Three men have been arrested in connection with a plot to cause mass casualties on the subway and at outdoor concerts in New York. The three reportedly were inspired by the Islamic State to plan their grisly deeds. One suspect is an “American”, one is a “Canadian”, and the third is a Filipino.
In other news, the Spanish government has apologized to Catalonians who were injured by police during last Sunday’s referendum on independence.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Charles Low, Insubria, JD, LP, Reader from Chicago, 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.
Arkansas: Muslim Police Officer Fired After Threats to ‘Blow Up’ Academy
MARION, Ark. -Police say an east Arkansas police officer has been fired and is under investigation after alleged threats to “blow up” a law enforcement training academy in northeast Arkansas
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Arrest in ISIS-Inspired Plot on Concert
Three men were arrested for an ISIS-inspired plot to target concerts and subways in New York, according to an NBC report Friday.
The arrests, which took place in the summer, came before the suspects could acquire weapons.
According to the NYPost, three were arrested—Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, a Canadian citizen, Talha Haroon an American from Pakistan, and Russell Salic, who was arrested in the Philippines.
Talha Haroon reportedly said, “I wanna kill . . . them in thousands,” adding, “We have to make a ocean out of their blood…leave no one standing.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Julian Assange Threat to Quit Twitter, Saying it’s ‘Enslaved to the US’
Mr Assange said some pictures he has posted have since been marked as “sensitive media” by Twitter.
He threatened to quit the site, saying it was “enslaved to its US jurisdiction and politics”.
He today today told the 440,000 followers of his personal Twitter account that he would prefer to use a “decentralised/cryptographic alternative” to the social media favourite.
He wrote: “Twitter’s freedom of expression has been on an inexorable decline. “It’s enslaved to its US jurisdiction and politics.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Las Vegas Shooter Took 20 Cruises, Some to Foreign Ports
Las Vegas (CNN) In addition to his frequent forays into casinos and gun shops, Las Vegas strip killer Stephen Paddock took 20 cruises, many of them in Europe and the Middle East, investigators have learned.
The cruises included stops at ports in Spain, Italy, Greece, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, according to information provided by a law enforcement source who asked not to be identified because the source was not authorized to share information about the investigation. Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, accompanied him on nine of the cruises.
The information provided by the source did not specify the cruise line involved, the type of cruises, when they occurred or the couple’s reason for travel. Most cruise ships have casinos on board, and Paddock was an avid gambler.
Investigators have taken note of the foreign travel as they attempt to piece together a profile of the mass killer and a timeline of his activities leading up to the attack that left at least 58 people dead and nearly 500 injured…
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
New Report: GOP Baseball Shooting ‘Act of Terrorism’
The left-wing Bernie Sanders supporter who opened fire on a crowd of Republican congressmen in June intentionally committed an “act of terrorism” that was “fueled by rage against Republican legislators,” according to a new report released by the state’s attorney on Friday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Newsweek Demonizes Christians for Las Vegas Massacre
“Far-right won’t accept killer was a Christian white male”
Not content with collectively demonizing all white men over the Las Vegas massacre, Newsweek is now blaming Christians for the slaughter.
With the motive of gunman Stephen Paddock still unknown, Newsweek senior writer Alexander Nazaryan decided to impugn Christianity, headlining his article, “THE FAR RIGHT WON’T ACCEPT LAS VEGAS KILLER WAS A CHRISTIAN WHITE MALE.”
He did so despite there being no evidence whatsoever that Paddock, a hardcore gambler, whose family said he was not religious at all, had any strong Christian beliefs.
Paddock’s brother literally said the gunman had “no religious affiliation”.
Nazaryan even admits this in his own article, writing that Paddock was “a Christian by birth if not belief.”
In other words, Paddock wasn’t a practicing Christian and Nazaryan knows this but decided to lie and claim he was anyway to get a few outrage clicks.
