Most Danish daily newspapers reprinted cartoons from Charlie Hebdo today in solidarity with victims of yesterday’s massacre. Jyllands-Posten, however, decided to put the safety of its employees first, and declined to publish any of the cartoons.

Meanwhile, the surviving staff of Charlie Hebdo plan to publish a million copies of next week’s edition. Normal circulation for the magazine is 45,000.

In other news, a Saudi blogger will be publicly flogged in front of a mosque tomorrow for insulting Islam. He has also been sentenced to ten years in prison.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Diana West, Fjordman, Insubria, 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.

Italian Unemployment Reaches Record High of 13.4%

Youth jobless figure climbs to 43.9%

(ANSA) — Rome, January 7 — Recession-hit Italy’s unemployment rate reached a record high of 13.4% in November, up 0.2 of a percentage point from October, Istat said in its preliminary estimate on Wednesday. It is the highest level since the statistics agency started giving monthly unemployment data in January 2004 and since it started giving quarterly figures in 1977.

The number of unemployed people in Italy reached 3.457 million in November, up 40,000 (1.2%) with respect to October and 264,000 (8.3%) compared to the same month in 2013, according to Istat’s provisional data.

The national statistics agency added that the number of people working dropped by 48,000 (0.2%) in November with respect to October and by 42,000 compared to November 2013. Istat said unemployment continues to hit young people hardest.

The percentage of 15-to-24-year-olds who are unemployment reached 43.9% in November, up 0.6 of a percentage point on October for another record high. The percentage only captures young people who are in the job market and does not include those who are in education or not actively looking for work. Istat said 729,000 under-25s are looking for work in Italy.

Several opposition politicians said that the unemployment data shown Premier Matteo Renzi’s government had failed.

But Renzi and Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan agreed at a meeting that the effects of new measures to create jobs in Italy “will be seen over time,” ANSA sources said.

The government is introducing a mayor reform, the Jobs Act, to combat unemployment by overhauling the labour market. The aim is to replace a plethora of temporary and other low-paying, no-benefits contracts that have proliferated in Italy in recent years, meaning a regular full time job is increasingly hard to find.

But the reform has angered trade unions and rebels within Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD), with the main bone of contention with the union being the weakening of Article 18 of the 1970 Workers Statute, which protects people from unfair dismissal, for newly hired workers.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



‘Black Brunch’ Demonstrators Storm New York and California Restaurants as Part of Plan to ‘Target White Spaces’ In Protest Over ‘Police Violence’

Dozens of demonstrators today stormed restaurants and targeted white diners in New York and California as part of a ‘Black Brunch’ protest against alleged police violence.

Carrying banners, the chanting protesters entered a number of venues in New York City that they identified as ‘white spaces’, including midtown eateries: Lallisse, Maialino and Pershing Square.

Once inside, they ‘disrupted’ customers’ meals by reading out the names of African-Americans killed by police, including Michael Brown, 17, who was shot dead by officer Darren Wilson last August.

Addressing staff and patrons, they shouted: ‘Every 28 hours, a black person in America is killed by the police. These are our brothers and sisters. Today and every day, we honor their lives.’

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Howard Dean: Killers “Not Muslim”

The former Vermont Governor twists himself into a pretzel trying to separate the Paris terrorists from their avowed religion.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



‘I Want to Kill Cops’: Man Who ‘Tried to Run Over’ Officers

A man yelling “I want to kill cops” tried to run down two Port Authority Police officers with his car near the entrance to the ­Holland Tunnel Wednesday night in the latest attack on officers.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Jon Stewart, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel and Bill Maher Address Charlie Hebdo Shootings

Jon Stewart and Conan O’Brien were among several American comedians to weigh in on Wednesday’s massacre at the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, where 12 people were killed, including the editor and lead cartoonist.

“I know very few people go into comedy as an act of courage, mainly because it shouldn’t have to be that,” Stewart said on “The Daily Show” Wednesday. “It shouldn’t be an act of courage, it should be taken as established law. But those guys at Hebdo had it, and they were killed for their cartoons.”

The killings, Stewart said, are “a stark reminder that for the most part the legislators and journalists and institutions that we jab and ridicule are not in any way the enemy. For however frustrating or outraged the back and forth can become, it’s still back and forth, a conversation amongst those on let’s call it ‘Team Civilization.’ And this type of violence only clarifies that reality.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Paris Attacks Revive Concerns About US Security, Intelligence Gaps

The terror massacre in Paris has rekindled concerns in Washington that weakened intelligence capabilities, budget cuts and changes in detention policy have left the United States increasingly vulnerable to an attack.

Lawmakers are now pointing to the Islamist terrorist attack in France in urging President Obama to reverse course and shore up American intelligence-gathering before he leaves office.

“This should be a wake-up call to the Congress and the president,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said of this and other developments. “President Obama’s policies are making us less safe. … It’s just a matter of time that we’re going to get [hit] here at home if somebody doesn’t adjust soon.”

[…]

“Just acknowledge the fact that we as a nation are accepting more risk. We are not as safe and secure as we used to be,” Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Wednesday, speaking at a cybersecurity conference at Fordham University in New York City.

Without addressing the Paris attacks specifically, Clapper explained the Snowden leaks have changed the way terrorists operate, as they “went to school” on U.S. methods.

“We are having much more difficulty tracking the activities of terrorists,” he said. He addressed the challenge of having to gather high-quality intelligence while also curtailing collection activities and dealing with budget cuts — and being mindful not to infringe on civil liberties or do anything that, if revealed, could cause embarrassment.

“We call this new paradigm immaculate collection,” Clapper said, to laughter from the audience at the Jesuit-affiliated school.

[Ha, ha. Nobody’s going to be laughing when it happens here. — PW]

Promising Antibiotic Discovered in Microbial ‘Dark Matter’

Potential drug kills pathogens such as MRSA — and was discovered by mining ‘unculturable’ bacteria.

An antibiotic with the ability to vanquish drug-resistant pathogens has been discovered — through a soil bacterium found just beneath the surface of a grassy field in Maine. Although the new antibiotic has yet to be tested in people, there are signs that pathogens will be slow to evolve resistance to it.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Seattle Cartoonist Still in Hiding Following 2010 Islamist Death Threat

Cartoonists around the world reacted defiantly to Wednesday’s deadly Islamist terror attack at the offices of a Paris magazine, but the case of Molly Norris shows how the attack and prior threats of similar violence have already had a chilling effect on journalists who use art to convey their stories.

