Two “Frenchmen” who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State were arrested in Marseille. The two men had amassed explosives, guns, and other weapons, and were said to be planning an imminent terror attack just before the presidential election.
In other news, after 9,000 migrants were rescued over the weekend, the Austrian interior minister called on the EU to close the Mediterranean migration route.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Fjordman, Reader from Chicago, Salome, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Fox News Drops Bill O’Reilly in Wake of Harassment Allegations
Fox News is cutting ties with Bill O’Reilly, the biggest star in its 20-year history, after mounting allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior prompted the network to end his program.
“After a thorough and careful review of the allegations,” parent company 21st Century Fox said in a statement, “the company and Bill O’Reilly have agreed that Bill O’Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel.”
Today’s decision seemed unimaginable a few short weeks ago, given O’Reilly’s long reign as the top-rated host in cable news.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How Would NASA Search for Extraterrestrial Life on Enceladus?
As NASA’s Cassini spacecraft prepares for its grand finale at Saturn, scientists have uncovered the first evidence of a potential energy source for extraterrestrial microbial life.
The detection of hydrogen inside an ice plume jetting off from Saturn’s ocean-bearing moon Enceladus means that hot water is interacting with rock, creating a potential chemical kitchen for microbial life that doesn’t rely on photosynthesis to survive.
On Earth, these types of microbes flourish around hydrothermal vents on the sea floor. Scientists wonder if the same might be true 790 million miles away on Enceladus, an ice-capped inner moon of Saturn’s that is just 500 miles in diameter.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Judicial Watch Sues State Department USAID for Soros Records
Judicial Watch said Wednesday it is suing the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to get records showing nearly $5 million in American taxpayer money went to the Macedonian branch of George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.
The conservative watchdog group filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the State Department and USAID after both failed to respond to a Feb. 16 FOIA request seeking records related to grants or payment authorizations, records of communication between State Dept. or USAID officials and the Open Society Foundations. The group had also asked for responsive records of communication sent from Jess L. Baily, an Obama-appointee and former U.S. ambassador to Macedonia, and similar records of the political activities of the Open Society Foundation-Macedonia.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
This enhanced color Jupiter image, taken by the JunoCam imager on NASA’s Juno spacecraft, showcases several interesting features on the apparent edge (limb) of the planet.
Prior to Juno’s fifth flyby over Jupiter’s mysterious cloud tops, members of the public voted on which targets JunoCam should image. This picture captures not only a fascinating variety of textures in Jupiter’s atmosphere, it also features three specific points of interest: “String of Pearls,” “Between the Pearls,” and “An Interesting Band Point.” Also visible is what’s known as the STB Spectre, a feature in Jupiter’s South Temperate Belt where multiple atmospheric conditions appear to collide.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UC Berkeley Bans Ann Coulter — But She Plans to Speak Anyway!
The campus that is the home of the historical free speech movement, UC Berkeley, has banned conservative commentator and author Ann Coulter, citing security threats.
According to Young America’s Foundation, student organizers of an upcoming Ann Coulter event at the university were emailed by Berkeley administrators who claimed they were unable to “find a safe suitable venue” for Coulter.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in France and Belgium: March 2017
by Soeren Kern
Yussuf K. said he carried out the January 2016 attack “in the name of Allah and the Islamic State.” He added that he chose his victim because “he was Jewish.”
A confidential police report revealed that more than 50 organizations in Molenbeek, a migrant-dominated neighborhood of Brussels, Belgium, are believed to have ties to jihadist terrorism.
An Ipsos poll for France Television and Radio France found that 61% of the French believe that Islam is incompatible with French society.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria’s Islamic Kindergartens Help Create ‘Parallel Societies’: Study
A debate is raging in Austria after a study suggested that Islamic kindergartens in Vienna were helping to create “parallel societies” or even produce the dangerous homegrown radicals of the future.
According to its author, Ednan Aslan, a Turkish-born Austrian professor at Vienna University, some 10,000 children aged two to six attend around 150 Muslim preschools, teaching the Koran much like Christian ones do with Bible studies.
