Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/18/2018

Italian authorities seized a migrant rescue vessel at the port of Pozzallo in Sicily. The day before the seizure, the NGO Proactiva Open Arms had used the boat to pick up 216 migrants off the coast of Libya.

In other news, a fourth explosion occurred in Austin, Texas this evening. This one sent two people to the hospital with serious injuries.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Charles Low, CrossWare, Dean, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, Upananda Brahmachari, Vlad Tepes, 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.

USA
» Chuck Schumer: Republican Leadership Has ‘Obligation’ To Stop Trump From Firing Robert Mueller
» Deep State Attacks: Gov’t ‘Fusion Centers’ Spying on Patriots Concerned About Islam
» Defense Official: Trump is Serious About Creating a Space Force
» Donald Trump Berates Mueller’s ‘Biased’ Russia Inquiry
» Durbin Says ‘Friend’ Hillary Clinton’s Comments About American Voters ‘Wrong’
» Elon Musk Calls for Colony on Mars to Prevent New Dark Age
» Increasing Calls for Adoption of the ‘Chicago Statement’ On Free Expression
» Massachusetts: Holy Cross College Removes ‘Crusaders’ Mascot Over ‘Islamophobia’ Concerns
» Reported Explosion in Austin, Texas, Injures 2 as Serial Bomber Still at Large
» Robert Spencer Video: Why the Political and Media Elites Push the “Islamophobia” Myth So Hard
» Trump Lawyers Seek $20m in Damages From Porn Star Stormy Daniels
» Trump: Never Saw McCabe Take Notes, ‘Can We Call Them Fake Memos?’
» Two Men Injured in Explosion in Southwest Austin
» University Offers Guide on ‘Talking to Kids About Whiteness’
» Water on Dwarf Planet Ceres is Driving an Active Surface
 
Canada
» Ottawa: Vandalized Buddhist Statue Prompts Police Investigation.
 
Europe and the EU
» Ancient Port City Found Near Naples
» Angry Islanders: Why France Faces Protests Overseas
» Another US$ 100 Million Pledged at Palestinian Refugee Conference in Rome
» Anti-Racists Protest Against Austrian Government
» Danish Social Democrat Leader Faces Criticism After ‘Using Ethnicity’ In Facebook Debate
» Dead Man Walking: Court Rejects Romanian’s Claim He’s Alive
» ‘Exceptional’ Problems in Sweden’s Vulnerable Suburbs: Report
» Facebook Bans Britain First Pages
» Four Meals From Anarchy: How Britain Would Collapse in Just Days if Power Supply is Cut
» German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer Calls for More Internal Border Controls
» Germany: Mohammad and His Gang Abuse and Rape Two German Teen Girls; One Was Freed After Three Days
» Germany: 20-Year-Old Syrian Charged With Plotting Mass Casualty Terror Attack
» ‘I Didn’t Fight Against French Algeria to Accept an Algerian France’: Bardot Slams Modern-Day France
» Italy Vote Shook EU — Merkel-Macron
» Italy: 151,000 Euros Seized From Ex-Magistrate Ingroia
» Kurds in Germany March Against Turkey’s ‘Massacre’ In Afrin
» Left-Islamist Rotterdam Coalition Collapses After ‘Israel = ISIS’ Tweet
» Merkel to Push for EU Unity on Delicate Poland Trip
» Microplastic Pollution in Oceans is Far Worse Than Feared, Say Scientists
» Narco Boats: The Legal Weapon of the Spanish Drug Trade
» Netherlands: Local Elections 2018: Rotterdam Left-Wing Alliance Collapses After Nida Tweet
» PEGIDA Founder Lutz Bachmann Banned From UK After Officials Find Speakers’ Corner Speech in Baggage
» Puigdemont: Waiting to Declare Catalonia Independence ‘Was a Trap’
» Racism and Islamophobic ‘Getting Worse in Scotland’
» Sweden: Manufacturer in Heavily Muslim Malmö Gets Record Orders for Bulletproof Glass
» Thousands Gather in London’s Speakers’ Corner to Hear Tommy Robinson Deliver Banned Right-Wing Activist’s Speech
» UK: “You May Stop the Speaker But You Will Not Stop the Speech”: Tommy Robinson Delivers Martin Sellner’s Address at Speaker’s Corner
» UK: Lecturer is Banned From Giving Talk on Free Speech at His Own University After Being Blasted by Hard-Left Activists
» UK: Machete Attack in Manchester City Centre Bar
» UK: Survivor of Muslim Rape Gangs Says Rapists Would Quote Quran to Her, Believed Their Actions Justified by Islam
» Utrecht Inhabited Far Longer Than Previously Thought
» Woman Moves From ‘Dangerous’ Sweden to ‘Safe’ Hungary and Many Follow Her
 
Balkans
» Serbia Measles Epidemic Claims 13 Lives
 
North Africa
» The Arab Spring’s Riskiest Legacy May be Egypt’s Baby Boom
 
Middle East
» Abu Dhabi Awards France’s Total Stakes in Oil Concessions
» Erdogan’s Unrequited Arab Love
» EU Billions Had ‘Limited’ Effect in Turkey, Audit Finds
» Syria War: Turkish-Led Forces Oust Kurdish Fighters From Heart of Afrin
» Turkey Moves to Arrest 68 for Alleged Gulen Links
» US Pastor Risks Life Imprisonment in Turkey, Over Suspected Coup Support
» US-Saudi-UAE Plan: Establish a ‘Conservative Front, ‘ Topple Erdogan, Stop Turkey…
 
Russia
» Russian Ex-Spy Possibly Poisoned Through Car’s Air Vents, Report Says
» Russia Election: Vladimir Putin Wins by Big Margin
» Russian Presidential Election, 2018
» Vladimir Putin Wins Russian Presidential Election With Over 73 Percent of the Vote
 
South Asia
» After Losing China, Jeff Bezos Really Wants to Win in India
» Bangladesh: The Manual for the ‘Perfect Terrorist’ Available Online
» BJP Anti-Minority Policies in North-Eastern India
» Non-Muslim Journalists Attacked by Suspected Muslim Rohingya Refugees in Jammu
» Sit-in-Hunger Protest Against Illegal Encroachment Upon Dhakeswari Temple Lands
» Speaking Up About Rape in Conservative Kazakhstan
» Sri Lanka Violence: Nationwide State of Emergency Lifted
 
Far East
» As Xi is Reappointed China’s President for Life, The Country’s Propaganda Kicks Into Gear
» China Warns Donald Trump Against Taiwan Military Ties
» China Anti-Corruption Chief Wang Qishan Named Xi Jinping’s Deputy
» China’s Global Dreams Give Its Neighbors Nightmares
» Forget Trade Wars. Trump’s ‘Taiwan Card’ Is China’s Real Worry
» Jeering China’s National Anthem in Hong Kong to be Punished With Three Years in Prison
» North Korean Diplomat Heads to Finland for Talks With US, South Korea
» Our Ancestors Mated With the Mystery ‘Denisovan’ People — Twice
» Philippines: The Hague Investigates Duterte’s Drug War, Manila Abandons the Rome Statute
 
Australia — Pacific
» Guam Archbishop Found Guilty in Child-Abuse Case
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» 320,000-Year-Old Stone Tools Push Back Origins of Human Innovation
» Advances in Human Behaviour Came Surprisingly Early in Stone Age
» Nigeria’s Christians Today, Europe’s Christians Tomorrow
 
Latin America
» Chile: Breathless Science
» Venezuela’s Hyperinflation is Breaking Deli Scales
 
Immigration
» 65-Year-Old Swedish Woman on Trial for ‘Hate Crime’ Describes Intensive Harassment From Police
» African, EU States Focus Anti-Trafficking Efforts at Source
» Belgium: More Transit Migrants Being Picked Up in West Flanders
» California Appoints First Undocumented Immigrant to Official Post
» Europe is Under a Migrant Invasion From the Middle East and Africa and Native-Born Europeans Will Soon be in the Minority After Countries ‘Surrendered With Their Hands Up’, Claims Hungary’s PM Orban
» France: Migrant Stabbed to Death in Calais
» Germany Turns on EU: Merkel’s Ally in Shock Rant at ‘Patronising’ EU Over Migrants
» Germany: AfD Politician Blasts Merkel: She Has Imported Women-Hating Violent Offenders and Belongs in Court
» Greece: At Least 16 Including Children, Die at Sea
» Greece: 3 Migrant Traffickers Arrested Near Turkey Border
» Jewish Leader: Banning Islamic Calls to Prayer Won’t Help Integration in Sweden
» Politicians Furious After MP Warns Chain Migration Bill Could Bring Germany-Style Terrorism, Sex Attacks to UK
» Report: Italians Seize NGO Migrant Rescue Ship in Sicily
» Spain: Six Arrested in Madrid Protest Over Migrant Death
» The Secret to Australia Avoiding Recession: Mass Immigration
 
General
» Astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell Explores Bach’s Cosmic Music
» Fossilized Brains of Ancient ‘Sea Monster’ Discovered in Greenland
 

Chuck Schumer: Republican Leadership Has ‘Obligation’ To Stop Trump From Firing Robert Mueller

Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer challenged Republican leadership to make clear to President Trump there will be consequences if he fires special counsel Robert Mueller.

“.@realDonaldTrump is floating trial balloons about derailing the Mueller investigation,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a tweet. “Our GOP colleagues, particularly the leadership, have an obligation to our country to stand up now and make it clear that firing Mueller is a red line for our democracy that cannot be crossed.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Deep State Attacks: Gov’t ‘Fusion Centers’ Spying on Patriots Concerned About Islam

Brenda Arthur received an unexpected visit on March 8 that, one week later, leaves her feeling more than a little uneasy.

At her door that day was an officer with the West Virginia State Police. He wanted to know about her involvement in a Freedom of Information request regarding a local mosque.

Arthur, who will turn 67 this summer, serves as leader of the West Virginia chapter of ACT For America, whose mission is to educate Americans about the advancement of Islamic principles in Western societies.

As a Jewish American, she was concerned about a major expansion of the Islamic Association of West Virginia in her hometown of South Charleston. This mosque has hosted an openly anti-Semitic preacher in the past, and so she went to city hall in late January to have a look at its construction permits and site plans, something that is within the right of every American citizen under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and state open-records laws.

