After being thwarted by new barriers along the Serbian border with Hungary, huge throngs of “refugees” are now making their way through Croatia in an attempt to continue onward through Austria into Germany. Locals in Croatia are warning the migrants to watch out for minefields, which are still in place along parts of the border with Serbia as a relic of the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
In other migration news, migrants who got off the welcome bus at a remote location in Sweden complained bitterly about their accommodations, which they said were too far away from shopping centers and other amenities. Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán warns that Europe may face an influx of up to 100 million migrants over the next several years.
In other news, due to low oil prices, Kuwait has seen its revenues drop by almost half. A number of Gulf states are facing budget deficits after decades of surpluses.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Diana West, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Nick, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Bailing Out Banks Cost Cyprus 10.5 Percent of GDP
The bailout of Cyprus’ banks during the financial crisis has resulted in irreversible losses for the state, amounting to 10.5% of GDP, an ECB report entitled “The fiscal impact of financial sector support during the crisis” revealed on Wednesday. Cyprus suffered the third-largest fiscal impact after Ireland and Greece.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Federal Reserve is waging a jihad against the savers and retirees in the United States, and the central bank must end this practice, stresses David Stockman, former Reagan budget director and bestselling author of “The Great Deformation.”
Speaking in an interview with the Fox Business Network on Wednesday, Stockman explained “that the jig is up” and 80 months of near zero interest rates “is crazy enough” and it’s harming savers and retirees.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Eurozone Recovery Slackened by Slowdown in Emerging Markets
Central bank ready to use all tools to shore up inflation
(ANSA) — Frankfurt, September 17 — Economic recovery in the eurozone is expected to continue but at a slower pace than previously forecast due largely to a slowdown in emerging market economies and the consequent drop in demand for euro area exports, the European Central Bank (ECB) said in its monthly bulletin published Thursday.
Instead the bank’s monetary policy measures should continue to support domestic demand, the ECB said. In this respect, the bank’s governing council “emphasises its willingness and ability to act, if warranted, by using all the instruments available within its mandate” and particularly the flexibility offered by its asset purchase programme — otherwise known as quantitative easing — until it sees “ a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation which is consistent with its aim of achieving inflation rates below, but close to, 2% over the medium term,” the bulletin read.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Farmers Face Radical Income Overhaul
Once part of Greece’s tax-privileged classes, farmers are facing a radical income overhaul under the terms of a new EU bailout agreed by the leftist government of Alexis Tsipras before his resignation in August. Their income tax rate is to progressively double to 26 percent from 13 percent currently, their pension contributions will also rise, and a vital tax break on fuel will be scrapped.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Confindustria ups GDP Forecasts to 1% in 2015,1.5% in 2016
Industrial employers say outlook improved in summer
(ANSA) — Rome, September 17 — Industrial employers confederation Confindustria said Thursday that it has raised its gross domestic product (GDP) forecasts, predicting growth of 1% this year and 1.5% in 2016, up from its June forecasts of 0.8% and 1.4% respectively. The confederation’s research wing refereed to “two years of recovery” after a long recession and said that the economic outlook had “changed during the summer” and become “more favourable”.
Confindustria said that it expects Italy’s unemployment rate to average 12.2% this year and drop to 11.8% in 2016.
In June the confederation had predicted an unemployment rate of 12.3% in 2015 and 12% in 2016.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Should Use Lower Interest Windfall to Cut Deficit Says ECB
Bank highlights ‘large consolidation gap on debt rule’
(ANSA) — Rome, September 17 — Italy, along with Belgium and France, should use the extra money derived from the lower cost of servicing the national debt thanks to reduced interest rates to cut the budget deficit, the European Central Bank said in its economic bulletin on Thursday. The bulletin noted that Belgium and Italy “face large consolidation gaps with respect to the (EU) debt rule”. It added: “countries faced with high general government debt ratios (Belgium, France, Italy, Ireland and Portugal) are therefore advised to use any socalled windfall gains, i.e.
savings from lower than anticipated interest payments, for deficit reductions”. Premier Matteo Renzi has promised big tax cuts in next year’s budget, with the elimination of municipal service tax TASI and property tax IMU.
Economic recovery in the eurozone is expected to continue but at a slower pace than previously forecast due largely to a slowdown in emerging market economies and the consequent drop in demand for euro area exports, the European Central Bank (ECB) said in its monthly bulletin published Thursday.
Instead the bank’s monetary policy measures should continue to support domestic demand, the ECB said. In this respect, the bank’s governing council “emphasises its willingness and ability to act, if warranted, by using all the instruments available within its mandate” and particularly the flexibility offered by its asset purchase programme — otherwise known as quantitative easing — until it sees “ a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation which is consistent with its aim of achieving inflation rates below, but close to, 2% over the medium term,” the bulletin read.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
PM Urges Finns to Accept Austerity in Rare TV Appeal
Finland’s centrist Prime Minister Juha Sipila urged Finns to accept the government’s harsh austerity measures in a rare televised address to the nation on Wednesday.
“The Finnish state has contracted debt at a rate of almost a million euros ($1.13 million) per hour for seven years, day and night, every day of the week. We cannot continue like this,” Sipila said in a 20-minute pre-recorded speech broadcast on both national television and radio.
Sipila’s speech came a week after his pro-austerity, centre-right coalition government announced a series of tough austerity measures to revive the eurozone member’s slumping economy after three years of recession.
Finnish employee unions have called for a major demonstration and strikes on Friday to protest against the government’s plans to cut back holidays, reduce pensioners’ housing allowances, and slash employees’ overtime and Sunday pay, among other measures…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The American Middle Class Has Lost a Quarter Century
More than six years after the end of the Great Recession, America’s middle class is still waiting for its recovery.
Inflation-adjusted US median household incomes suffered another flat year in 2014. In newly-released data, the Census Bureau pegged real US median household incomes at $53,657, statistically flat from the previous year. (The median income is the exact midpoint of US income distribution—half of households in the nation have incomes that are higher, and half have incomes that are lower.)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Jesus College, Cambridge hosted, once more, the world’s leading Symposium on Economic Crime, and over 500 distinguished speakers and panellists drawn from the widest possible international fora, gathered to make presentations to the many hundreds of delegates and attendees.
This Symposium has indeed become an icon among other international gatherings of its knd and over the years, it has proved to be highly influential in the driving and development of international policy aimed at combating international financial and economic crime.
What became very quickly clear this year was the general sense of deep disgust and repugnance that was demonstrated towards the global banking industry.
I can say with some degree of certainty now that a very large number of academics, law enforcement agencies, and financial compliance consultants are now joined, as one, in their total condemnation of significant elements of the global banking sector for their organised criminal activities.
Many banks are widely identified now as nothing more than enterprise criminal organisations, who engage in widespread criminal practice and dishonest conduct as a matter of course and deliberate commercial policy.
Speaker after speaker addressed the implications of the scandalous level of PPI fraud, whose repayment and compensation schedules now run into billions of pounds.
Some speakers struggled with the definition of such activity as ‘Mis-selling’ and needed to be advised that what they were describing was an institutionalised level of organised financial crimes involving fraud, false accounting, forgery and other offences involving acts of misrepresentation and deceit.
One of the side issues which came out of this and other debates, was the general and genuine sense of bewilderment that management in these institutions concerned, (and very few banks and financial houses have escaped censure for this dishonest practice) have walked away from this orgy of criminal antics, completely unscathed. The protestations from management that these dishonest acts were carried out by a few rogue elements, holds no water and cannot be justified.
Similar exercises were carried out examining other forms of financial malfeasance, including Forex manipulation and specifically LIBOR criminality.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
$155,000 Bail Set in Anti-Chinese Graffiti Case
A San Francisco superior court judge set a high bail for a man accused of spray-painting anti-Chinese graffiti around the southeast region of the city after prosecutors argued that he should be considered a danger to the public because of his access to firearms.
John Schenone, 62, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of vandalism and committing a hate crime for allegedly using orange paint to scrawl “no more Chinese” on several locations in the Portola and Bayview neighborhoods.
Schenone’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Yali Corea-Levy, asked the judge to release his client on his own recognizance, saying that few people accused of vandalism are forced to stay in jail because of high bail.
Assistant District Attorney Laura Claster asked for his bail to be set at $100,000, saying that police found four firearms in his home while conducting a search warrant. Corea-Levy said Schenone, a carpenter who used his skills to volunteer around the city, owned those guns legally.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ahmed Mohamed Accepts Barack Obama’s Invitation to the White House
Ahmed Mohamed, 14, the Texas high school student from who was arrested for bringing a clock into class has said he will go to the White House to meet Barack Obama after the President invited him.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CNN Breaks Ratings Record With Almost 23 Million Viewers for GOP Debate
An average of nearly 23 million people tuned in Wednesday to watch the prime-time GOP presidential debate on CNN, shattering ratings records for the network.
Before last night, the highest-rated presidential primary debate was the California Democratic debate on Jan. 31, 2008, which averaged 8.3 million viewers, and its most-watched program ever was a special “Larry King Live” with Ross Perot and Al Gore with 16.8 million total viewers on No. 9, 1993, the network said Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Donald Trump Pummelled by Republican Rivals in 2016 Debate
Donald Trump has come under attack from all sides in a fiery debate between the top Republican presidential candidates in the 2016 election.
The party’s frontrunner, a billionaire businessman with no political experience, refused to apologise over comments about the wife of Jeb Bush.
And he was on the receiving end when Carly Fiorina drew huge applause facing up to his recent jibe over her looks.
Fifteen Republicans are vying to be the party’s White House nominee in 2016.
With more than a year until polling day, the second Republican debate in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California saw Mr Bush and Mr Trump trading blows several times.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Funky Light Signal From Colliding Black Holes Explained
Entangled by gravity and destined to merge, two candidate black holes in a distant galaxy appear to be locked in an intricate dance. Researchers using data from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have come up with the most compelling confirmation yet for the existence of these merging black holes and have found new details about their odd, cyclical light signal.
The candidate black hole duo, called PG 1302-102, was first identified earlier this year using ground-based telescopes. The black holes are the tightest orbiting pair detected so far, with a separation not much bigger than the diameter of our solar system. They are expected to collide and merge in less than a million years, triggering a titanic blast with the power of 100 million supernovae.
Researchers are studying this pair to better understand how galaxies and the monstrous black holes at their cores merge — a common occurrence in the early universe. But as common as these events were, they are hard to spot and confirm.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Giant Radio Telescope Could Detect E.T.’s Call
A huge telescope array will allow scientists to conduct the most sensitive and exhaustive search for signs of alien civilizations to date when it comes online, the project’s backers say.
The Square Kilometer Array (SKA), currently planned to begin construction in 2018, could enable the search for intelligent alien life to piggy-back on other scientific observations, scouring the galaxy with unprecedented precision.
“A unique aspect for the search of life in the universe is the question of whether advanced lifeevolves intelligence,” Andrew Siemion said at the Astrobiology Science Conference in Chicago in June.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How Jeff Bezos and Other Billionaires Are Transforming Space Travel
Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos isn’t the only billionaire who wants to put his stamp on spaceflight.
