Two men were arrested in Sydney today on terrorism charges. One of them was none other than the ISIS supporter Sulayman Khalid, now 20 years old, who was featured here last August in a segment from the Australian TV program Insight.

In other news, the government of Pakistan plans to execute nearly 500 terrorists over the next few weeks.

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

Thanks to Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, Papa Whiskey, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Italy’s Tertiary Sector Losing 260 Firms a Day — Retailers

Net loss of 78,000 business in first 10 months of 2014

(ANSA) — Rome, December 22 — Recession-hit Italy is losing around 260 firms a day in the tertiary sector, retailers’ association Confcommercio said on Monday. “The number of companies closing in the tertiary sector is increasingly higher than the new companies,” Confcommercio said in a report.

According to the study, Italy had 78,000 tertiary businesses less after the first 10 months of the year, when the difference between closures and new firms is accounted for. It said that this means an average of 260 firms were disappearing each day.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy’s Labour Costs: Wages Below Eurozone Average

Data excludes civil service

(ANSA) — Rome, December 22 — Italy is below the eurozone average both for hourly labour costs and hourly wages, Istat said in a report based on 2012 data. It said the cost of an hour of labour in Italy was 27.50 euros on average, compared to a eurozone average of 28.40. It said average gross pay per hour in Italy was 19.90 euros, compared to 21.2% for the eurozone. The national statistics agency said the figures excluded the civil service and defence sectors.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Haunting New Photos of Detroit’s Abandoned Silverdome

One of the saddest examples of the dramatic decline of Detroit and the surrounding area is what remains of the Pontiac Silverdome — the once proud home to the Detroit Lions, but which today is an empty shell left that’s been left to rot.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



NYPD Cop Killer Worked for Muslim Terror Front Group

The Muslim NYPD cop killer Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley worked for a Muslim Brotherhood front group, according to his Facebook page.

GotNews.com has confirmed and exclusively discovered that Brinsley went by another name — Ismaaiyl Abdullah-Muhammad — and that he worked for the Islamic Society of North America.

The Islamic Society of North America is a Muslim Brotherhood front group that was described as an unindicted co-conspirator by the Justice Department in the 2007 Holy Land terror cases.

[No! No! He was just mentally ill and had an unhappy childhood! — PW]

Sony Backs Down From Its Backdown

Sony to release ‘The Interview’ after all. “Sony Pictures has approved limited Christmas Day screenings of ‘The Interview,’ reversing course after taking heat for canceling its planned release after threats from hackers.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Will Freed Guantanamo Detainees Resurface on Battlefield?

The steady stream of detainees being transferred out of Guantanamo Bay is raising security concerns among lawmakers who worry the Obama administration has no system for keeping tabs on them.

The latest batch includes four prisoners once classified as high risk, individuals ranging from a known weapons smuggler to a Taliban operative involved in multiple attacks against U.S. and coalition forces.

“They’re very dangerous terrorists,” Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., told Fox News, after the four Afghan detainees were transferred to their home country over the weekend.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Arbitrary Terror Comes to France Prompting Armed Patrols to Take to the Streets

France is torn between fear and incomprehension.

Even as the government called for “calm, unity and vigilance” yesterday, reinforced armed patrols took to the streets after three random knife attacks on police and pedestrians in three days.

At least two of the attacks — which have led to two deaths and 23 injuries — are believed to have been irrational acts by disturbed individuals. Nonetheless, France fears a wave of copy-cat violence over the Christmas holidays.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



French ISIS Fighter to Muslims in France: If You Cannot Immigrate to the Caliphate, Blow Up France

In a four-minute video posted December 20, 2014 on the pro-ISIS jihadi forum Alplatformmedia.com, a masked and armed ISIS fighter calls on Muslims in that country to either make hijra (immigrate) to the Caliphate (i.e., the parts of Syria and Iraq controlled by ISIS) or to “blow up France” and kill unbelievers by any means: with a gun, a rock or a knife. The fighter speaks in French with a North African accent, and his statements are subtitled in Arabic. He is surrounded by several others, apparently also foreign ISIS fighters.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Geert Wilders’ Anti-Islamization Immigration Stand Resonates Across Europe

Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party (PVV) in the Netherlands is being investigated for the second time in five years by Dutch prosecutors for alleged hate speech during his March 2014 local election campaign rally statement of “fewer Moroccans”. This comes while his ratings in Dutch polls has rocketed him to the top with fully 30 seats in the Hague parliament, if snap elections were held. That is more than the combined seats currently held by the ruling Rutte coalition of the PvdA and VVD parties. Note this remark: “The short message of PVV-leader Geert Wilders to the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte: ‘The revolution in The Netherlands has started now, Mark.”

Wilders drew attention to that irony in a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) op-ed, “Talking About the Moroccan Issue is not A Crime”. Wilders is exercising free speech, something that Americans take for granted as a right guaranteed under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Wilders’ message about “fewer Moroccans” reflects the social consequences of permissive mass Muslim immigration undermining the social fabric of foundational Western values of, liberty, freedom and tolerance. In Holland’s case it is exemplified by the rejection of those values by the Dutch Moroccan émigré community that even Dutch liberal parties have begrudgingly come to recognize.What Wilders’ PVV and other parties in EU countries deemed ‘far right” have drawn attention to is the seeds of destruction of national values from compliance with UN humanitarian refugee programs straining resources and social welfare budgets caused by Jihadist warfare in the Middle East. That is reflected in the rallies in Dresden and throughout major cities in Germany this Christmas season by the Pegida movement (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West). As Al Jazeera reported Pegida rallies for “the right to preserve and protect our Christian-Jewish dominated West culture”, and against parallelgesellschaft — a German term used to describe immigrant communities that maintain their cultural norms and don’t integrate in local society.” The third mass Pegida rally of more than 17,500 occurred Monday night before the Semper Opera House in Dresden where the Pegida movement arose in October. The trigger for Pegida was the more than 200,000 Syrian refugees granted asylum by Germany. Recently, the short lived Swedish Social Democrat liberal government fell on a no confidence vote allegedly provoked by the anti-immigration Swedish Democrat party. It had forged an alliance with center right parties in Sweden’s parliament over the issue of a ballooning social welfare budget to accommodate 80,000 Syrian war asylees.

Wilders’ WSJ op ed reflects the Dutch unease with the policies of the ruling coalition government in the Hague Parliament. Those concerns have that has now cross the EU and even here in America to comply with UN humanitarian refugee standards. The subsequent generations of Muslim émigre’s in host EU countries have led to spikes in Antisemitism, Synagogue fire bombings, allegations of sexual assault and grooming of non-Muslim women, tolerance of Shariah law in so-called Muslim dominated “no go areas”, murders perpetrated in the name of Jihad against Jews and others. The specter stalking across the EU landscape of 28 members is the threat of homegrown Jihadists as returning veterans from the barbaric Salafist Islamic State. That threat was crystallized by the murders of Israeli tourists and workers at the Brussels Municipal Jewish Museum by returning Syrian war French jihadist Mehdi Nemmouchet.

‘Italy’s Next President Could be a Leftist’ Says Berlusconi

Alfano, Salvini also chime in on Napolitano’s successor

(ANSA) — Rome, December 22 — Former center-right premier Silvio Berlusconi told La Repubblica newspaper in an interview published Monday that his Forza Italia (FI) party won’t mind if Italy’s next president comes from the center-left of the political spectrum.

“We look at the person. It doesn’t matter what side they come from,” Berlusconi said. “It must be a serious person, accepted by all”.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, whose New Center Right (NCD) party is a splinter from Berlusconi’s now-defunct People of Freedom (PdL) party, told the same paper that the president must not be elected “by a single party congress”.

