Gates of Vienna News Feed 4/12/2017

27 men and two women appeared in a Yorkshire courtroom, charged with many multiple counts of child rape and related offenses. The victims were girls between the ages of 11 and 17 who were raped over a space of seven years.

In other news, the first black woman — and first Muslim woman — on New York’s highest court was found dead on the banks of the Hudson River near Harlem.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, LP, Nick, Reader from Chicago, Seneca III, 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
» 1st Black Woman on State’s Highest Court Found Dead by River
» Artificial Intelligence Coming Sooner Than You Think, Experts Say
» FISA Warrant Proves Deep State Surveillance of Trump Campaign
» Goldman Sachs Report on Space Mining for Platinum With ‘Asteroid-Grabbing Spacecraft’
» Julian Assange: WikiLeaks Publishes “Inconvenient’ Truths
» Two Suburban Men Charged With Conspiring With ISIS
 
Europe and the EU
» Belgium: Bomb Threat Closes Shopping Area Ghent Zuid
» Cops Arrest Suspected Islamist in German Soccer Team Bombing
» EU Puts Hungary’s Viktor Orban on Notice
» France: Le Pen in the Lead: Vows to Dismantle Migrant Camps
» Fraudulent Actions Behind Italian Bank Probs — Visco
» Geert Wilders’ Hate Speech Appeal Set for October
» Is Italy Ready to Abandon Ship on the Euro?
» Italy: G7 App Photo Withdrawn After Complaints — MEP Giuffrida
» Italy 5th in OECD for Payroll Taxes, Tax Wedge at 47.8%
» Italy: Pair Found Guilty of ISIS Recruitment
» Italy: M5S Vow to Cut Trade Union Power
» Trump Has Not Yet Asked to See Pope on May Visit
» UK: ‘Child Abuse Mob’ 27 Men and Two Women Appear in Court Charged With Horrific Crimes Against 18 Children Including Rape, Trafficking and Neglect
» UK: 27 Men and Two Women Appear in Court Accused of Child Trafficking, Rape and Sex Abuse Against 18 Girls as Young as 11 Over Seven Years
» UK: 24 Huddersfield Men and 2 Women in Court Today Over Charges of Rape, Neglect and Sex Abuse on Girls as Young as 11
» UK: These Are Some of the 29 Men and Women in Court After Young Girls Raped and Abused
» UK: Vogue’s New Editor Faces Conflict of Interest Row: Edward Enninful Has Sideline as a Stylist for Shoots Involving Gucci and Dior
 
Middle East
» Farage Cautions Against Regime Change in Syria: “What Happens When Assad is Gone?”
» Kurdish Leader Jailed for a Year. Suspicious Deaths in Turkish Prisons
 
Russia
» Latvia, Belarus Discuss Political and Economic Cooperation
 
South Asia
» Bangladesh: Hundreds of Santal Christians From Gaibandha Still Displaced After Five Months
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Foreign Journalists Kidnapped in Darfur, Imprisoned and Tortured in the Police State of Bashir’s Sudan
 
Latin America
» How Soros Used US Tax Dollars to Push Agenda in Colombia
» Venezuela Protestors Throw Eggs, Objects at President During Rally as Unrest Grows
 
Immigration
» Human Trafficking in Libya in Photography Exhibition
» Illegal Immigration Down by Two-Thirds, Thanks to Tough Talk, Action
» Italy: Gang That Offered Fake Marriages to Migrants Busted
» Pakistani National Smuggled 81 People Into US
» See EU in Court! Brussels Warn Hungary and Poland to Take in Migrants
» Sweden Wants More Manpower to Find 10k Rejected Refugees in Hiding
 

1st Black Woman on State’s Highest Court Found Dead by River

NEW YORK (AP) — The first black woman appointed to the state’s highest court has been found dead on the bank of the Hudson River.

Sheila Abdus-Salaam’s body was discovered along the riverside near Harlem on Wednesday, a day after she was reported missing, police said.

Police said her body showed no obvious signs of trauma, and they declined to speculate on the cause of her death. The medical examiner planned to study her body to try to determine what killed her.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who appointed Abdus-Salaam to the state’s Court of Appeals in 2013, called her a “trailblazing jurist.”