Bezos announced Tuesday (Sept. 15) that Blue Origin, the private spaceflight company he established in 2000, will manufacture and launch a fleet of reusable vehicles from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, with the first flights scheduled to begin by the end of the decade.
The news is creating quite a stir. But so are the activities of spaceflight companies headed by Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Paul Allen — all billionaires themselves.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Illinois Trooper Guilty of Assault After Roadside Strip Search of Motorist
Illinois State Trooper Corey Alberson, who originally faced a felony charge of aggravated battery, has been found guilty of a lesser assault charge after roadside strip search incident which was captured on his patrol car’s dashboard camera.
Troopers Corey Alberson and Chris Currier stopped Anthony Campbell after they received an informant’s tip that a car of the same color as the one Campbell was driving was transporting drugs. When the initial search left Alberson empty handed, he pulled down Campbell’s pants without the man’s consent to inspect his “buttocks and genitals” with a flashlight.
Strip searching is illegal unless a person is arrested and suspected of carrying drugs or weapons, and has to be conducted in private if approved.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Party for Socialism and Liberation, one of many communist groups in the U.S., argues that “the long period of reaction that began in the late 1970s and greatly accelerated under Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Ronald Reagan in the United States is drawing to a close.” Leaving aside the Marxist rhetoric about “reaction,” one has to say there may be some validity to what the communists are saying. After all, Bernie Sanders seems to be leading the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Marxist Jeremy Corbyn has become head of the Labor Party in Britain, and the socialist New Democratic Party is poised to win national elections in Canada on October 19.
On the Republican side in the U.S., the leading candidate, Donald Trump, seems to have no ideology at all. While he has made illegal immigration into an issue, his statements on other issues demonstrate no coherent outlook on the nature or size of government. On foreign policy, his claim that he could negotiate with Russia’s Vladimir Putin seems to be a reflection of his “Art of the Deal” approach to business matters. But Putin means business, and the Russians can’t be trusted. It’s shocking that Trump thinks he can somehow negotiate a good deal with Putin, whose military position has been enhanced under the presidency of Barack Obama.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
It Takes 9 Cops to Detain US Teen for Jaywalking (Video)
A US teenager has been detained with the use of force and hit several times for jaywalking in Stockton, California. Witnesses say that before the camera started rolling, the cop was telling the teenager to sit down, but the boy continued walking to his bus. The officer kept grabbing his arm, but the kid still went on, so the cop took out his baton.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Microbial Biologist Says Biotech is Like a Religion, And is Failing
No one bats 1000, but according to Ignacio Chapela, a microbiologist from UC Berkeley in California, the biotech industry has utterly failed.
He says they’ve only come up with 2 genetically modified traits in 40 years despite fouling our air, water, and soil, while genetically engineering our food to withstand copious amounts of toxic chemicals.
Chapela says that no one talks about just how badly biotech is progressing, despite billions spent on research and the forever-promise of new organisms that repel pests, or to supposedly stop malaria from spreading, or some other biotech-specific trait that they have yet to master.
Chapela points out that GMO scientists have become like priests, with a ‘central dogma’ that specific traits are determined by certain genes. If that were true, we could have put wings on pigs to make them fly. He explains: “The whole foundation of genetics turns out to be wrong. Eye color is not determined by a single gene. DNA is not a master molecule. We have the benefit of 40 years (of GMOs failing) and should liberate ourselves from the central dogma. How many (GMO) traits have they developed? Two after 40 years.”
Chapela, and others like Bruce Lipton, a PhD biologist, don’t believe that DNA is a ‘master molecule’ that determines a person or plant’s traits. He and those who share his rare viewpoint understand that environment plays a bigger role.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Pluto Pics Show Weird Terrain Shaped by Alien ‘Water’ Cycle
Pluto has again stunned researchers in the latest pictures downloaded from NASA’s New Horizons probe. The images, taken just 15 minutes after the spacecraft’s closest approach to the dwarf planet on July 14, reveal incredible mountain ranges and glaciers that look surprisingly like Earth.
Zooming further reveals a low-lying fog illuminated by the setting sun. That suggests Pluto’s weather changes daily, just like on Earth. The team now believe that Pluto has a “water” cycle similar to Earth’s, but with exotic ices like frozen nitrogen, rather than water.
“We did not expect to find hints of a nitrogen-based glacial cycle on Pluto operating in the frigid conditions of the outer solar system,” said team member Alan Howard. “Driven by dim sunlight, this would be directly comparable to the hydrological cycle that feeds ice caps on Earth, where water is evaporated from the oceans, falls as snow, and returns to the seas through glacial flow.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Appointee Decides Armed Forces Do Not Need Arms
In the wake of the deadly shooting rampage in Tennessee that killed five service members, it has been determined that military recruiters do not need weapons to protect themselves.
Lt. Gen. Mark Brilakis, nominated by Obama in April for deputy commandant, has decided that armed forces do not need arms. In an interview with the Marine Corps Times, he stated that “ none of the military services are interested in arming recruiters… “
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Issues Orwellian Executive Order
Welcome to President Obama’s brave new world.
Federal agencies have been directed to hire psychologists to experiment and find ways to better manipulate the American people to the federal government’s will.
“A growing body of evidence demonstrates that behavioral science insights — research findings from fields such as behavioral economics and psychology about how people make decisions and act on them — can be used to design government policies to better serve the American people,” Obama wrote in an executive order released Tuesday on WhiteHouse.gov. The origin of the order can be traced back to a 2013 policy proposal entertained by the White House called “Strengthening Federal Capacity for Behavioral Insights.”
The president’s new order said streamlined applications for federal financial aid and automatic retirement payments are two examples where behavioral-science lessons applied to government programs have been effective.
“Police State USA: How Orwell’s Nightmare Is Becoming Our Reality” chronicles how America has arrived at the point of being a de facto police state, and what led to an out-of-control government that increasingly ignores the Constitution. Order today!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Out With the ‘Politicians’ In With the ‘Real’
We are promised more jobs yet tens of thousands of career path jobs are robbed from us in the oil, coal and energy industry. Instead we are forced to pay higher utility bills and be happy about more and more taxation.
50 — yard line hopefuls are also ignoring and violating our children with Common Core.
We might as well send our kids off to ‘Hitler’s mind grooming camp’. We are told to live with Common Core, which is literally stealing the minds and achievement potential of our children. Just as planned by the progressives and many Republican politicians such as Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee. There are shockingly more who have just followed the wave instead of led and protected.
Now, Common Core’s violations and manipulations are becoming all too clear all across the country. Judeo-Christian values are being mocked, downplayed and thrown out . It is rewriting our nations history and real context while pushing all of Islam, except the truth and danger parts. Common core is fueled by millions of dollars of Islamic money, progressive-Communist minds and those who simply plan to create a blob of ‘oneness’ with our kids. Achievement, uniqueness, faith and exceptionalism are all in the way.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pluto ‘Wows’ In Spectacular New Backlit Panorama
The latest images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft have scientists stunned — not only for their breathtaking views of Pluto’s majestic icy mountains, streams of frozen nitrogen and haunting low-lying hazes, but also for their strangely familiar, arctic look.
This new view of Pluto’s crescent — taken by New Horizons’ wide-angle Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera (MVIC) on July 14 and downlinked to Earth on Sept. 13 — offers an oblique look across Plutonian landscapes with dramatic backlighting from the sun. It spectacularly highlights Pluto’s varied terrains and extended atmosphere. The scene measures 780 miles (1,250 kilometers) across.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Should Texas Secede? Texans May Have Ballot Question to “Reassert Its Status as Independent Nation”
Secession, a formal declaration of independence, is by tradition the right of every Texan and American, and the Fed has doubtlessly crossed the line too many times to count. Fed up Americans are looking for ways to voice their anger, and Texans have a notoriously short fuse, a history of independence and tendencies to secede. But the powers that be may have also fueled a trap on sovereignty. What is shirked at the federal level may be accepted at the international level.
The bankers and social engineers are practiced at ruling by divide and conquer to avoid personally confronting pitchforks and angry townspeople. There is a plan underway, which has already been exposed, known as the North American Union. Sponsored by Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and organizations like the Council on Foreign Relations, the agenda is creating a globalized world that will use immigration to upend politics, shift demographics, supply corporate labor and fracture society.
Like NAFTA before it, the plan will destroy jobs and displace millions of workers, creating new waves of migration across the border. Further integration will restructure shipping, energy and transportation, all while building a scapegoat for the engineered economic collapse that will rile up the masses.
Like a doctor setting a fracture, the underwriters of the North American plan to actually break up regions of America to ‘ enhance’ the management and control of society at many levels. According to author Jerome Corsi:
Understanding the plan to merge the U.S., Mexico and Canada, says Corsi, is “the only context in which the current immigration travesty makes sense — and it must be stopped.” This aim to create a North American Union between the United States, Mexico and Canada is the real reason behind “comprehensive immigration reform.”
“A North American Union would not just be the end of America as we know it,” claims Corsi, “but the beginning of an EU-like nightmare — a bureaucratic coup d’etat foisted upon millions of Americans without their knowledge or consent.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Spy on Your Customers… or Else
Do you distrust the banking system? Prefer to do business in cash? Complain about the encroachment of Big Brother into every facet of your life?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you’d better watch out. You’re a “person of interest” — and a growing number of businesses must report your “suspicious activities” to the feds. If they don’t, they can be fined and the responsible parties even imprisoned.
These requirements originated in a law called the “Bank Secrecy Act” (BSA). Of course, this Orwellian law has nothing at all to do with protecting bank secrecy. Indeed, the BSA has all but eliminated confidentiality.
Regulations issued under the BSA require financial institutions to notify the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a Treasury Department bureau, of any unusual transactions in which their customers engage. Reporting is mandatory for transactions that exceed $10,000 and are not the sort in which the particular customer would normally be expected to engage. For money transmitter businesses, a $2,000 threshold applies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Student Punished for American Flag Shirt
A North Texas student was punished recently for wearing an American flag T-shirt to school.
An administrator at Seagoville High School determined that the shirt violated the dress code.
The boy wearing the shirt, named Jaegur, was facing in-school-suspension on his record, but his mom apparently knew more about the dress code than that educator.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sunset on Pluto: Breathtaking NASA Photo Shows Mountains, Wispy Atmosphere
A spectacular new image from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft shows Pluto in an entirely new light.
The world can expect to see many more stunning new views from the Pluto flyby over the coming year or so. New Horizons relayed just 5 percent of its flyby data back in the immediate aftermath of the close encounter, keeping the vast majority on board for later transmission. That data dump began in earnest earlier this month and is expected to take about 12 months, New Horizons team members have said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The ‘Tier One’ Debate and the State of the GOP Campaign
by Andrew C. McCarthy
The night belonged to Carly Fiorina. It was too crowded, unwieldy and tediously Trump-focused a forum for there to have been more than a few memorable moments; in retrospect, she got all of them. Mrs. F has a razor sharp mind and a crisp delivery, especially when giving reactive answers rather than scripted ones. She combines these with an attractive dignity —she knew there was no need to lay it on thick in laying out Trump. Her skill set is tailor-made for debate forums.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The US and China Just Made a Deal to Build High-Speed Rail Between LA and Vegas
Americans could one day soon cruise between two major cities in the western US on a mega-fast train at 150 mph, thanks to a new agreement between a private US venture and a consortium led by China Railway Group.
