A suicide attack on a market in northeastern Cameroon killed nineteen people. A pair of female suicide bombers carried out the attack, which wounded an undetermined number of people. No group has claimed responsibility for the deed, but the Islamic activists of Boko Haram are the primary suspects.
In other news, the Greek government says that it wants other European countries to keep their borders open to migrants, or it will refuse to sign off to an accord designed to help keep Britain in the EU.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Green Infidel, Insubria, JD, 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.
EU Consumer Confidence Down Sharply in February
Eurozone -2.5, EU-28 -2.4 points
(ANSA) — Brussels, February 19 — Eurozone and EU-28 consumer confidence dropped sharply in February, the European Commission said Friday.
Eurozone consumer confidence dropped by 2.5 points to -8.8, while EU-28 consumer confidence fell 2.4 points to -6.6 points. The two indexes dropped by 0.6 and 0.3 respectively in January.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Spending Review a ‘Partial Failure’, Audit Court Chief Says
Saving margin limited, flexibility used up says Squitieri
(ANSA) — Rome, February 18 — State Audit Court President Raffaele Squitieri described the government spending review as a “partial failure” at the inauguration of the judicial year on Thursday.
The review of public spending has given “the essential issue of the interrelationship with the quality of services” a back seat, Squitieri said.
The contribution made by the spending review rests not only on efficiency and rationalisation of resources but also on “less targeted operations to reduce, if not suppress, services to the collectivity”, he added.
The margin of saving on public spending could be “limited” over the coming years, Squitieri said.
“In a future outlook for public finance that still requires non-marginal spending adjustments to be made, also in order to tackle the complex issue of the tax burden, the margin of saving on the expenditure front could turn out to be limited,” Squitieri said. Spending cuts have given “important results on the level of aggregate data” since the start of the economic crisis, the Audit Court president added.
The flexibility obtained from Europe has been “entirely used up” in the 2016 budget, Squitieri said.
“In this way, the drop in the public deficit has been maintained, but at a slower pace,” Squitieri. Illegality is favoured by the complexity and proliferation of laws, said Squitieri.
“The complexity and multiplication of laws give illegality more fertile ground for taking hold, rather than defences against or obstacles to its spread,” Squitieri said. “The efficient working of the judicial system as the main instrument for countering illegality represents a decisive element in the development and growth of the country,” he added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss Politicians Slam Attempts to Eliminate Cash, Compare Paper Money to a Gun Defending Freedom
As we predicted over a year ago, in a world in which QE has failed, and in which the ice-cold grip of NIRP has to be global in order to achieve its intended purpose of forcing savers around the world to spend the taxed product of their labor, one thing has to be abolished: cash.
This explains the recent flurry of articles in outlets such as BBG and the FT, and op-eds by such “established” economists as Larry Summers, all advocating the death of cash, a process which would begin by abolishing high denomination bills and continue until all physical cash in circulation is eliminated, something we warned about when the first made it first NIRP hint last September.
We were s rather surprised by the candor of a WSJ piece overnight which actually told it how it is:
The real reason the war on cash is gearing up now is political: Politicians and central bankers fear that holders of currency could undermine their brave new monetary world of negative interest rates. Japan and Europe are already deep into negative territory, and U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said last week the U.S. should be prepared for the possibility. Translation: That’s where the Fed is going in the next recession.
By all means people should be able to go cashless if they like. But it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the politicians want to bar cash as one more infringement on economic liberty. They may go after the big bills now, but does anyone think they’d stop there? Why wouldn’t they eventually ban all cash transactions much as they banned gold and silver as mediums of exchange?
Beware politicians trying to limit the ways you can conduct private economic business. It never turns out well.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“But that it was clear that no act they [the state legislature] could pass, could by any means repeal or alter the constitution, because if they could do this, they would at the same instant of time destroy their own existence as a legislature and dissolve the government thereby established.” — Bayard v. Singleton, 1 N.C. 42 (1787) [North Carolina Supreme Court]
The unfortunate circumstances of January 26, 2016, which resulted in the death of LaVoy Finicum and the arrest of Ammon Bundy, Ryan Payne, Ryan Bundy, and Brian Cavalier was a blow to an effort to expose the dishonesty of the federal government in its pursuit of acquiring land belonging to ranchers in Oregon.
In fact, the story behind what happened in Burns, Oregon actually goes much further. It had begun to show the underbelly of the beast we call the US government, its failure in obedience to the Constitution, the very document that created it, and its failure to abide by established judicial “due process of law”. Perhaps most significant is its absolute disregard for human life, and especially so if that life is of one who believes in the Constitution.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dems Blocked Bush Judicial Nominee for 4 Years
(FrontpageMagazine) When the left sputters about the importance of getting a prompt vote on an Obama nominee, let’s just remind them about Judge Priscilla Owen.
Owen was a moderate and she was highly rated. She was also no Alito, Bork or Thomas. But when she was nominated for the Fifth Circuit in the spring of ‘01, Senate Democrats denied her a vote for four years until the spring of ‘05. When the vote finally came up, Obama voted against her.
That’s the length of an entire presidential term. This wasn’t running out the clock on a lame duck presidency. Senate Democrats refused the “up and down vote” they’re demanding to a nominee for 4 years.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) The Michigan Attorney General’s office will likely have to petition the state legislature for some hefty cash to investigate the ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan, where some nine local residents have died from polluted water. According to reports, those responsible for the disaster could face criminal charges for negligently poisoning the city’s residents with lead and other toxic substances in order to save money.
A special counsel has been established to determine who is at fault and to press charges against them, as this once local crisis captivates the nation. Sources say charges all the way up to manslaughter are “not far-fetched,” and that the proper course of action will be taken to make sure the culprits are held fully responsible for their crimes.
