A disturbed young man (identified by the Grauniad as “Dutch-speaking”) forced his way into the broadcasting studios of the state TV network in the Netherlands. Brandishing a fake handgun, he took a security guard hostage (was the guard perhaps unarmed?) and entered a studio, demanding that he be given airtime so that he could make an important national address to a live TV audience. He said he was part of a hackers’ collective, and that he had co-conspirators ready to blow up dirty bombs all over the Netherlands if he were harmed. He never got the airtime he demanded, although the incident was recorded and the tape later made public. After a few minutes police confronted the man, disarmed him, and arrested him.

In other news, Cuban President Raul Castro demanded that the United States end the embargo and return the base at Guantanamo Bay to his country.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Diana West, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, MFK, Papa Whiskey, Phyllis Chesler, 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.

21.7% of American Children Were on Food Stamps in 2014

(CNSNews.com) — One in five children, or 21.7 percent, received food stamps in 2014, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday — more than at the beginning of the 2007 recession.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Denmark, Deutschland and Deflation: Strange Times for EU

There have been two important, connected economic developments in Europe.

New official figures from Germany show that prices have fallen, by 0.5%, over the previous 12 months.

Meanwhile the Danish Central Bank has cut one of its main interest rates for the second time in a week.

It is a rate paid to commercial banks for excess funds parked at the central bank. It was already below zero. Now it is even lower — minus 0.5%.

It means banks have to pay to leave money at the central bank, above certain specified limits.

Negative interest rates are another example of the strange financial world that has emerged in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

What is the connection between falling prices — or deflation — in Germany and the Danish central bank? It is about Denmark’s 35-year policy of tying its currency, the krone, to the euro, and before that to the German mark.

That peg has come under increasing strain as the European Central Bank, the ECB, has taken steps to combat deflation.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



ECB QE Could Cause “Competitive Depreciation”: China

The European Central Bank’s new quantitative easing (QE) measures could trigger “competitive depreciation” of currencies around the world, China’s commerce ministry warned Thursday.

The ECB last week unveiled a programme to buy 60 billion euros ($68 billion) of private and public bonds each month starting in March, a move intended to ward off deflation in the eurozone.

The figure was more than the 50 billion euros expected by analysts, and the unprecedented scheme will total over 1.0 trillion euros.

“The European QE may worsen the competitive depreciation of currencies of various countries, further increasing the uncertainties in international cross-border capital flows,” said China’s commerce ministry spokesman Shen Danyang.

“We will closely monitor that,” he told reporters at a briefing.

While the measures would make European exports cheaper and might help boost market confidence and growth in the eurozone in the short term, he added, their long run effects remained uncertain.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



EU to Greece: No Debt Relief, Stick to Your Promises

Top EU officials have warned the new government in Greece that it needs to stick to the bailout requirements and that there will be no debt relief.

“There is no question of cancelling the Greek debt. Other eurozone countries will not accept this,” EU commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said in an interview published Thursday (29 January) in Le Figaro.

Juncker had a phone conversation on Monday with the new Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, who was elected on an anti-austerity platform and has made debt forgiveness the core topic of his campaign.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Greece Heading for ‘Very Controversial’ Talks With EU Partners

Greece is heading for “very controversial” talks with its EU partners, European Parliament president Martin Schulz said following a two-hour meeting on Thursday (29 January) with the newly-elected prime minister Alexis Tsipras.

Schulz, a German Social Democrat, went on to elaborate that he has “rarely” in his time in public office had such a conversation as he had just had with the 40-year old radical left politician.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



A Postmodern Guide to Shutting Down Speech, and the Truth

by Diana West 29 Jan 2015

In his contribution to the famous 1949 collection of essays by ex-Communists titled The God That Failed, Arthur Koestler carefully illustrates how set language binds thought to ideology at the expense of evidence. Koestler, author of the unparalleled novel of Stalin’s show trials, Darkness at Noon, describes a conversation he had early in his Communist career with “Edgar,” his Party contact, in which they discuss the front page of a Communist newspaper…

Asteroid Miners May Get Help From Metal-Munching Microbes

Asteroid mining may become a multispecies affair.

The asteroid-mining firm Deep Space Industries (DSI) is investigating the feasibility of injecting bioengineered microbes into space rocks far from Earth, to get a jump on processing their valuable resources.

“You could come back (to the asteroids) in 10 to 20 years and have a preprocessed pile of materials,” Joseph Grace, of DSI and NASA’s Ames Research Center, told Space.com last month at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



David Clarke, Wisconsin Sheriff, Slams NAACP as ‘Political Propaganda Entity for the Left’

Sheriff David Clarke, Milwaukee County’s tough-talking, outspoken law enforcement official, called the NAACP an irrelevant “propaganda” tool for the political left and said it was frequently the “behavior of black men,” not racial injustice, that was the cause of much police-community consternation nowadays.

He made the comments during an interview on “Fox & Friends” about the recent St. Paul police shooting of a black suspect who reportedly pointed a gun at police as he fled their grip. Police shot and killed the man, and the NAACP, in response, called for an investigation, saying officers ought to have questioned and interviewed the suspect — despite his show of armed aggression — rather than shot him.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Disney to Debut Hispanic Princess With ‘Elena of Avalor’ Series

Disney is getting its first Hispanic princess.

In a recognition of the importance of the Latino market, particularly among families with young children, Disney will debut a new animated series called “Elena of Avalor” next year on its Disney Junior channel and programming blocks around the world.

Elena lives in “an enchanted fairytale kingdom inspired by diverse Latin cultures and folklore,” according to an announcement from the company. She will be introduced first as part of Disney Junior’s hit show “Sofia the First.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Gun Range’s Ban on Muslims Draws Fire

In the five months since Jan Morgan banned Muslims from her gun range in Hot Springs, Ark., business has boomed and predictions of a lawsuit brought by federal civil rights enforcers have so far proved inaccurate.

Morgan, who claims keeping Muslims out of her Gun Cave Indoor Firing Range is a matter of public safety and not a constitutional issue, says she made the decision in September after two customers she deemed suspicious visited. She said their furtive behavior and cellphone ringtones of “Allahu Akhbar” prompted her to revise her range’s policies.

“We are dealing in lethal firearms,” Morgan told FoxNews.com. “I’m not going to let a Nazi shoot in here, or a Ku Klux Klan member in here, either.”

[CAIR and the ACLU are whining, but this is the kind of “no-go zone” we need!. — PW]

Has the Administration Failed to Recognize the Threat of Global Jihad?