It’ll be called XpressWest, and it’ll link the 230 miles separating Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The train will get you there in 80 minutes, versus a four-hour car ride. Construction’s set to kick off next September, and comes on the heels of four years of negotiations. It’s China’s first high-speed rail project in the US, and Bloomberg reports that $100 million in initial capital will get the project off the ground. (Though that’ll be just a teeny drop in the bucket—the project is expected to cost upwards to $7 billion). To date, only private sector funds have covered the bill, but the project’s applied for loans with the Federal Railroad Administration.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trevor Loudon: Help Expose the Enemies in Your Congress!
America, I have a plan. My name is Trevor Loudon. I’m in the final stages of completing a game-changing movie, based on my book, “The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress.” I reveal the names, connect the dots, expose the treason and show you what the Mainstream Media won’t allow you to see. My movie hits hard against those who want to steal our country and its freedoms—indeed, the freedom and prosperity of the free world. Will you pitch in to help?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The arrest of Ahmed Mohamed in Texas highlights the worrying institutionalisation of Islamophobia in US schools.
Khaled A Beydoun is an assistant professor of law at the Barry University Dwayne O Andreas School of Law.
Islamophobia is an American psychosis that sways popular views and formal policy. But it must also be understood as a form of racism that is penetrating American schools, and endangering Muslim American youth in the very spaces where their bodies, intellect, and ingenuity should be nurtured, not punished.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Yikes: Berkeley City Council May Introduce a $19 Minimum Wage
Remember during the Occupy Wall Street protests, there were many activists demanding a $20 minimum wage? Many of us laughed at those people and we assured ourselves that such a number would never come into existence because there would be devastating economic consequences. Well, here we go. The Berkeley, California city council is considering a [… ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Banned Moroccan Film ‘Much Loved’ In Italian Cinemas 8/10
On 4 prostitutes; director Ayouch receiving death threats
RABAT — ‘Much Loved’, a film by the French-Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch, will be in Italian cinemas starting on October 8, distributed by Valerio De Paolis’s Cinema. Applauded at the Cannes Film Festival’s Quinzaine di Cannes, ‘Much Loved’ narrates the stories of four women — Noha, Randa, Soukaina and Hlima — who in modern-day Marrakech are friends and prostitutes. The four help each other out and talk about their daily lives, marked by violence and fleeting caresses, humiliations and tenderness. The director has called it an “ode to the female condition”.
The Islamist Moroccan communications minister has banned it as a preventative measure on the basis of parts of it posted online. Though it has never been seen in the country, it has nonetheless sparked a wave of indignation and death threats for the director and the actresses, who are now forced to have police escorts with them at all times. The authorities say that the film would profoundly offend the country’s moral values and Moroccan women as well as the country’s image. It is not clear whether it was the depiction of the lives of the four girls or the hypocrisy of their parents and friend who — as is often the case in reality — are willing to turn a blind eye to the way their daughters and sisters earn their living. The director added that “in patriarchal Arab society, prostitutes have power and freedom that most women (within them, Ed.) don’t have”. An almost anthropological approach and a year of research went into the film, which verges on being a documentary. France has sided with the director and called for solidarity with him. Ayouch, who has seven feature films to his name, has long dealt with controversial subjects such as drugs and corruption, Islamic terrorism and street children.
However, this is the first time that one of his films — which have been praised internationally — has been banned in Moroccan cinemas.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Somali “Pirate Leader” On Trial in Bruges
The trial of the Somali pirate chief Mohamed Abdi Hassan has started in Bruges. The man stands accused of masterminding the hi-jacking of the Belgian ship Pompei in 2009. Mohamed Abdi Hassan and his fellow accused have refused to be present at the trial. Mohamed Abdi Hassan is seen as the leader of a group of pirates responsible for hi-jacking countless vessels off the coast of Somalia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Corbyn and Trump Are Different Reactions to the Rich Getting Richer
Posted in Irish Independent
Mick Jagger and Pete Townshend have their gaffs here. Looking out over the Thames from Richmond Hill — the only view which is protected by a 1902 Act of Parliament — it is hardly surprising that ageing millionaire rockers want to hang here.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Copenhagen Invests in 23,000 New Trees
Copenhagen has approved funding for more than 23,000 new trees to be planted next year, as part of its quest to become the world’s first carbon neutral capital city. The city council has earmarked 3.7 million kroner ($560,000; £360,000) of its 2016 budget to the project
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Rare Prehistoric Artefacts Found South of Zealand
Marine archaeologists excited about the good conditions of their findings, which can help them better understand the life of people in the Mesolithic age
A group of marine archaeologists from the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde have found many well-preserved objects from the Stone Age period hidden at the bottom of the sea between Zealand and Falster.
The archaeologists are currently exploring the sea bed of the Storstrømmen strait, where a prehistoric settlement from 6,000 BC was located and where a construction of a 4 km long bridge is under way.
The 8,000-year-old prehistoric settlement lies 5 metres under the sea, concealing some rarely found artefacts from the Stone Age, which are preserved in exceptionally good condition.
“It is almost unreal to stand here with an 8,000-year-old ax handle, animal bones with traces of Mesolithic craftsmanship, and hazelnut shells that look as if they were broken yesterday,” noted Morten Johansen, a marine archaeologist from the Viking Ship Museum.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Court Fines Italy 30-Mn-Euro Fine for State Aid to Firms
Total social-security relief amounted to about 114 mn euros
(ANSA) — Brussels, September 17 — The European Court of Justice has slapped Italy with a 30-million-euro fine for failing to recover tax relief to companies in the Veneto region between 1995 and 1997, a move the court considers a form of illegal state aid.
The total reductions, which came in the form of relief from social security contributions, amounted to about 114 million euros and concerned 1,645 companies in Venice and Chioggia.
Court judges have ordered Italy to pay 30 million euros immediately and an additional 12 million euros every six-month period as long as it fails to recover the entire sum.
The reductions were awarded to companies based on their “unusual location”, and were not limited to a specific sector. In November 1999, the EU Commission ordered Italy to recover the aid.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Foreigners Turn Catalan Nationalists in Spain
There is nothing more Catalan than a “castell”, or human pyramid. But some of the people standing on each other’s shoulders in this particular castell come from far beyond Catalonia.
The seven-layer acrobatic tower reflects the cosmopolitan air of this region. And of the many nationalists here pushing for independence from Spain, the foreigners are among the most fervent.
As well as those born here, there are Latin Americans, Asians and Africans who feel just as Catalan as their neighbours and, like many of them, want to defy the Spanish government by breaking away.
“I am an Indian. But I am a Catalan Indian,” says Wilmer Gonzalez, a native American from Venezuela with long black hair…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France: Marseille: A Murder Capital or a Must-Visit?
Despite the shootings and the drug gangs tourism revenue in Marseille is on the rise, suggesting the city might just have something going for it. Locals and tourist chiefs say it’s time to put culture above Kalashnikovs.
Marseille is probably more often associated with “drugs”, “kalashnikovs”, and “murder” than “tranquil squares, stepped streets and bustling 19th century avenues”.
A quick glance through the French press in recent days, weeks and even years and it’s not surprising why.
For example, Saturday night saw mystery gunmen open fire in the city centre, killing one security guard and injuring five.
The shooting prompted the Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to call for a nationwide crackdown on weapons in the coming weeks, saying: “There is always too much violence in this city”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Police Kill Islamic Extremist After Knife Attack
German police shot and killed a known Islamic extremist after he threatened passers-by and attacked an officer with a knife on the streets of Berlin, officials said Thursday.
Officers were called to Spandau, in western Berlin, after reports that a man was waving a knife about on the street. The 41-year-old man seriously injured a female officer before another officer shot and killed him.
Security officials confirmed to The Associated Press that the attacker was Rafik Mohamad Yousef, who was convicted seven years ago of belonging to an al-Qaida-linked terror group. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the man’s name publicly.
Frank Henkel, the interior minister for the state of Berlin, said the reasons for the attack were still unclear. “There are indications that this wasn’t a planned act,” Henkel said in a statement, but added that due to the man’s history “a religious motif can’t be excluded.”
Yousef, an Iraqi national, was arrested in December 2004 after German officials suspected him and two others of being part of a plot by the Ansar al-Islam group to attack former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi during a visit to Berlin.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Anarchists Throw Petrol Bombs at Police Outside Athens Precinct, 1 Policeman Hurt
ATHENS, Greece — Greek police say scores of anarchists have attacked police with petrol bombs outside a central Athens precinct, and one officer was injured in ensuing scuffles. About 150 youths took part in the attack late Thursday, police said. They said about 20 petrol bombs were thrown at police outside the precinct, and police responded with stun grenades and tear gas.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iceland’s Capital Passes Resolution Banning All Israeli Products
Resolution passed in order to “send message” on Israel’s “racist apartheid policy”images
Iceland’s capital city, Reykjavik, passed a resolution banning all Israeli-made products in protest of the “Israeli occupation on the Palestinian people” and Israel’s “racist apartheid policy”.
The city council voted the resolution, initiated by Councilwoman Björk Vilhelmsdóttir who stated on the ban, “I believe that the city is sending a clear message that it will not purchase products from Israel while Israel oppresses another people on the basis of ethnicity and race, and continues having the wall inside Palestine.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Iceland’s Capital Bans All Israeli Products
Reykjavik has passed a resolution boycotting Israeli-made goods, in protest of Israel’s ‘racist apartheid policy’ towards the Palestinians.
Itamar Eichner
The city council of Icelandic capital Reykjavik has passed a resolution banning all Israeli-made products in protest of policy in the Palestinian territories.
The resolution was proposed by Councilwoman Björk Vilhelmsdóttir, who mentioned that she intends to spend the rest of the year doing humanitarian work in the Palestinian territories.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iceland Announces Boycott of Israeli Goods
Iceland officials announced Wednesday the country is boycotting goods manufactured in Israel as long as Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory continues, Iceland Magazine reports.
Reykjavík’s City Council says the boycott is a symbolic move to show Iceland supports the Palestinians’ right to independence and condemns “the Israeli policy of apartheid” in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israel announced plans in July to build homes in the West Bank, inciting violent protests in the disputed territory. Most countries consider the settlements illegal, and the U.S. State Department has expressed concern “settlement expansion threatens the two-state solution.”
