access to benefits is also easier.
After getting its forecasts so spectacularly wrong last time, the Home Office simply refuses to make any predictions for the numbers that might arrive from Romania and Bulgaria. While this reluctance is understandable, it makes life difficult for councils, who need to plan for additional school places or the provision of other services. Moreover, why is it so difficult for GPs to establish whether people have a genuine right to free NHS care? It must be possible to set up a checking system without doctors complaining that they are being asked to act as border policemen.
Indeed, the most unsatisfactory aspect of this whole affair has been the total lack of planning. The rapid enlargement of the EU (which the UK championed) was inevitably going to lead to people in poorer countries moving to wealthier ones to find work. However, no real efforts were made to prepare the citizens of the receiving countries for the influx, and they are now expected to deal with the consequences without demur. It is hardly surprising then, as Peter Oborne observes on the page opposite, that there is such widespread popular disdain for the lack of democracy in the EU.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
America’s Greatest Challenge for 2014
The most important issue facing Americans in 2014: the long-term ramifications if the S744 Amnesty Bill passes in the House of Representatives. It will set in motion a human wave of 100 million immigrants injected into the United States within the next 36 years. Enough people to double the size of our top 20 most populated cities.
If that bill passes, it will change the face of America dramatically on our cultural, linguistic, racial, ethnic, ethos, quality of life and standard of living scale. It will impact our environment more than anyone understands.
Ask yourself: do I want my kids to face an added 100 million immigrants added to America in the next 36 years? What will it mean to them, their lives, their communities, their schools, their water, their environment and their country?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EK: Finland Must Increase Immigration
Finns still haven’t woken up to looming workforce shortages and the pressing need to attract more immigrants, according to the Confederation of Finnish Industries (the EK). It’s trying to push what it sees as a critical issue higher on the Finnish agenda.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian, Greek Navies Rescue Hundreds of Would-be Migrants
The Italian and Greek navies have rescued hundreds of people from the waters off their respective coasts. Each year thousands seek to enter the European Union through the two southern member states.
“Considering the rough seas, the overcrowded boat and the precarious conditions, a situation of emergency was declared,” a statement released by the Italian navy said. The passengers, who reportedly came from Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, Zambia, Mali and Pakistan, were then brought to a frigate, which was ferrying them to the port of Augusta on the east coast of Sicily.
Every year, thousands of people, mainly from Africa or the Middle East seek to enter the European Union through Italy or Greece by crossing the seas in what are often less-than-seaworthy vessels. Those who do make it risk being sent back unless they are deemed eligible for asylum.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Asylum Numbers Near Record Level
The number of people seeking asylum in Sweden increased by 24 percent in 2013 to 54,259, with the highest number of migrants seeking refuge coming from Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Firms Place 8,000 Job Adverts in Romania for Taxi Drivers, Hotel Staff, Nurses and Even Doctors
The adverts — some of which have attracted more than 500 applicants — are written in the local language and have been posted on job-search websites in Romania.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The report, by two researchers from University College London (UCL), was hailed as proof that immigration has a positive economic impact on Britain.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Councillor to Have Diversity Training After Golliwog Remarks
A panel has ruled that a councillor who made comments about golliwogs not being racist should have diversity training, as they said her remarks brought the council into disrepute
A Conservative councillor is to undergo diversity training after she claimed that golliwogs are “nostalgic, not racist”. Dawn Barnett was found guilty of bringing Brighton and Hove City Council into disrepute with her remarks. At a closed hearing, a panel of three councillors said the 72-year-old should have diversity training.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dark Matter’s Elusiveness Means Search May Soon Become More Challenging
The search for dark matter is starting to go cold
Since the 1980s physicists have deployed a string of increasingly advanced detectors in pursuit of something that ought to be ubiquitous but has proved devilishly hard to capture. Dark matter, the invisible stuff thought to make up a quarter of the universe, has yet to show in even the most sophisticated experiments.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
GPS Satellites Suggest Earth is Heavy With Dark Matter
GPS is handy for finding a route, but it might be able to solve fundamental questions in physics too. An analysis of GPS satellite orbits hints that Earth is heavier than thought, perhaps due to a halo of dark matter.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hubble Telescope Reveals Super-Planets Covered in Alien Clouds
Scientists have found evidence of extraterrestrial clouds blanketing two of the most common types of planets in our Milky Way galaxy, NASA officials say.
Two teams of researchers used the Hubble Space Telescope to characterize the atmospheres of the two exoplanets. One of the alien planets is a so-called “super-Earth” larger than the Earth, while the other has been dubbed a “warm Neptune.” Studying both types of worlds can help scientists learn to classify the atmospheres on other Earth-like planets in the future.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Naked Mole Rat Named ‘Vertebrate of the Year’
Famed as the world’s longest-living rodent, the wrinkly faced naked mole rat has won Science Magazine’s Vertebrate of the Year award, confirming that the contest is based on more than just looks.
