At a meeting of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Pope Francis spoke out against the market system as it pertains to food. The Holy Father said that making a profit deserved no place in the attempt to alleviate hunger in the world.

In other news, China’s central bank lowered interest rates in an attempt to revive the country’s flagging economy. Meanwhile, ECB President Mario Draghi says that the rate of inflation in the Eurozone is far too low, and another round of quantitative easing is required.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, DM, Fjordman, Green Infidel, Insubria, Mark Spahn, Nick, 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.

Banking Culture Primes People to Cheat

Individual bankers behave honestly — except when they think about their jobs.

A study of investment managers and traders at a major international bank suggests that the financial industry’s culture encourages dishonest behaviour, but that the individuals themselves are not inherently dishonest.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



China’s Central Bank Cuts Interest Rates in Bid to Lift Sagging Economy

China cut its benchmark interest rates for the first time in more than two years on Friday to lower borrowing costs and lift a cooling economy that is on track for its slackest annual growth in 24 years. The People’s Bank of China said it was cutting one-year benchmark lending rates by 40 basis points to 5.6 per cent.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



China’s Central Bank Cuts Interest Rates as World’s No. 2 Economy Slows

China’s central bank cut interest rates Friday amid a slowdown in the world’s No. 2 economy.

It said in a statement it had cut the rate on one-year loans to financial institutions by 0.4 percentage point to 5.6 percent.

The bank also lowered the one year interest rate paid on savings.

China’s economic growth slowed to a five-year low of 7.3 percent last quarter.

Recent data such as house prices and manufacturing suggest the economy has continued to slow.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



ECB’s Draghi Throws Door to Quantitative Easing Wide Open

(Reuters) — European Central Bank President Mario Draghi threw the door wide open on Friday for more dramatic action to rescue the euro zone economy, saying “excessively low” inflation had to be raised quickly by whatever means necessary.

Draghi said there was now no sign of economic improvement in the months ahead and that the ECB would expand and step up its programme to pump more money into the currency bloc if its current measures fell short of lifting inflation.

“We will continue to meet our responsibility — we will do what we must to raise inflation and inflation expectations as fast as possible, as our price stability mandate requires of us,” Draghi said in a speech at an annual banking congress.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Democratic Groups Gearing Up for a Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign

A large amount of Democratic groups are preparing for Hillary Clinton to announce her plans to run for president in the 2016 election.

An unaffiliated super PAC, Ready for Hillary, is meeting with Clinton insiders Friday to prepare strategies aimed at helping Clinton win the election, if she decides to run. Clinton has not made any plans to seek the presidency yet.

Ready for Hillary will join leaders of Democratic groups Priorities USA Action, American Bridge 21st Century and Correct the Record to review the 2014 elections and prepare for next year. In some cases, the groups will be wrapping up their efforts while others are beginning to ramp up.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



House G.O.P. Sues Over Implementation of Health Law

House Republicans filed a long-threatened lawsuit Friday against the Obama administration over unilateral actions on the health care law that they say are abuses of the president’s executive authority.

The lawsuit — filed against the secretaries of the Health and Human Services and Treasury Departments — focuses on two crucial aspects of the way the administration has put the Affordable Care Act into effect.

The suit accuses the Obama administration of unlawfully postponing a requirement that larger employers offer health coverage to their full-time employees or pay penalties. (Larger companies are defined as those with 50 or more employees.)

In July 2013, the administration deferred that requirement until 2015. Seven months later, the administration announced a further delay, until 2016, for employers with 50 to 99 employees.

More Malcolm X

In many discussions on the Roma issue in East-Central Europe, someone will inevitably say, with a mixture of wistfulness and bewilderment, “Where is the Martin Luther King of the Roma?” There are indeed some parallels between the experience of Roma and African-Americans. But a galvanizing civil rights leader with broad appeal like Martin Luther King has not yet emerged in the region.

There are a number of problems with this approach, however. It fixes on the figure of a single leader and obscures the roles played by numerous other civil rights leaders that preceded, accompanied, and often challenged King. It also assumes that the kind of leadership that King provided, which liberal whites found non-threatening, is what would most benefit Roma in East-Central Europe today.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Police Shooting of Unarmed Brooklyn Man Appears to Have Been Accident, City Says

A New York City police officer shot and killed an unarmed 28-year-old man in Brooklyn late Thursday night, according to the police.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the shooting appeared to be unprovoked.

The victim was not immediately identified and the officer, who was not named, has been placed on modified assignment and was relieved of both his badge and gun.

Racial Gap in U.S. Arrest Rates: ‘Staggering Disparity’

When it comes to racially lopsided arrests, the most remarkable thing about Ferguson, Mo., might be just how ordinary it is.

Police in Ferguson — which erupted into days of racially charged unrest after a white officer killed an unarmed black teen — arrest black people at a rate nearly three times higher than people of other races.

At least 1,581 other police departments across the USA arrest black people at rates even more skewed than in Ferguson, a USA TODAY analysis of arrest records shows. That includes departments in cities as large and diverse as Chicago and San Francisco and in the suburbs that encircle St. Louis, New York and Detroit.

Those disparities are easier to measure than they are to explain.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



U.S. To Allow People From Nations Hit by Ebola to Stay Temporarily

The Department of Homeland Security will grant temporary protected status to people from the three West African countries most affected by Ebola who are currently residing in the United States, department officials said on Thursday.