Norris, a Seattle-based political cartoonist, has been in hiding for more than four years after she launched “Draw Muhammad Day,” a call to professional and amateur artists alike to sketch the Islamic prophet whose image is forbidden by the Koran.

Norris was an obscure cartoonist and blogger who took action after the creators of the show South Park were targeted by Muslim extremists for an upcoming episode in which Muhammad was to be depicted.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Mercury May be Sole Survivor of Planetary Pile-Up

The inner solar system may once have been a crowded and violent place — and Mercury its lone survivor. A new model suggests that most young planetary systems start with several close-in, rocky planets, which later destroy each other in a cascade of collisions.

“If forming tightly packed systems of inner planets is easy, there’s no reason it shouldn’t happen in our solar system,” says Kathryn Volk at the University of British Columbia, Canada. “And if it happened here, it would solve several problems.”

As astronomers discover more and more planets orbiting other stars, our solar system looks increasingly unusual. While we have four inner rocky planets and four outer gas giants, many other systems have “hot Jupiters” very close to their star. What’s more, observations by NASA’s Kepler space telescope suggest that between 5 and 10 per cent of planetary systems cram several planets closer to their host star than Mercury is to the sun.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



57 Percent of Germans Feel Islam is a Threat: Poll

A survey on Thursday shows that Muslims in Germany feel they are integrating — but a growing majority of Germans feel threatened by Islam in the country.

The survey was carried out in November — before the massacre of journalists in Paris by Islamist gunmen — but as the numbers attending anti-Muslim rallies in Dresden and other cities began to escalate.

The Bertelsman Foundation think tank survey looked at the perception of Islam in Germany from the eyes of Muslims and non-Muslims. Of the non-Muslims surveyed, 57 percent thought that Islam was threatening or very threatening to German society.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



After Charlie Hebdo: Should French ‘Unity’ Include the Far Right?

The gruesome attack on Charlie Hebdo has rallied the French political class, including the magazine’s former critics, behind “national unity”. But the leader of France’s National Front says she was not invited to a planned unity rally on Sunday.

Wednesday’s shooting, in which 12 people were killed, including some of France’s most celebrated cartoonists, triggered poignant and spontaneous demonstrations across France, where many held aloft pens to voice support for freedom of expression.

The outpouring of grief and solidarity underscored France’s attachment to a cherished tradition of satirical cartoons that goes back to the French Revolution…

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



Alfano Says 53 Foreign Fighters Linked to Italy

Minister says authorities know them all

(ANSA) — Rome, January 8 — Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Thursday that 53 foreign fighters were linked to Italy, amid alarm about Islamist terrorism after Wednesday’s attack on the Paris officers of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people were killed. “In Italy we have counted 53 foreign fighters,” Alfano told State broadcaster RAI. “We know their identity. That does not mean that they are 53 Italians, but they have passed through Italy, on their way to, or return from, (combat zones)”. He added that Premier Matteo Renzi’s government was preparing measures to combat extremists.

“We have a law ready to combat the foreign fighters better,” he said.

“We intend to hit those who want to combat in the theatres of war, not just on the recruiters.

“We want to have more police control on these people and work on the web, which is used by those who want to radicalise.

“We are thinking about presenting a bill in the cabinet to make it possible for police chiefs to withdraw the passports of terrorist suspects who decide to leave the country.

“An initiative for (internet) providers, which can help to find radicalizing messages on the web, will also be among the measures that I’ll propose”.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Belgium: Bullet Proof Vests for Antwerp Ambulance Men

Wed 07/01/2015 — 12:22 Colin Clapson The Saint Martin’s Hospital in Duffel (Antwerp Province) is making a rather unexpected investment. The hospital authorities are releasing funds for the purchase of bullet proof vests for ambulance staff.

The purchase is intended as a precaution to protect ambulance staff from an increasing number of aggressive patients.

Staff at the hospital are receiving extra training to help them deal with aggressive patients. In addition extra security features are being added to the entrance of the A&E. The hospital has a new agreement with the police requiring them to attend the scene more quickly in the event of an incident. It is also looking into the setting up of a special radio channel that would allow ambulance men and women to speak directly to the police.

In 2010, 36 to 39% of the inhabitants of Antwerp had a migrant background. A study projects that in 2020 55% of the population will be of migrant background.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerp#Modern_Population_Diversity.2C_ethnic_minorities

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



Bulgarian Media Express Solidarity With Charlie Hebdo

A demonstration by staff of Bulgarian National Television outside the public broadcaster’s Sofia head office on January 8 2015 was among expressions of solidarity by Bulgarian media with Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine that was the target of a fatal terrorist attack the previous day.

The decision by BNT staff to hold the demonstration, with journalists holding up the now-emblematic “Je suis Charlie” slogan, was prompted by the belief that journalists’ duty to society and democracy are stronger than terrorism and violence, BNT said.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Cartoonists Worldwide Pay Tribute to Charlie Hebdo

Cartoonists from the US to Algeria paid tribute to their colleagues at Charlie Hebdo who were gunned down by two men claiming to be avenging the prophet Mohammed, who had been the subject of caricatures published by the French satirical paper.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Charlie Hebdo Attack: Suspects ‘Rob Service Station’

The two main suspects in the Islamist attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris are said to have robbed a service station in the north of France.

Anti-terrorism police have converged on an area near Villers-Cotterets where the gunmen were reported by French media to have stolen food and petrol.

France has observed a minute’s silence for the 12 people killed at the office of the satirical magazine.

Earlier, a gunman shot dead a policewoman south of Paris and fled.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Charlie Hebdo Attack ‘An Attack on Islam’: German Justice Minister

German Justice Minister Heiko Maas on Thursday condemned a deadly attack on a French satirical magazine as an “attack on freedom of expression, the heart of our democracy.” He also warned against equating Islam with terrorism.

“This was an attack against Islam. The vast majority of Muslims in Germany consider it a betrayal of their beliefs and they are saying so loudly and publicly,” Maas told a news conference in the German capital, Berlin.

“The mainstream here in Germany has to understand that these were extremists who have nothing to do with Islam,” Maas said.

