Greeks See ‘Humiliation’ in Harsh Terms of Eurozone Bailout

/2 Comments/in , /by

Greeks were bracing Monday for the effects of the tough terms of an agreement that secured the country’s third bailout in five years, with many rejecting them while others said they were necessary to stay in the euro.

Haralambos Rouliskos, a 60-year-old economist who was out walking in Athens, described the deal as “misery, humiliation and slavery”.

Katerina Katsaba, a 52-year-old working for a pharmaceutical company, said: “I am not in favour of this deal. I know they (the eurozone creditors) are trying to blackmail us.”

But, Katsaba added: “I trust our prime minister — the decisions he will take will be for the best interests of all of us.”

The outline deal thrashed out between the 19 eurozone nations in strained overnight talks calls for Greece to push through a range of reforms to secure a bailout worth up to 86 billion euros ($96 billion). Without it, the country’s economy will collapse. (Read more from “Greeks See ‘Humiliation’ in Harsh Terms of Eurozone Bailout” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

73% of British Youth Under 30 Using Drugs but 25% Want to Ban Alcohol

/0 Comments/in , /by

Student Money Saver (SMS) polled 1,000 people under the age of 30 to get their views on alcohol and drug use and found high numbers of people were saying substances currently against the law should be made legal.

Over half said they know someone with an alcohol addiction problem and a further 250 people said alcohol should be make illegal . . .

Almost 43 per cent of people said they drink alone, 73 per cent sometimes use drugs by themselves and 63 per cent say they have had a blackout in the past year because of drugs and alcohol.

One teen – who wished to remain anonymous – thinks making drugs legal would stop illegal drug trafficking and added: “The fact that alcohol and tobacco are legal is just hypocritical. They are bad if not worse.”

Another teen believes making drugs illegal is pointless, as “it won’t stop people using them”, and a third interviewee thought the taxpayer took too much responsibility for drug abusers: “They all most likely cause serious health problems which cost us millions to fix every year.” (Read more from “Cannabis Should Be Legal but This Product Should Be Illegal, Under-30s Tell New Survey” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Iran, Powers Nearing Nuclear Deal, But No Final Agreement Yet

/1 Comment/in , /by

Iran and six world powers were close to nailing down a historic nuclear deal that would bring sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Tehran’s atomic program, but the Iranian foreign minister said no agreement would be announced on Sunday.

After more than two weeks of negotiations in Vienna, Iranian and Western officials said the earliest an agreement could be ready was Monday, the self-imposed deadline for clinching a deal, though that could be extended again.

“We still have got work to do tomorrow,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters from his hotel balcony. “No deal today.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has cautioned that “major issues” remain to be resolved, and comments from both senior Republican and Democrat Senators on Sunday suggested that any final deal would also face tough scrutiny in Congress.

Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for the Iranian delegation, said on Twitter that the draft agreement Iran and the powers – the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China – were working on was “a 100-page document”. (Read more from “Iran, Powers Nearing Nuclear Deal, No Agreement Seen” HERE)

[Pastor Joel Richardson talks about the role of Iran and the regional war that it will initiate soon]

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Muslim Hired as British Government Terror Watchdog Is Extremist Who Called US ‘Vicious World Empire’

/0 Comments/in , /by

A British government worker who helped regulate the country’s anti-terror planning was fired after superiors learned of his Islamist sympathies, the Telegraph reported.

Abdullah al Andalusi said the brutal exploits of ISIS were “no different to the history of some Western armies” and supported the right of youths to venture to Syria to fight.

“If merely going to fight overseas is condemned as terrorism, shouldn’t the UK arrest British volunteers joining the Israeli Defense Force which kills civilians in Gaza in a war against the Gazan government?” al Andalusi wrote in a September 2014 article for the Muslim Debate Initiative, a group he co-founded . . .

During a Jan. 16 talk at Queen Mary University, he dismissed the 9/11 terror attacks as “the day a vicious world empire found a publicly-acceptable excuse to bomb others, invade non-threatening nations, torture political dissidents and kill at least 300,000 innocent people,” according to the Telegraph . . .

During a Jan. 16 talk at Queen Mary University, he dismissed the 9/11 terror attacks as “the day a vicious world empire found a publicly-acceptable excuse to bomb others, invade non-threatening nations, torture political dissidents and kill at least 300,000 innocent people,” according to the Telegraph. (Read more from “Muslim Hired as British Government Terror Watchdog Is Extremist Who Called US ‘Vicious World Empire'” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Euro Zone Leaders: Greece Must Do More to Earn Rescue

/2 Comments/in , /by

By Renee Maltezou and Andreas Rinke. Euro zone leaders told near-bankrupt Greece at an emergency summit on Sunday it must enact key reforms this week to restore trust before they will open talks on a financial rescue to keep it in the European currency area.

Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will be required to push legislation through parliament to convince his 18 partners in the euro zone to release immediate funds to avert a state bankruptcy and start negotiations on a third bailout program estimated at up to 86 billion euros ($95.5 billion).

Six sweeping measures including tax and pension reforms must be enacted by Wednesday night and the entire package endorsed by parliament before talks can start, a draft decision by Eurogroup finance ministers sent to the leaders showed.

The document included a German proposal to make Greece take a “time-out” from the euro zone if it fails to meet the conditions. But not all ministers endorsed the idea, which a senior EU source said was illegal and would not survive in the summit statement . . .

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country is the biggest contributor to euro zone bailouts, said the conditions were not yet right to start negotiations, sounding cautious in deference to mounting opposition at home to more aid for Greece. (Read more from “Euro Zone Leaders: Greece Must Do More to Earn Rescue” HERE)


_______________________________________________________

Bewildered Greeks Left Wondering What Happened to Referendum ‘No’ Vote

By Nick Squires. Less than a week after they triumphantly gave international creditors a bloody nose by rejecting a harsh austerity plan, angry and bewildered Greeks are left wondering how they now find themselves swallowing an even worse deal.

In a nationwide referendum just last Sunday, nearly 62 per cent of voters rejected an austerity deal that had been offered by the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank.

There were scenes of wild jubilation across the country.

In Athens’ Syntagma Square, the Greek answer to Trafalgar Square, thousands of joyous ‘No’ voters hugged and kissed each other, waved Greece’s national flag and swigged cans of beer.

“It was an expression of the will of the people,” Manos Agelidis, 27, a biomedical engineering PhD student, told The Telegraph as he celebrated with friends. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Millions of Iranians March, Burn US Flag, Chant ‘Death to Israel’

/9 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Free Beacon By Adam Kredo. Millions of Iranians took to the streets on Friday to rally against the United States and Israel, burning the flags of both countries and chanting, “Death to Israel,” according to multiple regional reports.

Iranians marched across the country in support of Quds Day, an annual anti-Israel, anti-American holiday in which citizens lend their support for Palestinian violence against the Jewish state.

Hoards of Iranians could be seen in the streets in cities across the country. They waved signs advocating the destruction of Israel and America and also rallied in support of the Palestinians seizing Jerusalem.

“Demonstrators chant[ed] slogans in condemnation of the Zionists’ crimes in the occupied Palestinian lands,” Iran’s state-controlled Fars News Agency reported.

Chants of “Down with the U.S.” and “Down with Israel” could also be heard echoing through the streets, according to Fars. (Read more from “Iranians Burn US Flag, Chant ‘Death to Israel'” HERE)

[Listen to Joel Richardson predict a regional war instigated by Iran]

________________________________________________________________________

Pro-Tehran Lobby Demands Iran Be Given Ballistic Missiles

By Adam Kredo. A pro-Tehran advocacy group long accused of concealing illicit ties to the Iranian regime is lobbying Congress in support of a demand that America repeal a United Nations arms embargo limiting the Islamic Republic’s ability to stockpile arms, including ballistic missiles, which could be used to carry nuclear payloads, according to a copy of an email sent by the group to various lawmakers.

The National American Iranian Council (NIAC), which has long been suspected of acting as Tehran’s lobbying shop in Washington, D.C., sent lawmakers an email on Friday asserting that “the Iranian arms embargo will need to be disposed of as part of a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.”

The email comes roughly a week after Iranian diplomats issued a similar demand during ongoing talks in Vienna between world powers and Iran. The new condition has been blamed for grinding negotiations to a halt, as diplomats blew through a third self-imposed deadline this weekend.

The NIAC email on ballistic missiles is in step with Iran’s potentially deal-breaking demands.

“The UN embargo imposed on Iran’s trade in certain conventional arms was specifically imposed by the Security Council to deal with the nuclear dispute,” wrote Tyler Cullis, who is identified in the email as a legal fellow at the council. (Read more from “Pro-Tehran Lobby Demands Iran Be Given Ballistic Missiles” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Is a Mini ICE AGE on the Way? Scientists Now Warn the Sun Will ‘Go to Sleep’ in 2030

/31 Comments/in , /by

A new study claims to have cracked predicting solar cycles – and says that between 2020 and 2030 solar cycles will cancel each other out.