“As the first African-American woman to be appointed to the state’s Court of Appeals, she was a pioneer,” Cuomo said. “Through her writings, her wisdom and her unshakable moral compass, she was a force for good whose legacy will be felt for years to come.”

Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said her colleague will be “missed deeply.”

“Her personal warmth, uncompromising sense of fairness and bright legal mind were an inspiration to all of us who had the good fortune to know her,” DiFiore said.

Former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said he knew Abdus-Salaam for many years. He said her death of was “difficult to understand.”

“The court has suffered a terrible blow,” he said…

           — Hat tip: LP [Return to headlines]
 

Artificial Intelligence Coming Sooner Than You Think, Experts Say

If you have seen the latest Wolverine movie, Logan, you might have noticed a crucial scene where automated trucks speed up and down the highways of the United States.

Far-fetched? Well, not really.

Experts say artificial intelligence (AI) is coming sooner than you think and robotics will soon replace the work now being done by humans.

And they will not just replace truck drivers — think taxis, trains and even your local salad maker.

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

FISA Warrant Proves Deep State Surveillance of Trump Campaign

A newly revealed FISA warrant shows that a Trump campaign advisor was under surveillance by the Deep State during the campaign, adding even more evidence to Trump’s assertion that the Obama administration had targeted him and his campaign.

When President Trump took to Twitter last month to blast the Obama administration for using the intelligence community to wiretap Trump Tower, the liberal mainstream media and the Obama administration used words such as “sensational” and “false.” As more and more information comes out, it is now clear that words such as “delusional” and “dishonest” would best describe those who denied what is now an established fact.

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

Goldman Sachs Report on Space Mining for Platinum With ‘Asteroid-Grabbing Spacecraft’

Goldman Sachs is bullish on space mining with “asteroid-grabbing spacecraft.” In a 98-page note for clients seen by Business Insider, analyst Noah Poponak and his team argue that platinum mining in space is getting cheaper and easier, and the rewards are becoming greater as time goes by.

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

Julian Assange: WikiLeaks Publishes “Inconvenient’ Truths

WikiLeaks has the same motive as newspapers, according to the site’s editor Julian Assange.

“The truths we publish are inconvenient for those who seek to avoid one of the magnificent hallmarks of American life — public debate.”

“We publish truths regarding overreaches and abuses conducted in secret by the powerful,” Assange said in an opinion piece Tuesday in The Washington Post.

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

Two Suburban Men Charged With Conspiring With ISIS

CHICAGO (CBS) — Two suburban men were arrested Wednesday on charges that they conspired to provide material support to the Islamic State.

Joseph D. Jones, 35, of Zion, and Edward Schimenti, 35, of Zion were charged with “conspiring to knowingly provide and attempt to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).”

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

Belgium: Bomb Threat Closes Shopping Area Ghent Zuid

A SHOPPING centre in Belgium has been closed off by police after they were told there is a bomb inside.

Officers have rushed to the scene and shut the area down.

Public transport has been stopped on and around Woodrow Wilsonplein.

The ‘Gent Zuid’ shopping centre was mentioned in a call to police, according to local media.

A driver reportedly called police after finding something stuck to one of the parcels in his delivery van.

It is not clear if he is an employee of the shopping centre.

Army and police bomb squad officers descended on the area after being told there was an explosive on the premises.

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

Cops Arrest Suspected Islamist in German Soccer Team Bombing

German authorities arrested a suspected Islamist on Wednesday in connection with an attack on a bus carrying players of one of the country’s top soccer teams, a spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor’s Office said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said she was “appalled” by Tuesday evening’s attack on the Borussia Dortmund bus, in which Spanish defender Marc Bartra was injured.

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

EU Puts Hungary’s Viktor Orban on Notice

The European Commission on Wednesday expressed concern about Hungary’s amendment to its Higher Education Act as well as its adherence to European Union values at a meeting of the College of Commissioners in Brussels. The College discussed last week’s amendments made to the 2011 National Higher Education Act by Hungary’s Parliament restricting the educational and funding activities of foreign universities in the country. The discussion also included Hungary’s draft law on the funding of NGOs and its treatment of migrants.

