Concerned by the continuing weak economy in Europe, the European Central Bank is planning a new program of “quantitative easing”, to last until at least September 2016. Every month the ECB will purchase up to €60 billion (other reports say €50 billion) in sovereign bonds from EU member states to maintain the desired level of liquidity in the Eurozone.

In other news, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has died at the age of 90. He will reportedly be succeeded by Crown Prince Salman, his 79-year-old half-brother.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, K, Nick, Papa Whiskey, Phyllis Chesler, Steen, Takuan Seiyo, 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.

ECB Unveils Massive QE Boost for Eurozone

The European Central Bank (ECB) says it will inject at least €1.1 trillion into the ailing eurozone economy.

The ECB will buy bonds worth €60bn per month until the end of September 2016 and possibly longer, in what is known as quantitative easing (QE).

The ECB has also said eurozone interest rates are being held at the record low of 0.05%, where they have been since September 2014.

ECB president Mario Draghi said the programme would begin in March.

The eurozone is flagging and the ECB is seeking ways to stimulate spending.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



ECB Weighing Monthly 50bn-Euro QE Program Says Bloomberg

‘Avoid signs of disunity’ says Merkel

(ANSA) — Rome, January 21 — The European Central Bank (ECB) is weighing a quantitative easing program (QE) worth 50 billion euros a month through 2016, Bloomberg business news reported Wednesday. Massive sovereign bond purchases would begin in March, informed sources told Bloomberg. “Signals pointing to a weakened reform drive or decreased European cooperation must be avoided at all costs,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said regarding rumours ECB chief Mario Draghi may launch a QE program as early as Thursday.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Greece Elections: Syriza to Halt Negotiations With Troika

Says party official in charge of economic sector

(ANSA) — ATHENS — A potential government led by Syriza, the radical left party considered a likely winner of elections on January 25, will not recognize the Memorandum, or agreements signed by the Greek government with Greece’s international creditors at the start of the crisis, said Yannis Dragassakis, who is in charge of the party’s economic sector, speaking at a congress of The Economist in Athens.

He said that Syriza recognized the agreements signed by the party but that they needed to be re-examined. “We recognize public debt but want to check where it comes from”, said Dragassakis, adding that Syriza will consider the Memorandum as a letter of intent not binding the country.

Moreover if Syriza became a government member, it would suspend the control of the troika — IMF, EU and ECB — over the country’s economy, continued Dragassakis.

A potential government with Syriza will ask for time to present the basis of its program, that will concern the medium and long-term with less primary surplus that will not go to pay old debts, he added.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Swedish Government Welcomes ECB Eurozone Boost

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and finance minister Magdalena Andersson welcomed on Thursday the ECB’s €1.1 trillion injection into the ailing eurozone economy.

“It is good that the European Central Bank takes low inflation seriously,” Magdalena Andersson (S) said when asked about the ECB’s historic support programme to boost inflation.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Swiss Central Bank Says Ending Franc Cap Was ‘Best Option’

Switzerland would have had to spend more than $100 billion this month alone if it had continued efforts to hold down the value of its currency, a senior central bank official said Thursday.

In a shock move a week ago, the Swiss National Bank scrapped a three-year-effort to keep down the value of the franc, sending the Swiss currency soaring by as much as 30 percent.

The soaring franc wreaked havoc on global markets and bankrupted several foreign exchange traders.

But the central bank has ardently defended the move, insisting its efforts to enforce the ceiling, including purchasing massive amounts of foreign currency, were no longer sustainable.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Syriza’s Surge: Radical Left Outsiders Promising End to Austerity Prepare for Power in Greece

ATHENS, Greece — Dressed in an open-collar shirt and blue suede shoes, Alexis Tsipras arrives at his party’s headquarters for a live Q-and-A session on Twitter. The session is moderated by a leftwing newspaper that normally sells less than 2,000 copies a day. But Tsipras is reaching a much bigger audience: Foreign camera crews pack the tiny studio, and soon the hashtag #asktsipras is trending worldwide.

Tsipras is Greece’s unlikely man of the moment.

His radical left Syriza party is poised to win Greece’s general election on Sunday — riding a wave of anger over austerity measures imposed as a condition for an international bailout. The telegenic Tsipras has long railed the loudest against the draconian cut-backs that have ruined countless Greek families, and he’s now reaping the rewards of a promise to scrap or renegotiate the bailout.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Can a City Sue a TV Channel?

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has said she plans to sue Fox News for a broadcast that described parts of the French capital as “no-go zones” for non-Muslims. But is it possible for a city to take out a libel action against a TV channel, asks Thomas Dahlhaus?

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Jay Leno Blasts Bill Cosby, Backs New Talk Show Host Larry Wilmore at NATPE

Jay Leno finally spoke out against fellow NBC alum Bill Cosby and the sexual assault allegations surrounding the comedian. “I don’t know why it’s so hard to believe women,” the former “Tonight Show” host, 64, said onstage during an interview at NATPE Wednesday. “You go to Saudi Arabia and you need two women to testify against a man. Here you need 25,” Leno added.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



‘Liberal,’ ‘Tolerant’ Vanderbilt Muslims Seek to Bully Black Professor Into Silence

A black Vanderbilt University professor’s op-ed critical of Islamic terrorism has touched off a wave of protest by Muslim students and other critics.

The op-ed author is Carol Swain, a longtime professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt and a self-proclaimed political conservative. Her op-ed, entitled “Charlie Hebdo attacks prove critics were right about Islam,” appeared in The Tennessean (Nashville’s main newspaper) on Jan. 15.

Swain, who opposes burqas and advocates stronger efforts at assimilation for American Muslims, argued that radical Islam “poses an absolute danger to us and our children unless it is monitored better than it has been under the Obama administration.”

In response, Muslim students, led by Vanderbilt undergraduate Farishtay Yamin, took great offense.

Yamin told The Vanderbilt Hustler, the campus newspaper, that she “could not believe her eyes” when she read Swain’s column. The student also quickly labeled Swain’s opinion as “hate speech.”

She then used Facebook to set up a “Campus-Wide Protest Against Hate Speech Published in the Tennessean” on Saturday afternoon.

Attendance at the fairly brief event was in the low hundreds, The College Fix reports. Students who showed up brought signs emblazoned with slogans such as “Better a brat than a bigot.”

Yamin, who is the publicity chair for Vanderbilt’s Muslim Student Association, told the audience in no uncertain terms that a black female professor’s speech must be restricted if she says “these kinds of things” in the future.

[Prof. Swain deserves our support in resisting this fascistic campaign. — PW]

Martin Luther King Family Feud Over Sale of ‘Sacred’ Nobel Peace Medal

A bitter family feud between the surviving children of Martin Luther King Jr is to reach court in the US on Tuesday when a judge will rule over the ownership of the civil rights leader’s travelling bible and 1964 Nobel Peace Prize medal.

The two items, which are estimated to worth up to $10m (£6m), are at the centre of a long-running dispute between Dr King’s daughter, Bernice, and his two sons, Martin Luther King III and Dexter Scott King, who reportedly want to put them up for private sale.

The medal and the travelling bible, which was last seen in public in January 2013 when it was used to swear in President Barack Obama for his second term in office, are considered among two of the most important and valuable artefacts from the 1960s civil rights movement.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Austria: ‘Proof’ of Secret Nazi Weapons Facility

New information about a secret Nazi underground weapons facility has been published in St. Georgen in Upper Austria, the site of a former concentration camp.

The small town, with a population of nearly 4,000, was the location of KZ Gusen II during World War II, one of the most brutal sub-camps of the Mauthausen-Gusen system.

Austrian documentary filmmaker Andreas Sulzer had been looking for evidence of the largest underground Nazi armaments manufacturer, known as project Bergkristall, where Germans produced the first fighter jets.

However, he believes he also unearthed evidence of a secret underground atomic weapons programme.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Belgium: Hergé Museum Cancels Charlie Hebdo Exhibition

The Hergé-museum in Louvain-la-Neuve (Walloon Brabant) has cancelled an exhibition due to open today that was to have been a tribute to the makers of the French satirical magazine ‘Charlie Hebdo’. The website of the Francophone daily ‘Le Soir’ reports that the decision to cancel was taken for security reasons.