“We will respond to the terrorist threat resolutely, but calmly and with moderation,” he added.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Charlie Hebdo: Norway Didn’t Give in to Islamophobia, Nor Should France

The Charlie Hebdo killers want to provoke anti-Islam sentiment among the public, just as Anders Breivik did. But France must resist.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Charlie Hebdo Attack: ‘One Million Copies’ of Magazine Will be Published as French Media Vow to Keep it Running

One million copies of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo will be published next week as French media and journalists vowed to ensure it is printed.

The French newspaper Le Monde quoted Charlie Hebdo’s lawyer, Richard Malka, as saying a million copies of the next edition of the magazine are due to be published on Wednesday. Its weekly circulation is believed to be around 45,000.

Patrick Pelloux, who writes a column for Charlie Hebdo, gave a tearful interview on Thursday where he also vowed the magazine would continue.

Mr Pelloux, who is also a doctor, was close to the building when the attack took place and was called to help the injured.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Danish Newspapers Tighten Security in Wake of Paris Attack

Yesterday’s terror attack on the Paris offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which left 12 dead and scores injured, has led to a tightening of security at media offices in Denmark.

The Danish publishing house JP/Politiken Hus — which publishes the newspapers Jyllands-Posten, Ekstra Bladet and Politiken — has increased the security at its offices in Copenhagen and in Jutland.

“We have beefed up our security because of the terror attack on Charlie Hebdo,” the publishing house wrote in a statement to DR Nyheder. “The police have also increased their presence at our addresses at Rådhuspladsen and in Viby.”

JP/Politiken Hus’s security is already tight thanks to the Mohammed cartoons that Jyllands-Posten originally published in 2005, which Charlie Hebdo reprinted in 2007.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Denmark: Jyllands-Posten Defends Charlie Hebdo Decision

As the only major Danish newspaper not to republish Charlie Hebdo content in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, the newspaper behind the Muhammad cartoon crisis ‘grudgingly” puts his employees well-being first.

Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that caused global controversy by publishing cartoons of the prophet Muhammad was the only major Danish daily Thursday not to carry any illustrations from the French weekly Charlie Hebdo.

Jyllands-Posten sparked protests across the Muslim world — some of which turned lethal — after its 2005 publication of 12 cartoons that included a picture of the Islamic prophet wearing a bomb in a turban.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



‘Distinguish Between Terrorism and Islam’ Says Mogherini

‘Challenge also a cultural one’ says EU foreign minister

(ANSA) — Brussels, January 8 — Terrorism and Islam are not the same, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini said Thursday.

“We must always keep the word terrorism distinct from Islam,” she said in the Latvian capital of Riga.

“We face a political and intelligence challenge, but also a cultural one,” she said.

Her remarks came the day after a suspected Islamist commando stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly, gunning down 12 people including four of France’s top cartoonists and two policemen.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Dutch Take to the Streets in Support of Charlie Hebdo, Demonstrations Nationwide

Tens of thousands of people took part in demonstrations throughout the Netherlands on Thursday evening to show their support for the victims of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris. In Amsterdam, an estimated 17,000 crammed in to the city’s Dam Square to listen to prime minister Mark Rutte and mayor Eberhard van der Laan, among others. Many people were carrying pencils or pens and banners stating ‘Je suis Charlie’.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Europe’s Media Differ Over Publishing Charlie Hebdo Cartoons

Many European newspapers republished cartoons from the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo to protest against killings by Islamist militants seen as an attack on freedom of expression and the continent’s tradition of visual satire.

But most front pages expressed solidarity with the 12 people, journalists and police, killed in Wednesday’s attack by publishing their own cartoons and editorials that veered away from Charlie Hebdo’s more provocative sketches mocking Islam.

In Denmark — where Jyllands Posten published several cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad in 2005 igniting protests across the Muslim world that killed least 50 — four newspapers republished cartoons from the French newspaper.

But Jyllands Posten, whose staff have been under police protection since their cartoon controversy, decided not to publish the Charie Hebdo cartoons.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Family of Policeman Killed in Paris Shooting Request Muslim Burial

The family of the Muslim police officer who was shot dead by hooded gunmen on Wednesday during a massacre in the office of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo wish to bury him in France’s only private cemetery for Muslim burials.

According to France’s daily newspaper Le Figaro, Ahmed Merabet’s family would like to bury him at the Bobigny cemetery situated near Paris.

Bobigny cemetery was opened in 1934 and is a burial ground for some 7,000 Muslims, mostly from North Africa.

According to French law, Muslims must be buried in coffins which goes against tradition which states a burial on the day of death and that the corpse be wrapped in a simple shroud.

Merabet, who was killed by hooded gunmen on the streets of Paris while he begged for his life, is originally from Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburb outside of Paris.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Fears Anti-Islam Groups Will Exploit Paris Attack

Concerns are growing that yesterday’s attack in Paris could be exploited by anti-Islam groups, against what they call the “Islamization of Europe”.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



France: Attack’s Aftermath: Past the Doorman’s Body, Up Bloodied Stairs to Charlie Hebdo’s Offices

(CNN) Martin Boudot was working in his Paris office Wednesday when a colleague told him two men were standing outside with “Kalashnikovs.”

They were trying to get into the building.

Moments later, the massacre erupted in the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo feet away from Boudot, he told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

[…]

The gunman separated the men from the women and called out names of cartoonists. Then they fired. Not randomly spraying bullets, but taking professional, precise aim.

They left the building, and cell phone video captured them as they ran in the street and kept firing. One of the masked men ran over to a man in uniform lying apparently wounded on the sidewalk and shot him at close range.

The two said they were avenging the Prophet Mohammed and shouted “Allahu akbar,” which translates to “God is great,” a French official said.

Video shows a gunman approaching his black getaway car and raising his finger. Perhaps it was a signal.

[This gives the lie to the claim, expressed by one of the murderers, that Al-Qaeda in Yemen is behind it — for the single raised finger is the hand sign of the Islamic State. It is also possible that the Kouachi brothers, who are supposedly the perpetrators, are in fact a red herring designed to throw the French security services off the scent. They pull off an op with that kind of precision and planning and then one of them leaves his passport in an abandoned getaway car? Uh-uh. They could have been KIA in Syria, and their documents retained by ISIS for use in this op. CNN’s headline asks “WHERE ARE THEY?” Back in the Islamic State by now, almost certainly, whoever they are. As Muhammad said, “War Is Deceit.” — PW]

France: Le Pen Calls for Referendum on Death Penalty

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, JANUARY 8 — “I want to give the French people the opportunity of a referendum on the death penalty.