People from Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone in the United States as of Thursday may apply for protection from deportation, as well as for work permits, for 18 months, said a Department of Homeland Security official.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



EU Blues: What Becomes of the Brits Departed?

Ahead of yet another expected by election win for British anti-EU party UKIP this week, an expert on union law has described expats as “the eggs that have to be broken” to make the omelettes of British politicians who feel uncomfortable living next to Romanians.

Following its success in May’s European elections, in which it topped the polls, and a number of by-elections, nobody can deny that Nigel Farage’s UK Independence Party is now a mainstream party with the potential to radically change the British political spectrum.

And even if UKIP fails to take hold of the reins of power, the UK’s current prime minister, David Cameron, has promised the British public a referendum on staying in the EU by the end of 2017.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



EU Committee Unanimously Approves Plastic-Bag Law

New law would reduce use of single-use bags

(ANSA) — Brussels, November 21 — The Committee of Permanent Representatives of EU countries on Friday unanimously approved a draft law aimed at limiting single-use plastic bag usage.

The law is expected to receive final approval in the parliament plenary session to be held in Strasbourg next week.

It would give member States wide latitude in deciding how to reduce plastic-bag usage in their countries, through measures such as charging for bags, national reduction targets, or outright bans.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Galaxies in Filaments Spaced Like Pearls on a Necklace

Galaxies like to keep their distance — 30 million light years of it, to be precise. An analysis of thousands of galaxies finds that they are strung like pearls on a necklace, even on relatively small scales.

On large scales, the universe is comprised of empty voids, punctuated by narrow, winding filaments of dark matter that guide the growth of galaxies and galaxy clusters. This cosmic web, which has taken decades to map, holds a repeating pattern on the order of hundreds of millions of light years.

But when you zoom in, things were supposed to get messier. Now, Elmo Tempel and his student Maarja Bussov at Tartu Observatory in Estonia and their colleagues have found a small-scale pattern in cosmic structure.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



How to Make Swedish Mulled Wine

Come colder days, Swedes rely on one drink in particular to warm them up again: glögg. The beverage has been a Christmas tradition in Sweden since the 1890s. The shops are already packed with the stuff, but why not make your own? John Duxbury shares his favourite recipe with The Local.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



‘ISSpresso’ Space Coffee Machine to be Delivered to International Space Station

Ristretto or lungo? Not a question astronauts on the International Space Station normally have to contemplate, but that is about to change thanks to a new zero-gravity coffee machine being delivered this weekend.

The ISSpresso machine is set to boldly go to the orbital station this weekend, carried there by Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

Astronauts on the station will finally be able to enjoy a decent brew thanks to the 20-kilogramme machine designed by famed Italian coffee makers Lavazza and engineering firm Argotec, which specialises in making space food.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Italy: Berlusconi Says Must Back Renzi’s Institutional Reforms

Creating a leaner parliament ‘something I always believed in’

(ANSA) — Rome, November 21 — Silvio Berlusconi said Friday that he must support Premier Matteo Renzi’s institutional reforms to be consistent, as the measures reflect ideas he has long supported.

Berlusconi, who worked with Renzi to create an election law bill and revamp the country’s political machinery, stripping the Senate of most of its power for a leaner parliament, is “something that we have always believed in”.

Berlusconi, the leader of the opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, said during a telephone call-in show that the new election act “is one of our old battles”, to create a government led by a solid majority.

A major criticism of the current election law is that it leads to fragmented results making it difficult for any one party to lead.

Renzi’s government has embarked on an ambitious reform agenda since taking office in February.

There has been speculation Renzi might want to capitalize on his current popularity in the polls and call snap elections.

But a statement released after Renzi and Berlusconi met last week said that the leaders had agreed there should be no new elections before the end of the current parliamentary term in 2018.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: Anti-Renzi Protesters Clash With Calabria Cops

One demonstrator and three police injured ahead of Renzi visit

(ANSA) — Cosenza, November 21 — Some 100 protesters wearing masks made out of photos of Italy’s premier with a Pinocchio nose and calling for “income, housing and jobs” on Friday threw bottles and flares at police near an auditorium where center-left Premier Matteo Renzi is set to speak at the closure of a campaign for regional elections in the southern Calabria region.

One of the demonstrators was taken to hospital with a head injury and three police officers suffered contusions when some of the protesters — made up of extreme leftists, housing activists, laid-off workers, and temp workers — tried to break through a checkpoint. Police stopped them with a brief charge, sources said.

The Calabria race sees five candidates pitted for the governorship of the troubled southern region, including Mario Oliverio from the premier’s Democratic Party (PD), Wanda Ferro from the center-right Forza Italia party of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, and Cono Cantelmi from the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: Deemed ‘Too Western’ Teenager Beaten by Family

15-year-old entrusted to social services

(ANSA) — Forli, November 21 — A 15-year-old girl who was viciously beaten up by her family and locked in a bathroom because she was “too Western” has been entrusted to the social services after hospital treatment.

The girl, who was not identified, was treated for a head injury and wounds to the face, shoulders and ribs inflicted by her Moroccan father and brothers who beat and punched her, police sources said.