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

France: Le Pen in the Lead: Vows to Dismantle Migrant Camps

French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has vowed to dismantle the country’s migrant camps, following the outbreak of a fire that largely destroyed the Grande-Synthe migrant camp at Dunkirk.

The fire, which was reportedly started deliberately following a fight between rival Kurdish and Afghan migrant groups within the camp, injured at least 10 people and left hundreds homeless.

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

Fraudulent Actions Behind Italian Bank Probs — Visco

Damage concentrated in few, Bank of Italy Governor tells EP

(ANSA) — Brussels, April 11 — Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco told theEuropean Parliament Tuesday that fraud was a major factor in the troubles the Italian banking sector is currently enduring. “An economic crisis of these proportions could not fail to hit the Italian banks,” he said. “At the origin of the banks’ difficulties we found company decisions tainted by fraudulent behaviours and imprudent decisions on the allocation of credit — a combination of potentially devastating factors.

“Nevertheless, the damage to the banking system was concentrated in a few, well-identified intermediaries, who have been subject to intense oversight and continue to be so”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Geert Wilders’ Hate Speech Appeal Set for October

The appeal in the hate-speech case against PVV leader Geert Wilders will start in October. On October 24th and 26th the so-called pro-forma hearings are scheduled, during which each side can present its research and investigation demands. And on November 9th the court in The Hague will rule on these requests, ANP reports.

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

Is Italy Ready to Abandon Ship on the Euro?

(LONDON) The euro zone’s greatest existential threat may no longer center on small, peripheral countries such as Greece and Portugal dragging it down, but instead on the prospect that its third largest economy, Italy, could abandon ship.

Two recent economic reports show what the euro has meant to Italians and why polls suggest they are no longer keen. One suggests they are poorer as a result of being part of the currency bloc, the other that they are falling further behind their counterparts in main trading partner Germany.

It is a distant risk to the currency bloc that Italy will actually walk away, but not beyond imagination.

Italy’s 5-Star movement, which wants to dump the euro through a referendum, has been surging in opinion polls recently, getting as much as a third of the vote in a March Corriere Della Sera poll. The anti-European Union Northern League got another 12 or so percent — and there are others.

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

Italy: G7 App Photo Withdrawn After Complaints — MEP Giuffrida

Image showed man in cap staring at woman with parasol

(ANSA) — Palermo, April 11 — A photo that featured in an app for journalists accredited to next month’s G7 summit in Taormina that allegedly gave a stereotypical image of Sicily has been removed after complaints, an MEP for the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) said on Tuesday.

The photo was of a young man wearing a cap with a cigarette handing outof his mouth staring at a woman with a parasol.

PD MEP Michela Giuffrida said the photo played on a “false, old, ignorant” stereotype of the southern region. “Now we may have the usual story of excuses and justifications that perhaps will cost the person who created this campaign their job as reactions of indignation multiply,” Giuffrida added.

“But the damage to the land that was awarded the G7 is done and it is very serious”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy 5th in OECD for Payroll Taxes, Tax Wedge at 47.8%

For singles without kids

(ANSA) — Rome, April 11 — Italy is fifth in the OECD for the weight of taxes on salaries, the Paris-based group said Tuesday.

The so-called tax wedge for a single without kids is 47.8%.

Italy is third for a a single-income family with two kids (38%), the OECD said in its Taxing Wages report for 2017. The OECD average for a single without kids is 36%, so Italy with 47.8% is more than 10 points higher, following Belgium (54%), Germany (49.4%), and Hungary and France (both 48.1%).As for a single-income household with two kids Italy at 38.2% follows onlyFrance (40%) and Finland (39.2%) and is 12 points over the OECD average of26.6%.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Pair Found Guilty of ISIS Recruitment

Both plan to appeal

(ANSA) — Venice, April 11 — Two men were found guilty of conducting proselytism for ISIS to recruit foreign fighters by a Venice judge on Tuesday. Ajhan Veapi, a 39-year-old born in Germany, was sentenced to four years, eightmonths in jail and Rok Zavbi, a 30-year-old Slovenian, got a term of threeyears, four months at the end of a fast-track trial. Both defendants plan to appeal, saying they are innocent.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: M5S Vow to Cut Trade Union Power

‘Cut old privileges’

(ANSA) — Rome, April 10 — The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) on Monday vowed to cut the power of trade unions.