The search for Napolitano’s successor, he said, must “begin within the governing majority” but his party “strongly favors” FI having a say. “It is important for all three to be (involved),” Alfano said in reference to the Democratic Party (PD) of Premier Matteo Renzi, the NCD, and FI. Also on Monday, the leader of the anti-migrant, separatist and anti-euro Northern League party said the next president can be a leftist, but it cannot be Giuliano Amato or Romano Prodi.

Two-time premier Amato, who helped draft the EU Constitution, is a highly respected institutional lawyer who was also a trusted aide of late Socialist premier Bettino Craxi, a close friend of Berlusconi who protected his burgeoning TV empire in the 1980s.

A former president of the PD, Prodi was prime minister from 1996 to 1998 and from 2006 to 2008, and presided the European Commission from 1999 to 2004.

“Would I vote in favor of a leftist candidate? It depends on the names,” Salvini told RAI 3 public TV Agorà talk show.

“There are obviously positive and balanced people on the left as well”.

Incumbent President Giorgio Napolitano said last Thursday that his resignation as head of State was imminent.

He is tipped to announce he is stepping down in his traditional New Year’s Eve address to the nation.

The 89-year-old former Communist reluctantly agreed to become Italy’s first head of State to be re-elected last year to avert a crisis after squabbling parties were unable to agree on a successor.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy’s Non-EU Exports Drop 1.8%, Dragged Down by Russia

Year-on-year data positive

(ANSA) — Rome, December 22 — Italy’s exports to non-European Union countries dropped 1.8% in November compared to October, Istat said on Monday in its preliminary estimate.

The national statistics agency said trade was dragged down by a 23.2% drop in exports to Russia, amid EU sanctions over Moscow’s role in the crisis in Ukraine. Despite this, Istat said the year-on-year data for non-EU exports was positive last month. It said these were up 2.6% on November 2013.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: Renzi Calls for Party Unity Ahead of Presidential Election

‘Must not repeat mistakes of the past’ premier tells PD

(ANSA) — Rome, December 22 — Premier Matteo Renzi on Monday called on his center-left Democratic Party (PD) to remain united in the year ahead, when MPs and regional delegates will likely be called on to elect a new president of the Republic.

The outcome of that election “depends in large part on us, because we have 460 votes,” Renzi told MPs and top party officials during a Christmas toast at PD headquarters. “We must not repeat the errors of 2013,” Renzi said.

Incumbent President Giorgio Napolitano said last Thursday that his resignation as head of State was imminent. He is tipped to announce he is stepping down in his traditional New Year’s Eve address to the nation. The 89-year-old former Communist reluctantly agreed to become Italy’s first head of State to be re-elected last year to avert a crisis after squabbling parties were unable to agree on a successor.

That crisis was sparked by rebellions within the PD, at the time led by Pier Luigi Bersani, that scuppered the two candidates the group presented.

In Italy, the president is elected by a joint session of the houses of parliament plus regional delegates, totalling just over 1,000 people. The president of the Republic is the head of State and has the power to dissolve parliament. He or she represents national unity, guarantees that Italian politics comply with the Constitution, and is elected for a term of seven years.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: Over Third of Companies With Public Stake ‘Inactive’

Istat says over public sector has stakes in over 11,000 firms

(ANSA) — Rome, December 22 — Istat said Monday that Italian central and local government bodies have stakes in 11,024 companies — over a quarter of which are 100% owned by public entities.

But the national statistics agency said that only 7,685 of those companies, 69,7%, were “active”.

It added that 1,896 of the companies were organisations with no staff members.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: Lupi Worried by ‘New Strategy’ of No-TAV Protestors

Molotov cocktail disrupted Rome-Florence line at weekend

(ANSA) — Chiomonte, December 22 — Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said Monday that he was worried about a new strategy adopted by hardcore protestors against the TAV Turin-Lyon high speed rail link. “I’m worried about the change of strategy” he said after a Molotov cocktail caused a fault that disrupted railway traffic on the Rome-Florence high-speed link at the weekend. He was speaking during a visit to a TAV work site at Chiomonte, near Turin. “Being as they can’t stop the Chiomonte site, some are continuing with attacks that on the symbols of high speed rail,” Lupi said.