Personally, I believe this possibility must exist” wrote Front National leader, Marine Le Pen on Twitter, Thursday.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



French Muslim Groups Condemn Charlie Hebdo Killings, Mosques Attacked

France’s main Muslim organisations have called on imams to condemn Wednesday’s attack on Charlie Hebdo. Several attacks on Islamic places of worship were reported after the murder of 12 at the satirical paper’s offices.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



French Police Swarm Forest ‘Larger Than Paris’ In Hunt for Charlie Hebdo Jihadist Assassins

French police are swarming a 51-square-mile dense forest in their hunt for the Islamist terrorist brothers suspected of carrying out Wednesday’s deadly shooting massacre at the Paris office of a satirical magazine.

Authorities say the two brothers, identified as Said and Cherif Kouachi, may be hiding out in the Forêt de Retz, a vast woodland described as “larger than Paris,” Sky News reported.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



French, World Leaders Condemn Attack at Charlie Hebdo

French and world leaders have strongly condemned a shooting at the offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in which at least 12 people were killed. Thousands turned out across French cities Wednesday night in solidarity with the victims.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



French Websites Targeted by Islamic State Hackers

The websites of two French towns have been hacked to display messages supporting Islamic extremism.

Official sites for Ézanville and Goussainville, both communes in the Val-d’Oise department in Île-de-France, northern France, were replaced with a black page and a message from hackers.

The sites displayed the Islamic State black and white flag.

In a reference to the Charlie Hebdo slaughter, the sites also carried the message: “The Islamic State Stay Inchallah, Free Palestine, Death To France, Death To Charlie”.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



German Populist Groups AfD, PEGIDA Look for Common Ground

Right-wing AfD politicians have held talks with members of Germany’s burgeoning anti-Islam movement Pegida. While unwilling to launch joint programs, leaders of the two groups agreed Germany needs new immigration laws.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Germany: Hitler’s Bunker to be Rebuilt

A German museum is planning to rebuild part of the massive bunker complex where Adolf Hitler spent his final weeks. And it will open this summer, the museum’s chief told The Local on Thursday.

Planned is the rebuilding of Hitler’s rooms, his secretary’s office, the radio room and the clinical room of Hitler’s personal physician, Dr. Morrell.

The “Top Secret” museum in not in Berlin — which would perhaps be too sensitive a location for such a project, but Oberhausen, near Duisburg in North Rhine-Westphalia.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Germany: Nurse Killed Up to 30 Patients, Court Hears

A court-appointed expert said Thursday that a German former nurse admitted killing up to 30 patients at a hospital where he worked.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



German Nurse ‘Admits to 30 Patient Killings’

A German nurse on trial for allegedly killing three patients in his care has admitted to causing the death of 30 patients in all, a court psychologist has said. The man is already in prison for an attempted murder.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Germany: Fanning the Flames of PEGIDA Activists

The latest terrorist attack in Paris could well provide more fuel for anti-Islam movements across Europe. So far, though, there does not seem to be an organized European network of anti-Islamists.

The overwhelming reaction in anti-Islam circles is that this is something they have always known and warned about. “Does a tragedy like this have to happen in Germany first?” the organizers of the movement “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West” (Pegida) are asking on the group’s Facebook page.

“Those who harbor fears about Muslims now feel validated by the Paris attack,” says Nico Lange from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin. “That will also have repercussions on the Pegida protests, because these are precisely the fears that drive the Pegida movement.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Ireland: Muslim Scholar Threatens Legal Action if Muhammad Cartoons Republished

“I am a great advocate of freedom of expression,” said Dr. Selim. This is how the freedom of expression is dying: at the hands of great advocates of freedom of expression, just as the self-appointed guardians of tolerance are authoritarian thugs who move to stamp out all dissent.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Italy: Govt Decree Allows Rich to Evade Taxes Says Bersani

‘Too bad Jobs Act isn’t proportional like tax-fraud decree’

(ANSA) — Rome, January 7 — Former premier and Democratic Party (PD) chief Pier Luigi Bersani said Wednesday that a controversial government tax-fraud decree basically allows the wealthiest to cheat the tax man the most. “(The norm) is proportional,” said Bersani, a staunch critic of Premier Matteo Renzi. “The richer you are, the more you can evade”. The same proportionality however is lacking from the government’s Jobs Act labor reform law, Bersani said. “Especially on dismissals for disciplinary reasons,” he said.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: Moderate Islam Must ‘Distance Itself’ From Attacks — CEI

Italian bishops’ chief Bagnasco warns against violent reaction

(ANSA) — Genoa, January 8 — President of the Italian bishops’ conference Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco on Thursday urged moderate Islam to distance itself from Wednesday’s terror attack on the Paris offices of the weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which 12 people were killed. “The moderate Islamic community, the real one, must distance itself clearly from this act,” Bagnasco told a local news bulletin broadcast by state broadcaster RAI. It is also necessary to “overcome the risk of reacting violently,” the cardinal added.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Je Suis Charlie Hebdo Aussi

by Phyllis Chesler

I have been writing about the Intifada in France and in Europe, certainly in Israel—as well as the coming Intifada in North America—for a long time. Back in 2004-2005, I urged everyone to read Jean Raspail’s 1973 brilliant, dystopian novel The Camp of the Saints immediately. Raspail envisioned a group of hostile “Others,” in a flotilla, who land in France, are royally welcomed, and proceed to devastate and destroy France. I again urge people to read this book now.

I and a small and much maligned group of scholars and journalists (Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Bat-Ye’or, Paul Berman, Steven Emerson, Orianna Fallaci, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Pipes, Ibn Warraq) have warned about, even predicted a growing Intifada in the West as well as in Muslim countries. However, this Intifada is not necessarily visible to the Western intelligentsia. Even today, media and government leaders desperately prattle on about how Islam is a religion of peace—even after 9/11, 3/11, 7/7, the assassination of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, the Shoe Bomber, the Fort Hood Shooter, the rise of ISIS, Boko Haram, Hamas—and now the Muslim massacre of journalists and cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo.