Kicking off a discussion of labour issues with their members on their blog, the M5S said “defending the worker means promoting new forms of democracy and participation…cutting at the same time the old privileges and incrustations of power of the traditional trade union”. They said the mediation of the unions should be ended.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Has Not Yet Asked to See Pope on May Visit

Doesn’t plan to see Francis says FT

(ANSA) — Vatican City, April 11 — US President Donald Trump has not yet asked to see Pope Francis when he visits Italy for a G7 summit at Taormina at the end of May, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Tuesday.

Tuesday’s Financial Times said Trump would be the first US president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to make his first trip to Italy without seeing the pope.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘Child Abuse Mob’ 27 Men and Two Women Appear in Court Charged With Horrific Crimes Against 18 Children Including Rape, Trafficking and Neglect

A TOTAL of 29 people have appeared in court facing more than 170 charges relating to the sexual exploitation of 18 children.

The 27 men and two women appeared before a district judge at Huddersfield Magistrates Court charged with offences including rape, trafficking, sexual activity with a child, child neglect, child abduction, supplying drugs and making of indecent images of children.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

UK: 27 Men and Two Women Appear in Court Accused of Child Trafficking, Rape and Sex Abuse Against 18 Girls as Young as 11 Over Seven Years

A group of 27 men and two women have appeared in court today accused of more than 170 charges relating to the rape, sexual exploitation and neglect of 18 children over seven years.

The majority of the defendants arrived and left Kirklees Magistrates’ Court with their faces covered and were all escorted by police amid protests outside.

The 27 men are accused of committing historic sex, trafficking and exploitation offences against 18 girls aged between 11 and 17 between 2004 and 2011.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

UK: 24 Huddersfield Men and 2 Women in Court Today Over Charges of Rape, Neglect and Sex Abuse on Girls as Young as 11

The 29 men and women charged with dozens of historic sexual offences against girls are appearing at Kirklees magistrates court today.

Twenty-seven men have been charged, with one man alone charged with 21 offences of rape.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

UK: These Are Some of the 29 Men and Women in Court After Young Girls Raped and Abused

A total of 29 people appeared in court today in connection with historic child sex offences.

The defendants — 24 of which are from Huddersfield — were charged after girls as young as 11 were raped and sexually abused.

The cases involving the 27 men and two women were heard in a specially dedicated courtroom at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court today.

The Examiner can for the first time reveal their full addresses after we successfully challenged some of the defendants’ solicitors who had argued these should not be made public.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Vogue’s New Editor Faces Conflict of Interest Row: Edward Enninful Has Sideline as a Stylist for Shoots Involving Gucci and Dior

New Vogue supremo Edward Enninful has not yet got his feet under the glossy table in the editor’s Mayfair office, but he’s already facing awkward questions on potential conflicts of interest.

The 45-year-old has a lucrative sideline as a commercial fashion stylist, with two of his companies amassing shareholder funds totalling nearly £2 million at the latest count.

With his sister Akua, he owns Maxim Fashion Agents, which they set up in 2005 to style shoots for top labels such as Gucci and Dior, and which aims to ‘nurture the next generation of creative artists in the industry’.

A Vogue spokesman yesterday declined to comment but, following my inquiries, a senior executive at the fashion bible got in touch to say Enninful had agreed to ‘stop all his freelance stylist activity’…

           — Hat tip: Seneca III [Return to headlines]
 

Farage Cautions Against Regime Change in Syria: “What Happens When Assad is Gone?”

During a Fox Business Network exclusive interview on Wednesday, President Trump said he has no plans to enter Syria, despite ordering airstrikes on a Syrian military base last week.

Trump ordered the strikes after a deadly chemical attack on the country’s civilians, which U.S. officials blamed on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“We’re not going into Syria,” Trump told host Maria Bartiromo. “But when I see people using horrible, horrible chemical weapons … and see these beautiful kids that are dead in their father’s arms, or you see kids gasping for life … when you see that, I immediately called [Secretary of Defense] Gen. Mattis.”