“We’re here to investigate what possible crimes there are, anything to the involuntary manslaughter or death that may have happened to some young person or old person because of this poisoning, to misconduct in office,” stated Todd Flood, special counsel for the state Attorney General’s office investigating the Flint water crisis.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hillary: ‘I’ve Always Tried’ to Tell the Truth, ‘Don’t Believe’ I’ve Ever Lied or Ever Will
Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that she has “always tried to” tell the truth and doesn’t “believe” she’s ever lied or ever will in an interview on Thursday’s “CBS Evening News.”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Honeybee Populations Are Collapsing So Rapidly That Bee Hive Thefts Are Now on the Rise
As the second week of February begins, so has California’s almond growing season. During this crucial time of preparation, 1.8 million commercial honey beehives are brought in to the state to help pollinate the 800,000 acres of almonds. The $6 billion California almond industry wouldn’t exist if honeybees weren’t brought in from around the US. 90 percent of all the commercial beehives colonized in the US are rented out to the California almond industry each year. Commercial hives are brought in from Michigan to Idaho. Some hives are trucked in all the way from the East Coast. As the pollinators continue to die off each year, it’s becoming harder and more expensive to sustain important crops such as the almonds.
To make matters worse, counties in California are now reporting that mass beehive thefts are on the rise. Butte County Sheriff’s Detective, Jay Freeman, says the bee hive thefts have been “picking up this year” which “could be due to the increased prices and pollination fees and also a shortage of bees coming into California as well.” At least a half dozen thefts have been reported in Glenn, Kern, Colusa and Sutter counties. In Butte county, the thefts have become a big deal. According to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office, “information that over 500 beehives have been reported stolen in two separate incidents which took place in two neighboring counties over the last two weeks.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
John Bolton: Obama Weakness on Russia, China ‘Has Made Risk of Hostilities Greater’
“What the President has done, by reducing our military capability, has made the risk of hostilities greater,” Bolton argued. He said it was time to include major potential adversaries such as Russia and China in our missile defense plans, as well as possible attacks from rogue states like North Korea or Iran, and terrorist deployment of weapons of mass destruction.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Showdown: Sheriff Blocks FDA Inspectors From Raw Milk Farm
Federal agents subjected a farmer to harassment and warrantless searches simply for producing raw milk, but a county sheriff took the farmer’s side and blocked federal agents from the property — and the sheriff is now speaking out.
The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) took the actions four years ago simply because the farmer was providing raw milk to an organic food co-op. The story is receiving renewed coverage because the Indiana sheriff, Elkhart County’s Brad Rogers, wrote a 600-word explanation for a local newspaper as part of his “Ask The Sheriff” series. Off The Grid News previously reported on the dispute.
Participants paid money into the co-op and, in return, received raw milk.
“It appeared to be harassment by the FDA and the DOJ, and making unconstitutional searches, in my opinion,” Rogers wrote of Uncle Sam’s treatment of the farmer in a column for the Goshen News.
Rogers said he became involved in the case in 2011 when the farmer complained to him.
“Specifically, the FDA was inspecting his farm without a warrant as much as every two weeks,“Rogers wrote. “Typical inspections occur annually. The Department of Justice (DOJ) had subpoenaed him for a grand jury in Michigan in which he was to bring his production documents. The Feds wanted to make this farmer an example.
“My research,” Rogers added, “concluded that no one was getting sick from this distribution of this raw milk. It appeared to be harassment by the FDA and the DOJ, and making unconstitutional searches, in my opinion. The farmer told me that he no longer wished to cooperate with the inspections of his property.”
Sheriff Confronts Feds
The sheriff then emailed a lawyer at the Department of Justice, writing:
“I understand that you have made recent requests to (the farmer) for documents and to appear before a grand jury, and he has had a number of inspections and attempted inspections on his farm within Elkhart County. This is notice that any further attempts to inspect this farm without a warrant signed by a judge, based on probable cause, will result in federal inspectors’ removal or arrest for trespassing by my officers or I. In addition, if any further action is taken by the federal government on (the farmer), while he is in Elkhart County, I will expect that you or federal authorities contact my office prior to such action. I will expect you to forward this information to your federal associates, including the FDA.”
Shortly after the email was sent, the farmer received a certified letter from the DOJ that said his grand jury subpoena had been cancelled. No federal inspectors have visited the farm since 2011.
“Your local elected officials … can stem the tide of federal overreach if they apply just a little backbone in supporting and defending the Constitution. Expect it! Demand it!,” Rogers wrote. “Some bloggers and natural food writers have hailed me as a hero. I’m no hero. I’m just doing my job.
“Whether you are conservative or liberal, I will be a guardian of the Constitution for you, and will not stand idly by while the rights of citizens of my county are trampled, whether by criminals or an overreaching government.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
State Supreme Court Rules That Cops Do Not Need Warrants to Enter Homes and Forcibly Seize Evidence
In a 4-3 decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court just killed the rights of citizens outlined in the Fourth Amendment by stating that police officers may enter a home, or parts of the home, without a warrant and can seize evidence to use in the arrest and prosecution of citizens.
The Fourth Amendment states that unreasonable searches and seizures are not allowed and that the only legally recognized search and seizure is one that is preceded by a warrant granted by courts. The warrant must be supported by probable cause. The deciding vote was cast by Justice Rebecca Bradley who was appointed by Governor Scott Walker, a member of the Republican party. There has been skepticism surrounding this decision because Justice Bradley was not present for the oral arguments and instead listened to them later on a tape recording, stating that it was sufficient enough for her to make a decision.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Beyonce and her dancers raise the Black Power fist at Super Bowl 50.
Beyonce’s Super Bowl halftime performance was a cop-hating political statement in support of the Black Panthers — a Marxist group whose leader Huey Newton was was arrested for shooting Police Officer John Frey.
Beyonce’s racist performance included only black dancers — white girls were not allowed to participate.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Aluminum Exposure Reduces Sperm Counts: Are Flu Shots Contributing to Male Infertility?
(NaturalNews) New research looking at what appears to be a major contributor to male infertility, aluminum, has powerful implications for the safety of childhood vaccinations and flu shots, which are loaded with the toxic metal. Researchers from both the UK and France found that the higher the level of aluminum inside a male’s body, the lower his overall sperm count and quality of semen.
Published in the Elsevier journal Reproductive Toxicology, the groundbreaking study looked at semen samples collected from 62 male patients. In accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, semen analyses were conducted using a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry method designed to assess aluminum concentration, and this was followed up with a cytological analysis using an aluminum-specific fluor, lumogallion.