At least a quarter are backed by groups propagating arch conservative strains of Islam like Salafism, or organizations that see religion not just as a private matter but integral to politics and society, Aslan believes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark Terror Trial of 17-Year-Old Girl Begins
The trial on terrorism charges begins on Wednesday of the 17-year-old ‘Kundby girl’, who is accused of plotting to bomb two schools.
The suspect has spent 15 months remanded in custody, having been arrested in January 2016.
The girl is accused by the prosecutor of planning terror attacks against two schools — the girl’s previous school, Sydskolen in Fårevejle, western Zealand; and a Jewish school in Copenhagen. She denies the charges.
Manuals on how to make bombs and prepare explosives were found when the girl, then 15, was arrested last year, reports news agency Ritzau.
State prosecution has now accused the girl of terrorism.
The girl was waiting for orders before carrying out her alleged attack on Sydskolen, reports Ritzau, and was also arrested before making her alleged attacked on Carolineskolen, a Jewish private school in Copenhagen.
Shortly after her arrest last year, the girl was described as a recent convert to Islam and one of her neighbours told tabloid BT that her Facebook page indicated that she wanted to convert other Danes to the religion.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Donald Tusk Slams Poland Intelligence Probe as ‘Witch-Hunt’
The feud between the European Council president and the ruling party in his native Poland has intensified as he arrived in the country denouncing a “witch-hunt” against him.
Donald Tusk has been summoned to give evidence to a secretive investigation.
Throngs of supporters escorted him from Warsaw’s central railway station to the prosecutor’s office.
Mr Tusk was Polish prime minister from 2007-14. His Civic Platform party is now the main opposition.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Drivers Gear Up for World’s First Nanocar Race
Six teams from three continents are preparing for a unique race on a polished gold track in the south of France this month. But this is no luxurious supercar event: competitors will be racing single molecules. In 36 hours, they aim to move them a distance of 100 nanometres — about one-thousandth the width of a human hair — on a laboratory track held in a vacuum and chilled to a few degrees above absolute zero.
The contest is being billed as the world’s first nanocar race, and the aim is to get people excited about nanotechnology and molecular machines, says co-organizer Christian Joachim, a chemist who works at the Centre for Materials Elaboration and Structural Studies in Toulouse.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch MPs Debate Dual Citizenship Legality After Turkish Referendum Vote
The voting behavior of Dutch-Turks in the recent Turkish referendum breathed new life into debate on dual-nationality in the Netherlands. Of the Dutch-Turks who voted in the referendum, 71 percent voted pro-Erdogan. This resulted in new calls from Dutch parliament to stop or at least restrict dual passports, AD reports.
The PVV and CDA are most vehement about these calls. Both parties want to get rid of dual nationality.
“Then at least they can’t vote in a Turkish referendum”, PVV leader Geert Wilders said, according to the newspaper. “As long as you’re a Turk, you must not be Dutch. Dual citizenship at least gives the appearance of a dual loaylty.” He promised to submit a legislative proposal to ban dual nationality.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Police Find 3kg of Bomb-Making Material Linked to ‘Pre-Election Attack Plot’
Police arrested two men in Marseille Tuesday on suspicion of planning an attack just days before the first round of France’s presidential election, with bomb-making materials and guns found in searches.
The foiled plot sparked fears the closing days of the campaign could be a target for extremists ahead of Sunday’s vote.
Elite police and agents from France’s domestic intelligence agency detained the two Frenchmen — identified only as 23-year-old Clement Baur and Merabet Mahiedine, 29 — with Interior Minister Matthias Fekl saying they were known to be “radicalised.”
“They were aiming to commit in the very short term, in other words in the next few days, an attack on French soil,” Fekl said.
French authorities found three kilos of explosives, several guns and an Islamic State jihadist flag in subsequent raids of an apartment in Marseille, said Paris prosecutor Francois Molins.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
An Isis flag, a wig and a mask have been found amid guns and homemade explosives at the home of two men suspected of planning an “imminent” terror attack during France’s presidential election.
