Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/16/2012

An Iranian rap singer is receiving death threats for insulting the Tenth Imam. The rapper, Shahin Najafi, made a satirical reference to Imam Ali Ibn Muhammad in a song. A grand ayatollah has since issued a fatwa against Mr. Najafi, declaring him an apostate. Apostasy generally carries a death sentence in Iran.

In financial news, nervous Greek depositors are hurriedly withdrawing their money from banks, in anticipation of a “Grexit”, the departure of Greece from the Eurozone. Somewhere between €700 million and €1.4 billion is estimated to have been withdrawn in the last few days.

Meanwhile, unemployment in Portugal has hit a record 14.9%.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Erick Stakelbeck, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, Mary Abdelmassih, Nick, The Observer, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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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.