The local authority in Louvain-la-Neuve was only informed about the exhibition on yesterday. The Mayor of Louvain-la-Neuve Jean-Luc Roland(Green) and representatives from the Local Police Service decided to take a look for themselves at what was going to be exhibited.

They then informed the head of Moulinsart (the Hergé Foundation) Nick Rodwell about the risks that such an exhibition would pose. Moulinsart was told that both staff at the museum and the population of Louvain-la-Neuve as a whole would be endangered if the exhibition were to go ahead.

Mayor Roland says that as an advocate of free speech he finds it regrettable that the exhibition is not going ahead. However, the Association of Walloon City and Municipal Authority had advised against the exhibition taking place in the current climate.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Belgium: “Don’t Want to Pour Oil Onto Troubled Water”

Antwerp Mayor bans anti-Islam demonstration

The Mayor of Antwerp Bart De Wever (nationalist) has banned a march by the Flemish branch of the anti-Islam organisation Pegida. Since October 2014 Pegida has been organising public demonstrations in Germany (photo above) against what it claims to be the “Islamisation” of the Western world.

A Flemish branch of Pegida was set up recently and the organisation had hoped to stage a demonstration in Antwerp on Monday 26 January.

However, due to the heightened terror threat, the police in Antwerp advised the city’s Mayor against allowing the march to go ahead. A counter-demonstration has also been banned.

In a press statement released on Wednesday, the office of Antwerp’s Mayor Bart De Wever writes that “In the current context (with the heightened terror threat) both demonstrations pose a risk to public safety and as such would require a large police presence. This is why the police advised against allowing the demonstrations to take place, advice that was followed by the Mayor. “

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Co-Mai Asks for Registry Italian Imams, Migration Law

“Satire to respect dignity” says secretary of National Press

(ANSAmed) — ROME — The Arab community in Italy represented by the Co-mai association on Wednesday presented a number of proposals under the “Not in my name” initiative at a press conference organized by the international movement Uniti per Unire (united to unite) and online newspaper La Svolta in the Rome office of the Italian press federation. The manifesto includes a call to set up a national registry of Italian imams so prayers are also recited in Italian and to boost cooperation between mosques and institutions. The manifesto also calls for Italian and European laws to control immigration, criticizes the freedom to insult and provoke, the exploitation of Islam, terror and immigration for political, electoral or media visibility reasons.

The ten-point document drafted in cooperation with the majority of Arab and Muslim communities across the country, explained the president of Co-mai, Foad Aodi, is aimed at distancing the community from terror and violence after the terror attacks in Paris. “We are the first victims of what is going on in the world”, he said, addressing representatives of the embassies of Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Egypt and the Arab League, as well as the ambassador of the Arab League in Italy, Youssef Nassif Hitti.

“Information serves the freedom of all citizens and satire is one of many expressions of information, that must be carried out respecting the dignity of people”, according to the secretary-general of the National Federation of the Italian Press (FNSI), Franco Siddi, who addressed this morning the press conference

Proposals in the “Not in my name” manifesto include the “reactivation of regional and national chambers of Muslim Arab communities and associations alsoof foreign origin to boost cooperation among institutions”.

A priority outlined is also the creation of a registry of Italian imams.

Aodi denounced “do-it-yourself mosques that damage Muslims”. Nobody, he noted, “can wake up in the morning and set up a mosque with unclear regulations”.

In the document, that was applauded by the Ministers Alfano and Gentiloni, as well as by Premier Renzi, and which will be officially presented to Italian authorities this afternoon, Co-mai asks for more cooperation — also financially- between countries of immigration and host countries, as well as Arab and Euro-Mediterranean countries and the UN, added Aodi.

Aodi also called against the “provocations of (Northern League leader Matteo) Salvini, politically the most dangerous person in Italy”, who encourages hatred and fear towards Muslims and Arabs, he concluded.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Denmark’s “Open Door” And Its Limitless Beneficiaries

by Ingrid Carlqvist and Lars Hedegaard

As Amir Taheri said: If you want to integrate newcomers, you have to get rid of people who make a living out of integrating them.

Whether or not the majority if Muslims are peace-loving, tolerant and democratic is of no consequence, so long as the violent, radical and undemocratic minority calls the shots.

It is no help to peace-loving Muslims or to the rest of us that our Western leaders keep portraying Islam as if it is something that might have been concocted by the Salvation Army. One might even say that the “narrative” of many politicians is the true perversion of a message that is as clear as it could be.

If Denmark is lost as a result of a crazed, multicultural experiment, Danes will have no home.

Last week, in the article “Sweden: From ‘Humanitarian Superpower’ to Failed State,” we promised to address the question of what motivates those who are opening the gates for the current massive influx of Muslims and other hard-to-integrate newcomers to Europe. There is no one simple answer but there are partial answers, which combined may shed some light onto “Who benefits?”.

As a point of departure, let us revisit UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s and U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent joint press conference in the White House. Despite an impressive amount of huffing and puffing, they once again demonstrated that their understanding of Islam leaves much to be desired. A more sinister explanation is that they understand more than they are willing to say for fear of offending “1.6 billion Muslims.”

“We are representing values that the vast majority of Muslims believe in,” said President Obama. This is a highly dubious claim, but if it were true, it wouldn’t matter in the real world, as Brigitte Gabriel has so eloquently explained. In brief, she said that whether or not the majority of Muslims are peace-loving, tolerant and democratic is of no consequence, so long as the violent, radical and undemocratic minority calls the shots. Just as it mattered not a bit that most Germans, Russians and Chinese were probably opposed to the excesses of Nazism, Stalinism and Maoism. Hitler, Stalin and Mao, between them, still managed to kill more than a hundred million people.

Cameron did not acquit himself much better than Obama. He talked about Muslims being “seduced” by a “poisonous narrative that is perverting Islam,” despite the fact that many might say what Islam’s Prophet left behind is perverse enough…

Denmark Says it Has ‘Plenty of Kroner’ To Take on Hedge Funds

Denmark is ready to step up its currency interventions to stamp out any lingering speculation the central bank may be unable to defend its euro peg.

“We have plenty of kroner,” Karsten Biltoft, head of communications at the central bank in Copenhagen, said in a phone interview. “We have the necessary tools in terms of interest-rate changes and interventions and we have a sufficient supply of Danish kroner.”

Since Switzerland abandoned its euro peg on Jan. 15, the Danes have fought back conjecture they’ll be next after the krone rose to its strongest against the euro in 2 1/2 years. Denmark sold a record 50 billion kroner ($7.7 billion) from Jan. 15-20 to weaken the currency, Svenska Handelsbanken AB estimates. That’s equivalent to more than 10 percent of foreign reserves as of the end of December.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Dutch Sign Deal With Norway to House 242 Prisoners

This summer, up to 242 convicts will be brought from Norway to the Netherlands to serve out their sentences in a Dutch jail, junior justice minister Fred Teeven told parliament on Thursday. Teeven said he had signed an agreement with the Norwegian prison authorities to provide jail places for the prisoners, who will not necessarily be Norwegian. ‘It could be a Pole, Latvian or Lithuanian with a Norwegian prison sentence,’ he said.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Dutch Jewish Group Lobbies for Extra Security Following Paris Attack

The Dutch Jewish lobby group CJO has urged its members to write to city and town mayors calling on them to beef up security at Jewish institutions, the NRC reports. ‘Now that Jewish targets in Belgium and France are being guarded by the army, the question is “why not in the Netherlands”,’ states the draft letter, a copy of which is now in the hands of the NRC. CJO spokesman Ron van der Wieken told the NRC there are no concrete threats but that there is an increased feeling of being under threat.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Education on ‘Front Line’ of France’s Battle Against Terror

French President François Hollande has emphasised the role of education in upholding Republican values and rooting out home-grown terrorism as the country grapples with uncomfortable questions over its integration model.

In a speech at Paris’s Sorbonne University on Wednesday, Hollande said teachers were “in the front line” of the battle to defend “Republican values” against extremist ideologies.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Finland: Police Monitor Social Media for Anti-Immigrant Sentiment Following Oulu Murders

Police investigating the double axe-murder in Oulu last week say they have increased monitoring on social media, over fears of an anti-immigrant backlash.

