PEGIDA demonstrations took place today all across Europe. Marches and rallies were held in Dresden, Warsaw, Copenhagen, Calais, Birmingham, and Dublin. The march in Calais was banned by the state but took place anyway, prompting the police to intervene. A retired general was arrested for his part in it. “Anti-fascist” counter-demonstrators chased after the Irish PEGIDA group in Dublin, and got into a scuffle with police.
In other news, Austrian police have finally confirmed that a 10-year-old boy was raped by an Iraqi “refugee” in a public swimming pool in Vienna back in December. The child was seriously injured and required hospitalization. The suspected alleged perpetrator says that he experienced a “sexual emergency” after going without conjugal relations for so long, having left his wife behind in Iraq several months before.
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Greek Police Protest Against Tsipras Over Controversial Pension Reforms
A group of police officers held a demonstration outside the residence of Alexis Tsipras, Greek prime minister protesting against controversial pension reform, according to media reports.
BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — Greek police officers held a rally outside the prime minister’s residence in protest over government pension reforms, local media reported Friday.
A group of police officers made their opposition to the reforms known to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, gathering outside the Maximos Mansion residence ahead of a large public service workers’ rally expected to be held on Friday afternoon, the Kathimerini newspaper reported.
The protest was held in opposition to the Syriza government’s controversial pension reform plans, demanded by Greece’s international lenders. On Thursday, a one-day general strike was held across Greece in protest at the reforms.
Pension reforms remain a point of disagreement between the Greek government and its eurozone lenders and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Syriza government’s plan to raise employer contributions and the creditor demands to cut the pension deficit remain unresolved.
The Tsipras government has been carrying out economic reforms since August, when European finance ministers and the IMF approved an 86-billion-euro ($93 billion) bailout package aimed at rebuilding Greece’s economy. Under the deal, the international lenders secured the Greek government’s agreement to reform labor markets, privatize state assets and recapitalize banks.
The Greek budget deficit had reached 3.533 billion euros ($3.869 billion) by the end of 2015, according to Friday’s preliminary assessment by the Greek Finance Ministry. Greece’s budget deficit was 3.697 billion euros in 2014. In 2016, it is projected to drop to 2.573 billion euros.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Czech Refusal to Give ‘Arms Dealers’ To US Was ‘Good Day for Sovereignty’
The Czech government (allegedly) acted in favor of its citizens held prisoner in Lebanon in making a difficult choice to refuse the extradition of two alleged arms dealers to the US, which drew the ire of the US Embassy.
The Czech refusal to extradite two alleged arms dealers to the United States drew a “shocked” response from the US Embassy on Thursday, which according to lawyer and former top court justice Jirí Vyvadil was a good day for Czech sovereignty.
The Czech government officially declined to link the extradition refusal to the freeing of five Czech hostages in Lebanon. The alleged release was done in exchange for the freedom of a Ukrainian citizen of Lebanese descent and one citizen of Cote d’Ivoire.
“I must say that yesterday was a very good day for Czech sovereignty! Even if Prague’s refusal to the US was a forced measure, on the condition of the liberation of five of our countrymen in Lebanon,” Jirí Vyvadil told Sputnik Czech Republic.
The alleged tough decision drew the ire of the United States, which did not take into account the apparent complexities of the deal.
The United States itself is alleged to have engaged in arms deals in exchange for American hostages, most famously, the Iran-Contra affair, in which US officials are said to have smuggled arms to Iran after the 1979 US Embassy hostage crisis.
“We are dismayed by the Czech Government’s decision to release Ali Fayad and Khalid El Merebi. <…> There is no justification for the release of these dangerous individuals, which deals a blow to the cooperative relationship of our two countries’ law enforcement agencies,” the US Embassy in Prague said in a statement.
According to Vyvadil, the reaction was unjustified, particularly the ambassador’s words that he was “shocked” by the release. US Ambassador to Prague Andrew Schapiro was previously banned from the country’s presidential residence after telling President Milos Zeman to not visit Moscow for Victory Day celebrations in 2015. According to Vyvadi, Schapiro is a career disaster.
“He is, I think, the worst ambassador the United States has ever sent us, to the Czech Republic, and even Czechoslovakia. His agitated reaction to the decision of the Czech Republic’s justice minister and his words that he was “shocked” are out of place for such a level diplomat. But, I confess, I was personally very satisfied by them,” Vyvadil told Sputnik Czech Republic.
The decision to not extradite the two men was ultimately made by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, who previously acted against the course of largely titular President Zeman. The growing popularity of Zeman, who previously joked about assassinating Sobotka, has impacted discourse in the otherwise pro-US government of the Czech Republic.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook’s War on Freedom of Speech, By Douglas Murray
Facebook is now removing speech that presumably almost everybody might decide is racist — along with speech that only someone at Facebook decides is “racist.”
The sinister reality of a society in which the expression of majority opinion is being turned into a crime has already been seen across Europe. Just last week came reports of Dutch citizens being visited by the police and warned about posting anti-mass-immigration sentiments on social media.
In lieu of violence, speech is one of the best ways for people to vent their feelings and frustrations. Remove the right to speak about your frustrations and only violence is left.
The lid is being put on the pressure cooker at precisely the moment that the heat is being turned up. A true “initiative for civil courage” would explain to both Merkel and Zuckerberg that their policy can have only one possible result.
It was only a few weeks ago that Facebook was forced to back down when caught permitting anti-Israel postings, but censoring equivalent anti-Palestinian postings.
Now one of the most sinister stories of the past year was hardly even reported. In September, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook at a UN development summit in New York. As they sat down, Chancellor Merkel’s microphone, still on, recorded Merkel asking Zuckerberg what could be done to stop anti-immigration postings being written on Facebook. She asked if it was something he was working on, and he assured her it was.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Mini Satellite to Fly on New NASA Rocket
ArgoMoon is size of shoebox, has camera, solar panels
(ANSA) — Rome, February 2 — U.S. space agency NASA has selected an Italian-made miniature satellite to fly on the first mission of its new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
The rocket’s launch, scheduled for the end of 2018, is set to pave the way for trips to the Moon and Mars. Though it aims to transport human crew, its first mission will take 13 miniature satellites into space.