According to The Times of Israel, the boycott has drawn sharp criticism from Israel’s foreign ministry, which said “a volcano of hatred spews forth from the Reykjavik city council building,” an apparent reference to Iceland’s status as a hotbed for volcanic activity.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamist Terrorist Shot Dead in Berlin
After attacking officer with knife
(ANSA) — Berlin, September 17 — A 41-year-old Islamist terrorist was shot dead by a police officer in Berlin Thursday after attacking a woman officer with a knife.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rome Practiced ‘Unchecked, Non-Transparent Procurement’
City government ‘free port’ for contracts says ANAC
(ANSA) — Rome, September 16 — Rome city government between 2011 and 2014 was a “free port” for procurement contracts, according to a front-page article in Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Wednesday, based on a report by Italy’s anti-corruption authority ANAC. The article said ANAC’s analysis of city government management in those years found that 43% of contracts for city jobs and services, paid for with public funds, were awarded through private negotiations without following official procedure.
In the report, ANAC inspectors said the use of private negotiations instead of public tenders was “generalized and indiscriminate” and in “clear variance and contrast with the rules, often revealing a nonchalant and sometimes even reckless application or evasion of the regulations”.
“This suggests that the practices revealed have their origin in the distant past and represent in many cases more a polished ploy that oriented the contractual work of the offices towards a simplified route, a foretelling — as evidenced by recent news reports — of distortions of a corrupt nature, rather than from unusual conditions that characterised the political and administrative work of the Rome city government in the last few years,” ANAC said.
Corriere della Sera said that hiding behind the approximately three billion euros awarded through private negotiations over four years, there was “more wrongdoing than a solution to emergency situations, and the Mafia Capitale investigation did nothing more than confirm this hypothesis”.
The ANAC report, completed August 7, was sent to Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino as well as Rome Prefect Franco Gabrielli for evaluation and action, as well as to the public prosecutor’s office (antimafia division), and the prosecutor of the Audit Court for possible further investigations.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Councils Demand 5 Bn to Make Up for IMU-Tasi
Fassino says local authorities must be compensated
(ANSA) — Rome, September 17 — Piero Fassino, the head of Italian city and town councils association ANCI, said Thursday that central government will need to give local authorities some five billion euros if Premier Matteo Renzi’s executive abolishes municipal services tax TASI and property tax IMU on farms next year. “The abolition of TASI and agricultural IMU must at the same time feature (the allocation) of resources equivalent to five billion euros,” said Fassino, who is also mayor of Turin and a member of Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Office Denies ‘Turn Senate Into Museum’ Jibe
Premier never ‘said or thought’ comment attributed to him
(ANSA) — Rome, September 17 — Premier Matteo Renzi’s office on Thursday denied that the Democratic Party (PD) leader had said that he would “abolish the Senate and turn it into a museum” — comments attributed to him by a daily newspaper. The office said referred to a “vulgar, absurd sentence that Renzi never said, or thought”. Renzi’s government is seeking to push through a bill to change the Constitution to transform the Senate into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives to save money and make passing legislation easier.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Reykjavik Votes to Boycott Israeli Products
The 15-member City Council of Reykjavik has passed a symbolic motion banning the city, Iceland’s capital, from purchasing any goods made in Israel in protest of “the Israeli policy of apartheid” in the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem. The European Jewish Congress is now considering whether to take legal action.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Reykjavík City Will Boycott Israeli Products
The City of Reykjavík will no longer purchase goods made in Israel. The City Council voted yesterday that the city would not purchase any goods manufactured in Israel as long as the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories continues. The motion was put forward by Björk Vilhelmsdóttir, councilwoman for the Social Democratic Alliance.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Romanian Prime Minister Ponta Indicted for Corruption
Romanian prosecutors have formally indicted Victor Ponta on corruption charges, including money-laundering. Romania’s president has called on Ponta to resign, saying the scandal damages the country’s image.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
September 17: 1939 — Huh? Whuh?
by Diana West
Americans with any feel for 20th century history may be reliably expected to know the significance of the date September 1, 1939 — the day the Nazis started World War II from the West by invading Poland.
September 17, 1939, however, is the date that the the Soviets, our “premature allies,” started World War II from the East by invading Poland. That’s another story altogether. This date is not well known. Nor, really, is the Soviet rampage through Poland — or even, much, the period of Nazi-Soviet alliance (1939-1941) in which Hitler and Stalin secretly divided up Europe. This same heinous division, by the way, was ultimately observed, sans Nazis, by Churchill and FDR and utlimately would set the battle lines of the Cold War.
To be sure, it all made a moral hash out of the Nuremberg Trials, where the Nazis were tried and convicted for the crime against humanity of making aggressive war, while their equally aggressive and guilty war-making henchmen, the Soviets, were not even charged — and, indeed, sat on the bench meting out “justice.”…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Stasi-Veteran Will Assist German Government in Facebook Censorship
The task force’s members are appointed by the government and Facebook, but the the left-wing organization Network against Nazis (“Netz gegen Nazis”) will also be represented.
The network was founded in the year 2007 by the Antonio Amadeu Trust, led by the Jewish-German left-wing activist Anette Kahne who, during the years 1974-82, worked as a secret agent for the East German Security Service known as Stasi.
Today Anette Kahane works as a professional anti-racist and last year proclaimed in an interview with RT that European countries must open their borders and adapt completely to immigrants from the third world.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jamal Muhammed Raheem-ul-Nasir, of Liversedge, West Yorkshire, was jailed for seven years at Leeds Crown Court last year for sex attacks on two girls, aged nine and 14
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: MP Sex Abuse Cover-Up Claims Investigated
Claims Special Branch sought to cover up the involvement of an MP in child sex offences in the 1970s are to be investigated.
The accusation is one of 12 new cases of alleged historical corruption in the Metropolitan Police relating to the investigation of child abuse dating from the 1970s and 2000s, according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
The majority of the investigations stem from allegations made by retired Met officers.
Another corruption allegation involves Essex Police and also relates to child sex offices.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: MI5 Chief Andrew Parker: Social Media Companies Must Reveal Details of Terror Threats
The head of MI5 has launched an unprecedented attack on social media companies, saying they have a “responsibility” to pass on intelligence of potential terrorism.
Andrew Parker, Director General of the Security Service, questioned why internet companies would not come forward if they had suspicions of a terror risk.
He also warned Britain was facing its gravest threat from fanatics and his agency had foiled six major plots to attack this country in the last year — the highest he has ever known.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
It was proper that Jamal Muhammed Raheem Ul Nasir got a tougher than normal sentence because his victims were Asian, said the judge
A child molester who abused two Asian girls was rightly given a longer sentence than had his victims been white — because Asian sex-crime victims suffer more, a top judge has ruled.
Mr Justice Walker said it was proper for paedophile, Jamal Muhammed Raheem Ul Nasir, to have been given a tougher than normal sentence, because his victims were Asian.
Ul Nasir, 32, of Liversedge, carried out sex attacks on two underage girls and was jailed for four years at Leeds Crown Court in December last year.
He was convicted of two counts of sexual assault on a child under 13 and four counts of sexual activity with a child.
The judge who jailed him, Sally Cahill QC, specifically said that the fact the victims were Asian had been factored in as an “aggravating feature” when passing sentence.
She stated that the victims and their families had suffered particular “shame” in their communities because of what had happened to them.
Additionally there were cultural concerns that the girls’ future prospects of being regarded as a good catch for arranged marriages might be damaged.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Children on Hamas TV: We Want to Wage Jihad and Blow Up the Jews
On a children’s show on the Hamas-owned Al-Aqsa TV channel, young children, dressed in military fatigues, were asked what they want to be when they grow up. One of the children said that he wanted to be an engineer, “so that I can blow up the Jews.” Another recited a poem: “I shall liberate (Jerusalem) from the Jews by means of the Al-Qassam Brigades.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Op-Ed: Israel is Europe’s Last Bulwark Against Islam
If Europe thinks Israel is expendable, think again.
by Giulio Meotti
If Europe falls to the Jihadist tsunami, Israel will be more open to the disaster. But if Israel falls, Europe will be just as certainly finished by those who want to march over Jerusalem. It is in Europe’s interests to admit this painful and unavoidable truth.
We Europeans will pay a horrible price if we betray the heroic Jewish nation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait Revenues Drop by Nearly Half on Oil Price Slide
Kuwait said Thursday that its government revenues had dropped by nearly half since April as oil-rich Gulf states suffer from the slump in crude prices.
Kuwait and its Gulf neighbours are having to deal with oil prices that have dropped by more than half in a year to below $50 a barrel, with many forecasting deficits after enjoying huge windfalls from high crude prices over many years.
In the first figures released in its fiscal year that started in April, Kuwait’s finance ministry said revenues had dropped 42.5 percent in the first five months to 7.3 billion dinars ($24.2 billion/21 billion euros)…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Number of Christians in Iraq Fallen ‘Dramatically’ — Caritas
Charity estimates only 200,000-230,000 Christians left in Iraq
(ANSA) — Vatican City, September 17 — The number of Christians living in Iraq has fallen “dramatically” to roughly 200,000-230,000 at the most, Monsignor Shlemon Warduni, president of charity Caritas’ Iraq arm told Ansa on Thursday.
“We estimate that currently this is the number of Christians left in the country,” Warduni said on the sidelines of a meeting on Syria and Iraq in the Vatican. He added however that his organisation was unable to obtain a more precise figure at the moment.
Christians in Iraq are among the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world but thousands have been forced to flee recently due to violence and persecution at the hands of the militant Islamist group ISIS.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Spends $500 Million to Train 5 Anti-ISIS Fighters
President Obama just found out how many good anti-ISIS fighters $500 million buys: five, at most.
Gen. Lloyd Austin, who leads the U.S. military’s Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday there are only four or five Syrian fighters left out of 54 who were trained as part of a U.S. program.
Another 100-120 fighters will be trained in the program’s three remaining classes, NBC News reported Wednesday.
Obama said in September that assisting Syrian rebels was “the best counterweight” for combating the Sunni radical terror group’s control over large swathes of Iraq and Syria, NBC reported.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Westerners are rightly horrified by the destruction of priceless antiquities in Syria and Iraq — such as the 2,000 year old Palmyra temple — by the ISIS terrorists. But did you know that priceless antiquities are also being destroyed in Yemen by the Saudis and their allies?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Syria Crisis: ‘Only Four or Five’ US-Trained Syrian Rebels Are Still Fighting
A US scheme to train Syrian rebels to fight Islamic State (IS) militants has been branded a total failure after a US general admitted only four or five were still fighting.
Congress approved $500m (£323m) to train and equip around 5,000 rebels as a key plank of US strategy against IS.
But the first 54 graduates were routed by an al-Qaeda affiliate, Gen Lloyd Austin told lawmakers.
Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte said the number remaining was a “joke”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Plans to Accept Russia Offer to Join Military Talks on Syria
Amid increasing unease and uncertainty over Russia’s intentions, the Obama administration plans to accept an offer from Russia for direct talks on its military buildup in Syria that U.S. officials believe is aimed at propping up Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Seeking answers to myriad questions about the precise reasoning behind Moscow’s recent deliveries of material and manpower to a base in northern Syria, U.S. officials said they expect the administration to begin a military-to-military dialogue with Russia in the coming days. The Pentagon will take the lead in the discussions but the exact level, venue and timing have yet to be determined, officials said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Bans Berlusconi Over Crimea Visit
Ex-premier ‘temporarily occupied territory’ without approval
(ANSA) — Moscow, September 17 — Ukraine’s National Security Council on Thursday decided to ban ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi from the country for three years after he visited Crimea with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday, Russian news agency Interfax reported Thursday. The visit was made without Kiev’s agreement, according to Interfax. Ukraine Monday condemned the visit because it broke Ukrainian norms on entry into “temporarily occupied territory” and because Berlusconi’s visit “also contradicts EU policy” on the Crimea peninsula, which Moscow annexed last year. Berlusconi met his old friend Putin at Sevastopol and laid a wreath at a monument for Italian dead in the Crimean War.
The leader of the centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party was the first former European premier to visit Crimea since Moscow’s annexation, which sparked the first package of western sanctions against Russia and created a new cold war climate.
Previously the only leading western politician to set foot in Crimea were, in October, Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-euro, anti-immigrant Northern League, and, in July, former French transport minister Thierry Mariani.
The latter and his delegation ended up on Kiev’s blacklist and were banned from Ukraine for three years.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Fresh Terror for Afghans as ISIL Takes Taliban Country
Although experts believe Isil currently poses only a limited threat to Afghanistan’s overall security, they appear to be flourishing in those areas where they have established a presence. In Achin and neighbouring Shinwar districts, locals say hundreds have been killed, including dozens of civilians, in a brutal turf war between Isil and Taliban. Thousands more have been forced to flee.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
India: Riyadh Repatriates Diplomat Suspected of Raping Two Nepalese Women
Saudi authorities prevent that the official from being put on trial in India. The victims are two Nepalese women duped and imprisoned in the Saudi diplomat’s apartment and forced to suffer all kinds of violence. New Delhi had sought collaboration. “His repatriation solves India’s embarrassment”.
New Delhi (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The Saudi diplomat accused of forcibly imprisoning two Nepalese women domestic workers and subjecting them to sexual abuse for months in his private, has used his diplomatic immunity to flee India.
Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup, made the announcement last night, just days after having convoked the Saudi ambassador to resolve the issue and issuing a request to authorities in Riyadh to “hand over” the alleged rapist to police.
His flight would seem to have ended the delicate case involving two women of Nepalese origin (see photo), Juna Damai and the Gita Tamang (30 and 50), saved last week by a police raid in Gurgaon [Indian state of Haryana, about 30 kilometers from New Delhi — ed], following a complaint lodged by Maiti India association. Thanks to this women’s rights group, the police broke into the residence of the Saudi diplomat and rescued the victims, tried by months of abuse and violence.
The women, who returned to Nepal last week, said they had been lured by the diplomat with an advantageous job offer and had decided to leave the country of origin in search of a livelihood following the earthquake on 25 April that caused almost 9 thousand victims.
Instead on arrival in Gurgaon they were locked up in the diplomat’s apartment and exploited for sexual pleasures of the man and his friends. To sap their strength, their torturers starved them for days and threatened them with death.
The story has triggered anger among the population, which has also protested outside the Saudi ambassador’s residence demanding the diplomats arrest. However, the official enjoys the international protection established by the Vienna Convention of 1961, which protects diplomats working in foreign countries. Riyadh could have granted an interrogation, but eventually decided to bring it back home, avoiding the process in India.
Analysts believe that the return has solved the embarrassment for the government of New Delhi, which has good relations with Kathmandu but also important economic ties with Saudi Arabia, where about 3 million Indians live and work.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Diplomat Accused of Raping Maids Leaves India Under Cover of Immunity
A Saudi Arabian diplomat accused of repeatedly raping and abusing two Nepalese maids has left India under cover of diplomatic immunity, while Nepal on Thursday called for justice for the women.
India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup identified the diplomat as Majed Hassan Ashoor, the first secretary at the Saudi Embassy in New Delhi. The statement late on Wednesday said Mr Ashoor, “who is allegedly accused of abusing two Nepali maids, has left India”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Tries to Extract Pledge of Compliance From U.S. Tech Firms
The Chinese government, which has long used its country’s vast market as leverage over American technology companies, is now asking some of those firms to directly pledge their commitment to contentious policies that could require them to turn user data and intellectual property over to the government.
The government distributed a document to some American tech companies earlier this summer, in which it asked the companies to promise they would not harm China’s national security and would store Chinese user data within the country, according to three people with knowledge of the letter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The letter also asks the American companies to ensure their products are “secure and controllable,” a catchphrase that industry groups said could be used to force companies to build so-called back doors — which allow third-party access to systems — provide encryption keys or even hand over source code.
The document underlines the way China is wielding its power over the American tech industry.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Presents Details of Its Welfare System in China
(AGI) Beijing, Sept. 16 — The president of the Italian Social Security Institute (INPS) has presented details of the Italian welfare system in China. Tito Boeri explained Italy’s system of pensions and social security and the reforms that were carried out recently in a conference at the Italian Embassy in Beijing with the title “Reform and Economic Recovery in Italy”. China is greatly interested in the Italian system, as the country is facing serious welfare problems. It has more than 1.3 billion inhabitants and has been encountering difficulties replacing its aging workforce after more than 30 years of the government’s one-child policy. Boeri explained: “With regard to pensions, China is looking at the contributory system which was introduced in Italy in the second half of the nineties. This system closely ties contributions to future pensions, an aspect that is of much interest to the Chinese, who have difficulties collecting social security contributions.” Italy can serve as a model for China on the level of welfare as well, especially in the identification of beneficiaries. Boeri mentions the Italian system that allows for the collection of basic information about the assets of households and “allows us to understand who are the people that really need help.” But it will be difficult to replicate the European welfare models in China, Boeri continued. “No one can export a model to a country like China.
China is so large that it requires a special approach, although some aspects may turn out to be very important for the Asian giant.” During the conference, Boeri illustrated the ongoing reforms in Italy, starting with the labour market and the public administration. Italy and China may differ greatly when looking at the figures, but the start of Italy’s economic recovery could serve as a starting point for China’s slumping economy. Italy’s growth rate is “ridiculously low” compared to China’s 7 percent, Boeri pointed out, but Italy is coming out of a “bad recession” and is slowly recovering.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Seal Spotted Surfing Humpback Whale in Australia
An Australian photographer has captured a rare moment of animal communion with a shot of a fur seal surfing a humpback whale off the New South Wales coast.
Robyn Malcolm had been photographing a pod of whales on a feeding frenzy 500km (310 miles) south of Sydney.
But she only realised she had taken the unusual picture when she went through the photos later, she told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Animal experts say that witnessing such a partnership is rare.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
These Are the African Nations Most Exposed to China’s Slump
China’s slowdown is rippling across Africa and these three nations are the most exposed, relying on demand from the Asian economy for almost half their exports: Republic of Congo, Angola and Mauritania.
Oil accounts for the bulk of Angola’s and Congo’s exports, damaging their prospects after crude prices plunged 55 percent since the beginning of June last year to below $50 a barrel. The price of iron ore, which makes up more than 40 percent of Mauritania’s exports, has dropped by almost a third in the past year. The three nations each shipped more than 45 percent of their exports in 2014 to China, data from the International Monetary Fund shows.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
10 Dead, 20 Wounded This Month in Conflicts Over Land Between Nicaragua Settlers, Indians
MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Land conflicts between settlers and Miskito Indians on Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast have left at least nine people dead this month and 20 wounded.
Indians have armed themselves and are seeking to expel the settlers, who are drawn in part by the area’s rich tropical hardwood forests.
The latest death was that of Yatama Indian community leader Mario Lemans. Hundreds of Indians gathered Thursday in the coast’s main city, Puerto Cabezas, in preparation for his funeral.
President Daniel Ortega has blamed illegal land sales for the wave of settlers.
Police say Indians have burned some settlers’ homes. The Indians say police stationed in the area have shot at them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
6 Injured Mexican Tourists Returning From Egypt on Mexico’s Presidential Airplane
Mexico’s presidential airplane is flying six Mexican tourists who were wounded in an attack in Egypt back to their home country.
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department said Thursday that the victims were in stable condition and could be safely taken home for treatment.
Eight other Mexicans died Sunday when Egyptian forces hunting militants mistakenly attacked their convoy in the western desert.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chileans Pick Through Debris After Powerful Quake; Eight Killed
Residents picked through the rubble of destroyed buildings in central Chile on Thursday after a magnitude 8.3 earthquake killed eight people and sent powerful waves barreling into coastal areas, forcing more than 1 million people from their homes.
Violent aftershocks continued shaking the South American country on Thursday morning and locals said they feared another big quake, although the government lifted its tsunami warning.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Government Outraged as Court Orders New Provincial Election in Argentina
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A court has annulled a gubernatorial election in a stronghold of Argentina’s governing party, outraging officials of President Cristina Fernandez’s administration.
A court in Tucuman province ruled Wednesday that irregularities were so widespread in the Aug. 23 vote that new elections are necessary. Dozens of ballot boxes were burned and errors were found in the vote count that showed a pro-government candidate winning by 52 percent to 40 percent.
It’s the first time a court has thrown out a major election in Argentina since a dictatorship ended in 1983 and it infuriated officials in the politically heated run-up to the Oct. 25 presidential election.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mexican Authorities Captures Cartel Figure Implicated in Disappearance of 43 Students
MEXICO CITY — Federal authorities in Mexico have captured a high-ranking drug cartel member who they implicate in the disappearance of 43 college students in the southern state of Guerrero last year.
The Attorney General’s Office did not immediately offer comment or confirmation, but Guerrero state chief prosecutor Miguel Angel Godinez Munoz confirmed the capture of Gildardo Lopez Astudillo in a statement Thursday.
In November, then Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said it was Lopez Astudillo who informed his boss Sidronio Casarrubias Salgado that their rivals were causing trouble in Iguala. Casarrubias allegedly then instructed him to defend their turf.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria Calls for EU €1bn Refugee Fund
Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz and senior figures in the centre-right EPP group in the EU parliament have urged the EU Commission to find €1bn for Syrian refugees in Middle East camps. Their letter says the EU is on “the brink of our ability to receive and absorb more people”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Spielfeld Prepares for Thousands of Refugees
Spielfeld in Styria looks set to become the new entrance point for thousands of refugees crossing the border from Slovenia, after Hungary closed its entire border with Serbia and made it illegal for migrants to enter the country.
With Hungary’s border shut, more and more refugees are heading towards Croatia, which is not in the Schengen zone and has said it is ready to receive refugees and will also allow them to travel on to northern Europe if they wish.
Austrian, Croatian and Slovenian officials are holding talks on Thursday to discuss in detail the passage of refugees into Austria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: All Beds Taken at World Trade Centre
For the first time since the creation of 300 emergency beds for refugees in the Brussels World Trade Centre all available beds were taken last night. By tomorrow evening a further 200 beds will be created.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel has said that the tent camp in the Maximilian Park must be cleared at the earliest. Meanwhile the Belgian government is drawing up a distribution plan to spread asylum seekers across the country.
