A ship carrying two hundred undocumented migrants ran into engine trouble in the Peloponnese off the coast of Greece. The passengers on the ship refused to board any rescue ship that would take them to Greece. Instead, they eventually agreed to let the Italian Coast Guard tow them to Sicily, since their intended destination had been Italy, anyway.

In other news, a Dutch MP for the PVV has demanded that Muslims be banned from working in the security zone of Schiphol Airport.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, DS, Fjordman, Insubria, 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.

Divided EU Leaders Give Nod to €315bn Juncker Plan

European Union leaders endorsed a new €315 billion investment programme intended to kick-start economic growth at a summit in Brussels yesterday (18 December), despite deep differences over the substance of the plan.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Spain: 80 Percent of Under 30s Still Living at Home

A new report reveals that the idea of flying the nest remains little more than a pipe dream for many young Spaniards.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Harvard’s Sodastream Products Pulled by Dining Hall After ‘Microaggression’ Worries

Harvard’s dining hall pulled SodaStream machines after members of the college’s Palestine Solidarity Committee and other activists deemed the product a “microaggression.”

Water dispensers purchased by a firm owned by Israeli-based SodaStream were removed by the Harvard Undergraduate Dining Services (HUDS) at the behest of its students.

“These machines can be seen as a microaggression to Palestinian students and their families and like the University doesn’t care about Palestinian human rights,” sophomore Rachel J. Sandalow-Ash, a member of the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance, told the Harvard Crimson on Wednesday.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Intel Report: North Korea Planned Attacks on US Nuclear Plants

North Korea dispatched covert commando teams to the United States in the 1990s to attack nuclear power plants and major cities in a conflict, according to a declassified Defense Intelligence Agency report.

The DIA report, dated Sept. 13, 2004, reveals that five units of covert commandos were trained for the attacks inside the country.

According to the report, the “Reconnaissance Bureau, North Korea, had agents in place to attack American nuclear power plants.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Bribery Allegations Mar Greek Presidential Vote

Haikalis, an MP from the Independent Greeks party, says a consultant, who used to worke for Deutsche Bank, tried to bribe him to vote for government candidate Dimas to become Greek president. If Dimas fails, it will trigger snap elections that could bring the far-left Syriza party into power.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Daring Philae Comet Landing Named Top Breakthrough of 2014

The first-ever soft landing of a robotic probe the surface of a comet has just been named the top scientific breakthrough of 2014 by the journal Science.

The European Space Agency’s comet-studying Rosetta mission is telling scientists more about the origins of the solar system, according to representatives with Science. Rosetta has been orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov—Gerasimenko since August and released the Philae lander down to the icy cosmic body’s surface in November.

“Even though the landing was rougher than expected — Philae bounced off the unforgiving surface of 67P and came to rest on its side, quite a distance from its target — it was nonetheless the first-ever soft landing on a comet,” Science representatives said in a statement. “The data from these two space probes are already shedding new light on the formation and evolution of such comets.”

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Dutch MP Calls for Ban on Muslims Working in Schiphol Security Zone

An MP for the anti-Islam PVV has attempted to get parliament to vote on a motion which would have effectively barred Muslims from working inside the Schiphol airport security zone, broadcaster Nos says on Thursday. Dion Graus, who normally champions animal rights on behalf of the PVV, did not gather enough support from other MPs to have the motion debated. According to broadcaster Nos, this is extremely rare because MPs usually agree all motions should be debated as a democratic right.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



EU Leaders Want US Trade Deal Signed End-2015

(BRUSSELS) — EU leaders agreed at a summit Thursday to push for the signing of a huge but controversial free trade deal with the United States by the end of 2015.

Talks on the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Pact), which would be the world’s biggest trade deal, began 18 months ago and are still under way, with the next round due in February.

“The EU and the US should make all efforts to conclude negotiations on an ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial TTIP by the end of 2015,” the leaders said in a statement.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said after the summit that while they wanted to push through the deal by late 2015, it should be “without Europe abandoning certain principles that are at its heart, such as public services.”

The deal has raised concerns in several countries that their industries or welfare systems could be affected, while campaigners say corporate interests benefit from the negotiations taking place in secret.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Europe’s Bears and Wolves Are Back

At last we have a refreshingly positive story of a continental scale conservation success. It concerns the recovery of large carnivores, brown bears, wolves, Eurasian lynx and wolverines, in Europe’s multiuse landscapes.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Finnish Police Fired a Gun Only Six Times in 2013

Chief Inspector Jukka Salminen says that the Finnish Police use guns very infrequently on a comparative scale. Last year in Finland, the police fired their weapons in an official capacity a total of six times.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Germany: Turkish ‘Spies’ Arrested at Frankfurt Airport

Three men suspected of being Turkish agents have been arrested by police, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.