Clément Baur and Mahiedine Merabet had pledged allegiance to Isis in a video intercepted by French and British intelligence services on 12 April.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary Lawmakers Debate Bill That Critics Say is Anti-NGO
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian lawmakers began debating a draft bill on Wednesday that critics say is meant to intimidate non-governmental organizations which receive foreign financing.
Among other conditions, NGOs getting more than 7.2 million forints ($24,600) a year from abroad would have to register with the courts and identify themselves as being foreign-funded on their websites and publications. Failure to comply could lead to fines or termination of the groups.
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http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/04/19/femen-interrupt-marine-le-pen-speech/
FEMEN Take Responsibility for Interrupting Marine Le Pen Speech
Self-proclaimed feminist “sextremist” group FEMEN have taken responsibility for interrupting a speech by Front National presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on Monday.
Ms. Le Pen was interrupted during her speech at a rally in the Parisian neighbourhood of Aubervilliers Monday by a pair of women, one of whom attempted to strip off naked and throw flowers at her. On Tuesday the group, known for their naked protests against mostly conservative and right wing figures, took responsibility on their website.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Is the Swiss Burka Ban a Tyranny of the Majority?
Swiss voters have banned the construction of new minarets, burkas and the ritual slaughter of animals for food, which some say amounts to the discrimination of religious minorities under Switzerland’s direct democracy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Five Star Movement Presents Foreign Policy Patform
Italy’s Five Star Movement presented its foreign policy platform on April 18, the EU Observer and Italian media reported April 19. The platform includes reforming NATO and leaning more toward Russia but does not explicitly mention a referendum on eurozone membership. Despite this, the party’s leader, Beppe Grillo, has proposed holding a referendum on his blog. The new platform shows the Five Star Movement’s goal for more independence on foreign affairs. The anti-establishment party is against free trade agreements and opposes military interventions without U.N. support.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Norway’s Oil Problem Sets Election Stage After Spending Binge
Norway can’t afford an abrupt cut in spending if the economy of western Europe’s biggest oil and gas producer is to continue growing, according to the man who most polls suggest will be prime minister after elections this year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Police in Spain Break Up Child Porn Network That Operated Via WhatsApp
MADRID — Spanish officials say police have arrested 39 people in an international operation against a major network that distributed child pornography material via the popular online chat application WhatsApp.
A police statement Tuesday said the network operated some 100 chat groups with 135 identified users in 18 countries in Europe, Central and South America.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The ‘Islamic’ Bar in Paris That Became a French Election Scandal
France has been left divided after hidden cameras footage revealed men in an “Islamic” bar in Paris telling women they weren’t welcome.
Amar Salhi is still amazed at how his scruffy bar north of Paris sparked an election scandal after it featured on national television in December during a report about Islam and women.
In footage shot with hidden cameras and broadcast during prime-time by state media giant France 2, two women activists were seen facing a hostile welcome as they tried to go for a drink in the Jockey Club.
“There’s no mixing in this bar,” one client was heard saying.
“You’re not in Paris here… it’s a different mentality, it’s like the village back home (in north Africa),” said another.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Lawmakers Overwhelmingly Vote to Support Snap Election
Prime Minister Theresa May got the overwhelming support of British lawmakers on Wednesday when they voted by a resounding 522 to 13 to back her call for a snap general election on June 8.
The result in Westminster easily surpasses the two-thirds majority of the 650 lawmakers needed to trigger an early vote. Parliament will be dissolved on May 2, sparking almost six weeks of campaigning.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Professor Investigated Over Bellydance Video
An Egyptian professor fears she may lose her job after posting a video of herself bellydancing on Facebook.
The video, as well as a photo of Mona Prince in a bikini, has been widely shared and has attracted online criticism. Now the professor, who teaches English literature at Suez University, is being investigated over them, Ahram Online reports.
While some have defended her, many on social media said they expected a university professor to act within the norms and traditions of Egypt’s mostly conservative society, and to be a role model.