As a Former Army Intelligence officer, we were trained to evaluate the credibility of sources and then delve into the intel they were providing. We were also trained that if you didn’t identify the threat doctrine of your enemies then you couldn’t formulate a winning strategy, let alone protect your forces. That is why the Obama Administration has been evaded the capabilities of military intelligence echelons to assist it in fashioning a winning strategy in the war against Global Jihad. One would have thought that when the members of Seal Team Six killed the late Osama Bin Laden and scooped up disk drives and documents that the West Wing would have considered it a treasure trove. The vital raw intelligence would have determined the aims and global strategy of so-called “core Al Qaeda” and its burgeoning affiliates across the Muslim Ummah and the West. (Groups like AQAP, AQIM, al Nusrah, Al Shabaab and Boko Haram.) Unfortunately, as this Weekly Standard article by Fox News ‘Special Report’ panelist, Stephen F. Hayes illustrates, President Obama may have evaded his oath of office as Commander in Chief, Former Defense Intel Chief Blasts Obama. Hayes uses a speech by former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) chief, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn to fellow intelligence professionals to illustrate why the Administration cannot be trusted. Flynn retired after being brushed off by the National Security team in the West Wing and the politicized CIA. He was seeking to deploy his resources at the DIA to evaluate and derive meaningful intelligence on Al Qaeda its aims and strategies from the treasure trove of Obama bin laden computer files captured during the Seal Team Six assault. . This would have enabled the Commander in Chief and his national security team to articulate the threat of global radical Islam and fashion a strategy that would protect our forces engaged in a war against Islamic Jihad. Instead the Administration myopically evaded its responsibilities opting to promote the meaningless and opaque threat as “violent extremism”. Instead Flynn and his team of military intelligence analysts were brushed off after having unearthed the goals of “core Al Qaeda” and its network of empowered affiliates Recently, we heard former CENTCOMM Commander, Four Star Marine Gen. (ret.) Anthony Zinni talk about the lack of a meaningful Obama Strategy in the war against the Islamic state. See; Pensacola News Journal article, “General discusses ‘Situation in the Middle East. Before his talk I chatted with him briefly and gave him my question for the Q+A:

We are now several months into Operation Inherent Resolve — a US led coalition “to degrade and destroy”, the Islamic State, formerly ISIS. What is your current assessment of the conduct of this Operation and what in your view could be done to achieve the ultimate objective?

He smiled and said, “The short answer is we should not be afraid to put boots on the ground.” He opened up his speech with an anecdote about a conversation with two Arab leaders in the UAE on the day when the US-led coalition invaded Iraq in 2003. His two interlocutors said this was a disaster, because” it would unleash the Persian threat and ignite a religious war between Sunni and Shia.” Zinni had disagreed with the Bush strategy that without overwhelming force to seal the borders of Iraq, that sectarian fissures and conflicts would arise and that victory would not be achieved. In his remarks referring to the current situation he said, “Obviously, it’s the rise of the extremists — their ability to recruit now and reach out globally having bases from which they can operate .”

Hillary Clinton Undercut on Libya War by Pentagon

Top Pentagon officials and a senior Democrat in Congress so distrusted Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2011 march to war in Libya that they opened their own diplomatic channels with the Gadhafi regime in an effort to halt the escalating crisis, according to secret audio recordings recovered from Tripoli.

The tapes, reviewed by The Washington Times and authenticated by the participants, chronicle U.S. officials’ unfiltered conversations with Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s son and a top Libyan leader, including criticisms that Mrs. Clinton had developed tunnel vision and led the U.S. into an unnecessary war without adequately weighing the intelligence community’s concerns…

— Hat tip: MFK [Return to headlines]



Ilana Freedman: The Alternate Universe of Barack Obama

Our astute colleague Ilana Freedman has zeroed in on the parallel universe of President Obama in her latest op-ed, “The Alternate Universe of Barack Obama.” Her observations mirror the comments of contributing editor Dr. Richard Rubenstein in a 2010 NER Symposium video interview who called Obama the “most radical US President ever”. This morning in a phone conversation, we commiserated about a scoop she had on the Obamites in his circle engaged in advising and funding the Labor Hatnua leftist coalition in the current snap election campaign in Israel scheduled for March 17th. A leftist coalition is rumored to be fashioning a possible new coalition with the recently unified Arab parties, despite their seditious policies favoring the destruction of the Jewish State.

The hypocrisy of the Obama West Wing is reflected in his rationale of why he won’t meet with Israeli PM Netanyahu when he comes to speak at the AIPAC Policy Conference on March 6th and give his third address before a Joint Session of Congress: they claimed it is not their policy to meet with foreign leaders during domestic political campaigns. Balderdash. As Freedman recently reported, the Administration is enlisting outside experts to advise the leftist political allies in the Knesset general elections running against Netanyahu. That news broke Tuesday. See: Breitbart News, Obama Campaign Team Arrives in Israel to Defeat Netanyahu in March Elections.

Freedman’s comment:

Really? Interesting. But according to our sources close to the political centers of Washington, the Obama team has already sent campaign advisers and funneled $10 million to Netanyahu’s opponents in the upcoming national elections in order to help defeat Netanyahu’s Likud party in March. So much for that “long-standing practice” of not getting involved.Thus President Obama’s rationale is duplicitous and reminiscent of what Clinton winked at in Israel’s 1999 general election. It looks like it is back to the future in Israel’s upcoming snap Knesset election. The good news is that Israelis seem to be getting good and tired of Obama’s shenanigans and have finally awakened to the fact that he doesn’t have their back. The result may well be a resounding re-election for Bibi, as the drums of war rattle in the north as well as the south.

Loretta Lynch’s Similarities to Eric Holder a Red Flag for Republicans

Republican lawmakers plan to grill U.S. attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch on Wednesday on everything from her position on President Obama’s immigration amnesty to how she would pursue the Justice Department’s investigation into the IRS targeting of tea party groups.

Mostly Republican senators want to ask whether she would follow in the footsteps of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who has used his perch to push an activist agenda on gun control and voting rights, while defending Mr. Obama’s expansive claims of executive powers to alter Obamacare, launch a war in Libya and grant tentative legal status to illegal immigrants.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Microsoft’s Bill Gates Insists AI is a Threat

Humans should be worried about the threat posed by artificial Intelligence, Bill Gates has said.

The Microsoft founder said he didn’t understand people who were not troubled by the possibility that AI could grow too strong for people to control.

Mr Gates contradicted one of Microsoft Research’s chiefs, Eric Horvitz, who has said he “fundamentally” did not see AI as a threat.

