Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/16/2018

In the final days of the Italian election campaign, the center-right coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia is ahead in the polls. Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Lega Nord, made campaign stops in the south of Italy in an attempt to gain votes outside his usual area.

In possibly unrelated news, animal-rights activists are outraged by the efforts made by inmates to barbecue a dog at an immigrant “welcome center” in southern Italy.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to Bill Keezer, BMcN, C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Charles Low, Insubria, JP1683, Reader from Chicago, RL, Srdja Trifkovic, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

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.

Financial Crisis
» Italy: Increasing Debt Not an Option — Audit Court
» Italy: Tajani Says 3% Limit Must be Respected, Can be Changed
 
USA
» When Ellison Broke Bread With Farrakhan
 
Canada
» Foreign-Funded Lobbyists Vow to Use Violence to Halt Pipeline. Will Trudeau Stop Them — or Join Them?
 
Europe and the EU
» #MeToo Continues in Norway With Reports of Council, Progress Party Cases
» 37 Cases of Child Sex Abuse Involving Staff Reported at Austria-Based Charity in 2016
» EU Bureaucrat Wants 261 Euros Per Person From Dutch Citizens
» French Government Accused of Following Islamic Law When Calculating Housing Benefits for Muslims
» Hong Kong Bikesharing Firm Quits Italy, Europe
» IOR: Vatican Court Condemns Cipriani and Tulli
» Italy: TIM, Wind Tre, Vodafone, Fastweb Deny Anti-Competitive Moves
» Italy: Di Maio ups Ante in Campaign, Renzi Claims Anti-Fascism
» Italy: 4 Students: 1 Police Hurt in Bologna Clashes
» Italy: Mosque Built Under False Pretences, Funds Untraceable
» Italy’s Final Pre-Election Polls Put Centre-Right in the Lead
» New Austrian Foreign Minister Slams Merkel for Migrant Crisis, Demands Orban-Style Border Protection
» No Evidence of GMO Maize Health Risks — Italian Study
 
Balkans
» Mediterranean Games: Spain Could Refuse Visas to Kosovo
» Western Balkans: EU Countries Disagree on EU Strategy
 
North Africa
» Egyptian Marble Industry Estimated to Grow by 15% by 2020
» Morocco: 600 Arrests on Drug Charges in Less Than 48 Hours
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Caroline Glick: Israel’s Police Joins the Opposition to Topple Netanyahu
 
South Asia
» Sri Lanka: Rajapaksa’s Win in Local Elections Sets Off Alarm Bells in Government
 
Far East
» A Korean Thaw?
» Admiral Warns US Must Prepare for Possibility of War With China
» Hong Kong Catholics to the Bishops of the World: Stop the Possible Agreement Between China and the Holy See
» Philippines: The Diocese of San Jose Promoting Organic Farming
 
Australia — Pacific
» Australia ‘Under Attack’ For 15 Years From Group of Muslim Men, Judge Tells Court — ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
» Kiwi Teenager Radicalised Online Planned Mass Killing in Christchurch ‘For Allah’
» ‘Maximum Fire, I Want to Take as Many of Them Down as I Can’: Muslim Extremist, 20, Who Planned Sydney Terror Attack Said He Wouldn’t Have Hesitated Shooting a Two-Month-Old Baby
» New Zealand Thug Caught Laughing and Taking Selfies Outside of Court After Being Found Guilty of Horrific One-Punch Attack During Schoolies Week is Deported
» Tarneit Residents Want to Move on Following Summer of Hate
» Terrifying Morning for Residents as Bullets Are Fired at Three Houses — Injuring One Man — as Police Hunt the Offenders
» Why Was She Let in? Bangladeshi Student Was Denied Entry to Turkey But Was Granted an Australian Visa Before She Was Charged Over ‘ISIS-Inspired’ Stabbing
 
Immigration
» Culture Shock: Italians Aghast as Immigrants Barbecue Dog at Welcome Center
» Feminist Sweden Allows Migrant Men to Have More Than One Woman
» Hungary Rejects the UN’s Position That Migration Has a Positive Effect
» Italy: Voodoo Used on Nigerian Girl to Make Her Prostitute
» Italy: Bonino Slams Berlusconi’s Migrant Deportation Vow
» Italy’s Former Northern League Hunts Votes in the South
» Migrants: Ombudsman: Spain’s Hosting Program Inadequate
» Two Germans Have Already Died Because of Treatments by Unqualified Migrant Doctors
 

Italy: Increasing Debt Not an Option — Audit Court

Buscema calls for inter-generational respect

(ANSA) — Rome, February 13 — Angelo Buscema, the president of Italy’s Audit Court, said Tuesday that the nation’s political class should rule out policies that lead to increasing the nation’s huge public debt. “The current public finance outlook tells us that a further rise in the public debt to ensure necessary levels of services for the community is no longer practicable,” Buscema said at the inauguration of the State auditor’s judicial year.

“This path is precluded not by the obligations from abroad and from the European agreements, but by respect for greater inter-generational respect on the sharing of the burdens”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Tajani Says 3% Limit Must be Respected, Can be Changed

Italy must have bigger say argues European Parliament president

(ANSA) — Rome, February 15 — European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said Thursday that the European Union’s 3%-deficit-to-GDP-ratio limit must be respect while it is in force, while stressing that this does not mean the rule is unchangeable. “The 3% limit is a rule that should be respected,” Tajani told Radio Anch’io. “That said, rules can be changed too. It’s not a taboo”. Tajani is a member of Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI) and the media billionaire has said the EP president could be a good premier if the centre right wins the March 4 general election.

“I think that Italy should count for more in Europe after the upcoming elections, it should be more present and make its voice heard,” Tajani said.

“We cannot just be extras. Unfortunately, Italy is not one of the major players in Europe”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

When Ellison Broke Bread With Farrakhan

Brotherhood-linked congressman publicly rejected Nation of Islam — but it was all for show.

by Matthew Vadum

After publicly repudiating his former colleagues at the Nation of Islam, DNC deputy chairman Keith Ellison dined with the group’s notorious leader Louis Farrakhan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in 2013, according to reports.