Among these “CubeSats”, the only European-made satellite is the ArgoMoon, developed by Italian firm Argotech and coordinated by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). ArgoMoon is the first nanosatellite designed for deep space, or for functioning in the lunar orbit and beyond. “In the big challenge of exploration shared by worldwide space agencies, the voyage of man towards Mars, ASI continues to be in the front line, promoting and supporting the scientific and technological excellence of our country,” said ASI’s Gabriele Mascetti.
ArgoMoon is roughly the size of a shoebox and contains a high resolution camera, two solar panels, a small propulsion system and a communication system that will be tested from the lunar orbit.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘I Was Defrauded’: Gina Lollobrigida Tells Court
Diva accuses ex Rigua of false proxy marriage for personal gain
(ANSA) — Rome, February 1 — Italian movie icon Gina Lollobrigida testified in court on Monday in relation to the alleged fraudulent marriage contracted by her former fiancé, Spanish property entrepreneur Francisco Javier Rigau, in 2012.
Rigau, 46, is accused of marrying the 88-year-old actress by proxy in Barcelona without her knowledge or consent, allegedly in order to inherit her estate after her death. “I was defrauded. I met Mr Francisco Rigau in 2004 at a charity party in Montecarlo and we went out together for a bit and then in 2006 we decided to get married,” Lollobrigida told the court.
“I trusted him,” she continued, adding that she had been going through a “difficult period” and wanted to start a “new page”. “Then I realised I was making a mistake, I reconsidered, I called Rigau and told him I no longer wanted to do anything,” the diva said. “For a long time he tried to make me change my mind,” she continued.
“Then, in 2012, he took me to a notary saying I had to sign a document needed to file a lawsuit against a Spanish lawyer who I thought was responsible for media attacks against me…On that occasion he never spoke of marriage, otherwise I would have torn up the document in front of him,” Lollobrigida concluded. Lollobrigida, better known to Italians as ‘La Lollo’, long vied with fellow Italian bombshell Sophia Loren and French sex kitten Brigitte Bardot for the title of the world’s sexiest woman.
In 1955 she starred in a film called La Donna Piu Bella del Mondo (The World’s Most Beautiful Woman), which became her signature movie.
The daughter of a furniture manufacturer from a mountain village outside Rome, she has made over 60 films including some during the 1990s.
Since retiring from cinema Lollobrigida has tried her hand as a photographer, sculptor, photojournalist and a fashion and cosmetics executive.
The diva was divorced in 1971 after a 22-year marriage to a Yugoslav doctor, by whom she had a son.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Palermo Museum Hall Named After Archaeologist Killed by ISIS
Official ceremony on February 5
(ANSAmed) — PALERMO, FEBRUARY 2 — A new room of Phoenician Canaanite sarcophagi at the Antonino Salinas archaeological museum in Palermo will be named after Khaled Al-Asaad, archeologist and curator of the Palmyra archaeological site in Syria killed by the Islamic State (ISIS) on August 18. The official ceremony will be held on February 5 in the presence of culture councilor Carlo Vermiglio and museum director Francesca Spatafora.
“This is the first time that a prestigious archaeological museum in Italy honors in such a way the memory of this man, killed for having worked hard to save the finds that he was in charge of and for having refused to tell the militants where the most valuable works were being held,” the promoters of the initiative say. “For this courageous resistance and for having dedicated a large part of his life to research and the defense of one of the most important archaeological sites in the world, Palmyra, today a UNESCO World Heritage site,” the culture department and the Salinas museum decided to honor Asaad “with a sign that will remain permanently in the new arrangement of the oldest public institution in Sicily, founded in 1814.” The honor, Spatafora said, “is also meant as hope for the future of peace in the name of dialogue between cultures, in a place where the memories of many Mediterranean civilizations that helped to build the complex identity of our present are represented”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: PD Should Rid Itself of Factions Says Morassut
Rome mayoral candidate apologises for Marino case
(ANSA) — Rome, February 1 — Roberto Morassut, an MP for Premier Matteo Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and candidate in the Rome centre-left mayoral primaries, on Friday said the PD should rid itself of “factions and sub-factions”.
“The party should be more united, there’s no doubt about it,” said Morassut, who has been accused of representing a minority wing of the PD critical of Renzi.
Morassut also apologised for the case of former Rome mayor Ignazio Marino, who resigned last year amid an expenses scandal that led the PD to abandon him.
“It was a bad case,” Morassut said.
Morassut is a former city-planning executive councillor under Walter Veltroni, Rome mayor from 2001 to 2008.
He is expected to be the main challenger to fellow PD MP and Lower House Deputy Speaker Roberto Giachetti, the frontrunner who is considered close to Renzi.
Morassut has denied that he was the representative of a left-wing minority within the PD who are hostile to many of Renzi’s reforms.
Ex-Senator Stefano Pedica and Defence Undersecretary Domenico Rossi of the small Democratic Centre (CD) party have also said they will run in the Rome primaries.
Stefano Fassina, the leader and Rome mayor candidate for the small left-wing Sinistra Italiana (SI) party, has said he cannot see enough common ground with the PD for him to run in the primaries.
Fassina is a former junior economy minister who left the PD last year after a series of disagreements over the policies of Renzi’s government.
Rome is currently being run by an extraordinary commissioner, Francesco Paolo Tronca, after former PD Mayor Ignazio Marino was forced out last year following an expenses scandal.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: De Luca Cleared on Appeal, Suspension Spectre Banished
‘Years of attacks and calvary’ says Campania governor
(ANSA) — Salerno, February 5 — Campania Governor Vincenzo De Luca was Friday acquitted of graft charges on appeal in the appointment of a project manager for the construction of a rubbish-burning energy converter plant when he was mayor of Salerno. Reacting to the news, De Luca said that he had suffered “years of heavy political and media attacks, for nothing. “Years of a calvary that would have burst the heart of anyone.” He said “we coped with it thanks to deep ideal and moral motivations and the absolute serenity of conscience”.