His smear is made all the more egregious by the fact that the target of his ire — white Christian males — made up a significant portion of the victims of the massacre.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Valet Entries Prove Paddock Checked in 3 Days Before Date Given by Authorities
Valet entries from Mandalay Bay prove that gunman Stephen Paddock checked in on September 25th, three days before the official date given by authorities for when he checked in, September 28.
Reporter Laura Loomer obtained an image from inside the Mandalay Bay valet center which shows Paddock’s car was first logged on September 25. Below the computer display a hand written note is also visible that states “Stephen Paddock 9/25-10/2.”
According to Loomer’s source, the note was written by an FBI agent when he asked valet staff to provide details of all in-out times for Paddock’s vehicle.
According to Loomer, the picture “proves (the) FBI misled public about #StephenPaddock’s check in date.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vegas Shooter Planned Massacre for Years
Sources say Paddock led a “secret life” and “did not act alone”
New information on the Vegas shooting indicates that Stephen Paddock did not act alone. Also, gun control advocates are coming after “bump stocks” and other firearm accessories in the aftermath of the shooting spree.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Canadian Man Pleads Guilty to Terrorism in Plot Targeting NYC Landmarks, Subway: Unsealed Records
A 19-year-old Mississauga, Ont., man is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to terrorism offences in a 2016 plot to detonate bombs in New York City in support of ISIS.
According to a U.S. Justice Department news release, Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy purchased bomb-making materials and helped secure a cabin within driving distance of New York City for the purpose of building explosive devices.
Two others, Talha Haroon, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen living in Pakistan, and Russell Salic, a 37-year-old Philippine citizen, were also charged in connection with the alleged plot, which would have allegedly included detonating bombs in Times Square and the New York subway system, as well as shootings at various concert venues.
The two other men were arrested outside of the U.S. and the hope, according to the release, is that they will be extradited to the U.S. for prosecution.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Arrogrant’, ‘President of the Rich’: Macron’s Image Takes a Hit
President Emmanuel Macron’s repeated verbal volleys aimed at France’s working class are doing little to boost his image.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Austrian is Attacked After Reminding Woman of Burka-Ban
A woman has been attacked in Austria for telling a Muslim she was breaking the law by wearing a veil — just days after a burka ban came in to effect in the country.
The teacher reminded the burka-clad woman about the ban near the Zieglergasse metro station in the Austrian capital Vienna.
But moments later, she claimed she was pushed to the ground with her alleged attacker insisting she did not have to abide by the law.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia Referendum: Spain Apologizes to Injured Catalans
The Spanish government’s representative in Catalonia has apologised to those injured during police efforts to stop Sunday’s independence referendum.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France Hands ‘Mama Jihad’ The Maximum Sentence for Role in Terrorist Conspiracy
A French woman who travelled three times to Syria in support of her jihadist son was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday for being part of a terrorist conspiracy.
Christine Riviere, 51, was sentenced for her “unfailing commitment” to jihad and for helping a number of young women travel to Syria to marry jihadists including her son, Tyler Vilus.
It was the maximum sentence possible and included a stipulation that Riviere, a Muslim convert nicknamed “Mama Jihad” in the French press, will be ineligible for parole for seven years.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
by Guy Millière
[…]
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party promises to “shake off the Bundestag”. The 12.6% of the vote it received will undoubtedly give it a voice. Its leaders are treated by the media and other political parties as the incarnation of the devil. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel warned against the entry of “real Nazis” into the parliament . A leader of the far-left Die Linke party asked: “Have we not learnt the lessons from the war?”. Jewish leaders are scared: Dr. Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany said that AfD uses strategies generally used by aspiring “fascist dictatorships.”
The AfD party is not Nazi, however. Its members rather seem to fear that Germany and Germans will disappear under the weight of Islam. The Nazis were anti-Semitic, militarist, socialist, and desired to conquer. The AfD is not anti-Semitic, not militarist, not socialist, and does not want to conquer other countries. Jewish leaders in Germany are frightened because they think that if the AfD is hostile to one minority, the Muslims, it could grow hostile to other minorities. They are probably wrong. There is no comparison between Muslims and Jews. The AfD has strongly supported Israel’s right to exist and Israel’s right to has to fight the Islamic threat against it.