The jihadist-friendly Ellison, a Democrat congressman representing Minnesota, is a former co-chairman of the Communist-linked Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Although Ellison was not a senior Democratic Party official in 2013, now that his DNC post makes him much more than a fringe figure in his party, the meeting takes on a greater, darker significance for Democrats, putting them in bed with raging genocidal anti-Semites, Muslim terrorists, and other enemies of the United States…

           — Hat tip: RL [Return to headlines]
 

Foreign-Funded Lobbyists Vow to Use Violence to Halt Pipeline. Will Trudeau Stop Them — or Join Them?

A hard-left-wing MP just commissioned a poll about Trans Mountain Pipeline:

“Of the 938 British Columbians surveyed by Insights West, 48% said they support the pipeline expansion, while 44% opposed it, and 9% were undecided.”

And that support has actually gone up in the past few months, which is amazing after a decade of professional slander paid for by anti-oil extremist groups.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

#MeToo Continues in Norway With Reports of Council, Progress Party Cases

A recent survey of public servants with Hordaland’s county council found that 24 employees said they had suffered sexual discrimination at work. Meanwhile, the Progress Party has confirmed reports against a representative with its youth wing.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

37 Cases of Child Sex Abuse Involving Staff Reported at Austria-Based Charity in 2016

The children’s charity SOS Children’s Villages has admitted that it received 37 reports of the sexual abuse of children involving charity personnel in 2016.

The charity, based in Vienna, Austria, admitted the reports in the wake of the sex scandal involving the international charity Oxfam which was also accused of child sex abuse in South Sudan earlier this week.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

EU Bureaucrat Wants 261 Euros Per Person From Dutch Citizens

The Netherlands is the leading country in payments to Brussels. Every Dutch citizen pays 219 euros a year to the EU bureaucrats, but it’s not enough…

Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports that the EU wants to receive 42 euros extra per Dutch citizen. That means the Dutch would have to pay 261 euros per person per year to Brussels.

The idea comes from EU commisioner Günther Oettinger, a member of Angela Merkel’s CDU party. According to Oettinger the amount “is only 10 cent per day per person more than now”.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

French Government Accused of Following Islamic Law When Calculating Housing Benefits for Muslims

The French government has been accused of following Islamic law, specifically one which designates guardianship of children, to determine housing benefits for Muslims.

The French housing benefit, known as CAF, is calculated on a number of factors, including the income of a household and how many children live in a household.

On the official website of the CAF, the government mentions a form of Islamic jurisprudence known as “Kafala” as being valid alongside other documents to prove guardianship of children, leading some to question if the government is following Islamic law.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Hong Kong Bikesharing Firm Quits Italy, Europe

Gobee bike says plagued by vandals

(ANSA) — Florence, February 14 — Hong Kong-based bikesharing Gobee bike has decided to quit Italy after suffering too many cases of vandalism, the company said Wednesday.

“Some 60% of our bike fleet has been vandalised in two months,” it said.

The company has been operating for a few months in Rome, Florence and Turin.

It also said it was quitting the rest of Europe, for the same reason.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

IOR: Vatican Court Condemns Cipriani and Tulli

For “Mismanagement”, they will have to compensate IOR for the damages. The director and his deputy had resigned in 2013. The Institution: willingness to pursue any misconduct committed against us

Pubblicato il 07/02/2018

Ultima modifica il 07/02/2018 alle ore 16:58

iacopo scaramuzzi vatican city

IOR’s former director general, Paolo Cipriani, and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, “have been found liable for mismanagement” by the Vatican Court. The promoter of justice had announced last Saturday that the sentence relating to “senior executives of the Institute for Religious Works, cited for mismanagement and resulting damages from financial investments that are very onerous for the Institute — was about to be released”. The ruling arrived yesterday with a preceding order to “compensate IOR for the resulting damages “.

The ruling involving the two former Ior’s top officials — who resigned in July 2013 and were sentenced in a separate trial by the Italian justice last February — confirms “IOR’s will to pursue by judicial proceedings any misconducts carried out to its detriment, no matter where and by whom” reads a note of the Institute and issued in the evening by the Vatican Press Office.

“By a decision published today, the Civil Court of the Vatican City State found two former Senior managers of IOR liable for mismanagement” the Institute announces. The Court has ordered them to compensate IOR for the resulting damages. The Court’s decision is the outcome of a civil liability action started by IOR in September 2014 supported by a comprehensive review of financial investments made by IOR before mid 2013”.

Vatican’s “Attorney General”, lawyer Gian Piero Milano, had announced, at the opening of the Vatican Judicial Year, last Saturday, “a civil court case pursued against senior executives of the Institute for religious works, cited for bad management and consequent damage caused by financial investments that are highly onerous for the Institute; the defendants contested the validity of the objections and acted in counterclaim. This is a very complex and debated issue, which has required numerous hearings for preliminary inquiries, and has involved financial experts. The promoter’s office intervened under the Code terms ‘to enforce rights in the interest of the public’. We are awaiting the ruling, which is about to be published”.

“Today’s decision — continues the note of the institute currently headed by the president Jean Baptiste de Franssu and the general director Gianfranco Mammì, — is an important step illustrating the significant work of IOR senior management over the last 4 years to transform the Institute. It demonstrates IORs continuing commitment to strong governance, transparency to its operations and its determination to meet best international standards”. Finally, “It confirms IOR’s will to pursue by judicial proceedings any misconducts carried out to its detriment, no matter where and by whom”.

In July 2013, Cipriani and Tulli resigned from office. Last February, the court in Rome condemned the two former executives of the Vatican Institute: they had been accused of omissions in giving indications to another bank in relation to three banking transactions (while they had been acquitted “because there is no case” from the accusation of violation of anti-money laundering regulations).

In the meantime, news agency Ansa writes that IOR’s Board of Supervisors has examined proposals for amendments to the statute, whose last draft dates back to 1990 and was promulgated by John Paul II. Updates and adjustments have been proposed to the Vatican regulations in force. It will now be necessary the approval of the cardinal vigilance Commission presided over by Cardinal Santos Abril y Castellò, and, of course, Pope Francis’ definitive promulgation. Among the new changes — Ansa reports — the new statute eliminates the College of Auditors replaced by a new supervisory body appointed by the Directorate General of IOR.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: TIM, Wind Tre, Vodafone, Fastweb Deny Anti-Competitive Moves

No coordination with other operators

(ANSA) — Rome, February 15 — Telecoms giants TIM, Wind, Vodafone and Fastweb on Thursday reacted to an antitrust billing probe against telecoms firms by saying they had never carried out anti-competitive practices. In a statement TIM said it “reiterates that it always operated respecting the norms in force and ensuring full cooperation to all sector authorities and the maximum transparency to its clients”. TIM “categorically excludes that there was any coordination of its commercial strategy with other operators also with regard to the ways and timescales for complying with the law which imposes all the market to adopt, by April 5 2018, the monthly billing schedule”.