Two men were hacked to death in a pub in Oulu’s Tuira district last week as customers looked on in horror. The suspect, who was fatally shot hours later when police tried to apprehend him, was described as a man with “dark skin” and of “foreign background’, who had lived in Finland for some years.

The man’s identity has not been released by police, prompting a number of rumours to circulate among online chat forums.

On Monday the head of the investigation, Detective Inspector Ari-Pekka Kouva, told reporters that Oulu police are looking out for signs of anti-immigrant feeling “boiling over”.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



France to Move Against Radicalization in Schools

France will introduce new measures to promote secularism in schools and to prevent students’ radicalization. The move follows complaints that a number of students refused to pay respect to victims of the Paris attacks.

The new project will cost 250 million euros ($289 million) and will involve training courses for schoolteachers across France. The students will receive an additional civic and ethics education, and French symbols such as the national flag and anthem, will be celebrated on December 9, which has been declared as a “Day of Secularism.”

Efforts will also be made to make French schools more socially and culturally diverse and poor students will receive more grants from the state.

“Schools are and will be the firm, discerning and pedagogical front lines against challenges to the Republic — that is their identity and profound mission. The schools and the Republic are inseparable,” Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem told reporters on Thursday.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



France: Government Bets on Schools to Fight Radicalisation

Secular and republican values plan established

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, JAN 22 — In the wake of the jihadi attacks in Paris, French premier Manuel Valls and Minister of Education, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, presented a national plan to strenghten secular and republican values in French schools. The stated objective is an answer to the some two hundred incidents that cast a shadow on the cerimonies honouring the victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre and the following jihadi attacks. The plan aims to offer a pedagogical yet determined response to students such as the ones who refused to hold a minute of silence for their slain countrymen. “Schools cannot do everything but they are an essential tool” in the fight against terrorism and the radicalisation of young Muslims, said Valls. “Secular values must prevail everywhere, because they ensure public solidarity and allow us to live together” added the premier, stressing that education “must build equality for all, we must launch its restoration”. Valls, together with ministers of the Interior and Education, called for a conference dedicated to key players in the field to be held on February 9, in order to elaborate methods promoting the rejection of racism and discrimination, gender-equality and the respect of secular principles. A “secularity day” will also be established in France and it will be celebrated every year on December 9 in schools across France. Belkacem said the date was chosen because on December 9 1905, France adopted the law separating church and state. The minister of Education also announced that a “Secularity Charter will be signed” at the beginning of every school year and that there will be “1,000” training courses on secularity, moral and civic teachings. “Passing on knowldege is the best antidote to obscurantism” stressed the minister, announcing the creation of “a civic educational path” running from elementary school to high school.

Belkacem deplored “ disinformation”, “conspiracy theories”, and the “generalised distrust” fed to youngsters by “social networks” alongside the “identity withdrawal” of those turning their backs to the great values of the French nation.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Germany: Legida Marchers Attack Police and Journalists

Police found themselves at the receiving end of firecrackers, thrown bottles and laser pointers as scuffles broke out at the protest march by Legida in Leipzig on Wednesday.

Legida — an off-shoot of Dresden-based anti-Islam movement Pegida — also assaulted journalists, spitting on them and destroying photo equipment, to the Leipziger Volkszeitung reported.

Around 15,000 Legida supporters showed up to march from Leipzig’s Augustusplatz to the inner city — much less than the 60,000 originally announced by the group’s organizers. Many of the marchers traveled from Dresden.

Fights also broke out between Legida and counter-protestors, who outnumbered the anti-Islam group with 20,000 people.

A police spokesman said there were “problems” figuring out who belonged to which camp. Around 4,000 police recruited from all over Germany were deployed to keep the two marches apart.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Germany: Amid Growing Tensions, PEGIDA Faces Reshuffle

The PEGIDA movement faces a shake up after a turbulent week. The embarrassing departure of its founder over a Hitler photo as well as intense media scrutiny of the group’s xenophobic tendencies are behind the crisis.

The leadership of PEGIDA faced the task of recovering from damaging allegations and alliances which culminated with the departure of its leader, Lutz Bachmann, and, separately, an attempt by the group to bring a lawsuit against its supporters in the eastern German city of Leipzig.

Many opponents of the protest movement are wary of its political goals, in view of participants at demonstrations openly displaying racist, xenophobic and Islamaphobic signs. Nevertheless, PEGIDA organizers have denied extremist views and maintained it is neither afraid of foreigners nor of Muslims.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Germany: Schmidinger: ‘PEGIDA Will Fizzle Out, ‘ But Anti-Islam Mood Worrying

Ructions within Germany’s Pegida movement will likely lead to its swift demise, but it won’t put a stop to a general anti-Islamic mood in Europe, also among its elites, political scientist Thomas Schmidinger told DW.

DW: After the resignation of one of its leaders, Lutz Bachmann, Pegida aims to reorganize itself — it wants to be taken more seriously. But there have been major ructions within the movement. Does it have a future, and if so, as what exactly?

Thomas Schmidinger: It is a local phenomenon in Saxony. It hasn’t really gone beyond a small group of die-hard protesters anywhere else. I don’t think that Pegida has a bright future as a Germany-wide, or even European movement.

Yes, Pegida will fizzle out. The bigger problem that I see, however, is the increasingly hostile mood when it comes to migrants from Muslim countries in general and among the political elites. The jihadist attacks and the anti-Muslim mood, which culminates in these types of protests, exacerbate the problem. That’s where I see the problem, but I wouldn’t limit it to Pegida.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



German State Boosts Security Following ‘IS’ Arrests

Police have arrested two German men suspected of fighting alongside the “Islamic State.” The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is boosting security after a number of residents have been accused of aiding IS.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Italy: Crucifix Near Mosque Destroyed

By Raymond Ibrahim

On January 17, a crucifix (pictured above) was destroyed in Cinisello Balsamo, a municipality in the Province of Milan, Italy.

This comes days after a statue of the Virgin Mary was destroyed and urinated on by a group of North Africans in Italy.

According to the report: “Christmas is over and nativities have been taken down, making room again for blasphemous and sacrilegious acts that aim at the Crucifix, the quintessential sign of the Catholic faith. One of them was destroyed at 1 via Matteotti civico, in Cinisello Balsamo, in close proximity to a populated mosque.”

The incident had an immediate ripple effect: “People have already strongly reacted across social networks. They are outraged at this new blow to their deepest feelings, to their beliefs. People can’t take it anymore.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Italy Mulls Outlawing Italians Fighting for ISIS

Decree law could be passed on Thursday

(ANSA) Florence, January, 21 — Italy is considering passing a decree law to make it illegal for Italians to fight for Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria and Iraq, Italian Undersecretary for Home Affairs Domenico Manzione said Wednesday.

Premier Matteo Renzi’s cabinet could pass the decree on foreign fighters as soon as Thursday, Manzione told reporters on the fringes of the inauguration of a museum on the Shoah in Florence.

The text of the law “would foresee the possibility of introducing into our order sanctions against people who are enrolled to go and fight abroad,” he said.

“We all have a problem in Europe of the so-called returning fighters from war zones,” he added. “We have it less than other European countries but since the phenomenon is there the government seriously is considering approving a decree law for Thursday, or otherwise a delegate law, that would deal with this subject”.

Manzione also said it had been “prudent” of authorities to expel from Italy Furkan Semih Dundar, a Turkish student at the elite Scuola Normale in Pisa, after the Turk was quoted as saying in emails that he wanted to blow up an embassy.

Also Wednesday the Italian police force ordered that border controls be reinforced amid the alarm caused by this month’s Islamist terrorist attacks in France.

“The growing security demands deriving from the current international scenario make it necessary to strengthen and optimize (border controls),” read a circular letter issued by the police’s central migration directorate. The letter tells officers working at border to make “systematic use” of databases to help combat international terrorism.