Going into the study, the researchers involved hypothesized that environmental pollutants like aluminum may be responsible for the steady decline in male fertility that has occurred primarily throughout the last 60 years in many industrialized nations. Focusing specifically on aluminum as a primary culprit, the team aimed to either confirm or dismiss a possible link between this common metal and sperm quality.
Sure enough, their suspicions were confirmed. Aluminum, which can actually accumulate inside individual sperm cells, was found to be directly associated with damaged male fertility. Participants with oligospermia, a condition categorized by low concentrations of sperm, were found to have higher levels of detectable aluminum in their bodies, while those with low aluminum content had higher concentrations of healthy sperm.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Centre-Right Disarray in Rome, Salvini Blasts Bertolaso
M5S begins on-line voting for mayoral candidate in capital
(ANSA) — Rome, February 18 — The centre right’s campaign for June’s local elections in Rome was throw into disarray on Thursday when Northern League leader Matteo Salvini expressed doubts about mayor candidate Guido Bertolaso. “I won’t buy a pig in a poke,” said Salvini, appearing to pull back from the endorsement he gave along with Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi and Brothers of Italy (FdI) chief Giorgia Meloni.
Salvini cited Bertolaso’s comments on Roma people, who the former civil protection chief recently called a “vexed category,” and his praise of former centre-left Rome mayor Francesco Rutelli.
Salvini, who had wanted primaries to select the Rome mayor runner, said these comments “have not been the top for the League”. “What the people of Rome say in the next few days will influence my final decision,” he added. Asked if the candidacy issue was still open, he replied “every issue is always open”.
Former premier Berlusconi on Thursday called off a summit on the centre right’s mayoral candidate between Salvini, himself and Meloni as a result of the comments. Meloni said she would only be able to meet her allies once Salvini had “clarified his remarks”.
Berlusconi renewed his backing for Bertolaso and said there would be a meeting on Rome candidates on February 24.
“The three centre-right parties, Forza Italia, the Northern League and Brothers of Italy have chosen Guido Bertolaso as their candidate to be Rome mayor,” Berlusconi said in a statement. “I’m convinced that Bertolaso is the only professional around who is able to put the capital back on track”.
Bertolaso gained praise as civil protection head for his handling of a number of emergencies including the waste crisis in the Campania region around Naples.
As civil protection chief, he was also handed from 2001 to 2010 sweeping powers over major events.
However, he has been indicted over alleged bid-rigging in contracts for the 2009 G8 summit and for allegedly giving justified reassurances before the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake that killed over 300 people.
The anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), meanwhile, on Thursday began online voting to select its mayoral candidate. Registered M5S members resident in Rome could vote for up to five candidates among the 208 in the running from 10 am to 7 pm local time.
The 10 candidates garnering most votes will go through to a second-round ballot, probably on February 23 or 24, to decide who will run against Bertolaso, ex Lazio regional governor Francesco Storace for the right-wing La Destra, probably either deputy Lower House speaker Roberto Giachetti or former Rome executive urban planning councillor Roberto Morassut, both of the Democratic Party (PD), for the centre-left and ex PD member Stefano Fassina for Italian Left. Rome is holding elections following the ouster of PD mayor Marino allegedly over an expenses scandal last autumn. The city is being administered by a special commissioner, former Milan prefect Francesco Paolo Tronca, in the interim. M5S can count on strong support following the Mafia Capitale scandal involving alleged infiltration by a criminal organisation into lucrative city contracts.
The movement’s campaign suffered a setback though when M5S MP Paola Taverna prompted ridicule by saying there was a “conspiracy” to make it win in order to “take funds away from and make fools of us”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Five Arrested: 42mn Seized in Massive Tax Fraud Probe
Businessmen, accountants ‘conspired to defraud’ the taxman
(ANSA) — Florence, February 18 — Finance police on Thursday arrested five people and seized assets worth 42 million euros in a 95-million-euro tax fraud case.
The suspects — who have not yet been named — include a married couple of entrepreneurs, two accountants, and a fifth man who ran the practical and logistical side. They are thought to have perpetrated the fraud in the porterage, freight management and hotel services sectors in the Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Liguria, Piedmont, Tuscany, and Valle d’Aosta regions.
Assets seized included jewelry in gold and precious stones, Cartier and Rolex watches, tens of thousands of euros in cash, nine cars and motorcycles, several bank accounts, shares in five different companies, and nine apartments in Arezzo, Florence, and the town of Robbio near Pavia.
The Vercelli couple managed two consortiums with large-scale commissions from private clients. The consortiums carried out the actual work, while appearing to subcontract the jobs out to seven cooperatives and companies — which in turn issued invoices to the consortiums for non-existent operations, finance police explained. The two accountants managed the chain of false invoicing, which over the years added up to 95 million euros, with omitted business taxes of 44 million, about 22 million in evaded VAT, and other unpaid taxes of 5.5 million euros.
The alleged tax fraud ring also involved a family of professional frontmen, who hosted the legal domicile of some of the cooperatives and companies in their home in the Spagnoli neighborhood in Naples. The family included an 82-year-old pensioner whose name appeared as the executive of many companies with millions of euros in turnover.
A total of 14 people are being probed in the investigation, which began in 2006. Charges include criminal conspiracy to commit tax fraud, tax evasion, failure to declare income, destruction of accounting documents, and issuing false invoices.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Probe Reveals 2.5 Mn Euros in Uncollected ER Payments
In Varese, 38 directors reported to Milan Audit Court
(ANSA) — Milan, February 19 — Finance police reported 38 hospital directors in Varese to Milan’s Audit Court on Friday, following an investigation that revealed 2.5 million euros in unpaid emergency room visit bills, ANSA sources said.