Wind said that “Wind Tre, in the course of today’s inspection by the antitrust authority, supplied, with the utmost collaboration, all the information requested. The company confirms it fully respected the dispositions of the law and it has nothing to do with any anti-competitive practice”.

Vodafone told ANSA “it is convinced of the correctness of its operations and is actively collaborating with the antitrust authority” in the billing probe.

Fastweb issued a similar statement.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Di Maio ups Ante in Campaign, Renzi Claims Anti-Fascism

Berlusconi says centre-right premier candidate before vote

(ANSA) — Rome, February 15 — Anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio upped the ante in the March 4 election campaign Thursday by challenging parties to agree to the first of a series of “convergences” for a possible post-vote M5S-led government. Meanwhile, as Democratic Party (PD) leader and former premier Matteo Renzi claimed the high ground on anti-Fascism, three-time former premier and centre-right Forza Italia (FI) leader Silvio Berlusconi said he would come out with the name of FI’s premier candidate before March 4.

Di Maio on Thursday proposed the first move he thinks parties can “converge” on after the general election, halving parliamentary salaries. “Today I propose the first of a series of issues for a government convergence,” he said. “All parties should now sign this act in which they vow to to vote the bill halving the salaries of MPs and introducing precise billing of reimbursements,” he said.

Writing on the M5S blog, Di Maio said “we have shown that an MP can live a more than dignified life while halving his stipend.” He said: “the parties gobble up double salaries and pocket all the reimbursements (for party spending) without providing accounts of anything to anyone”.

The M5S styles itself as being unlike the traditional parties, which it says are wedded to perks and corruption.

However it has recently suffered a scandal in which eight members were found not to have paid back money which they should have according to the party statutes.

The case is threatening to spread to the European Parliament, but Di Maio has listed just how much the M5S has given back and says it will turn into a “boomerang” for other parties which are not as “virtuous” as the M5S.

Also on Thursday, the M5S ejected two more candidates for failing to inform them they were members of Masonic lodges.

First Piero Landi was thrown out for not informing them he was in a Masonic lodge, the same reason it ejected Catello Vitiello earlier this week, and then Calabria candidate Bruno Azzerboni was also expelled. “They did not tell the truth,” the M5S said in a statement.

“For this reason they cannot stay in the M5S and for this reason, again, they will be asked to give up their constituencies. “We bar them from using the (party) symbol and we reserve the right to act in the appropriate fora with the aim of getting compensation for possible damage to the party’s image.” Also on Thursday, PD leader Renzi said while marking the anniversary of Italy’s worst Nazi atrocity in northern Tuscany that those who are not against Fascism are unworthy of the Italian community.

“Those who are not anti-Fascists are not worth of being part of the Italian democratic community,” Renzi said at the village of Sant’Anna di Stazzema near Lucca, where Nazi soldiers killed 560 villages and refugees in 1944.

Renzi was speaking after signing the anti-Fascist citizens’ list at the shrine to the WWII massacre, and amid a rise in reported far-right incidents including the racist shooting and wounding of six African migrants in Macerata by a rightist League ex-militant “avenging” the murder and dismemberment by Nigerian drug pushers of an 18-year-old Italian woman.

Renzi went on to say that Italy “should not give an inch” in educating young people about the evils of Fascism.

“Precisely because we believe in the State and in democracy, we vow not to give an inch on educational values,” he said.

“When a young man reads Mein Kampf, he can’t think of reading any old book, he is reading a book on absolute evil”. Meanwhile Berlusconi said he would give the name of the FI premier candidate before the March 4 general election.

“I wanted to wait until the premier candidate himself gave me the go ahead to give his name. I think I will be authorised to do so before the vote,” said the 81-year-old three-time ex-premier and media magnate on RAI TV talk show Porta a Porta Wednesday night while signing a new “pact with Italians” on the FI manifesto.

Among the names the three-time ex-premier and media magnate has touted is European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, an FI member.

Berlusconi added that he thought there should be a quick revote with the same election law if there is no clear outcome on March 4.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: 4 Students: 1 Police Hurt in Bologna Clashes

Protest against FN leader rally

(ANSA) — Bologna, February 16 — Four students and a policeman were hurt in clashes between leftists and police in Bologna Friday. The students, who were hit by police batons, had to be treated by doctors, while the policeman was slightly injured, local sources said.

Police clashed with anticapitalist youths in the northern city amid protests against a rightist extremist leader’s planned rally in the traditionally leftwing city.

Around 100 students and ‘antagonists’ were pushed out of Piazza Galvani with several baton charges, by police in riot gear.

The leftists, anticapitalists and anarchists had been staging a sit-in in the square, protesting a scheduled rally by far-right Forza Nuova (FN) leader Roberto Fiore in Bologna Friday evening.

Fiore is campaigning for the March 4 general election.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Mosque Built Under False Pretences, Funds Untraceable

This clip from Italy reports on an issue that is not uncommon in the West whereby a mosque is built under false pretences and without transparency on sources of funding.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Italy’s Final Pre-Election Polls Put Centre-Right in the Lead

Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing coalition leads Italy’s election race, polls published on Friday suggest, but the bloc falls short of an absolute majority and millions of voters remain undecided.

The success of the coalition, which includes the former premier’s Forza Italia (Go Italy) party and two far-right groups, is in keeping with some European countries shift to the right in recent years against a backdrop of economic and migration woes.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

New Austrian Foreign Minister Slams Merkel for Migrant Crisis, Demands Orban-Style Border Protection

Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl slammed German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her decision in 2015 to welcome migrants, saying it was a “pull factor”, and praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for working to secure the European border.