Some AfD members have made controversial statements about German soldiers, and about the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.
At the same time, the AfD is currently Germany’s most pro-Israeli party. It is also the only party that clearly foresees the very real risk of Germany sliding towards an Islamic sunset.
Is it possible for Germany to recover? We shall see. What is at stake here, however, is far more than Germany.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: North-South Divide in Educational Attainment — OECD
Difference between Bolzano, Campania over one year of schooling
(ANSA) — Rome, October 5 — The OECD said in a report released Thursday that there is a big north-south divide in educational attainment despite Italy having made “good progress in improving the quality of schooling in recent years, with mean scores rising overall in reading, math and science”.
“While math scores are now in line with the OECD average, Italy still lags behind other OECD countries in reading and science,” it said.
“The significant variation in student performance across the country, with Southern regions consistently lagging behind the others, remains a concern. “For example, while students in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano do as well as top performing nations like Korea, students in Campania compare with their counterparts in Chile or Bulgaria. “In other words, the performance gap in PISA between students in the Autonomous Province Bolzano and Campania is more than one year of schooling”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Judge Rules Contested Child to Remain in Italy
Child expressed preference of Trieste to psychologist
(ANSA) — Trieste, October 5 — A judge in Trieste ruled that a seven-year-old boy whose custody was being contested by his father in Trieste and his South American mother must stay in Trieste, in a sentence deposited Thursday. The judge considered findings by a court-ordered psychologist who reported the child indicated Trieste was “his only home” and his current schoolmates and friends in Trieste were his closest.
In the ruling, judges of the Juvenile Court of Trieste said if the child were moved back to South America there would be “no certainty of a guarantee that the minor would be able to benefit from fundamental dual parenting”.
The court-ordered psychologist reported the child never expressed an affinity for South America.
The decision can be appealed in the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Knife-Wiedling Man Reportedly Shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ Sows Panic on Train in Belgium Before Arrest
A knife-wielding man threatening to kill passengers caused panic on a train in the Belgian capital, Brussels earlier this week, local media reported on Friday, citing officials.
The man shouted “Allahu Akbar” (‘God is great’ in Arabic) and “we’re going to kill all of you,” causing panic among the passengers, Belgian media reports.
He was also reportedly screaming that he wanted to “finish the work started by the Nazis.”
The man was arrested by police when he departed the train at the Brussels-South railway station.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Mafia Effect’ Keeps Islamic Terrorism at Bay in Italy: Report
Italy has managed to avoid the brutal consequences of Islamist terrorism thanks to its decades-long war on powerful organized crime, according to a new article in the UK-based Economist magazine.
“The fight against Italy’s formidably organised criminals has given its police a wealth of experience in monitoring tightly knit target groups,” the article states. “It was enhanced by the campaign to subdue the left— and right-wing terrorists who wrought havoc in Italy in the 1970s and 1980s.”
[Comment: Europe wouldn’t have these problems in the first place if it didn’t pursue policies that were advocated by, among others, The Economist.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Spanish Law Could Damage Catalonia’s Finances
The Spanish government has stepped up economic pressure on the Catalan government by passing a law making it easier for companies to move their operations around the country dealing a potential blow to the region’s finances.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Number of Violent Jihadists in Germany Up 64 Per Cent to Over 1800
The German Federal Agency for the Protection of the Constitution, the country’s domestic intelligence service, claims there are now more than 1,800 violent jihadists in the country and the number continues to grow.
President of the domestic spy agency Hans-Georg Maassen announced the figures at a press conference on Thursday at the Bundestag in Berlin. He also warned of a growing trend in German primary schools which are seeing a rise in the popularity of radical Islamic ideas amongst students, Kronen Zeitung reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Orban Says Brussels Bureaucrats Under Soros Influence
Hungary will defend its tough new laws on non-governmental groups all the way to the European Court as the EU legal action against it was barely worth discussing, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday (6 October).