The investigation looked at about 200,000 nonurgent code-white ER visits between 2003-2014. It revealed that about one in three patients didn’t pay the required 25-euro fee for code-white visits, while other patients weren’t assessed an additional surcharge required for using the ER for nonurgent medical exams.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Mediaset Shares Rise Sharply on Vivendi Report
Berlusconi group denies talks to sell pay-TV unit
(ANSA) — Milan, February 19 — The share price of Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset broadcasting group rose sharply on Friday despite denials of reports of talks to sell pay-TV unit Mediaset Premium to French group Vivendi. Il Sole 24 Ore reported the talks were at an advanced stage but Mediaset said it did “not confirm negotiations or any new developments, aside from the excellent relations with Vivendi and the usual contacts. Mediaset’s share price was up 5.18% after just over a hour of trading on Friday.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Risk of Catching Zika in Europe to Increase in Summer — WHO
Tiger mosquitoes could spread virus in southern Europe
(ANSA) — Brussels, February 18 — The risk of catching the Zika virus in Europe could grow in the spring and summer with the return of tiger mosquitoes that can transmit it, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official said on Thursday.
Roberto Bertollini from the WHO told the European Parliament’s environment commission that the risk of catching the virus in Europe in winter is low, but that would change in coming months in some southern European countries.
The Aedes aegypti mosquito mainly responsible for spreading the disease linked to microcephaly in children is limited to areas around the Black Sea in Europe, he said.
But the tiger mosquito found in Italy, Greece, Croatia, Spain and the South of France could also spread it if they bite someone with the virus then bite healthy people.
Bertollini said the only recommendations for European citizens who have to travel to Zika-infected regions are to try to protect themselves from mosquito bites, by using repellents and mosquito nets.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Anti-Racism Campaigner ‘Stopped From Speaking at Nus Event’ Over ‘Islamophobia’ Claims
Hope Not Hate director Nick Lowles says NUS Black Students blocked his invitation to anti-racism conference but NUS president says she would “happily share platform’
An anti-racism campaigner claims he has been prevented from speaking at a National Union of Students event following accusations that he holds “Islamophobic” views.
Nick Lowles, the Hope Not Hate director, said it was absurd that the NUS Black Students’ campaign opposed an invitation to him to speak at an anti-racism event.
Under the heading “ultra-left lunacy”, Lowles wrote on his Facebook profile: “So, it seems that NUS Black Students are opposing a plan to invite me to speak on an anti-racism platform because I’m “Islamophobic’.
“Never mind all the work Hope Not Hate has done challenging anti-Muslim hatred, it seems that some activists believe I’m Islamophobic because I have repeatedly spoken out against grooming and dared condemn Islamist extremism.”
Lowles told the Guardian: “It’s amusing in its absurdity but it does reflect the failure of a small section of the left to understand that we have to confront extremism and intolerance in all its forms. My issue is with this small group of political activists and not with NUS itself, who I believe were unaware of this.”
He added that, during a discussion among organisers of the NUS’ anti-racism conference, some people spoke out against the idea of inviting Hope Not Hate to speak. As a result, the group was not invited, Lowles said.
NUS president Megan Dunn said: “Hope Not Hate is not on NUS’ no platform list. I would happily share a platform with anyone from Hope Not Hate tomorrow.
“Representatives from Hope Not Hate, including Nick Lowles, have and continue to be invited to NUS events. I have tried to clarify this issue with Mr Lowles but have been unable to contact him.”
Lowles added: “My crime, it seems, has been to repeatedly call on the anti-racist movement to do more to condemn on-street grooming by gangs and campaigning against Islamist extremist groups in the UK and abroad.”…
| — Hat tip: Green Infidel | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ISIS: U.S.Raid Against Alleged Mastermind of Tunisia Attacks
Medical sources, 41 jihadists killed
(ANSAmed) — ROME, FEBRUARY 19 — A US raid in Libya has reportedly targeted Noureddine Chouchane, who allegedly masterminded attacks last year in Tunisia, at the Bardo museum in Tunis and on the beach in Sousse.
An ISIS training camo in Sabratha, in the east, was reportedly struck. Over 30 jihadists were killed, according to the New York Times, which quoted a western source. According to local medical sources quoted by Sabratha municipality, 41 people were killed and six were injured. Chouchane’s fate is still unclear.
The source quoted by the New York Times said the Tunisian Chouchane is considered one of the most influential leaders of ISIS who has been linked to the deadly attack on the Bardo museum in March 2015, in which 24 people died including four Italians, and on a beach in Sousse last June that killed 38 others.
Jamal Naji Zubia, director of the foreign media office for the Tripoli-based government of Libya, said the US raid struck a farm several kilometers away from Sabratha. The jihadists killed in the raid are reportedly mainly Tunisian nationals.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: Israel’s Dangerous Consensus
Recently I found myself in a chance conversation with a former head of the Mossad’s Directorate of Operations. The former master spy, whom I had never met before, knew that I am a journalist.
He was aware of my political views.
Directing his remarks at a friend of mine, he declared that 99 percent of Mossad and Shin Bet officers are leftists. He then added triumphantly that according to a former commander of the air force whose name he cited, 99% of the air force’s pilots are similarly leftists.
Initially, I dismissed his comments as obnoxious chest-beating by a man who felt like irritating a group of right-wingers.
But given the source, it is impossible to simply brush off what he said…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
“Slave” Workers in Saudi Arabia: We Want to Go Home, Enough Ill-Treatment
Last year Dhaka and Riyadh signed an agreement to send 120 thousand workers to Arabia. In 2015, 20,952 women left for Arabia, but many have already returned. They recounted stories of abuse and threats, domestic slaves by day, sex slaves by night. Saudi recruiter: “We love Bangladeshi women because they are Muslim and wear a headscarf.”
Dhaka (AsiaNews) — Thousands of Bangladeshi migrant women who travelled to the Saudi kingdom in search of work now want to return to the country of origin because of continuing harassment they suffer. Many of them have already returned and denounced the slave-like working conditions to which they were subjected by day as maids in the house, and that at night they were forced to satisfy the sexual desires of male employers and employees.
Bangladesh suspended the sending of women workers to Saudi Arabia for seven years, allowing only men to migrate. But last year the Dhaka authorities have signed an agreement that also provides for the migration of women. They are educated in the country of origin, where the government has opened 26 centers for the professional training of maids and servants. Then they leave for the Middle Eastern countries, where, however, many suffer threats and sexual abuse.