The new minister, who was nominated by the anti-mass migration Freedom Party (FPÖ) but is officially an independent, has been a vocal critic of pro-mass migration policies since the 2015 crisis. Ms. Kneissl said that the European Union needs “comprehensive reform of the entire asylum system and border management”, in an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

No Evidence of GMO Maize Health Risks — Italian Study

Analysis of data on 21 years of crops

(ANSA) — Rome, February 15 — There is no evidence that GMO maize represents a risk to the environment or to human and animal health, according to a study by experts from Pisa University and the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and published by Scientific Reports on Thursday. The study is a meta-analysis of data from peer-reviewed literature on the crops in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia from 1996 to 2016.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Mediterranean Games: Spain Could Refuse Visas to Kosovo

Madrid doesn’t recognize Balkan country but IOC has accepted it

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 16 — Spain could ban athletes from Kosovo at the Mediterranean Games, scheduled on June 22-July 1 in Tarragona because it has yet to confirm whether it will grant them visas, according to a director of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Pere Mirò, quoted by Catalan radio Rac1.

The IOC has registered the Olympic committee of the Balkan country, which Spain does not instead recognize as a State.

There are 26 countries who have registered for the Mediterranean Games. Organizers include the Superior council of sport, an agency of the Spanish government. The IOC has sent two letters to the cabinet of Mariano Rajoy, asking to know whether visas were sent to the Kosovan delegation, without receiving a reply.

“It is worrisome because there is a UN resolution that defends the autonomy of sports”, observed Pere Miro, saying that a potential refusal could open a diplomatic conflict. The director has recalled that the Olympic body never had problems with a State, “although there are countries without diplomatic relations”. “Russia does not recognize Kosovo but allowed it to participate in the Winter games”, he concluded.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Western Balkans: EU Countries Disagree on EU Strategy

Bulgaria and Hungary urged to speed up the process

(ANSA) — BRUXELLES, 15 FEB — Some EU countries want to speed-up the accession of the Western Balkans, while others think it will stay a future hypothesis. Europe is divided on the EU strategy for enlargement to the Balkan region, published by Brussels last week and debated today at the informal Foreign Ministers summit in Sofia. “If there’s no enlargement now, there’ll be no other time for enlargement. Otherwise, what China, Russia, Turkey are planning for the region, they will start today,” said the Bulgarian Prime Boyko Borissov, whose country currently holds the EU rotating presidency. “I am very disappointed” at the entry target of 2025, the Hungarian Foreign Minister, Peter Szijarto, underlined. “Why we don’t integrate Serbia and Montenegro before 2025, in 2022? Why do we have to wait an additional 7 years? I think 2025 is very late” for the two countries, that “deserve a much quicker way of integration”. “It is obvious that the US has a strategy for the Western Balkans”, as well as “Russia and Turkey”, “it is only the European Union that is extremly slow when it comes to issues in the Western Balkans”, and “should be much quicker”, Szijarto urged. Italy, Poland and Austria are also among those in favour of stepping up efforts to open the EU to the region.

On the other hand, other countries, including France, Spain and Slovenia are more cautious. “It is unrealistic” to think that Serbia and Montenegro will be ready by 2025, Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Egyptian Marble Industry Estimated to Grow by 15% by 2020

Study at Veronafiere event in Cairo, interest in Italian tech

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEBRUARY 14 — Carlo Montani, one of the top international experts in the stone industry, in the second edition of his report “Marble, Granite, Travertine and Natural Stone in Egypt”, said estimates for development in the Egyptian stone industry are positive in both the short and long term, “both for trends in worldwide growth and for potential in the internal market”.

“A reasonable projection for 2020 allows for the hypothesis of 15% growth, equivalent to 750,000 raw tons, with exports able to further increase the share of produce with added value,” the study said.

The report will be presented during the second “Marmomac Egyptian Stone Summit”, planned as part of “Marmomac Samoter Egypt — Forum for the Construction Industry”, organised in Cairo by Veronafiere, in cooperation with and with the support of the Italian Foreign Trade Agency (ICE), next Sunday and Monday, February 18 and 19.

The programme includes technical seminars and field visits organised by the Veneto-region company, which is strong in its expertise in the marble field, as well as stone and design technologies (Marmomac) and construction equipment (Samoter).

“The primary market outlet for Egyptian marble and stone, despite lower overall receptivity, remains China,” the report said.

It said other destination countries with a “good level of demand for finished product” include the Gulf area countries of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, which it said play “an important role logically, if for nothing else than for reasons of geographical proximity”, as well as “the maintenance of a significant historic sales flow also in Lebanon”.

Regarding technology imports, a large majority of purchases continue to come from two leaders in the sector, Italy and China.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Morocco: 600 Arrests on Drug Charges in Less Than 48 Hours

Operation in Oujda, at the border with Algeria

(ANSAmed) — RABAT, FEBRUARY 16 — Authorities in Morocco have arrested 644 people in an anti-drug operation in the northern city of Ouida in less than 48 hours. Police said the operation was aimed at cracking down on local crime and to make citizens feel safer.

Over two days, police in the area at the border with Algeria arrested 533 people while 91 international arrest warrants have been issued for as many suspects, authorities said.

According to the prefecture’s statement on the operation, published by the Map news agency, police also seized “21 kilos of hashish, 80 kg of heroin, 16 synthetic drug pills and 456 bottles of smuggled alcoholic beverages, cell phones and a motorcycle”.

In addition, during the operation, 803 fines were made by security officers, who also seized 47 cars and 27 motorcycles.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Caroline Glick: Israel’s Police Joins the Opposition to Topple Netanyahu

Foreign observers may have a hard time squaring Benjamin Netanyahu’s international stature as a statesman with his suddenly vulnerable position at home.

Abroad, both those that hate the Israeli prime minister and those that admire him view him as a successful leader. His diplomatic skills have transformed Israel from an international pariah, at the mercy of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the international left, to a rising star on the international scene.

Economically, Netanyahu is credited worldwide with shepherding Israel from a sclerotic socialist backwater in the early 1990s into a first world economy and a global leader in innovation and technological advancement.

In the context of these extraordinary achievements, and as Israel faces mounting security challenges from Iran in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza — challenges amplified last Saturday with the violent clashes between Iran and the Syrian military and Israel — the police’s sudden announcement that they recommend indicting Netanyahu for bribery seems incongruous.