De Luca had been given a one-year suspended sentence at the court of first instance for abuse of office and embezzlement, sparking an order, which he successfully challenged, to suspend him from his new governor’s post under a 2011 anti-corruption law. De Luca’s case had become a cause celebre for supporters and critics of the law, which was named after former justice minister Paolo Severino and under which former premier Silvio Berlusconi was ejected from the Senate.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Nine Rome Airport Cab Drivers Probed for Fraud
Passenger abandoned on highway filed police report
(ANSA) — Rome, February 5 — Nine Roman taxi drivers are under investigation, accused of developing a fraudulent system that allowed them to acquire priority over other drivers in obtaining passengers from Fiumicino airport, border police said Friday.
The investigation stemmed from a police report that was filed by a passenger who was abandoned by a taxi driver on the highway. She was left on the highway with her luggage after asking the driver to follow city regulations by turning on his fare meter.
Investigators said the drivers under investigation used electronic transponders to manipulate the system that manages the order in which drivers can pick up passengers at the airport, allowing them to pick up more passengers than they would have been able to otherwise.
They said the drivers also had a small remote control device that allowed them to manipulate their fare meters to change the cost of rides.
Police are still investigating for other suspects who may have been involved.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Warns Gossiping Priests, Nuns to ‘Bite Your Tongue’
Pope Francis told gossip-loving priests and nuns to bite their tongues on Monday, and warned those breaking their vow of obedience to fall into line sharpish.
“If you get an urge to say something against a brother or a sister, to drop a gossip bomb, bite your tongue! Hard!” the pontiff said in an improvised speech to members of the clergy marking the end of the Year of Consecrated Life.
The Argentine warned against those abusing their religious vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, describing “anarchy” as the “daughter of the devil”.
And he bemoaned a drop in the number of people signing up for a religious life, but warned against taking just anyone…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Renzi Says Confident of Less Bureaucratic EU
Hails Rutte leadership
(ANSA) — Amsterdam, February 5 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Friday voiced the hope that the EU would become less bureaucratic and more efficient. Arriving here for a meeting with the EU’s duty president, Dutch Premier Mark Rutte, he said “I am confident in Mark’s leadership for a less bureaucratic and more efficient Europe that focuses on growth and jobs”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK Cannot Have ‘Europe a La Carte’: EU Parliament Leader
Martin Schulz welcomed Britain’s push to make the European Union more competitive, but said other demands would “set a dangerous precedent for a Europe a la carte”, where countries could ignore aspects of the EU they did not like.
The reforms would “meet resistance in the European Parliament”, Schultz told students at the London School of Economics (LSE).
The German politician also criticised Cameron’s call for recognition that the EU had more than one currency.
“The currency of the union is the euro, the treaties are very clear on this and the treaties also guarantee an opt-out for the United Kingdom,” he said.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Open Secret’ Labour Allowed Muslim Men to Block and Harass Women in Politics
A Muslim women’s rights group has written to the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, protesting the “open secret” of large numbers of male Muslim Labour councillors blocking Muslim women from entering politics. They called for an independent review and accused the party of prioritising votes and being “complicit at the highest levels”.
Muslim Women’s Network UK (MWNUK) singled out the Muslim-dominated Peterborough and Birmingham councils as of particular concern. The latter is already embroiled in a sexism row, after the Lord Mayor-elect and chairman of Birmingham’s Central Mosque was forced to step down because he said forced marriage was not a problem and lied about dealing with horrific cases.
The MWNUK urged Labour leaders to investigate “systematic misogyny displayed by significant numbers of Muslim male local councillors” and suggested that Muslim men within Labour had been allowed to operate under the “patriarchal ‘biradari’ system”.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Needs Gov’t Before Anti-ISIS Intervention, Mogherini
‘EU exploring options including extension to naval mission’
(ANSAmed) — AMSTERDAM, FEBRUARY 5 — The EU has begun to study options to support Libya including in the security sector, foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Friday.
She added that it had begun to discuss revising the mandate of the naval mission in the Mediterranean as well, but only “in the ways that the Libyan government wants once it is operative”.
The minister ruled out that the EU might launch military operations without agreement from the national unity government.
To those asking whether international anti-ISIS military intervention would be preferable before the government is sworn in, Mogherini said that “the best condition to fight ISIS is to have a government in charge”. On the options on which the EU is working, Mogherini said that under study was the passage of the EuNavFor Med “from the current 2/B phase to phase 3”, which would imply operating in Libyan domestic waters, adding that any extension to the mandate of ‘Operation Sophia’ may concern “training of the Libyan coast guard, for example”. Mogherini has also spoken about the possible use of Eubam, a border control mission, for “training, assistance in restoring institutions and security sector reform”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
No ‘Exploitation’ of Regeni Case — Egypt Embassador
Don’t let ‘enemies’ undermine relations says Helmy
(ANSA) — Rome, February 5 — Egyptian Ambassador to Italy Amr Helmy said Friday it was “important not to give certain ‘enemies’ the opportunity to exploit the death” of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni and thus “undermine…the stable and excellent relations between our countries”. He reaffirmed that investigations would be “carried out with the maximum transparency and collaboration, as the death of the student represents an event that has struck Italian institutions and public opinion”. Regeni, 28, was found with signs of torture on his body in a ditch outside Cairo Wednesday night.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dubai Invests 250 Million Euros in ‘Open Book’ Library
4.5 mln books, 9 mln users per year, with theater and a museum
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT — Dubai has invested one billion Dirham, or 250 million euros, to build a library that vies to become the largest cultural center in the region and that will be built as an open book.