The agreement between the two governments is to send 120 thousand Bangladeshi women in the coming years. In 2015 there were 20,952 migrant workers, but many of them have already returned. Monira Akter (not her real name) is one of them and she told AsiaNews: “I followed the training course organized by the government to learn how to carry out domestic chores, but I could not do my job properly because my employer wanted to force me to have sex. “ “I did not go there to sell my body — she complains — I emigrated to raise money for my family.”
The woman says she knows five other workers who have suffered the same fate. Another victim of this exploitation reveals: “My master treated me badly, he did not allow me to call in Bangladesh and so I came back.”
Abdul Aziz, a Saudi who recruits women in Bangladesh, admits: “We love the Bangladeshi workers because they are Muslim and wear the burka [the full veil that leaves only the eyes uncovered, ed].”
Rosaline Costa, Catholic activist, said: “It is not difficult to understand why women do not want to go to Saudi Arabia, when you consider the way they are exploited by employers: by day slaves in the house, sex slaves at night” .
The activist believes that the recently approved provision, to allow a male relative to accompany workers as a “guardian” is insufficient. “They have no way — he says — to help their relatives. People are helpless and without legal protection, since their passport and airline ticket are withdrawn and they do not know where to seek help if they have problems at night”.
She concludes: “Given the recent news of exploitation, the relatives of the workers no longer want to allow their departure, if it means that almost all of them will be forced to be sex slaves for the employer and for his male employees.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
British MP Backs Qatar ‘Progress’ on Workers’ Welfare
The head of a British parliamentary delegation on a fact-finding visit to Qatar said Friday the World Cup 2022 hosts had made “progress” on the controversial issue of workers’ welfare.
Conservative Phillip Lee, co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for Qatar, said Doha has listened to its critics over its treatment of migrant workers.
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| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Prayer Leaders Urge Vote for Anti-US Candidates
Iranian clerics used their last Friday prayer sermons before key polls next week to urge the faithful to elect candidates loyal to the Islamic revolution and hostile to the United States.
They accused Western media of attempting to sway voters against the revolution’s supporters in next Friday’s twin elections to parliament and the Assembly of Experts, the body which elects and supervises Iran’s supreme leader.
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| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Mosul: Islamic State Beheads 15-Year-Old Boy for Listening to “Western Music”
The victim, Hussein Ayham, was arrested by a Jihadi patrol at his father’s shop. The execution took place in a public square and sparked outrage among locals. Two teenaged boys were executed for not attending Friday prayers. Women rape survivors were stoned for “adultery”.
Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The Islamic State (IS) group has reportedly beheaded a 15-year-old boy for listening to Western pop music and shot dead two others for missing Friday prayers, as part of a wider crackdown in the group’s stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq.
According to local sources, reported by Kurdish media, the teenager named Ayham Hussein was caught during a patrol by Isis fighters, listening to Western music from his CD player in his father’s grocery store, in the west of the city.
Brought before a Sharia court, the boy was sentenced to death by beheading, which took place in a public square. His body was handed to his parents last Tuesday for burial.
The execution, the first for listening to banned music, has led to rare public displays of outrage, albeit muted because of the local powerlessness vis-Ã -vis Jihadi brutality.
Separately, two young men were arrested last week for failing to attend Friday prayers at the main mosque in Mosul. Both were shot dead outside the same mosque on Sunday.
The execution took place after a member of the Sharia Court read a statement vowing anyone who misses the prayers at the mosque to face the “same punishment.”
In late January, a 14-year-old was reportedly beheaded on similar charges. A witness said the boy’s parents were “forced to witness the beheading of their own son”.
Reports from Mosul also indicate that four women victims of rape were stoned to death for adultery.
Jihadis claimed to have caught the women in an adulterous situation; however, the victims were most likely exposed to sexual abuse at the hands of ISIS militants before they were driven out of their homes and transferred to the Sharia Court.
The latest jihadi violence comes as the group continues to hold onto a large territory despite military setbacks across Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait to Open New Airport for 25 Mln Passengers in 2020
Annual revenue expected to quintuple to 1.5 bln euros
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, FBERUARY 18 — The international airport of Kuwait City will be renovated and enlarged to bring its capacity to 25 million passengers within the next four years.
Annual revenue is expected to quintuple to 500 million dinars (1.5 billion euros), underscored the country’s civil aviation director Yusef Al-Fuzan in an interview with Kuwait Times. Some 11 million passengers used the airport in 2015, about double the intended capacity of the current facilities. By early 2017, a new temporary terminal able to serve 5 million passengers will open while awaiting the inauguration of the new airport terminal in 2020.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Qatar Airways to Hold 49% of Meridiana Says CEO
Rigotti, we want a deal with unions by march
(ANSA) — Rome, February 18 — A plan to relaunch Sardinian airline Meridiana involves a new holding company with “Qatar Airways…entering with a capital increase reaching 49%…while the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) would retain control with 51%,” Meridiana chairman Marco Rigotti said Thursday on his way out of a meeting at the industry ministry.
The Olbia-based private airline was founded by business magnate Aga Khan.
Rigotti said the private airline wants to hammer out a deal with unions on a planned partnership with Qatar Airways “by March”. Temporary layoff benefits for Meridiana workers end in April and June, he said. “This is a great opportunity…let’s hope we won’t miss out on it. The opportunity to seize it is also up to unions,” Rigotti said on his way out of a meeting at the industry ministry. “We must thank the government”. Industry Minister Federica Guidi said earlier in a ministry statement that “the Qatar option is the only one that can guarantee the relaunch and consolidation of Meridiana”. Meridiana’s plan to tie up with Qatar Airways envisages 900 redundancies as an initial negotiating platform, trade union sources said Thursday. At ongoing talks at the industry ministry Meridiana asked the unions for a deal on redundancies and a new contract, they said. Earlier this month Meridiana signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Qatar Airways that “states the conditions under which the partnership is subordinated,” the airline’s holding company Alisarda said. It said the two sides were “working on a potential partnership project regarding the Meridiana airline company”. The operation, if it satisfies a set of criteria, will be completed “by the first half of 2016,” the group said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Halts $3 Bn in Aid to Lebanon Army: Official
Saudi Arabia said Friday it has halted a $3 billion programme for military supplies to Lebanon in a protest against Hezbollah, the militant group fighting in support of the Syrian regime.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Says Syrian Rebels Should Receive Anti-Aircraft Missiles
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said Syrian moderate rebels should be armed with surface-to-air missiles against the Russian-backed Assad regime, a German news weekly reported Friday.