But as Tip O’Neill, the late, long-serving Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, famously said, “all politics is local.”…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Sri Lanka: Rajapaksa’s Win in Local Elections Sets Off Alarm Bells in Government

The former president’s Sri Lanka People’s Front won about 230 councils out of 341. The incumbent’s party only got just over 8% of the vote. Some call for early parliamentary elections. For others, the defeat should be a lesson to the government to keep its promises.

Colombo (AsiaNews) — Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s party won big in local elections on Saturday in the first poll since January 2015, when incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena was elected.

Sources told AsiaNews that the resounding defeat is a loud wake-up call for the ruling party, and should be a spur to keep its campaign promises, which it has not yet fulfilled, starting with corruption and national reconciliation. The latter remains a top priority in the wake of the country’s 30-year civil war that pitted the military against Tamil Tigers.

Out of a total of 341 local authorities, the Sri Lanka People’s Front, commonly known by its Sinhalese name Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), won 44.65 per cent of the vote, taking 230 local councils.

The United National Party (UNP) of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe came in second place with 32.63 per cent. The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) of President Sirisena came in third with 8.94 per cent.

Following the poor showing, a number of cabinet ministers called on the president to sack the prime minister and replace him with someone from the UNP.

Former President Rajapaksa responded to the unexpected victory by calling for the immediate dissolution of the national parliament and fresh elections. The latter would normally come to an end in 2020.

In 2014 Sirisena quit as Rajapaksa’s health minister and split from the then ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) coalition.

In 2015 he won the presidency thanks to a delicate balancing act between left-of-centre and right-of-centre parties, united by a desire to remove Rajapaska from office. The latter had starting to act as a dictator after his victory over Tamil rebels, and had been accused of corruption and war crimes.

For Megapolis and Western Development Minister Patali Champika, “The vote shows that the coalition government has not implemented its promises” like social peace, decentralisation, fight against corruption and limiting the power of the military. It “must carry out the reforms. A democratic government must always take into account the opinion of the people “.

According to Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party, “the government has failed because it has not been able to free the nation from the debt trap and economic turmoil.”

For many in Colombo the defeat represents “a good lesson for the government, which has not kept the promises [it made during] the electoral campaign.”

For others, “they are reaping what they sowed. The president and the prime minister must learn from this defeat and work hard over the next two years if they want another victory in 2020.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

A Korean Thaw?

[…]

ST: Unfortunately we have seen many ups and downs over the decades, including the early years of this century when the two teams also appeared jointly at various events—and then something would happen to bring the relations back to the crisis mode. Right now, the South Koreans went out of their way to present at least the impression of an improvement. They actually won the agreement of the United States, of Vice President Pence, to start talking to the North Koreans without preconditions. Previously the American position was that they would not talk to Pyongyang unless the North was committed upfront to the process of denuclearization.

In the long term that will be the sticking point. For Kim Jong Un to accept publicly any notion of getting rid of nuclear weapons—which form such an important part of both the North Korean defense strategy and their rhetoric—is simply unthinkable. That would entail the kind of loss of face that it cannot be imagined. On the other hand, the South Koreans are extremely concerned that some hasty action from Washington could put them at risk. After all, if there is an attempt by the U.S. to launch a preemptive attack against North Korea, it is the cities in South Korea, and above all its capital Seoul, that would probably suffer the most.

Q: One thing that seems obvious is that the United States will be trying to serve as a wedge in any thaw in the relations. Do you see any sign of that at this point?

ST: We have seen it before. Whenever the North and the South get too cozy, there is a signal from Washington to the South that they should step back a little…

           — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic [Return to headlines]
 

Admiral Warns US Must Prepare for Possibility of War With China

The navy admiral nominated to be the next US ambassador to Australia has told Congress America must prepare for the possibility of war with China, and said it would rely on Australia to help uphold the international rules-based system in the Asia-Pacific.

In an excoriating assessment of China’s increasingly muscular posture in the region, Harry Harris said Beijing’s “intent is crystal clear” to dominate the South China Sea and that its military might could soon rival American power “across almost every domain”.

Harris, soon to retire as the head of US Pacific Command in Hawaii, told the House armed services committee, the US and its allies should be wary of Beijing’s military expansionism in the region, and condemned China’s foreign influence operations, predatory economic behaviour and coercion of regional neighbours.

“China’s intent is crystal clear. We ignore it at our peril,” he said. “I’m concerned China will now work to undermine the international rules-based order.”

Harris also warned of a “cult of personality” developing around Chinese president Xi Jinping.

Harris praised Australia as one of America’s staunchest allies in the Asia-Pacific region, noting existing military cooperation at air force bases in the Northern Territory, joint naval exercises and the regular rotation of 1,500 marines through Darwin.

“Australia is one of the keys to a rules-based international order,” Harris said. “I look to my Australian counterparts for their assistance, I admire their leadership in the battlefield and in the corridors of power in the world.

“They are a key ally of the United States and they have been with us in every major conflict since world war one.”

           — Hat tip: Bill Keezer [Return to headlines]
 

Hong Kong Catholics to the Bishops of the World: Stop the Possible Agreement Between China and the Holy See

Academics, lawyers, human rights activists ask the Holy See to demand greater guarantees of freedom in the appointment of bishops and religious freedom in the country. Xi Jinping scepticism towards China. “ Rushing for a quick achievement, taking a wrong step, can result in total failure”.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) — “An irreversible and regrettable mistake “: this is how a group of Catholic personalities in Hong Kong and in the world defines the possible agreement between China and the Holy See on bishops’ nominations, reported by some media as “imminent”. In an open letter addressed to the bishops of the world they ask them to ask the Holy See to stop the agreement and to re-set it with precise guarantees on the pontiff’s freedom to appoint bishops and with guarantees of true religious freedom for Christians and society . Among the signatories are academics, lawyers, human rights activists. Here is the text of the petition sent to AsiaNews, also found on the site

An Open Letter to Conferences of Catholic Bishops Across the World Regarding the Possible Agreement Between the Holy See and the Government of the People’s Republic of China

Your Eminence and Most Reverend,

We are a group of Catholics. Recently there has been news reports indicating that the Holy See and the government of the People’s Republic of China will soon reach an agreement over the issue of bishop appointment, as well as recognition of seven illicit “bishops”. We are deeply shocked and disappointed. With our love and allegiance to the Holy Mother Church, we hope you and the bishops conferences would pay attention to such development.