The men, two aged 58 and one aged 33, stand under “strong suspicion of working as agents for an intelligence agency”, the Karlsruhe prosecutors said in a statement.

One of the 58-year-olds, Muhammed Taha G., is believed to have been the leader of the group.

Prosecutors accuse them of sending information back to their superiors at home about Turks and Turkish organizations based in Germany.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Italy: Finmeccanica Says More Negotiations on for AnsaldoBrera Sale

BredaMenarinbus sale green-lighted

(ANSA) — Rome, December 19 — Italian defense and aerospace giant Finmeccanica is in further negotiations with Hitachi and Insigma for the sale of its rail unit AnsaldoBreda, a statement issued by CEO Mauro Moretti said on Friday.

The statement said that the Board of Directors met on Thursday to discuss the Ansaldo Breda buy out and that it has green-lighted the sale of bus manufacturer BredaMenarinibus.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: Trial Requested for 33 in Olivetti Asbestos Case

Benedetti, Colaninno and Passera among those probed

(ANSA) — Ivrea, December 19 — Prosecutors in the northern Italian town of Ivrea on Friday requested a Turin court indict 33 people over deaths linked to asbestos at an Olivetti factory.

Among the people prosecutors requested be sent to trial were famous Italian business figures Carlo De Benedetti, Roberto Colaninno and Corrado Passera, who is also a former minister.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: Northern League Presents ‘Us With Salvini’ Symbol for South

Honesty and clean record prerequisites to join, Salvini says

(ANSA) Rome, December 19 — Northern League leader Matteo Salvini unveiled Friday his symbol for a campaign to win support in Italy’s south using the slogan ‘Us with Salvini.” Salvini presented the symbol, a white background with a blue oval and ‘Noi con Salvini’ written in yellow and white, at the Lower House of Parliament.

“The North will keep the League,” Salvini said, “from today we leave for the South but I say no to anyone who thinks they can get on the bandwagon to save their job.

“Honesty and clean criminal record are pre-requisites for avoiding the risks of infiltration”.

The League’s popularity has swelled since Salvini last year took the helm of the party, with his mix of calls for independence for Northern Italy, hard-line stances in migrant issues and Euroskepticism.

League figures in the past, including Salvini, often used derogatory language to talk about Rome and southern Italy.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Luxembourg Caves in to EU Tax Listing Demands

Luxembourg on Thursday (18 December) caved in to pressure to give EU-anti trust regulators the details of tax deal schemes it has with multinational companies.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Putin: ‘South Stream Alternative Via Macedonia, Greece’

Possible ‘plan B’ after annulment due to obstacles from EU

(ANSA) — TRIESTE — Russian president Vladimir Putin said that the new natural gas pipeline could reach Central Europe through Greece and Macedonia instead of passing through Bulgaria, the Macedonian news agency Mia reported, citing the declaration made by Putin during an encounter with journalists held Thursday. The new project, developed after the annulment of South Stream due to obstacles imposed by the EU, foresees bringing Russian gas up to the Turkish-Greek border, while leaving the possibility for the pipeline to be extended to Central Europe through the Balkans. The South Stream project did not foresee including Macedonia.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Security Police: Phone Tapping Also Occurred in Finland

Earlier in December media outlets in Sweden and Norway reported suspicions of espionage in the form of phone tapping in their respective capitals. On Friday Finland’s security intelligence police Supo said Finland may also have been the target of similar attempts to harvest classified

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Suspended Prison Sentences in Finland’s First Terrorism Case

The Helsinki district court has handed down suspended prison sentences to four men in the country’s first ever terrorism case. The accused have denied all of the charges brought against them.

All four men received suspended sentences for financing terrorist acts. According to the charge sheet the accused transferred a total of just over 3-thousand euros to Somalia to support the terrorist organisation Al-Shabaab. However the accused say the money was used for routine aid work.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Kosovo: Serb Beaten by Albanian Mob in Pec

PEC — A group of ethnic Albanians attacked Pavic Gojkovic, a 61-year-old Serb, on Wednesday in Pec, northwestern Kosovo-Metohija (KiM), and members of the Kosovo police saved him from being lynched.