She had no idea that this perfectly legal activity, performed every day by citizen watchdogs across the U.S., would prompt a visit from the state police.

Arthur was not available to answer the door when Sgt. R.C. Workman came knocking, but Workman left his business card with a hand-written note on the back:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Defense Official: Trump is Serious About Creating a Space Force

After President Trump told Marines in California that he believed the U.S. military should have a space force, there was confusion. Was he serious? Was it an off-the-cuff riff? And why would he endorse an idea adamantly opposed by his own Defense Department?

The president apparently was not joking.

“He is very interested in ensuring that the department is best organized and equipped to achieve our vital missions in space,” Kenneth Rapuano, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and global security, told lawmakers on Thursday.

Rapuano testified at a hearing of the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces on the administration’s fiscal year 2019 budget request for national security space programs.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Donald Trump Berates Mueller’s ‘Biased’ Russia Inquiry

Donald Trump has attacked special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the US presidential election he won in 2016.

He tweeted that the inquiry was unfair — and reiterated there had been “no collusion” between his election campaign and Russia.

He added that it was dominated by “hardened Democrats” and supporters of his defeated opponent Hillary Clinton.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Durbin Says ‘Friend’ Hillary Clinton’s Comments About American Voters ‘Wrong’

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat and loyal Hillary Clinton supporter, said Sunday that the party’s 2016 presidential nominee’s recent comments regarding American voters, President Trump and her failed White House bid were “wrong” and “not helpful.”

“It’s not helpful at all,” Durbin, the Senate majority whip, told “Fox News Sunday.” “My friend Hillary Clinton is wrong. … But we’re moving on to the next chapter of American history. It will be a different cast of characters completely.”

During a recent trip to India, Clinton said Americans didn’t “deserve” Trump, suggested Americans who voted for her came from more economically prosperous parts of the country, some who voted for Trump held racist or misogynist views and that female voters caved to pressure from men to vote for Trump.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Elon Musk Calls for Colony on Mars to Prevent New Dark Age

During his speech at SXSW, Elon Musk once again issued a warning of the need for a colony on Mars, The Guardian reported. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO said that humanity could one day enter a new dark age.

“There’s likely to be another dark ages … particularly if there’s a third world war,” Musk declared, according to The Verge.

Fear of this hypothetical dark age is one of the key factors behind Musk’s drive to colonize Mars. The moon is an option, but he believes that Mars is far enough away to be unaffected by any war that ravages Earth.

“It’s important to get a self-sustaining base on Mars because it’s far enough away from Earth that [in the event of a war] it’s more likely to survive than a moon base,” Musk warned. “If there’s a third world war we want to make sure there’s enough of a seed of human civilization somewhere else to bring it back and shorten the length of the dark ages,” he said in response to a question from West World showrunner Jonah Nolan.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Increasing Calls for Adoption of the ‘Chicago Statement’ On Free Expression

FIRE has touted the benefits of adopting a free speech policy modeled after the “Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression” at the University of Chicago (better known as the “Chicago Statement”) since its introduction in 2015. In recent weeks, several commentators have joined FIRE — and many others — to encourage colleges and universities to adopt a principled statement on freedom of expression.

In a recent Forbes article entitled “35 Universities Adopt ‘The Chicago Statement’ On Free Speech—1,606 To Go,” the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Tom Lindsay encourages institutions to adopt a free speech policy modeled after the Chicago Statement.

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

Massachusetts: Holy Cross College Removes ‘Crusaders’ Mascot Over ‘Islamophobia’ Concerns

After a month of indecision, the College of the Holy Cross has decided to cease using a Christian knight as its mascot despite a Board of Trustees decision to retain the “Crusader” moniker.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

Reported Explosion in Austin, Texas, Injures 2 as Serial Bomber Still at Large

Two men have been taken to the hospital after a blast reportedly rocked a neighborhood in Austin, Texas. The police have warned residents to stay away from the area.

The reports of the new explosion come a week after two package bombs went off in the city on Monday morning, killing a 17-year-old local and injuring two women. The teenager inadvertently triggered the device by opening the box after finding it on the steps of his home in a northeast Austin neighborhood, police said.

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

Robert Spencer Video: Why the Political and Media Elites Push the “Islamophobia” Myth So Hard

Today I spoke at a Young America’s Foundation national conference for high school students about “Islamophobia,” jihad terror, and why the establishment media and political elites exaggerate the former and ignore the latter.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Lawyers Seek $20m in Damages From Porn Star Stormy Daniels

Lawyers for US President Donald Trump are seeking $20 million (£14m) in damages from a porn actress he says broke a non-disclosure deal signed before the 2016 elections.

They argue Stormy Daniels breached the agreement at least 20 times.

The actress claims she had an affair with Mr Trump that began in 2006 and lasted several months.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Trump: Never Saw McCabe Take Notes, ‘Can We Call Them Fake Memos?’

President Trump responded Sunday to reports that fired FBI official Andrew McCabe took notes of their conversations, saying he never saw McCabe write down messages and suggesting the purported notes be called “fake memos,” like those purportedly taken by “lying James Comey” — the FBI director fired by Trump.

McCabe, the onetime FBI deputy director long scorned by Trump, was fired Friday evening, two days short of his retirement and receiving a full pension.

The firing was followed by reports that McCabe kept personal memos detailing interactions with the president. The memos reportedly have been provided to the office of the special counsel conducting the Russia investigation and are similar to the notes compiled by Comey.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Two Men Injured in Explosion in Southwest Austin

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Two men were rushed to the hospital Sunday evening after an explosion in southwest Austin.

Austin-Travis County EMS says it originally responded to 4721 Eagle Feather Dr. just after 8:30 p.m. for “unconfirmed reports of six patients on the ground.” The neighborhood is off of Southwest Parkway just west of South MoPac.

However, when they arrived, ATCEMS and Austin police say the only incident was on Dawn Song Drive, which is one block over. Two men in their 20s were taken to the hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries.

The Austin Police Department is asking homeowners on Dawn Song Drive to stay inside their homes and follow officers’ instructions.

Stan Malachowski was inside his home when he heard the noise, but didn’t think anything of it initially.

“It was loud enough to hear inside of our house with our windows and door shut. Again, airplanes go by and cars backfire so we didn’t think much of it,” says Malachowski

Malachowski and his family were out of town last week for spring break, but they had been following the bombing news.

“It’s not just an east Austin thing, or north Austin thing, it’s now southwest Austin. This is not good.” says Malachowski.

On Sunday afternoon, the Austin Police Department held a news conference pleading for the person responsible for the recent bombings to come forward before anyone else gets injured or killed.

“We want to understand what brought you to this point and we want to listen to you,” said Interim Chief of Police Brian Manley.

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

University Offers Guide on ‘Talking to Kids About Whiteness’

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County has compiled a new “resource for parents,” listing several articles with advice for “talking to kids about whiteness.”

The school asserts that the resource is necessary because of “all the race, national origin, class-based violence, anti-blackness, and anti-immigrant rhetoric in the media and the subsequent backlash from white-identified people and groups.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Water on Dwarf Planet Ceres is Driving an Active Surface

Growing patches of ice and minerals associated with liquid water reveal that the dwarf planet Ceres is still evolving.

Researchers studying the warmer region of Ceres — the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter — have noticed that a patch of ice has grown larger over time. In addition, a separate team found carbon-rich minerals on Ceres’ surface that do not last long . Together, the new discoveries suggest that water still has a powerful presence on the tiny world.

Using NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, the researchers studied the surface of the dwarf planet. The first team, led by Andrea Raponi, of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), found a growing patch of ice on Juling Crater, found in the midlatitudes. They suspect that water from the crater floor is condensing on the wall, causing a patch of ice to grow larger.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ottawa: Vandalized Buddhist Statue Prompts Police Investigation.

“Ottawa police are investigating a report of vandalism at a temple after a Buddha statue was destroyed overnight.

Police were called to the Hilda Jayewardenaramaya Buddhist Temple at 1481 Heron Rd. Friday morning after two monks who live there reported the damage.

The head of the statue, which sits outside the building, appears to have been smashed apart.

Manoj Da Silva, the temple’s treasurer, said the statue was installed about four months ago and cost approximately $8,000 to purchase and ship from Sri Lanka.

An iron bar believed to have been used to damage the statue was found nearby, according to Da Silva.”

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

Ancient Port City Found Near Naples

NAPLES, ITALY—ANSA reports that traces of the ancient port city of Palepolis have been discovered off the coast of Naples, near the Castel dell’Ovo. Underwater archaeologist Mario Negri said four tunnels, a ten-foot-wide street, and a trench have been found. “It’s a discovery that opens up a new scenario for reconstructing the ancient structure of Palepolis,” he said. The region was first settled some 3,000 years ago by merchants interested in minerals in the surrounding landscape, and eventually became a trade center fought over by the Greeks and the Etruscans, until the well-fortified city of Neapolis was built to the south. By the time of the Roman Empire, Palepolis had become home to patrician villas on the outskirts of Neapolis.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Angry Islanders: Why France Faces Protests Overseas

A month-long campaign of strikes and protests on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte has shone a light on the simmering resentment in some of France’s tropical outposts over perceived neglect by the state.

Supplies of fuel, drugs and other essentials are running dangerously low on the island of 250,000 people off southeast Africa as protesters dig in for more funding — and empathy — from Paris.

The spice island in the Comoros archipelago, which has been governed by France since the mid-1800s, is the fourth overseas territory to be paralysed by strikes over living conditions in the past decade.

An attack by a gang on a school lit the fuse on frustration over mass migration and growing lawlessness in France’s poorest department, which many link to the influx of arrivals by sea from neighbouring non-French Comoran islands.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Another US$ 100 Million Pledged at Palestinian Refugee Conference in Rome

With a shortfall of US$ 446 million, the UN agency faces the “worst financial crisis in its history” and could cut many critical services. The situation is due to the US decision to reduce its contribution. This “could push the suffering in disastrous and unpredictable directions.”

Rome (AsiaNews) — UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres today opened an Extraordinary Ministerial Conference in Rome, at FAO headquarters, to marshal support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine.

“We are here to help UNRWA overcome the worst financial crisis in its history,” Guterres said, adding that “Without a collective solution, UNRWA will soon run out of money.”

The latter is the UN agency dedicated to Palestinian refugees in the Occupied Territories, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. It began operations in 1950.