Some Western journalists write that the massacre was due to Charlie Hebdo’s having “provoked” the attack by insulting Islam. Yes, the satirical magazine insulted all religions and did not make an exception for Islam. Muslims expect that exception and will murder in order to get it. The West has mainly yielded.

Please recall: The Yale University Press chose not to publish the Danish Mohammed cartoons in a book about that very controversy; American cartoonist Molly (“Draw Mohammed Day”) Norris is still in hiding on the West Coast. The brave Danes and Swedes (Flemming Rose, Hans Erling Jensen, Kurt Westergaard, and many more) have been sued, nearly assassinated, and forced to either live in hiding or under police protection for “insulting” Islam.

Majority of Germans See Islam as Threat: Poll

A large and growing majority of Germans believe Islam does not belong in the Western world and more than half see it as a threat, a poll published Jan. 8 showed.

In a survey conducted in November, before Wednesday’s massacre by Islamist gunmen at a French satirical paper or widespread media coverage of a new German anti-migrant movement, 61 percent of non-Muslim Germans said Islam had no place in the West.

The figure was up from 52 percent in 2012, according to the study released by the Bertelsmann Foundation think tank.

More than half — 57 percent — said they felt threatened by Islam, four percentage points higher than in 2012.

Forty percent said they felt like “foreigners in their own country” because of the presence of Muslims.

And one in four (24 percent) said that Muslims should be barred from migrating to Germany.

About four million Muslims live in Germany, around three-quarters of them of Turkish origin, among a population of 80 million people.

“For Muslims, Germany has become home. But they are confronted with a negative image apparently shaped by a minority of radical Islamists,” Bertelsmann Foundation Islam expert Yasemin El-Menouar wrote in the study’s findings, which also looked at Muslim immigrants’ views of Germany.

The authors said that anti-Islam stances could be found regardless of class or education level, but that younger people and those with personal contacts with Muslims showed less prejudice.

The poll was by the TNS Emnid independent opinion research institute among 937 non-Muslim Germans.

Germany has been rocked by anti-migrant marches in the eastern city of Dresden, which began small in October but have grown in support over the last month, now attracting around 18,000 people each week.

They are organised by a right-wing populist group calling itself PEGIDA or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident.

It issued a statement on its Facebook page saying that the killing of 12 people by Islamist gunmen at the satirical paper Charlie Hebdo in Paris Wednesday confirmed their views.

“The Islamists, which PEGIDA has been warning about for 12 weeks, showed France that they are not capable of democracy but rather look to violence and death as an answer,” it said.

“Our politicians want us to believe the opposite. Must such a tragedy happen here in Germany first???”

Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Germans not to attend the marches, accusing them of stoking “hatred”, and encouraged counterdemonstrators, who have managed to outnumber PEGIDA protesters in recent weeks at gatherings across the country.

January/08/2015

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



Merkel Praises Ties With Muslims as Germans Voice Fears

Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a fresh call for tolerance Thursday as a poll showed a growing majority of Germans see Islam as a threat and an anti-immigrant group said the Paris massacre underscored its stance.

In a survey conducted several weeks before Wednesday’s killing of 12 people by Islamist gunmen at a French satirical paper, 61 percent of non-Muslim Germans said Islam had no place in the West.

The figure was up from 52 percent in 2012, according to the study released by the Bertelsmann Foundation think tank.

In findings that suggested deep anxiety about Muslims in Europe’s top economy, more than half — 57 percent — said they felt threatened by Islam, four points higher than in 2012.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Muslim Scholar Could Seek Legal Advice if Irish Media Republish Mohammed Cartoon

A TRINITY LECTURER and Muslim scholar has said that he would consider legal advice if a member of the Irish media retweets or publishes a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed from Charlie Hebdo.

Dr Ali Selim, of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland, made the comments following the shooting dead of 12 people at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris today.

When asked by Niall Boylan on 4FM if he (Boylan) retweeted the cartoon would his life be in danger, Dr Selim — who condemned the shootings — said:

“Not your life would be in danger but definitely we will check the Irish law and if there is any legal channel against you, we will take it,” he said.

He said he would advise Irish journalists not to reprint the cartoon. “Because it doesn’t help for peaceful coexistence,” said Dr Selim.

[Peaceful coexistence with the likes of you is called “dhimmitude.” No thanks, buster. — PW]

New Stamps Feature Swedish Pop Music Exports

A new series of stamps is going to be released 15 January 2015, featuring Swedish pop Music exports Robyn, First Aid Kit, Max Martin, Aviccii and Seinabo Sey.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Norway Security Service: No Change in Threat Level

Norway’s terror threat level remains unchanged after the attacks in France that have so far left 13 people dead, the country’s security service (PST) said on Thursday.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



One Swedish Newspaper Led With a Charlie Hebdo Cartoon

Swedish newspapers reacted with shock and horror at the deadly attack against a satirical magazine in Paris on Wednesday, but only one led with a reproduction of a Charlie Hebdo cartoon.

The major newspapers in Sweden all carried the story on their front page and devoted several pages to it. On its cover, the tabloid Expressen ran a cartoon drawn by one of the slain cartoonists, Philippe Honoré, depicting the leader of the jihadist group IS.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Police Officer Dies in Shootout in Southern Paris

A policewoman was killed in an early morning shooting Thursday on the southern fringes of Paris, French authorities said, though it wasn’t clear whether the incident was linked to Wednesday’s deadly terrorist attack on a French satirical newspaper that left 12 dead.

According to the Associated Press, the police officer stopped to investigate a traffic accident in the southern suburb of Montrouge when an unidentified assailant opened fire, wounding her and a nearby street sweeper. She later died.

“There was an officer in front of a white car and a man running away who shot,” Ahmed Sassi, who saw the shooting from his house, told AP. “It didn’t look like a big gun because he held it one hand.” The shooter wasn’t wearing a mask, he added, but wore dark clothes.

Police officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told France 24 it was too early to know whether Thursday’s shooting had any connection to the attack on the newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The massacre elicited worldwide condemnation and sparked a sprawling manhunt for the two suspected gunmen, who remain at large.