This, they say, will lead to a phenomenon known as the ‘Maunder minimum’ – which has previously been known as a mini ice age when it hit between 1646 and 1715, even causing London’s River Thames to freeze over.

The new model of the Sun’s solar cycle is producing unprecedentedly accurate predictions of irregularities within the Sun’s 11-year heartbeat.

It draws on dynamo effects in two layers of the Sun, one close to the surface and one deep within its convection zone.

Predictions from the model suggest that solar activity will fall by 60 per cent during the 2030s to conditions last seen during the ‘mini ice age’ that began in 1645, according to the results presented by Prof Valentina Zharkova at the National Astronomy Meeting in Llandudno. (Read more from “Is a Mini ICE AGE on the Way? Scientists Warn the Sun Will ‘Go to Sleep’ in 2030” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Pope Receives Crucifix in Form of Hammer and Sickle, Makes Shocking Marxist Statements in Bolivia

/7 Comments/in , /by

By Daniel Burke. Pope Francis delivered a fiery denunciation of modern capitalism on Thursday night, calling the “unfettered pursuit of money” the “dung of the devil” and accusing world leaders of “cowardice” for refusing to defend the earth from exploitation.

Speaking to grassroots organizers in Bolivia, the Pope called on the poor and disenfranchised to rise up against “new colonialism,” including corporations, loan agencies, free trade treaties, austerity measures, and “the monopolizing of the communications media.”

Here’s what one prominent American priest had to say about the speech:

There is quite a lot to unpack in the speech, including the Pope’s apology for the “many grave sins” committed by Catholic Church against Native Americans “in the name of God.” (Read more from “Pope Receives Crucifix in Form of Hammer and Sickle, Makes Marxist Statements in Bolivia” HERE)

________________________________________________________________________

Pope Receives Crucifix in form of Hammer and Sickle from Bolivian President

By Jonathan Watts. Vatican officials appear to have been flummoxed after Pope Francis was presented with a communist crucifix depicting Jesus nailed to a hammer and sickle by Bolivia’s president Evo Morales.

The gift from the leftwing leader caused an immediate stir among conservative Catholics who said the pontiff was being manipulated for ideological reasons.

The response of the pope was less clear. After being handed the wooden crucifix during a formal ceremony, he examined it for a few seconds before returning it to a Bolivian presidential aide.

His comments were largely drowned out by a flurry of camera clicks, prompting a flood of speculation. While some have claimed he expressed irritation, muttering the words “eso no está bien” (“this is not right”), Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the pope was more likely to have uttered “eso no sabía bien” (“I didn’t know that”) in bemusement at the origins of the present.

The Bolivian government insisted there was no political motive behind the gift. Communications minister Marianela Paco said Morales had thought the “pope of the poor” would appreciate the gesture. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

ALERT: Chinese Stocks Collapsed Right Before NYSE Shutdown; China Nationalizes $6 Trillion in Stock Losses

/1 Comment/in , /by

By Kit Daniels. Chinese stocks were suffering huge declines prior to the New York Stock Exchange shutdown due to an alleged “technical issue,” fueling concerns whether the NYSE was actually halted due to the free fall in China.

Companies in China fell 20% from a May high and, right before the NYSE shutdown, the Hang Seng Index plunged its most since the 2008 financial crisis.

“The Hang Seng Index fell 5.8% to 23,516.56 at the close today, the biggest drop since November 2008, after slumping as much as 8.6%,” Bloomberg’s Kana Nishizawa wrote.

Overall, China’s stock market plunge has wiped out around $3.2 trillion since June 12.

“Investors are disappointed and afraid that the Chinese policy makers lost control of the market,” Mari Oshidari, a Hong Kong-based financial strategist, said. “With no end in sight to the plunge, sentiment has turned cold.” (Read more from “ALERT — Chinese Stocks Collapsed Right Before NYSE Shutdown” HERE)

_________________________________________________________

China Bans Major Shareholders From Selling Their Stakes for Next Six Months

By Reuters. China’s securities regulator took the drastic step of banning shareholders with stakes of more than 5% from selling shares for the next six months in a bid to halt a plunge in stock prices that is starting to roil global financial markets.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said on its website late on Wednesday that it would deal severely with any shareholders who violated the rule.