Nigel Farage, a key figure behind Brexit and Fox News contributor, believes that Trump is right to be cautious about getting involved in Syria, particularly in efforts to oust the Assad regime from power.

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

Kurdish Leader Jailed for a Year. Suspicious Deaths in Turkish Prisons

The court sentenced HDP co-leader, Figen Yüksekdag, for crimes related to terrorism. Now she can no longer be elected to a political party. The prosecutor asks for life imprisonment for 30 journalists and employees of the Zaman publishing group, which publishes the main opposition newspaper. At least 28 people have died in jail, from suspected torture.

Istanbul (AsiaNews / Agencies) — A Turkish court sentenced the co-leader of the main parliamentary opposition movement, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Peoples’ Party (HDP), to one year in prison. Figen Yüksekdag (pictured) has been indicted for crimes related to “terrorism”. Judicial sources behind anonymity, report that the political leader is believed to have”sponsored propaganda activities for a terrorist organization”.

Yuksekdag also lost her parliamentary seat, after the court authorized the trial on September 22.

Now, as envisaged by the current Turkish Constitution, following the conviction she can no longer be elected within a political party.

Figen Yüksekdag was elected as an MP in November 2015 in the electoral district of the eastern province of Van. The Kurdish leader wasarrested in November last year, along with 13 other MPs HDP on terrorism-related charges. Ten of them, including Selahattin Demirtas the co-leader ofthe Kurdish movement are still in prison awaiting trial. They can no longer enjoy immunity, which was canceled by a vote in March 2016

Since July 2016, Turkish authorities have arrested more than 45,000 people, including teachers, soldiers, intellectuals, opposition politicians,businessmen, journalists, activists and ordinary citizens. More than 135,000 public servants have been either suspended or dismissed.

The crackdown is aimed at Kurds, and sympathisers (real or assumed) of the movement led by Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, who lives in exile in Pennsylvania, US.

According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other government leaders Gülen was behind the coup in Turkey that killed 270 people, wounding thousands. Analysts and experts note that the escalation ofarrests is linked to the upcoming referendum on constitutional reform.

President Erdogan has strongly pushed for the proposed changes to enhance his powers and extend his time in office beyond 2019, when his current mandate ends.

On the eve of the referendum the chief Istanbul prosecutor has once again demanded a life sentence for 30 journalists and former employees of the Zaman media group, accused of “participation in a terrorist organization”. The group is guilty of publishing the main newspaper linked to the opposition, before the police and the authorities closed it down.

In the indictment the prosecutor accused the group of having used Zaman “as a weapon” exceeding “the limits of freedom of opinion and press,” undermining social peace and justifying the coup.

Finally, activists and international human rights organizations denounce at least 28 people have been killed in Turkish prisons since the beginning of the purges in July. These include police officers, judges, teachers who were found dead in their cells. These deaths cast a shadow on the fate of thousands of civilians, in precarious conditions inside the country’s prisons. Relatives of the victims reject the hypothesis of death by suicide, the official version given by the authorities to justify the deaths. According to rumors some of these deaths would occur as a result of torture.

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

Latvia, Belarus Discuss Political and Economic Cooperation

On 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations

(ANSA) — TRIESTE — Belarus and Latvia discussed cooperation on the 25th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries, BelTA news agency reports. The Belarusian-Latvian political consultations took place on 10 April.

Belarusian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Oleg Kravchenko took part in the meeting, while the Latvian delegation was led by State Secretary of theMinistry of Foreign Affairs Andrejs Pildegovics. The parties discussed cooperation in the political, trade, economic, humanitarian and other fields.

The development of relations between Belarus and the EU, matters concerningthe Eastern Partnership initiative, and cooperation in international organizations were also on the table, according to BelTA.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Bangladesh: Hundreds of Santal Christians From Gaibandha Still Displaced After Five Months

On 6 April, thousands of Catholics marched in solidarity with tribal Santal. Last November, the latter were attacked by police and Muslims who set fire to their homes. At present, about 250 Christian families are still living in tents, in conditions of extreme need and in fear of attack.

Gaibandha (AsiaNews) — Five months after their land was taken, Santal Christians are still displaced, threatened by Muslims.