“A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern. I agree with Elon Musk and some others on this and don’t understand why some people are not concerned.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



‘No Drone Zone’: FAA Reminds Super Bowl Fans to Leave Drones at Home

The Federal Aviation Administration produced a YouTube video reiterating that the Super Bowl is strictly a “No Drone Zone.”

The 15-second clip told fans to have fun, but also encouraged them to “leave their drone at home.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Romney, Mulling 2016 Run, Jabs Clinton and Obama

Mitt Romney, considering another presidential run, took swipes at potential 2016 rival Hillary Clinton on Wednesday for “cluelessly” conducting foreign policy, and said Barack Obama’s brand of economics is hurting Americans.

The 2012 Republican nominee, who lost to Obama, has returned to the political spotlight this month after telling donors he remains interested in a third shot at the White House.

In his speech at a university in the nation’s poorest state Mississippi, Romney expanded on campaign-style themes that will fuel speculation about his future.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Senate Approves Building Keystone Pipeline

Senators approved the Keystone XL pipeline in a momentous vote Thursday that saw nine Democrats buck their party leaders and join the GOP in backing the long-stalled project, setting an eventual showdown with President Obama, who has vowed a veto.

It marks the first major accomplishment of the new Senate Republican majority, who carefully selected the pipeline as the first big bill of the new Congress, hoping to prepare Democrats for even bigger tests with Mr. Obama in the future.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Sharpton Group Reports Deficits, Tax Debt Plan

In a new tax filing, Al Sharpton’s not-for-profit organization reports that despite skyrocketing revenue, it ran a hefty deficit, was forced to borrow nearly $200,000 from the reverend himself, and even saw the group’s long-delinquent Internal Revenue Service bill grow.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



‘You White Supremacist Motherf*****’!

Mass brawl erupts at City Hall meeting to discuss civilian oversight of St Louis police in wake of Michael Brown shooting

A brawl broke out during a meeting to discuss the conduct of police in the city where riots erupted after a black teenager was shot dead by a white officer.

The audience grew restless as police officers spoke out against a proposed civilian oversight board that would examine the force’s actions in future at St Louis City Hall.

Missouri state Republican Jeff Roorda, who is also business manager of the city’s police union, reportedly became involved in a slanging match with meeting chairman Terry Kennedy.

Roorda, who was said to have been wearing a wristband in support of Darren Wilson, the ex-police officer who shot Michael Brown, then allegedly pushed a black woman as a melee erupted.

Video of the fracas reveals someone in the crowd shouting abuse at Roorda, telling him: ‘You white supremacist motherf**. Get the f out of here, man!’

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Almost 500 Cases of Female Genital Mutilation Identified in Just One Month in English Hospitals

Almost 500 newly identified cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) were reported by hospitals across England in one month, according to the latest figures.

An average of 15 cases were discovered each day in November, according to data published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).

Last November 466 cases of FGM were identified; while in October, the first month such figures were compiled, 455 cases were reported. The figures for December are expected this week.

Despite the apparently high number of FGM cases, no one has yet been convicted for the practice, which has been illegal in the UK since 1985.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Austria: Police Ban Left-Wing Rallies Ahead of Ball

Police in Vienna are preparing for “higher levels of violence than expected” on Friday as left-wing protesters have promised to disrupt the right-wing Akademikerball which takes place for the third time at Vienna’s imperial Hofburg palace — despite two planned rallies having been banned.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Belgium: Vilvoorde Police Can No Longer Cope

Vilvoorde Burgomaster Hans Bonte (Flemish socialist) is sounding the alarm. He says that his police force can no longer cope with all the extra work imposed upon them since the terror alert level was raised, and is asking for federal help.

Alert level 3 will remain in place until at least 8 February. It implies a number of extra tasks for the Vilvoorde police officers, such as monitoring (potentially) radicalist youngsters. “We have 169 police officers, but the effort we are putting into tackling radicalisation is imposing a very heavy burden. We would need at least 10 extra men to step in from the federal level.”

For the time being, certain administration tasks are being postponed and a local police information station has been closed to reduce the burden.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Christianity’s Crisis Deepens as Ethnic Danes Convert to Islam in Their Thousands

Justling for column space with a story about another Danish priest who doesn’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus is a report about how more ethnic Danes than ever are converting to Islam.

In spite of the negative image in the media, Muslim organisations and mosques report growing numbers of Danes becoming interested in their religion.

“This year’s attendance figures have been high, presenting a huge increase, just as we saw during the Jyllands-Posten crisis,” Imran Shah, a spokesman for the Islamic Society, told Metroxpress.

Danes often decide to convert to Islam because their partner is a Muslim or because they live near a Muslim community and become interested in the religion.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Denmark: Carlsberg Freezes Hiring Against Russia Slump

Danish brewer Carlsberg said on Wednesday it had implemented a hiring and salary freeze at the start of the year to gird itself against an economic slowdown in Russia.

Carlsberg is Russia’s leading brewer with a 39 percent market share. In November, the group said in its third quarter earnings report that while the value of the Russian beer market had grown in the first nine months, volumes had declined by six to seven percent “due to the uncertain and challenging macro environment.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Dinosaurs Thriving in Europe Before Asteroid Hit, New Study Shows

Dinosaurs were flourishing in Europe right before their rapid demise, according to a new study. This would help confirm that dinosaurs the world over were wiped out by an asteroid’s impact 66 million years ago — a theory sometimes questioned due to lack of non-North American fossil evidence.

“The European fossil record, just as that from North America, suggests a rather sudden event that swept quasi-instantaneously through ecosystems that otherwise were doing quite well,” team leader Zoltan Csiki-Sava, of the University of Bucharest, said. “We do not see a pattern of dwindling diversity that finally peaked in the extinction event itself, but instead one of rich and diverse local faunas distributed across the European islands, faunas that were abruptly decimated without any prior warning.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Dutch Police Arrest Armed Man Demanding to go on National TV

An armed man was arrested on Thursday night after entering the offices of the Dutch national broadcaster NOS and demanding to go on air.

The Dutch-speaking man, who appeared to be in his twenties, wore a black suit and tie and entered a studio after threatening a security guard with a pistol, witnesses said.

Video broadcast on NOS showed the man pacing in the studio with the weapon behind his back.

He claimed to represent a “hackers’ collective” and could be heard saying that he “wanted to talk about things that are of world importance”.

“This is taking too long,” the man said. Police then stormed into the studio, telling him to drop the gun. He complied and was handcuffed by officers.

NOS said he appeared to be a student who had recently lost both parents. It also said he did not appear on security services’ lists of suspected Islamist militants.