The girl herself called the police and said she had been beaten after going for a walk with a classmate in the centre of Forli, a city in the central Emilia-Romagna region.

During the stroll she met a friend of her brothers who took a photo of her and sent it to her parents with an offensive remark.

Investigators are considering whether to charge her father, who has lived in Italy for 20 years, and whether to press an additional charge of kidnapping against her brothers, the sources said.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Listen to the Thump of Philae Landing on Comet 67P

So that’s what landing on a comet sounds like. Researchers at the German Aerospace Centre have just released a short clip recorded by the European Space Agency’s Philae probe as it first made contact with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last week.

The recording, made by the lander’s Cometary Acoustic Surface Sounding Experiment (CASSE), is just 2 seconds long, but contains a lot of scientific information. CASSE detects vibrations through the lander’s feet, which can be converted into sound. It suggests that the comet’s surface has soft layer several centimetres thick on top of a much harder, icy layer. That is in line with the findings of another of Philae’s instruments, MUPUS, which broke while attempting to hammer through the surface

Philae landed on the comet three times on 12 November.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Never-Before-Seen Particles Discovered at Swiss Collider

Two new subatomic particles have popped up at the world’s largest atom smasher. The never-before-seen particles could help physicists glean key information about the building blocks of matter in the universe.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland, is a veritable particle piñata: The massive underground machine accelerates two beams of protons to nearly the speed of light and smashes them together. Breaking the protons apart with so much energy creates a shower of new particles for scientists to study.

One of the experiments at the LHC, called LHCb, identified two never-before-seen baryon particles in their most recent particle cache.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Norway: Queen Latifah to Host Nobel Award Ceremony

US former rap artist turned Queen Latifah will host the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo in December.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Norway to Grow Food Crops in Space

A team of scientists in Norway are set to research the possibility of growing plants and food crops in outer space, it was revealed on Friday.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Pope Attacks Market System at UN Group Conference

(AGI) Vatican City, Nov 20 — Markets hinder the fight against hunger, Pope Francis told the United Nations’ Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation on Thursday. He said: “It is also painful to see that the struggle against hunger and malnutrition is hindered by ‘market priorities’, the ‘primacy of profit’, which have reduced foodstuffs to a commodity like any other, subject to speculation, also of a financial nature.” He went on: “St. John Paul II, in his inauguration in this hall of the First Conference on Nutrition in 1992, warned the international community against the risk of the ‘paradox of plenty’, in which there is food for everyone, but not everyone can eat, while waste, excessive consumption and the use of food for other purposes is visible before our very eyes.

Unfortunately, this ‘paradox’ remains relevant.” He also condemned international embargos, imposed on governments but paid for by the people, and the practice of setting agreements on development and cooperation for political reasons. “If one believes in the principle of the unity of the human family, founded on the fatherhood of the Divine Creator and brotherhood between human beings, no form of political or economic pressure that makes use of the availability of food is acceptable.

Moreover, no system of discrimination, either de facto or by law, bound to the ability to access the food market, should be taken as reference for international action aimed at eliminating hunger,” he said. He also attacked the lack of transparency in diplomatic and governmental affairs. “There are few topics that are subjected to as much sophistry as that of hunger, and few that are so susceptible to the manipulation of data, statistics, and national security needs, to corruption or a painful reference to the economic crisis. The interest in production, the availability of food and access to it, climate change, and agricultural trade should undoubtedly inspire rules and technical measures, but the first concern should always be the person, those who lack daily meals and have stopped thinking about life, about familial and social relations, and fight only to survive”, he said. All this, the Pope stated, must take priority over “new rights”.

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



Renzi Isn’t Backed by Honest Italians, Says Landini

Union leader ‘offended millions’ says PD president Orfini

(ANSA) — Naples, November 21 — Premier Matteo Renzi is not backed by honest Italians, Maurizio Landini, the leader of the FIOM metalworkers union, said on Friday. “Renzi recognises that he doesn’t have the support of honest people, of workers and of those who are looking for work,” Landini, who has been leading protests against the government’s Jobs Act labour reform, said at a rally in Naples. The FIOM is part of Italy’s biggest trade-union confederation, the CGIL, which has called a general strike to protest the Jobs Act and the government’s 2015 budget law on December 12 along with another big union, the UIL. “You save jobs by keeping factories open, not by feeding controversy, and by solving the industrial crisis, not by playing ‘who can shout loudest’,” Renzi replied.

Landini’s comments immediately also drew an indignant reaction from several others.

“Personally, I consider myself very honest,” said Giorgio Squinzi, the head of industrial employers confederation Confindustria. “We believe that this country needs a new climate of industrial relations”.

Matteo Orfini, the president of Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD), said Landini had offended millions. “By saying that the government doesn’t have the support of honest people, he offended millions of workers who believe in the PD,” Orfini said via Twitter. “I’m sorry that it came from a trade unionist”.