Ms Prince’s faculty dean, Mona Saba, told the BBC that she “did not respect traditions and the university values”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Palm Sunday Bombing Suspect Surrenders to Egyptian Authorities
A man suspected in one of the two Palm Sunday bombings of Coptic Christian churches in northern Egypt has turned himself in to authorities.
Mahmoud Mohamed Ali Hussein is believed to have played a role in the bombing of St. George Church in the city of Tanta that killed 27 and injured 78, according to Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram.
He turned himself in at a prosecutor’s office in the Qena governorate where most of the suspects are believed to be from.
Authorities said they have arrested 13 members of a terrorist cell that was plotting attacks against more churches in the country, according to the newspaper.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tomb Full of Mummies Unearthed at Luxor
Several mummies and more than 1,000 figurines have been discovered at an ancient cemetery located at Luxor in Egypt, archaeologists reported.
A team of archaeologists with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities uncovered the funerary complex during the ministry’s ongoing excavations at the site. The funerary complex contains multiple tombs that were originally built for a man named Userhat, who was a judge in Luxor sometime during what modern-day archaeologists call Egypt’s New Kingdom (1550—1070 B.C.) period, the ministry said in a statement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisian Islamist Party Says Time to ‘Bury’ Democracy
The Tunisian branch of the radical Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir movement, which calls for Islamic law and wants to unify Muslims into a caliphate, said on Saturday that it was time to “bury” democracy.
“Democracy no longer attracts anyone,” the movement’s politburo chief Abderraouf Amri told its annual conference. “It is time to announce its death and work to bury it.”
Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in several countries and Tunisian authorities regularly accuse it of “disturbing public order”.
Hundreds of party members took part in the congress near Tunis, praising “the caliphate, saviour of humanity” and denouncing “persecution” by the democratic system. It said it was the victim of “attempts to prohibit and hinder” its activities.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State and Al Qaeda in Renewed Talks to Join Forces
Iraq’s vice president said rival terror groups ISIS and Al Qaeda are exchanging ideas on ways to join forces.
Vice President Ayad Allawi told Reuters he got the information from contacts in Iraq and the region. He did not reveal more specific details about the source of his information.
Allawi said the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and the head of Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are not communicating with each other directly but through intermediaries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Bombers Again Fly Near Alaska
For the second consecutive night, Russia flew two long-range bombers off the coast of Alaska on Tuesday, this time coming within 36 miles of the mainland while flying north of the Aleutian Islands, two U.S. officials told Fox News.
The two nuclear-capable Tu-95H bombers were spotted by U.S. military radar at 5 p.m. local time.
Unlike a similar incident Monday night, this time the U.S. Air Force did not scramble any fighter jets.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bomb, Gun Attacks Kill Two in Thailand’s Deep South
A string of bomb and gun attacks killed two people in southern Thailand late on Wednesday (April 19) and wounded three others, a senior military spokesman said.
The attacks took place in 11 districts in Narathiwat, Pattani and Songkhla provinces near the border with Malaysia.
The region has seen a long-running separatist insurgency: more than 6,500 people, most of them civilians, have died in separatist violence since 2004, when resistance to Buddhist rule flared up.
Thailand is mostly Buddhist but parts of the south are majority Muslim. The attacks on Wednesday targeted security forces, including police and troops, and civilians, a spokesman for the military said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘My Career is Over Now’: Muslim Artist Fired for Including Religious References in X-Men Comics
A comic artist has been fired from Marvel for including apparent anti-christian and anti-semitic references in a new spinoff of the popular X-Men comic strip.
Indonesian man Adrian Syaf made explicit references to religious and political divisions in his country in issue one of X-Men: Gold, citing a verse of the Koran that urges Muslims not to trust Jews and Christians.
One of the controversial drawings showed X-Men character Colossus playing baseball while wearing a t-shirt with ‘QS 5:51’ emblazoned across his chest. Verse 5.51 in the Koran is commonly translated as “O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you — then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.”