The Prime Minister hopes a balance can be found. At present municipalities are taking in asylum seekers on a voluntary basis, but if need be numbers will be imposed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bulgaria Sends Troops to Guard Border With Turkey
Bulgaria is sending more soldiers to strengthen controls along its border with Turkey and avoid a refugee influx that has overwhelmed its neighbours, Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev said on Wednesday.
Bulgaria took the measures after reports that hundreds of mostly Syrian refugees have spent the night in the open near the Turkish border with Greece, which is also very close to Bulgarian-Turkish border.
Bulgaria is a member of the European Union but not the border-free Schengen Area.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Croatia Worried About Migrant Surge as Up to 5,000 Enter in 24 Hours
Country is new route to western Europe after Hungary closed border and has offered refugees free passage
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Czech Military Bracing Itself for Border Control
Prague, Sept 17 (CTK) — The Czech military has prepared a list of equipment it may use for the protection of the national border if need be, as indicated by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) on Tuesday, daily Lidové noviny (LN) writes today.
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Dutch Prisons, Tents and Conference Centres to House Hundreds of Refugees
Empty prisons, conference centres and other public buildings are being turned into emergency centres to house the thousands of refugees arriving in the Netherlands as the call for action gathers pace.
Nijmegen city council is to set up a massive camp of tents to house 3,000 refugees, local paper the Gelderlander said on Wednesday.
The distinctive dome prisons in Arnhem and Haarlem will house several hundred asylum seekers, as will the Jaarbeurs exhibition centre in Utrecht, broadcaster Nos reports.
Amsterdam has also agreed to take in 1,500 people but no locations have yet been made public. Empty offices and sports halls are likely to be used, Nos says.
The refugee settlement agency COA and junior justice minister Klaas Dijkhoff had urged local authorities to pull out all the stops to identify potential locations.
In Weert, the council voted almost unanimously to house up to 1,000 people in a former army barracks for a period of up to five years. The council said the army base has all the right facilities available, making it eminently suitable to house refugees.
The Netherlands said on Monday it was increasing border checks in an effort to monitor the flow of refugees since Germany closed its border with Austria.
Last week, over 3,000 asylum seekers came to the Netherlands and the Ter Apel registration centre is struggling to cope.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU Parliament Gives Green Light to Refugee Relocation Plan
The European Parliament has strongly backed a proposal to relocate 120,000 refugees around EU member states to ease pressure on Greece, Hungary and Italy. Several eastern European countries oppose the plan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Rebukes Hungary as Refugee Crisis Tensions Escalate
The European Union’s migration chief rebuked Hungary on Thursday (17 September) for its tough handling of refugees, as asylum seekers thwarted by a new Hungarian border fence, and repelled by riot police, poured into Croatia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Says Italian Asylum Hotspots Already Functioning
Mattarella says time for European ‘responsibility’
(ANSA) — Rome, September 16 — The European Union on Wednesday said that so-called hotspots for processing asylum claims were already up and running in Italy — directly contradicting Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and other government officials who had vowed that the spots would only become operational once the EU agreed to share the burden of repatriations.
Speaking on Italian TV Tuesday night, Gentiloni noted that, for example, thousand and thousands of economic migrants would have to be repatriated from the second hotspot nation, Greece — an operation “on a scale not seen since the Berlin air lift”.
“Can we expect Greece to pay for that on its own,” he asked, saying that the EU principle of burden sharing must include not only mandatory quotas under a new EU right of asylum but also a special fund to help the countries of greater migrant reception pay for sending them back home if their asylum claims are turned down.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano reiterated this Wednesday, saying that “we are ready” to set up migrant registration centres called hotspots but they will only be activated “at the same time as the redistribution of the 24,000 asylum seekers (envisaged by mandatory quotas that were blocked at a recent EU summit) and repatriations”.
In the same vein, other officials from the ruling Democratic Party (PD) have suggested that EU structural funds be withheld from those member States who are unwilling to do their fair bit for the migrant and refugee emergency.
“This is something that should be considered,” said Friuli-Venezia Giulia Governor Deborah Serracchiani, “for those eastern European countries that are refusing to take migrants in or let them pass — such as Hungary, which has arrested hundreds of refugees at its newly constructed fence on the border with Serbia.
The Italian media, and some opposition figures, have also voiced voices that, given the sluggishness of Italian bureaucracy, the hotspots would become “major refugee camps on Italian soil, with all the problems they entail”.
But optimists have retorted that foreign expertise, such as from the UNHCR, will be brought in to make the hotspots work more quickly and efficiently.
At all events, Natasha Bertaud, the European Commission’s migration spokesperson, said Wednesday that the so-called hotspots being created to process asylum claims were already starting to work in Italy. “Experts from EASO, Frontex, Eurojust and Europol are in Italy and the hotspots are starting to function, so it will be possible to start the relocations from the start of October,” she said. ANSA sources said Italy and Greece had both delivered their roadmaps for dealing with the refugee emergency to Brussels.
But Italian President Sergio Mattarella appeared to resist EU pressure on Italy to open the hotspots by saying that “a comprehensive response” including repatriations, quotas and other burden sharing was needed before they could become operational. “Only that way is an effective response possible”, he said.
Mattarella added that an “assumption of responsibility by the European Union” was necessary to deal with the refugee emergency after a meeting with his Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer. “This is a growing phenomenon whose size means it must have common EU management and not be handled by the individual countries,” Mattarella said.
“The EU must be more present on all dossiers,” Mattarella added.
Europe’s migrant crisis took another ugly turn Wednesday when Hungarian riot police used tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons to beat back hundreds of people massed at the border with Serbia after some broke through a gate. Children cried as they fled from the acrid smoke, and several people fainted in the chaos. With the route through Hungary apparently closed, some migrants set out on a longer, more arduous route into Western Europe through Croatia.
With several countries having closed their borders — Germany and others temporarily given a huge surge in Syrian refugees — Italian officials have highlighted the risks to the free movement of people enshrined in the Schengen Accords.
European Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told a plenary session of the European Parliament Wednesday the closure of borders by several EU members “is not the end of Schengen, Schengen exists, it’s a great success of the EU and we will defend it”.
Avramopoulos told the EP that “the defence of borders with violence is not compatible with European values and principles”.
Slovenia on Wednesday became the latest country to restore temporary border controls along its border with Hungary.
With the Hungarian fence in place, many Syrian refugees were said to be returning to Croatia, running the risk of straying into areas peppered with old mines from the conflict that ensued when Yugoslavia broke up.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “shocked at seeing how some migrants and refugees are being treated, it’s not acceptable.” He said “these are people fleeing war and persecution and they must be treated with human dignity”.
Ban urged all States to “assume their responsibilities and carry out their legal obligations”.
Hungarian Premier Viktor Urban said that if EU quotas became law they would have to be “accepted”.
He said that a fence would also go up on the border with Croatia.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU-Bound Migrants at Risk of Land Mines in Croatia
People trying to walk to the EU via Croatia, after Hungary sealed its border, risk straying into old minefields, a Facebook group has warned.
Croatian media reports say hundreds of refugees have begun crossing the border from Sid, in north-west Serbia, to Tovarnik, in Croatia following Hungary’s move on Tuesday.
The new arrivals are making their way into Croatia in an orderly manner.
But Croatian people have warned them, on Facebook and Wikipedia , of the dangers of Balkan War-era minefields.
The Facebook site, called “Dear Refugees: Welcome to Croatia”, said, in English and Arabic: “If you’re about to make the trip to Europe through Croatia please read here. Beware of minefields!”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fortress Europe Reinforced in Hungary and Austria
Buses in Serbia are reportedly preparing to take refugees to the Croatian border after Hungary completely sealed its border on Tuesday (15 September) with a razor-wire fence.
Budapest also announced the construction of a new fence along the Romanian border, while Austria reintroduced border controls along its south-eastern borders.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Mayor of Beziers to Syrian Refugees “You’re Not Welcome” (Video)
BEZIERS — As Europe continues to face the worst refugee crisis since World War II, a far-right French politician has been filmed storming in on squats inhabited by Syrian refugees, telling them that they are “not welcome in this town.”
Angry that the refugees have allegedly broken into apartments and begun squatting there, Robert Ménard, mayor of the town of Beziers in southern France, is seen marching into a building while surrounded by police — including an armed guard.
Accompanied by a translator who delivers the messages in English, Ménard tells a Syrian man: “You are not welcome in this town. You came in this apartment breaking the door.”
He goes on to say: “You are stealing the water. People are paying for water, but you are just stealing electricity and water. It’s not allowed in this town to just come in an apartment and live in it, without being allowed to it.”
The right-wing politician says the Syrian refugees would be welcome if he “behaved correctly.”
He then continues his ‘tour,’ knocking on two more doors and telling a person that he “will be welcome only if he respects the rules of this country and city.”
Text at the beginning of the video states that dozens of refugees have been invading the rent-controlled neighborhood of La Deveze, “smashing doors” and “stealing water and electricity.”
Ménard also made headlines in May, when he was accused of racism and questioned by authorities after he claimed his administration analyzed the names of school children in Beziers to determine how many were Muslim. Stating that 64.6 percent were of the Islamic faith, he said that reflected an “immigration problem.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France: Police Clear Out Two Refugee Camps in Paris
Police and local officials evacuated two refugee camps in Paris early on Thursday as France comes under pressure to do more for the thousands of migrants living in squalid conditions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Dismantles Two Paris Migrant Camps
Paris authorities evacuated more than 500 mostly African migrants from two makeshift camps on Thursday morning, moving them to special housing as France steps up its efforts to deal with Europe’s migrant crisis.
City social workers and charity workers arrived at the camp before dawn Thursday, watched over by French police.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Refugee Agency Head Steps Down
Manfred Schmidt, head of the federal agency for migration and refugees in Germany, has resigned, German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has reported.
Schmidt has cited personal reasons for the move.
This comes after tens of thousands of migrants have arrived in Germany over the past weeks.
Initially the country was determined to receive most of them and then imposing temporary border control with Austria, with the city of Munich warning it has no more capacity whatsoever to accommodate the migrants.
Schmidt’s agency is in charge of processing migrants’ asylum request and has therefore been the focus of a debate in Germany as to whether all migrants should be welcomed in the country.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
German Interior Minister Aims to Toughen Asylum Law
Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere is seeking to toughen asylum laws by sending migrants back to the first European Union country they reached and by reducing benefits, under a draft law seen by AFP Thursday.
The draft, which has not yet been approved by the council of ministers, aims to discourage asylum-seekers flowing into Germany, which is expecting this year’s influx to spike to up to a million migrants from 200,000 last year.