The naked mole rat, a subterranean rodent native to East Africa, can live up to 30 years, roughly nine times longer than mice of the same size. With two yellow buck teeth protruding from a pale, hairless body, the mammal may not be an eye pleaser, but it has an alluring longevity-related adaptation that has gripped researchers in recent years: It seems to be immune to cancer.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Persecuted Christians Suffer for Their Faith
Christianity is the world’s largest religion, yet being a believer can be dangerous: A report finds that Christians are discriminated against in 130 countries — and the situation is only getting worse.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Skype Twitter Account Hacked, Anti-Microsoft Status Retweeted More Than 8,000 Times
Skype is starting 2014 with a security issue of its own. It appears the official Skype Twitter account has been compromised by the Syrian Electronic Army. The hacking group has taken over the account today, posting several tweets in what appears to be a classic case of phishing. The most recent fake tweet advises Skype’s 3 million followers to avoid Microsoft’s email services. “Don’t use Microsoft emails (hotmail,outlook), they are monitoring your accounts and selling the data to the governments. More details soon #SEA.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
What We Learned About Human Origins in 2013
Researchers suggest the earliest Homo fossils may not be multiple human species, but rather variants of a single lineage that emerged from Africa. In other words, instead of Africa once being home to multiple human species such as Homo erectus, Homo habilis, Homo ergaster and Homo rudolfensis, all of these specimens may actually simply be Homo erectus.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Not quite accurate about the Akademik Scholaskiy in Antarctica, Baron. The eco-warriors have been choppered off by the Chinese to the Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis, at much expense to us hapless Australian taxpayers, but the 22-member Russian crew, including the master and officers, have stayed with the ship until further notice.
The AGW delusionists will be back in Australia, all nice and comfy, but please don’t forget the welfare of the seafarers still trapped in the ice.
If I had been the master, when those [self-abusers] refused his warnings to come back aboard immediately because conditions were deteriorating rapidly, I’d have left them to their fate and saved the ship and crew. As it stands, the ship and his career may well be lost, and that bunch of eco-tourists has got a soft ride home.
Thank you for the correction, MareeS. I’ve updated the text of my intro.
@UK: David Cameron’s New Year Message for 2014
A government working towards … the debasement of the peoples of the British Isles.
As the progressive shackles tighten and London becomes more and more an alien City State both Cameron and Salmond may lose the political initiative in the independence debate to a groundswell of both English and Scottish nationalism.
The big question of 2014 – Should Scotland be an independent country?
Quote:
A “dangerous” inability to recognise the importance of race meant social workers and police missed glaring warning signs about a gang of Pakistani men grooming white girls for sex in Rochdale, an official inquiry has concluded.
end
Race?
No, their problem was not an inability to recognize the importance of race.
It was the inability to recognize the importance of culture and religion.
Culture and religion are the forces at work.
Concentrate on race alone, and I’m pretty sure that something similar to Rochdale is in the making again.
How people look is not as important as what they believe.
Eventually, these “scandals” will be perpetrated by British indigenous male Muslim converts. And then the culture and religion that were always ignored will have grown longer fangs and generated more crimes.
Race . . . yeah, right.
Race?
The racism was against a white underclass that is deemed to be disposable in the self-loathing eyes of an aspirational mortgaged class that has been bribed and primed with a genocidal hatred of their underclass compatriots.
Quote:
Some 110 of the 150 convicted jihadists in Britain have refused to engage with a programme designed to stop them posing a threat to the public, it was reported.
end
Expel, expel, and expel.
So that they can run right back in the back door???
From Alice in Wonderland:
`Are their heads off?’ shouted the Queen.
`Their heads are gone, if it please your Majesty!’ the soldiers shouted in reply.
`That’s right!’ shouted the Queen.
This is an extract from an interview with a recently liberated hostage,
Did they realise that you were a priest?
No not really as their religious culture is weak, ( referring to Christian??), they live in a complete Muslim world, receiving military training in the camp, but particularly learning the Koran. Some might have come across some Protestants in Nigeria.
Ont-ils compris que vous étiez prêtre ?
P. G. V. : Non pas vraiment, leur culture religieuse est très faible, ils vivent dans un monde complètement musulman, reçoivent dans leur camp une vague formation militaire mais apprennent surtout le Coran. Certains ont peut-être croisé des protestants au Nigeria mais c’est tout. Ils croyaient que j’étais roumain mais sans doute parce que la radio avait dit en anglais que j’étais « catholique romain ». Ils m’ont demandé si j’étais pasteur, et s’étonnaient donc de voir que je n’avais ni femme ni enfants…
– See more at: http://www.christianophobie.fr/document/pere-vandenbeusch-un-entretien-avec-la-croix#sthash.Mod0Sve3.dpuf