Bilderberg Scheme to Save the Euro
Globalists fear Greece could exit single currency and stage a miraculous economic recovery
Paul Joseph Watson
The Bilderberg Group is terrified that Greece’s potential exit from the eurozone could lead to a dramatic economic recovery and provide a template for other countries to follow suit, threatening to torpedo the euro single currency and the entire agenda for a European federal superstate.
One of the primary discussion topics at this year’s upcoming Bilderberg Group meeting in Chantilly, Virginia will revolve around how the elite plan to address the issue that threatens to bring their agenda for global governance crashing down — the euro crisis.
The increasing threat of Greece abandoning its promise to honor draconian bailout terms agreed with Brussels and Berlin last night led German chancellor Angela Merkel to acknowledge for the first time that Greece could exit the euro, a likelihood that has sent the single currency along with financial markets plunging in recent days.
The euro crisis is now at its most severe point in history, outstripping similar crisis points which coincidentally also occurred just before the annual Bilderberg Group meetings in 2010 and 2011.
On both of those occasions, political consensus formed by Bilderberg members was enough to keep the euro on life support for another 12 months each time, and the same globalists will once again try and hammer out a strategy behind closed doors that will provide redemption for their cherished pet project.
In 2010, “the future of the euro” took center stage in Spain as Spanish Prime Minister Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was joined by numerous financial heavyweights to try and solve the crisis as Bilderberg members panicked about the possible collapse of the single currency.
A year later during the 2011 meeting in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the euro crisis was again at the top of Bilderberg’s agenda as globalists expressed fears that the demise of the single currency could also torpedo hopes to create multi-regional currencies.
Bilderberg is terrified not only that Greece will exit the euro, but that in doing so it will go on to see a massive economic rebound and become an example for other eurozone countries to follow the same course…
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Britain’s Cameron Ups Pressure on Eurozone Leaders
(LONDON) — British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday renewed his call for eurozone leaders to take decisive action or face the break up of the single currency over the Greek debt crisis.
In a speech in the northwestern city of Manchester, Cameron urged core countries in the 17-member eurozone, of which Britain is not a member, and the European Central Bank to support demand and cut deficits.
Cameron admitted that his message would be unpopular in Europe where he angered many leaders by delaying a fiscal treaty last year, but said his priority was to protect Britain.
“The eurozone is at a crossroads,” Cameron said in the speech to business leaders. “It either has to make up or it is looking at a potential break-up. Either Europe has a committed, stable, successful eurozone with an effective firewall, well capitalised and regulated banks, a system of fiscal burden sharing, and supportive monetary policy across the eurozone. “Or we are in uncharted territory which carries huge risks for everybody.”
Cameron was due to hold a videoconference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, new French President Francois Hollande, Italian premier Mario Monti and the top EU officials later Thursday.
The meeting was called to discuss the upcoming G8 meeting of industrialised nations in the United States at the weekend, but Cameron’s Downing Street office said the eurozone was likely to come up.
Fears of a Greek exit from the eurozone have spiked after voters on May 6 supported anti-austerity parties that want to tear up an EU-International Monetary Fund bailout agreement and reverse harsh austerity measures.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ECB Turns Taps Off to Four Greek Banks
The European Central Bank Wednesday said it would temporarily stop offering liquidity to four unnamed Greek banks considered insolvent. Once a recapitalisation of the banks is finalised, they would regain access to standard liquidity operations, FT reports. Meanwhile the banks must rely on loans from the Greek central bank.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Tsipras to CNN, We Are Going Straight to Hell
Syriza leader, let’s scrap memorandum, renegotiate at EU level
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MAY 17 — Alexis Tsipras, head of SYRIZA, said on Wednesday that the radical left coalition wanted to put an end to austerity, keep Greece in the eurozone and strike new alliances to overcome the crisis.
“We will do whatever we could do in this direction, to keep Greece inside the eurozone and inside Europe,” said Tsipras in an interview with CNN, quoted by Kathimerini. Tsipras said that the left coalition wants to “cancel the memorandum, then renegotiate on a European level,” in search of a common solution to exit the crisis which he said was not just a Greek problem, but a European problem.
To do so, Tsipras said that he would look for partners in southern as well as central Europe.
“We are going directly to hell”, Tsipras added with regards to the austerity measures, accusing German Chancellor Angela Merkel of putting the eurozone at risk. On the subject of what a drachma comeback would mean for Greece and Europe, Tsipras responded that although he disagreed with Merkel on many issues he did agree with a statement she had made a month ago, saying that if Greece were to exit the eurozone, markets would immediately go in search of the country that would follow suit, such as Italy or Spain.
Tsipras said that going back to the old currency would mean “poor people to have drachmas and the rich people to buy everything with euros.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Worries Push European Markets Down Further
Fears that Greece might leave the euro currency union, with uncertain consequences for the rest of Europe, pushed the continent’s markets down again on Thursday, though Asian stocks eked out gains thanks to good economic growth figures out of Japan.
Greece called another round of elections for June 17 after the last one proved inconclusive and coalition talks to form a government fell apart. Greeks gave strong support to parties that reject the country’s international bailout and the tough austerity measures it comes with.
But without that rescue package, Greece will likely default and have to leave the 17-country eurozone. That would result in financial disaster for Greece and send shockwaves through European markets, destabilizing other weak countries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Monti Shows Support for Under-Fire Tax Authorities
Agencies have been hit by series of threats, attacks
(ANSA) — Rome, May 17 — Premier Mario Monti visited the Rome headquarters of Italy’s tax authorities on Thursday to express his support for them after a series of threats and attacks.
“I wanted this meeting to bring the unconditional support of the government and of myself after the numerous acts of intimidation and aggression which recently have repeatedly occurred frequently and which should be condemned with great firmness,” Monti said.
A businessman held a inland-revenue clerk hostage for six hours in Bergamo earlier this month, and police received a bomb threat Monday for a similar office in the southern city of Bari, amid widespread tension provoked by the economic recession and government austerity measures.
Tax-collection agency Equitalia has been hit by a string of letter-bomb and petrol-bomb attacks, including one at the weekend.
Equitalia is thought to be a possible target of an anarchist group, Informal Anarchists Federation (FAI), that claimed responsibility for shooting Ansaldo Nucleare CEO Roberto Adinolfi in the leg last week and has promised to carry out at least eight acts of terrorism.
A letter threatening Monti in the name of the FAI was sent to some Italian dailies on Wednesday although police have doubts about its authenticity.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Tax Collectors on Front Line of Backlash
Rome, 17 May (AKI/Bloomberg) — For 10 years, Daniela Ballico has been knocking on Romans’ doors seeking back taxes. Now with Italy’s tax-collectors on the front line of an anti-austerity backlash, she no longer has the courage to ring their bells.
Equitalia, the state tax-collection agency, has been targeted in a wave of attacks as Italians chafe under stepped-up efforts to recover an estimated 120 billion euros in lost revenue from evasion. On May 12, a Molotov cocktail exploded outside Equitalia’s Livorno office, one day after a parcel bomb was delivered to the Rome headquarters, site of a December explosion that tore off part of the general manager’s hand.
“I have never seen such a tense atmosphere” said Ballico, who has been employed by Equitalia since 1998 and is now on temporary leave to work for the UGL labor union. “They call us loan sharks, bloodsuckers; my colleagues have to deal with anxiety and stomach aches every day and they are scared.”
The crackdown is part of Prime Minister Mario Monti’s 20 billion-euro austerity plan that also brought higher taxes, cuts in public spending and record gasoline prices. While the measures may have helped bring down bond yields from euro-era records, they helped push the economy into its fourth recession since 2001, making it harder even for law-abiding Italians to keep up with tax payments.
Rising Violence
Monti today reiterated his government’s “unconditional support” for the tax revenue agency, “firmly” condemning the attacks, he said in a statement after meeting with the agency’s head, Attilio Befera, and Equitalia staff, in Rome. “We can and we must discuss how to reduce the fiscal burden, trying to go after those who escape from taxation,” he said.
The country’s top security officials are also gathering today at the Interior Ministry to discuss ways to combat the rising violence.
The government has already raised alert levels at some sensitive sites and may even use the army to defend the tax agency, Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri told newspaper la Repubblica in an interview on May 13.
Attacking State
“I would like to stress that attacking Equitalia is the equivalent of attacking the state,” she told the daily.
The government predicts that the country’s tax burden, or tax as a percentage of gross domestic product, will rise to 45.1 percent this year from 42.5 percent in 2011, and won’t start falling until 2015. Italy ranked fourth-highest in the European Union by that measure in 2011.