Gojkovic told Tanjug that a group of Albanians attacked him after he walked out of a lawyer’s office onto the street, together with his mother and a close friend who drove them to Pec.

As he explained, he and his mother went to see a lawyer in order to settle a dispute with a Kosovo Albanian over their land. “We failed to reach an agreement and when we left the office I was attacked by a group of Albanians,” said Gojkovic.

He stressed that his friend saved him from being lynched as he managed to break away from the mob and run to the nearby police station and call for help.

The assault left Gojkovic with several fractured ribs. Immediately after the incident, he returned to Belgrade where he has been living with his family.

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



EU Backs Palestinian Dictatorship

by Khaled Abu Toameh

These European parliaments are also turning a blind eye to the fact that, under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, there is no respect for the rule of law, free speech, transparency or accountability.

These Western parliamentarians are in fact acting against the interests of the Palestinians, who are clearly not hoping for another corrupt dictatorship in the Arab world.

“The situation in Palestine does not conform at all with democracy or the rule of law… Wake up and see the loss of rights, law and security.” — Freih Abu Medein, former Palestinian Authority Justice Minister.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Dall’Oglio in ISIS Prison, Reports. Minister Says He Can’t Confirm

Jesuit priest was abducted by militants in Raqqa in June 2013

(ANSAmed) — ROME — Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Friday that the government could not confirm media reports that Paolo Dall’Oglio, a Jesuit priest who went missing in Syria in July 2013, is alive and recently moved in a new prison run by militant Islamist group ISIS between Raqqa and Aleppo in the north of the country.

“Unfortunately, it does not seem that there is confirmation of this news,” Gentiloni told State broadcaster RAI.

After living for over 30 years in Syria and working tirelessly to foster dialogue between Muslims and Christians, including through the monastic community he founded north of Damascus, Father Paolo Dall’Oglio was expelled in June 2012 by the Syrian regime after expressing support for the UN peace plan proposed by the special envoy to the country at that time, Kofi Annan. In June 2013 he returned to the northern part of the country, in Raqqa, held by jihadists from the Islamic State, to attempt a difficult mediation for the release of detained Syrian activists. Several sources said he was captured by militants at the end of that month .

Many contradicting reports since then claimed he had been killed or was in good health, but no evidence to support either was provided. Last June well-informed sources told ANSA that the Roman Jesuit was allegedly being detained in the province of Raqqa.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Istanbul: Second-Worst European City in Traffic Congestion, ‘Sustainable Solutions’ Needed

Istanbul is the second-worst European city after Moscow in terms of traffic congestion, according to 2012 data from European navigation systems company, TomTom. As a result of this, according to the city’s municipality, the city needs “sustainable solutions” to resolve its traffic problems.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Kurds Break Mount Sinjar Siege Against ‘Islamic State, ‘ Free Yazidis

It has been deemed ‘the most successful’ offensive to date against the “Islamic State.” Kurdish forces announced Thursday they have broken the siege on Mount Sinjar and recaptured territory in a two-day assault.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Turkey: Prosecutor Asks for Arrest Warrant for Imam Fethullah Gülen

Anadolu news agency reports

(ANSAmed) — ROMA, 19 DIC — A prosecutor in Turkey has asked a court to issue an arrest warrant for US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, according to Anadolu News Agency. President Tayyip Erdogan accuses Gulen of seeking to overthrow him, the Guardian reports. Gülen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has been in open conflict with Erdogan since a corruption investigation targeting the then-prime minister’s inner circle a year ago. Erdogan blamed the investigation on Gülen, but the cleric denied involvement.

Turkish courts have dropped the corruption cases and Erdogan has purged the state apparatus of suspected Gülen supporters, removing from their posts thousands of police officers and hundreds of judges and prosecutors.

Erdogan said in April he would ask the United States to extradite Gülen, but such a move could only be made after an arrest warrant was issued and evidence of a crime produced.

A Turkish court on Friday kept a media executive close to Gülen, the Presidente of Samanyolu Media Group Hidayet Karaca, and three other people in custody pending trial on accusations of belonging to a terrorist group. The judges also released Zaman’s editor-in-chief and seven other people, who were arrested in the last few days in a larger group of journalists.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Turkey to ‘Begin Training’ Moderate Syrian Rebels by March

Turkey may begin training and equipping moderate Syrian opposition fighters before March, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday.