Landini tried to backpedal later on Friday, saying his comments had been misinterpreted. “I never thought that Renzi doesn’t have the support of honest people, as I have been attributed as saying by some media organs,” Landini said. “I said, and I reiterate, that the premier does not have the support of the majority of people who work and the people who are looking for work and they are on the honest, tax-paying side of the country”. Before the row broke out, Landini warned Renzi that he could not revamp Italy all on his own. “Renzi cannot make decisions from morning until night. He cannot change the country on his own,” Landini told the Naples rally accompanying a one-day strike his union has called in parts of Italy. “On his own he just responds to the powers that be”.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Spain Prosecutors Take Case Against Catalan Leader

Prosecutors have filed suits against government officials in Spain’s powerful northeastern region of Catalonia for staging a vote on secession that had been ordered suspended.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Swedes’ Blonde Only School Photo Goes Viral

A protest school photo by Swedish students to highlight the anti-immigration polices of the Sweden Democrats has generated a storm on social media.

Pupils at the Hulebäcks secondary school outside Gothenburg decided to make a statement in their annual class photo. When the time arrived to take the picture only three of 25 strong class showed up.

The trio appeared in the shot with a student holding a sign saying ‘Jimmie sent the rest home’ in protest against the nationalist policies advocated by the Sweden Democrats’ leader Jimmie Åkesson.

Most of the class come from immigrant backgrounds, so the three blonde haired students appear amidst a row of empty chairs.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Syrian Conflict Playing Out in Denmark

The chairman of the Danish-Syrian Association says it is “only a matter of time” before the violent conflict between pro-Assad factions and supporters of the terrorist group Isis explodes in Denmark.

Mohammad Mahfoud told broadcaster DR that as the head of the Danish-Syrian Association he supports President Bashar al-Assad and is against Isis. And that, he said, has led to confrontations and threats that he says will only get worse.

Mahfoud recounted an incident in which he was eating at a popular kebab restaurant in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro district last year when two cars filled with 8-10 Isis supporters pulled up and eyed Mahfoud through the restaurant’s window.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Tourists to Help Greenlanders Patch the Budget Hole

Focusing on tourism will help Greenlanders fix their financial problems, many local politicians believe.

The country has a budget deficit of almost one billion kroner, and finding a way to fill the financial hole is a hot topic in the current election campaign.

While Greenlanders have until November 28 to decide who will sit in their Landsting, politicians are competing with ideas.

Some suggest icebergs, whale watching and trips across the ice cap should be equally attractive to tourists as going on holidays to Tuscany or Thailand.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



UK: East London School Not Protecting Pupils From Extremism, Says Ofsted

Parents today expressed their shock at a damning report accusing a London school of failing to protect children from extremism.

Sir John Cass’s Foundation and Red Coat Church of England school, where 80 per cent of pupils are Bengali Muslim, will be put into special measures by Ofsted for not monitoring the activities of an Islamic society set up by sixth-formers.

In a report to be published tomorrow, the secondary school in Tower Hamlets borough will be classed as failing.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



UK: How Did This Happen?

Questions asked over death of girl, 7, who was shot dead on her doorstep while clutching her violin by her estranged father before he turned the gun on himself

An investigation has been launched into the death of a seven-year-old girl shot dead on her doorstep by her estranged father who then turned the gun on himself.

Mary Shipstone was brutally killed on September 11 as she clutched her violin outside her mother’s home in Northiam, East Sussex.

She had been shot by her Egyptian father, Yasser Alromisse, who is thought to have carried out the act as revenge against her mother who had recently turned her back on Islam.

More than two months after their deaths, the East Sussex Local Safeguarding Children Board have called for a review of the case.

The board will look at how children can be better protected in the future.

Following the child’s death it emerged her mother, Lyndsey Shipstone, had been hiding from her abusive former partner for years.

The 42-year-old married Alromisse in Liverpool in 2005 and converted to Islam.

Later she fled with Mary, allegedly begging lawyers not to tell him where they had run to.

On September 11 he appeared outside their house and killed their daughter with ‘a terrible bang’.

By the time police arrived the 45-year-old council worker had turned the gun on himself…

UK: Theresa May to Give MI5 and Police Power to Force Terror Suspects to Move

Terror suspects will be forced to move towns and leave their associates behind under plans to revive relocation powers

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, is to give police and the security services the power to force terror suspects to move to towns far away from their homes as she restores a key element of control orders.

The ability to relocate suspects to other areas was abandoned when control orders were replaced by the weaker terrorism prevention and investigation measures (Tpims) following a series of court rulings.

The Conservatives said that they wanted to re-introduce them earlier this year amid growing concerns about British jihadists returning from Syria and Iraq, but were met with opposition from the Liberal Democrats.

However yesterday it emerged that Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, has backed down and now accepts all ten recommendations from David Anderson QC, the official reviewer or counter-terrorism.

He is now satisfied that the orders will be subject to sufficient safeguards, including a higher burden or proof on who is subject to them…

UKIP Claims Second Election Triumph, Piles Pressure on Cameron

Ukip continued its insurgency into mainstream British politics on Thursday night (20 November), claiming its second by-election victory in as many months.

Ukip candidate Mark Reckless took the Rochester and Strood constituency on the south-east coast on a swing of over 30 percent from David Cameron’s Conservative party.