Anti-aircraft weapons could tip the scales on the battlefield as they did in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan in the 1980s, Adel al-Jubeir is quoted as saying in an interview with Der Spiegel…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US-Led Coalition Upgrading B-1 Bombers to Continue Operations Against Daesh
US Air Forces Central Command Commander Lt. Gen. Charles Brown said that B-1 Lancer bombers, that were carrying out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, will be upgraded.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) has sent B-1 Lancer bombers that were carrying out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria for upgrades, US Air Forces Central Command Commander Lt. Gen. Charles Brown said on Thursday.
“The B-1s have rotated out, they’ve gone back to do some upgrades,” Brown said in a briefing. “They will return to the mix.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Art of War: Will Russia Outplay Washington’s Cunning Geostrategists?
Under the smokescreen of incompetent and inconsistent foreign policy in Syria, Washington war planners and policymakers are pursuing a carefully-planned strategy to ignite a war in the oil-and-gas-rich Middle East and alter the geopolitical map of the region, F. William Engdahl notes.
Washington conducts its Middle Eastern policy in the most cynical Machiavellian way, according American-German researcher, historian and strategic risk consultant F. William Engdahl.
The researcher believes that despite Washington pushing ahead with the Geneva III talks, the US policymakers and war planners have no intent to settle the conflict and step aside.
“Washington policy — the policy of the USA military-industrial complex and their Wall Street bankers — has in no way changed… They plan to destroy Syria as a functioning nation, to finish the destruction of Iraq begun in 1991, and to spread that destruction now to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to Turkey, and across the entire oil and gas-rich Middle East,” Engdahl suggested in his article for New Eastern Outlook.
While the Syrian Arab Army backed by Russia is on the brink of victory in Aleppo cutting off Daesh supply lines to Erdogan’s Turkey and heading to Raqqa, a de facto capital of Daesh, Washington has persuaded Damascus and Moscow to impose a ceasefire in a week.
Regardless of the ongoing peace process, the Pentagon is also quietly putting “boots on the ground” in Iraq and Syria.
“They [the Pentagon] are preparing a major military move in Syria whether through Turkish and Saudi proxies or direct, or both, despite the nice sounding words about humanitarian aid and UN supervised Syrian elections in 18 months,” Engdahl stresses.
The US war planners are focused on two major targets — Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria — Daesh’s greatest strongholds.
According to the researcher, the areas are of great strategic importance. On the one hand they are the keys to the countries’ rich oil fields. On the other hand, those who control the Tabqa Dam in Al-Raqqa Governorate and the Mosul Dam in Iraq also control the countries’ water and power resources.
The Moon of Alabama blog suggested last week that US warhawks are planning to carve out northeastern regions from Syria including Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor at the same time maintaining control over Mosul in Iraq. As a result a new oil-rich “Sunni-stan” may emerge in the Middle East backed by Washington and its Middle Eastern allies.
Interestingly enough, a de-classified 2012 Defense Intelligence Agency’s document also envisaged the creation of a “declared or undeclared Salafist Principality in eastern Syria (Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor),” claiming that “this is exactly” what the West, Gulf countries and Turkey “want.”
“Some years ago I was told by a former West Point officer that the cadets of West Point who go on to become America’s future colonels, generals and military strategists, are steeped in Sun Tzu as well as in Italian Renaissance diplomat Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince, which teaches ‘the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct’,” Engdahl recalls.
The researcher believes that under the smokescreen of apparent incompetence on the side of Washington, the Pentagon and their Wall Street backers, “there is a carefully-planned strategy to ignite a war in the oil-and-gas-rich Middle East that will dramatically alter the political and geopolitical oil map of the world.”
In this light Turkey and Saudi Arabia’s claim to launch a ground operation in Syria with Washington’s backing could be just another phase of the plan.
British geopolitical analyst Finian Cunningham, however, believes that the Obama administration will restrain itself from allowing Riyadh and Ankara to kick off an invasion of Syria. The stakes are high, since the Saudi-Turkish advance could result in a wider war in the region, he noted in an exclusive interview with Radio Sputnik.
The question remains open as to whether the Syrian Arab Army can restore state sovereignty before Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey throw a monkey wrench in the Russo-Syrian advance.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China Cracks Down on Foreign Media, Need Approval to Publish Online
A new Chinese regulation announced this week will require foreign companies and foreign-Chinese joint ventures to acquire approval before publishing content online, in the government’s latest move to tighten control of the digital realm.
Under the new regulations going into effect March 10, firms with at least part-foreign ownership will be banned from publishing on the mainland text, pictures, maps, games, animation and sound “of informational or thoughtful nature” without approval from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.
Chinese law has long required Internet service providers to hold an operating license that can only be obtained in partnership with a Chinese firm, and the new regulations do not represent a wholesale revision of existing rules or practices, experts say.
But the new policies underscore the increasingly restrictive political climate in China, where the leadership has sought to rein in public speech and thought, with an emphatic focus on the country’s fast-growing Internet industry.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Black Students Burn Paintings of Whites at South Africa Protest
Students at the University of Cape Town in South Africa ransacked university buildings Tuesday and set fire to paintings depicting white people, according to local news.
Offensive art depicting white people at the exclusion of blacks who have built UCT, going up in flames! #Shackville pic.twitter.com/E2H17W58fc
— VERNAC NEWS (@VernacNews) February 16, 2016
The students are part of a movement called Rhodes Must Fall, which has inspired a similar movement in the United Kingdom and also helped inspire the Black Lives Matter movement at campuses in the United States. They are protesting university fees, a lack of housing, and “whiteness.”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Cameroon Market Suicide Attack Leaves 19 Dead
A double suicide attack on a market in northeastern Cameroon on Friday has claimed at least 19 lives, local officials said.