Italy’s tax-revenue agency recovered 12.7 billion euros from evasion in 2011, up 15.5 percent from 2010. Monti’s government is counting on a further increase this year to help meet its pledge to slash the deficit even with the recession deepening.
Budget Plan
The government didn’t include revenue from evasion in its 2012 budget and plans to use any recovered funds as a buffer should regular income miss its target because of the slump. The government forecasts the economy will contract 1.2 percent this year, while the International Monetary Fund predicts a contraction of 1.9 percent.
As part of the crackdown on tax evasion, authorities have targeted owners of luxury cars and boats to stop transgressions by the wealthiest Italians. Still, much of the anger directed at Equitalia is from people with more modest means as the agency is responsible for collecting everything from missed mortgage payments to parking tickets and delinquent school lunch fees.
Hostages
Earlier this month, a 54-year-old small businessman facing financial difficulties and tax debts of around 2,400 euros, took 15 hostages at an Equitalia office near Bergamo for several hours before surrendering to police.
Even as Monti and other politicians seek to quell rising social tensions, anti-austerity protests are spreading with Equitalia serving as a symbol of broader indignation. Around 200 former Fiat SpA (F) workers occupied the Equitalia office in the Sicilian town of Termini Imerese on May 9 to protest the Italian automaker’s decision to shut a plant employing more than 1,400 workers. On May 11, demonstrators clashed with police outside Equitalia’s offices in Naples.
Years of Lead
Authorities are concerned that the rising discontent will fuel more violent attacks in a country with a history of domestic terrorism. Hundreds of people were killed in bombings by the leftist Red Brigades and fascists groups in the 1970s and 1980s in a period known as the Years of Lead. In a throwback to the days when executives and politicians were kneecapped, or shot in the knees, an executive of a Finmeccanica SpA (FNC) unit was shot in the leg outside his home in Genoa on May 7 in an attack claimed by a group calling itself the Informal Anarchist Federation.
The FAI yesterday made a written threat against Monti, Cancellieri and senior officials of Italy’s tax agency.
“As the debt crisis worsens, we are likely to see more episodes like this,” said Alberto Mingardi, head of the pro- free market Bruno Leoni research center in Turin, about the attacks on Equitalia.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy, Spain Call for Action in Defense of Euro
A sharp spike in yields of Spanish and Italian bonds has led the two countries’ leaders to call for a strong message in defense of the euro project. Growth is pivotal, they say, and Greece must be kept in the eurozone.
The risk premium on Spain’s and Italy’s sovereign debt soared Wednesday, as the threat of a Greek eurozone exit was shook the single currency area.
The yield on Spain’s benchmark 10-year government bonds spiked to a peak of 6.51 percent, hitting a level considered too high for the state to refinance its debts.
The 10-year Italian bond yield opened at 6 percent, the highest rate since January 31, before slipping to just below 6 percent in trading later in the day.
By contrast, Germany paid an average rate of 1.47 percent at an auction of 10-year bonds on Wednesday, as risk-averse investors flocked to German sovereign debt seen as safe haven.
Describing Spain’s refinancing situation as “very complicated,” Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he would like to see “a clear and forceful message in defense of the euro project and an affirmation of the sustainability of public debt of all the European countries.
“Austerity, yes, growth too,” Rajoy told reporters in Madrid, adding that his government was taking the measures “that must be taken” as he was pushing through sweeping cutbacks despite a recession and a 24-percent jobless rate.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti called for decisive EU action in a telephone conversation with US President Barack Obama late on Tuesday. The two leaders “agreed on the need to intensify efforts to promote growth and job creation,” according to a statement issued in Washington on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
One Elderly American Out of 7 Risks Going Hungry
(AGI) Washington — There are 8.3 million elderly Americans, 14%, who risk hunger and malnutrition. Between 2001 and 2010 the number of elderly people who cannot afford to eat adequately has increased by 78%. During the recession period alone, from 2007 to 2010, the number of elderly people at risk rose by 34%. Figures were revealed in the “Senior Hunger in America 2010: an Annual Report” published last week by researchers at Illinois University.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Rush to Bankia Counters, Over 1 Billon Withdrawn
Nationalised institute leads drop in stock exchange
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MAY 17 — Spain is seeing a surge in withdrawals from the counters of Bankia, the institute nationalised by the government last week. According to reports by El Mundo, in the last few days Bankia’s customers have withdrawn over a billion euros from the bank.
Bankia’s shares in the stock exchange are continuing to drop for the tenth consecutive week. At midday the stock had lost up to 28.2%, then rising again to -17%.
From its debut onto the stock market last July with a value of 3.75 euros, Bankia’s shares have already lost 60% of their value. The stock exchange capitalisation went from 4.89 billion euros of last May 4 to the 2.5 billion today according to financial sources quoted by the Spanish national radio RNE.
Bankia’s quotations, which haven’t been suspended by the National Market Values Commission, have been conditioned by the resignation of former president Rodrigo Rato, from the change in the group’s directors, from the announcement of the nationalisation of the subsidiary BFA and the necessity for further financial provisions of 4.81 billion euros in order to save the financial group’s property portfolio.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain Falls Into Recession Amid Fears of Eurozone Bank Run
(MADRID) — Spain tumbled into recession and European stock markets and the euro fell Thursday as Greece installed a crisis government to tackle its crippling debt, EU leaders prepared for talks and analysts raised the spectre of a run on eurozone banks.
“Markets are worried about eurozone bank deposit runs and an escalating banking crisis,” London-based VTB Capital economist Neil MacKinnon told AFP. Heavy withdrawals of deposits have been reported in Greece and Spain, and top European Union leaders were to hold a videoconference later in the day.
They were initially to discuss an upcoming G8 meeting of industrialised countries but were now faced with a serious deterioration of the situations in Greece and elsewhere across the eurozone.
A caretaker government took office in Athens on Thursday to organise its second election in six weeks after an inconclusive May 6 vote as fears over its possible euro exit rocked Spain and Italy.
The election left Greece in limbo and the new poll on June 17 offers no guarantee of a viable government able to implement an EU-IMF bailout which has divided the country.
Meanwhile, Europe’s single currency nosedived to a four-month low at $1.2667.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Double Jeopardy Looms for George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin Case
by Hans Bader
In 2009, a liberal Congress enacted a broad federal hate-crimes law, to take advantage of a loophole in constitutional protections against double jeopardy. Supporters of the hate crimes bill wanted to allow those found innocent of crimes in state court to be reprosecuted in federal court if their crime was supposedly motivated by race. As one supporter put it, “the federal hate crimes bill serves as a vital safety valve in case a state hate-crimes prosecution fails.” The constitutional ban on double jeopardy prevents a state from reprosecuting a person after they are found not guilty. But a loophole in protections against double-jeopardy, known as the “dual sovereignty” doctrine, allows the federal government to reprosecute a person in federal court after they have already been acquitted in state court of committing the same or similar crime.
Supporters of the hate crimes law saw it as a way to prosecute people in federal court even in cases where the evidence was so weak that state prosecutors lost their case in state court, or decided not to prosecute in the first place. Attorney General Eric Holder pushed for the hate crimes bill as a way to prosecute people whom state prosecutors refuse to prosecute because of a lack of evidence. To justify broadening federal hate-crimes law, he cited three examples where state prosecutors refused to prosecute, citing a lack of evidence. In each, a federal jury acquitted the accused, finding them not guilty.
As law professor Gail Heriot notes, some supporters of the hate-crimes bill “even called for federal prosecution of the Duke University lacrosse team members—despite strong evidence of their innocence.” Advocates of a broader federal hate-crimes law have pointed to the Duke lacrosse case as an example of where federal prosecutors should have stepped in and prosecuted the accused players — even though the state prosecution in that case was dropped because the defendants were actually innocent, as North Carolina’s attorney general conceded (and DNA evidence showed), and were falsely accused of rape by a woman with a history of violence (including trying to run over someone with her car) and making false accusations.
Now, Eric Holder’s Justice Department has dispatched the FBI to Florida, to try to build a case that George Zimmerman — who is himself 1/8 black and once protested police brutality against a black man — committed a racial “hate crime” against the black teenager Trayvon Martin, notes Reason Magazine’s Jacob Sullum. The purpose of this effort is to lay the groundwork for prosecuting Zimmerman in federal court if he is found not guilty in state court. (Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder in state court). Former Massachusetts ACLU leader and veteran criminal-defense lawyer Harvey Silverglate told me yesterday that in light of recently-released evidence such as Zimmerman’s medical report, “Prosecutors will have a very hard time winning this case, which is why a federal ‘civil rights’ prosecution likely will follow the state trial. This is a case, truly, of a rush-to-judgment. No wonder the prosecutor brought the charge herself rather than go through a grand jury.”