Meanwhile the intelligence coordinating body Copasir called for more protection for secret service agents working under cover against terror suspects and said the government should make a “significant increase” in the resources available to the intelligence services so that new staff can be hired in delicate operations and new equipment can be purchased to counter cyber terrorism, interior ministry sources said.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: Charlie Hebdo: Siddi: “Satire to Respect Dignity”

(ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 21 — “Information serves the freedom of all citizens and satire is one of many expressions of information, that must be carried out respecting the dignity of people”, according to the secretary-general of the National Federation of the Italian Press (FNSI), Franco Siddi, who addressed this morning a press conference called “Not in my name”, organized by CO-MAI (Community of the Arab World in Italy), in cooperation with the movement “Uniti per Unire” (united to unite) and online paper “La Svolta”, in the office of the National Federation of the Italian Press.

“We must have utmost respect for the victims of Charlier Hebdo”, continued Siddi. La “marche republicaine” in Paris showed that the French people have responded to terror without giving in to fear”.

The secretary of FNSI, during the press conference organized by CO-MAI, also stressed the need to “start again from human rights developing the reasons of cohabitation and responding to hatred with values and principles of humanity”.

“We must promote with facts an ideology of peace, tolerance and reciprocal respect” without bowing to those who kill in the name of the “deviation of an interpretation”, concluded Siddi.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: ‘Popolari’ Banks Drive Milan Market Up 1.64%

Spread widens to 125 bp ahead of possible ECB QE moves

(ANSA) — Milan, January 21 — Italy’s cooperative or ‘popolari’ banks slated for incorporation drove the Milan bourse higher as they posted massive gains in trading Wednesday. Italy’s benchmark FTSE-Mib index added 1.64% to close at 19,981 points as Popolare Etruria e Lazio flew up 27.28%, followed by Popolare di Sondrio (+11.2%) and Creval (+10.9%).

Larger banks also posted gains, with Banco Popolare rising 9.8% and followed by Bpm (+3.6%), Bper (+3.%) and Ubi (+3%).

The spread between Italy’s benchmark 10-year bond and its ultra-safe German counterpart widened slightly to 125 basis points ahead of possible quantitative easing moves tomorrow by the European Central Bank (ECB). The yield on Italy’s 10-year paper ended trading at 1.74%, up from 1.65% at Wednesday’s opening.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: Albanian Arrested in Catania, Photo With Kalashnikov

30-year-old detained with fake documents, ticket to London

(ANSA) — Catania, January 22 — A 30-year-old Albanian man arrested at Catania airport with false identity documents moved through security with a boarding pass for a flight to Bucharest but was carrying an airline ticket for London, police said Thursday.

Suspicions were raised when police found photos of the man holding a Kalashnikov automatic rifle stored on a pen drive after searching his bags. They also found files with documents of various nationalities, including Italian. This was his second brush this month with airport security officials — police said the man had already been reported to prosecutors after trying to board a flight to London from Milan’s Malpensa airport with fake documents on January 13. On Thursday, after passing through airport controls, the man did not head to the Bucharest flight gate but instead went to the gate for the London flight with a ticket he bought on the Internet.

He also had a online boarding pass for London.

Investigators are now pouring over his pen drive and the false identity documents.

Italian police have reinforced border checks in the wake of this month’s Islamist terror attacks in France.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: Lombardy Commission OKs ‘Anti-Mosque’ Bill

Northern League measure stymies opening of new places of worship

(ANSA) — Milan, January 22 — A regional government commission in the northern Lombardy region on Thursday approved a bill that would limit the opening of new, non-Catholic places of worship.

The so-called anti-mosque bill submitted by the regionalist, anti-immigrant and anti-euro Northern League party of Governor Roberto Maroni would also impose security cameras in places of worship.

The bill has sparked opposition from the center left and from civil liberties advocates.

The bill specifically refers to religions that have conventions with the Italian State and their municipality — which Islam does not — and that have a “diffused, organized and consistent presence”. Critics say this would disproportionately affect religions that do have conventions with Italy, such as the Jewish faith and the evangelical Christian church. It will go to the floor of the regional assembly on Tuesday, sources said.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Netherlands: Terror Suspect Was Targeting Police and Soldiers, Court is Told

A 27-year-old man named as Mohamed B has been remanded in custody for three months on suspicion of preparing a bomb attack on Dutch police and soldiers, the NRC said on Thursday. B is said to have asked online for information about how to make a bomb and, the public prosecution claims, was in possession of bomb-making instructions. He also wrote a 35-page document directed at the Dutch government in which he threatened targets in the Netherlands because of the Dutch involvement in the anti-IS coalition in Iraq. B, a Moroccan national who is illegally living in the Netherlands, ‘was in the early stages of preparing an attack’, the prosecution department is quoted as saying by the NRC.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Norway Ranks Second for Cost of Living

A new report shows Switzerland has the highest cost of living in the world, ahead of Norway.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Real Madrid Sign Norway Prodigy Ødegaard

A complete unknown only a year ago, Norwegian prodigy Martin Ødegaard’s has signed for Real Madrid, sending his fledgling career soaring towards the summits.

The young midfielder had long been courted by some of Europe’s top clubs.

A dream come true for a boy who just celebrated his 16th birthday on December 17th.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Science Pours in From Rosetta Comet Mission

The first major haul of research from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission, published in seven papers in Science on 22 January, reveals a rich and diverse landscape on 67P/Churyumov—Gerasimenko, the most studied comet in history.

Images taken by the OSIRIS camera reveal vastly different kinds of terrain, including dunes, ripples and fractures. Rosetta scientists have split the comet into regions defined by surface structure (see false-colour image), with each named after an Egyptian god. Hatmehit, for example, is a smooth depression on the ‘head’ of the duck-shaped comet that could be a dust-filled impact crater. Other areas, such as Seth and Hathor, are rough with steep cliff-like structures. However, the porosity of the comet means that rock-like structures are in fact compacted dust. Many structures look as though they are formed by gas moving dust around the surface, say the authors, in the same way that wind shapes sand in a desert.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Spain: Violent Muslim Screaming “Allahu Akbar, All You Christians Will Die!” Gets Arrested

Catalonia, Spain. To screams of “Allahu Akbar!” and “You will all die!”—an unruly and violent young Moroccan man resisted arrest and tried to steal a police officer’s weapon.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Strange Comet Discoveries Revealed by Rosetta Spacecraft

The European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission has now found that Comet 67P/Churyumov—Gerasimenko’s is even stranger than initially expected. A series of new findings beamed back to Earth by the spacecraft since its arrival at the comet in 2014 could help scientists learn more about how comets evolved through time.

The new comet findings, detailed in a special issue of the journal Science this week, are even calling into question an old axiom of comet research. Many scientists have dubbed comets “dirty snowballs,” but now it might be more appropriate to call this comet a “snowy dustball” because of its dust-to-gas ration, said Alessandra Rotundi, the principal investigator of Rosetta’s GIADA dust grain analyzer instrument. Some comets might be “dirty snowballs,” while others are “snowy dustballs.”

Rosetta’s findings have also potentially upturned a theory about how water was delivered to the early Earth. Many scientists think that comets brought Earth its water; however, the type of water found in Comet 67P/C-G is so different from terrestrial water that some researchers are starting to second-guess that claim, opting instead to look at asteroids as the objects that delivered water to Earth at first.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Sweden: Government: Passport No Longer Needed to Visit UK

Swedes will no longer need a passport to travel to the UK or other non-Schengen EU member states, the Swedish government says.

It is planning to introduce a change to the law which will mean that a national ID card will be enough to cross the border as of July this year.

“We will now make it possible for Swedes to travel within the whole of the EU with just their ID card”, interior minister Anders Ygman says in a statement.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Switzerland: Mstate of Ikea Founder’s Home Raises Eyebrows

The former Swiss home of Swedish Ikea founder and multi-billionaire Ingvar Kamprad is for sale but the house itself is apparently worthless, according to media reports.

Kamprad, 88, moved back to Sweden last year after living in Switzerland for almost four decades.

The house in Epalinges, a bedroom suburb north of Lausanne, has frequently been described as modest for a man whose fortune is conservatively valued by Forbes magazine at more than $4 billion and by some estimates up to nine times that.