Security Tightened at Italy-France Border

Security has been stepped-up at the Italian border with France as the hunt for the two men suspected of killing 12 people at the office of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine, in Paris on Wednesday continued.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Spain Tightens Security After Paris Attack

Spain upgraded its anti-terrorist security level a notch on Wednesday, hours after an attack on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo that left 12 dead.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Spain’s Satirical Mags Back Charlie Hebdo

Spain’s satirical magazines, old and new alike, have come out in support of French magazine Charlie Hebdo, where on Wednesday 12 people were killed and four seriously injured.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Spain to Monitor All Passenger Flight Data to Identify Jihadists

The Interior Ministry is to begin compiling an airline passenger database to help stop suspected jihadists and other dangerous criminals from entering Spain, despite complaints by the European Parliament’s civil liberties committee that such action would violate EU laws, government sources said.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Sweden: Round the Clock Surveillance for Stockholm

Stockholm police have been granted permission to use CCTV cameras around the clock for the first time, local media report.

A total of ten cameras will be installed at three locations in the capital’s suburbs.

The cameras will be operational 24 hours a day, and recordings made with them may be kept for a period of two months.

The license to use cameras in this way will have to be renewed after two years.

The only other place in Sweden where surveillance is conducted on this level is at one location in Malmö, in the south of the country.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Sweden: Muslims Warned to be Vigilant

The Islamic Association of Sweden has warned Swedish Muslims to be vigilant, following the deadly terrorist attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

“What we’ve seen recently is that everything from mosques to individuals are being attacked — especially Muslim women, who are often wearing a shawl. We know this from experience,” says Mohammed Kharraki, spokesperson for the association.

Following the Charlie Hebdo murders, several mosques have been attacked in France.

Professor Göran Larsson, an expert in religious studies at the University of Gothenburg, told Swedish Radio that the risk of attacks on Muslims is likely to increase following the Paris attack.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Swedish Muslims Fear Paris Shooting Backlash

There has been strong criticism of the Paris shootings from Muslim leaders who already fear growing Islamophobia following recent attacks on Swedish mosques. But some Swedish Muslim extremists have backed Wednesday’s attack on a French satirical magazine.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



The European Civil War: Elites vs People in a Fight for Survival

Europe is in a state of war: specifically, a civil war between the self-appointed elites who have destroyed much of the continent’s freedom, culture and prosperity and the insurgent populations they have deceived and enslaved. This is a war to the death; only one side can survive the outcome.

Try, as they say in the modern argot, to get your head round this. The people of Germany, like those of many other European countries, are feeling increasingly desperate about the imposition upon them of mass immigration — an inflow that is unending and which is largely composed of Muslims who are hostile to Christianity and the indigenous culture.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



The Lesson of Charlie Hebdo: France, And the West, Must Chose Identity or Extinction

By James Kirkpatrick

In the end, Charlie Hebdo isn’t about whether the French have the right to practice satire. It’s about whether France has the right to stay French.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Tiger Woods’ Sweden Island Sale Goes Global

Global media have been gazing on the luxury island owned by champion golfer Tiger Woods and his Swedish ex-wife Elin Nordegren, which has recently gone on sale.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



UKIP Chief Blames Charlie Hebdo Attack on ‘Multiculturalism’

Farage says Europe facing ‘fifth column’ of ‘people who hate us’

(ANSA) — London, January 8 — The leader of the anti-EU and anti-immigrant United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) set off a furore Thursday when he appeared to blame British and French multicultural policies for yesterday’s bloody attack on Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly in Paris.

Nigel Farage also reportedly blamed open immigration policies and said Europe is facing a “fifth column” of “people living in these countries, who hate us”.

British Prime Minister David Cameron criticized Farage, saying “I think today is not the day to make political remarks or political arguments”.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he was “dismayed” at Farage’s remarks, which Labour MP Tessa Jowell said were “disgusting”.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



UK’s Domestic Spy Chief Says in Rare Speech That Terrorist Threat Growing More Complex

LONDON — In a rare public speech, Britain’s top domestic spy chief Thursday called the Paris attack “a terrible reminder” that some “wish us harm” and said the evolving terror threat has become more complex because of events in Syria.

MI5 director-general Andrew Parker used a long-planned speech at the Security Service headquarters on the banks of the River Thames to say the number of Britons going to Syria to join forces with militants there is steadily rising, posing a threat as they return.

He said about 600 have gone so far, with “a significant proportion” having joined the Islamic State extremist group.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Solidarity Rallies in Zagreb in Support of Charlie Hebdo

The day after the bloody assault on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, during which 12 people were killed, all over the world and Europe, including Croatia, are held rallies in support of this Parisian media whose journalists paid the freedom of expression with their lives.

European Grassroots Antiracist Movement, whose member is the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, organized an action of support for Charlie Hebdo weekly and freedom of speech and media, but only some journalists and few citizens came.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Egypt to Remove Border City Rafah for Buffer Zone

CAIRO (Ma’an) — The Egyptian authorities have decided to remove the city of Rafah on the borders with the Gaza Strip completely, says the governor of North Sinai district Abd al-Fattah Harhour.

In a news conference Wednesday, Harhour said it would be necessary to remove Rafah city completely in order to create a buffer zone on the borders with the Gaza Strip.

“A new Rafah city is being established with residential zones appropriate to the nature and traditions of the residents of Rafah.”

He confirmed that engineering units have already been asked to start work on the new city…

Egypt: Sisi Attends Christmas Coptic Mass, First for President

Head of State visits mass of Christian minority

(ANSAmed) — ROME — Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was the first Egyptian president to attend a Coptic Christmas Eve mass last night in a step in favor of the Christian minority in Egypt, official Egyptian news agency Mena reports. The ceremony took place at the Coptic-Orthodox cathedral in Cairo.

Sisi was welcomed by Coptic Orthodox Church Patriarch Tawadros II and enthusiastically greeted by worshippers at the mass, the news agency reports.

“Rais” Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in 2011, used to simply send a representative to the traditional mass on the eve of the Coptic Christmas and the same was done by Islamist Mohamed Morsi in the only year during which he served as head of State before being ousted in the summer of 2013.

“Coptic Christians will build their country together, without any discrimination”, said Sisi in his appearance at the ceremony, which took place in the cathedral in the Abbassiya district. “It was necessary to participate in the mass to wish you well on Christmas”, added the Egyptian president perceived by many Copts — though with many reservations — as a guarantee against Islamic intolerance.