The prohibition is also seen applying to foreign investors who hold stakes in Shanghai- or Shenzhen-listed companies, although most of their holdings are below 5%.

China’s stock markets opened down again Thursday morning before making up some ground. Shanghai Composite Index fell more than 3% in the first half hour of trading before reversing course and rising 1.4%, while the Shenzhen Component Index opened down just over 1%.

Asian equities also extended losses as concerns over China’s market turmoil spread, while the safe-haven yen shot to a seven-week high as global risk appetite ebbed. (Read more from this story HERE)

_________________________________________________________

China Nationalizes $6 Trillion in Stock Losses

By Chriss Street. China’s stock market had what traders call a “Dead Kitty” bounce on Thursday as the communist authorities dispatched police and security personnel to “encourage” insider-buying and to arrest short sellers. With the Chinese market still highly inflated even after falling $3 trillion in value, China took action last night to “nationalize” about $6 trillion in losses.

China is about to show its third straight quarter of negative real (after inflation) GDP growth. The nation had been relying on a stock market boom to play a “decisive role” in funding the nation’s “Silk Road” reforms to transition to a consumer economy.

But as Breitbart News warned in “China’s Lehman Brothers Weekend Begins,” the “Red Dragon” has suffered a financial collapse equivalent in degree to the U.S. stock crash in 2008-9. Unlike the U.S., which used a formal government bailout to stabilize markets, the Communist Party instructed the nation’s banks to use their own balance sheets to guarantee the current $8 trillion stated value of all of China’s 2800 listed stocks.

As Stratfor’s John Minnich points out, “market capitalization of Chinese stock markets hovered around $1 trillion to $2 trillion” before the recent stock boom. At its peak on June 12, “China’s stock market capitalization, all the markets across the country, was something in the area of $10 trillion to $11 trillion.”

Minnich comments that people before the boom might gamble some of their personal savings into the stock market, but “it wasn’t critical to financing, corporate financing in the Chinese economy. Almost all corporate finances came through the state-owned banks.” (Read more from this story HERE).

_________________________________________________________

China’s Efforts to Control the Market Will End Very Badly

By Nils Pratley. Nervous about the Chinese stock market? You should be. First, it looks expensive, even after a dip. Second, the authorities in Beijing, by adopting increasingly desperate measures to prop up share prices, are sending an unmistakable message that they fear a crash is a possibility.

The latest official attempt to manipulate the stock market would be laughed out of court if it were attempted in the West. The central bank is shoveling cash toward a state-backed finance company that lends to individuals who would like to make bigger bets on the stock market than they can afford. That’s right, in today’s communist China, there are subsidies for stock-market speculation.

By way of further encouragement, the state itself is piling in. A state-backed wealth fund is buying blue-chip stocks. Meanwhile, supposedly independent brokers and fund managers have decided this is the ideal moment to invest the equivalent of £12 billion ($18.5 billion) and pledge not to sell until the main Shanghai index has risen at least 20%. This extraordinary effort, apparently, is required to “uphold market stability.” (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Here’s Who’s Pledging $32 Billion to Promote Sharia in America [+video]

/6 Comments/in , /by

By Pamela Geller. Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a senior member of the Saudi monarchy, says he’ll pledge his $32 billion to advance the islamization of America. This is a MOAB (mother of all bombs) in the information battle-space. Looks as if I will be keeping busy for quite some time.

The Saudis have spent billions already. 80% of the mosques built in America are Saudi-funded. Islamic groups working to impose the sharia are largely funded by the Saudis.

We can look forward to 32 billion more of the “kingdom’s brand of Islam, while censoring criticism of Islam.”

And it’s not just the media that is on the receiving end of this blood money, but also Muslim Brotherhood fronts like CAIR, which spend millions whining about how lucrative the “islamophobia” business is. As if . . .

The Saudis have been wildly successful so far. (Read more from “Here’s Who’s Pledging $32 Billion to Promote Sharia in America” HERE)


__________________________________________________________________________

Sharia and Violence Are Acceptable

By Realistic Observer. We are constantly told that only a tiny minority of Muslims hold extremist views and that Muslims make wonderful citizens. But a recent survey refutes all of this optimistic propaganda.

The survey tell us that significant numbers of Muslims in America do not want to be ruled by our Constitution but want Sharia law. Nearly a third of the Muslims said that violence to enforce Sharia blasphemy laws are acceptable. Nearly 10% of American Muslims say that Islamic State is real Islam. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.