The flatpack furniture empire founder has carved out a reputation for being frugal, but Swiss media were astonished to discover that his home is too run down to live in.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



The Lost War in Europe

By Herbert London

Despite the million people on the streets of Paris, the outpouring of sentiment against terrorism, the presence of world leaders and the signs that said “Je suis Charlie,” the Muslim terrorists are winning the war in Europe; in fact, they may have already won.

Immediately after the attack on 9/11, President George W. Bush said that we are engaged in a war in which we will prevail. He struck a chord of determination and hopefulness. Many in the United States embraced these sentiments, as did our allies in Europe. The first major stone was cast and the free world was ready to respond.

But after the bloodshed in Paris, the mood has shifted. There is an unwillingness to confront reality. President François Hollande of France said these acts of violence do not represent Islam. Two weeks earlier, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said a “revolution within Islam” must take place to challenge violence inherent in the religion. Obviously Europeans cannot address reality; they are lost in a fog of misperception and they have lost the war on their soil.

Recognizing the demographic nightmare of low birthrates, European leaders like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair invited North Africans of Muslim faith to become Europeans. They came in droves, but they came as Muslims, not as future Europeans. As former president of Libya Moammar Gadhafi noted, Libya would get on so much better with France if Frenchmen would only convert to Islam. That statement, which seemed ribald several decades ago, is quite poignant today.

Muslim migrants poured into the crevices of Europe seeking communities removed from mainstream life. These were voluntary ghettoes established to maintain sharia, communities run by imams very often with the most radical sensibility. Rather than attempt to integrate these Muslims into French or British or Dutch culture, authorities averted their gaze. They allowed autonomous governments within the larger national framework. A part of Malmo, the third-largest city in Sweden, is a Muslim sanctuary where all others are unwelcome. The Muslim quarter in Brussels is a fortress controlled by imams. Banlieues in Paris are areas where the gendarmes are not permitted — a sentence which has the tacit support of government leaders…

UK: ‘The Kuffar Went to Our Lands and Killed Our People and Raped and Pillaged’

Video rant of trainee lawyer at top firm blaming non-Muslims for Paris terror attacks

A trainee lawyer at one of the world’s biggest law firms has posted a rant claiming the Paris terror attacks may not have happened if the West had not ‘killed our people and pillaged our resources’.

Aysh Chaudhry, 22, from magic circle law firm Clifford Chance, criticised Muslims for allowing their minds to be ‘colonised’ and claimed Islam was ‘superior’ to Western ideology.

In a 21-minute YouTube video posted two days after the kosher supermarket massacre, the lawyer said freedom of speech should not be put on a pedestal ‘as though it is some godsend’.

Referring to non-Muslims insultingly as ‘kuffar’, he addressed the Paris terrorist atrocities, which left 17 people dead, and said that any Muslims who apologised were offering a ‘weak’ response.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



UK: Argos Branded Racist for Selling White Dolls for £10 More Than Black and Asian Ones

Argos has been branded “racist” after selling white dolls for £10 more than their equivalent black and Asian ones.

The shop is selling a white Maria doll for £34.99 while the Asian Yang doll and the black Namia doll are both £24.99.

All three dolls are made by French firm Corolle Calin and are identical bar the colour on their skin.

Lisa O’Reilly, a mother-of-three complained to Argos, branding the price discrepancy “unacceptable”.

Argos apologised and blamed “a genuine online pricing error”.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



UK: Number 10’s Secret Sex File: Uncovered After 34 Years, Document That Told Thatcher of the ‘Unnatural’ Sexual Behaviour of Westminster Figures

A secret file on ‘unnatural’ sexual behaviour at Westminster that was given to Margaret Thatcher has been discovered.

The document contains allegations ‘of unnatural sexual proclivities’ against high-profile figures, and was prepared for the then Prime Minister in the 1980s.

Last night campaigning MP John Mann suggested it may form part of a cover-up over a VIP paedophile ring operating at the time.

UK: Oxford and the Crisis of the University

By Dennis Prager

I spent Thanksgiving debating at the Oxford Union.

Oxford University is the most prestigious university in the world. And the Oxford Union, hosting debates since 1823, is the world’s most prestigious stage for competing ideas.

These facts made what transpired all the more depressing.

The proposition debated was: “Hamas is a greater obstacle to peace than Israel.”

When first apprised of the topic, I was so certain that an error had been made that I called both my debating partner, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, and Oxford to confirm it. Outside of the Muslim world and the far left, who would even think to argue that Hamas is not the greater obstacle to peace?

Is the Oxford Union unaware that the Hamas charter calls for, indeed the raison detre of Hamas is, the destruction of Israel and replacing it with an Islamic state?

Yet, the proposition lost by a vote of 190 to 130, give or take a few votes. In other words, a majority of Oxford University students voting at the Oxford Union deem Israel a greater threat than Hamas.

Read more at

— Hat tip: K [Return to headlines]



UK: Prince Andrew Denies Claims He Had Sex With Underage Girl

Britain’s Prince Andrew on Thursday publicly denied for the first time allegations that he had sex with an underage teenager.

The 54-year-old royal, Queen Elizabeth II’s second son and fifth in line to the British throne, has faced increasing pressure to respond to the accusations after the woman, identified only as Jane Doe No. 3 in court papers, named him in documents filed with a Florida court.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



UK: The 10 Greatest Controversies of Winston Churchill’s Career

The UK is marking the 50th anniversary of the death of Winston Churchill. He is regarded by many as the greatest Briton ever, but for some he remains an intensely controversial figure.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



What Does PEGIDA Say About Germany?

By Anna Sauerbrey

Berlin: I am a patriot. Being German, those words don’t come easily, particularly for a leftish, skeptical urbanite like myself. And particularly not now, just a few days before we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. But yes, I love my country.

The reason I say it out loud, now, is that I feel I have to defend Germany against those on the streets of Dresden who also call themselves “patriots” — “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West,” to be precise, which is the name of a loose alliance that brings thousands to the streets every Monday. Since the terror attacks in Paris, the movement has grown: The police counted 25,000 demonstrators on Jan. 12, the Monday after the attacks, a 7,500 jump from the week before. (It canceled its Jan. 19 protest over security concerns.)…

— Hat tip: heroyalwhyness [Return to headlines]



What is Going Wrong in France’s Prisons?

Of the 67,500 people currently behind bars in France, it is estimated that 70 per cent are Muslim — when they comprise only eight per cent of the French public. It is illegal under France’s strict laicity laws to count the number of Muslim prisoners, but experts agree that the figure is an accurate average — with some prisons, like those near Paris and Marseille, seeing an even higher percentage. In England and Wales, Muslims account for 14 per cent of the prison population, according to Home Office statistics, and five per cent of the population nationwide.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Egypt Seeks to Build Confidence With Second Suez Canal

Few things in Egypt are more iconic, revered and profitable than the Suez Canal.

So in a bid to refloat the country’s ailing economy, President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi is building another one.

He broke ground on the second Suez Canal last August, at a ceremony full of pomp and patriotism.

With fighter jets conducting aerial displays overhead, Egypt’s new strongman promised it would be “a channel of prosperity”.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Sisi Tells WEF That Islam Preaches Tolerance

(ANSAmed) — DAVOS (SWITZERLAND), JANUARY 22 — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi told the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Thursday ‘‘we should not allow our future to be threatened by a mistaken interpretation of Islam’’.

Islam ‘‘preaches tolerance’’, he said, underscoring that there is the need to speak ‘‘in unison, in Egypt and abroad’’ against terrorism. ‘‘Islam is a religion with values of tolerance,’’ he said, but this aspect ‘‘is not always taken into consideration in the rest of the world, and the terrible terrorist attacks’’ in Paris ‘‘made us realize the need to re-evaluate religious discourse, eliminating elements’’ which could lead to violent behavior, Sisi said after he was questioned about a speech he gave in recent days on ‘The Religious Revolution’ at the Al-Azhar university in Cairo. ‘‘No one can monopolize the truth. No one should believe their ideas are better than others,’’ he said, urging the West to ‘‘firmly respect the diversity of religion and Islamic culture’’, comparing the demonstration to show solidarity after the recent attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris to the ‘‘millions of Egyptians’’ that took to the streets against the Muslim Brotherhood.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Borscht Belt: Will Israel Spurn America for Russia?