Protests against the Turin-Lyon link have frequently turned violent in recent years.

Critics have said the high-speed Tav project will cost too much and wreak terrible environmental damage in the Alpine region of Piedmont.

But the Italian and French governments say it will reduce highway traffic and in the long run, be good for the environment.

Last week a Turin court sentenced four ‘No-TAV’ protestors to three years, six months each in prison after convicted them for a May 2013 attack on a TAV site.

But the court acquitted of the four of terrorist charges.

Lupi has said last week that he hoped prosecutors will appealed. “If putting on hoods and organising an attack on the State is not association for terrorist ends, someone must explain to me what it is,” Lupi said.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Author’s Journey Inside ISIS: They’re ‘More Dangerous Than People Realize’

One of the most remarkable episodes of Todenhoefer’s trip to the ISIS-controlled region came when he was able to conduct an interview with a German fighter who spoke on behalf of ISIS’s leadership.

The man — clearly unapologetic about the group’s transgressions — vowed there was more to come; he also issued a warning to Europe and the United States.

“So you also want to come to Europe?” Todenhoefer asked him.

“No, we will conquer Europe one day,” the man said. “It is not a question of if we will conquer Europe, just a matter of when that will happen. But it is certain … For us, there is no such thing as borders. There are only front lines.

The interview became testy when they reached the topic of beheadings and enslavement, especially of female captives.

“So do you seriously think that beheadings and enslavement actually signal progress for humanity?” Todenhoefer asked.

“Slavery absolutely signals progress,” the man said. “Only ignorant people believe that there is no slavery among the Christians and the Jews. Of course there are woman who are forced into prostitution under the worst circumstances.

“I would say that slavery is a great help to us and we will continue to have slavery and beheadings, it is part of our religion … many slaves have converted to Islam and have then been freed.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Emirates to Operate Third Daily Service to Birmingham

Emirates said on Monday it plans to start a third daily service to Birmingham Airport, becoming the first airline to offer a direct First Class service to the region from August 1, 2015.

The additional service adds to seven more inbound flights a week to Birmingham, increasing passenger and cargo capacity on the route by 42 per cent.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Qatar Airways is World’s First Airline to Get the Airbus A350

TOULOUSE, France — Qatar Airways became the world’s first airline to take delivery of Airbus’ new A350 widebody aircraft on Monday. The handover came amid a ceremony at Airbus’ production line facility here.

The A350 is the newest aircraft model from Airbus and is the first entirely new model to be rolled out by the world’s two big aircraft makers since Boeing delivered its first 787 “Dreamliner” in 2011.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Russia Instructs 5 Major State-Controlled Companies to Help Ruble Out

Russia has ordered five of the country’s major state-controlled exporters to sell excess currency reserves in its latest attempt to shore up the ruble, which has endured big losses this year in the wake of sliding oil prices.

The Russian government published an order on its website Tuesday, instructing gas giant Gazprom, oil companies Rosneft and Zarubezhneft and diamond producers Alrosa and Kristall to reduce their foreign currency assets to October levels and to not raise them again until March.

Two of these companies are 100 percent state-owned, others are state-controlled.

With oil prices sliding, Russia’s energy-dependent economy is suffering and is widely predicted to fall into recession next year. One manifestation of that has been the sharp fall in the value of the ruble. The currency is the worst performing currency this year, along with the Ukrainian, hryvnia, having lost nearly half its value.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Pakistan Plans 500 Executions for Terror in Coming Weeks

Moratorium on death penalty lifted after Taliban school attack

(ANSA) — Islamabad, December 22 — Pakistan plans in coming weeks to execute nearly 500 people after lifting a moratorium on carrying out the death penalty, officials said Monday.

Islamabad announced the moratorium on the death penalty being carried out for terrorism convictions had been ended following the massacre of children by the Taliban at a school in Peshawar.

