All over Europe Islamic banks are establishing branches, Western banks are offering Sharia-compliant financial services, and European governments are trying to outcompete each other in welcoming them. Proponents of banking along the lines of Sharia (Islamic law) claim that the Islamic banking system is “more ethical” than the West’s capitalist system. This is not true. Unfortunately, however,... 

A reader named Jun has collected recent immigration-related material from a Norwegian newspaper and translated it into English for Gates of Vienna. She sent us this email on Tea Party Day, and I’m still catching up with the backlog, so that’s why this post has been delayed. Jun had this to say in her cover note: Today there were two articles on the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet’s online site,... 

An armed mob, angered over the slow pace of land reform benefits, has launched a Zimbabwean-style invasion of one of South Africa’s new multimillion pound showpiece agricultural reform projects, the biggest yet in value instituted by the post-apartheid government. Government sources said a mob, armed with knives and machetes, had seized control of Forana farm in the rich farming area of Mpumalanga... 

Tory and Labour-appointed EU commissioners who leave their posts receive more than £1 million each in the form of pensions and benefits, according to the Open Europe think tank. “European commissioners leaving office later this year will receive more than £1 million (€1.1 million) each in pension payments and so-called ‘transitional’ and ‘resettlement’ allowances,” Open Europe has... 

The Department of Homeland Security has now confirmed something we have all known for some time: the true enemy of the United States government is the American people. The Washington Times reports: “The Department of Homeland Security is warning law enforcement officials about a rise in rightwing extremist activity… (This would include any) groups that reject federal authority in favor of state... 

The US Senate included a measure to restore full funding for foreign aid to the budget it approved late Thursday, increasing chances that the pool of money including assistance for Israel wouldn’t be cut. The $3.5 trillion document passed by the Senate includes a $4 billion boost to the foreign operations appropriation, bringing it up to the $53.8b. sought by President Barack Obama. Sen. John... 

A French military ship intercepted a pirate vessel Wednesday off the coast of Kenya and captured 11 pirates. The French defense ministry said the pirates are held on the frigate Nivose, which is part of a European Union fleet on a mission to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden. The action took place about 900 kilometers east of the Kenyan port of Mombasa. Officials said the French frigate followed... 

South African farmers suffered millions of dollars in lost income when 82,000 hectares of genetically-manipulated corn (maize) failed to produce hardly any seeds.The plants look lush and healthy from the outside. Monsanto has offered compensation. Monsanto blames the failure of the three varieties of corn planted on these farms, in three South African provinces,on alleged ‘underfertilisation... 

Mariana van Zeller a Portuguese journalist takes a look at the tradition of female circumcision in Africa. She travels to rural villages in Sierra Leone with an activist who faces a tough battle to put an end to the practice.  Read More »

Phil Spector is likely to die in prison after the legendary Jewish music producer was convicted of murder for shooting the actor Lana Clarkson in a drunken and “sadistic” bout of Russian roulette. The Los Angeles jury spent nearly nine days deliberating over the case in which the prosecution portrayed Spector, 68, as a misogynist with a history of pulling guns and “playing Russian... 

Barack Obama is to push forward with a plan to offer citizenship to up to 12million immigrants living illegally in the United States. Furious Republican opponents said the proposal was ‘disastrous’ at a time when so many Americans are losing their jobs. They claimed it was ‘payback’ for Mr Obama’s Hispanic support in November’s presidential election and a means... 

Turkey who has done absolutely nothing for Europe wants and beg to join the EU for economic benefit profiteering, Turkey is a muslim country that denied the holocaust of Christians Armenians. Turkey does not share European values and traditions, and yet Obama wants Turkey to join. America has not done anything special for Europe, the only thing Obama got is that he is the first black President of the... 

One arab youth tried to steal the purse of a French man, after he tried to get it back, the other Arabs beat him. The government of Nicolas Sarkozy sent the policeman in jail, just for putting it on his facebook page, the French are outraged at the incompetence of Sarkozy to deal with ethnic crimes and illegal immigration.  Read More »

Croatia is investigating a mass grave of German and local soldiers executed in the wake of World War II, the deputy president of the Croatian Helsinki Committee, Ivan Zvonimir Cicak, said Friday. The site at Harmica, 50 kilometres north-west of Zagreb, on Croatia’s border with Slovenia, presumably contains 4,500 bodies of German soldiers, including 450 officers, executed by Yugoslav president... 

Graphic footage of a youth’s brutal bashing at a train station shows three attackers taking turns to kick him in the head. Detectives investigating the vicious assault say they are appalled by the level of violence, which left the 23-year-old man from Sunshine in Melbourne’s west with serious head injuries. The man was beaten even after he handed over the backpack that appeared to be...