FOR MOST OF LAST YEAR, THE WEST STRUGGLED TO find an appropriate response to Russia’s incursions into Crimea and eastern and southern Ukraine. Many European and North American governments strongly condemned Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, but Israel has been noticeably silent.

In the past, Israel has been similarly mum on Russian aggression—or worse. In 2008, when the Russia-Georgia war began, Israel cut its previously substantial military support for Georgia and withdrew its military advisors.

Why has Israel declined to slap Russia? Because the Jewish state may someday need Russia as a powerful ally if relations with the U.S. wither—something that’s not an immediate risk but not necessarily unthinkable .

Any responsible Israeli leader must at least explore the unimaginable, especially with younger Americans viewing Israel quite differently from older Americans…

— Hat tip: Takuan Seiyo [Return to headlines]



Charlie Hebdo: Erdogan: Offending Prophet “Red Line”

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JAN 22 — Offenses against prophet Mohamed are a “red line” for the Islamic world cautioned Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan Thursday, quoted by the press in Ankara. “If killing people drawing comic strips is terrorism, offending the sacred values of people and provoking them is also terrorism” maintained the Turkish Islamist president, according to Sabah.

Erdogan launched an appeal for the unity of the Islamic world during his address at the parliamentary conference of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (Oic).

Erdogan stated that the Islamic world is in the throes of an “operation” seeking to divide it.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italians in Jihadist Ranks, Former Jihadist Tells Matrix

‘Internet most effective recruitment channel’

(ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 21 — A former jihadist now working with Canadian secret services has told the Italian television show Matrix that there are Italians “ready to fight” among the Islamic State (ISIS).

“They do not feel Italian. Only their citizenship is Italian,” he said, noting that “they could be sent back to their ‘home country’ to carry out attacks.” Repentant jihadist Mubin Shaikh was speaking ahead of an interview with the show set to air Wednesday evening on Canale 5.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there were Italians in Yemen.

Perhaps only a few. There are certainly some in Syria and Iraq.

Maybe 12 or 15, but I don’t know the exact number,” he added. The man, who was born in Canada to a family of Muslim immigrants, spoke about how ‘Western’ jihadists were recruited. “Recruiters seek especially youths who feel out of place.

Youths that identify themselves only and exclusively as Muslims, never as Westerners,” he said.

There are several ways to lure them into the extremist group, he said. “Peer pressure is the main means, alongside extremist preachers both inside and outside of mosques and online.

Internet is now how most of the recruits are drawn in,” he noted.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Dies

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz has died at the age of 91, the nation’s state-run television station confirmed Thursday.

The king was in the hospital at the time of death.

News outlets suspected the king, who came to power in 2005, was dead when Saudi Arabian television stations began playing Quranic verses. He passed away at 1:00 a.m. local time, BBC reported.

King Abdullah will be succeeded by Crown Prince Salman.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Dies Aged 90

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has died at the age of 90 after a battle with pneumonia, bringing to an end the rule of the world’s oldest monarch.

The king, who took control of the world’s largest oil-producing nation in August 2005, is be succeeded by his 79-year-old half-brother, Salman.

King Salman on Friday morning called on the family’s Allegiance Council to pay allegiance to Muqrin as his crown prince and heir.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Police: Native Finns in IS Ranks

According to Helsinki police officials, around 50 people have travelled from Finland to join the ranks of the radical Islamic State group. Nearly 20 of them, say police, are native Finns.

Helsinki Police Chief Inspector Jari Taponen told Yle on Thursday morning that nearly 20 native Finns have gone to areas in which Islamic State is engaged in armed conflict in the Middle East.

Returning jihadists are an increasingly major concern of European authorities, especially in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. Of the approximately 50 people from Finland who have been in IS battle zones, about 20 have come back to the country. The Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) believes that 6-8 have been killed in the fighting.

The conflict in Syria and Iraq has drawn mostly young men from Finland — 76% of those who have left to link up with IS are Finnish passport holders. According to Taponen, in recent months there has also been an upswing in interest in radicalism among young female converts to Islam.

“This is being monitored in Helsinki,” Chief Inspector Taponen stated during an Yle TV1 morning discussion. “The first priority is to try to prevent travel to the war zone. It is there that people face violence and are susceptible to violence.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Prisoners Using Cell Phones Coordinated Militant Attacks From ‘Lebanon’s Guantanamo’

ROUMIEH, Lebanon — For years, Islamist prisoners of a Lebanese jail connected with fellow militants on the outside through smartphones and computers purchased from guards, operating freely in door-less cells of a notorious jail overlooking the seaside capital of Beirut as the country was struck by deadly bombings.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Radical Muslim Scholars Demand UN Impose Worldwide Ban on ‘Contempt of Religion’

by Phyllis Chesler

Earlier this week, the Qatar-based international Union of Muslim Scholars— headed by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the spiritual guide of Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood— called upon the United Nations to make “contempt of religions” illegal.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Union said that there should be “protection for ‘prophets’“ and urged the UN to issue a “law criminalizing contempt of religions and the prophets and all the holy sites.”

The Muslim scholars also urged the West to “protect Muslim communities following the attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo.”

This is very strange. Jews, Christians, Hindus, and atheists have not been attacking Muslims.

On the contrary, Muslims have been rioting, shooting, stabbing, beheading, and blowing up other Muslims and infidels, especially Jews and Christians, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Nevertheless, these Muslim scholars seem to believe that Muslims are being violently persecuted.

When Muslims honor kill a daughter or a wife, they say they did so in “self-defense.” When a female relative allegedly commits any act of disobedience, she has shamed and attacked her family. This means they had to kill her in self-defense. These were the very words used by Palestinian Abu Nidal terrorist Zein Isa, when he and his wife killed their 16-year-old daughter, Palestina Isa, in St. Louis, Missouri…

Saudi Arabia Postpones Flogging of Blogger for Second Time

For a second time, Saudi Arabia has postponed the planned flogging of a blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes for criticizing the country’s clerics, Amnesty International announced Thursday.

“The planned flogging of Raif Badawi will be suspended this Friday after a medical committee assessed that he should not undergo a second round of lashes on health grounds,” the organization said in a statement, according to Sky News.

The 30-year-old was lashed 50 times outside a mosque in the city of Jeddah on January 9 and is expected to face 20 flogging sessions total. But last Friday, his wife said the second round was postponed.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Saudi King Abdullah Dies at Age 91: Succession Crisis Looms

Saudi King Abdullah passed away today in hospital from a terminal vout of pneumonia tiday at the age of 91. He was born in 1924, the son of the Kingdom’s founder in 1932, King Abdulaziz Al-Saud. Abdullah became King in 2006. While purportedly a reformer especially in educational development, he did not address socio cultural initiatives and the reining in the medieval code of punishment under the Wahhabist extremist doctrine. He endeavored to bring about a draconian peace settlement of the Iisrael Palestinian dispute that never came to reality during his reign. The mounting Sunni extremism from the Muslim Brotherhood offshoot Al Qaeda and especially Salafist Jihadism of the Islamic State now threatens the Kingdom’s security internally and on its frontiers. With the fall of neighboring Yemen to Houthi Shiite rebels who control the capital Sa’ana and many provinces, that raises the prospects of contending with being surrounded by an ally of Iran battling Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The alliance with the US under President Obama contending with the civil war in Syria and conquest by the Islamic State of a large swath of territory in both Syria and Iraq, the Kindom faces daunting security issues. Both The Kingdom and Emirates members of the Gulf Cooperation Council have problemtic relations with Qatar, a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and affiliate Hamas in Gaza. Saudi dominance of OPEC has been eroded through the vaulting of US oil production, although it has tried to use the oil weapon in maintain production and market share in the face of a global drop in demand which has caused a major drop in revenues for some major oil producers, Iran, Russia and Venezuela.

As noted in a December 31, 2014 Washington Institute for Near East Policy article by Simon Henderson, succession to the late King Abdullah is very problematic and likely to engender some turmoil domestically impacting international relations. His overall assessment was, “The death of King Abdullah will exacerbate tensions within the royal family over who should replace him.”