According to the teachings of the Holy Mother Church, bishops are the successors of the Apostles, bearing the duties of leading and tending the flock: “The Church is apostolic. She is built on a lasting foundation: “the twelve apostles of the Lamb” ( Rev 21:14). She is indestructible (Mt 16:18). She is upheld infallibly in the truth: Christ governs her through Peter and the other apostles, who are present in their successors, the Pope and the college of bishops.”(Catechism, 869) All bishops must therefore be appointed by the Successor of Peter — the Holy Father, the Pope. And they must be men of moral principles and wisdom. The government must play no role in the selection process:

“[T]he right of nominating and appointing bishops belongs properly, peculiarly, and per se exclusively to the competent ecclesiastical authority. Therefore, for the purpose of duly protecting the freedom of the church and of promoting more conveniently and efficiently the welfare of the faithful, this holy council desires that in future no more rights or privileges of election, nomination, presentation, or designation for the office of bishop be granted to civil authorities.” (Christus Dominus, para. 20)

Yet, the seven illicit “bishops” were not appointed by the Pope, and their moral integrity is questionable. They do not have the trust of the faithful, and have never repented publicly. If they were to be recognized as legitimate, the faithful in Greater China would be plunged into confusion and pain, and schism would be created in the Church in China.

We fully understand that the Holy See is eager to be able to evangelize in China more effectively. However, we are deeply worried that the deal would create damages that cannot be remedied. The Communist Party in China, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, has repeatedly destroyed crosses and churches, and the Patriotic Association maintains its heavy-handed control over the Church. Religious persecution has never stopped. Xi has also made it clear that the Party will strengthen its control over religions. So there is no possibility that the Church can enjoy more freedom. In addition, the Communist Party has a long history of breaking promises. We are worried that the agreement would not only fail to guarantee the limited freedom desired by the Church, but also damage the Church’s holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity, and deal a blow to the Church’s moral power. The Church would no longer be able to have the trust of people, and “serves as a leaven and as a kind of soul for human society as it is to be renewed in Christ and transformed into God’s family.” (Gaudium et Spes, 40)

In his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, our beloved Pope Francis writes: “Sometimes I wonder if there are people in today’s world who are really concerned about generating processes of people-building, as opposed to obtaining immediate results which yield easy, quick short-term political gains, but do not enhance human fullness… The Lord himself, during his earthly life, often warned his disciples that there were things they could not yet understand and that they would have to await the Holy Spirit (Jn 16:12-13). The parable of the weeds among the wheat (Mt 13:24-30) graphically illustrates an important aspect of evangelization: the enemy can intrude upon the kingdom and sow harm, but ultimately he is defeated by the goodness of the wheat.” (224-225) The Spirit of God sometimes does not allow us to proceed. (ref. Act 16:6) Though the force of evil is growing, time belongs to God. By putting our trust in the Lord, the dark night will eventually pass. Rushing for a quick achievement, taking a wrong step, can result in total failure.

His Holiness has always been attentive to the sufferings of persecuted Christians. He once said: “Legal systems, therefore, whether state or international, are called upon to recognize, guarantee and protect religious freedom, which is an intrinsic right inherent to human nature, to the dignity of being free, and is also a sign of a healthy democracy and one of the principal sources of the legitimacy of the State.” “It causes me great pain to know that Christians in the world submit to the greatest amount of such discrimination. Persecution against Christians today is actually worse than in the first centuries of the Church, and there are more Christian martyrs today than in that era.”[i]

We believe that persecution of Christians in China also pains His Holiness. Therefore, we urge that any agreement must be grounded in the protection of religious freedom, and an end to religious persecution. Unfortunately, as a newly-revised Regulation on Religious Affairs, which allows for stricter scrutiny over religions, has just been put into effect in early February, we cannot see any possibility that the coming agreement can result in the Chinese government stopping its persecution of the Church, and ceasing its violations of religious freedom.

Your Eminence and Most Reverend, we earnestly hope that, you, your brothers and your flock continue to pray for the communion of the Church in China, as well as her pastoral ministry. We earnestly ask you, with the love on the people of God, appeal to the Holy See: Please rethink the current agreement, and stop making an irreversible and regrettable mistake.

May the Almighty God bless the Church in China!

Martyr Saints of China, pray for us!

The initiators are university professors, lecturers, researchers, human rights activists and lawyers:

Dr. Kenneth Ka-lok Chan (Hong Kong)

Prof. Joseph Yu-shek Cheng (Hong Kong)

Mr. Yiu-leung Cheung (Hong Kong)

Dr Rodney Wai-chi Chu (Hong Kong)

Dr. Martin C. K. Chung (Hong Kong)

Mr. Yan-ho Lai (Hong Kong)

Dr. Wing-kwan Lam (Hong Kong)

Dr. Lisa Yuk-ming Leung (Hong Kong)

Mr. Kwok-ming Ma (Hong Kong)

Mr. Chit-wai John Mok (Irvine, US)

Dr. Yik-fai Tam (San Francisco, US)

Prof. Wai Ting (Hong Kong)

Mr. Yiu-ming To (Hong Kong)

Mr. Benedict Rogers (London, UK)

Mr. Patrick Yu (Northern Ireland, UK)

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Hong-Kong-Catholics-to-the-bishops-of-the-world:-Stop-the-possible-agreement-between-China-and-the-Holy-See-43079.html

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Philippines: The Diocese of San Jose Promoting Organic Farming

Farming is the main activity for 80 per cent of the population of a region known as the country’s rice greenery. The local Church has undertaken various social development initiatives, including women’s empowerment and a feeding programme for children.

Manila (AsiaNews) — The diocese of San Jose, in northern Philippines, has decided to promote integrated organic agriculture to empower farmers.

Speaking to AsiaNews, the local bishop, Mgr Roberto Calara Mallari, said that the initiative is designed to meet the needs of the local population, “80 per cent of whom are farmers, who need the Church’s support and guidance. Through the diocesan Social Services Centre, farmers acquire skills and know-how to boost the local economy.