As Sullum observes, the Justice Department “should stop” pursuing this angle, for several reasons. One is that “there is very little evidence that Zimmerman hates black people, let alone that he shot Martin because he hates black people.” Another is that “federal hate crimes laws” unfairly…
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Hill GOP Wants Answers on Hezbollah Leader Tied to Soldiers Killings, Set for Release
Republicans on Capitol Hill are furious over the Obama administration’s handling of a purported Hezbollah commander, who was connected to the killing of five U.S. soldiers in 2007 and now is set for release by an Iraqi court.
The most recent GOP lawmaker to express frustration and to demand answers from the administration is Florida Rep. Allen West, who on Wednesday sent a letter to President Obama questioning why Ali Musa Daqduq was turned over to Iraq in December 2011.
West dismissed the argument by Obama officials that they were forced under a Bush administration agreement to release Iraqi citizens upon exiting in December 2011, saying Daqduq was in fact a Lebanon citizen.
“You had options when dealing with this terrorist,” wrote West, a 22-year Army veteran. “When you were elected president, the American people expected you to provide leadership.”
West suggested Daqduq should have been transferred to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he could have been tried before a military commission. He also called Daqduq’s release an “utter betrayal” to American soldiers who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq.
U.S. officials think Daqduq, while helping train insurgent groups, plotted and orchestrated the attack in the Iraqi city of Karbala that resulted in the deaths of the soldiers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Minorities Now Surpass Whites in US Births, Census Shows
America hit a demographic milestone last year, with new census figures showing for the first time more than half the children born in the U.S. were minorities.
That percentage just barely eked over the halfway mark, with minorities making up 50.4 percent of U.S. births in the 12-month period ending July 2011. But it marks a steady trend — minorities represented 37 percent of births in 1990.
As a whole, the nation’s minority population continues to rise, following a higher-than-expected Hispanic count in the 2010 census. Minorities increased 1.9 percent to 114.1 million, or 36.6 percent of the total U.S. population, lifted by prior waves of immigration that brought in young families and boosted the number of Hispanic women in their prime childbearing years.
The numbers also serve as a guide to where taxpayer dollars could be going in the coming decades. With minority populations growing faster than white populations, robust minority population centers are sure to increase in electoral heft in the coming decades.
“This is an important landmark,” said Roderick Harrison, a former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau who is now a sociologist at Howard University. “This generation is growing up much more accustomed to diversity than its elders.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sun is Moving Slower Than Thought
“Shocking” find may redraw picture of solar system’s cosmic shield.
The sun is moving through the Milky Way slower than previously thought, according to new data from a NASA spacecraft. From its orbit around Earth, the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellite measured the speeds of interstellar particles entering at the fringes of our solar system, 9 billion miles (14.5 billion kilometers) from the sun.
Plugging the new data into computer models, the IBEX team calculates that the sun is moving at about 52,000 miles (83,700 kilometers) an hour-about 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers) slower than thought.
The discovery suggests that the protective boundary separating our solar system from the rest of the galaxy is missing a bow shock, a major structural component thought to control the influx of high-energy cosmic rays.
The sun is constantly sending out charged particles in all directions, forming a cocoon around the solar system called the heliosphere. Like a boat moving through water, it’s long been thought that the “bow” of the heliosphere forms a crescent-shaped shockwave as our solar system plows through the surrounding cloud of interstellar gas.
But the new IBEX findings mean the sun is moving so slow that pressure from material flowing around the heliosphere is 25 percent lower than expected-not enough for a bow shock.
Until now, “all the solar system models and theories included a bow shock,” said study leader David McComas of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “Having learned for nearly three decades about it, I was literally shocked when we found it was missing.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Facebook Deal Worth $100billion That Will Make Bono the World’s Richest Rock Star (But at What Cost to Your Privacy?)
Tomorrow, Wall Street will invite the world to buy shares in Facebook and take what is expected to be a $104 billion gamble on its guiding light, Mark Zuckerberg, a hoodie-wearing 28-year-old who, only a few years ago, gave out business cards that read: ‘I’m CEO, b*tch’.
It’s no wonder, then, that Friday’s stock market launch — or initial public offering (IPO) — of the internet’s most popular social network has evoked almost as many shivers of fear in the business world as it has gasps of excitement.
By the end of the first day’s trading his personal stake in the company will be worth $24 billion (£15 billion), making him the world’s 15th richest man — and a clutch of other bright sparks who were in on Facebook’s early years will be billionaires, too.
But for Facebook’s 901 million monthly users — including more than 30 million in Britain — the future looks rather less rosy.
If any of them have ever wondered how a website which allows ordinary people to share the trivial details and pictures of their everyday lives can be worth so much money, the answer is staring at them in the mirror. They are the cash-cow and they need to get used to the fact that the milking has only just begun.
[Comment by MWeather, USA: “ Facebook: “Build Your Own Dossier!”. What a time-saver for the government. “ ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Nuclear Weapons Upgrades: Experts Report Massive Cost Increase
The cost of modernizing US nuclear weapons, including those stationed in Germany, has risen sharply, according to estimates. Several independent experts told SPIEGEL ONLINE that the bill for renewing the B61 atomic bomb will rise to $6 billion. The project will also upset Russia, they say.
The B61 is the last remnant of the Cold War in Germany. An estimated 10 to 20 of the atomic bombs are thought to remain in storage at a German Air Force base in Büchel, a village in the Eifel mountains of western Germany. Should war break out, the Tornado aircraft belonging to the German Air Force could immediately be armed with the weapons for sorties under US control.
But the fact that such a scenario is considered extremely unlikely has not prevented the US from embarking on an effort to upgrade the stockpile, as it is doing with much of its nuclear arsenal. The Life Extension Program (LEP) for the B61 — of which there are between 160 and 200 in Europe — is considered to be the most difficult and expensive of all. In 2010, the Department of Energy requested almost $2 billion (€1.6 billion) for the project, to be spent over four years. Later, the number rose to $4 billion.
Now, the total is expected to by closer to $6 billion, as several experts have reported independently. The first to write of the exploding costs was Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). Other experts are not surprised. “The $6 billion estimate for B61 LEP is consistent with our estimates,” wrote executive director of the Arms Control Association in Washington, Daryl Kimball, in an email.
In late April, several senators demanded that funding be cut to the B61 refurbishment program, at least until the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which is responsible for the upgrades, presents a detailed timeline and funding plan. That the costs for the project are now three times the original estimate is not likely to meet with euphoria in Washington. The NNSA also hinted to SPIEGEL ONLINE that the expenses threaten to be higher than anticipated. “We are formally validating costs and expect to have something in the coming months,” NNSA spokesman Josh McConaha said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Quebec Considers Emergency Law as Thousands of Students Protest Tuition Hikes
Quebec was set to consider emergency legislation Thursday aimed at calming weeks of student protests over rising tuition costs, after thousands took to the streets once again and more than 100 were arrested. Authorities said 122 were arrested late Wednesday as thousands of demonstrators spilled into the streets of Montreal, with some smashing bank windows and hurling objects at police.
Legislation could be introduced as early as Thursday amid student strikes. Dozens of protesters on Wednesday stormed into one Montreal university for the first time, breaking up classes. Premier Jean Charest said he would table emergency legislation aimed at ending the disorder, while sticking to the planned tuition hikes.
“It’s time for calm to be restored,” Charest said Wednesday. He added, “The current situation has lasted too long. … Quebecers have a right to live in security.”
Under the latest version of its tuition plan, the government would increase fees by $254 per year over seven years. That would mean tuition increases of more than 75 percent for Quebec students, who pay the lowest rates in Canada.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Updated: Board Suspends Toronto Islamic School’s Operating Permit After Row Over Anti-Jewish Curriculum
TORONTO — An Islamic school that had been using teaching materials that disparaged Jews and encouraged boys to keep fit for jihad has lost its license to use Toronto District School Board property. The board suspended a permit issued to the Islamic Shia Study Centre, which operated the East End Madrassah out of a Toronto high school until an outcry last week over the content of its curriculum booklets.