Up to Ten Former French Soldiers ‘Have Defected to Islamic State’

Several French former soldiers have joined the ranks of jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq, France’s government confirmed on Wednesday, as it outlined a raft of new anti-terror measures in the wake of the Islamist attacks in Paris.

Most of the ex-soldiers, reportedly numbering around ten and including former paratroopers and French foreign legionnaires, are said to be fighting on behalf of Islamic State of Iraq and the levant.

Most worrying is the reported presence of an ex-member of France’s elite First Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment, considered one of Europe’s most experienced special forces units and which shares the “Who Dares Wins” motto of the SAS.

[…] One of the defectors has become the “emir”, or leader, of a group of a dozen or so French-born Islamists operating in the Syrian region of Deir Ezzor who have all received solid combat training, reported Radio France International, or RFI.

Others, apparently in their twenties, are explosive experts. Some are Muslim converts while others are radicalised French from an “Arab-Muslim” background, said RFI.

Yemen’s President, Cabinet Resign Amid Rebel Standoff

Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has resigned under pressure from Shiite rebels who seized the capital in September and have confined the embattled leader to his home for the past two days.

Presidential officials said Hadi resigned after being pressured to make concessions to the rebels, known as Houthis. He had earlier pledged political concessions in return for the rebels withdrawing from his house and the nearby presidential palace, but Houthi fighters remained deployed around both buildings throughout the day.

Yemen’s emerging power vacuum has raised fears that the country’s dangerous Al Qaeda branch, which claimed the recent attack on a French satirical weekly, will only grow more powerful and popular as the nation slides toward fragmentation and the conflict takes on an increasingly sectarian tone. The Shiite Houthis and the Sunni terror group are sworn enemies.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Eastern Ukraine: 13 Killed in Shelling of City Bus

Ukrainian forces almost defeated at Donetsk airport

(ANSA-AP) — TRIESTE — Local authorities in the separatist stronghold in east Ukraine say 13 people have been killed after a city bus was hit by an artillery shell. The shell struck the vehicle Thursday morning in Donetsk, instantly killing numerous passengers and blowing out the windows of a nearby building.

Fighting between Ukrainian government troops and separatist forces surged after the New Year following a month of relative tranquility after a truce was declared in early December.

Residential areas are frequently struck as a result of artillery duels between the warring sides Ukrainian forces have all but abandoned Donetsk airport after months of bitter battle, although military officials continue to insist they hold part of the terminal. The Defense Ministry said Thursday that six soldiers had died over the previous day of fighting for the airport, which lies on the northern edge of the Russian-backed separatists’ stronghold. Russian television reporters on Wednesday toured the airport building and showed the bodies of killed Ukrainian soldiers. Fighting for the airport peaked over the weekend, shattering the relative tranquility in place since a new truce was reached in early December. Kiev said six soldiers died and a further 16 were injured and taken prisoner during heavy fighting at the airport prior to the withdrawal.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 4,700 people since April, according to U.N. estimates.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Shelling of City Bus in East Ukraine Leaves 13 Dead

DONETSK, Ukraine — Hours after a new peace initiative for Ukraine began taking shape, mortar shells rained down Thursday on the center of the main rebel-held city in the east, killing at least 13 people at a bus stop.

The deaths in Donetsk sparked wrath and grief that was swiftly exploited by pro-Russian rebel leaders, who paraded captive Ukrainian troops through the city to be punched, kicked and insulted by enraged residents.

Diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany had met in Berlin a day ago to thrash out a tentative dividing line from which the warring sides would pull back their heavy weapons. That solution already looks doomed.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Ukraine Forces Pull Back From Air Terminal

Rebels, govt trade blame for bus shelling

(ANSA) — Rome, January 22 — Ukraine troops on Thursday have withdrawn from Donetsk airport’s main terminal, scene of bitter fighting in recent weeks, as pro-Russian rebels and the government trade blame for a bus attack that killed 13.

The government said the military still retained control of parts of the airport, but six soldiers had died and 16 had been wounded.

In the centre of the rebel-held city, shelling hit a bus, killing 13 people.

Rebels paraded captured Ukrainian soldiers at the scene, as onlookers shouted abuse and beat or pelted them with debris from the blast site.

The attack came nine days after a shell also killed 13 people on a bus in the village of Buhas outside Volnovakha, 35km (22 miles) south-west of Donetsk.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Malaysia: Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur: Ruling on the Word ‘Allah’ Threatens Religious Freedom

Msgr. Julian Leow stresses that the verdict has “opened up a Pandora’s box.” The prelate fears a “progressive reduction of minority rights” and “increasing interference in the religious sphere.” Fr. Lawrence, director of the Herald, hopes that “minority rights are not trampled on”. Another decision handed down today against Christians in a story similar to that of the Catholic newspaper.

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) — The Catholic Church in Malaysia is concerned about yesterday’s Federal Court decision, which dismissed the Catholics appeal on the use of the word “Allah”. The ruling, in fact, might “open up a Pandora’s box” that will lead to the gradual reduction of the rights of minorities and increasing interference in the religious sphere. A fear expressed and shared by the new Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur Msgr. Julian Leow, who does not hide his “disappointment” for the court’s ruling, which, however, “was not totally unexpected.”

Yesterday, the Federal Court of Malaysia rejected for the umpteenth — and perhaps last — time the appeal filed by the Catholic Church, that he intended to bring the case concerning the use of the word “Allah” for non-Muslims to the Supreme Court. The five judges who made up the jury voted unanimously denying the possibility of any further legal action because “there were procedural errors” in the lower courts.

Speaking to Malaysian Insider, the prelate said: “ “I would like to believe this adverse decision is confined only to the Herald and will not open a Pandora’s box on curbing the rights of minorities in managing our own religious affairs. In God we continue to pray and trust that there is light at the end of this tunnel”.

Meanwhile, the Catholics lawyer Datuk Cyrus Das, said that the “Allah” case — despite everything — is not yet over. He explains that there are “core elements” in this matter, including the appearance of religious freedom, which could be “revised” in the future in the context of legal proceedings very similar to the one that has just been archived.

Father Lawrence Andrew, editor of Malaysia Herald, is more pessimistic and believes the legal battle for their weekly paper is over. However, the priest hopes that “we can still live together in peace and harmony” and, at the same time, “we pray that minority rights are not trampled on”.

Today, meanwhile, the High Court of Kuala Lumpur authorized the confiscation of eight CDs belonging to a Christian ethnic Sarawakian, Jill Ireland, because they contain within them the word “Allah”; the case is similar to that of the Herald, and which unfortunately seems destined to end in the same way although there remains the possibility of appeal.

In Malaysia, a mostly Muslim nation (60 per cent) of more than 28 million, Christians are the third largest religious group after Buddhists with more than 2.6 million members. A Latin-Malay dictionary published 400 year ago shows that ‘Allah’ was used in the Bible from the start to refer to God in the local language. Out of a population of over 11 million people, Catholics in Kuala Lumpur number over 180 thousand; there are 55 priests, 154 religious and one permanent deacon.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]



Ousted Thai PM Slams Impeachment Vote

BANGKOK (AFP) — Ousted Thai premier Yingluck Shinawatra Thursday attacked impeachment proceedings against her ahead of a crunch vote that could see her banned from politics for five years and deepen the country’s bitter divide.

Yingluck, the kingdom’s first female premier and the sister of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, was toppled from office by a controversial court ruling shortly before the army staged a coup in May.

She faces impeachment Friday by the junta-picked National Legislative Assembly over her administration’s populist rice subsidy programme, which funnelled cash to her rural base but cost billions of dollars and inspired protests that felled her government.

Yingluck arrived at heavily policed Parliament House in central Bangkok accompanied by a handful of her party members.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Pakistan: Thousands Protest Against Charlie Hebdo in Karachi

Thousands of people marched through Pakistan’s southern megacity on Thursday in the largest protest yet against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

An intelligence official overseeing the rally told AFP that the protesters numbered in the “thousands”, still a relatively small turnout in a city of 18 million people.