The newspaper Gulf News reported today that the library ‘Mohammad bin Rashid’ will be erected within the next year in the Al Jaddaf district in the heart of Dubai. It will stretch over one million square meters and the building will host 4.5 million books, including 1.5 million printed volumes, two million electronic books and one million audio books.
Presenting the project Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and governor of Dubai, stressed that such plans mean to fill the educational gap affecting the Arab world. “We mean to transform the UAE in an Arab center of global culture and education”, added Al Maktoum.
The library, with 2,600 seats and a planned nine million visitors a year, will also be provided with a theater with 500 places and a museum including a center for the restoration and conservation of manuscripts.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Qaeda Tightens Its Grip on South Yemen Coast
Al-Qaeda overran a police headquarters in a south Yemen provincial capital on Saturday, strengthening their grip on the coast road overlooking the Gulf of Aden, security sources said.
The jihadists, who hold parts of the lawless south of the war-torn country, seized the headquarters in Zinjibar unopposed by pro-government forces who fled the capital of Abyan province, the sources told AFP.
The militants have controlled other government buildings in Zinjibar for weeks and also have a large presence in the nearby town of Jaar.
Earlier this week, they seized the town of Azzan in neighbouring Shabwa province…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: 80% of Children Suffer Physical or Psychological Violence
Results of research conducted by the National Family Safety Program. 13% has suffered sexual violence, 53% are victims of neglect. Among child victims of abuse cases of depression and drug abuse are growing. Saudi expert: we need targeted programs, aid and specialized centers.
Riyadh (AsiaNews / Agencies) — 80% of children in Saudi Arabia have been the subject of violence at least once or various kinds of abuse. This has been revealed by a study prepared and published recently by the National Family Safety Program, which has examined cases involving at least 18 thousand children and young people.
The study confirms that the phenomenon of large-scale child abuse is taking place in the country where strict Wahhabi morals and Sharia (Islamic law) prevails, punishing offenses (including adultery and apostasy) with the death penalty.
The study, published by the Saudi daily Arab News, showed that 13% of young people have suffered sexual violence, 53% neglect by the family, and 80% subject to physical or psychological abuse. The study also shows that there is little knowledge on the subject of domestic violence, with only 2% of the 5,700 social workers having received special training to work with abusers and victims.
Maha Al-Munief, executive chairman of the program, points out that abuse in childhood lead to various types of physical and psychological problems, which over time become chronic.
Speaking at a debate organized by the Fund for the development of women in Dammam and entitled “Domestic Violence — From Silence to Legislation” said that 3% of children raised in healthy families start to consume drugs. This figure rose to 17% for children affected by violence. Depression affects 55 of “normal children”, compared with 21% among those victims of violence.
Al-Munief also says that only 5% of victims of child abuse are able to obtain protection. At the same time, there is no program to respond to the causes of the violence and steps to be taken to counter them.
In the country there are 22 centers that deal with abuse of young people and others are in the planning phase, with specialized staff. To date nine sessions are available for police officers, judges, lawyers and other professionals, but the hope is that others will be implemented in the near future.
The Saudi scholar concluded by explaining that the programs of assistance and aid have so far involved 250 thousand children in various parts of the country. 60% of requests for help come from the children themselves, who denounce (between 5 and 10%), physical violence and 1% rape.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
First Chinese Train Arrives to Russia as Part of New Silk Road
The very first freight train arrived to Russia’s Kaluga Region from China as part of the Beijing-led New Silk Road infrastructural project, according to the official website of the Kaluga Region.
The Chinese-led $900-billion New Silk Road infrastructural project is supposed to connect East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and even Africa.
Russia would also play a major part in the construction of the future major project. The train that arrived from China to the Kaluga Region is a test drive of a large scale trade volume of between the two countries.
“On February 5, the first freight train arrived to the Kaluga Region under the framework of the international project New Silk Road,” the official statement said.
The cargo train was mostly fit with components for the Samsung company, based in the city of Kaluga.
Russian Deputy Transport Minister Alexei Tsydenov, Kaluga Region Governor Anatoly Artamonov and two top Chinese Samsung representatives were present during the official meeting ceremony.
Last year, China and Russia signed the “Joint Declaration on the Silk Road Economic Belt construction and the Eurasian Economic Union docking cooperation”. The declaration confirmed that Russia supports the Silk Road Economic Belt project construction and is willing to cooperate closely with China to push the declaration.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Metropolitan Hilarion told a press conference that despite unresolved issues such like the expansion of the Greek Catholic Patriarchate in Ukraine, the Moscow Patriarchate hopes that the meeting “will open a new page in the relations between the two Churches”.
Moscow (AsiaNews) — The meeting between a pope and a patriarch of Moscow has been made possible by the ongoing terrorist “genocide of the Christian population” in the Middle East, said Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) at a press conference in Moscow. In view of the “genocide,” Francis and Kirill could not but meet.
“[D]espite the remaining obstacles of [an] ecclesial nature,” he said, “it has been decided that a meeting should be urgently held between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis of Rome. The problem of the persecution against Christians will become central at this meeting.”
Like Holy See Press Office director Father Lombardi, Hilarion explained that the first historic meeting between the Russian Orthodox Patriarch and the Pope would be held in Cuba and not in Europe, because the Caribbean island “matches all characteristics of such neutral territory”.
Cuba is also part of a “region where Christianity has been vigorously developing,” whilst Europe is the continent where the two Churches have been in conflict, their relations strained by unsolved problems, like Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine.
For Hilarion, the decision by the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church to extend its mission “to the traditionally Orthodox lands in eastern and southern Ukraine” was one of the obstacles that prevented the historic meeting and remains a still outstanding issue. Yet, the metropolitan hopes that “holding the meeting in the New World [. . .] will open a new page in the relations between the two Churches”.
In response to a question about growing relations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pope Francis and the historically close link between political and religious power in Russia, the DECR chairman said that the dialogue between the two Churches has developed irrespective of relations between Russia and the Vatican as states.