The Copts are Egyptian Christians: an important ethnic-religious minority representing about 10% of the population and the largest Christian community in the Middle East. They have suffered attacks carried out by Islamic extremists: on Tuesday, two policemen guarding one of their churches in Cairo were killed.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



IS in Libya Claims Execution of 2 Tunisian Journalists

The Libyan branch of the Islamic State jihadist group claimed Thursday to have killed two Tunisian journalists who went missing in September.

In a statement released on jihadist websites showing images of Sofiene Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari, the group said it had “applied the law of Allah” against them.

It was not immediately possible to verify the claim.

In the statement signed by the “communication service of the province of Barqa”, the group accused the two Tunisians of having worked for “a satellite channel that fights religion”…

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



Amnesty: Saudi Arabia to Flog Activist for Blasphemy

RIYADH — A liberal activist sentenced to prison and flogging in Saudi Arabia will face a first round of lashes on Friday, rights watchdog Amnesty International said on Thursday.

Raif Badawi, who set up the “Free Saudi Liberals” website, was arrested in June 2012 and charged with offenses ranging from cyber crime to disobeying his father and apostasy, or abandoning his faith.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, a fine of 1 million Saudi riyals ($266,666) and 1,000 lashes last year after prosecutors challenged an earlier sentence of seven years and 600 lashes as too lenient.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Blasphemy Divide: Insults to Religion Remain a Capital Crime in Muslim Lands

Rest of the World Often Struggles to Comprehend

Cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad such as those published by Charlie Hebdo have long been seen in the West as something ranging from an exercise in free speech to an indulgence in bad taste. But, just as in Inquisition-era Europe, they are still viewed as blasphemy in many Muslim nations—a capital crime with the capacity to unleash murderous passions that the rest of the world often struggles to comprehend.

It isn’t just ultra-rigid Saudi Arabia or the Iranian theocracy that, with the full force of the law, still put blasphemers to death. Ridiculing the faith and its prophet is considered a serious crime in most of the Muslim world.

Execution for blasphemy is on the books in relatively secular Egypt, with seven participants in a low-budget YouTube video about the Prophet Muhammad sentenced to die in absentia in 2012.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Qaeda in Syria Dynamites Revered Sunni Cleric Tomb

Syria’s Al-Qaeda branch has dynamited the mausoleum of a Sunni Muslim cleric in a southern town it captured in November, officials and a monitoring group reported on Wednesday.

Fighters of both Al-Nusra Front and its jihadist rival, the Islamic State group, regard the reverence of tombs as tantamount to idolatry and have demolished many such shrines.

Al-Nusra blew up the mausoleum of Imam Nawawi in the town of Nawa in Daraa province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said…

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



Saudi Blogger to be Publicly Flogged Outside Mosque for “Insulting Islam”

A Saudi blogger who was sentenced last May to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes will be publicly flogged for the first time after Friday prayers outside a mosque in the Red Sea coastal city of Jiddah, a person close to his case said Thursday.

Raif Baddawi was sentenced on charges related to accusations that he insulted Islam on a liberal online forum he had created. He was also ordered by the Jiddah Criminal Court to pay a fine of 1 million Saudi riyals, or about $266,000.

He called from prison and informed his family of the flogging, due Friday, said a person close to the case. The person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal, said Badawi was “being used as an example for others to see.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Turkey’s Top Cleric: Attack Against French Satirical Weekly ‘Perception Operation’

While harshly condemning the massacre of 12 people at a French satirical magazine that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad, Turkey’s top cleric has warned that such “violence and terrorist attacks” are aimed at “sparking conflicts between religions and civilizations.”

“This massacre, which was committed with ‘a feeling of revenge’ through using the name of the prophet of Islam, is an open attack aimed at destroying sacred values that have been brought to all of humanity by the Prophet Muhammad,” Mehmet Görmez, the head of Turkey’s Directorate for Religious Affairs (Diyanet), said on Jan. 8, a day after the attack.

According to Görmez, there are attempts to negatively portray Islam across the entire world by using current events in the Middle East, aimed at “creating conflicts between religions and civilizations.”

While speaking on the issue at a press conference, Görmez used the phrases “perception engineering” and “perception manipulation” multiple times.

The perpetrators of the attack used of Islamic symbols is sign of “a perception manipulation,” he said. “Perception engineers are ridiculing people’s intelligence by having murderers abuse our religion,” Görmez said, referring to the fact that the assailants in Paris shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is great) as they fired.

“They [the perception engineers] are ridiculing not only Muslims’ intelligence, but also the Western public’s intelligence. Just as has been the case with other terrorist actions, this action aims at seizing, distorting and transforming the most fundamental concepts of Islam,” Görmez said.

January/08/2015

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



Russia’s Muslim Leaders Condemn ‘Sin of Provocation’ After Charlie Hebdo Attack

Russia’s Muslim leaders have condemned the terror attack on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo but appeared to spread the blame for the mass shooting that claimed 12 lives by suggesting the publication was guilty of the “sin of provocation.”

While Russia’s Council of Muftis, the country’s main Muslim leadership organization, said in a statement Wednesday that terrorism is indefensible, it also suggested that attacks may be unavoidable unless satirists stop “provoking” the faithful.

“Perhaps the sin of provocation in our world is no less dangerous for the preservation of peace than the sin of those who are capable of succumbing to that provocation,” the group said in a statement published on its website.

“Insulting the feelings of the faithful is unacceptable, as are any expressions of extremism, any infringement on the lives of peaceful people,” the statement said.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Africans Urged to Back Continent’s First Moon Mission

Africa has had its fair share of self-important generals and emperors who failed to comprehend the bigger picture. Now the continent is being asked to gaze upward and unite for a common goal: its first mission to the moon.

Organisers of Africa2Moon hope to inspire and educate a new generation of engineers and scientists, as well as shattering prejudices in the rest of the world that often paint this as a hopeless, dependent and scientifically illiterate continent.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Boko Haram Nigeria’s Baga Town Hit by New Assault

Boko Haram controls large swathes of territory in north-eastern NigeriaNigeria’s militant Islamists have carried out a second attack on the key north-eastern town of Baga, an official has told the BBC.

Boko Haram fighters burnt down almost the entire town on Wednesday, after over-running a military base on Saturday, Musa Alhaji Bukar said.