— Hat tip: Gaia [Return to headlines]



Dutch Determined to Extradite Israeli Rabbi on Sex Charges

The public prosecution department is determined to press ahead with extraditing an elderly rabbi to Israel to face sexual abuse charges, news agency ANP said on Thursday.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Ethnic Minorities More Likely to be Jailed Than White Dutch: Research

People with an ethnic minority background are more likely to be sentenced to a jail term than their white peers and their sentences are likely to be longer, Trouw reports on Thursday. The research was carried out by Leiden University for the Dutch legal council Raad voor de Rechtspraak . The researchers analysed more than 100,000 criminal cases from between 2005 and 2007 and interviewed 1,500 people who had been remanded in custody. The results showed a white Dutch person had a 7% chance of being sentenced to a prison term for aggravated theft while people with Turkish and Antillean backgrounds had an 11% risk.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



EU Must ‘Chase’ Jihadis Online

EU countries should block jihadi propaganda online and hire PR experts to produce counter-propaganda, the EU’s counter-terrorism co-ordinator, Gilles de Kerchove, said in a Dutch newspaper interview Thursday. On Wednesday, the European Commission called on the EU’s parliament to swiftly adopt a passenger data sharing plan.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



France Implores Jews Not to Leave, Offers Military Protection

by Phyllis Chesler

Earlier this week, before leaving for Auschwitz to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Soviet liberation of the Nazi German extermination camp, President Francois Hollande appealed to French Jews, saying that “You, French people of the Jewish faith, France is your country, your place is here, in your home.”

Earlier in January, in an interview in The Atlantic, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that “If 100,000 people of Spanish origin were to leave, I would never say that France is not France anymore. But if 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France. The French Republic will be judged a failure.”

What have we here? The country of Dreyfus— the country of Vichy and Drancy, Nobel Peace Prize winner Yasser Arafat’s home away from home, the country in which “Death to the Jews” has been yelled by mobs in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries—is this country actually waking up?

As my colleague Dr. Richard Landes has noted, somewhat bitterly, these very vocal French leaders and the French media have been entirely missing in action for the last fourteen years when French Jewish-only blood was spilled: In Marseilles, Toulouse, and Paris, in a series of torture-murders, beatings, stabbings, shootings, and attacks against synagogues and Jewish schools—anyone who cried out “anti-Semitism” or Intifada was considered an alarmist and an annoyance. Philippe Karsenty was sued by France’s Channel 2 for his righteous challenge regarding the Al-Dura Blood Libel.

French Police Question 8-Year-Old Over Terror Comment

Reports that French police questioned an 8-year-old after he allegedly made comments in school in praise of terrorists have highlighted fears that the authorities may be going too far in their crackdown on hate speech.

The boy’s teacher said the child also expressed “solidarity” with the gunmen, who claimed their gruesome attacks were justified by Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, Islam’s holiest figure.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Germany: Lobby Groups’ Influence ‘Damaging Democracy’

The Council of Europe’s Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) wants Germany to make lobbyists’ influence on the legislative process more transparent. GRECO’s Michael Janssen tells DW why.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Germany: PEGIDA: The Beginning of the End?

Five board members of PEGIDA have stepped down following the controversy over founder Lutz Bachmann’s Hitler impersonation. After weeks of demonstrations, is the anti-Islamization movement about to run out of steam?

PEGIDA faced a crucial test as its supporters woke to find half of their leading members missing on Thursday morning. A week after the resignation of PEGIDA founder Lutz Bachmann, movement spokeswoman Kathrin Oertel threw in the towel on Wednesday, with four others following shortly behind.

The organization also canceled its forthcoming rally in Dresden, set for next Monday.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Germany: Anti-Islam Protest Cancelled as PEGIDA Leaders Quit

German anti-Islam group Pegida cancelled Monday’s (2 February) weekly protest in Dresden for “organisational and legal reasons”. On Wednesday, five of the group’s leading members left. Spokesperson Kathrin Oertel left “due to the massive hostility, threats and career disadvantages”. Pegida’s leader Lutz Bachmann quit after controversy over a Hitler photo.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Germany: Cologne Karneval Scraps Charlie Hebdo Float

Cologne’s planned Charlie Hebdo float in its Rosenmontag parade was a false start, after the organising committee scrapped its construction over security concerns.

The Festival Committee of the Cologne Carnival said in a statement on Wednesday that despite the overwhelming support for the Charlie Hebdo float, construction on it was halted.

“The Festival Committee wants everyone to be able to celebrate in safety and without concerns,” it said in a press release on Wednesday.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Germany’s Anti-Euro Party Split Over PEGIDA Ties

(BERLIN) — Germany’s upstart anti-euro AfD party will seek to mend a rift among members on whether to forge close ties with an emergent “anti-Islamisation” movement at a congress this weekend.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD), formed in early 2013 on the back of concern in Europe’s top economy about costly EU bailouts, made a breakthrough last year by winning seats in the European Parliament followed by three state assembly gains.

Its advances have emboldened some within its leadership, which is due to gather the rank and file in the northwestern city of Bremen on Saturday and Sunday, by stoking ambitions that have led to internal party conflict.

Now the emergence of the new PEGIDA movement, a right-wing populist group that rails against Islam and “criminal asylum seekers”, has further exposed the fault lines within the AfD and could risk undoing the party.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Greece-EU Clash Spreads to Russia Sanctions

(BRUSSELS) — Greece has created a new headache for the EU by questioning sanctions against Russia over Ukraine but is unlikely to block them for fear of harming its own debt negotiations, analysts and sources say.

New anti-austerity Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras added a foreign policy row to the economic stand-off with Brussels on Tuesday when he complained that Greece had not been consulted about an EU leaders’ statement on sanctions.

The comment set off alarm bells in Europe as Tsipras’s radical left Syriza party has been seen as pro-Russian, and Russia’s ambassador to Athens was the first to meet him after his election victory.

“Syriza have positioned themselves so far out of the mainstream it’s a possibility they could take that position on Russia” and oppose sanctions, Jan Techau, director of the Carnegie Europe think-tank, told AFP.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Italy: Milan Probes Syrians for International Terrorism

Prosecutors in Milan have accused six Syrians of international terrorism and other charges, following a series of violent incidents in northern Italy, national media reported on Thursday.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Italy: Man Who ‘Converted to Islam’ Arrested in Sicily

A 43-year-old ex-soldier who reportedly converted to Islam was arrested in the Sicilian capital of Palermo last night as part of Italy’s anti-terror sweep.