The result was not as decisive in Ukip’s favour as opinion polls had suggested but still piles more pressure on Cameron and the opposition Labour party. Both parties have recently unveiled plans to restrict EU migration and migrants’ access to welfare benefits in a bid to head off Ukip, which has put unlimited EU migration at the top of its list of reasons to exit the 28-country bloc.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Umeå Museum Rewrites Swedish History

Sweden’s first women’s history museum opens in Umeå this weekend. Deviating from traditional history, it aims to raise questions about sex, power, and identity. But can the concept pull more female — and male — visitors to the region? The Local asked director Maria Perstedt.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



World’s Biggest Pipe-Laying Ship Pieter Schelte Sets Sail for Rotterdam

The world’s largest ship, which is capable of lifting oil rigs, has set sail from its shipyard in South Korea for Rotterdam Port in the Netherlands.

The Pieter Schelte, which left South Korea on Wednesday, is due to arrive at the port for completion in December.

The vessel is 124m (407ft) wide and 382m (1,253ft) long — as long as the Empire State Building is high.

Designed to assist offshore oil rigs, it reportedly cost around £1.9bn ($2.97bn) to build.

The Pieter Schelte was commissioned by Swiss company Allseas who specialise in offshore pipeline installation and subsea construction.

In partnership with the Port of Rotterdam, the ship will be taken to Maasvlakte 2, an extension of the port, where a special pit has been drained to house the vessel.

After its completion, it will sail to the South Stream project in the Black Sea to lay pipelines there.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Albania: Life on a Trash Heap

In Albania, many of the poorest of the poor live on trash heaps. On the outskirts of the capital city of Tirana, entire families survive by collecting scrap materials and recyclables.

The slum encampments of Albania are places of grinding poverty rarely seen in Europe. But for many poverty-stricken Albanians, they are both home and workplace. The families live in makeshift huts. With little work to be had, they are forced to scavenge to survive.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Egypt: Father and Doctor in FGM Case Found ‘Not Guilty’

Country ‘failing to apply ban’, former Italian FM Bonino says

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO — The doctor and father of a 13-year-old girl who died in June 2013 after undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM) have been acquitted in a landmark trial in Egypt on Thursday, report sources within the judiciary. The trial was the first since FGM was banned in Egypt in 2008. The practice continues to be widespread. United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) data say that 91% of married Egyptian women between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone FGM

Sohair Al-Bata’a died in June 2013 after the doctor who performed the surgery on her gave her penicillin, which she was allergic to, without conducting the required tests in a private medical center in Agaa, in the Nile Delta governorate Dakahleya. Her father and the doctor were accused of killing the girl. The doctor was also charged with having made a technical error and with running an unauthorized center for FGM, which is illegal.

Italy’s former foreign minister and longstanding human rights activist Emma Bonino said Thursday that Egypt’s acquittal of the father and doctor of a 13-year-old who died after undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM) was a setback to the struggle against the widespread practice. “While awaiting to hear the motivations for the ruling, one can only note that Egypt’s 2008 law is not applied and that this certainly does not help eradicate the practice of FGM,” Bonino told ANSA via telephone from Paris.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Egypt Closes Schools in Sinai Towns as Area Inches Toward Open War

(Reuters) — Egypt has indefinitely shut schools in two border towns in northern Sinai as the army prepares to intensify a battle with Islamist militants that turned the daily trip to lessons into a “journey of death”.

Local people say children’s education has fallen victim while the military stages air strikes against jihadists, who are targeting soldiers and police, and have started beheading army informers.

“We are putting our lives at risk on a daily basis,” said Mohamed, a teacher who lives in the town of Sheikh Zuweid. “Sometimes there is fire between gunmen and the armed forces and sometimes stray bullets hit some of us.”

Militancy has surged in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel, Gaza and the Suez Canal, since the army ousted an elected Islamist president last summer. At least 33 security personnel were killed last month and one Sinai-based group has pledged its loyalty to Islamic State, which has overrun large areas of Syria and Iraq.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Islamic State Now in Complete Control of Libyan City of Derna

(CNN) — The black flag of ISIS flies over government buildings. Police cars carry the group’s insignia. The local football stadium is used for public executions. A town in Syria or Iraq? No. A city on the coast of the Mediterranean, in Libya.

Fighters loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are now in complete control of the city of Derna, population of about 100,000, not far from the Egyptian border and just about 200 miles from the southern shores of the European Union.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Tunisia: Judge Kannou Only Woman Running for President

Independent candidate with ‘Yes we Kannou’ slogan

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, NOVEMBER 21 — The 27 candidates running for president in Tunisia’s elections on Sunday include only one woman, Kalthoum Kannou.

A Supreme Court judge aged 55, Kannou is a former president of the Association of Tunisian magistrates, a commissioner of the International Court of Justice, a civil society militant who calls herself an “independent” because she does not identify with any party. However, she defines herself as a member of the “family of democrats” supporting equality, human rights, a secular State and the separation of powers.

She grew up in a family of unionists known for their opposition to French colonialism and became famous as a judge for speaking out against the regime. She even succeeded in issuing an arrest warrant against Moez Trabelsi, a member of Ben Ali’s family, and was for this reason transferred twice to keep her away from the capital.

Today, she says she could never work with parties that have members of the old regime among their ranks and is thus running as an independent candidate, while accepting the backing of parties that are willing to support her in the race. Priorities in her program include security, the economy, regional development, a reform of the judiciary and a new concept of international diplomacy.

In an electoral speech held recently in the Kef region, she expressed confidence in her ability to manage the country and fill the highest position in institutions.