While the references went over the heads of most readers, people in Indonesia immediately spotted the reference and highlighted it on social media.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Terror in Thailand: Horror as Two Dead After Brutal Wave of Bombings and Shootings
Three others were wounded in the horrific violence this evening, which took place in 13 districts in the south of the country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Arunachal Pradesh: China Renames Districts in Disputed India State
China has renamed six districts along a disputed Himalayan border region with India, in a move seen as “retaliation” for a visit by the Dalai Lama.
The Tibetan spiritual leader, 81, had visited Arunachal Pradesh in India’s remote north-east earlier in April.
China had said the visit had a “negative impact” on bilateral relations and warned India against “undermining” Beijing’s interests.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China’s More Than 300 Million Vehicles Drive Pollution, Congestion Issues
China now has more than 300 million registered vehicles on its increasingly jammed roads.
The number of vehicles registered in China reached an all-time high of 300.3 million at the end of March, with cars accounting for two-thirds of that number, according to the traffic bureau of the Ministry of Public Security.
China, with 1.3 billion people, is quickly becoming a society on wheels, providing a market for carmakers from Volkswagen to Toyota and cultivating a fan base for movies like the Fast and Furious series.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
North Korea Tension: China ‘Seriously Concerned’ About Nuclear Threats
China says it is seriously concerned about North Korean nuclear development, in the wake of a BBC interview with a top official from the North.
North Korea’s vice-foreign minister told the BBC Pyongyang would continue to test missiles and would launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike if it thought the US was planning an attack.
Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China opposed words or actions that could further raise tension.
North Korea-US tension is growing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Korea Begins Coinless Society Trial
South Korea is starting a trial which could result in banishing its largely worthless coins from the country’s economy.
Starting on Thursday, instead of accepting small change from purchases, customers at selected stores can instead opt to deposit it onto prepaid cards such as transportation cards, the Yonhap news agency reports. This means that customers won’t have to carry change in their pockets after making cash payments, the Bank of Korea (BOK) says.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Korea Scandal: Denmark to Extradite Daughter of Choi Soon-Sil
A Danish court has upheld an extradition order for the 20-year-old daughter of the woman at the centre of South Korea’s presidential scandal.
Dressage rider Chung Yoo-ra is the daughter of Choi Soon-sil, a close friend of former President Park Geun-hye who is on trial in Seoul for abuse of power and attempted fraud.
She is alleged to have used that friendship to benefit her daughter.
Ms Chung was arrested in Denmark in January.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Warns North Korea as Pyongyang Vows More Missile Tests
President Trump isn’t spelling out his North Korea strategy, but it sounds like the rogue nation — which just vowed to continue testing missiles on a weekly basis — won’t like it.
Speaking exclusively to “Fox & Friends” Tuesday, the commander-in-chief hinted at his own growing frustration with dictator Kim Jong Un, and indicated he won’t appease the tyrant’s continued saber rattling.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Accused Bourke St Driver Dimitrious Gargasoulas Tells Court ‘I Am the Saviour’
The man accused of killing six people and injuring dozens of pedestrians during a driving rampage through Melbourne’s CBD has told a court he is “the saviour”.
For the first time since he allegedly drove his car through the Bourke Street mall in January, Dimitrious Gargasoulas appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court via video-link on unrelated charges.
The 26-year-old’s lawyer had previously told the court that he had been too ill to attend.
Dressed in a black jumper and white t-shirt, Gargasoulas smiled during the brief hearing and interjected on several occasions.
He said, “Your Honour, I wanted to tell you something”, and later spoke about the Bible and the Koran, yelling, “Aboriginal law is identical to Muslim law”.
His lawyer spoke over the top of him, warning him that members of the media were in court.
Gargasoulas then said: “All the law is illegal.”
Later, he said: “Your Honour, did you know the Muslim faith is the correct faith according to the whole world? And I am not guilty.”