Amunition and warfare training manuals were found in his home, Corriere reported.

Videos and photos containing images of corpses wrapped in white cloth, alongside Arabic writing, were also found on his mobile phone, the newspaper said.

Police from Digos, Italy’s anti-terror squad, carried out 40 raids as part of an anti-terror operation launched after a shooting spree by Islamic extremists in Paris earlier this month in which 17 people died.

Security has been tightened since the attacks, while Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said more than 100 people were being closely watched on suspicion of sympathizing with or plotting to commit “jihadist, terrorist activities”.

Nine foreigners have also been deported since December as part of efforts to prevent jihadist attacks, with more expulsions expected to follow.

Those deported included five Tunisians, a Turk, an Egyptian, a Moroccan and a Pakistani.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Netherlands: Headscarf Ban Dropped by Five PVV Provincial Parties

Five branches of the anti-immigration party PVV have removed a ban on headscarves for civil servants from their manifestos for the March elections for new provincial councils. Flevoland, Zeeland, Noord-Brabant, Zuid-Holland and Noord-Holland have all removed the ban, Trouw reports on Thursday. The paper says this has been done to make it easier for the PVV to join coalitions after the March 18 vote. Zeeland campaign chief Peter van Dijk, who is also a member of the upper house of parliament, told Trouw: ‘If you want to govern you should not include items which will encounter a lot of resistance.’

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Nordics Outshine French at Culinary World Cup

Despite the so-called ‘world cup for chefs’ being held on home soil in Lyon, France failed to pick up the Bocuse d’Or this year as Nordic and American chefs took the podium places.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Norwegian Chef Wins World’s Top Food Prize

The world’s most prestigious food competition, Bocuse d’Or, has wrapped up in Lyon, France, with a Norwegian talent taking the crown.

After more than five hours of cooking, Ørjan Johannessen and his team took the gold for Norway. The United States came second, while Sweden won the bronze medal.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Office Puts Chips Under Staff’s Skin

Want to gain entry to your office, get on a bus, or perhaps buy a sandwich? We’re all getting used to swiping a card to do all these things. But at Epicenter, a new hi-tech office block in Sweden, they are trying a different approach — a chip under the skin.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Poland Bridles at German Minimum Wage

Germany’s newly-introduced €8.50 minimum wage is raising hackles at Polish trucking companies, who say they shouldn’t have to pay their drivers at that rate for the hours they spend on their western neighbour’s roads.

A spokesman for the Polish Embassy in Berlin told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that while Poland didn’t want to interfere in German affairs, they didn’t agree that drivers heading to France or Spain should be paid the German minimum wage.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Saudi Arabia ‘Not Pleased’ With Austria

Saudi Arabia is reportedly outraged by the debate around a religious dialogue centre it has financed in Vienna, according to diplomatic insiders quoted in Austrian media.

Austria’s Chancellor Werner Faymann (SPÖ) has said he is in favour of withdrawing all support from the centre, after it failed to condemn the public flogging of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi and chose to remain silent on other human rights issues.

However, the Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz warned that Saudi Arabia might relocate the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ headquarters away from Vienna if Austria does decide to close down the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID).

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Shell Resumes Arctic Drilling But Cuts $15bn From Global Investment

Royal Dutch Shell is reviving plans to drill for oil in Arctic in a move likely to intensify its battle with environmentalists.

The Anglo-Dutch giant’s chief executive Ben van Beurden accepted that Arctic drilling “divides society”, but said the world needs new sources of oil.

Greenpeace said Shell was taking a “massive risk” in a “pristine” region.

Shell also announced a $15bn (£9.9bn) cut in global spending, and profit figures that disappointed investors.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Sweden: Government Cuts Court Funding

The government will cut court funding by hundreds of millions of krona over the next few years. The National Courts Administration warns that this may lead to longer waiting times, TV4 news reports.

The past few years the number of court cases has increased and the National Courts Administration has asked for an additional 200 million krona next year to be able to handle the workload. But instead of granting the Agency’s request, the government has decided to cut funding by 180 million krona next year, TV4 news reports.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Switzerland: Right-Wing Group Seeks National Face Veil Ban

The same group that launched the initiative to ban the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is now seeking a national law to prohibit the wearing of veils and other face-covering headgear.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



The French Prisons, “Radicals, “ and Hiring More Imams

by Hugh Fitzgerald

Here’s an article on the French prison system, and a particular French prison where “radicalisation” — never defined, never explaineed — apparently takes place and where Amedy Coulibaly was himself “radicalised.” Hollande’s solution is to hire 80 more imams — but what, after all, can those imams do? They know what’s in the Qur’an and Sunnah. How will they be able to persuade their supposed charges in prison, who anytime they want have simply to read the Qur’an and the Sunnia, and have learned to take what is in those books — the unabrogated hate-and-violence-inculcating verses, which are to be found throughout the Qur’an, and reinforced by what is to be found in the Hadith (the Sahih or “authentic” collections of Al-Bukhari and Muslim among them) to heart, and to want to act, using violence, to bring terror to the hearts of the Kuffar?

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



UK: Headline Numbers: Is Fracking Viable at Current Prices?

Has the decision by Lancashire County Council on whether to allow Cuadrilla Resources to conduct exploratory fracking been overtaken by events, given that oil has fallen below $50 a barrel?

John Hall from Alpha Energy Group says: “the shale gas market took off in the US on the back of rising oil prices” as the price rose from around $60 a barrel in 2007 and started heading towards $140.

“My guess is that with the Brent price below $50 it will be difficult to justify short-term investment in shale, certainly in the UK,” he says.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



UK: Police Seek Man Over Derogatory Islam Slurs on Bus

POLICE wish to speak to this man (right) after derogatory comments about Islam were made on a bus.

The incident, described as a public order offence by police, allegedly happened on the 576 Halifax to Bradford bus, between 10pm and 10.20pm on Thursday, January 8.

The man is said to have got on the bus and sat directly behind an Asian man, before muttering his comments.

The suspect is described as white, aged 40 to 50, about 5ft 8ins tall, and was wearing a black woolly hat and black jacket that may have had a bit of red on it.

Braving Arab-Islamic Tradition, Egyptian Women Are Beginning to Use the Bicycle

Most men in the Arab world’s largest Sunni nation view women who ride a bicycle as “shameless”. However, despite the traffic, poor safety and lack of bike lanes in Cairo, riding saves time and money (for gas). Go Bike encourages cycling. President al-Sisi did the same by taking part in a cycling marathon.

Cairo (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Even though there is no law against it, Egyptian society still finds it hard to have women ride their bicycle largely because of men, who often attack or insult women who break with tradition.