In the upcoming meeting, the pope will be acting as a spiritual leader and not as a head of state. (NA)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Bollywood Blockbuster ‘Airlift’ Irks Indian Government
A hit Bollywood movie about the evacuation of more than 170,000 Indians from Kuwait in 1990 has angered the government with its portrayal of the country’s diplomats as selfish and unfeeling.
The foreign ministry took the unusual step of issuing a statement on “Airlift”, a fictionalised account of the real-life rescue mission that was released last week to rave reviews.
It shows Indian diplomats leaving Kuwait soon after the Iraqi invasion that sparked the first Gulf war, and portrays the foreign ministry in New Delhi as apathetic to the desperate pleas of Indian migrant workers stuck there.
“@AirliftFilm: Great entertainment but rather short on facts,” foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted late Thursday…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Benin: Turning the Scourge of Fishermen Into a Resource
A dug-out canoe speeds along the water then slows down suddenly before stopping altogether. Blocking its path are water hyacinths as far as the eye can see.
It’s become a common occurrence in the last 20 years on Lake Nokoué in the south of Benin, which is fed by the fresh waters of the Sô river and feeds into the Atlantic Ocean.
The aquatic plant, which is native to the Amazon basin in South America, was introduced to east Africa at the end of the 19th century and is now found across the continent.
On Lake Nokoué, as elsewhere around Africa, the proliferation of water hyacinths disrupts fishing, the transportation of goods and people, and contributes to the spread of malaria…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Islamic Protesters Arrested at Banned Rally in Calais
Anti-migrant protesters in the French port city of Calais Saturday clashed with police as they defied a ban and rallied in support of a Europe-wide initiative by the Islamophobic Pegida movement.
Around 150 protesters gathered in central Calais carrying signs such as “This is our home,” waving the French flag and singing the French national anthem, an AFP correspondent at the scene reported.
Police issued warnings for the demonstration to disperse and then fired tear gas to break it up, arresting around 10 people, the correspondent said.
Calais has become a hotspot of Europe’s refugee crisis. Around 3,700 migrants are living in a camp on the outskirts of the city, nicknamed the “Jungle”, hoping to smuggle themselves across the Channel to Britain on lorries or trains…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Austrian Police Confirm Boy Raped by Iraqi Refugee in Vienna Swimming Pool
Austria’s police have confirmed a rape case involving sexual assault against a 10-year-old boy by an Iraqi migrant, local media said Saturday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The rape incident, which took place in a public swimming pool in Austria’s capital Vienna, occurred on December 2, he Austrian Kronen Zeitung newspaper reported.
On Saturday, the indictment was finally confirmed by police despite being reported by Austrian media in December, the report said. The case had not been confirmed earlier for victim protection reasons, according to a police spokesperson, as quoted by the newspaper.
The victim suffered from significant injuries requiring hospital treatment.
The 20-year-old perpetrator, who was arrested at the scene of the crime, arrived to Austria from Iraq along the Balkan route early September. When questioned by the police, the offender admitted to experiencing a “sexual emergency” after lacking sexual intercourse since arriving to the country. The man, who is married to a woman left behind in Iraq, admitted to committing a “huge mistake” by scarring the victim, the report said.
Europe’s refugee crisis has been accompanied by a rising number of sexual assault incidents. A series of sexual attacks on women in the German city of Cologne occurred on New Year’s Eve, where groups of men of North African origin targeted female revelers. In January, Finnish and Swedish authorities issued warning for women to be wary of sexual attacks, while Vienna’s police chief advised women against walking alone.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Demonstrators Set to Protest in Vilnius Against EU Refugee Plan
A public committee against forced migration and the National Interest association will hold a protest in Vilnius on Saturday, during which they aim to present a petition against the European refugee resettlement plan, the association said in a statement.
VILNIUS (Sputnik) — The Vilnius civil action is part of a wave of protests in Europe to be held on the same day in 16 EU countries. People will take to the streets in Dresden, Prague, Bordeaux, Bratislava, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Wroclaw, Birmingham and other cities.
The protesters will demand to cancel the adopted amendment to the Lithuanian law, which allows the country to resettle migrants from North Africa.
“Today, citizens, community organizations and not only political parties and social movements, are invited to the joint protest against illegal immigration, establishment of radical Islam and the inaction of the central national and European authorities,” the statement reads.
As part of the EU refugee resettlement plan, last year, the Lithuanian government agreed to Brussels’ proposal to take in 1,105 refugees from Syria, Iraq and Eritrea by 2017.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU Says Turkey Must Keep Border Open to Syrian Refugees
Top EU officials on Saturday reminded Turkey of its international obligations to keep its frontiers open to refugees as thousands fleeing a new government offensive in Syria remained camped out along its southern border.
Up to 20,000 Syrians may be stranded on the border, officials say, trying to get into Turkey which already hosts more than two million refugees from the bloody conflict.
“The Geneva convention is still valid which states that you have to take in refugees,” EU Enlargement and Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn said as he went into talks on the migrant crisis with EU foreign ministers and their counterparts from countries seeking EU membership, including Turkey…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU Says Turkey Must Keep Border Open to Syrian Migrants
Top EU officials on Saturday reminded Turkey of its international obligations to keep its frontiers open to refugees as thousands fleeing a new government offensive in Syria remained camped out along its southern border.
Up to 20,000 Syrians may be stranded on the border, officials say, trying to get into Turkey which already hosts more than two million refugees from the bloody conflict.
“The Geneva convention is still valid which states that you have to take in refugees,” EU Enlargement and Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn said as he went into talks on the migrant crisis with EU foreign ministers and their counterparts from countries seeking EU membership, including Turkey.
An EU diplomatic source told AFP that the foreign ministers, meeting informally in Amsterdam, would take the opportunity to voice their concerns over the fate of the refugees fleeing the government offensive against rebel forces in Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city.
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said “everyone has seen the pictures from Aleppo, the tens of thousands of people who are fleeing, fleeing for their lives.”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Europe saw more than a million asylum seekers stream onto the continent last year, mainly by sea from Turkey, with figures indicating little sign of the flow ebbing so far this year.