Before his video-link was switched off, he called out: “I am the saviour.”…
| — Hat tip: Salome | [Return to headlines] |
Fatal Attack Reignites Shark Cull Debate in Australia
Australia will consider all proposals to stop shark attacks after the death of a teenage girl, the government says.
Laeticia Brouwer, 17, was fatally attacked by a shark on Monday while surfing in Western Australia (WA).
It was the third deadly attack in the state within 12 months.
Federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said he would consider new proposals including culling, but any action would rely upon the state government.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The man accused over the Bourke Street massacre in Melbourne has claimed Islam is the ‘correct faith’ and he is ‘the saviour’ in a bizarre rant in court on unrelated charges.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria’s Buhari Suspends Spy Chief After $43m Found in Lagos
Nigeria’s foreign spy chief Ayo Oke has been suspended after anti-corruption officers found more than $43m (£34m) in a flat in the main city, Lagos, the president’s office has said. Muhammadu Buhari has ordered an investigation into how the spy agency headed by Mr Oke came into possession of the money, his office added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Africa Must Fall: Protesters
April has seen its fair share of anti-Zuma protests and marches‚ but one splinter group is not interested in Jacob Zuma at all — they want South Africa itself to fall and say the president’s power is irrelevant.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Zimbabwe Schools Accept Goats for Tuition Fees
Parents in Zimbabwe who cannot afford school fees can offer livestock such as goats or sheep as payment, a government minister has said.
The country’s education minister Lazarus Dokora told the pro-government Sunday Mail newspaper that schools will have to show flexibility when it comes to demanding tuition fees from parents, and that they should accept not only livestock, but also services and skills. “If there is a builder in the community, he/she must be given that opportunity to work as a form of payment of tuition fees,” the paper quoted him as saying.
Some schools are already accepting livestock as payments, the Sunday Mail reports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
2 Killed Amid Massive Anti-Government Marches in Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Two people were shot dead as opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas and other Venezuelan cities Wednesday, battling security forces in what’s been dubbed the “mother of all marches” against the embattled socialist leader.
Tens of thousands of protesters made an unsuccessful attempt to march to downtown Caracas as security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd. Dozens even had to slide down a concrete embankment and into the Guaire River to escape the noxious fumes.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Five Things to Understand About Oil-Rich, Cash-Poor Venezuela
Venezuela is flush with oil, but strapped for cash. Empty store shelves and hospitals short on medicine have driven its people to desperation. DW outlines five key points to understanding Venezuela’s oil-based crisis.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuelan Protester Shot Dead During Violent ‘Mother of All Marches’
A young man who was taking part in a protest against the Venezuelan government was killed by gunshot on Wednesday morning. Witnesses told Fox News the protester was lying on a pool of blood after he was shot in the neck and forehead.
The man was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died during surgery. He was identified by El Nacional as 17-year-old Carlos José Moreno Baron.
Wednesday’s events are the culmination of a violent wave of protests started on April 1, triggered by the Supreme Court’s decision to strip the legislature of its last remaining powers.
Six people have died, dozens injured and more than 200 have been detained in the latest spark of violence.
On Tuesday evening, Maduro activated “Plan Zamora,” a military, police and civilian operation aimed at defeating an alleged coup against him “operated by the U.S. State Department and the Venezuelan right.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
14 Wounded After Illegal Migrants Storm Town Hall to Protest France’s Immigration Laws
A crowd of around 200 illegal migrants from Africa stormed Alfortville town hall on Tuesday morning, demanding the government relax criteria for regularisation and give them residence papers.
Illegal migrants occupied the town hall for about an hour, frightening members of the public in the building as well as staff who had to retreat to their offices.
The migrants, who work at Rungis International Market, the world’s largest wholesale food market, began piling into the town hall at around 8.30 am, but staff didn’t notice their arrival until it was “too late”, according to Le Parisien.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria Calls for Closure of Mediterranean Migrant Route
Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka has called for the immediate closure of the Mediterranean route used by refugees seeking asylum in Western European countries, local media reported Wednesday.