In Egypt, women enjoy more freedom than in deeply conservative Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, where they cannot ride a bicycle.

In fact, social conventions only allow men to ride a bicycle in the most populous Sunni Arab country.

For women, cycling is still considers inappropriate, seemingly because the two-wheeler is unsafe for travelling in Cairo’s traffic-clogged roads. Yet, some women dare to pedal.

One of those who do is 31-year-old executive secretary Yasmine Mahmoud who, for the past four years, has used her bicycle to go to work.

Speaking on her way out, Mahmoud told Middle East Online (26 January) that she used to ride a bicycle when she was kid.

Initially, her family objected because of the capital’s notoriously unsafe streets, but later started trusting her ability to cruise through its many traffic bottlenecks.

Despite the risks, one of the reasons she rides a bicycle is to save time and the money required for gas.

For Mahmoud and other women, unsafe roads are not the main concern, but the city’s notorious sexual violence, and female cyclists in particular are targeted by passers-by, outraged at women on a two wheels.

Sexual assaults against women rose following the 2011 uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, with hundreds of attacks reported, partly as a result of greater insecurity.

Still, fear has not stopped Yasmine Mahmoud, who is member of Go Bike, a group that promotes cycling and arranges cycling tours every Friday.

Go Bike wants bicycles to replace cars for travelling short distances, something that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi approves.

In July last year, the Egyptian president took part in a cycling marathon to encourage people to switch from four to two wheels.

Go Bike aims to “change society’s perception” about women and girls riding bicycles, said the group’s spokeswoman Hadeer Samy. “We want bicycles to be a means for Egyptian girls to break the moulds of customs and traditions.”

For women still hesitating to ride on their own on the streets, Mahmoud has some words of advice.

“Try not to be scared. Forget those around you, challenge yourself and just enjoy,” she said, hopping onto her bicycle and pedalling off into Cairo’s busy streets.

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



Egypt: 20 Killed, Tens Wounded in North Sinai Rocket Attack

At least 20 people, including civilians, were killed Thursday when a series of militant attacks, involving “car bombs” and mortar rounds, struck several army and police positions in Egypt’s volatile Sinai Peninsula, a local health ministry official has told state TV.

Thirty six others have been injured in the attacks in the town of Al-Arish, in North Sinai, where the army is battling an Islamist insurgency that has spiked since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Suspected militants fired mortar rounds and used “car bombs” in the consecutive attacks that targeted the headquarters of the North Sinai security directorate in the provincial capital of Al-Arish, a nearby army base, a hotel and several security checkpoints, state TV and the Ahram Arabic news website reported.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



ISIS: Three Beheaded Bodies Found in North Sinai

The bodies of three beheaded men were found in a village in Egypt’s north Sinai, an area in which Isis-affiliated group Ansar Beit Al Maqdis has been active, Egyptian media reported quoting security sources. One of the three victims found in the vicinity of Sheikh Zuweid was called Mohamed Ali and had been kidnapped a few days ago.

The group “Partisans of Jerusalem” established itself in the peninsula and recently rebranded as “State of Sinai” within the framework of its alliance with Isis.

The group has already posted videos of Isis-style beheadings of bedouins accused of being “Israeli informants”. The beheading of a police officer was broadcast in one of its videos on Monday. The website Youm7 calculated that Ansar has carried out 19 beheadings since 2013, nine of which in 2014. Eight of these executions took place this month alone.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



‘American Sniper’ Thrills Baghdad Crowd: ‘Shoot Him! He Has an Ied!’

Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper” has wowed American audiences, but for one short week it also thrilled crowds in Baghdad.

Iraq’s upscale Mansour Mall played the film for one week before the controversy surrounding the film prompted management to end showings.

“Some people watching were just concentrating, but others were screaming ‘(expletive), shoot him! He has an IED, don’t wait for permission!’“ said moviegoer Gaith Mohammed, the Global Post reported Wednesday. “I love watching war movies because especially now they give me the strength to face (the Islamic State).”

A theater employee told the newspaper that the film’s run was ended because the hero, the late Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, was unapologetic about killing Muslims.

Mr. Mohammed, asked by the newspaper if he agreed with some Western reviews that labeled the movie racist, replied, “No, why? The sniper was killing terrorists, the only thing that bothered me was when he said he didn’t know anything about the Koran!”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Iran Targets Netanyahu Children for Assassination

Iran is encouraging its terror allies to pursue the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s children by publishing personal information about them, including photographs of the kids lined up in crosshairs, and declaring, “We must await the hunt of Hezbollah.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Neanderthals Gain Human Neighbour

Cranium discovery shows that Homo sapiens was living in Middle East 55,000 years ago.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Turkey’s Population Rises to Over 77 Million, Says Tuik

(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, JANUARY 29 — Turkey’s population rose to 77.7 million people in 2014, an increase of 1.28 million over the course of the year, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (Tuik) and reported by Dogan News Agency. Some 50.2% (38.98 million) of the population is male, while 49.8% (38.71 million) is female.

The proportion of the Turkish population living in cities increased to 91.8% in 2014, from 91.3% in 2013. The most populated province in the country is Istanbul with 18.5% of Turkish citizens (14.38 million people). Istanbul is followed by Ankara with 6.6% (5.15 million people); Izmir with 5.3% (4.11 million people); Bursa with 3.6% (2.79 million people); and Antalya with 2.9% (2.22 million people).

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Unwanted: Bodies of Foreign ISIS Fighters Pile Up in Iraqi Hospitals

Dozens of dead bodies of foreign ISIS recruits are piling up in Iraqi hospitals because their home countries don’t want them and local cemeteries won’t take them either, according to a high official in the nation’s Interior Ministry.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



How Russia Outfoxes Its Enemies

Russia’s annexation of Crimea last year caught almost everyone off guard. The Russian military disguised its actions, and denied them — but those “little green men” who popped up in the Black Sea peninsula were a textbook case of the Russian practice of military deception — or maskirovka.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Malaysia Officially Declares MH370 Disappearance an Accident

The Malaysian government has declared the disappearance of missing flight MH370 an accident, so it can proceed with compensating victims’ families.

Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) officially declared flight MH370 an accident on Thursday. The announcement is in accordance with international aviation rules that allow families of the passengers to obtain compensation.

The Boeing 777 aircraft disappeared on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 passengers and crew. It vanished shortly after takeoff en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

No trace has as yet been found of the plane, despite major international searches.