Speaking to AsiaNews, some note that back in November, they were chased off their land in Gaibandha district (north-western Bangladesh) after a clash with police.

“At least 250 families are living in tents,” said Fr Samson Marandy, a tribal parish priest in Mariampur. “The rains have arrived causing huge problems. Many are leaving for other places in search of work. The community is in a situation of extreme need.”

Everything began on 6 November 2016, when police and local Muslims attacked Christians, mostly ethnic Santal Catholics, over a land dispute.

The clash resulted in the deaths of three Christians and the woundingof about 30 people, including nine police officers.

Witnesses said that police had arrest warrants for 300 Santal, who fled to avoid jail. Others tried to defend themselves with bows and arrows, injuring some agents. Their houses were ransacked and looted.

The clergyman reports that attack survivors are “living in extreme conditions, and are in need of legal support and a safe haven. Our people aredetermined to regain their land. I am on their side. “

Along with Santal, thousands of Catholics took to the streets on 6 April in a show of solidarity. They want an investigation into the attack.

“We see no improvement. Tribals are forced to live in the open,” said Mathies Marandy, general secretary of the Adabashi (Tribal) Federation.

Christians also complain that whilst they are not allowed to get backtheir legitimate possessions, those who incited the Muslims are still at large. After five months, even the policemen responsible for torching their homes have not been identified.

“We are afraid even to go out because the Bangladeshis are threatening us,” said Nirmol Murmu, one of the victims. “We dare not even go to the local market.”

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

Foreign Journalists Kidnapped in Darfur, Imprisoned and Tortured in the Police State of Bashir’s Sudan

Former Chadian General Abakar M. Abdullah , a native of the Zagawa Tribe in Darfur, this writer and Deborah Martin have published a series of articles on the lies behind the Genocidal Jihad perpetrated by the regime of indicted war criminal, President Omar al-Bashir against the indigenous people of Sudan.

We published the details of the regime’s agenda of the secret Arab Coalition Plan that Abdallah recovered in 2015 in the cab of a captured pickup truck of the Janjaweed Rapid Support Force (RSF) renamed by Bashir, as the Peace Force. That plan has been implemented with the objective of completing the ethnic cleansing on or before 2020. We reported on the RSF peace force and the recruitment, equipping, training and of a veritable Jihad Army of an estimated 150,000 Arab tribal fighters from the Sahel region, terrorist groups from Africa and the Middle East. That included fighters from the Islamic State deployed in 16 training camps around the capital of Khartoum. It is furtherance of the Bashir plan to create a regional Caliphate in Africa…

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

How Soros Used US Tax Dollars to Push Agenda in Colombia

n a recent letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, six U.S. Senators asked for an investigation into whether the United States Agency for International Development was promoting the Open Society Foundations’ left-wing policies abroad.

State Department career officials gave the senators the runaround, but if Tillerson does launch the probe, he need look no further than Colombia.

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

Venezuela Protestors Throw Eggs, Objects at President During Rally as Unrest Grows

Unrest in Venezuela went up a few notches in the last seven days, as protests against Nicolas Maduro’s government have become part of the daily agenda for the increasingly fiery opposition.

Demonstrators in Caracas were bombarded with tear gas from helicopters and police have not been shy to use their weapons — two 19-year-old protesters died after being shot and hundreds have been wounded, including a baby at a hospital that was hit by gas bombs.

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

Human Trafficking in Libya in Photography Exhibition

Carmignac Award-winner Narciso Contreras at Palazzo Reale

(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 11 — The brutal reality of human trafficking on theborders of post-Gaddafi Libya is going on display at Milan’s Palazzo Reale, in an exhibition featuring the work of Mexican photo journalist Narciso Contreras.

Contreras won the 7th edition of the Carmignac Award in photo journalism, one of the most prestigious international awards in the field.

The exhibition, titled “Libya — A Human Marketplace”, will run from April 21 through May 13.

The theme given to photographers for this year’s edition was Libya, which was proposed because it is becoming increasingly difficult to get shots fromthere.

The exhibition is accompanied by a book from Skira publishing.