Bodies lay strewn on Baga’s streets, amid fears that some 2,000 people had been killed in the raids, he added.

Boko Haram launched a military campaign in 2009 to create an Islamic state.

It has taken control of many towns and villages in north-eastern Nigeria in the last year.

The conflict has displaced at least 1.5 million people, while more than 2,000 were killed last year.

Abandoned

On Monday, lawmaker Maina Maaji Lawan said Boko Haram controlled 70% of Borno state, which is worst-affected by the insurgency.

Mr Bukar, a senior government official in the area, said that fleeing residents told him that the town, which had a population of about 10,000, was now “virtually non-existent”.

“It has been burnt down,” he said.

Those who fled reported that they had been unable to bury the dead, and corpses littered the town’s streets, he said.

Boko Haram was effectively in control of Baga and 16 neighbouring towns, Mr Bukar said.

Government troops abandoned the military base in Baga on Saturday, when the militants launched an assault.

It hosts the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger, although the BBC understands there were only Nigerian soldiers there at the time of the attack.

Set up in 1998 to fight trans-border crime in the Lake Chad region, the force more recently took on Boko Haram.

Thousands have fled Baga — many to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, and others to Chad.

A large number reportedly drown as they crossed Lake Chad following Saturday’s raid.

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno and two neighbouring states in 2013, vowing to defeat the militants.

However, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since then, and there are fears that many people in the area will not be able to vote in next month’s general elections because of the conflict.

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



Boko Haram Destroys at Least 16 Towns, Villages in Nigeria

Boko Haram launched renewed attacks around a captured town in restive northeast Nigeria this week, razing at least 16 towns and villages, a local government and a union official told AFP.

“They burnt to the ground all the 16 towns and villages including Baga, Dorn-Baga, Mile 4, Mile 3, Kauyen Kuros and Bunduram,” said Musa Bukar, head of the Kukawa local government in Borno state.

At least 100 were people killed in Baga over the weekend, according to Reuters, who cited district head Abba Hassan…

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



Boko Haram Burns Down Houses in Nigerian Towns Near Baga

Boko Haram militants have killed dozens of people and burned down homes in the northeastern Nigerian town of Baga over the past two days. A local government official said that at least 16 settlements near Baga were hit.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



China to Invest €17 Billion in Venezuela, Says Maduro

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced on Wednesday that China will invest more than $20 billion (€16.9 billion) in his cash-strapped country, which is facing severe food and energy shortages as it grapples with a worsening recession.

The money will be used for energy, industrial and development projects, Maduro said, after holding talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and a number of businessmen during a two-day visit to Beijing.

With loans totaling more than $47 billion for infrastructure projects in energy, housing, transport and telecommunications, China has since 2007 become the biggest investor in Venezuela.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



France’s Problems Are in Plain Sight

The terrorists who struck in the heart of Paris on Wednesday were not mentally imbalanced or socially marginalized. They were highly organized assassins who believe the West should live under a caliphate governed by strict Islamist law, and that blasphemers should die.

This attack — the deadliest terrorist attack on French soil in 50 years — may well pitch the country into profound crisis, because it crystallizes what everybody knows. France has a serious Muslim problem, a serious immigration problem and a serious terrorism problem, and the political class has no idea what to do about it. France is an easy target for Islamist terrorists because a large number of French Muslims are sympathetic to their causes.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Italy: ‘West is at War’ Says Northern League Chief

Attempted military occupation underway’ says Salvini

(ANSA) — Milan, January 8 — The leader of the center-right Northern League party said Thursday that Islamic fundamentalists are trying to occupy the West.

The leader of the anti-euro, anti-immigrant and separatist party made his remarks the day after a suspected Islamist commando stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly, gunning down 12 people including four of France’s top cartoonists and two policemen.

“An attempted military and cultural occupation is underway on the part of a domineering, well-organized community, which can easily slice through the mass of butter that is the West,” said Matteo Salvini, whose party has often criticized Italy’s immigration policies.

“This is an outright war,” Salvini told party broadcaster Radio Padania Libera.

“Responding with tolerance and do-goodism is tantamount to suicide”.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Intel Allocates $300 Million for Workplace Diversity

SAN FRANCISCO — Over the last year, Apple, Google and other big technology companies have faced mounting criticism by civil rights leaders about the lack of diversity in their work forces, which are populated mostly by white and Asian men.

Now Intel, the giant chip maker, is taking more concrete steps to do something about it.

On Tuesday, Intel said the company’s work force would better reflect the available talent pool of women and underrepresented minority groups in the United States within five years. If successful, the plan would increase the population of women, blacks, Hispanics and other groups at Intel by at least 14 percent during that period, the company said.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



We Are Charlie: Free Speech v. Self-Censorship

by Douglas Murray

Will we keep on blaming the victims? Perhaps the media assume that it is easier to force good people to keep quiet, or keep their own media offices from being attacked, than to than to tackle the problem of Islamic extremism head-on. It is easier to blame Geert Wilders, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Lars Hedegaard, Suzanne Winters, Salman Rushdie or Charlie Hebdo — and even put some of them on trial — than to attack the attackers, who might even attack back!

The press and the media seem to prefer coerced self-censorship: It is your own fault if you get hurt: none of this would be happening to you if you had only kept your mouth shut. It is easier to denigrate the people warning us about a danger than it is to address the danger they are warning us about.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



The West Must Reject Islamic Blasphemy Law

by Diana West

Two years ago next month, the world renowned Danish free speech advocate, journalist and historian Lars Hedegaard was shot at point blank outside his apartment near Copenhagen by an Islamic assailant who would eventually be arrested as an ISIS footsoldier (and then later released to ISIS in a prisoner exchange by the Turkish government). Thankfully, Lars, a dear friend and colleague, was unhurt, and visited Washington shortly after this attempted assassination.

While in town, Lars sat down with The Daily Caller’s Ginni Thomas for an interview, posted here,

I mention this particular interview because Ginni’s first question in March 2013 is the same question people are now asking today in the aftermath of the Islamic jihad massacre at the Charlie Hebdo magazine offices in Paris.

Why, Ginni Thomas asked Lars Hedegaard, have there been so many assassinations and attempted assassinations of Europeans, including against Lars in February, for speaking (and drawing cartoons) about Islam?

Lars’ 2013 answer below, with updated commentary.