It is currently facing a financial crunch following the decision by the United States to suspend part of its aid. The US is UNRWA’s main donor.

The event was organised in collaboration with Egypt, Jordan and Sweden, and with the participation of the Arab League, the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation and the European Union.

Those attending included Foreign Ministers Ayman Safadi of Jordan, Margot Wallström of Sweden and Sameh Shoukry of Egypt, as well as European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini and UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krähenbühl.

In his address, Guterres said that the agency has a shortfall of US$ 446 million dollars.

“Critical services could be reduced or eliminated entirely — from schools to sanitation, from medicine to microfinance to food security for some 1.7 million refugees in abject poverty or affected by conflict. [. . .] This would have severe impacts — a cascade of problems that could push the suffering in disastrous and unpredictable directions.”

In the final press conference, organisers announced that donor countries had pledged an additional US$ 100 million, “a first step towards closing the entire shortfall,” said Krähenbühl.

At the end of the meeting, Jordanian Foreign Minister Safadi, Guterres and Krähenbühl thanked participants for their support and reiterated their commitment to providing the necessary services to Palestinian refugees.

In a note of optimism, in his speech, the Secretary General singled out the young people of Gaza, who are currently going through a serious humanitarian crisis.

“Yet in that place of uncertainty, the young people with whom I met were composed in talking about their situation. They spoke with passion about their commitment to democracy and their thirst for human rights. They shared with me their desire to make a difference in the world. In that place where hope is eroded daily, these students held on to their aspirations for the future.”

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

Anti-Racists Protest Against Austrian Government

Several thousand people braved snow and freezing temperatures in Vienna on Saturday to protest against what they called rising discrimination and racism in Austria.

Many carried placards condemning the government, which since December has been made up of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s conservative People’s Party (OeVP) and Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache’s far right Freedom Party (FPOe).

The government has made a crackdown on immigration one of its main priorities, pledging to speed up and toughen the asylum process and increase deportations. In last year’s elections Kurz stood on a platform of regaining control of Austria’s borders after the migrant crisis of 2015-16 saw more than 150,000 people seek asylum in the country of 8.7 million.

However, speakers at the rally, organised by left-wing and anti-racist groups, said the government’s policies risked stigmatising foreigners, making them scapegoats for social problems.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Danish Social Democrat Leader Faces Criticism After ‘Using Ethnicity’ In Facebook Debate

Mette Frederiksen, the leader of the opposition Social Democrat party, has been criticised after she appeared to suggest a commenter was less entitled to take part in debate because of her immigrant background.

Frederiksen responded to a comment from a user on her Facebook page who criticised the Social Democrat leader for her stance on immigration and an ongoing labour dispute in the Scandinavian country.

The commenter, a Danish-Somali woman, wrote that “the Social Democrats have lost my vote because of [Frederiksen]”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Dead Man Walking: Court Rejects Romanian’s Claim He’s Alive

Constantin Reliu lost his case because he appealed too late

(ANSA) — BUCHAREST — A Romanian court has rejected a man’s claim that he’s alive, after he was officially registered as deceased.

A court spokeswoman said Friday that 63-year-old Constantin Reliu lost his case in the northeast city of Vasului because he appealed too late. The ruling is final.

Media reported Reliu went to Turkey in 1992 for work and lost contact with his Romanian family. His wife managed to get a death certificate for him in 2016. “I am officially dead — he asid — although I’m alive, I have no income and because I am listed dead, I can’t do anything.”

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

‘Exceptional’ Problems in Sweden’s Vulnerable Suburbs: Report

A new report suggests that two fifths of residents in Sweden’s vulnerable areas feel unsafe when they are outdoors at night.

The “Relationship with the judiciary in socially vulnerable areas” report by Sweden’s National Council on Crime Prevention (Brå) used interviews with residents, police, business owners and public sector employees to assess the situation in the areas described by authorities as vulnerable.

One in three residents of the 61 areas say they feel there are significant problems with open drug dealing, as well as shootings. Many say certain individuals or groups prevent them from moving freely.

“The research shows problems in these areas that are likely to be exceptional in comparison to other residential areas. Open drug dealing occurs, while property damage, littering and serious traffic crimes impact the living environment. Some of the areas suffer serious violent crime for periods,” the report explains.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Facebook Bans Britain First Pages

Facebook has removed the pages of the anti-Islamic group Britain First and its leaders.

The social media company said the group had repeatedly violated its community standards.

Earlier this month, Britain First’s leader and deputy leader, Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen, were jailed after being found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment.

More than two million people had liked the group’s Facebook page.

The pages of Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen also had large followings.

Facebook says the decision to remove the pages was made after Britain First had ignored a final warning about the posting of material that broke its community standards.

The group will not be allowed to set up a replacement page.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Four Meals From Anarchy: How Britain Would Collapse in Just Days if Power Supply is Cut

British cities would be uninhabitable within days and the country is only a few meals from anarchy if the National Grid was taken down in a cyber attack or solar storm, disaster and security experts have warned.

Modern life is so reliant on electricity that a prolonged blackout would quickly lead to a loss of water, fuel, banking, transport and communications that would leave the country “in the Stone Age”.

The warning comes weeks after the Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson, said Russia had been spying on the UK’s energy infrastructure and could cause “thousands and thousands and thousands” of deaths if it crippled the power supply.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer Calls for More Internal Border Controls

The newly appointed interior minister has again caused controversy by calling for tighter internal border controls, just as the EU wants them to be eased. The EU was failing to control the external border, he said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Mohammad and His Gang Abuse and Rape Two German Teen Girls; One Was Freed After Three Days

Two German girls, aged 14 and 16, were allegedly raped in Berlin by six men. Mohammad S. and his buddy Wael I., are accused of gang rape among other things. During the act 22 photos and videos were made, Germany’s Bild reports.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: 20-Year-Old Syrian Charged With Plotting Mass Casualty Terror Attack

A 20-year-old Syrian national has been charged by German prosecutors with plotting a major radical Islamic terrorist attack which they claim could have killed up to 200 people.

The man, identified as Yamen A., has been brought up on charges of “preparing serious state-damaging violence,” according to a press release from the Public Prosecutor General.

The prosecutor said that the 20-year-old had been preparing explosive devices and was looking to perform a mass casualty terror attack on behalf of the Islamic State terror group.

Yamen A. is said to have become radicalised last summer and had determined in July of 2017 that he would perpetrate a terrorist attack in Hamburg. They say he wanted to blow himself up in a crowded area but were not totally positive on where the suspected terrorist would have carried out the attack.

In order to carry to the attack, prosecutors say he looked up bomb-making advice online and bought the needed chemicals to create a triacetontriperoxide (TATP) bomb. Investigators were able to find all the chemicals needed to create a TATP explosive device in his home.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘I Didn’t Fight Against French Algeria to Accept an Algerian France’: Bardot Slams Modern-Day France

French actress Brigitte Bardot has spoken out against the state of her country, saying that Islamists are “practically everywhere” and that France should not resemble Algeria.

Speaking to the French weekly Valeurs Actuelles, Bardot said that France is not what it once was. “I have been brought up in honor, patriotism, love and respect for my country, and when I see what it has become, I feel desperate,” she said.

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

Italy Vote Shook EU — Merkel-Macron

Together with Brexit, effects of crisis and migrants

(ANSA) — Paris, March 16 — The Italian general election won by two populist Euroskeptic parties “deeply shook” the EU along with Brexit, French President Emmanuel Macron said at a press conference in Paris with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Friday.

“The work awaiting us is important in a European context profoundly shaken by Brexit and the Italian elections,” he said, “which saw the extremes rise and allowed us to touch the consequences of a long economic crisis and the migratory challenges to which we were not able to respond,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: 151,000 Euros Seized From Ex-Magistrate Ingroia

Probe into misappropriation in role for Sicilian agency

(ANSA) — Palermo, March 16 — Italian finance police on Friday seized over 151,000 euros in assets from high-profile former magistrate Antonio Ingroia in relation to a probe into alleged misappropriation, sources said.

The investigation regards the role the former chief prosecutor of Palermo had for Sicilia e Servizi, an agency providing IT services for the region of Sicily.

Ingroia, who also had a brief and unsuccessful political career, was a liquidator for the agency and then became its administrator for a spell.

The assets seized are equivalent to a 117,000-euro payment for Ingroia’s duties as liquidator and around 34,000 in travel and expense reimbursements — money that Ingroia was allegedly not due, the sources said. An auditor for the agency is also under investigation, according to the sources. “I learned about the measure taken against me in the press, even before I was notified,” Ingroia said.

“My conscience is clear because I know I have always respected the law, as I have already clarified and as I will show in the competent forum”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Kurds in Germany March Against Turkey’s ‘Massacre’ In Afrin

Thousands of Kurds have staged peaceful protests in Hanover against Turkey’s offensive in Afrin and Germany’s foreign arms sales. The rallies came as violence over Afrin has spiked inside Germany in recent weeks.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Left-Islamist Rotterdam Coalition Collapses After ‘Israel = ISIS’ Tweet

A coalition between left-wing socialists and the Islamic extremist party Nida in the Dutch city of Rotterdam has collapsed after a tweet from Nida which called the state of Israel equal to the Islamic State terror group surfaced.

The coalition, which consisted of Nida, the Labour Party, the Greens, and the Social Democrats, was formed to combat the right-wing parties like the Party for Freedom (PVV) led by populist firebrand Geert Wilders in next week’s municipal elections, NL Times reports.

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

Merkel to Push for EU Unity on Delicate Poland Trip

BERLIN/WARSAW (Reuters) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel will emphasize bilateral ties and the need for European unity when she meets with top Polish officials, amid ongoing differences between the allies over Polish judicial reforms, migration and a new gas pipeline.

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

Microplastic Pollution in Oceans is Far Worse Than Feared, Say Scientists

A study reveals highest microplastic pollution levels ever recorded in a river in Manchester, UK and shows that billions of particles flooded into the sea from rivers in the area in just one year

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Narco Boats: The Legal Weapon of the Spanish Drug Trade

The Spanish government has threatened to ban these state-of-the-art inflatable speedboats, but so far nothing has come of the warning. Meanwhile, drug traffickers are willing to pay up to €180,000 for a 12-meter semi-rigid inflatable boat, which they use to cross the Strait of Gibraltar at 62 knots, around 120 kilometers per hour, loaded with tons of hashish that they pick up in Morocco.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Netherlands: Local Elections 2018: Rotterdam Left-Wing Alliance Collapses After Nida Tweet

A local election pact between left-wing parties and the Islamic group Nida in Rotterdam has collapsed following the emergence of a Nida tweet from 2014 comparing Israel to ISIS.