Two female suicide bombers carried out the attack, which also wounded several people, said the officials, who did not wish to be named…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Avoiding a Pregnancy is Not an Absolute Evil, ‘ Pope Says on Zika Crisis
Pope Francis hinted Thursday that the Church could exceptionally relax its ban on contraception for women at risk of contracting the Zika virus. He also had a few strong words for US Republican hopeful Donald Trump.
Talking to journalists aboard the papal plane on his return to Rome from Mexico, Francis insisted that “abortion is not a lesser evil, it is a crime” but added: “Avoiding a pregnancy is not an absolute evil.”
The 79-year-old pontiff recalled that one of his predecessors, Paul VI (1963-1978) had authorised nuns working in Africa to use contraceptives in light of a high risk of them being raped by soldiers…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ann Coulter is blasting weak Republican governors who claim they have no power to resist the settlement of refugees in their states.
“It’s amazing that the plutocrats are so powerful in America today that governors are willing to give up one of their own most fundamental powers — the power to exclude — in order to keep funneling cheap labor to the wealthy. Amazing,” she tells Breitbart News in an exclusive statement.
“All these Republican governors who pretend they LOVED Justice Scalia ought to be held at gunpoint and forced to read — assuming they can read — Scalia’s concurrence in Arizona v. United States, where he goes through several centuries of law on a STATE’S power to exclude immigrants,” she adds.
In that concurrence, Justice Scalia wrote:
Though it may upset foreign powers — and even when the Federal Government desperately wants to avoid upsetting foreign powers — the States have the right to protect their borders against foreign nationals, just as they have the right to execute foreign nationals for murder.
“Most elected Republicans have absolutely zero respect for Scalia, our Constitution, our history, our country — they just want to keep the third world immigration/transformation of the United States going,” Coulter concluded.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Immigrant ‘Soldiers of Odin’ Patrol Streets in Finland
Wearing black jackets adorned with a symbol of a Viking and the Finnish flag, the “Soldiers of Odin” have surfaced as self-proclaimed patriots patrolling the streets to protect native Finns from immigrants, worrying the government and police.
On the northern fringes of Europe, Finland has little history of welcoming large numbers of refugees, unlike neighbouring Sweden. But as with other European countries, it is now struggling with a huge increase in asylum seekers and the authorities are wary of any anti-immigrant vigilantism.
A group of young men founded Soldiers of Odin, named after a Norse god, late last year in the northern town of Kemi. This lies near the border community of Tornio, which has become an entry point for migrants arriving from Sweden.
Since then the group has expanded to other towns, with members stating they want to serve as eyes and ears for the police who they say are struggling to fulfil their duties.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Brenner Shutdown ‘Unthinkable’ Says Renzi at EU Summit
Premier to press for Dublin Regulation revision
(ANSA) — Brussels, February 18 — Premier Matteo Renzi said upon arriving at a special European Union summit on migrants Thursday that shutting down the Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy is unthinkable. “I realize the situation in Austria is very difficult,” he said. “There is a problem. But we can’t countenance shutting down the Brenner, which is one of the symbolic passages of Europe”.
Austria has set up controls on its side of the Alpine pass and capped at 37,500 the number of asylum seekers it is willing to take in this year — a quota it expects to reach by May, according to Austrian Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner.
Yesterday, Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner fixed daily entry quotas at 80 for people seeking asylum in Austria and at 3,200 for people passing through on their way to another country. Such moves “would be clearly incompatible with (Austria’s) obligations under EU and international law,” European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos wrote Mikl-Leitner in a letter of which ANSA obtained a copy on Thursday. Avramopoulos came out against quotas for asylum seekers traveling through the country and urged Austria to “reconsider the unilateral measures proposed”.
Also on Thursday, the governors of three bordering regions in Italy and Austria appealed for coordination on Austria’s controls, which they say are putting the area’s economy at risk.
The appeal came from Bolzano’s Arno Kompatscher, Trento’s Ugo Rossi and Gunther Platter from Austria’s Tyrol state.
Back in Brussels, the Italian premier said the past year’s events have “sanctioned” the failure of the Dublin Regulation, which says countries of first arrival must shoulder the responsibility for processing asylum claims.
“I understand some countries are saying the opposite,” Renzi said. “Europe has been sweeping dust under the rug for years. Now we will have to talk about it — in this and in the next councils”. Renzi also said he was optimistic a deal could be reached to enable British Prime Minister David Cameron to win a referendum and avert a British exit, or Brexit, from the EU.
Cameron is seeking concessions, such as a freezing benefits for new migrants and measures to protect national sovereignty.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Donald Trump Predicts Germany’s Merkel Will ‘Be Out if They Don’t Have a Revolution’
“You know, what Merkel has done is incredible, it’s actually mind boggling. Everyone thought she was a really great leader and now she’s turned out to be this catastrophic leader. And she’ll be out if they don’t have a revolution,” he continued.
Trump said that all of Europe is turning into “a total disaster” because of unwise immigration policies:
But you look at what’s going on in Brussels and Sweden and all of these countries, it’s a total disaster. The world is a different place. I don’t know what people are thinking, but the world is a different place.
As far as the migration is concerned and the Syrian people, if they come in they are totally unvetted. Nobody knows where they come from. There’s zero documentation.
You look at the lines where you have so many young strong men, very few women and children by comparison, and you say, what’s going on here? Why aren’t they back fighting for their country?
We have a real problem. The world is going crazy.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Moroccan Deported 10 Times
The ongoing insanity of Angela Merkel’s “open borders” policy has been demonstrated once again with the news that a Moroccan drug dealer has been deported from Germany no less than ten times at a cost of 70,000 Euros but he keeps coming back because there is nothing stopping him from re-entering the country.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Greece ‘Wants EU Open Border Pledge or Will Block Brexit Deal’
Greece wants its EU peers to pledge to keep their borders open to refugees until March or it will refuse to adopt an accord keeping Britain in the bloc at marathon talks on Friday, a government source said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Hypocrisy: America Accepts Six Times More Migrants Than All Latin American Countries Combined
While Latin American-born Pope Francis arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border and lectured about immigration policy, unmentioned in the pontiff’s address or the media’s coverage of his address is the fact that the U.S. has accepted more immigrants from around the world than any other country, including vastly more than all of Latin America put together.