“The Islamic Shia Study Centre will not be able to permit TDSB property until the police investigation is complete and they are able to demonstrate that they comply with board policies and procedures,” Ryan Bird, a TDSB spokesman, said Wednesday.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
EU and Turkey Set to Revive Talks Over Membership
EU enlargement commissioner, Stefan Füle is scheduled to visit Ankara Thursday to announce discussions with Turkey on eight policy areas of their membership application. “Turkey is changing, the EU is changing and the new Europe cannot be without Turkey,” Egemen Bagis, the Turkish minister in charge of EU affairs said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
European Commission Should be EU Government, Says Germany
The European Union needs to become more integrated with a common finance policy and a central government, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Wednesday (16 May). “I would be for the further development of the European Commission into a government. I am for the election of a European president, he said at an event in Aachen, reports Reuters.
“I am in favour of being more courageous on Europe,” said Schaeuble, who is one of the German government’s most pro-European ministers. He said this is a longterm response to the current eurozone crisis, which many have said has been exacerbated by the fact that the EU lacked the tools — such as a central transfer system — to effectively deal with it.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Europe: Will Eurosceptics be Blamed for Eurogeddon?
by Ed West
Yesterday was the anniversary of the Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the catastrophic Thirty Years’ War, a conflict that proportionally killed more Germans than 1914-1945. The treaty, which brought about the concept of Westphalian Sovereignty and the nation-state, was the starting point of Misha Glenny’s very interesting recent radio series The Invention of Germany. The series charts the story of how Germany as a cultural entity became a nation, through the wiliness of the Elector of Brandenburg, and that state’s evolution into the militaristic Kingdom of Prussia and eventually the German Empire, a state far too big and powerful for Europe to accommodate happily. (I wonder what might have happened had Germany been united by a state in the Rhineland. Would it have become a larger version of the Netherlands? Or perhaps it was inevitable that the most militaristic of entities would come to turn 300 states into one.) Glenny’s series ended with the reunification of 1990, and the difficulties still facing national identity, but I felt that we are now living the next chapter — The Invention of Europe.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Reindeer Herders See Rise in Income
Profitability of reindeer herding remains weak. However, the 2010-2011 reindeer herding year showed an improvement, according to a study released on Tuesday by Agrifood Research Finland (MTT). According to the survey, income from herding reindeer grew by 28 per cent over the previous year.
The rise was attributed to an increase in the price of reindeer meat and higher compensation for damage caused by predators, as well as a slower increase in expenses incurred by raising reindeer than before. The price of reindeer meat rose by ten per cent, and the amount of money spent on compensation doubled from the previous year. Increased expenses included feeding costs and equipment, while the number of working hours declined.
According to MTT, reindeer herding is profitable in the Sami regions, where it is often the main source of income. The reindeer herding year stretches from early June through the end of May. The first tasks of the year are the earmarking of reindeer calves born in May and June.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault’s Name Sounds Like the Arabic for Penis
France’s new prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has triggered confusion and embarrassment in Arabic-speaking countries — because his surname sounds like their word for ‘penis’.
Newsreaders in Arab nations have swiftly come up with a host of strategies to avoid pronouncing his name correctly.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Former Northern League Leader Bossi Under Investigation
Firebrand politician accused of fraud against the State
(ANSA) — Rome, May 16 — Former Northern League leader Umberto Bossi was informed on Wednesday that he is under investigation for alleged corruption.
The firebrand politician stepped down in April after his family was linked to probes into alleged fraud by former party treasurer Francesco Belsito.
Bossi, who in the 1980s spearheaded the movement that eventually became the Northern League, is being probed for fraud against the State for alleged involvement with Belsito in irregularities in documentation to obtain reimbursements for electoral spending.
Bossi’s sons Renzo, who was being groomed for a political career before the scandal exploded, and Riccardo are also being probed for allegedly using party funds for personal use.
A number of high-profile League members have resigned from their positions after it emerged that prosecutors in Milan, Naples and Reggio Calabria launched probes into the party’s financing.
These include Renzo Bossi, who quit his role as a Lombardy regional councillor.
The support levels of the party, which wants greater autonomy for wealthier northern regions and adopts far right positions on issues such as immigration, plummeted in the first round of local elections in some 1,000 Italian cities earlier this month.
Bossi said at the start of May that he would run for the League leadership again at the next party congress although he has since reportedly agreed to let former interior minister Roberto Maroni stand unopposed for the position.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Economic and Political Elite Oldest in Europe
Average age in powerful positions 59
(ANSA) — Rome, May 17 — Italy’s managerial and political class is the oldest in Europe, a report by farmers’ association Coldiretti said on Thursday.
The overall average age of those in positions of power in Italy is 59, according to the report.
Among the oldest managers are those in the banking world with an average age of 67, followed by politicians with the average age of 64, while top managers in listed companies tend to be slightly younger, averaging 57.
In the academic world, a professor’s average age is 63. In the world of politics, Italy’s Premier Mario Monti is 69 years old, while the youngest ministers, Renato Balduzzi and Filippo Patroni Griffi, are both 57.
In comparison, David Cameron took office in Britain when he was 43, Tony Blair at 44, John Major was 47 and Gordon Brown just over 50.
Coldiretti President Sergio Marini commented that the government’s “ideas for tackling the economic crisis are (also) old and too few”.
Italian politicians are “trying to reproduce development models based on financial and economic policies that have already failed,” said Marini.
At the same time, Italy’s youth unemployment continues to soar, reaching 35.9% in March, up 2% since February, according to a report from the national statistics agency ISTAT earlier this month.
Monti and his emergency government have vowed to promote labour market changes to make it easier for women and young people to find jobs.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
It’s Getting Lonely for Merkel Within Her Party
Chancellor Angela Merkel has shown her tough side by firing Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen after he lost a key state election for her conservative party. The demise of the former political star is yet another sign of the ongoing disintegration of Merkel’s government. Röttgen is the latest in a long line of senior conservatives who has met with a sticky end.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Four Teenagers Held Over Video Showing Sexual Assault
Four boys, two aged 13, have been arrested in Tilburg in connection with an internet film which appears to show a 14-year-old girl being sexually assaulted.
‘The youths are all suspects,’ a police spokesman told news agency ANP. ‘They are suspected of involvement in the incident as well as making the film and spreading it on the internet.’ The two other boys are aged 15 and 16.
The story broke after television programme PowNews broadcast part of the film, resulting dozens of tip-offs about the identity of the boys and the girl. She was questioned by police on Tuesday, ANP said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Utøya Survivor ‘Hid Under Friends’ Dead Bodies’
A young survivor of self-confessed killer Anders Behring Breivik’s massacre on a Norwegian island told his trial Wednesday how she stayed alive by hiding behind the dead bodies of her friends. Ingvild Leren Stensrud, who suffered bullet wounds in her thigh and her shoulder when Breivik went on his bloody rampage on Utøya in July last year, said she played dead in the cafeteria, hidden by her friends’ bodies.
As the sound of gunshots receded, Stensrud said she heard “what sounded like battle cries” but was not able to make out what Breivik was saying. She also described how she heard numerous cell phones ringing and going unanswered at the massacre scene, where Breivik gunned down 69 people, most of them teenagers attending a summer camp of ruling Labour Party’s youth wing.
With one dead body slumped over her and surrounded by others, she used a victim’s cell phone to call her family. But when the same phone rang again and the caller ID showed “Mum”, she didn’t have the heart to answer.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
One in Three Irish Undecided on Fiscal Compact Referendum
(AGI) Dublin — With the fiscal compact referendum just a fortnight away, compact, a third of voters are yet to make their mind up. According to an Irish Independent-Millward Brown Lansdowne survey some 37pc of the electorate is in favour of the fiscal compact, 24pc against and 35pc undecided. Ireland is the only country to hold a referendum on the EU’s new budget regulations. As in the past Ireland has ranked among the foremost opposers of EU treaties, including the Nice and Lisbon treaties (both subject to two referendums prior to ratification).
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: School Burns in Tensta Teenager Unrest
Eight teenagers were arrested on Wednesday night on suspicion of offences including throwing stones at police, vandalism and setting fire to a school in the Stockholm suburb of Tensta. The unrest began at around 6.30pm on Wednesday evening when a police unit approached the youths and was met with stone-throwing. Four teenage boys were arrested.
The next incident occurred at around 10.30pm when police received a call that school buildings were on fire. Four teenagers were subsequently arrested in the vicinity of Bussenhus school.