Both GroenLinks and the Labour party have pulled out of the alliance with Nida which was intended to function as a left-wing alternative to the port city’s current right-leaning council administration.

The tweet, in English, listed a number of points of supposed similarities between the Israeli government and Islamic State, which then controlled parts of Syria and Iraq. The claims included: ‘Illegally created “state”‘, ‘terrorising indigenous inhabitants’ and ‘funded by the West’…

           — Hat tip: CrossWare [Return to headlines]
 

PEGIDA Founder Lutz Bachmann Banned From UK After Officials Find Speakers’ Corner Speech in Baggage

PEGIDA founder Lutz Bachmann has been prevented from entering Britain to deliver a speech at Speakers’ Corner, partly on the grounds that he “knows” identitarian activist Martin Sellner.

Bachmann had planned on delivering a speech written by the Generation Identity leader, who was recently detained along with YouTube political pundit Brittany Pettibone and then ejected from the country, partly on the grounds that GI is “viewed in the UK as a right wing organization” and partly on the grounds that Pettibone intended to “interview Tommy Robinson — a far right leader whose materials and speeches incite racial hatred”, according to seemingly official documents.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Puigdemont: Waiting to Declare Catalonia Independence ‘Was a Trap’

Catalonia’s deposed leader Carles Puigdemont said in an interview published on Sunday that he should have declared independence earlier, as delaying the call in hopes of starting dialogue with Madrid proved futile.

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

Racism and Islamophobic ‘Getting Worse in Scotland’

Transport Minister Humza Yousaf and Labour MSP Anas Sarwar have told BBC Scotland that racism and Islamophobia are getting worse in Scotland.

Earlier this week, a Dumfries and Galloway Labour councillor who admitted making an Islamophobic comment about Mr Yousaf was suspended by his party.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Manufacturer in Heavily Muslim Malmö Gets Record Orders for Bulletproof Glass

A Swedish manufacturer in Skåne county, home of the heavily migrant populated city of Malmö, has announced a record multi-million Krona order for bulletproof glass which the company describes as used for protecting against terrorist attacks.

Hammerglass has so far refused to say who made the 18 million Swedish Krona (£1.56 million/$2.2 million) order for glass which is advertised as being able to withstand the pressure from an explosion of the equivalent of 100 kilogrammes of explosive TNT, Swedish business paper 8till5, reports.

The company has also refused to say where the bulletproof glass and doors will be installed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Thousands Gather in London’s Speakers’ Corner to Hear Tommy Robinson Deliver Banned Right-Wing Activist’s Speech

Thousands of free speech enthusiasts, alongside a handful of hard-left and Islamist opposition, gathered at Speakers’ Corner in London’s Hyde Park this afternoon to hear a speech written by Generation Identity’s Martin Sellner, delivered by former EDL leader Tommy Robinson.

Sellner was banned from entry by the UK government earlier this month, for daring to lead a right-wing organisation which sheds light on Islamic extremism and mass migration on the continent of Europe.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: “You May Stop the Speaker But You Will Not Stop the Speech”: Tommy Robinson Delivers Martin Sellner’s Address at Speaker’s Corner

Today, Tommy Robinson delivered a speech on behalf of Generation Identitaire’s Martin Sellner who was detained by the Home Office when he tried to enter the UK last week. The crowd numbered in the thousands and a large number of police attended as well.

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

UK: Lecturer is Banned From Giving Talk on Free Speech at His Own University After Being Blasted by Hard-Left Activists

A lecturer has been prevented from giving a talk about free speech at his own university after he was criticised by hard-Left activists.

Dr Adam Perkins, who teaches psychology at King’s College London, was told his event was being postponed because it had been assessed as ‘high risk’.

The talk, which was scheduled to take place on campus yesterday, was called The Scientific Importance of Free Speech.

But officials became worried it could be gatecrashed by demonstrators who are opposed to Dr Perkins’s research.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Machete Attack in Manchester City Centre Bar

A man has been attacked with a machete in a city centre bar.

The victim, who is in his 30s, is in hospital with life-changing injuries after he was assaulted at Barca on Catalan Square in Manchester at about 22:10 GMT on Friday.

He was attacked inside the bar after asking a man who had shouted abuse at a group to calm down, police said.

Det Insp Mark Davis, from Greater Manchester Police, said it was a “chilling” attack on an “innocent man”.

The three offenders fled from the scene on foot and with a bicycle.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Survivor of Muslim Rape Gangs Says Rapists Would Quote Quran to Her, Believed Their Actions Justified by Islam

I’m a Rotherham grooming gang survivor. I call myself a survivor because I’m still alive. I’m part of the UK’s largest ever child sexual abuse investigation.

As a teenager, I was taken to various houses and flats above takeaways in the north of England, to be beaten, tortured and raped over 100 times. I was called a “white slag” and “white c**t” as they beat me.

They made it clear that because I was a non-Muslim, and not a virgin, and because I didn’t dress “modestly”, that they believed I deserved to be “punished”. They said I had to “obey” or be beaten.

Fear of being killed, and threats to my parents’ lives, made it impossible for me to escape for about a year. The police didn’t help me.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Utrecht Inhabited Far Longer Than Previously Thought

UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS—Dutch News reports that people lived in Utrecht some 8,000 years earlier than previously thought. Archaeologist Linda Dielemans said postholes and artifacts dating back 11,000 years were found at a city construction site. The artifacts include flint and tools crafted during the Mesolithic, the Neolithic, and Bronze Age. A piece of wood carved with a face was also recovered from a waterlogged area.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Woman Moves From ‘Dangerous’ Sweden to ‘Safe’ Hungary and Many Follow Her

In an interview with Hungarian news channel M1, a woman says she left Sweden after 40 years because of increasing migrant crime.

The woman now lives in Hungary and according to her, “There is no safety at all” in Sweden and “things have gotten worse”. She says she is not the only one leaving the country; others in Sweden are doing the same and “Left the country as well”.

The woman now lives in Hungary, a country that is “the safest” because of its laws and migration policies, she says.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Serbia Measles Epidemic Claims 13 Lives

3,650 contagions, authorities renew vaccinations call

(ANSAmed) — Belgrade, March 16 — A further two people have died in Serbia from measles-related complications, taking the death toll since the start of the epidemic last October to 13. In total the Serbian haelth authorities have registered 3,650 cases of measles.

In over 95% of cases, the infected persons were not vaccinated or were only partly vaccinated, the authorities said, renewing their call for vaccinations. However, experts say the epidemic has peaked and that the number of contagions should now gradually decline.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

The Arab Spring’s Riskiest Legacy May be Egypt’s Baby Boom

In 2000, the United Nations was projecting that Egypt’s population would hit 96 million in 2026. It passed that mark last year, a decade early. The government now projects a population of 127 million by 2030, if the fertility rate isn’t brought down. “It’s the bomb of the Middle East,” says Khalifa, speaking next to the children’s play area at a cafe terrace in Cairo’s elegant Maadi suburb.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Abu Dhabi Awards France’s Total Stakes in Oil Concessions

Abu Dhabi state energy company ADNOC said on Sunday it had awarded French oil giant Total stakes in two offshore oil concessions, as it looks to boost production by year’s end.

Total now holds a fifth of the Umm Shaif and Nasr concession and 5 percent of the Lower Zakum concession, together worth some 5.3 billion dirhams (€1.2 million, $1.4 billion), ADNOC said in a press release.

Sunday’s signing was hosted by the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the billion-euro French-Emirati project that is the first Louvre branded museum outside of France.

Abu Dhabi, where most of the UAE’s vast oil reserves are located, is in the process of awarding new oil concessions, as previous agreements have either expired or will run out this month. It has already granted concessions to ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Japan’s INPEX, China’s CNPC, Spanish Cepsa and a state-owned Indian consortium led by ONGC Videsh.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Erdogan’s Unrequited Arab Love

by Burak Bekdil

The events in the last couple of weeks seem to confirm that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ambitions for a Turkey-led ummah (Muslim community) are not welcome in the Arab world. This emerging divide among Sunni Islamists — Turkey, Saudi Arabia et al — is important for the West.

In Turkey, a hysteria has set in. It appears a national competition of patriotism has captured the Turkish imagination. Screams of martyrdom and jihad can be heard echoing across the country. Even children are not spared from the ugly “death talk.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU Billions Had ‘Limited’ Effect in Turkey, Audit Finds

The EU got “limited” effect for the €9bn it spent trying to modernise Turkey in recent years, auditors have said.

EU funds spent on improving rule of law, governance, and democratic standards “insufficiently addressed some fundamental needs”, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) said in Luxembourg on Wednesday (14 March).

Funds spent on impartiality of judges, anti-corruption measures, organised crime, and press freedom “barely addressed some fundamental needs,” it said.

Turkey had been “backsliding” on reforms since 2013 due to “lack of political will”, the ECA added.

It “worsened” the situation “by the large-scale dismissals, suspensions of public officials, and restrictions on civil society” as part of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “repressive post-coup measures” from 2016 onward, the ECA said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Syria War: Turkish-Led Forces Oust Kurdish Fighters From Heart of Afrin

Turkish-backed forces have taken full control of the centre of the Syrian-Kurdish city of Afrin.

Fighters waved flags and tore down the statue of a legendary Kurdish figure after claiming the city centre on Sunday.

The two-month Turkish-led operation aimed to rid the border region of a Kurdish militia that Turkey considers a terrorist group.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Moves to Arrest 68 for Alleged Gulen Links

Operation in 28 provinces, lawyers among suspects

(ANSAmed) — Istanbul, March 16 — Prosecutors in Istanbul issued 68 arrest warrants on Friday against alleged affiliates of the suspected coup-plotting network linked to exiled preacher and politician Fethullah Gulen.

Police operations were underway in 28 provinces to carry out the arrests.