Such a law, if passed, would represent a major reversal on Germany’s easing of asylum laws for Syrians…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Refugee Crisis in Bavarian Border Town: ‘We Can’t Take Them All’
A small Bavarian town on the Austrian border has been overwhelmed by the constant flood of refugees passing through. Citizens are at their wits’ end. Daniel Heinrich reports from Freilassing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Police Hunt Smugglers on Czech Border
Federal police in Saxony have set up border checks on the main road between the eastern state and the Czech Republic as refugees seek to avoid travelling through Hungary on the way to Germany.
“The situation in Serbia and Hungary could lead to more people smugglers appearing” on the Czech border, a federal police spokesman said on Thursday in Pirna, southeast of Dresden.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Unapologetic, Unequivocal: The Real Merkel Finally Stands Up
German Chancellor Angela Merkel this week defended her embrace of refugees with an uncharacteristic outburst of compassion that is likely to go down in history. In doing so, she finally revealed a bit of her true political thinking.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Merkel Wants Car Industry’s Support for Refugees
Opening the IAA Motor Show in Frankfurt, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged the domestic auto industry to offer vocational training and jobs for refugees. She said their integration required everyone’s support.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel used her Thursday visit to the IAA Motor Show in Frankfurt to urge domestic carmakers to intensify their efforts to help as many refugees as possible. “We are an attractive country,” Merkel said. “Many refugees expect us to help them with the integration process.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Refugee Numbers Back up Despite Border Checks
The migrant influx into Germany has risen sharply again, days after the introduction of border controls, with police counting 9,100 irregular entries Wednesday, up from about 6,000 the previous day.
Federal police said Thursday that “almost all came from Austria”, with about 2,000 arriving on trains Wednesday and the rest by road or on foot, three days after Germany introduced passport checks on borders Sunday.
Germany may receive one million people seeking refugee status this year, up from the record 800,000 arrivals predicted so far, said Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Walls and Violence Will Not Solve Migrant Crisis, Says Avramopoulos
The European Union’s migration commissioner said on Thursday that barriers of the kind that Hungary had erected on its Serbian border were temporary solutions that only diverted refugees and migrants to other countries and escalated tensions.
“There is no wall you would not climb, no sea you would not cross if you are fleeing violence and terror,” he said. “We have a moral duty to offer them protection.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greeks Preparing for Possible New Wave of Migrants on Land Border With Turkey
Greece said on Thursday it was possible that large groups of refugees from Syria may be about to seek entry into the country from its land border with Turkey.
This would be a relatively new entry point to Greece for the refugees, tens of thousands of whom have braved small boats and sometimes dangerous seas this summer to get from Turkey to Greek islands such as Kos and Lesbos and onwards into the European Union.
“From our side, we are preparing for a possible new wave from the Evros border,” said Rodolphos Moronis, spokesman for Greece’s pre-election caretaker government.
The Evros river divides Greece from Turkey in the far northeast, south of Bulgaria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Half of Refugees Suffer Trauma: German Doctors
At least half of the refugees who have come to Germany have mental health problems because of trauma suffered in war or during their dangerous escapes, said the chamber of psychotherapists Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hurdles as Immigrants Seek Texas Birth Certificates for Children
McALLEN, Tex. — At the Republican debate Wednesday and throughout the campaign, candidates led by Donald J. Trump have assailed illegal immigration, and some have questioned whether children who are born to immigrants in this country illegally should be considered American citizens.
But here on the Texas border some communities are engaged in activities that go beyond talk, enforcing some of the toughest rules in the country limiting the types of ID parents can show to receive copies of birth certificates. The result has been a refusal to issue birth certificates to many of the Texas-born children of immigrants here illegally.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Lombardy Penalises Migrant-Hosting Hotels
The Italian region of Lombardy on Wednesday approved new rules designed to penalise hotel owners who take part in a government scheme to accomodate some recently-arrived migrants, media reports said.
The Lombardy move was backed by regional governor Roberto Maroni’s anti-immigrant Northern League and the centre-right. Other parties opposed the move and have vowed to have it declared unconstitutional as soon as it is formally enacted.
The proposal stopped short of a demand by Northern League leader Matteo Salvini for hotel owners housing migrants to be stripped of their licences on the grounds that they are aiding and abetting illegal immigration.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kukan: EU Plays Ping Pong With Refugees
BRUSSELS — The current situation on the Hungarian-Serbian border is extremely worrying, as it is worsening by the minute, and it requires an urgent response, European Parliament member Eduard Kukan has said following Hungary declaring a state of emergency because of a large influx of refugees in the country.
Closing the borders to refugees who are escaping war and playing ping pong with them between countries is contrary to the European principles and can lead to a humanitarian crisis of unimaginable proportions, Kukan, chair of the Parliamentary Delegation for Relations with Serbia, said in a statement for the media on Tuesday.
What goes on on the borders of the Union is just horrible. We are responsible for that. We have to find a solution together with the countries of the Western Balkans. I call on EU member-states to act quickly and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe, Kukan said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libyan Man Admits to Using Fake Passport
The accused had come to register a company in Malta but had used false documentation
The arrest of another person arriving from Libya using a falsified passport, has ended with the bearer being handed a suspended sentence this morning.
Police Inspector Frankie Sammut arraigned 39-year-old Libyan Ahmed Al Ragoub Alkilani Abubaker before magistrate Antonio MIcallef Trigona this morning, charging him with making a false declaration to a public authority and possession of a falsified immigration document.
Abubaker, who lives in Tunis was arrested yesterday at the airport.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants: UN Resolution for Action in Libyan Waters
AP, seizing and destruction of boats authorised
NEW YORK — The EU and single EU countries will be allowed to intervene in Libyan waters against boats seeking to smuggle migrants and refugees into Europe, according to a resolution submitted at the UN, the Associated Press reported.
The text authorises the EU and member state to “employ all necessary means”, in UN jargon, military action, “to contrast human traffickers and migrant smugglers”.
The resolution condemns “repeated tragedies resulting in the loss of hundreds of lives”.
It stresses the need for “an international response to address the issue at the heart and prevent” exploitation of human beings by traffickers.
The draft authorises naval operations by the EU and single countries to inspect suspect vessels and provides that they can be seized if there is confirmation that the vessels are used “for migrant-trafficking from Libya”.
This is a chapter 7 resolution as it entails the use of force as a measure of last resort and authorises the inspection, seizure and destruction of boats for a year.
According to diplomatic sources, quoted by AP, because of the different laws applied in Europe, Italy can already seize vessels, but Germany and the UK, whose ships are part of European operations, will first need approval by the UN Security Council. The resolution was submitted at the UN Security Council during a closed door session.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants: Croatia Won’t Close Borders But Resources Limited
6,200 arrived yesterday. Premier, we’ll do all we can
(ANSAmed) — ZAGREB, SEPTEMBER 17 — Six thousand and two hundred migrants crossed into Croatia in the last 24 hours after Hungary sealed its border with Serbia, said the Croatian Interior Minister.
Eight hundred people are already at a registration centre for asylum seekers close to Zagreb, brought by special trains.
Other 1,300 migrants have been taken to different reception centres, while 4,000 remain in the village of Tovarnik, on the border with Serbia.
Some Croatian Ministers told journalists that they expect up to 25 thousand migrants to enter Croatia in the next two weeks.
Premier Zoran Milanovic stated that “Croatia is a transit country for the refugees and it will not behave like other states closing its borders despite the fact that our resources are limited”.
Milanovic confirmed 5,650 migrants entered Croatia overnight from Serbia.
“We will do all we can, we will be positive, but our resources are limited and I am not sure we will be able to register this amount of people” added Milanovic stressing that “he needs to take the interest of Croatia into account”. Undersecretary for foreign affairs, Josip Klisovic, confirmed Zagreb does not intend to close its borders but if the flow of migrants will exceed the country’s capacity, it will request international aid.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Crisis — EU “No Longer Safe” Following Migrant Onslaught, According to Slovak Prime Minister
The European Union “is no longer a safe place” because of “the onslaught of hundreds of thousands of migrants” the Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, declared on Wednesday after a parliamentary debate. He cautioned against “terrorists” that could infiltrate the refugees and lamented that “thousands of people are fleeing across the borders and nobody is stopping them”.
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Migrant Crisis on Greek Islands Eclipses Election
All through the summer and now into the autumn, thousands of refugees and migrants have been arriving on the small tourist island of Leros in the eastern Aegean close to Turkey.
The large numbers have sparked such a profound crisis that the local mayor threatened this week to stop voters taking part in Sunday’s general election unless he received more help from the government in Athens.
At the peak in August and early September, up to 1,500 Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans were arriving every day, according to local officials. The total population of Leros is just 8,500.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Minister: Czech Republic Can Accept 7,000-15,000 Refugees
Prague, Sept 16 (CTK) — The Czech Republic would be able to accept 7,000 to 15,000 refugees now, also with the aid of firms, Human Rights Minister Jirí Dienstbier (senior government Social Democrats, CSSD) told reporters today.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Prime Minister and Wilders Clash Over Refugees
Prime minister Mark Rutte launched a strong attack on PVV leader Geert Wilders during the second day of debate on the government’s 2016 spending plans .
During his speech on Wednesday, Wilders had used phrases such as ‘Islamic asylum tsunami’ and described refugees as ‘testosterone bombs’ who ‘threaten our girls’. Rutte said on Thursday such terminology is ‘terrible’ and failed to make any contribution to finding a solution.
While agreeing with Wilders that some councils had not properly consulted their residents about the arrival of refugee centres, the prime minister said he had ‘very great faith’ in the Dutch people. They understand there is no simple answer to this complex problem, Rutte said.
‘We have to be fair to voters,’ Rutte said. ‘This is a complicated issue and there is no simple solution… and Wilders knows that more than anyone.’
Spending power
After focusing on the asylum issue, Rutte then turned to criticism of the spending power estimates published by the government on Tuesday, particularly by Socialist Party leader Emile Roemer.
Despite the government’s assurances in the king’s speech that pensioners and people on benefits will not be worse off, Roemer said 700,000 pensioners and 130,000 families on benefits would lose out. The government’s statement is, ‘to speak in plain Dutch a lie’, the MP said.
Rutte disagreed with Roemer’s conclusions, saying that on average, pensioners and people on benefits will be 0.2% better off next year. The prime minister admitted this is not much but it is better than the 1% decline in spending power which had originally been forecast.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Polish PM Joins Merkel in Welcoming Migrants
Polish PM Ewa Kopacz has said she’ll take in more refugees under the EU relocation scheme, despite fierce opposition ahead of elections. She told MPs at a parliament debate on Wednesday (16 September): “Poland has a chance to set an example in Europe”. Echoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s pro-migrant speech in the Bundestag on 30 August, she said: “Can’t a country of 40 million people (Poland) afford a gesture of solidarity?”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
President of Refugee Authority Steps Down
Germany: An Interior Ministry statement said that Manfred Schmidt had made the decision “for personal reasons”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Refugees Wary of Winter Closing Crossings From Turkey Into Greece
Hundreds of Syrians and other migrants thronged a small park in central Istanbul, hoping for a last chance to reach Europe before poor weather makes their favored route from Turkey to Greece too dangerous to undertake.