Protesters carried green flags printed with the prophet’s mausoleum and chanted anti-Charlie Hebdo slogans as they marched.

“Down with Charlie Hebdo, down with the blasphemers,” they shouted.

Many carried placards demanding blasphemers be killed.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



China Says Its Gender Imbalance “Most Serious” In the World

Chinese health authorities described the gender imbalance among newborns as “the most serious and prolonged” in the world, a direct ramification of the country’s strict one-child poli

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



China and Europe Will Team up for Robotic Space Mission

China and Europe aim to launch a joint space-science mission by 2021.

On Monday (Jan. 19), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the European Space Agency (ESA) issued a call for proposals for a robotic space mission that the two organizations will develop jointly.

The call envisions a low-budget mission, saying that ESA and CAS are each prepared to contribute about 53 million euros (U.S. $61.5 million at current exchange rates).

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Japanese FM in Jordan to Negotiate Release of ISIS Hostages

(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, JANUARY 22 — Japan has sent minister of foreign affairs to Jordan to lead negotiations to release town Japanese hostages held by ISIS, diplomatic sources said on Thursday.

The Japanese minister Fumio Kishida arrived in the Jordanian capital on Wednesday, one day after ISIS gave Tokyo 72 hours ultimatum to pay a ransom of $200 million to release the two Japanese hostages.

The Japanese diplomat held talks with king Abdullah to discuss means of overcoming the crisis, according to the diplomatic sources.

Japan had said it will not heed to demands of ISIS.

Islamist sources told ANSA that Japan is seeking help from some salafi leaders in Amman to work as mediators to secure release of the hostages.

A knife wielding masked ISIS member was filmed standing near the two Japanese hostages, a journalist and military adviser, threatening to execute them unless Japan pays the ransom.

The extremist group has already executed several western hostages whose countries refused to pay ransoms.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



South Africa Says Record Number of Rhinos Poached in 2014

A record 1,215 rhinos were poached in South Africa in 2014, the latest grim statistic in an increasingly desperate struggle to stem a surge in the killing of rhinos for their horns, officials said Thursday.

Edna Molewa, South Africa’s environment minister, said the toll represented a 21 percent increase over the previous year. South Africa is home to most of the world’s rhinos.

International criminal syndicates are said to be involved in poaching rhinos, whose horn is worth a fortune on the illegal market in parts of Asia. Some Vietnamese and Chinese view the horn as a status symbol and a healing agent, despite a lack of evidence that it can cure. Rhino horn is made of keratin, a protein also found in human fingernails.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Drone Overloaded With Meth Crashes in Mexican Border City

Police in a Mexican border city said Wednesday that a drone overloaded with illicit methamphetamine crashed into a supermarket parking lot.

Tijuana police spokesman Jorge Morrua said authorities were alerted after the drone fell Tuesday night near the San Ysidro crossing at Mexico’s border with California.

Six packets of the drug, weighing more than six pounds, were taped to the six-propeller remote-controlled aircraft. Morrua said authorities are investigating where the flight originated and who was controlling it. He said it was not the first time they had seen drones used for smuggling drugs across the border.

Other innovative efforts have included catapults, ultralight aircraft and tunnels.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Emerging Revelations in Death Probe of Argentine Prosecutor Nisman

Since the death of Argentine Prosecutor Nisman the continuing investigation into those circumstances and release of the Compliant against Argentine President Kirchner and Foreign Minister Timmerman raise controversial questions. The 289 page Complaint alleges cover up of their involvement in a trade deal with Iran in exchange for dropping charges against Islamic regime officials involved in the 1994 AMIA Jewish Center blast that killed 85 and injured hundreds. Discovery of Nisman’s death at his luxury apartment on Sunday night occurred just before his scheduled testimony in an Argentine Congressional hearing on Monday, January 19th. The Buenos Aires Herald today cited President Kirchner saying in letters posted on her Facebook page that she believed that Nisman’s death was not a suicide.The New York Times filed a report citing examples from the intercepted phone calls contained in Nisman’s Compliant, “Argentine Phone Calls Detail Efforts to Shield Iran”. After reading these excerpts of the Nisman compliant led one reader to comment, “ there’s a 95 percent chance that his death was a professional hit job”. The question remains, if the investigation in to Nisman death doesn’t get derailed or entombed, who might have perpetrated it? Could that be someone close to the Kirchner Administration , who has the ultimate shield of deniability? Or could it perhaps be a cell of Hezbollah or Iran’s Qods Force based in the so-called “triangle of terror “ at the conjunction of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. Stay tuned for developments.

Germany: Immigrants Bring Population to Over 81m

Germany’s population grew for the fourth year in a row in 2014 largely due to immigration, the federal statistics office said Wednesday, as the country grapples with a low birth rate and ageing population.

Europe’s top economy, where immigration is currently being vigorously debated as in other EU countries, saw its population grow from 80.8 million at the start of last year to 81.1 million by the end.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



House Immigration Plan Slammed, Spends $10b and Deports No Illegals

Critics including Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions are slamming a House GOP border security plan set for debate Wednesday, claiming it will spend $10 billion on new equipment and border security tricks, but not send one single illegal home.

Sessions, the influential Center for Immigration Studies, and the head of the association of former Border Control agents all slammed the H.R. 399 being marked up in the House Homeland Security Committee today as unfocused on the No. 1 issue: U.S. sanctuary to illegals.

“As long as sanctuary cities, welfare, education, and jobs and principally lack of enforcement and enabling by the federal government, are made available to the undocumented alien, we will not be able to secure the physical border,” said Zack Taylor, chairman of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Netherlands: Integration Courses May Include Greater Focus on Freedom of Speech

Compulsory integration courses for non-Europeans moving to the Netherlands may be overhauled to include more recognition for freedom of speech issues. Social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher told parliament on Thursday he would look into increasing the focus on freedom of speech following a request by Labour MP Ahmed Marcouch. Marcouch called for the rethink following the terrorist attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Raft Rescued Off Coast of Malta, 20 Missing

Some twenty migrants are said to be missing off the coast of Malta. The Maltese Navy intervened to rescue a raft in rough waters on Thursday morning. Eighty people were rescued but twenty remain unaccounted for and are feared to be dead.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Spain Defends Legalizing on-the-Spot Deportations Before United Nations

Spain used an appearance before the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva on Wednesday to defend its plan to give legal coverage to the on-the-spot handovers of sub-Saharan migrants who scale the border fences in its North African exclaves in Melilla and Ceuta.

Secretary of state for foreign affairs Ignacio Ybáñez said the changes to legally protect the much-criticized practice — which are included in the new Citizen Safety Law — would “be consistent with Spain’s obligations in international protection and the principle of no returns.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Terrorism: Gentiloni Risk of Infiltration Through Migrants

Minister in London for a anti-Daesh coalition meeting

(ANSAmed) — LONDON — “The risks of terrorist infiltration through migration is relevant” said Italian Foreign Affairs minister Paolo Gentiloni while attending anti-Isis coalition talks in London. “Thankfully our security services work well and are aware of the danger but this does not mean we should not be concerned”.

The Italian committment against Isis does not change and is considered “adequate”, added Paolo Gentiloni. “The Italian contribution is the second most important in the training of ground forces, we are working a lot on aerial recognition and today the Council of ministers will approve the funding for 2015”.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Germany: Judge: Landlords Can’t Stop Men Standing to Pee

Splashy urinators may now micturate in peace, after a man won a court battle against his landlord for the right to tinkle as nature intended.

The man sued his landlord after he refused to pay back €1,900 of a €3,000 deposit, saying he needed the money to repair urine-related damage on the bathroom floor.

“Despite the increasing domestication of men in this regard, urinating while standing up is still widespread”, he wrote in his judgement.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



German Court Rules That Men Can Urinate While Standing

A court in Germany has ruled in favour of a man’s right to urinate while standing up after his landlord demanded money for damage to the bathroom floor.

The landlord, who was seeking €1,900 (£1400; $2,200), claimed the marble floor had been damaged by urine.

But the Duesseldorf judge ruled that the man’s method was within cultural norms, saying “urinating standing up is still common practice”.