“The material damage to the Bussenhus school is extensive. This is a concern when the school is supposed to open again after the weekend. There is also a nursery school,” said Simon Jonasson, station officer at Stockholm Police.
In total, some 30 young people were reported to have been involved in the violence. They also vandalized parts of the local swimming pool and the Tensta Gymnasium high school. During the course of the evening up to 21 police units from several precincts across the city were in Tensta. Despite the heavy police presence, the teenagers were able to set alight to several cars at around 12.30pm.
Police confirmed that no injuries were reported during the unrest which tailed off during the early hours of the morning.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Vintage Wine Sells for $49,000 in Geneva
A bottle of French wine dating back to 1774 fetched 46,000 francs ($49,200) at auction in Geneva on Tuesday. An anonymous internet buyer purchased the “Vin Jaune” which hails from Arbois in the eastern Jura region.
Sellers Christie’s said the wine had been stored for generations in a vaulted underground cellar by the Vercel family. The purchase price, which included the buyer’s premium, met the estimated price tag of between 40,000 and 50,000 francs.
Christie’s said a bottle from the same batch was tasted by wine experts in 1994 who deemed the vintage, with notes of cinnamon, curry and vanilla, “excellent.”
“Nicknamed ‘the wine of kings and the king of wines,’ this extraordinary bottle is probably the oldest unfortified example of what is to be still an astonishing wine and another true rarity for wine lovers and connoisseurs,” said the auction house ahead of the sale.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Historic Diamond Sells for $9.7 Million in Geneva
A centuries-old diamond passed down through generations of European royalty fetched nine million francs ($9.7 million) at auction in Geneva on Tuesday. The 35-carat “Beau Sancy” diamond was worn by Marie de Medici, Queen consort of Henry IV, at her coronation in 1610.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Chingford: Live Blog: Stow Stadium Car Park Will Become Bus Depot
[…]
10.27pm
Decision Passed Unanimously. Mosque Can Expand
10.23pm
Local resident Mr Lee said he feared the impact on surrounding roads from extra traffic but the councillors seem to agree with the applicant that most worshippers will be coming by bus.
10.15pm
Another one down, then. Everything’s been passed after being recommended by the council officers for approval so far. Now the committee is considering a mosque’s application for a temporary hut for its members to pray in. Masjid al-Tawhid mosque in High Road wants permission to build a temporary timber building to use it as a prayer hall for its growing congregation. So far it has been forced to use a marquee to the rear of the site to contain all its members. It’s been recommended for approval as long as it is used for a maximum of four years, there is no amplified sound, and that it is only used each Friday between 12.30pm and 2.30pm. Thirteen neighbours from High Road, Albans Court and Leslie Road have objected on grounds of increased noise disturbance, loss of light and privacy from the three-metre high structure.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Man Still Quizzed Over ‘Threat to Kill’ Allegation at Tower Hamlets Council
A man is still being questioned in custody this-afternoon by police following at incident at last night’s meeting of Tower Hamlets Council in east London when two councillors had to be physically separated.
The incident began during a debate at the end of the council meeting behind closed doors after press and public had been excluded to discuss the appointment of a chief executive to the vacant post and an emergency motion. The row was in Bengali, said witnesses in the council chamber. Three councillors then intervened and had to separate them, it is understood. Cllr Rania Khan was later seen in tears getting into the lift leaving the building. Security officers then cleared the lobby outside and ordered waiting journalists down to the ground-floor reception area.
A councillor at the closed meeting said: “Tempers were high-I’ve never seen anything like that in a council chamber. It was shocking.”
The council later confirmed that police were called. A spokesman said: “We understand they interviewed members of the council. We will be helping police with their enquiries as required.” Scotland Yard later confirmed that they arrested a 45-year-old man at the Town Hall.
A police spokesman told the Advertiser: “The man was arrested on suspicion of making threats to kill. He is still in custody and we’re still questioning him. We have up to 48 hours. Even that can be extended if necessary.” No charges had been made by 12 noon. The man is a believed to be a Labour councillor.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Protests in Rochdale and Heywood
Police have made a small number of arrests after two simultaneous protests held by far-right groups in Heywood and Rochdale. An operation was put in place by Greater Manchester Police, Rochdale Council and the community in the lead up to today’s flash demonstrations. At about 5.00pm on Wednesday, 16 May 2012, a group of around 10 members of the British National Party held a demonstration in Heywood town centre. This was peaceful and passed off without incident.
However, around the same time a group of around 40 far-right protestors from the Infidels of Britain, the National Front and Combat Ex-Forces, arrived outside Rochdale town hall. They attempted to force their way into a council function inside, but were prevented from doing so by GMP officers. Three men were arrested at this time, two for a breach of the peace and another for a racially-aggravted public order offence. The protestors then congregated outside the town hall before dispersing shortly after.
Supt Chris Hankinson said: “This evening’s events show that far-right groups are now prepared to use different tactics in order to get their views across. On this occasion, they appear to have planned a seperate demonstration in Heywood, to draw attention away from a larger event in Rochdale. Thankfully, they came up against our determined and professional officers who prevented them getting into the town hall where they were cleafrly intent on causing as much disruption as possible. We took swift action to stop this and restored peace as quickly as possible. I want to thank the communities of Heywood and Rochdale for not engaging in today’s activities and we will continue to work qwith them to ensure disruption from these types of events are kept to a minimum.”
Jim Taylor, Chief Executive of Rochdale Borough Council, said: “The police have done a fantastic job in making sure these small demonstrations in Heywood and Rochdale caused minimal disruption and passed off with only a small number of arrests. We have an excellent relationship with our partners in the police and times like this show how important this relationship is.”
[JP note: Determined ? Professional? Words not usually associated with Rochdale’s police force.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Seven Up!: A Tale of Two Englands That, Shamefully, Still Exist
This superb documentary confirms the damning news that Britain has the worst social mobility in the Western world.
“It’s not where you’re from, it’s where you are going.” This week, Baroness Warsi became the latest in a line of Tory ministers to trot out that smug, scripted platitude, which was first uttered by David Cameron when he was leader of the Opposition. Once, it seemed as though a person’s origins might become irrelevant. No longer. In 2012, our country has just received the damning news that it has the worst social mobility in the Western world. There are foster babies in Baku with more prospect of social advancement than a child in Corby. Half of all children in Britain will never escape the circumstances into which they were born, compared to 15 per cent in countries like Denmark. It’s not where you’re going that counts, Lady Warsi; too many young Britons are going precisely nowhere.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Six Arrested After 50 Brawl in Blackburn Street
FIFTY people were involved in a street brawl in Blackburn, police said. The fight is believed to have started after a dispute between two men got out of hand and extended family members joined in. The incident happened in Chester Street in the Audley area of the town at 7pm on Tuesday. Salim Mulla, chairman of the Lancashire Council of Mosques and a local councillor, said he was ‘disappointed’ to hear of the incident. He said: “I am saddened to hear that something of this nature has taken place in the heart of the community.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Three Held Are Northern Far-Right Protest Over Child Grooming Case
Three people were arrested as far right-groups were accused by police of using diversionary tactics to promote their message. The British National Party organised simultaneous protests in Rochdale and Heywood, Greater Manchester, over a child sex grooming case. Police said around 10 BNP supporters held a peaceful demonstration in Heywood town centre at around 5pm yesterday. But at the same time approximately 40 far-right protesters from groups including the Infidels of Britain and the National Front tried to force their way into a council function at Rochdale town hall. Police took “swift action” to stop the demonstrators from disrupting the gathering. Two men were arrested for a breach of the peace and another for a racially-aggravated public order offence.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tower Hamlets ‘Headless’ After Deadlock Over New Chief Executive
Tower Hamlets council in east London is now officially without a chief executive, after last night’s heated meeting failed to appoint anyone to the vacant role.
It is also-for the moment-without a legally required Head of Paid Services, the officer responsible for the authority’s £1.2 billion annual budget and for staff wages and discipline. The Deputy Chief Executive, Aman Dalvi, who has been in the driving seat temporarily since Dr Kevan Collins left eight months ago, was shortlisted for the job. But councillors meeting into the night behind closed doors at the end of the council open session, when press and public were excluded, refused to let him continue in the role or be appointed permanently. He now goes back to his old post as Development & Renewal director.