“It is time to go, while the door to Europe is open,” said Zopir, 20, who fled the Syrian town of Deir al-Zor three years ago and now wants to reach Europe before his wife, eight months pregnant, gives birth. “I am afraid, but I am ready.”
Zopir scraped together 8,000 euros ($9,000) for their trip, which begins in and near the park in Aksaray, a working-class district of Istanbul, by hiring a “dealer”: a front man for smugglers who help refugees reach the Aegean coast.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Salvini Says EP ‘Blowing Smoke Up Italy’s A**’
For approving relocation of 120,000 asylum seekers
(ANSA) — Bologna, September 17 — The leader of the anti-immigrant, anti-euro Northern League party said the European Parliament “blew smoke up Italy’s a**” Thursday when it approved the relocation of 120,000 asylum seekers who are presently in Greece, Hungary, and Italy.
“Today the EP blew smoke up Italians’ a** for the umpteenth time when it voted…to allow us to relocate 15,000 of those set to disembark in Italy over the next two years,” Salvini said.
He pointed out that if 300,000 asylum seekers reach Italy, this means 285,000 people will be allowed to stay.
The EP earlier in the day approved the European Commission’s plan to “urgently” relocate the 120,000 refugees to other EU member countries.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: After Arrival Refugees Wait for Homes, Asylum Decisions
As more refugees arrive in Sweden, the wait times for the decisions on their asylum cases have grown. The average wait time for a case last year was 142 days. This year, it jumped to 216 days or seven months.
“I survived the war and, sure, I feel safe now. But there’s nobody to help me build a new life,” Lama Abdulrahman told Swedish Radio. Abdulrahman is a 23 and fled Syria but has waited a year now at the Restad Gård in Vänersborg, a residence for refugees on the west coast.
The Migration Agency has said it is hiring new people and will open at least four new units to process asylum applications, but it does not anticipate shorter waiting times in the foreseeable future.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Police Describe Growing Group of North African Youths on Streets
Police in Stockholm are saying there is a growing number of youths from north African countries who come to Sweden unaccompanied and often end up as criminals on the streets.
The youths often come to Europe to escape broken families and poor job prospects. Police in Gothenburg told the newspaper that they have seen a rise in similar cases.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Asylum Seekers Stage Protest Over Accomodation
A group of asylum seekers refused to get off a bus in Dalarna, central Sweden, Thursday, because they were unhappy at being housed in an area they felt was in “the middle of nowhere”.
The group of around 25 asylum seekers arrived at the accomodation in Fredriksberg in the early hours and refused to get off the bus. They told reporters that they had received information that they were on their way to the larger town of Hedemora, but that did not happen. Mohammad Khaled was one of those who did not like the location. He told SVT News.
“When we came here, we found ourselves in this place, 30 minutes away from the nearest supermarket, and 45 minutes by car from a hospital, and no schools.”
When told by the reporter that there was a school, Mr. Khaled said.”They told us there is no school. But we just came here, we didn’t find any nearby civilisation. We want to be at a place that is central. We have kids and our wives. We need a place to study, to have a good life. We came to Sweden, the land of freedom — We think they are lying to us.”
He said that they would not be leaving the bus until they had talked face-to-face with someone from the Migration Agency. They were later met by a representative from the authority, and disembarked fom the bus.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of Refugees Rush Into Croatia to Find New Route to Western Europe
Thousands of refugees have begun pouring into Croatia, setting up a new path toward Western Europe after Hungary used tear gas and water cannons to keep them out of its territory.
Croatian police said Thursday morning that some 5,650 refugees have come into the country since the first groups started arriving early on Wednesday. Authorities have been using trains and buses to transfer them to refugee centers in the capital, Zagreb, and elsewhere.
Authorities say they are forming a special body to deal with the influx. Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic said the country has the situation under control. But he warned that “if huge waves start coming through Serbia we must consider different moves.”
Croatia represents a longer and more arduous route into Europe for the asylum-seekers from Syria and elsewhere who have been fleeing into Europe in the past months. But they have little choice after Hungary sealed off its southern border with Serbia on Tuesday and began arresting anyone caught trying to enter the country illegally.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tovarnik: A New Hotspot in the EU Migrant Crisis
Hussam Ehsan, a 28-year-old Syrian economist, lights another cigarette while waiting next to train tracks for a ride to western Europe.
He’s one of over 1,000 refugees stuck, on Thursday (17 September), at the tiny station in Tovarnik — a Croatian town over the border from Serbia, which has become the new hotspot in Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since WWII.
They made their way overnight to Croatia from Serbia, after violent scenes on Wednesday at the Hungarian-Serbian border, which was closed on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Blasts Obama for Favoring Muslim Over Christian Refugees
With the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) creating a refugee “crisis” that has created a media feeding frenzy, multi-billionaire real estate mogul and GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump blasted President Barack Obama for his pro-Muslim bias and allowing thousands of fleeing Syrian Muslims asylum in the U.S. while keeping the needy Christian refugees out, according to a special New Yorker Magazine story released on Sunday.
While criticizing Obama and his immigration activities he claims has contributed to Americans being victimized by murderers and rapists, Trump is now slamming the president what he calls Obama’s shameful response to the ISIS refugee issue. The New Yorker and other publications quote Trump as saying we need to “fix our own country first” before bringing in hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim immigrants that are already flooding European countries. Trump also singled out Obama for deliberate religious discrimination.
Just last week, Archbishops in the Middle East seemed to agree with Trump when they too slammed Obama for discrimination against Christians — “the ones who are truly being slaughtered and persecuted by Islamic radicals” — in the granting of visas.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Up to 100 Mn Migrants Could Reach Europe — Hungary PM
Orban says many also coming from sub-Saharan Africa
(ANSA) — Berlin, September 17 — Up to 100 million migrants and refugees could reach Europe in the near future, Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban said in an interview with German daily Die Welt on Thursday.
“Studies by Frontex talk of millions, I believe it’s possible to imagine that 100 million will arrive,” Orban said in the interview, pointing also to migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.
Europe is struggling to cope with a massive influx of migrants fleeing war, conflict and persecution in the Middle East and Africa with disagreements over how to manage the arrivals stoking tension between EU member states.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
What Challenges Do Afghan Asylum Seekers Face in Germany?
More and more Afghans are arriving in Germany in pursuit of a better life as the security situation worsens back home. But what conditions do they face and how do their lives change? DW examines.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why Western Nations Should Only Accept Christian Refugees
By Raymond Ibrahim
As refugees from the Middle East flood the West, a number of countries—including Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Cyprus, and Australia—are defying political correctness by wanting to accept Christian refugees only.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Invites Transgender, ‘Gay’ Bishop, Pro-Abortion Nun to Meet Pope
(BREITBART) President Obama and Pope Francis may be sympatico on climate change, capitalism, and other far-left issues, but when it comes to the teachings of the Catholic Church, they don’ t agree on much.
The president will put this to the test, because he has invited a pro-abortion nun, a gay bishop, and a transgender female to the White House to meet the pontiff.
Pope Francis has shown himself to be tolerant, but isn’ t this a slap in the face to so publicly challenge Catholic doctrine?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Boy in the Girls’ Locker Room
Students at Hillsboro High School in Missouri walked out last week to protest the school board’s decision to let a 17-year-old boy use the girls’ locker room with the girls still in it.
Three of the board members resigned in protest.
As a gutless compromise, the school board provided this person with his very own “gender-neutral” locker room. Nothing doing. I am a girl, declares the boy, and I demand the right to undress in the girls’ locker room with the other girls! (For M.A.S.H. fans, why didn’t Corporal Klinger think of that?) And of course the school board capitulated.
I wonder how far “I am a Christian, and I demand my own space where I can pray for the conversion of my teachers” would have gone. Think they would’ve given in to that demand?
But wait—it may be time for the whole country to surrender to “millennials.” That means someone born after 1981. Heaven help us: Washington Times columnist Robert Knight reports that Millenials are the largest voting bloc by age, and they are currently cuckoo for socialist Bernie Sanders.
[Comment: Gaga for Bernie…this is what happens when the next generation is ignorant of history and the evils of Communism.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The article on the ‘Banking Criminals Exposed’ goes halfway to explaining the current mess, financial and political, that the West now finds itself in.
If 100 million refugees arrive over the next few years, we will automatically be reduced to minority status. All the bloody battles fought throughout the centuries to preserve our way of life, personal and religious freedom will have been in vain. The white-hating liberal elite has managed to succeed where Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin failed. As I watch the brainwashed Europeans happily welcoming our furure overlords, it is like a condemned martyr bringing his own wood to his funeral pyre.
‘Bring their own wood to the funeral pyre’. Very Islamic pleasing behavior by the weak peace loving watered down liberal masses. These are no martyrs. These are the degenerate useful idiots mirror image and the fuel that gives life to the isislamic animals. We had better start winding up our populations on the real probabilities rather that utopian impossibilities.
After having been on the run for over a month arrived yesterday 48 people to his new home in Frederiksberg.
But when they arrived at the asylum accommodation and many became so disappointed that they refused to leave the bus.
– We feel cheated. If this is not changed, the bus is our new home, http://play.mittmedia.se/video…
Did they expect to be housed at the Grand Hotel Stockholm?
“Refugees” explaining for Danish TV2 reporter about the “refugee salary”… – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB34Keb6Q4k
PM Orbán: Migrants’ Tuesday Attack On Hungarian Border Took Place With “Organised Media Background”
HEY!! There are two muslim countries in Europe, ALBANIA and BOSNIA.
Why are the muslim refugees hot footing it to the NORTH???
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ freestuff$$$$$$$$$$$$$FREEHOUSING$$$$$$$Potential rape victims$$$$$$Atheists to murder$$$$$Christians to murder$$$$$$$Jews tomurder$$$$$territory to steal$$$$$$$$$$$$$$Churches to destroy$$$$$$$$$
As a middle age, American military veteran, I worry about the pending violence in Europe. This Youtube video says it all: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ENbdNetO-HA
It depicts young, angry, male migrants kicking down a border gate in Croatia this week. Every intelligent human being wants a safe place to live and housing, education for their children. However, their demands (perceived rights) end where indigenous citizen’s rights begin – namely respect for their borders, country side, public parks, transportation centers, etc.
Third world parents are never held responsible for breeding like rabbits and bringing life into their world of poverty, joblessness, and war zones. Meanwhile, Westerners know their children will be ostracized and/or suffer economically & educationally if born in section 8, government housing. So they limit their offspring to 1-2 children. Of course we have lazy, and/or mentally challenged citizens who live off the government welfare system and get rewarded for having children born out of wedlock, without a father’s legal support & financial responsibilities.
I hope nothing sinister is in the works for a one world government, banking system. Merkel did a flip flop this year; telling a Muslim girl not every migrant can be accepted in Germany. Then apologizing to the liberal press for being insensitive to the tearful girl’s request. And now opening the floodgates to Europe.
Obama & Kerry are doing the same thing in America – increasing Muslim immigration from 10,000 to over 150,000 by 2016.