DCA chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said it was presumed those on board had died.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Malaysia: For the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, The Word “Allah” Can be Used in the Bible and in the Mass

In a pastoral letter, the prelate spoke about the legal dispute between the weekly Herald and the government. The court’s decision is limited to the Catholic publication, he said. Thus, the word can be used in other contexts and publications. For Mgr Leow, the faithful must be a people of “faith and hope,” fighting for justice and the truth.

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) — The ban on the use of the word “Allah” is limited only to the Catholic weekly Herald, and does not apply to the Bible, Masses and other religious services.

In the latter cases, the word can be used without breaking the law, said Mgr Julian Leow, archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, in a pastoral letter published on the Archdiocese’s website.

In it, the prelate spoke about the legal dispute that involved the weekly edited by Fr Lawrence Andrew, noting that with last week’s ruling all legal means have been exhausted.

However, the decision by the Court of Appeal is limited “only” to the Herald, and does not affect the other activities and publications of the Catholic Church.

On 21 January, Malaysia’s Federal Court dismissed the latest, and perhaps last, appeal by the Catholic Church, concerning the use of the word “Allah” for non-Muslims.

A five-man panel delivered a unanimous decision turning down the Catholic Church’s application for a review of the apex court’s earlier ruling which did not grant it leave to appeal the ban on the use of the word “Allah” in the Herald.

In his pastoral letter, the Most Reverend Julian Leow said that the “Allah” ban did not include a prohibition in the Bible or in praise and worship during mass and prayer sessions.

“The government,” he noted, “has said that the decision of the Court of Appeal is only confined to the Herald’s case. We shall therefore take the government at its word”.

The prelate did not hide the uncertainties and possible repercussions of the ban on the rights of minorities to practice their faith.

However, Catholics are a people of “faith and hope,” he said, and would take a stand for justice and truth.

“We need to protect the rights of the minority and the voiceless,” the archbishop of Kuala Lumpur explained.

“We need to forgive and to reach out in love especially to those who misunderstand and are misinformed,” he added.

He explained that for Catholics, although the Home Minister’s restriction on the use of the word “Allah” in the Herald goes against the Federal Constitution, it is only through love that battles are won, for “God is love”.

In a country of more than 28 million people, Muslims are the majority (60 per cent). Christians are the third largest religious group (after Buddhists) with more than 2.6 million members.

A Latin-Malay dictionary published 400 years ago shows that the word Allah was already in use to describe the Biblical God in the local language.

Some 180,000 Catholics live in the capital Kuala Lumpur out of a population of over 11 million residents. They are served by 55 priests, 154 men and women religious, but only 1 permanent deacon.

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



China Blasted for Taking ‘Bullying Approach’ Towards Japan With Military Parade

Reports that China will stage a major military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of second world war and, simultaneously, “frighten Japan”, have been dismissed by some Japanese analysts as a bully’s approach to diplomacy.

“China is obviously showing off its military power to try to intimidate Japan, but I do believe that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a stauncher statesman than that,” Yoichi Shimada, a professor of international relations at Fukui Prefectural University, told the South China Morning Post.

“I feel confident that he will stand up to Beijing and work to build an even closer relationship with the United States,” he added.

Messages posted on Japanese websites were more outspoken in their criticism of an article by Hu Zhanhao, a Chinese commentator on financial and global affairs, published in the official People’s Daily newspaper.

Writing in the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, Hu claimed that one reason for the parade was “to frighten Japan and to declare to the world China’s determination to maintain the post-war world order”.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



U.S. And India Share Sense of Unease Over China

NEW DELHI — When President Obama landed here for a three-day visit, he brought a long list of issues to discuss, like energy and trade. But when he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India sat down to talk, the first 45 minutes were dominated by just one: China.

Mr. Obama and his aides discovered to their surprise that Mr. Modi’s assessment of China’s rise and its impact on the greater strategic situation in East Asia was closely aligned with their own. Just as they did, Mr. Modi seemed increasingly uneasy about China’s efforts to extend its influence around the region and interested in a united approach to counter them.

He agreed to sign a joint statement with Mr. Obama chiding Beijing for provoking conflict with neighbors over control of the South China Sea. He suggested reviving a loose security network involving the United States, India, Japan and Australia. And he expressed interest in playing a greater role in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, where India could help balance China’s influence.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



US Tech Firms Ask China to Postpone ‘Intrusive’ Rules

US business groups are seeking “urgent discussions” over new Chinese rules requiring foreign firms to hand over source code and other measures.

The groups wrote to senior government officials after the introduction of the cybersecurity regulations at the end of last year.

The US Chamber of Commerce and other groups called the rules “intrusive”.

The regulations initially apply to firms selling products to Chinese banks but are part of a wider review.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Qantas Will Offer in-Flight Virtual Reality Headsets

Alaska Airlines may have been voted the best airline, but here’s one award they didn’t grab: first airline to offer virtual reality visors to passengers. That honor belongs to Qantas, an Australian airline that is teaming up with Samsung to bring the Gear VR into the sky.

Powered by Oculus, the headsets will feature content exclusive to Qantas and developed by Samsung. It will include a 360-degree 3D-guided tour of Kakadu State Park. The initial three-month trial may pave the way for more wide-spread use, if customer feedback is good. And Delta Airlines may be the next to try out in-flight VR.

For now, Gear VR is coming to first class only (of course).

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Ebola End in Sight, Who Says, As Weekly Cases Fall Below 100

The number of weekly Ebola cases in West Africa has fallen below 100 — for the first time in seven months. The World Health Organization says the slowing of infections allows them to readjust their efforts.

The number of Ebola cases continues to fall in Liberia and Sierra Leone, however, Guinea saw 10 more cases in the week to 25 January, from 20 to 30.

At the same time, the WHO’s parent body, the United Nations, warned on Thursday the virus was not yet contained — despite the decreasing cases.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



South Africans Turn to Social Media to Talk, Joke About Power Cuts

Power cuts planned by South Africa’s main electricity supplier, Eskom, have triggered a discussion. A look at how social media is being used to vent frustration at a growing problem in the country.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



South Africa: Xenophobic Looting Spreads to Langlaagte and Alexandra

JOHANNESBURG — Residents at an informal settlement in Langlaagte have told Eyewitness News how a foreign shop owner randomly started shooting at community members after he suspected that someone had stolen from his store.

Gauteng police say xenophobic looting has spread overnight to Langlaagte and Alexandra.