The diocese is about 130 km from the capital Manila, in the province of Nueva Ecija. Created in 1984, it is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan. Some 700,000 Catholics live in the area, served by 45 priests and 20 nuns in 21 parishes.

The most recent challenges are illegal mining, the rise of rebel groups and unstable weather.

The region is known as the country’s rice greenery, with rice as the staple food, Mgr Mallari said. “Our farmers don’t know how to grow organic rice. We encourage them to opt for medicinal plants, as well as indigenous alternative medicine.”

The diocese is also involved in “empowering women,” the prelate said. “Women need skills to take advantage of job opportunities. Through the diocesan family life [programme], we are trying to empower them to become agents of social change.”

Likewise, the diocese has “feeding programme” for children “so that they can have a healthy life.” In fact, “For a child, nutritious food is important to grow into a healthy person.”

“When children lack nutritious food, their brain development is affected. When that happens, they may not develop into productive adults later.” At the same time, “Our feeding programme is part of a broader social project.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Australia ‘Under Attack’ For 15 Years From Group of Muslim Men, Judge Tells Court — ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Australia has been “under attack” from a group of Muslim men wanting “to kill as many unbelievers as they can” for about 15 years, a Supreme Court judge has said.

Justice Desmond Fagan made the comments while sentencing Tamim Khaja, 20, who pleaded guilty in October to planning and preparing a terrorist attack two years ago.

The then 18-year-old was arrested while preparing for a lone wolf massacre, either at the US embassy in Sydney, an Army barracks in western Sydney, or at a court complex at Parramatta.

Counsel for the defendant, Ian Temby QC, tendered to the court a list of recent sentences handed down to other men who had been convicted of terror offences.

In response, Justice Fagan told the court that Australia had “been under attack for 15 years by about 40 Muslim men, to kill as many unbelievers as they can and impose Sharia law.”

“The ideology that underlies each is Islam.”…

           — Hat tip: JP1683 [Return to headlines]
 

Kiwi Teenager Radicalised Online Planned Mass Killing in Christchurch ‘For Allah’

A Kiwi teenager radicalised online planned to ram a car into a group of people in Christchurch and then stab them.

The teenager wrote a goodbye note to his mother, then started a violent incident, but has since told a psychologist when it began he “decided not to hurt anybody because he did not have the means to kill enough people”, Crown prosecutor Chris Lange told the Christchurch District Court at sentencing on Thursday.

“The reason no-one was hurt was that he did not have access to knives,” Lange said. But there was significant premeditation, and hostility towards non-Muslims.

After his arrest, the youth told police he was angry and had “done it for Allah”. He had left school at age 15, become socially isolated, and converted to Islam.

The court has adopted a rehabilitative approach to the teen’s sentencing, with Judge Stephen O’Driscoll releasing him on intensive supervision with a list of conditions and a warning that if he breaches the conditions or reoffends, he will likely be sent to prison…

           — Hat tip: BMcN [Return to headlines]
 

‘Maximum Fire, I Want to Take as Many of Them Down as I Can’: Muslim Extremist, 20, Who Planned Sydney Terror Attack Said He Wouldn’t Have Hesitated Shooting a Two-Month-Old Baby

Tamil Khaja, 20, who’s pleaded guilty to preparing for or planning a terrorist act, had begun to scope out potential target buildings in Sydney including the Parramatta District Court precinct.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

New Zealand Thug Caught Laughing and Taking Selfies Outside of Court After Being Found Guilty of Horrific One-Punch Attack During Schoolies Week is Deported

Frankie Roman Jeretic, 21, pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm. The sickening attack took place at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast on November 27.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Tarneit Residents Want to Move on Following Summer of Hate

Lizabeth is done. Fed up with living in fear of teen thugs running riot in her front yard and in a park across the street, the mother and grandmother from Tarneit in Melbourne’s northwest is moving house and says nothing will change her mind.

With her two daughters, her nephew, and grandson Byron, 2, the meat worker lives opposite Tarneit’s Ecoville Community Hub, a space that attracted a wave of media attention over the summer after it was trashed and defaced by local African Australian and Islander youths.

Since the headlines, the community has tidied up the space and the street has been patrolled near round the clock by police. But for Liz, it isn’t enough.

“We are still moving, it doesn’t matter. We just want to be away from the park because of this little guy,” she says, glancing down at her grandson Byron. “They might turn around and come back. We just want to be aware.”

She is speaking to The Weekend Australian less than two months after federal politicians slammed the Andrews government’s handling of law and order, following a series of frightening street-gang attacks across Melbourne during December and early last month.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Terrifying Morning for Residents as Bullets Are Fired at Three Houses — Injuring One Man — as Police Hunt the Offenders

The hunt is on to find the offenders who shot bullets into homes and one man in the leg in Sydney’s west early Saturday. Police want to speak to anyone who saw a white car in the vicinity at the time.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Why Was She Let in? Bangladeshi Student Was Denied Entry to Turkey But Was Granted an Australian Visa Before She Was Charged Over ‘ISIS-Inspired’ Stabbing

Bangladesh counter-terrorism authorities said Momena Shoma, 24, was refused a Turkish visa in late 2014 before winning her Australian study visa and travelling to Melbourne on February 1.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Culture Shock: Italians Aghast as Immigrants Barbecue Dog at Welcome Center

Animal rights activists are up in arms over attempts to barbecue a dog at an immigrant welcome center in southern Italy, with migrants insisting the practice is normal where they come from.

Members of the Carabinieri, an Italian military police force, intervened immediately after receiving a call from an employee of the center who had witnessed the scene of a 29-year-old Nigerian man intent on roasting a dog at the center in Vibo Valentia, in the Italian region of Calabria.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Feminist Sweden Allows Migrant Men to Have More Than One Woman

Swedish newspaper Dagens Juridik says there are at least 307 polygamists registered in the country.

While it’s illegal in Sweden to marry more than one partner, hundreds of migrants do have a valid polyamorous relationship.

The Swedish tax agency registered 307 of these kinds of relationships, with 152 persons involved being men and 155 being women. There are about 38 marriages between more than two people in Sweden, the Dagens Juridik reports.