Kannou says she would be the president of all Tunisians in a society still dominated by a patriarchic mentality.

She rejects the current two-party system and calls for the support of the leader of Nidaa Tounes, Béji Cad Essebsi, as a provocation because, as the self-proclaimed heir to Habib Bourguiba, a staunch supporter of women in power, he should back her in her presidential race.

Her campaign slogan “Yes we Kannou”, from the one used by US President Barack Obama ‘Yes we can’, was re-launched across local media and social networks in an effective way, though the candidate has complained about little media attention around her race. Tunisian women who have given great importance to the last elections can identify in her.

“Tunisian women have all the knowledge necessary to fill the role of President of the Republic competently”, said Kannou, though her chance of winning the race is limited.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



European Diplomats Tell Israel Not to Raze Attackers’ Homes

Italy, France, Germany, UK, Spain warn against retaliation

(by Massimo Lomonaco) (ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, NOVEMBER 21 — The ambassadors of the European Union’s five largest countries have warned the Israeli government against destroying the homes of Palestinians responsible for recent attacks in Jerusalem. Diplomats from Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain and Spain gathered Thursday night at the Israeli foreign ministry to say the reprisals were not only useless, but “counterproductive” for Israel, fueling greater tensions, Italian embassy sources told ANSA, confirming a report by the Israel’s Haaretz. On Wednesday, the day after two Palestinian men armed with guns and butcher knives killed four rabbis and a police officer in a Jerusalem synagogue before being shot dead, the Israeli army demolished the home of a man held responsible for a separate attack that cost the lives of a woman and a baby last month. In keeping with a policy announced by Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli army on Thursday launched procedures to demolish the homes of the two synagogue attackers.

Following a day of apparent calm, tensions on the ground prompted Israel to call a state of alert. Israeli Defence Minister Moshè Yaalon along with other defence and police officials have warned Netanyahu not to deploy troops in East Jerusalem in response to the alarm but, if anything, to increase in the use of border agents, Haaretz reported. The officials warned that retaliatory measures could embroil the army in violent clashes with demonstrators. On Friday, the day of prayer, Muslim worshippers in Jerusalem were granted free access without age restrictions to the Temple Mount. Meanwhile, on the West Bank, Hamas declared yet another “day of rage”. Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni called his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman to express Italy’s solidarity with Israel “for the despicable terrorist attack” on the synagogue, while stressing “the importance of preserving the status quo in the holy places of Jerusalem in order to prevent the conflict from taking on a religious character”.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Israeli Interior Ministry Orders Removal of Arab Worker Ban

Survey finds 58% of Jewish Israelis approve mayor’s action

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV — The Israeli interior ministry on Friday ordered the mayor of Ashkelon, a city south of Tel Aviv, to immediately lift a ban barring Arab construction workers from city kindergartens. The mayor of Ashkelon, Itamar Shimoni, triggered a national scandal Thursday when he banned Arab construction workers from kindergarten premisses because families had expressed fear for the safety of their children following a deadly attack in a Jerusalem synagogue this week.

The interior ministry blasted the mayor’s initiative as “contrary to the principles of equality” adding “prevention of discrimination are fundamental principles in Israel; and it is even unnecessary to dig into the reasons and their importance”. “Under the circumstances created, we ask you to immediately cancel the measures announced yesterday, and update us” on carrying out the order, the ministry wrote.

Tough criticism also rained down on the Ashkelon mayor Thursday from Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin, and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. But a poll conducted by television channel 10 found that 58% of Jewish Israelis felt Mayor Shimoni’s action was justified.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



50 Mosques to be Built in Turkey’s Universities, Top Religious Body Head Says

Turkey is planning to build 50 mosques inside university campuses across the country as of 2015, Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) head Mehmet Görmez has announced.

“We have opened 15 mosques (inside Turkish university campuses) so far. We will open 50 more by the end of 2015,” said Görmez, according to the semi-official Anadolu Agency.

The Diyanet head also said they intended to “institutionalize” university mosques, making them “more than worshiping houses.” “These mosques should not be places that opens before prayers and closes after prayers. We want them to be institutionalized,” Görmez said.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



A Death in Syria

by Mark Steyn

In a few hours’ time, the President of the United States will apparently do to his oath of office what the Islamic State does to its captives. As I said to Hugh Hewitt the other day, even a constitution of meticulously constructed checks and balances requires a certain seemliness of its political class. This chief executive is brazen in his lawlessness, and ever more so. And he has calculated that those who object lack the stomach to do anything about it. We shall see.

However, I would like also to note another example of presidential brazenness this week — Barack Obama’s reaction to the latest beheading of a US citizen by the head hackers of the Islamic State. Peter Kassig’s death video was not as the others:…

— Hat tip: Mark Spahn [Return to headlines]



Ex-Opposition Leader Admits Mistake About Syrian Gov’t, Says Assad Fighting Terrorists

“I acknowledge that I have made a mistake in the past as I imagined that the western and Arab countries as well as Turkey wanted to help Syria and its people,” Turkish news website Ulusal quoted Khatib as saying on his account on a social network.

He wrote that the so-called Friends of Syria are actually the enemies of Syria and terrorists are cooperating with them to destroy Syria.