The suspects include several lawyers, Anadolu reported. Roughly 90,000 people have been arrested in Turkey since the failed coup of mid July 2016.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

US Pastor Risks Life Imprisonment in Turkey, Over Suspected Coup Support

Andrew Brunson, 50, has been held in prison for over 500 days without formal charges. The public prosecutor claims he is linked to the Gülen movement, alleged “mastermind” of the coup. He risks 35 years in prison. Activists and NGOs speak of “total lack of proof”.

Istanbul (AsiaNews / Agencies) — A 50-year-old US pastor, who has been in Turkish jail for over 500 days without any charges against him, risks a life sentence. The man’s lawyers and supporters speak of the sham procedure and shameful, baseless accusations. On the other hand, government authorities claim he is tied to the network that promoted the (failed) coup of summer 2016 and, therefore, demand 35 years in prison that correspond to life imprisonment in the country.

Andrew Brunson, who led a domestic church for 23 years in the coastal city of Izmir is one of tens of thousands of victims of repression launched by the government following the coup launched by a group of senior Turkish army officers.

Turkish authorities claim Brunson is an “official” of the organization that belongs to Fetullah Gulen, considered the master mind of the attempted coup. In recent months, the US pastor has repeatedly rejected allegations of affiliation to the group, for which he would have “stolen secret documents” with the intention of “overthrowing the government”.

Activists and human rights organizations in the United States underline the “total lack of evidence” against Brunson, who they say is the victim of “ridiculous and specious accusations”. Although he has been receiving legal assistance since December 2016, his conversations with lawyers are always recorded and his legal files have been seized. The defence cannot access the acts.

The charges against the man are based on the testimony of a person whose identity is kept secret. Brunson reportedly received money from the Gülen network to support and finance his missionary work. The accused — who in this year and a half in prison has lost weight and had health problems — strongly rejects the claim and professes himself to be a devout Christian and a peaceful pastor, who could never receive money from a pro-Islamic movement .

The Turkish public prosecutor this week formalized the request for a sentence of 35 years in prison, equivalent to life imprisonment. Now the court has 15 days to order the indictment.

20 months after Turkey’s failed coup on 14-15 July 2016, when the power President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wavered, the campaign of repression against real or imaginary plotters and supporters continues.

According to Turkey’s Justice Ministry, some 50,510 people have been arrested on coup charges, more than 120,000 have been detained, and 169,013 have been the subject of legal proceedings since the failed coup a year ago.

According to data released by the Justice Ministry on Thursday, there are outstanding detention warrants for 8,087 individuals, including 152 military officers, 392 police officers, and 3 governors. Among the arrestees are 169 generals, 7,089 colonels and 24 governors.

A total of 2,431 members of the Turkish judiciary are among those arrested, whilst 265 of them are at large. A total of 4,521 judges and prosecutors were dismissed from their jobs.

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

US-Saudi-UAE Plan: Establish a ‘Conservative Front, ‘ Topple Erdogan, Stop Turkey…

Ibrahim Karagül

We are going to be discussing the terms “conservative opposition” and “conservative intervention” quite often in the upcoming period. We know of the multinational interventions against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the historic/political march led by him and Turkey’s new rising period that started a century later. The Gezi Park events, Dec. 17/25 and the July 15 attack were each a foreign intervention, a multinational operation.

They were attacks to confine the Republic of Turkey in the Atlantic axis and to take it hostage. This process started with the Feb. 28 coup and is still ongoing. Because they were afraid. If Turkey leaves behind the 20th century, the region would change and their areas of power in the region that belongs to us would disappear. This is what they are afraid of. Because Turkey had started this process. This is why Turkey’s great march had to be stopped. The continuity of the Seljuks, Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey should not turn into the establishment of a new power. That political genetic had to be destroyed.

The UAE is behind everything: This country is conducting operations on the inside

July 15 was just a project of the U.S., of Israel, of the European countries that have today taken under protection members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), but it had regional supporters. There were regional states and terrorist organizations, capital circles that received a tender from this consortium. FETÖ was funded by countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE); they were at the center of this multinational attack. They were involved in it with their assassins, terrorist organizations and the secret agreements they made with FETÖ in Dubai…

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

Russian Ex-Spy Possibly Poisoned Through Car’s Air Vents, Report Says

A Russian ex-spy and his daughter may have been exposed to the deadly nerve agent that nearly killed them through his car’s ventilation system, according to a report Sunday.

Former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, are still struggling to live after being poisoned with Russian-produced Novichok in Salisbury two weeks ago.

ABC News reported that U.K. officials believe that the toxin was used in a dust-like powdered form and that it circulated through the vents of Skripal’s BMW.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Russia Election: Vladimir Putin Wins by Big Margin

Vladimir Putin will lead Russia for another six years, after securing an expected victory in the presidential election.

A Russian state exit poll gave him 73.9% of the vote, easily defeating his closest competitor.

The main opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, was barred from the race.

The scale of victory — which had been widely predicted — was a marked increase in his share of the vote from 2012, when he won 64%.

A state exit poll put the turnout at 63.7%, down on 2012. Mr Putin’s campaign had hoped for a large turnout, to give him the strongest possible mandate.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Russian Presidential Election, 2018

The 2018 Russian presidential election was held on 18 March 2018.[2] Incumbent President Vladimir Putin won re-election to a fourth term with about 75% of the votes, breaking the 2004 all-time high record, avoiding a run-off election.[3]

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

Vladimir Putin Wins Russian Presidential Election With Over 73 Percent of the Vote

Russian President Vladimir Putin won re-election with more than 73 percent of the vote, according to exit poll data.

The Russian strongman received at least 73.9 percent of the vote, according to the BBC and the Associated Press. Putin won a fourth term, keeping him as Russia’s leader for another six years and allowing him to claim the mantle of the vast country’s longest serving ruler other than Joseph Stalin.

With his win assured, Moscow has launched a high-pressure get-out-the-vote effort to drive up turnout and assure Putin a larger margin and a mandate to enact his agenda.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

After Losing China, Jeff Bezos Really Wants to Win in India

Amazon is spending billions adapting to a fiercely contested market of 1. 3 billion.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bangladesh: The Manual for the ‘Perfect Terrorist’ Available Online

Police try to block websites that praise holy war. The number of young people radicalised online is growing. The extremist who tried to stab Prof Iqbal was inspired on the Dawahilallah forum.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) — Some websites that teach how to become the “perfect terrorist” are accessible in Bangladesh.

In the South Asian nation, more and more young people are being radicalised via the web even though many extremist groups have been banned.

Such was the case of Foyzur Rahman Faizul, the militant who stabbed Prof Muhammad Zafor Iqbal in Sylhet, a well-known writer and critic of Islamic extremism. Two days ago, he was discharged from the hospital and returned home.

The incident has alarmed many people who fear a new wave of violence against pro-democracy intellectuals and free thinkers. The latter have been targeted in recent years as enemies of Islam.

The Bangladeshi government is struggling to cope with the myriad of websites that praise radical Islam.

In the course of its investigation, Bangladeshi police found that Foyzur became indoctrinated on a website called Dawahilallah (pictured), a forum run by members of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and Ansar Al-Islam, two well-known terrorist groups.

According to the authorities, the radical Muslim was drawn to extremism by listening to the sermons of Jashimuddin Rahmani (jailed for illegal activities) and reading the contents of the site.

Many sites, blogs, forums are available on the web offering varied content in Bengali — articles, videos and audios — to motivate aspiring terrorists to engage in holy war.

One of them is a blog called Allahorpatheahoban (Call to the way of Allah), which praises Bin Laden and the bombers of the 1 July 2016 massacre at the Holey Artisan Bakery Cafe in Dhaka.

Against a backdrop of increasingly accessible content online, law enforcement agencies have been trying to block sites that promote radical activities. The greatest difficulty, and the authorities know this, is that the militants can organise quickly and open ever new sites.

Despite the attack against him, Prof Iqbal has forgiven his aggressor. He spoke at the welcome-back ceremony at his university in Sylhet

“Foyzur Rahman tried to kill me to go heaven,” he said. “I am not an atheist. I have read the Quran very attentively. Come to me without your weapons and ask me questions. I will answer all your questions”.

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

BJP Anti-Minority Policies in North-Eastern India

Last week the nationalist party won big in state elections. The anti-Bangladeshi feelings and the illusory promise of development were decisive in Tripura. Through its flexibility, the prime minister’s party has been able to use manipulation to gain power.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) — In the last couple of decades, one has come across pamphlets, leaflets and other material with propaganda claiming that Christian missionaries are converting people at a rapid pace. The examples given have mostly been from north-eastern states.

This propaganda has been extensively used at a pan-Indian level, particularly before elections in most of the states. This propaganda has formed the basis for hate against Christians as we witnessed with the ghastly murder of Pastor Graham Stewart Stains, the horrific violence in Kandhamal, and low intensity anti-Christian violence and attacks on churches in different parts of the country.

So how could the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party flaunting the Ram Temple, the Mother Cow and Hindu nationalism make inroads in states where Christianity, as a religion, has a good presence, where eating beef is part of people’s dietary habits, and where different tribes with diverse and clashing political interests articulate their aspirations by forming various groups that have asked for separate statehood for their tribes.

While the situation in each state is different, there is a pattern to the BJP’s strategy, which — in a flexible manner, supplemented by massive resources, and a near perfect electoral machinery and the backing of its parent organisation’s swayamsevaks (volunteers) — is getting the cake state after state.

In Assam it focused mainly on Bangladeshi immigrants, on Muslims swamping the state and threatening to turn Hindus into a minority. The BJP was clever enough to strike alliances even with separatist organisations. Most of the regional organisations in the area look at Congress as the party that has not focused on development work, and the BJP, while at one level calls those who differ from its ideology as ‘antinational’, has no compunction in allying itself with people talking about separate statehood or even secession.

In Tripura, a left-wing government, despite its clean record, has failed to fulfil the aspirations of tribal people and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in matters of reservation. It has also failed miserably in creating employment opportunities for young people, which gave the BJP grounds to promise and create the illusion of development.

The BJP here harped mainly on two major factors. One is the promise of development. By now, its claims of development all over the country stand exposed as mere vote catching slogans, but in the north-east they can still sell Modi as a development man. But Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar’s failure to implement the new pay commissions must have hurt many people as they are still stuck at the fourth pay commission whilst talk of seventh pay commission is in the air.