Instead, councillors in an emergency resolution offered the temporary role of Head of Paid Services to the only other director eligible who doesn’t have legal commitments that would clash, acting Development & Renewal director Steve Halsey, who didn’t even apply for the £190,000-a-year chief executive post. The council was still waiting for his response today. “The whole thing has sunk into chaos because of personalities,” said one councillor at the closed session. “We’re running headless-no chief executive. By law we must have a Head of Paid Services responsible for wages, employees and conduct, but don’t even have that at the moment.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican: Benetton ‘Donated to Charity’ To Settle Papal Advertising Spat
Vatican, 15 May (AKI) — The Benetton clothing retail group made a charitable donation to a cause the Vatican supports rather than paying monetary damages for using Pope Benedict XVI’s image in a controversial advertising campaign, the Vatican spokesman said on Tuesday.
“In place of monetary compensation (the Vatican) has asked and received from the Benetton Group an act of generosity, effective even if limited, toward one of the Church’s charitable activities,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a statement.
The Vatican in November said it was considering suing the Ponzano, Italy-based company for using an image of Benedict locking lips with Egypt’s top imam as part of its Unhate” advertising campaign of doctored images featuring world leaders reconciling their differences.
Benetton on Friday issued a statement apologising for causing any offence by using the pope’s image without any prior authorisation.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Thieves Grab Mameluke Knockers
Two copper door knockers belonging to the Qagmas Al-Ishaqi and Al-Gay Al-Yussufi mosques have been reported missing
The two Circassian Mameluke mosques of Qagmas Al-Ishaqi and Al-Gay Al-Yussufi, both of which are open for worship, stand in Al-Darb Al-Ahmar at the heart of Islamic Cairo. It was at some point between last night and this morning that priceless copper door knockers from both were removed by unidentified thieves. The Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA) has started all legal procedures in an attempt to retrieve the two objects and police investigations are in full swing.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Islamist Commander to Form New Party
Tripoli, 16 May (AKI) — A Libyan Islamist who has commanded the Tripoli military council since the fall of late strongman Mummar Gaddafi has resigned from his post and announced he is forming a new party.
Abdel Hakim Belhaj, said that his party, Hizb al-Watan (The Nation), will formally launch next week and will field candidates for Libya’s 19 June polls to elect a 200-seat assembly, Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera reported.
The Constitutional Assembly will draft a constitution setting out a political framework for the country after more than four decades of authoritiarian rule under Gaddafi.
Belhaj, a key brigade leader in the 2011 toppling of Gaddafis is a former commander of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which led an armed insurgency against Gathafi during the 1990s.
He is currently suing the British authorities for their alleged role in his 2004 rendition to Libya, where he was tortured.
Belhaj was released in 2010 along with more than 200 opposition Islamists as part of a reconciliation deal led by Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Seven People Die in Libya in a Raid on the Algerian Border
(AGI) Tripoli — 7 people died and 20 others were wounded during a raid by armed nomads in the city of Ghadames, in South-West Libya on the border with Algeria and Tunisia. The government’s spokesman Nasser-al Manaa pointed out that 6 of the 7 victims were part of the armed group. However he did not provide further details on the attackers. However officials, who spoke on condition of anonimity, said they believed them to be armed Tuaregs, stressing that insecurity still plagues Libya. The same sources reported that armed Tuaregs clashed with residents of Ghadames, a major hub for illegal trafficking, mostly drugs.
An official of Ghadames city council said that tensions had been building for days between locals and Tuareg tribesmen, who backed Ghaddafi during the fighting. The nomads roam the desert crossing the borders between Libya and its neighbours.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Chair of Manchester Palestine Solidarity Campaign Declares Israeli Hoopoe Birds ‘Aves No Grata’.
Courtesy of the anti-racist website ‘Engage’, here’s a funny-but-true story to ease us into the weekend. It appears that the British publication the ‘Morning Star’ — originally the organ of the Communist Party of Great Britain — recently ran a quiz in which one of the questions concerned Israel’s national bird, the Hoopoe. This apparent counter-revolutionary faux pas resulted in two indignant letters to the newspaper from two senior members of the Manchester Palestine Solidarity Campaign who, despite their being married to each other, obviously do not deal in philatelic skimping when it comes to advancing the workers’ cause.
I often wonder why so many of its readers find the Morning Star so exasperating. Despite its condemnation of zionists (sic) it yet finds space to include an item in its daily quiz about Israel’s national bird. Is the Star not aware there’s a cultural boycott going on? And then, despite it’s (sic) condemnation of the Bahrain Grand Prix and rightly so, it then goes on to tell us who won. For goodness sake comrades, get your act together.
George Abendstern
Rochdale
[…]
The Morning Star has always been the newspaper you could rely on to support the cause of the Palestinians, so why of all the birds in the world did you choose the Israeli national bird to include in your quiz? Maybe you don’t support the methods chosen by the International Solidarity Movement of BDS to assist the Palestinians in their struggle for freedom and justice — a demand that came from them originally. This includes any reference to their wildlife.
Linda Clair
Rochdale
And there’s a sequel; read the rest here. This rather Voldemortesque (he-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken) approach to the world is of course thoroughly in keeping with the institutional culture of fringe movements of single-issue obsessives, the members of which frequently appear to be vying with each other for the title of how to appear…well… most mad. Perhaps Linda Clair will be disappointed, but I am obliged to report that the pair of Hoopoes which live in my back garden seemed remarkably unperturbed when informed this morning of their new ‘Aves non grata’ status.
[JP note: For hoopoe wisdom, here is Adrian Morgan commenting at Harry’s Place on 17 May 2012 at 2:02pm. hurryupharry.org/2012/05/17/the-bbc-and-the-jewish-lobby-two-pieces-you-should-read/#comments ]
I was surprised at how recently the hoopoe has become the national bird of Israel — after a national poll, it was selected as the national bird in May 2008. Apparently its spectacular plumage must have won it its place. In the Tanach, it is forbidden to be eaten (Leviticus 11:19, Deuteronomy 14: 18), and in the Ethiopian “Kebra Nagast” from the 13th century repeats the claim of the hoopoe as an unclean bird. But the bird does feature in the myths of Solomon, both in Jewish legend (Haggada) and in the Koran (Sura 27, The Ants, v. 20 et seq.), as a messenger who is instrumental in bringing Bilkis, the Queen of Sheba, to meet with Solomon.
In ancient Egypt, the blood of a hoopoe, dripped onto bands of linen and worn by a practitioner of magic, could reinforce the power of the charm, and in 17th century France, Sieur Jean de Nynauld gave a recipe for becoming a werewolf. Amongst all the usual psychotropic plants (source of the actual — though imagined — transformation) is found the optional addition of the blood of bat, hedgehog or hoopoe. Another French folk tradition from the 13th century asserted that when a sleeping man had the blood of the hoopoe dropped onto him, devil would strangle him. In Medieval Europe it was thought that young hoopoes would tend to old parents, and rejuvenate them. For a whole load of European folk legends on the hoopoe, see here.
www.archive.org/stream/hoopoestudyineur00kunsuoft/hoopoestudyineur00kunsuoft_djvu.txt
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Abu Dhabi Majlis Lights Up New York’s Times Square
NEW YORK CITY // As unsuspecting tourists thronged Times Square in New York City, munching hot dogs under the sunny glow of colossal advertising screens, photographing themselves in front of their favourite images, and enjoying the balmy spring breeze, the lights suddenly went out.Some in the crowd last night stopped to look up at the screens where Seventh Avenue meets Broadway. After a few seconds of disconcerting darkness, the screens blinked back to life, and a silky video began to play, featuring Abu Dhabi’s photogenic attractions — the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, dunes and traditional bedouin life, and dhows gliding on turquoise waters. “Dude, I’m not gonna lie to you,” said Mike Clinton, an aspiring actor waiting with his high school class to see a play. “What is it?” “I don’t know,” replied Tom Roth, a similarly baffled classmate standing next to him. “But it’s awesome.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
British Woman Faces Jail for ‘Sex in Backseat of Dubai Taxi After All-Day Drinking Binge’
A British businesswoman faces up to three years in jail for allegedly having sex in a taxi in Dubai while she was drunk.
Rebecca Blake, 29, and Conor McRedmond were arrested after an all-day drinking binge.
They were held for five days and accused of having sex outside marriage and being drunk in a public place — both criminal offences in the strict Islamic state.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Investments: General Electric Signals Interest in Turkey
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, MAY 17 — Turkey’s new incentive package geared towards drawing strategic and large-scale investments to the country is beginning to pay off as American industrial conglomerate General Electric (GE) signals new investments in Turkey in a variety of fields, as daily Hurriyet reported. GE’s President and CEO of the Middle East, North Africa & Turkey region and country head Kursat Ozkan, laid out investment plans in a meeting with Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, Nihat Ergun, last week that include investments in the energy, healthcare, aerospace and transportation sectors.