Contreras, whose work has always focused on the human costs of conflict, has already displayed these photos in Paris at the Hotel de l’Industrie, and following the Milan show they will go on display at London’s Saatchi Gallery beginning on May 16.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Illegal Immigration Down by Two-Thirds, Thanks to Tough Talk, Action

The latest report from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency shows the impact of words and actions on illegals seeking access to free benefits available to them just by crossing the nation’s southwest border. The number of individuals caught crossing that border in March — 16,600 — was a 30 percent decrease from February and a 64 percent decrease from the same month a year ago.

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

Italy: Gang That Offered Fake Marriages to Migrants Busted

And illegal occupation of council houses

(ANSA) — Milan, April 11 — Italian police on Tuesday busted a gang that offered fake marriages and the illegal occupation of council houses to migrants so they could qualify to stay in Italy.

The suspected gang, made up of two Moroccans, a Serbian and two Italians, charges between 1,500 and 10,000 euros forn its services, police said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistani National Smuggled 81 People Into US

A Pakistani man accepted a plea deal with the federal government on Wednesday for his role in smuggling dozens of illegal aliens into the U.S. through South and Central America.

In his plea agreement, Sharafat Ali Khan, a Pakistani national residing in Brazil, admitted that he smuggled illegal aliens from Pakistan and Bangladesh to the U.S. between March 2014 and May 2016.

The smuggling operation involved a network of safe houses and facilitators that stretched from South America, traversing the jungles of Colombia and Panama, to various spots on the U.S.-Mexico border.

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

See EU in Court! Brussels Warn Hungary and Poland to Take in Migrants

POLAND and Hungary could end up in court over their refusals to take in refugees under the European Union disastrous migrant policy.

The two member states, who have steadfastly refused to take part in a scheme to move 160,000 people from Italy and Greece — the main ports of arrival — to elsewhere in the EU.

More than 1.6million refugees and migrants crossed into the EU between 2014 and 2016, leading to rows about how to share the burden.

But so far only about 16,340 people have been relocated under the emergency scheme that is scheduled to end in September.

And furious European Commissioners are now threatening legal action against Warsaw and Budapest to in a last-ditch bid to rescue the failed policy.

[Comment: I’d lie to see Trump’s Secretary of State meet with the Visegrad Group.]

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

Sweden Wants More Manpower to Find 10k Rejected Refugees in Hiding

The force of 200 officers tasked with tracking down the thousands of migrants that have gone into hiding in Sweden needs to be substantially boosted, the country’s border police chief said after a rejected refugee carried out a terrorist attack in Stockholm.

“We certainly need more resources. We need a few hundred employees, maybe more,” Patrik Engstrom, head of Sweden’s national border police, told Dagens Nyheter newspaper, noting that “above all” the country needs more police officers to “take part in immigration control [operations]”

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

10 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 4/12/2017

    • You assume we still live in a constitutional republic.

      More like a police-state kleptocracy.

  1. Both rtlnieuws website and the timesofisrael website report that German police have arrested a Muslim man for the bombing of the team bus.Not very surprising.

    • Must not have been a “real” muslim. We all know the true followers of the religion of peace would never commit such an act.

    • This story is appalling, Liz, but was also puzzling to me, and I daresay many non-Americans following your link to the Detroit Free Press.

      The “original” Livonia is on the Baltic Sea; unlike, say, Richmond, Virginia, or Birmingham, Alabama, I doubt whether many of us were aware either of the place, or the European origin of its name.

    • The worst of it is that the FGM was, and is, instigated by the parents.

      Christopher Hitchens has parodied this cruelty in his talks.
      Examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq_gmiJtJLA

      Paraphrasing him: ‘can one imagine, you hold your newly born girl-child in your arms, and say, ‘Perfect. Now hand me a razor blade, that I may do the Will of the Lord and cut off her genitals.’

      This is their parents. Can anything be more disgusting than that? That parents should deliberately mutilate their children, and so intimately?

      The crimes of Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, horrid as they are, pale before the crimes of the parents.

    • By the way, the story indicates several times that Dr. Jumana Nagarwala is Gujarati, but never mentions her religion.

      About 10% of Gujaratis are Muslim. Anyone take bets on her religion?

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