In Tripura, the BJP could also harp on ‘Hindus are refugees, Muslim as infiltrators’ to influence the Bengali Hindu vote. In tribal area, RSS swayamsevaks worked for a long time and consistently to organise religious functions, open schools, etc. and have succeeded in turning the tables, as Manik Sarkar’s government failed to address the needs of tribal people in matters of opportunities.

On the issue of beef, the BJP has openly taken a hypocritical line, arguing that their ban on cow slaughter and eating beef, which is being imposed in other parts of country, would not be enforced in the north-east. As one of the issues raised by the RSS-BJP, the sacred cow is a political tool to divide society so that when the crunch comes they can manipulate it as they have done in Kerala and Goa.

In a very brash way, towering over Christian voters, Mr Modi talked about rescuing 46 nurses held by ISIS in Iraq and Father Alex Premkumar in Taliban captivity. What can one say about these issues? Were they rescued because they were Indians or because they belong to a particular religion? As is typical to Modi’s type of politics, the BJP takes advantage of such incidents in a crass political manner. Even though according to their ideology Christians and Muslims are foreigners, at the same time they manipulate these identities for electoral gains. In Tripura most Congress and Tripura Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAS switched to the BJP with electoral support shifting to the party. What worked for the BJP here was the anti-Bangladeshi sentiment along with the illusory promise of development.

In Meghalaya, the situation is different. Though Congress did emerge as the single largest party and logically should be given the chance to form the government, the Hindu nationalist governor invited the second largest party, in alliance with practically everybody, including BJP, to form the government. Here the BJP’s failure to win over the electorate is writ large as the results show. What is putting them in power is the alliance with a regional party, which does not have friendly attitudes and relations with Congress. The role of BJP’s all-round clout, including its money and muscle, is the undercurrent of the story.

There is lot to learn for the left in Tripura. Addressing the problems of youth, tribal people and OBCs is paramount. In addition, the issue of BJP manipulation by all possible means in order to come to power is something that, if ignored, will lead to serious decline in the electoral appeal of the left and other parties.

What is labelled as Karat’s line (named after Communist leader Brinda Karat), of not allying with Congress, will surely decimate the left in times to come, probably sooner than later, as it underestimates the BJP-RSS’s potential and their deeper agenda. It ignores the threat of the powerful electoral machine built by BJP over time and its capacity to manipulate issues, like beef and conversion by Christian missionaries, in different parts of the country, allowing it to take two opposite positions and getting away with it!

The emotional politics unleashed by the BJP-RSS can be seen in the attack against Lenin’s statue and on CPM workers. What is in store for the future of the region if democratic forces don’t rise to the occasion is anybody’s guess!

* president of the Centre for Study and Secularism di Mumbai

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

Non-Muslim Journalists Attacked by Suspected Muslim Rohingya Refugees in Jammu

Hindu-Sikh Journalists, RTI activist attacked by suspected Muslim Rohingya refugees in Jammu, 2 held.

Sanjay Khajuria | TNN | Jammu | Mar 13, 2018:: Two people were arrested for allegedly assaulting five journalists in Jammu’s Bhatindi area on Tuesday. Rohingya refugees, suspected to have perpetrated the attack, are now under the scanner.

After an RTI report, filed by activist Rohit Choudhary, revealed that 27 Jammu-based Rohingya refugee families own SIM cards, the journalists went to investigate how the illegal immigrants were in possession of devices that require user identity authentication.

“Me and my cameraman, accompanied by Rohit Choudhary, national TV channel reporter Ajay Jandial and his cameraman were walking through the region when two people deboarded from a vehicle and attacked us with rods and sticks,” said Tejinder Sodhi of Republic TV.

           — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari [Return to headlines]
 

Sit-in-Hunger Protest Against Illegal Encroachment Upon Dhakeswari Temple Lands

Hindus join sit-in-hunger in Dhaka demanding release of 14 bighas land of the Dhakeswari temple from Jihadi land grabbers.

Upendra Nath | HENB | Dhaka | Mar 17, 2018:: The aggrieved Hindus in Dhaka sat in a hunger protest on Friday in protest of illegal construction in the western side of Bangladesh Heritage and National Temple “Dhakeswari Mandir”.

The ‘Dhaka Mahangar Sarbojonin Puja Committee’ (Dhaka Mega-city Committee for Puja Celebration) and Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad (Bangladesh Puja Celebration Committee) organised this sit in hunger protest in the lawn of Dhakeswari Temple.

The land grabbing rackets in Bangladesh have been encroaching lands belonging to minority Hindus and their temple properties under a coverage of political parties (both BNP and Awami League) and the Jehadi-Jamati nexus…

           — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari [Return to headlines]
 

Speaking Up About Rape in Conservative Kazakhstan

Speaking up about sexual assault is considered extremely shameful by many in Kazakhstan, and Saina tells the BBC she faced severe pressure to stay silent about her rape.

“I had to fight not only with law enforcement agencies, but also with myself and with my relatives. Because they were shocked. They didn’t understand.

“‘Why do you need to make this public,’ they said. ‘Leave it with Allah. He will punish.’

“My parents wanted to hide this completely, it was a great stigma for them.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sri Lanka Violence: Nationwide State of Emergency Lifted

Sri Lanka has lifted a state of emergency imposed on 6 March in response to an outbreak of violence against Muslim communities.

Two people were killed, nearly 450 Muslim-owned homes and shops damaged and 60 vehicles burnt in attacks in the central district of Kandy.

Curfews and social media bans were brought in to try and quell tension.

Violence has risen in the Buddhist-majority country since 2012, said to be fuelled by hard-line Buddhist groups.

They have accused Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam and vandalising Buddhist archaeological sites. Dozens of Muslim religious sites have also been damaged.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

As Xi is Reappointed China’s President for Life, The Country’s Propaganda Kicks Into Gear

After China’s rubber-stamp legislature reappointed Xi Jinping as China’s president with no term limits, the communist country’s massive propaganda efforts kicked into high gear.

Xi, 64, is considered the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong and last Sunday was given the right to continue in office indefinitely after the legislature scrapped term limits for the president and vice president.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Warns Donald Trump Against Taiwan Military Ties

The Chinese government has urged the US to “correct its mistake” regarding President Donald Trump’s recently approved “Taiwan Travel Act,” which allows unrestricted two-way travel for officials from the US and Taiwan.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Anti-Corruption Chief Wang Qishan Named Xi Jinping’s Deputy

China’s parliament has endorsed Xi Jinping for a second term and appointed Wang Qishan as his vice-president.

The ballot at the National People’s Congress unanimously approved Mr Xi while Mr Wang received 2,969 votes in favour and only one against.

Wang Qishan was previously in charge of corruption investigations in China.

He is a longstanding ally of President Xi and his elevation is being seen as a further consolidation of the Chinese leader’s power.

The recent abolition of term limits for the Chinese presidency extends to the vice-presidency, giving the position greater significance than before.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China’s Global Dreams Give Its Neighbors Nightmares

From Russia to Central Asia, Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative triggers bad memories of Chinese imperialism.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Forget Trade Wars. Trump’s ‘Taiwan Card’ Is China’s Real Worry

Forget steel and intellectual property. The biggest potential flash point between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping is an island of 23 million people sitting off China’s coast.

Even as global investors shift from worrying about a second Korean conflict to a potential China-U.S. trade war, decades-old disagreements over democratically run Taiwan are simmering. For China at least, that is a more serious concern.

“Compared with economic and trade issues, the Taiwan issue is a top priority for Beijing and is more politically sensitive,” said Fu-Kuo Liu, an international relations professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei. “The U.S. will measure relations with Taiwan based on its national interest, and Taiwan will be a pawn to Beijing.”

The dispute centers on Taiwan’s 70-year slide into diplomatic isolation after ending up on the losing side of the Chinese civil war. While the island is self-ruled and enjoys American military protection, China considers Taiwan a province and has made acceptance of its “one-China” claim a precondition for diplomatic ties — including with the U.S.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Jeering China’s National Anthem in Hong Kong to be Punished With Three Years in Prison

Booing the anthem is a widespread form of protest by young people during football matches. The proposal parallels a law already in place in mainland China but not applicable to the city. Many fear for Hong Kong’s autonomy. The opposition does not have the numbers to block the bill.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The Hong Kong government has proposed new laws today that would punish jeering China’s national anthem with up to three years in jail, mirroring mainland China and raising fresh concerns over the city’s promised freedoms.

Booing the national anthem has become a form of political protest at football (soccer) matches in Hong Kong, as youth express frustration at perceived creeping influence of China’s Communist Party over the city’s culture and freedoms.

The draft bill has been submitted to the Autonomous Region’s Legislative Council, ma no date has been set yet for its approval. However, it is expected to pass easily because the opposition does not have enough votes to stop it adoption.

Under proposed rules, a person who “publicly and wilfully alters the lyrics or the score”, performs the “March of the Volunteers” in a “distorted or derogatory manner”, or insults the anthem in any other way could be liable to three years imprisonment and a HK$ 50,000 (US$ 6,375.11) fine.

If passed, the bill, would also make it a legal requirement for schools to teach the anthem, its history and its “spirit”.

A new law banning disrespect for the anthem came into force in mainland China last year, but it was not automatically applicable to Hong Kong. Nevertheless, the Autonomous Region has already outlawed the desecration of national flags and emblems, also punishable by three years’ jail.

A former British crown colony, Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997 under promises that its core freedoms would remain intact under a “one country, two systems” formula. Now, the UK’s half-yearly report on Hong Kong is saying that its high degree of autonomy was coming “under increasing pressure”.

For its part, the Hong Kong government said that foreign governments should not interfere in its internal affairs.

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

North Korean Diplomat Heads to Finland for Talks With US, South Korea

A top North Korean diplomat is headed to Finland on Sunday for talks with the United States and South Korea.

Choe Kang Il’s trip comes amid a heightened push to find a diplomatic solution to the problem of North Korea’s nuclear weapons arsenal and ahead of a possible May meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

On Saturday, Sweden’s foreign minister concluded three days of talks in Stockholm with her North Korean counterpart, saying they discussed the “opportunities and challenges for continued diplomatic efforts to reach a peaceful solution” to the Koreas’ security dispute.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Our Ancestors Mated With the Mystery ‘Denisovan’ People — Twice

Our ancestors mated with another species of ancient hominins, the Denisovans, on at least two occasions. The discovery suggests that Denisovans were widely across Asia, and apparently co-existed happily with modern humans, to the point of having children with them in two different parts of the ancient world.