Mr Niinisto said the current Geneva Conventions on which Western states base their response to refugees were outdated and had allowed too many people to claim asylum.
He said: ‘It has also been suggested that the International Convention on Refugees should be amended. This would be a slow process, unlikely to solve what is an acute problem.
‘The international rules were drawn up and their interpretation evolved under quite different circumstances.
‘I feel sure that if these international regulations, and the national regulations based on them, were drawn up now, their content would be fundamentally more stringent, while still taking account of human rights and helping those in need.’
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
France: Anti-Migrant Protestors Defy Ban, Demonstrate in Calais
Anti-migrant protesters in the French port city of Calais Saturday clashed with police as they defied a ban and rallied in support of a Europe-wide initiative by the Islamophobic Pegida movement.
Around 150 protesters gathered in central Calais carrying signs such as “This is our home,” waving the French flag and singing the French national anthem, an AFP correspondent at the scene reported.
Police issued warnings for the demonstration to disperse and then fired tear gas to break it up, arresting around 10 people, the correspondent said.
Calais has become a hotspot of Europe’s refugee crisis. Around 3,700 migrants are living in a camp on the outskirts of the city, nicknamed the “Jungle”, hoping to smuggle themselves across the Channel to Britain on lorries or trains…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France, Germany Pile Pressure on Turkey to Stem Migrant Tide
The massive flow of migrants into Europe must be slowed with the help of Turkey and better screening of asylum applicants on arrival on the continent, the interior ministers of France and Germany said Friday.
Speaking in Athens the ministers warned again of a real “danger” of Europe’s Schengen border-free zone collapsing if its outer frontiers were not better protected, by, among other things, boosting Greece’s capacity to sort “genuine” refugees from economic migrants.
As the first port of call for migrants fleeing war, persecution and poverty across the Mediterranean from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, Greece has received the overwhelming majority of the more than one million arrivals in the last year.
Most begin their journey in Turkey, which Europe accuses of doing too little to prevent migrant families setting out for Greece in overloaded boats that often sink, costing hundreds of lives since the crisis accelerated last summer.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
German Intelligence ‘Has Evidence Terrorists Hiding Among Refugees’
The head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maassen, said Germany recently carried out a special operation to minimize the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, but there are still Islamists, who may plan attacks for the future…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s Catholic Church Calls for ‘Reduction’ In Refugees
The German Catholic Church called for a reduction in the influx of refugees arriving in Germany, saying the country cannot take in “all the world’s needy,” according to an interview published Saturday.
Germany has been struggling to cope with 1.1 million asylum seekers that arrived in 2015 and Berlin has not yet given an official estimate for how many it expects this year.
“As a church we say that we need a reduction in the number of refugees,” Cardinal Reinhard Marx, chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, told the Passauer Neue Presse daily.
Germany cannot “take in all the world’s needy,” Marx added…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Police Clash With Residents Over Building Refugee Center
Police officers used tear gas against residents of the Greek island of Kos, who protest against proposed establishment of a screening center for refugees in their locality, according to local media.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Residents of the Greek island of Kos clashed Friday with police over the proposed establishment of a screening center for refugees in their locality, leaving two people injured, local media reported.
According to the Kathimerini newspaper, the protesters gathered at the center’s construction site earlier in the day and tried to interrupt the ongoing work. Police officers used tear gas and two locals were taken to a hospital. Many people experienced breathing problems from exposure to the gas.
As many as four riot police units have been present on Kos since Friday morning, and will remain deployed there until the center has been completed.
Europe is currently struggling to cope with a massive refugee influx, with millions of refugees fleeing conflict-torn countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of asylum in stable and wealthy EU states. Most refugees travel from Turkey to the Greek islands before continuing onward to mainland Europe.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
No Time for Crime? German Police Too Busy Dealing With Refugees
Police in Lower Saxony are finding it hard to cope with the increased burden caused by the migrant crisis, the German newspaper Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung reported.
Police in the northwest German state of Lower Saxony have reorganized their priorities due to the demands of the migrant and refugee crisis, Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung (NOZ) reported on Thursday.
“The Lower Saxony police will scale back their efforts in pursuit of minor offenses. The state police committee and police authorities have agreed on this, given the burden of the refugee crisis,” NOZ reported, citing an internal police paper.
The guidelines were issued to the police on November 11, “in the context of the immigration of refugees.” The document was marked “for official use only.”
It refers to a “temporary deferment and reduction of measures in non-priority areas of responsibility,” and an “optimization in determining the intensity and scope of non-priority areas of crime,” and order the force to reduce its investigations into minor offenses.
As a result of the reprioritization, the police are ordered to more quickly close cases such as fare evasion, petty theft or criminal damage, if the chance of catching the perpetrator is low.
Instead, police resources are being put into investigating offenses that “especially worry” the population, such as burglaries or politically motivated crime. The police have also been ordered to show more police presence.
Lower Saxony police chief Uwe Binias confirmed the new guidelines, but sought to give assurance about their effect on safety. He told NOZ that each crime is being recorded just as before, and that the new measures are aimed at reducing “the background expenditure” to free up more resources for other tasks.
“Citizens won’t notice the difference. Nobody should worry that we are not going to come to the scene of an accident,” Binias said.
‘Further strain because of the refugee crisis. Internal paper: police want to reduce efforts on petty crime,’ NOZ reported.
The reorganization was criticized in the state parliament by Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party (CDU). The party is the main opposition to the Social Democratic party (SPD) and Green coalition in the Lower Saxony Landtag, which represents the citizens of Germany’s fourth most populous federal state.
“Citizens are wondering whether the prosecution of serious crimes is really assured under the SPD and Greens, if supposedly minor offenses are not being pursued with the necessary determination anymore,” the party’s home affairs spokeswomen Angelika Jahns said.