A key part of US President Barack Obama’s strategy in Syria is to support moderate Syrian forces to battle jihadists from the Islamic State group. The State Department announced in October that Turkey had agreed to support the training programme.

Turkish and US forces will train 2,000 moderate Syrian rebel fighters at a base in the central Turkish city of Kirsehir as part of the campaign against Islamic State insurgents, a Turkish foreign ministry official said in late November.

The official said the Syrian rebel fighters would be among a total of 5,000 being trained in several countries as part of the US-led campaign…

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



Ikea Packs Up Furniture Sales in Russia

Swedish furniture giant Ikea has called a temporary halt on sales of its kitchen furniture and appliances in Russia as it couldn’t cope with the extra demand brought on by the fall in the Russian rouble.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



India Studying Italian Marines Solution, Gentiloni Diffident

New Delhi looking at proposal with ‘positive spirit’ — Swaraj

(ANSA) — New Delhi, December 19 — Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has said New Delhi was “studying” an Italian proposal for a consensual solution to a huge dispute over two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen during an anti-piracy mission in 2012. Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, however, expressed skepticism about the likelihood of this producing a breakthrough in the case, which has strained relation between Italy and India for almost three years.

Swaraj revealed the development in a written response to a question in parliament. On Thursday, Swaraj added in a statement given to ANSA that the Indian government was looking at the proposal with a “positive spirit”.

Tension flared up again this week when the Indian supreme court knocked back a request from one of the marines, Salvatore Girone, to return to Italy for the Christmas holidays and a petition from the other, Massimiliano Latorre, to extend his stay in Italy for health reasons.

Latorre is receiving treatment in his homeland after suffered a stroke-like attack earlier this year.

Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Wednesday that the government was poised to call its ambassador to New Delhi back to Rome for “urgent consultations” after the supreme court rulings.

His diffidence towards New Delhi did not seem changed by Friday’s news.

“The harvest (from the dialogue with India) has been very disappointing,” Gentiloni told State broadcaster RAI. “If the agreement is what we saw the other day, then we’re not going very far. “I hope that different roads can be found in the next few days”.

Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti said this week that Latorre, who was allowed to leave India in September for four months, is in no condition to travel.

Swaraj said that he did not know how long it would take New Delhi to examine the Italian proposal and stressed that the case “is currently in the hands of the supreme court”. Latorre and Girone are accused of killing fishermen Valentine (aka Gelastine) and Ajesh Binki after allegedly mistaking them for pirates and opening fire on their fishing trawler while guarding the privately owned Italian-flagged oil-tanker MT Enrica Lexie off the coast of Kerala on February 15, 2012.

Rome has protested the many delays in the case. Formal charges have not yet been presented Italy successfully fought to ensure New Delhi took the death penalty off the table and dropped the application of a severe anti-terrorism, anti-piracy law, which it said would have equated Italy with a terrorist state.

Rome argues the case is not in India’s jurisdiction as the incident took place outside the country’s territorial waters.

It also says the marines should be exempt from prosecution in India, because they are servicemen who were working on an anti-piracy mission, and allowed to return home.

Gentiloni said Wednesday that the government would “take a decision within days” on seeking international arbitration in the case.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Pakistan General Requests 3000 Executions

Military kills 44 militants, 6 hangings announced

(ANSA) — Islamabad, December 19 -Pakistan’s Army Chief General Raheel Sharif asked the government to carry out more than 3,000 executions as armed forced killed 44 militants in three operations and plans were announced to hang six convicted criminals, media reported on Friday.

On Friday morning, General Raheel Shari took to Twitter to ask his government to carry out thousands of executions against convicted terrorists.

“More than 3,000 terrorists should be hanged in the next 48 hours”, Sharif posted on his twitter account. Sharif followed his tweet with a message directed at terrorist group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

“#PakArmy will come at you #Taliban & will destroy you”, Sharif tweeted, adding “We will surly eliminate #TTP from our homeland” Sharif’s tweets come after Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif lifted the moratorium on Pakistan’s death penalty following Tuesday’s school massacre in which Taliban fighters killed 141 children and 7 adults.

In a triumvirate of military operations executed on Friday, Pakistani military killed 32 militants in an ambush in Tirah Valley, an extremist stronghold in the Khyber region.

Eight Taliban were killed in the southwestern Baluchistan, and four TTP militants were killed in a round-up in Karachi.

General Sharif also signed orders of execution for six soldiers convicted of terrorism by military courts.