The Denisovans were unknown until 2010, when researchers described a fragment of a girl’s finger bone found in Denisova cave in Siberia. Soon afterwards, researchers sequenced its genome from the surviving DNA. The DNA did not belong to any known hominins, such as Neanderthals, so it had to be something new.

What’s more, around 5 per cent of the DNA of some Australasians — particularly people from Papua New Guinea — is Denisovan. Humans evidently mated with Denisovans 50,000 or more years ago.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Philippines: The Hague Investigates Duterte’s Drug War, Manila Abandons the Rome Statute

The Filipino government is accused of crimes against humanity. The police say they have killed about 4 thousand suspects for resisting arrest, but human rights groups claim that the number is three times higher. Duterte has often called on authorities to kill drug suspects by promising to protect agents from legal consequences.

Manila (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The Philippines government has officially announced its decision to abandon the Rome Statute, the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC). The International Crime Tribunal, based in The Hague (Netherlands), had launched a preliminary investigation last month on charges of crimes against humanity in the drug war ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Filipino police say they have killed about 4 thousand suspects who resisted the arrest, but human rights groups claim that the actual number is three times higher and they accuse the murder authorities.

The government yesterday sent a letter to the United Nations, which oversaw negotiations to found the Court, to announce that the country would withdraw from the Rome Statute. “The decision is the principle position of the Philippines against those who want to politicize and transform human rights,” reads the Manila statement.

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano says the Philippines has taken action because of “the well-orchestrated campaign to mislead the international community and crucify President Duterte, distorting the human rights situation in the country.”

The government states in the UN mission that, despite the withdrawal, the nation “renews its commitment to fight against impunity in atrocious crimes”. Duterte has often called on the authorities to kill drug suspects by promising to protect the police from legal consequences. The president also stated earlier that the ICC would never have had jurisdiction over him.

Meanwhile, the ICC declares to take note of the “sovereign decision” of Manila, but warns that the move will not save Duterte from the judgment of the Court if it is decided to proceed with the investigations. “A withdrawal would have no impact on the ongoing proceedings or on any issue that was already before the Court before the date on which the withdrawal became effective,” says the ICC.

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

Guam Archbishop Found Guilty in Child-Abuse Case

Anthony Sablan Apuron stripped of office

(ANSA) — Vatican City, March 16 — The Vatican said Friday that a canon trial against Anthony Sablan Apuron, Archbishop of Agaña, Guam, over allegations that included accusations of sexual abuse of minors has concluded with the defendant being found guilty of some charges. As a result Apuron faces “the penalties of privation of office and prohibition of residence in the Archdiocese of Guam”.

The Vatican said the first-instance ruling is subject to possible appeal.

“In the absence of an appeal, the sentence becomes final and effective,” a Vatican statement said.

“In the case of an appeal, the imposed penalties are suspended until final resolution”. In May 2016 Apuron, 72, was accused by a man of sexually abusing him in 1972, when the alleged victim was 12 and the clergyman was a simple priest.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

320,000-Year-Old Stone Tools Push Back Origins of Human Innovation

An international team of anthropologists has discovered that early humans in East Africa had — by about 320,000 years ago — begun trading with distant groups, using color pigments and manufacturing more sophisticated tools than those of the Early Stone Age.

The newly-discovered activities, described in three papers in the journal Science, date to the oldest known fossil record of Homo sapiens and occur tens of thousands of years earlier than previous evidence has shown in eastern Africa. These behaviors, which are characteristic of humans who lived during the Middle Stone Age, replaced technologies and ways of life that had been in place for hundreds of thousands of years.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Advances in Human Behaviour Came Surprisingly Early in Stone Age

Excavations in Kenya suggest improvements in stone tools and other human changes are linked to variations in climate.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nigeria’s Christians Today, Europe’s Christians Tomorrow

It is in Nigeria that the balance between Islam and Christianity in Africa will be decided, according to Philip Jenkins, a leading expert of Christianity. That is why the Islamists have been killing the Christians en masse.

“If the Islamists should overrun Nigeria, it will be a steppingstone [sic] to conquering smaller countries. If Nigeria falls to Islamic extremists, all of Africa will be at risk”. — Catholic Bishop Hyacinth Egbebo, Nigeria.

Wole Soyinka’s “horde” will not be confined to the Nigerian borders, but will try to strike Western Europe as well. We are lucky to have survived as many attacks as we have in Madrid, London, Paris and Berlin, to recall just a few. But how many more? And for how long?

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

Chile: Breathless Science

How ALMA staff adapt to working at high altitude

At a soaring altitude of 5100 metres above sea level, the ALMA Observatory is one of the world’s most extreme work environments. Athletes and hikers who climb this high usually move up slowly in altitude to adjust to the lower oxygen levels. But at ALMA, workers go from the Operations Support Facility (OSF) at 2900 metres up to the array of antennas at 5100 metres in less than an hour — and they go up and down daily. We spoke to Ivan Lopez, ALMA’s Safety Manager, to find out how to minimise the negative effects of high altitude on the health of workers.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Venezuela’s Hyperinflation is Breaking Deli Scales

“We don’t have any.”

Living in Venezuela, you get used to hearing that, but the story behind the missing ham was different. It’s not that supermarket managers were having trouble finding enough to sell—the typical cause of shortages ravaging the country—they had decided to stop ordering it. The reason: After years of hyperinflation, the price is too long.

The store’s deli scales run to only six digits. And ham, my Whatsapp food-hunting community tells me, is retailing nowadays for about 1,480,000 bolivars per kilogram. It didn’t matter that I wanted only a few hundred milligrams. The cost was, at this market at least, incalculable.

A similar dynamic is impeding the use of credit and debit cards.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

65-Year-Old Swedish Woman on Trial for ‘Hate Crime’ Describes Intensive Harassment From Police

A 65-year-old woman in Sweden, who is facing either a fine or prison sentence if found guilty of ‘hate crime’, released her side of the story in a YouTube video describing a large-scale investigation and harassment from police

65-year-old Christina, who faces eight charges of hate speech for claiming on social media that mass Muslim migration would lower the general IQ of the country, said that police had forced her into six separate interrogations and raided her home.

In court, Christina denied the hate speech charges, according to local newspaper Jönköpings-Posten, which said she refused to comment on specific statements.

The paper also expanded on more of the statements allegedly made by the 65-year-old, who is said to have written that immigrants were parasites and that they, “scream, they stink, they kill, they rape, they burn cars and more. How do I/we get rid of them? I’ve had enough.”

In her YouTube video, Christina claimed that she had spoken the truth about mass migration and Islam. She said that she had been subjected to six interrogations which lasted several hours each, and that police had seized several of her belongings including a new iPad.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

African, EU States Focus Anti-Trafficking Efforts at Source

Thirteen African and European countries and the EU agreed Friday that efforts to crack down on migrant trafficking to Europe should also focus on economic woes that prompt poor Africans to seek a better life in Europe.

In ministerial-level talks, they agreed to “attack underlying causes of irregular migration,” according to a joint statement.

“The economic problem… is also the basis for the migration phenomenon,” Niger Interior Minister Mohamed Bazoum said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Belgium: More Transit Migrants Being Picked Up in West Flanders

26 transit migrants were detained near to the West Flemish port of Zeebrugge on Thursday evening. One 28-year-old Algerian managed to break through the port’s perimeter fence three times before he was picked up. He could risk a year in prison Public Prosecuter Frank Demeester of the West Flemish Judicial Authorities told journalists that number of transit migrants, migrants that are passing through Belgium in the hope of entering the UK illegally, is on the increase.

They are also becoming more and more aggressive.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

California Appoints First Undocumented Immigrant to Official Post

California has appointed an unauthorised immigrant to an official state post, a first that also functions as the state’s latest act of defiance against Donald Trump.

State Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León, a Los Angeles Democrat who is running for the US Senate on an anti-Trump platform, announced that 33-year-old attorney Lizbeth Mateo would serve as a member of the California Student Opportunity and Access Program Project Grant Advisory Committee. The appointment is unpaid.

“While Donald Trump fixates on walls, California will continue to concentrate on opportunities,” Mr de León said in a statement.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Europe is Under a Migrant Invasion From the Middle East and Africa and Native-Born Europeans Will Soon be in the Minority After Countries ‘Surrendered With Their Hands Up’, Claims Hungary’s PM Orban

Hungary’s prime minister painted an apocalyptic view of Western Europe on Thursday, saying it was under a migrant invasion that will soon make a minority of native-born Europeans.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, speaking at a massive rally three weeks ahead of Hungary’s parliamentary election, said Western Europe has surrendered with ‘its hands up’ to a mass migration of people from Africa and the Middle East.

He said: ‘The situation is that those who don’t block migration at their borders will be lost.’

‘They will be digested slowly but surely,’ added Orban, one of the nationalist politicians who has risen to power in Europe and been openly hostile to refugees and asylum-seekers.

‘The youth of Western Europe will still live to see when they become a minority in their own country and lose the only place in the world to call home,’ he said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: Migrant Stabbed to Death in Calais

A young migrant, probably of Afghan nationality, was stabbed to death in the French Channel port of Calais on Saturday.

There are between 300 and 600 migrants in the Calais area, trying to reach Britain via ferries or through the Channel tunnel.

The “Jungle” migrants’ camp was cleared in 2016.

In February 18 people were injured, five of them shot, in clashes between African and Afghan migrants.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Turns on EU: Merkel’s Ally in Shock Rant at ‘Patronising’ EU Over Migrants

Horst Seehofer, leader of the Bavarian sister party the CSU, criticised the EU for its “moralising” tone towards eastern countries, like Hungary and Poland, who have refused to take in migrants under the bloc’s quota system.

Mr Seehofer said the attitude was “counter-productive”, adding: “Every country has its pride”.

The conservative politician, a critic of Angela Merkel’s 2015 migrant policy, urged the EU to stop making decisions “over the heads” of member states.

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

Germany: AfD Politician Blasts Merkel: She Has Imported Women-Hating Violent Offenders and Belongs in Court

Dr. Gottfried Curio explains exactly what is wrong with modern-day Germany. Curio is a member of the right-wing AfD party of Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland.

Curio says in parliament that Germany “has to protect its national borders instead of dressing up Christmas markets with concrete bollards and machine guns”.