“The solution for a functioning internal security in Lower Saxony is more police,” she added.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
One in Four Germans Support Using Firearms Against Migrants
More than one in four Germans think border guards should be able to use firearms to stop migrants entering the country illegally, a poll has found.
The survey by polling company YouGov, reported in Die Welt, found rising concern at the level of migration into the country and the government’s handling of the crisis.
Nearly three in 10 (29 per cent) of the German population said it could be justified for border guards to stop migrants crossing the into the country at gunpoint, if necessary.
The poll follows comments from Frauke Petry, leader of Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD), who said last week that a border police officer “must stop illegal border crossings, and also make use of his firearm if necessary.” She continued that “no policeman wants to fire on a refugee and I don’t want that either. But the last resort includes the use of armed force.”
Her comments generated a storm of outrage among the country’s political and media class, with Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel calling for the ant-mass immigration party to be put under observation by the national agency that tracks suspected terrorists.
However, it now appears more than a quarter of Germans share Ms Petry’s view, providing further evidence of a growing divide between the German population and the country’s establishment.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Out of Control? Dresden Protesters Demanding Merkel’s Resignation
A series of protest rallies organized by Germany’s far-right political movement Pegida took place across a number of European countries on Saturday, with activists opposing the “Islamization of Europe” and demanding to stop the influx of migrants.
About 15 thousand people took to the streets in Dresden on Saturday holding placards and banners and demanding the resignation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, media reported.
The activists were protesting against the current policy of open doors towards migrants and called on the German government to stop the “Islamization of Europe”.
Similar protests were also held in France, Great Britain, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Earlier it was reported that about 20 people were detained during a similar protest campaign in the city of Calais in northern France.
According to German magazine Spiegel Online, the number of right-wing extremist events has significantly increased over the past few months. The number of protest marches and rallies more than doubled in the fourth quarter of last year compared with the previous (third) quarter (from 95 to 208). The number of participants of such rallies has more than tripled over the last few months (from 10,600 to 35,900).
“The number of right-wing marches in 2015 is frightening; the number of participants has increased by five times compared to 2014,” said representative of the Left party in the Bundestag Ulla Jelpke.
Pegida, an acronym for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, began organizing rallies in its home city of Dresden, Germany, in October 2014, attracting hundreds and later thousands of supporters.
The far-right German movement gained support in many member states of the European Union amid rising anti-migrant sentiment as Europe faces its biggest refugee crisis since World War II.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Over 1,000 Poles Rally in Warsaw Against EU Refugee Plan
Around 1,500 Polish protesters gathered in Warsaw on Saturday to rally against the European Union’s plan to receive refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, local media reported.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The protesters were chanting “We will defend our homeland. We won’t let immigrants in,” the state-owned Polish Radio said.
The rally, organized by the right-wing National Movement, was countered by another neighboring demonstration of several dozen people from left-wing and anarchist groups, who were protesting against racial and religious hatred.
The Warsaw rally against mass migration is part of a wave of civil actions in Europe held on Saturday in over a dozen EU cities, including Dresden, Prague, Bordeaux, Amsterdam and Birmingham.
As part of the EU refugee resettlement plan, last year, Poland’s previous government agreed to Brussels’ proposal to take in 7,000 refugees fleeing war and poverty in their home countries over two years.
In mid-January, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo stated that no more than 400 refugees would be relocated to the country in 2016.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
PEGIDA Rally Draws Thousands in Dresden
A march by Germany’s anti-Islamic organisation Pegida drew thousands to the eastern city of Dresden on Saturday on a day that saw rallies across Europe in support of the movement.
Pegida supporters took to the streets of a number of other European cities, including Prague and the northern French port of Calais, home to the infamous “Jungle” refugee camp for migrants seeking passage across the Channel to Britain.
Pegida and fellow anti-Muslim groups called the rallies following last month’s signing of an agreement to create a “Fortress Europe” coalition against a backdrop of Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II.
Several thousand Pegida supporters turned up in Dresden under clear blue skies in the early afternoon to march along the banks of the River Elbe, which flows through the city, to protest against mass immigration and the “islamisation” of Europe…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Reported Sex Assaults More Than Double at Cologne Carnival
Security was ramped up this year after New Year’s Eve’s assaults, when hundreds of men of mainly North African origin attacked women celebrating in the city centre and let off fireworks into the crowds.
The attacks led to a backlash among the German people and fundamentally changed the tone of the immigration debate, with fears the North African phenomenon of ‘Taharrush’ had been imported into Europe.
As well as the 22 assaults during this week’s carnival, police also recorded 143 reports of bodily harm and 30 reports of theft.
However, they have refused to state the ethnic and national origin of the 190 people arrested at the carnival, and have played down the rise in reported assaults by saying that people may simply be due to an increase in willingness to report attacks.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Scuffles Break Out at Launch of Anti-Immigration Group in Dublin
RTÉ to file formal complaint after staff cameraman injured during clashes
Members of the Garda Public Order Unit clashed with protesters in Dublin city centre after scuffles broke out during a demonstration against far right group Pegida.
The German based anti-Islam organisation had annouced that it would be launching an Irish wing outside the GPO at 3pm on Saturday. However, hundreds of anti-racism demonstrators staged a counter-rally on O’Connell Street at 1.30pm.
Scuffles broke out when a small party broke away from the main gathering of anti-Pegida demonstrators and chased another group, believed to be Pegida supporters, down North Earl Street and into a discount store.
Members of the Garda Public Order Unit, approaching from Talbot Street, baton charged protesters outside the shop back towards O’Connell Street and then set up a cordon in the middle of North Earl Street.
RTÉ is to make a formal complaint after a senior staff camerman was injured “by a garda”. Laura Fitzgerald, communications manager for RTÉ news and current affairs, said “one of our cameramen was injured while working covering a demonstration and he was injured by a garda”. She said the camerman was receiving medical attention.
O’Connell Street was closed to traffic in both directions between Abbey Street and Cathal Brugha Street while Cathedral Street was cordoned off by public order, mounted and canine garda units.