Police discovered the bodies of two South African men with gunshot wounds in Langlaagte late last night after a foreign-owned shop was looted and another burnt down.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Cuba’s Raul Castro Demands US Return Guantanamo, Lift Embargo

Raul Castro, Cuba’s president, has asked the United States to return its base at Guantanamo Bay and lift a half-century embargo on Havana. Only then could the two countries establish a normal relationship.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Mexico: “I Ordered Them to Kill the Iguala Students and Destroy the Evidence”

Questions concerning the fate of the 43 Mexican youths who disappeared in late September from the small town of Iguala have now officially been settled by the authorities — but the victims’ families are not buying their latest story.

On Tuesday, Mexican authorities confidently announced that there was no doubt that the 43 students from a teachers’ college in Ayotzinapa had been captured and murdered, and that their bodies had been burned on a bonfire.

But now they say that mistaken identity is also to blame for the tragedy. The alleged murderers — hit men from the local Guerreros Unidos cartel — were led to believe that the students were members of Los Rojos, a rival narcotics gang, authorities said.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Belgium: “3,500 Euros for a Trip to Britain”

The federal judicial authorities and federal police units in Leuven, East Flanders and West Flanders have launched a joint effort against smugglers working for human trafficking rings. 11 suspects were arrested. They are believed to be part of different gangs trying to bring people illegally into Britain for big sums of money.

People smugglers are demanding up to 3,500 euros for a trip to Britain, it can be heard. They do not hesitate to put their people’s health at risk, sending them on trucks involved with dangerous transports, or sometimes even in refigerators.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Boehner Defends House GOP Immigration Lawsuit

Washington (CNN)House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday confirmed House Republicans are filing a lawsuit against Obama’s executive action delaying deportations for millions of immigrants here illegally.

“The President’s overreach when he took executive action to deal with the immigration problems in our country, frankly, in my view, is a violation of our Constitution,” he said in an interview on Fox News.

“This isn’t about immigration,” he said. “This is the President violating the Constitution, violating his oath of office, and frankly, not upholding the rule of law.”

Boehner had told House Republicans of the planned lawsuit during their closed-door meeting on Tuesday.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Finland: Business Think Tank: Double the Immigration Rate

A leading Finnish think tank is calling for a doubling of immigration to meet the country’s employment needs. The pro-business EVA warns that employment will remain low unless there is a strong influx of workers from abroad.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Jordan: Number of Registered Syrian Refugees Reaches 637,000 — Gov’t

AMMAN — The total number of Syrians residing in the Kingdom has reached around 1.4 million, of whom 637,000 have been registered as refugees, according to Interior Ministry figures.

In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, the ministry’s spokesperson, Ziyad Zu’bi, was quoted as saying that the monthly increase in the number of Syrian refugees registered with the UNHCR since the beginning of 2014 has reached 2,500.

Zu’bi added that the number of Syrians residing in official camps stands at 100,000, constituting 15 per cent of registered Syrian refugees and 7 per cent of the total number of Syrians in Jordan, according to Petra.

The official also put the number of Syrians in the Zaatari Refugee Camp at 85,000, while Azraq camp houses 11,000 refugees.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Report: California’s High Welfare Benefits Attract New Immigrants

In a report entitled “Immigrants Tend to Live in High Welfare Benefit States,” published on Jan. 26, 2015, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) determined that “the generous welfare benefits offered by some states have magnetic effects and alter the geographic sorting of immigrants in the United States”—attracting many to California.

The report found that “there is a ‘striking and easily observable clustering of immigrants in high-benefit states.” As California rose from offering medium benefit levels in 1970 to “almost the most generous in the nation” by 1990, the benefit levels served as a magnet for less-educated immigrants.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Benedict Cumberbatch Apologizes: ‘Thoughtless’ To Call Black Actors ‘Colored’

(CNSNews.com) — Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Sherlock Holmes on the PBS show “Sherlock,” apologized Monday for using the term “colored” to describe black actors in a discussion about diversity in the entertainment industry on the PBS talk show “Tavis Smiley” last week.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Germany: Court Grants Kids Right to Know Donor Fathers

The Supreme Court (BGH) decided on Wednesday that the children of sperm donors have a right to know who their biological father is at any time.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Italy: Rome Civil-Union Vote ‘Ideological Bluff, ‘ Church Says

Council same-sex vote opens ‘disturbing horizons’ says diocese

(ANSA) Rome, January 29 — A vote by the Rome city government to ratify same-sex ‘marriages’ performed outside Italy is just an “ideological bluff,” the Roman Catholic diocese of Rome said Thursday.

“The Campidoglio, with the vote yesterday, has decided to discriminate knowingly against families,” said Angelo Zema, editor of the website www.romasette.it run by the Rome diocese of the Church.

The vote is “a symbolic stage in an anti-family itinerary that opens up disturbing horizons damaging children,” said Zema in an editorial.

Several local councils in Italy have sought to ratify same-sex unions contracted abroad on official wedding registers but Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has said repeatedly that such registration is invalid.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Second Danish Priest Doubts Resurrection

A second Danish priest has come forward to admit that she does not believe in the literal truth of either the resurrection of Jesus Christ or the biblical account of the creation.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Sex Education Comes From Porn for More Than Half of University Students

More than half of university students use porn to find out about sex, the National Union of Students (NUS) says.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Swedish Police Further Neutered

Starting this month, police training has moved from the old Stockholm Police Academy to a place called Södertörns Högskola. This “school” is known for many things. One of them is the principal Moira Wright’s infamous thesis “Gender and Text”, in which she argues that hard, scientific facts are “patriarchical” in nature and should be disregarded in favor of gender-correct theories whenever the two collide.

The school has also gained some notoriety for trying to revive the “race biology” concept, in which groups of people are assumed to have certain qualities based on the skin color. The Nazis were kind of big on this bulls**t, as you may recall. Of course, this time it’s “whiteness studies” being put forth as the focus, where all white people have a given share of guilt for all ills in history and should be condemned accordingly. The program is led by Tobias Hubinette, an immigrant with multiple convictions for violent hate crimes against whites (summary and court docs linked here). A 1996 quote from newspaper Creol sums up his ideology pretty well: “Let the white race […] perish in blood and suffering!”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



After Charlie Hebdo, Balancing Press Freedom and Respect for Religion

Majority Says Publishing Cartoons Was ‘Okay,’ But About Half of Non-Whites Say ‘Not Okay’

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Multibillion-Dollar Race to Put Internet Into Orbit

The next-generation internet could come from above, with fleets of satellites delivering broadband to under-served areas of the world

THE race is on to build a new kind of internet. A host of companies and billions of dollars are in play, with the ultimate goal of ringing the planet with satellites that will allow anyone, anywhere, to get online at broadband speeds.