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

Greece: At Least 16 Including Children, Die at Sea

The bodies of 16 migrants, including those of four children, were recovered off the island of Agathonisi near the eastern Aegean island of Samos close to the Turkish coast, after the boat they were traveleing in capsizing with an estimated 21 people on board early on Saturday morning.

The identities and nationalities of the victims were not immediately known. According to reports, coast guard officials said there were at least three more migrants that were unaccounted for.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: 3 Migrant Traffickers Arrested Near Turkey Border

THESSALONIKI, GREECE (AP) — Greek police say they have arrested three migrant traffickers, a Turk and two Iraqis near the Greece-Turkey border.

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

Jewish Leader: Banning Islamic Calls to Prayer Won’t Help Integration in Sweden

The head of one of Sweden’s leading Jewish organizations says that indiscriminately preventing Mosques from holding calls to prayer would damage integration in the country.

Debate about the subject is starting to gather pace in Sweden after the leader of the Christian Democrats instructed local politicians to vote against allowing mosques to hold calls to prayer, following a request from a mosque in Växjö for a permit to do so. The leader of the Moderates has also expressed his skepticism.

Aron Verständig, chairperson of organization the Stockholm Jewish Community thinks the debate is misplaced, and has compared it to the way Jews were treated in Sweden in the 1700s, where there was hysteria over Jewish immigrants bringing instability to the country due to their unfamiliar customs.

“These kind of arguments have occurred throughout history. In Sweden we’ve always had them: people come here, then there are big demands placed on them in order to fit in, and that’s not something that helps integration,” he told The Local after writing an opinion piece in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Politicians Furious After MP Warns Chain Migration Bill Could Bring Germany-Style Terrorism, Sex Attacks to UK

A Conservative MP faced furious shouts of “disgrace” during a bid to stop a chain migration bill which he warned is not in the British people’s interests, and was likely to encourage would-be migrants to set out on dangerous trips to Britain.

As Ranil Jayawardena urged MPs to represent the interests of their constituents rather than “virtue signal” over the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill in the Commons, politicians jeered and howled “shame”, with one Labour figure even expressing disbelief that a non-white MP would support limits on immigration.

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

Report: Italians Seize NGO Migrant Rescue Ship in Sicily

ROME — The Italian news agency ANSA says a Spanish non-governmental organization’s migrant rescue ship has been sequestered in Sicily by prosecutors’ orders.

The seizure took place Sunday in Pozzallo port, where a day earlier the Proactiva Open Arms’ vessel brought 216 migrants it had rescued last week in the Mediterranean north of Libya.

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

Spain: Six Arrested in Madrid Protest Over Migrant Death

Spanish authorities arrested six people during a violent protest in Madrid over the death of a Senegalese street vendor, police said Friday, adding 10 officers were injured.

The clashes on Thursday evening in Lavapies, a district in the centre of the Spanish capital with a large immigrant population, saw angry protesters set fire to dustbins and motorbikes, and throw stones at riot police.

A police spokesman said six Spanish people had been arrested, including a minor and a woman.

He added 10 police officers were injured in the unrest, while emergency services said four people were slightly hurt in the protest.

Demonstrators at the time told AFP they were protesting in support of Mame Mbaye.

Mbaye was a street vendor in his mid-thirties from Senegal, who arrived in Spain by boat 12 years ago.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Secret to Australia Avoiding Recession: Mass Immigration

Australia is standing firm amid growing calls for immigration curbs, even as the U.S. and Europe succumb to rising populism. It has little choice if it’s to continue a period of record economic expansion.

A flood of arrivals that’s swelled the population by 50 percent over the past three decades has underpinned economic growth and allowed a succession of governments to boast of avoiding recession since 1991. Populists are blaming immigrants for over-burdened infrastructure, soaring housing prices and low wage growth.

Australia’s former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, now on the government’s backbench, is among those saying “enough.” He wants to slash the annual allowance to 110,000 migrants from 190,000, a move the government says could shrink its coffers by as much as A$5 billion ($3.9 billion) over four years. Anti-multiculturalism senator Pauline Hanson is calling for zero net migration.

Introducing such curbs in Australia, which has one of the fastest-growing populations in the developed world, could derail economic growth that’s already lingering below its 10-year average.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell Explores Bach’s Cosmic Music

The idea that Bach’s music is a kind of transcription of the divine cosmic order has been popular since the composer’s death in 1750. But this concert takes things further, as the climax of a season that marries Bach’s music to lectures in cosmology and physics.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Fossilized Brains of Ancient ‘Sea Monster’ Discovered in Greenland

The discovery of not just one, but 15 fossilized brains from a 520-million-year-old marine predator is helping scientists understand how ancient brains evolved into the complex command centers they are today.

The creature in question, Kerygmachela kierkegaardi — a bizarre, oval-shaped water beast that had two long appendages on its head, 11 swimming flaps on each side and a skinny tail — isn’t new to science, but its brain is, said study co-lead researcher Jakob Vinther, a United Kingdom-based paleontologist.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

15 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/18/2018

  1. If Trump creates a Space Force, we will have another 200 years of peace on Earth. This will suck money, advance science, and make generals happy, all in one.

  2. I agree with Elon Musk. I am also aerospace engineer with some publications in the topic. I am ready and happy to give my contribution in the topic.

  3. France must give those islands independence. Some of them, like Mayotte, are islamic hellholes. They are low-IQ as well. All they can do is beg for some more money. France is struggling hard to keep its own, metropolitan France. It is out of question that France no longer should have imperial ambitions.

  4. The EU, gagging Free Speech and demanding praise for Islamic invasions, is a vehicle of mass insanity, operated by the usual suspects, Marxists. A Swedish Jew encouraging all of it is remarkably chilling for the life expectancy of Western Civilization.

    • “A Swedish Jew”? Details please, Andrea Doria (hope you don’t sink like your namesake!)

      • It’s in one of the news feed items. Look through them, and you’ll see an item about the chairman of the Swedish Council of Jews (or something similar) who opposes a burka ban.

  5. .
    Swedish woman fled to Hungary – wanted to escape the violence in Stockholm
    Svensk kvinna flydde till Ungern – ville slippa våldet i Stockholm

    https://youtu.be/s7mWSj2re_M

    ————————————————
    https://svegot.se/2018/03/19/svensk-kvinna-flydde-till-ungern-ville-slippa-valdet-i-stockholm/

    Googlish:

    Swedish woman fled to Hungary – wanted to escape the violence in Stockholm
    By Ingrid Carlqvist March 19, 2018 Last updated March 19, 2018
    Natalie Contessa of Sandeberg fled to Hungary to escape the unsafe Sweden.
    Swedish-Hungarian Natalie Contessa of Sandeberg, 43, reports in an interview with Hungarian teve why she moves to their country.
    “I was terrified in Stockholm. I want to live the rest of my life in peace and quiet.
    In the twelve-minute interview with the Hungarian state television channel M1, Natalie Contessa of Sandeberg paints a horrific, but unfortunately true, picture of Stockholm. About sexual harassment on the subway, at work and out in town. She was born in Sweden by a Hungarian mother, so she speaks Hungarian and has always considered Hungary as her second home country.
    “I have always thought that I will live here one day, but now it became earlier because I can not live in Sweden anymore. Several of my family have already emigrated to the United States and Australia and all my friends are also planning to move abroad.
    Natalie Contessa of Sandeberg explains that the situation has changed drastically over the last two, three years. She herself has been subjected to sexual abuse in the subway – and no one came to her help, even the men who saw it all.
    – They do not dare. A person who tried to intervene became a knife scoop. And the police will not come when you call them.
    Not even at work it’s safe. by Sandeberg explains how she worked at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, in a department where 80 percent (!) of the staff consists of Muslims.
    “Swedish doctors and nurses are very hard at getting work in Sweden. They are forced to apply to Norway. Some nurses resign because they have been subjected to sexual abuse at the workplace.
    She also tells the wretched journalist that most Swedes are unaware of what is happening in the country, because the media darkens most.
    Why are they doing, asks the journalist?
    – For countries such as Hungary not to know how bad it will be in a country if you let so many foreigners in.
    But we in Hungary have just heard of a terrorist attack, that in Stockholm last year?
    “Yes, you never hear about all the murders committed in Sweden. You have no idea what Swedes can stand out with every day at workplaces, at school, on the street.
    See the interview with the refugee from Sweden

    https://youtu.be/s7mWSj2re_M

  6. Tbe Black Death entered medieval Europe on plague ships through Italian ports. Eventually, such ships began to be recognized and banned admittance to Italian ports (after the damage had already been done), and instead wandered the Mediterranean looking for a place to offload their deadly cargo. Over 650 yrs later history is repeating itself, and again the Italians are finding the courage to ban such plague carrying vessels from bringing their deadly cargo to their ports.

  7. The Muslim electorate of Russia became Putin’s support

    The vast majority of residents of the regions of Russia, where Muslims make up the majority, gave their votes in the presidential elections for the current head of state Vladimir Putin. Thus, Putin gained the support of more than 82 percent of voters in Tatarstan. The turnout in the Republic was 77.45 percent. In Chechnya, the head of state won 93% of the vote with a turnout of 81.1%. And in the neighboring Dagestan, Putin voted for almost 92% of all who came to elections. Overall, in the country, after 99.75 per cent of the protocols had been processed, the incumbent President had received 76.67 per cent of the votes, a record political support in his career. Earlier, the media published a video from the polling station in Dagestan, where a crowd of people gathered to vote.

    https://www.islamnews.ru/news-/musulmanskijjelektoratrossiistaloporojputina/

  8. It was not possible to find this news in an English-language source.
    ======================
    An employee of the consulate of France was arrested in Israel.
    Romain Frank became an actor in the case of illegal transportation of arms and cooperation with terrorists.
    Employee of the French diplomatic mission behind the bars, intelligence agencies report about the disruption of arms supplies to terrorists, diplomats promise to cooperate with the investigation. This is the result of the operation, which resulted in the detention of French citizen Romain Frank and the seizure of a whole arsenal

    http://ru.euronews.com/2018/03/19/israel-france-dilomacy

    • It was on HonestReporting.com today, Elena (if you don’t know it, this is an American pro-Israeli site).

      • Yup, that’s us. And the IDF + Mossad pays us plenty to say the right things 😉

        [Actually, they only pay us in gefilte fish, but fortunately we like it.]

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