There was a brief face-off between protesters and gardaí with shields dressed in riot gear at the junction of Abbey and O’Connell streets before crowds dispersed.
O’Connell St northbound was earlier closed to traffic to facilitate the main demonstration. Many individuals as well as representatives from groups such as Sinn Féin, People Before Profit, the Workers Solidarity Movement and Irish Muslim organisations assembled close to the Spire to demonstrate against Pegida.
AAA election candidate Michael O’Brien said the people had come out to resist Pegida and stop it getting off the ground.
“We’ve seen on the European continent and Britain what a menace the far right is to migrants and also to trade unions and social activists,” he said.
He added that the “vast majority of working class people get that the difficulties we face are from the big players in society, but it’s not to say that there aren’t also racist voices out there”.
People Before Profit’s Bríd Smith said she grew up in the 1980s and knows what it was like to be an Irish immigrant in the United Kingdom during that time.
She called on the crowd to “reject this absolute poison” and said that Muslims are being targeted wholesale by the likes of Pegida and other politicians who blame the religion for acts of Islamic terrorism.
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan said “we are standing shoulder to shoulder in solidarity to show that there is no place in Ireland today for racism and Islamophobia. There is no place for hate.”
She added that “when resources are scarce we have vulnerable communities being pitted against each other for these scarce resources. Organisations like Pegida exploit this.”
She said racism takes many forms in society and is alive online, in the workplace and on the streets. “It is your obligation to stand up and call out racism for what it is,” she said.
“We know it’s not just Pegida, it’s not just Front National. Racism is alive and well in the European Union. “
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Alfano Says ‘Never Threatened’ Govt Over Gay Adoptions
‘I am open to gay rights’ says center-right minister
(ANSA) — Rome, February 5 — Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Friday he never threatened the government over a stepchild adoption measure in its civil unions bill now before the Senate. “I will do everything I can to reach an agreement,” Alfano told RAI public broadcaster. The minister is from the small New Center Right (NCD) party, a junior member of the ruling left-right coalition led by Premier Matteo Renzi’s center-left Democratic Party (PD).
“But the PD should prove it represents the entire nation, given that a majority of Italians are against gay adoptions. I will vote for the bill if gay adoptions are removed. I am in favor of rights for gay couples. I am absolutely open”.
Alfano went on to say he realizes gay couples’ inheritance rights “need to be enlarged” in cases of the death of a spouse.
“We must respect everyone’s ties of affection, but what do adoptions have to with it? Let’s divide the issues,” he added.
Right now the children of same-sex couples risk ending up in the foster system if one of their parents die, because the surviving parent has no legal custody of them.
The bill now before the Senate would also extend to partners in a civil union some of the rights heterosexual married couples enjoy, such as the right to inherit a deceased spouse’s benefits and property, or to make decisions in their stead should one partner become incapacitated.
Italy is the only West European country without gay marriage or civil unions, and the European Court of Human Rights in July 2015 condemned the country for failing to give gay couples legal “recognition and protection”, saying the State must change its laws to remedy that.
At the weekend, hundreds of thousands of people attended a Rome rally against the bill called Family Day. The previous weekend, even more turned out across Italy in favour of the bill.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants in Russia
Different story
“Migrant party in Murmansk? 18 in hospital 33 in Jail !!!
Migrants from the Middle East in one of the nightclubs in the Murmansk region began to harass girls. They too late realize that they are not in the EU.”
Retired 4-Star General Piquemal was arrested in Calais for the crime of speaking in defense of France, just for being there and having a speech ready. The flip side is a demo turned bad when antifa mob in Rennes, on a legal demo, approved by authorities, smashed up parts of town. This has happened now a number of times in Rennes but the authorities turn a blind eye to it. No risk of violence then? After all this is why the Calais demo got banned. Time after time, we see the antifa groups disrupt, cause trouble to police & people alike and tile after time they get away. But soon as a group that voices an expression that is contrary to the stated narrative being pushed out, it gets banned.
Similarly, Calais is under extreme pressure, not at all helped by a pro-migrant mayor. Take this video into account as why there are people wanting to attend a march:
https://t.co/yWYnOmgGYf
Lashing of double standards all round. Remember that both the active and reserve forces of the French military are ‘to put it mildly’ exhausted operationally due to the ongoing intense’ Vigipirate’ Operations, protecting vulnerable sites throughout France. In some situations, they get lodged in absolute poor accommodation, get insulted, attacked and at times run over by “young people” who have total contempt for France. These ‘youths’ appear in the press when there is trouble, such as trying to set fire to a tram or hurling stones at police & firefighters on a regular basis. The police deal with and sometimes get paid extra for being in ‘difficult’ areas, or just simply don’t bother to go to those areas at all. Yet they are very capable of arresting ordinary folks on a demo, for standing in groups of more than 2, with a French flag.
Syrian refugees in Canada….
http://ici.radio-canada.ca/regions/ottawa/2016/02/05/001-logement-refugies-syriens-ottawa.shtml
Carl Nicholson admitted that some Syrian refugees families go as far as to refuse the accommodation that is presented to them, due to fear of crime in certain neighborhoods, or because they prefer to live near a mosque.”
« Carl Nicholson admet que certaines familles de réfugiés syriens vont jusqu’à refuser les logements qui leur sont présentés, notamment par crainte de la criminalité dans certains quartiers ou parce que celles-ci préfèrent habiter à proximité d’une mosquée. »
Info on FBI arrest of wannabe IS terrorist on a Detroit church.
http://media.clickondetroit.com/document_dev/2016/02/05/SKM_C554e16020515520_2078266_ver1.0.pdf
The Austrian newspaper ‘Krone’ states
‘The press council wants us to put a positive spin on everything’ ‘we will no longer keep silent about the nationality of the offenders’.
http://www.krone.at/Oesterreich/Schwarzmaler_und_rosarote_Brille-Krone-Kommentar-Story-494803