Names were not revealed but most probably those involved in the October 2009 Rawalpindi attack, including Islamist militant Mohammed Aqeel, alias Dr. Usman.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Vigilantes Patrol Nigerian City After Boko Haram Advance

Mohammed Bako stared out at the teeming Jimeta market in Nigeria’s Yola city, looking for anything suspicious amongst the hawkers selling cheap phones and cars attempting near impossible turns down narrow alleys.

Bako runs a box-size phone shop in the market, but 18 months ago took on a new job as head of the local vigilante force working with the military against Boko Haram.

Two days earlier, the Islamists carried out deadly attacks, including at a market, in the two other northeast state capitals that have been under emergency rule: Damaturu and Maiduguri.

“This is what makes us wake up,” Bako told AFP, warning that complacency in Yola could lead to disaster…

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



Leaders of Cuba’s Dissident Movement React to Obama’s Unilateral Concessions to the Apartheid Castro Dictatorship

By Alberto de la Cruz

Via Capitol Hill Cubans:

Cuban Dissident Leaders React to Obama’s Announcement

Cuban dissident leaders react to President Obama’s announcement to normalize relations with Castro’s dictatorship:…

— Hat tip: DS [Return to headlines]



What Part of Keeping Cuba Isolated Has Not ‘Worked’?

by Andrew C. McCarthy

The Obama talking point being repeated by the administration’s note-takers in the media is that it makes sense for the president to try a different approach on Cuba because the policy of isolating the dictatorship has not “worked.” Naturally, what is meant by “worked” is not stated.

I’m trying to figure out what exactly the supposed flaw has been in the policy of isolating a brutal regime diplomatically and imposing a trade embargo on it — one that is a lot more like a screen than a wall — in order to pressure it to reform.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Denmark: Descendants of Immigrants Lagging Behind in Education System

Sons of immigrants from non-western countries are still struggling when it comes to getting an education, an analysis from the think tank Kraka, has revealed.

The analysis showed that just 47 percent of 30-year-old sons of immigrants who were born in Denmark and attended public school have an education diploma of some sort.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Germany: Shelter for Ukrainian Refugees

Months of fighting in eastern Ukraine have displaced tens of thousands — many of whom are now homeless. German aid is on hand to set up a container village, but with winter already here, it’s a race against time.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Greece: Vessel Carrying 200 Migrants Tugged to Sicily

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, DECEMBER 19 — A rudderless ship carrying about 200 migrants was located about 117 nautical miles west southwest from Pylos early on Friday morning, after being informed by the Italian Coast Guard, as daily To Vima online reports. The Ministry of Shipping’s Joint Rescue and Coordination Center (EKSED) notified five nearby vessels to provide assistance, however the migrants refused to board any ship heading to Greece. After negotiations with the migrants on-board it was decided to tug the vessel to Sicily.

According to the Greek Coast Guard, in November 2014 there were 193 instances of migrants entering the country illegally, which resulted in the arrest of 3,447 migrants and 57 human traffickers and the confiscation of 23 vessels and 16 vehicles.

— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Ship With 200 Migrants Off Pylos Towed to Italy After Passengers Refuse to Stop in Greece

A ship carrying around 200 undocumented immigrants suffered engine problems off the coast of Pylos, in the Peloponnese, early on Friday, prompting an intervention by the Greek Coast Guard.

According to sources, the migrants refused to board a Greek Coast Guard vessel that was dispatched to the scene and be towed toward the Greek mainland and insisted on continuing their journey to Italy.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Sweden to Hire 1,000 to Ease Asylum Flow

Sweden’s Migration Board is set to hire 1,000 extra workers to deal with the influx of asylum seekers, an increased workload which has seen staff members working late nights and weekends.

The authority has estimated that 80,000 people will have sought asylum in Sweden before the year is over, most of them coming from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Eritrea.

The influx marks the most refugees to arrive in Sweden since 1992 during the Yugoslav wars, when 84,000 people came seeking a new life.

Employees at the Swedish Migration Board haven’t been able to cope with the workload.

— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Europa’s Geysers Disappear in a Cloud of Mystery

Now you see it, now you don’t. Europa’s 200-kilometre-high water jets may have been downgraded from major discovery to major mystery. Follow-up searches have yet to see the geysers again, while older observations don’t seem to support their existence. Some people are now wondering if the jets are far rarer than expected — or if they were ever there to begin with.