According to the newspaper, the increase in polyamorous marriages is caused by the surge in immigration from Muslim countries. If the marriage is registered and valid in the migrant’s country of origin, Sweden will accept it, the newspaper says.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Hungary Rejects the UN’s Position That Migration Has a Positive Effect

Janos Lazar, Hungary’s chief of the prime minister’s office, said he rejects the UN’s position that migration has a positive effect on the economy.

Although there’s a difference of opinion, the chief of the government office said his country will continue talks with the UN about the current migrant package.

According to Lazar the plans to “remove legal or physical barriers and open up borders” are unacceptable. He added that “making migration organised, continuous, and legitimate” is against Hungary’s interests.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Voodoo Used on Nigerian Girl to Make Her Prostitute

In Castel Volturno near Naples

(ANSA) — Caserta, February 14 — Voodoo rites were used on a Nigerian minor to make her prostitute herself, as well as beatings and threats against her family in Nigeria, police in Caserta northwest of Naples said Wednesday. Police arrested three people from Ghana and Nigeria: two Nigerian women, Joy Kingsley, 48, and 38-year-old Edith Osazuwa; and a Ghanaian man, 32-year-old Seare Seth Asare. The girl suffered the mistreatment and rites at Castel Volturno near Caserta, where there is a large African community, police said. The town, dubbed a ‘banlieue’ by the media, hosts some 20,000 foreigners, almost three quarters of them irregular immigrants.

The Nigerian mafia controls prostitution rackets there as well as the abduction of young woman, mostly from Nigeria and neighbouring countries.

The three arrestees are accused of various crimes including putting a person into slavery.

As well as the young Nigerian girl forced to prostitute herself, police said the trio were also holding two other foreigners who were made to work the Domiziana state highway.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Bonino Slams Berlusconi’s Migrant Deportation Vow

‘Most fanciful pledge I’ve heard’

(ANSA) — Rome, February 16 — Europa leader Emma Bonino on Friday slammed ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s campaign pledge to deport 600,000 irregular migrants.

“It’s the most fanciful promise I’ve heard on the trail for the March 4 general election,” said the former foreign minister and ex-European commissioner.

She said she had “never heard as many electoral promises as in this election campaign, form all parties”.

+Europa is allied with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) of ex-premier Matteo Renzi.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy’s Former Northern League Hunts Votes in the South

Once despised in the south for its staunch support for richer northern regions, Italy’s League party hit the campaign trail on Thursday in former enemy territory as a self-styled bulwark against unchecked immigration.

The ancient city of Matera in the Basilicata region, the historic centre of which is a Unesco World Heritage Site, hosted the party’s leader Matteo Salvini, who has dropped its traditional ire towards “profiteering” southerners in favour of railing against what he called a “migrant invasion”.

“Those in Matera who choose the League choose order, rules, cleanliness … and above all one concept: Italians first,” said Salvini, under whom the League has dropped “Northern” from its name ahead of next month’s general election.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Migrants: Ombudsman: Spain’s Hosting Program Inadequate

Proposal for protocol to improve assistance

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 16 — Spain’s human rights ombudsman on Friday urged Spain to change its protocol of intervention to improve the assistance it provides to undocumented migrants who reach the country.

Addressing a mixed commission of the Congress and the Senate, the ‘Defender of the People’ Francisco Fernandez Marugan, slammed Spain’s handling of illegal immigration as “inefficient, insufficient and cruel on too many occasions”.

“Spain must be prepared to ensure that these people return to their country of origin in dignified conditions, guaranteeing their safety”, Marugan was quoted as saying by El Pais.

After visits carried out in temporary migrant hosting centers in Algesiras, Malaga, Motril, Almeria, Cartagena and Murcia, the ombudsman spoke about “inadequate conditions” when foreigners are first hosted and in the assistance provided to them, reporting the presence of “mothers with children in cells, unaccompanied minors and men sleeping on the floor”.

It proposed a protocol of intervention with adequate structures, specialized personnel, the presence of representatives of international organizations and civil society. In order to confront in a more effective way “an ever-changing reality”, Francisco Fernandez Marugan suggested to form teams that can be immediately dispatched to handle situations on the ground, identifying those who are especially vulnerable”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Two Germans Have Already Died Because of Treatments by Unqualified Migrant Doctors

Germany’s medical chamber has ringed the alarm bell after two deadly incidents with migrant doctors, the Neue Westfälische reports

Their insufficient expertise is affecting the care of patients in Germany, the chambers President, Theodore Windhorst says. While the chamber checks the linguistic skills of its doctors, it does not check their professional competence.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

6 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/16/2018

  1. A little bit of Russia in your tape. Latest news on request “migrant crime”

    Serial migrants robbers were detained in the Leningrad region.
    https://news-r.ru/news/saint_petersburg/194652/

    An illegal migrant raped a young girl from Sakhalin.
    http://ujnosahalinsk.bezformata.ru/listnews/nasilstvennih-dejstviyah-nad-maloletnej/64941616/

    A young migrant raped a schoolgirl in St. Petersburg
    http://sanktpeterburg.bezformata.ru/listnews/migrant-nadrugalsya-nad-shkolnitcej/64941757/

    A migrant from Tajikistan raped his daughter in St. Petersburg for several years
    https://neva.today/news/migrant-iz-tadzhikistana-neskolko-let-nasiloval-svoyu-doch-v-peterburge-147692/

    A girl wounded by a migrant with a knife in the neck in the street of the Uprising, is in a coma
    http://konkretno.ru/kriminal/106598-sledstvie-razyskivaet-migranta-udarivshego-devushku-nozhom-na-ulice-vosstaniya.html

    The mass brawl of migrants ended with a stabbing in the West of Moscow (2018)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqVjME_Kw8E

    Bloody vendetta. Migrant killed 11-year-old boy to take revenge on his mother-in-law
    http://www.spb.aif.ru/incidents/criminal/krovavaya_vendetta_migrant_ubil_11-letnego_malchika_chtoby_otomstit_teshche

    • In the US, there is an attorney named Robert Mueller who thinks it’s illegal for Russians to opine on American politics.

      So be careful.

        • It would appear that Reader from Chicago’s comment was intended to be about the current Russian government. IMHO. Or maybe meant for our U.S. deep state.

          • Russians usually have a strong sense of irony (God knows they’ve needed it); maybe Elena’s was temporarily switched off?

Comments are closed.