“I have come to the conclusion that the Syrian government is fighting against the terrorists; it is paying salary to its employees in different parts, supplies electricity and do things that show it is thinking of the people,” Khatib said.

Moaz Al-Khatib is a former president of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. He is also a former prayers imam of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs and terrorists against both the army and civilians.

The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle-East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history.

As the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria continues without an end in sight, the US government has boosted its political and military support to Takfiri extremists.

— Hat tip: DM [Return to headlines]



Inside an Iranian Nuclear Research Reactor

Iran’s nuclear objectives have long been a bone of contention between Tehran and members of the international community. While Iran claims its nuclear programme is solely for energy purposes, many suspect the country is actually seeking to develop atomic weapons. FRANCE 24’s Alexander Turnbull and Antoine Mariotti were granted access to a research reactor while in Tehran. They have since asked a French nuclear expert to analyse the footage.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Turkey to Open Mosques ‘In Every University’

ISTANBUL (AFP) — Turkey’s top religious body said on Friday that there are plans to build a mosque in every state university, adding to concerns over what critics say are creeping efforts to force Islamic values on the society.

“Mosques are under construction in over 80 universities. Fifteen of them have been opened for prayers and we will open at least 50 more in 2015,” said Mehmet Gormez, the head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate, known as Diyanet in Turkish.

“There are 20 million young people in our country and we would like to reach out to each one of them,” he told the official Anatolia news agency.

The Islamic-rooted government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long been accused of seeking to impose religion on Turkey’s mainly Muslim but officially secular society as well as Islamising the education system.

Gormez said each of the new mosques would have government-paid clerics to attend to “young people’s problems” and provide guidance. “They will be the place where they will feel the love of God in their hearts,” he said.

“We attach great importance to mosques in city universities. They are the only way to bring mosques back into the lives, the cities and the hearts of our people,” he added.

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



Ukraine’s Revolution: Making Sense of a Year of Chaos

A year has passed since the start of Ukraine’s “Revolution of Honour”.

The student protests organised to force President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov to sign an association agreement with the EU developed into a revolution that overthrew the government and sparked a counter-revolution in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

The revolution, or rather its success, frightened Russia and President Vladimir Putin and he ordered the rollout of a plan to annex Crimea.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Amnesty Slams Indonesia’s ‘Oppressive’ Blasphemy Laws

A new report by Amnesty International accuses Indonesia of upholding blasphemy laws which the rights group views as fueling harassment, intimidation and attacks against religious minorities in the Southeast Asian nation.

The authors of the 50-page report accuse Indonesian authorities of having made increased use of a range of blasphemy laws to imprison individuals for their beliefs, contributing to an intensifying climate of intolerance’ in the country. “Scores of individuals have been imprisoned — some for nothing more than whistling while praying, posting their opinions on Facebook or saying they had received a ‘revelation from God,’“ said Rupert Abbott, AI’s South East Asia and Pacific Research Director.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



In Secret, Obama Extended U.S. Military Role in Afghanistan Combat

President Obama signed a secret order in recent weeks authorizing a more expansive mission for the military in Afghanistan in 2015 than originally planned, a move that ensures American troops will have a direct role in fighting in the war-ravaged country for at least another year.

In an announcement in the White House Rose Garden in May, Mr. Obama said that the American military would have no combat role in Afghanistan next year, and that the missions for the 9,800 troops remaining in the country would be limited to training Afghan forces and to hunting the “remnants of Al Qaeda.”

But Mr. Obama’s secret order allows American forces to carry out missions against the Taliban and other militant groups threatening American troops or the Afghan government, a broader mission than the president described to the public earlier this year, according to several administration, military and congressional officials with knowledge of the decision. The new authorization also allows American jets, bombers and drones to support Afghan troops on combat missions.

Indonesian Muslim Pageant Challenges Western Beauty Contests

An eclectic mix of women from around the world will compete in the finale of a pageant exclusively for Muslims in Indonesia Friday, seen as a riposte to Western beauty contests.

The women, who include a doctor and a computer scientist, are set to parade in glittering dresses against the backdrop of world-renowned ancient temples for the contest in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.

However the 18 finalists are required to wear the Muslim headscarf and will be judged not only on their appearance, but also on how well they recite verses from the Koran and their views on Islam in the modern world.

“We want to see that they understand everything about the Islamic way of life — from what they eat, what they wear, how they live their lives,” said Jameyah Sheriff, one of the organisers.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Korean Unification Costs Clouded by Dearth of Data on North

South Korea’s economy is 43-times bigger than North Korea’s. Or at least that’s what officials estimate in their struggle to pin down the cost of a possible reunification on the peninsula.

About $500 billion would be needed to develop North Korea’s economy over 20 years after reuniting, according to a report released this week by South Korea’s Financial Services Commission. By contrast, the West German economy was 10-times larger than East Germany’s when the Berlin Wall fell 25 years ago, the financial watchdog said. West Germany spent about $2 trillion rebuilding a single country, some estimates show.

President Park Geun Hye said early this year that unification could be an economic “bonanza” as South Korea could combine its capital and technology with the North’s labor and natural resources.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



North Korea Threatens to Bolster Military, Conduct New Nuke Test in Response to UN Vote

North Korea threatened Thursday to bolster its war capability and conduct a fourth nuclear test to cope with what it calls U.S. hostility that led to the approval of a landmark U.N. resolution on its human rights violations.