The moratorium had been in force since 2008.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Professor Raphael Israeli’s Prescience on Threat of Islamization to Australia and the West

Last week in the aftermath of the Islamikaze Jihad at Sydney’s Lindt Cafe, Raphael Israeli , Retired Hebrew University Professor of Islamic and East Asian History, was interviewed in Israel by radio personality Tali Lipkin-Shahak. It was the subject of an op-ed published this past weekend in Israel Hayom (IH), “Time to Wake Up” by Dror Eydar. Eydar

Lipkin-Shahak initially cited Israeli for his prescience in 2007, when he lectured on Islam sponsored by an Australian Jewish organization, only, to be asked to leave for expressing his views. As Eydar noted in his IH op ed,…

Two Men Arrested in Sydney in Counter-Terrorism Operation

A man has been charged after he allegedly was found with documents designed to facilitate a terrorist attack against potential government targets in Sydney, police say.

Sulayman Khalid, 20, from Regents Park in Sydney’s west, faced Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday after he was charged by counter-terrorism police overnight.

A second man was also charged by counter-terrorism police overnight with breaching a control order.

Mr Khalid appeared via video link, running his hands through his hair and leaning back in his chair.

Five members of his family sat in the public gallery as lawyer Adam Houda told the court his client would not be applying for bail.

He will remain behind bars for Christmas and will next appear before Central Local Court on February 18.

Outside of court Mr Houda said his client had been accused of serious offences.

“My client has been charged with a very serious offence but I remind you that authorities have got it wrong in the past many times and all that we ask is that the court process be respected and for this matter to be determined on the evidence and not by politicians and the media.”

Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan said officers seized a significant amount of material during a raid on a property on Thursday last week…

Luis Fleischman: New Cuba-US Relations Leave Old Security Issues Unreconciled

President Obama and his aides raised a number of arguments justifying their sudden decision to normalize relations between U.S and Cuba.

They have claimed the status quo and the embargo have not helped topple the Cuban dictatorship. I concede this is true. Secondly, although Cuba made no commitment to decompress or alter in any way its repressive regime, President Obama believes that “more contact will do more to empower the Cuban people”. The assumption is in Obama’s own words that “through a policy of engagement, we can more effectively stand up for our values, and help the Cuban people help themselves as they move into the 21st century.”

The President apparently believes that by expanding commercial sales and exports of goods and services to Cuba and providing more business training and communication between the two countries, the regime will liberalize and adapt our values of free market, democracy and human rights.

This argument is doubtful because except for the U.S, Cuba was open to every other country in the world. China is instructive as an example. China has adopted a policy of economic openness, but this openness has not mitigated the oppressive character of its regime. Whereas there is always the possibility of liberalization — it is by no means guaranteed…

Pope Outlines 15 Illnesses Church Must Guard Against

Francis gives hard-hitting address in Christmas greeting

(ANSA) — Vatican City, December 22 — Pope Francis on Monday outlined 15 illnesses that he said all churches must guard against as he gave his Christmas greetings to the Roman Curia.

These included “feeling immortal”, “spiritual Alzheimer’s”, “existential schizophrenia” and the “terrorism of gossip” the pope said in a hard-hitting address to the Roman Curia — the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body through which the pope conducts the business of the Catholic Church. “It’s nice to think of the Roman Curia as a little model church, that is a body that every day seeks to become more unified and harmonious, a complex body with many different elements that don’t have the same job, but are coordinated to work in an exemplary, effective way, despite the diversity of its members”.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



‘This Toy is Sexist’: French Feminists Plant Warnings in Children’s Christmas Presents

Feminists in France say they have secretly inserted tracts inside children’s toys from Barbie dolls to plastic guns issuing a warning that “this toy is sexist”.

Hundreds of French girls and boys will open Christmas presents at the foot of the tree to find an unexpected accompanying note resembling those found in Chinese “fortune cookies”.

Except in this case, the message will neither provide instructions nor predict the future. It will read: “Warning, this toy is sexist:”

The operation was launched by feminist group FièrEs, which said that it had inserted “around 500” such tracts into a range of toys in a dozen shops in Paris.