“GE is interested in increasing its investments in Turkey and intends to focus on energy, locomotives, medical devices and aircraft engines”, Ergun said about the meeting with GE executives. “Setting up a research and development center is also on the table”, he noted, adding that the new incentive package was instrumental in the company’s decision to increase its investments in Turkey. GE’s healthcare unit is headquartered in Turkey and the company has operations in the energy, aerospace, transportation and banking sectors in the country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Outraged by Plans for Saudi-Bahrain Union
TEHRAN (AFP)- Iran hardened its tone against a plan to unite Bahrain with Saudi Arabia, calling on its people to protest Friday against what it described as a US plot to annex the tiny Gulf archipelago.
The Islamic Propagation Coordination Council, which organises state-backed protests, urged Iranians “to protest against the American plan to annex Bahrain to Saudi Arabia and express their anger against the lackey regimes of Al-Khalifa and Al-Saud.”
Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) discussed on Monday plans to turn the bloc into a union, starting with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
“This dangerous plot is the result of the American-Zionist-Britain evil triangle to prevent popular uprisings spreading into other countries of the region and to control the internal crisis in Bahrain which has been caused by the inability of the Al-Khalifa regime to control the situation,” the council said on its website.
“Al-Saud and Al-Khalifa should be aware that with this kind of plot they will not stop the popular movement in Bahrain and the movement of Islamic awakening in the region,” it added.
The announcement comes after Tehran warned Riyadh’s plans to form a union with Manama would deepen the crisis in Bahrain, where dozens of people have been killed in violence since February 2011. Saudi Arabia had earlier told Iran to keep out of its relations with Bahrain, a Shiite-majority but Sunni-ruled kingdom.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Inland Revenue Rejects Mediation for Maradona in Tax Dispute
Naples, 14 May (AKI) — Italy’s tax agency has rejected a request for mediation by Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona, who owes it 40 million euros in unpaid taxes and interest.
The agency’s main office in Naples said on Monday in a letter seen by Sky TG24 that it will not attend a meeting with mediators requested by Maradona for 15 May.
“Mediation cannot be extended to tax matters,” said the letter.
Maradona is due on 17 May to attend in person the next hearing in his long-running dispute with Italy’s tax authorities.
The hearing is due to take place in Naples, where he played from 1984 to 1991.
Maradona said on Sunday in a statement received by Adnkronos from his lawyer Angelo Pisano that he has been unjustly “persecuted” for decades by Italy’s tax agency.
“No-one knows better than I do what it means to be persecuted by the inland revenue. I have experienced it first-hand for over 25 years,” Maradona said.
“During that time, I have been treated like a criminal, my dignity has been violated and my image as a sportsman has been sullied,” Maradona added.
In January 2010 Maradona’s diamond earring was sold for 25,000 euros at an Italian auction. The money went to paying off a nominal part of the tax debt he allegedly accrued during his years playing for Naples.
The earring was seized in September when Maradona was visiting a northern Italy health spa to treat obesity and stress.
The 51-year-old is currently coach for United Arab Emirates side Al Wasl in Dubai. He led Naples to league titles in 1987 and 1990 , a feat it has not been able to repeat. Considered by many to be the greatest footballer of all time, he is venerated by Neapolitans.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan King Inaugurates Prophet Mohammed Museum
(MENAFN — Jordan Times) His Majesty King Abdullah on Tuesday inaugurated the Prophet Mohammad Museum at the King Hussein Mosque. The King toured the facility, where some of the prophet’s belongings were on display, including a single hair from his beard and his letter to the Byzantine emperor of Eastern Roman Empire, in which he urged him to covert to Islam, a Royal Court statement said.
[…]
[JP note: By the Prophet’s beard! — I hope the museum invites Robert Spencer to examine this solitary hair.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait: Rapists Caught for Raping a Teenager Inside a Mosque
Two men were arrested at Saad Al-Abdullah for raping a teenager inside a mosque in the area. The crime reportedly took place inside a room in the mosque, where the two Indian cleaning workers are employed. The 15-year-old victim was escorted by his father to the police station as soon as he told him about the incident. Officers headed directly to the scene and put the suspects under arrest. They remain in custody pending investigations, as well as the forensic examination results.
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: More Arms to Rebels From Gulf With US “Consulting”
(AGI) Washington — Syrian rebels that are fighting against Assad’s regime are receiving more higher quality and innovative arms. The support operation is paid by Persian Gulf countries and, although partially, it is allegedly coordinated by the United States. This is reported on today’s Washington Post, which quotes other US administration sources. These sources say that Washington, allegedly, is not sending lethal material, but rather giving “consulting” services to the Arab monarchies on the credibility and efficiency of the opposition forces.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria’s War is Between Alawis and Sunnis, Not Against Christians
AsiaNews sources criticise the exploitation of recent anti-Christian attacks. For them, they are due to the war, not any planned persecution. So far, either Muslim extremists or government forces have targeted no church.
Damascus (AsiaNews) -”It is too early to speak about religious hatred against Christians in Syria. In a year of conflict, Muslim extremists have not yet attacked a church,” sources in Syria told AsiaNews in order to correct reports about anti-Christian attacks that have recently appeared in Western media.
“The attack against Fr George Louis, parish priest at St Michael Greek Catholic Church in Qara and the expulsion of Christian families from the village of Al Borj Al Qastal are very serious, but they are the result of a climate of war, violence and lawlessness,” the sources explained. “Relations between Christians and Muslims are one of the few positive aspects in such an atmosphere of brutal violence.”
On 11 May, armed men attacked Fr George Louis at his home in Qara in order to extort money from him. They knocked him unconscious to stop him from sounding the alarm. Only hours later was he able to call a member of his parish for help.
On the same day, Free Syrian Army militias took over the homes of ten Christian families in al-Borj al-Qastal forcing them to leave. It is not clear whether the families were expelled outright or left of their own accord.
Something similar occurred in Homs in late March. Western media reported the expulsion of more than 50,000 Christians from the city held by Muslim rebels, but local Jesuits denied the claim, saying instead that the families voluntarily left to escape the violence.
“Various Italian and international newspapers describe recent events as anti-Christian persecution,” the sources said. “However, they do not take into account that outside of the capital and a few other cities, Syria has turned into a no man’s land, with unscrupulous criminals attacking anyone who is without defence. Most of the people, whether Christian or Muslim have been at the mercy of these gangs for all this time. Syrian troops and police do not intervene to avoid violent reactions that more radical groups could exploit.”
In one year of conflict, Syrian Christians have rarely been attacked in a persecutory way by Islamists like in Iraq and Egypt, this despite the presence of domestic and foreign Muslim extremists.
The real sectarian fight is between Alawis and Sunnis, sources said, as recent events in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, show.
“At checkpoints, both rebels and regular soldiers treat minority Christians with respect. The Assad regime has made of religious tolerance a pillar of its power; persecuting Christians would discredit it. This is true for the rebels as well because they want Western backing.”
In a year of civil war, no church has yet been targeted by Muslim extremists or by government forces.
Islamises have only uttered verbal threats against minorities because of their support for the regime. However, many Christians have expressed support for the rebel point of view. Many of them took part in anti-Assad demonstrations last year.
Until now, shelling and clashes between regular army troops and rebels have damaged places of worship, not targeted attacks.
In such a climate of chaos and violence, anyone could attack a monastery, convent, church or men or women religious without fear of reprisal.
“The situation is worse in Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, and even in Jordan, where anti-Christian feelings just lurk below the surface, well rooted in society, oftentimes stirred by government institutions.” (S.C.)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Terror Experts Called in After Turkish Villagers Mistake Bird for Israeli Spy
Finding a dead animal is never a pleasant experience for anyone.
But when the locals in one south-eastern Turkish village found a dead migratory bird, it created quite a stir.
Incredibly, the villagers mistook the common European bee-eater for an Israeli spy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Ankara Sparks ‘Positive Dialogue’ With the EU
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, MAY 17 — Turkey and the EU have today officially initiated new “Positive talks” during the visit of European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Fule, running in parallel with the talks for joining the EU, essentially stalled for two years. Turkey now hopes to once again kick start the negotiations to join the Union after the exit of French former President Nicolas Sarkozy who had basically put his veto to opening towards Ankara. The new French Socialist President Francois Hollande is thought to be in favour of recommencing talks with Turkey.