Closing the route “is the only way to end the tragic and senseless dying in the Mediterranean,” Sobotka said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria Calls for Closure of Mediterranean Route After 9,000 Migrants Ferried to Europe at Easter
Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka has called for the European Union (EU) to seal the Mediterranean route after 9,000 migrants were ferried from Africa during Easter weekend.
The minister told local media that closing the route and securing Europe’s external borders “is the only way to end the tragic and senseless dying in the Mediterranean.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘I Will End Schengen’ Marine Le Pen Promises Immigration Freeze as French Election Looms
Speaking at a rally in Paris, the Front National leader blasted the “irresponsible Schengen Treaty” and promised to restore France’s “Four Sovereignties”.
Ms Le Pen told supporters: “I would decide on a moratorium on all legal immigration to stop this frenzy, this uncontrolled situation that is dragging us down.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
On Freight Trains, Migrants in Greece Seek New Routes North
THESSALONIKI, Greece (Reuters) — It was Mohamed Khaleuf’s third attempt to cross the Greek-Macedonian border hiding in a freight train and he had no plans to give up trying.
“I promised myself I would try five times. If I’m not successful, I will try to cross from somewhere else,” said Khaleuf, a migrant from Morocco in his early twenties.
Khaleuf is among dozens of migrants, mostly young Moroccans, Tunisians and Algerians, who arrived in Greece in the last year and found shelter in old rusting carriages around a station in the outskirts of Greece’s northern city of Thessaloniki.
From there, they monitor freight trains heading to central Europe. Whenever trains stop in the station, the migrants try to sneak into their compartments or jump in between wagons.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poland Follows Hungary’s Footsteps in Corralling Migrants
Poland is mulling setting up special camps where asylum seekers would be housed in containers and kept behind fences in the event of another migration crisis, according to the country’s interior minister.
“The thing is to be ready for such a situation in the form of places in which those waiting for deportation would be kept who may try to break the law,” Mariusz Blaszczak told Polish radio on Tuesday. “That’s all it entails. Besides, there are similar container camps in France and in Germany.”
It’s a very similar approach to one adopted by Hungary, which has come under fire from the EU for its harsh approach to asylum seekers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Government Will Not Allow ‘Bloody Harvest’ of Multiculturalism
The Polish interior minister affirmed Poland will not repeat the Western European policy of multiculturalism which he said has led to the “bloody harvest” of multiple terror attacks across the continent since the start of the migrant crisis.
“The policy of multiculturalism in Western Europe is bringing about a bloody harvest in the form of terrorist attacks,” Mariusz Blaszczak told Polish Radio on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
TURKEY could let millions of refugees fleeing the war-torn Middle East into Europe over a row with the EU after the nation voted to give President Tayyip Erdogan sweeping new powers that could see him bring back the death penalty.
Turkey, a Nato member state that began talks to join the EU in 2005, has taken in millions of refugees fleeing the six-year-old war in Syria on Europe’s behalf — and the government has now started to demand Turks are allowed to travel to Europe without visas.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Newfound Alien Planet is Best Place Yet to Search for Life
A newly discovered planet around a distant star may jump to the top of the list of places where scientists should go looking for alien life.
The alien world known as LHS 1140b is rocky, like Earth. It is only 40 light-years away from our solar system (essentially, down-the-street in cosmic terms), and sits in the so-called habitable zone of its parent star, which means liquid water could potentially exist on the planet’s surface. Several other planets also meet those criteria, but few of them are as prime for study as LHC 1140b according to the scientists who discovered it, because the type of star the planet orbits and the planet’s orientation to Earth make it ripe for investigations into whether it’s the kind of place where life could thrive.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
” In other news, after 9,000 migrants were rescued over the weekend, the Austrian interior minister called on the EU to close the Mediterranean migration route.”
That’s the logical step that had to be taken 40 years ago. But to hint at something reasonable is different from taking action. Only bad dictators take action . .. democracies only talk about problems.
THAT “S WHY ERDOGAN IS laughing at perverted Europe. Stupid!
Erdogan sees, feels and then finds the right adjectives.