A U.N. committee on Tuesday adopted the resolution urging the Security Council to refer the North’s rights situation to the International Criminal Court. It’s the first time a U.N. resolution included the idea that the North’s absolute leader Kim Jong Un could be targeted by prosecutors. Before the U.N. vote, a North Korean envoy threatened a nuclear test.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Australian Jihadis “Too Fat” For the Islamic State

Two Australian jihadis are reported to have been told they were too fat to join the ranks of ISIS terrorists. The 22-stone brothers are said to have gone to Syria whilst claiming to their parents they were heading for a holiday in Thailand.

They travelled from Western Sydney with two less rotund friends, according to the Australian Muslim leader Dr Jamal Rifi. The brothers are believed to have appeared in a video in which they literally attempt to jump through hoops to improve their fitness.

Dr Rifi described the pair as “obese” and “unfit”. He told the Metro: “They’re definitely not fit to fight, they don’t have any knowledge of how to fight”. He said they were too “unfit to run in a field”.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Madagascar Plague Outbreak Kills 40, Says WHO

An outbreak of plague in Madagascar has killed 40 people and infected almost 80 others, the World Health Organization has said.

The WHO warned of the danger of a “rapid spread” of the disease in the capital, Antananarivo.

The situation is worsened by high levels of resistance among fleas to a leading insecticide, the WHO added.

Humans usually develop the bubonic form of the plague after being bitten by an infected flea carried by rodents.

If diagnosed early, bubonic plague can be treated with antibiotics.

But 2% of the cases in Madagascar are the more dangerous pneumonic form of the disease, which can be spread person-to-person by coughing.

The first known case in the outbreak was a man in Soamahatamana village in the district of Tsiroanomandidy, about 200km west of Antananarivo, at the end of August.

There have been two confirmed cases in the capital, including one death.

“There is now a risk of a rapid spread of the disease due to the city’s high population density and the weakness of the healthcare system,” the WHO said…

Maersk Makes Major Port Investment in Ghana

Maersk’s port company APM Terminals is planning a major investment in Ghana’s largest port, Tema Port.

In a joint venture with Meridian Port Services, APM Terminals will invest over 1 billion dollars into the Ghanaian port.

Since 2007, APM Terminals, Bolleré Africa Logistics (Meridian Port Holdings) and the local harbour authorities have invested 145 million dollars into the venture. While in 2013, the container volume totalled 670,000 20-foot equivalent units, it will increase to 3.5 million after the investment.

Four deep-water quays and a modern motorway connecting the Tema Port with the country’s nearby capital, Accra, are part of the investments.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Mosque Raids in Kenya Could Radicalize Country’s Coastal Muslims, Rights Official Says

NAIROBI, Kenya — A human rights official is warning that the methods being used by Kenyan authorities to tackle extremism on the country’s coast will result in increased support for radicals.

Kheled Khalifa, the chairman of the group Muslim For Human Rights, said the closure of four mosques on the coast following police raids this week in which the government claimed to have recovered grenades and a gun has angered the Muslim population, which believes the government planted the weapons to justify the mosques’ closures.

The government had previously cited the four mosques as centers for recruitment for the al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group al-Shabab, which has been blamed for more than 135 attacks on Kenyan soil since the country sent its troop into Somalia to fight the militants.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Protest Over 43 Missing Students in Mexico Turns Violent

A largely peaceful march by tens of thousands demanding the return of 43 missing students ended in violence, as a small group of masked protesters battled police in Mexico City’s main square.

The march late Thursday sought the return of the students from a rural teachers’ college. Nov. 20 is usually a day reserved for the celebration of Mexico’s 1910-17 Revolution, but Mexicans were in no mood for celebrations.

Many of the marchers carried “mourning” flags with Mexico’s red and green national colors substituted by black stripes.

“The entire country is outraged,” said housewife Nora Jaime. “It is not just them,” she added, referring to the 43 young men who haven’t been seen since being attacked by police in a southern city Sept. 26. “There are thousands of disappeared, thousands of clandestine graves, thousands of mothers who don’t know where their children are.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



President Orwell Must Act Because ‘The Undocumented Have No Way to Correct Their Immigration Status’

By Andrew C. McCarthy

First, there is nothing incorrect about the way our law defines the illegal immigrants’ status. They are illegal — i.e., their presence in the United States is in defiance of our laws. That is not a mistaken categorization that needs to be corrected, nor is the illegality bleached away by referring to the aliens as “undocumented.” The law is perfectly clear and the aliens are in violation of it. They are not seeking a correction of their status; they are seeking a change in the law. Even if we concede for argument’s sake that the law should be changed, only Congress can do that. President Obama has no power to change the law — and he doesn’t acquire such power by pretending that we are talking about a “correction” rather than newly enacted law.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Sheriff Joe Arpaio Sues Obama, Says Action Will Result in More Criminal Aliens Released

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is suing President Obama over his plans to grant temporary legal status and work permits to up to 5 million illegal immigrants in the country, saying the actions from the president will have a detrimental effect on his ability to carry out his job.

“Specifically, it will severely strain our resources, both in manpower and financially, necessary to protect the citizens I was elected to serve,” Sheriff Arpaio said in a statement.