The start of these “Positive talks” with Brussels, said the Turkish Minister for Europe Egemen Bagis, is “a new step to overcome the stop in our relations”. According to Fule it will give “a new dynamic profile and new lease of life to our relations after a period of arrest which led to frustration from both sides”. Begun in 2004, Turkey’s EU accession programme managed to initiate only 5 chapters out of 35. Only one of them was finalised. Other than the French opposition, talks have been difficult also due to the Cyprus issue, the Mediterranean island whose Northern part Ankara has occupied since 1974.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Police Break Up Protest Camp, Detain Activists
In Moscow, police have broken up a protest camp and detained several activists. The opposition movement is fighting to maintain momentum after Vladimir Putin’s election victory and inauguration as president. Russian police arrested at least 20 protesters on Wednesday night, after breaking up a sit-in demonstration at a central Moscow park.
Moscowauthorities launched a morning raid against a camp of activists in the center of Chistoprudny Boulevard. A court had ordered the site cleared, citing complaints by local residents as well as city officials, who claimed that the demonstrators had caused 20 million rubles ($646,000 or 507,000 euros) worth of damage.
The protesters subsequently moved to another park, located at Kudrinskaya Square, where several hundred other activists had gathered. The state news agency, RIA Novosti, reported that the detentions began when police were investigating food deliveries to the demonstrators and their attempt to set up a field kitchen.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Stumbles Into Fishing Scrape With North Korea
A dispute has emerged after three Chinese fishing boats were seized in North Korea. Pyongyang’s traditional ally Beijing is treading diplomatically, more used to fishing disputes with other neighbors. The crew of a North Korean vessel is reported to have boarded the three fishing boats, seizing control and locking up the 29 Chinese fishermen on board earlier this month.
Chinese state media said on Thursday that a ransom of 1.2 million yuan (190,000 US dollars) was being demanded for the release of the men and vessels. The owners were quoted by the Beijing News newspaper as saying that the boats had been seized in the Yellow Sea by what appeared to be a North Korean gunboat on May 8.
According to the paper, the boat was manned by armed men in blue hats and uniforms. It remained unclear on Thursday whether the seizure was sanctioned by the North Korean government or was the independent initiative of local officials.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Forty Million Japanese in ‘Extreme Danger’ Of Life-Threatening Radiation Poisoning, Mass Evacuations Likely
(NaturalNews) Japanese officials are currently engaging in talks with Russian diplomats about where tens of millions of Japanese refugees might relocate in the very-likely event that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility’s Reactor 4 completely collapses. According to a recent report by EUTimes.net, Japanese authorities have indicated that as many as 40 million Japanese people are in “extreme danger” of radiation poisoning, and many eastern cities, including Tokyo, may have to be evacuated in the next few weeks or months to avoid extreme radiation poisoning.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Zealand: New Service Targets Mental Health in Auckland’s Muslim Community
Muslim Aucklanders are set to benefit from a new health service aiming to boost awareness of mental health issues within their community. The Auckland District Health Board is launching a Muslim Mental Health Liason Service after a report indicated there was a lack of mental health awareness within the Muslim population. The report, called Muslim Mental Health Awareness: Exploring the Needs of the Community, showed Muslims have less knowledge of mental health issues than other population groups in Auckland. It also indicated Muslims tended to talk to community and religious leaders rather than mental health professionals. According to 2006 Census figures, around 37,000 New Zealanders are Muslim, with an estimated 63 per cent of them based in Auckland.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
El Dorado in Angola: Portuguese Find Oasis From Crisis in Former Colony
Headhunters in Lisbon are currently lining up highly skilled Portuguese workers for good paying jobs in Angola, an African country currently experiencing enviable growth. There is no economic crisis in the former Portuguese colony and it offers something that is currently scarce in Portugal: jobs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya Struggles to Contain Al-Shabab Threat
Kenyan police have arrested a suspect in a grenade attack on a restaurant in Mombasa that killed one person on Tuesday. It is the latest in a string of attacks since Kenya launched a military intervention in Somalia.
Kenya has been hit by a series of grenade attacks since it sent tanks and troops into Somalia late last year. The authorities are blaming the Somali Islamist group al-Shabab for the violence.
“It is about time that al-Shabab gives up and takes part in a peace process,” tweeted the Kenyan military spokesperson Emmanuel Chirichiri on the social network Twitter in April. A tweet in response was not long in coming. “Al-Shabab encourages and supports all Kenyan Muslims who want to fight a jihad against the Kenyan government,”
Although there is no evidence that the tweet came from al-Shabab, this conversation shows that Kenya and al-Shabab are at war, not only online but across the region.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Struggling to Manage Asylum Seekers
Nearly 30,000 irregular border crossings were detected on Europe’s external borders in the last three months of 2011, the European Commission said on Wednesday (16 May).
In its first annual report on the Schengen agreement, also released Wednesday, the Commission says around 75 percent of the crossings occurred at the Greek-Turkish border. Most were Afghan and Pakistani nationals.
Many then transit through the Western Balkans or travel directly through Greece and onto Italy, says the EU’s Warsaw-based border control agency Frontex. Previously, most entered from Albania but detections dropped when the EU granted Tirana a visa-free regime in December 2010.
Greece maintains managing the asylum seekers would be facilitated if its larger Turkish neighbour signed the EU readmission agreement. The agreement eases the expulsion process of non-EU citizens and was adopted by the Council in February 2011. Over 100 nationalities require a visa to enter the EU, covering more than 80 percent of the world’s non-EU population.
Turkey has yet to sign the agreement, pending conditions linked to its desire to obtain a visa-free regime with the EU.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is Upon Us
by The Rev Dr Peter Mullen
I was in the middle of arranging the order of service for the funeral of a friend when I was interrupted by something gormless on Thought for the Day by Canon Angela Tilby who reminded us that we are in Death Awareness Week. Apart from bringing on a bout of hysterics accompanied by the sense I was about to throw up, I wondered what this particular example of infantilisation reminded me of. And then it dawned on me: the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
[…]
The Rev Dr Peter Mullen is a priest of the Church of England and former Rector of St Michael, Cornhill and St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in the City of London. He has written for many publications including the Wall Street Journal.
[JP note: The good reverend’s Politically Incorrect Lexikon is available here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Politically-Incorrect-Lexicon-Peter-Mullen/dp/1907791426 — see What words really mean piece below.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
What Words Really Mean
by Rod Liddle
I met a very interesting chap while doing my weekly video film for the Sunday Times. This was Dr Peter Mullen, Rector of St Michael, Cornhill. He hove into view like a disreputable clergyman from a lateish Graham Greene story, dog collar, strange hat, impish grin. He has just written a book — The Politically Incorrect Lexicon — which is very funny; intemperate, intolerant, astute and great fun. There’s a forword to it by Quentin Letts, but you can skip that. Here are some of my favourite definitions from the book:
Islamophobia: Unreasonable dislike of suicide bombers.
Vulnerable to Eating Disorders: Greedy, self-obsessed.
Classic: Any pop song more than five years old.
Banana: Fruit used to demonstrate to junior school children how to put on a condom.
Inclusivity: Equal access for Oiks. The abolition of all rational evaluative criteria for admission. See University.
Poetry: Any lines of words which don’t quite reach the margins.
Love Child: Accidental bastard.
Minorities: Politically preferred sub groups of undesirables.
[JP note: And some gathered from the reader comments.]
Awesome: Rather ordinary.
Care: An expensive bureaucratic form of domestic service practised by an egalitarian state in which the potential for cruelty is inverted, but uneducated women still provide the labour.
Cast Iron: A soft, fragile, extremely malleable political element, cast into shape by spin not principle.
Context: Something that no Islamic cleric is ever quoted in, e.g. “When questioned regarding a recent speech in which he stated that he wished to see ‘the streets of Britain run red with the blood of infidels,’ Radical cleric Mohammed al-Jihad claimed that his words had been ‘taken out of context.’“
Far right/extremist: Anything the majority of normal Britons believed in before 1967.
Feminist: A male who writes for the Guardian.
For your safety and security: In direct continuity with our policy of unrelenting and unsanctioned expansion of the state.
PC: Post-Caucasian.
Political class: Pretends to use language and we pretend to understand it.
Uncalled for: The quality of saying what you think.
The Politically Incorrect Lexicon is available here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Politically-Incorrect-Lexicon-Peter-Mullen/dp/1907791426 ]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
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