According to analysis from the U.S. Senate Immigration Subcommittee, although the U.S. has roughly half the population of Latin America, it houses six times as many migrants. According to the UN, the U.S. hosts 45.8 million migrants compared to all 21 Latin American nations’ 7.8 million migrants, the analysis states:
The U.S. contains about 4.5 percent of global population but hosts about 20 percent of the world’s global migrants. As a matter of comparison, Latin America contains nearly twice as much of the world’s population — more than 8.5 percent — but houses only about 3.35 percent of the world’s migrants. While the United States takes in one-fifth of global migrants, no other nation on earth has taken in more than one-twentieth.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Invader Crime Crushing Swedish Police
The mass nonwhite invasion and ever-increasing Muslim radicalization among the invader population has pushed the Swedish police and legal system to the point of collapse, a senior inspector in Stockholm has announced.
According to the police, they are regularly attacked with hand grenades and there are entire regions of cities which are “police no-go” areas where “foreign gangs” engage in violent shoot-outs.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ISTAT Says 100,000 Italians Emigrated in 2015
Only 28,000 returned home
(ANSA) — Rome, February 19 — Istat said Friday that 100,000 Italian citizens were removed from the registry of residents in 2015 after moving abroad, a 12.4% increase on 2014.
The national statistics agency said 28,000 Italians returned to Italy from abroad. It said 245,000 foreign nationals registered as residing in Italy last year, while 45,000 others left the country.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Leaked German Government Report Shows Refugees Committed 200,000 Crimes Between 2014 and 2015
What the document shows primarily is that refugees are responsible for 208,344 crimes
A leaked report from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Agency reveals refugees committed over 200,000 crimes between 2014 and 2015.
The report is only supposed to be seen by police and other government employees, but it ended up in the hands of Bild, a German newspaper, Deutsche Welle reports.
What the document shows primarily is that refugees are responsible for 208,344 crimes.
A total of 32 percent of those crimes were related to asset or fraud offenses, and another 33 percent were due to theft. Of the total number of crimes, only 1 percent, or 1,688, had anything to do with sexual offenses. There were 458 cases of serious sexual assault, which includes either rape or coercion.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
More than 2,000 migrants have been rescued and brought to the Greek island of Lesbos in just the last 24 hours.
Coast guards and the EU border agency Frontex have been involved in dozens of rescue missions as refugees continue to make the perilous journey by boat across the Aegean Sea.
One Frontex patrol alone picked up 900 migrants near Lesbos yesterday as bad weather conditions made the sea crossing even more dangerous.
A total of 2,090 have now been dropped off on the island over the past day, the Hellenic Coast Guard said.
It comes as Greece threatened to veto David Cameron’s EU deal unless it get guarantees to curb the migration crisis.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Only 48 percent of all registered “refugees” in Germany are officially “Syrians,” the Federal Criminal Office (BKA) has admitted in a top secret report leaked to the Bild newspaper.
The report, “Crime in the context of immigration” was meant to be classified for police and civil servants’ eyes only. It stated that “Syrians” are officially listed as making 48 percent of “asylum seekers” -and are responsible for 24 percent of invader crime.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Renzi Warns States Uncooperative on Migrants Risk EU Funds
Premier says net contributors may stop showing solidarity too
(ANSA) — Brussels, February 19 — Premier Matteo Renzi warned Eastern European EU states at the summit in Brussels overnight that they risked losing EU funding if they fail to do their bit to address the asylum-seeker crisis. “Solidarity cannot just be about taking,” Renzi said, according to ANSA sources. “Now the phase of planning of 2020 funds is starting.
Either you show solidarity in taking and giving or we net contributor countries will stop showing solidarity too”. The comments were praised by fellow EU founder members France and Germany, the sources said.
Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacc was quoted by the Tanjug agency on Friday as saying Renzi was attempting “political blackmail” after he threatened cuts in EU funds to States that fail to be cooperative with the relocation of migrants.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
http://www.kotipetripaavola.com/biblequranviolence.html
The Quran is really more violent than the Bible.
Bullet trains are faster than walking.
I can’t say if the Bible is “violent” or not, I’ve read quite a bit of it, but for some reason I’ve never wanted to murder anyone or blow up a market.
Based on the Muslim in the street’s gutter in your face ideology my questions to any Muslim might be, ‘How do you stay out of jail until deported or worse?
Denmark’s PM warns that only 1/10 of eligible Syrian/Iraqi migrants have come, and the biggest migrations are ahead
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/02/20/breaking-point-europe-cannot-take-another-year-of-the-migrant-crisis-danish-pm-says/
Many of us have faced facts. Fang & I have armed ourselves & provided hog lard for
our bullets. We live in a remote area; but do get in to town on occasion. – The
Jihadists in the U.S. have set up training camps where they dress in camo & black
Jihadist face masks & crawl around in the woods on their bellies. Unwise.
I inherited my great-great grandfather’s Smith & Wesson revolver. – I’m not
threatening nobody; but I was NOT raised to turn tail & run. – If ya’ll don’t want my
honest posts on here, remove them; but I can only hope the Jihadists get a heads up
on our intentions, especially since we have a POTUS who’s hellbent on forcing
thousands of these Jihadist “refugees” on us,
An “integration event” got out of control –
Friedrichshafen
triggered by the playing of Arabic music.
1. on a university campus
2. refugees helped by a Catholic group
3. Syrians & Kurds fought each other
4. Police called in
What a lovely combination; times that probably 10000 times.
The prize for ……… goes to this chap:
Robert Schneider [ one of the festival organizers ] appeared to be “deeply affected by the incident”. “We denounce any form of violence, intolerance and acts driven by hate”, he says. “But we don’t want to give in to discouragement after these events.”
uh um…
(in german) http://www.schwaebische.de/region_artikel,-Integrationsfest-in-der-ZU-laeuft-aus-dem-Ruder-_arid,10395697_toid,310.html