The European Commission on Wednesday stepped up procedures against Hungary over restrictions on foreign funding for non-government groups which are seen as a way to target financier George Soros, a longstanding opponent of Orbán.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Smear Campaign by Israeli Adviser Threatens to Sink Austria’s Ruling Center-Left
VIENNA, Austria — Caught in a “tsunami” of scandals, the battle already seems all but lost for Austria’s ruling center-left days from a snap election.
A murky smear campaign against their key conservative rival, masterminded by an Israeli adviser, has left the Social Democrats (SPOe) and their dream of winning the October 15 vote in tatters.
Instead the SPOe, a stalwart of Austrian politics since 1945, looks set to suffer the fate shared by most other center-left parties across Europe — relegated to the opposition corner, outflanked by increasingly hardline conservatives.
“A disaster beyond all expectations” is how one newspaper described the damaging affair engulfing Chancellor Christian Kern and his SPOe entourage.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Goal of Western Leaders: Avoid Change, Duck Accountability
by Douglas Murray
[…] Alexander van der Bellen, the former leader of the Green Party, said:
“If this real and rampant Islamophobia continues, there will come a day where we must ask all women to wear a headscarf — all — out of solidarity to those who do it for religious reasons.”
That day has not yet come. Non-Muslim women across Austria have not yet all been asked to wear the headscarf in solidarity with Muslim women who wear the headscarf. But it is possible that they will be asked to do so in the near future, whenever the President of Austria or another senior figure decides that “Islamophobia” has become even more “rampant” and that this requires all the women of Austria to cover their heads. By contrast, after real and deadly attacks on women across Europe, nobody knows precisely what to do. …
There are several possible reasons for this, but the most likely is that they know that it is the policies of successive governments, including their own, that have caused such attacks to happen. If countries like Canada, France and Finland had been more careful with their national security, these current attacks would not be happening. If the Canadian Prime Minister had not decided to make such a virtue of blindly opening his country to the world, he would not have the current immigration challenges they have. If he had decided to think, “We should be careful with our future” rather than “Diversity is our strength”, Canadian diversity would not have stretched to a Somali extremist.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
The Real Roots of Islamic Terrorism
[…]
The authorities seem deliberately to be ignoring the compelling presence of hardline madrassahs, mosques and faith-schools that might well be involved in clear instances of preaching violence and hate.
Blaming terror recruitment only on the internet is just an invented story, like the one that every suicide bomber or those who committed acts of terror in the name of Islam, whether in Paris, London or Berlin, are lone wolves who merely took “inspiration” from terror outfits such as al-Qaeda or ISIS.
It is laughable to claim that a “lone wolf” has committed a terror attack, especially when the terror outfits such as ISIS immediately take responsibility for them.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Trump: ‘Strong and Brave’ Hungarian PM Orban is ‘On My Guest List’
U.S. President Donald Trump has praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and said that meeting the populist leader is on his to-do list, Hungary’s ambassador has revealed.
In an interview with business weekly Figyelo, László Szabó recalled that he left the White House feeling very positive about relations between the two nations after a meeting with Trump at the Oval Office in September.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
We’ll Become Europe’s Top Manufacturer — Boccia
‘Become more aware of what we are’ says Confindustria chief
(ANSA) — Massa Carrara, October 3 — Italy aims to become Europe’s top industrial power overtaking Germany, industrial employers’ group Confindustria chief Vincenzo Boccia said Tuesday. “Thank you (French President Emmanuel) Macron for saying you will become Europe’s second-top manufacturer,” he said. “That position is ours. And we’re going to become the top one,” Boccia told a business audience in this coastal northern Tuscan city. Italian business, he said, “must become more aware of what we are”. Boccia also appealed to politicians “not to make mistakes” in next year’s budget.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Dropping Wages Spark Strikes by Food Delivery Drivers
The sector has a very low profit margin. Meituan drivers saw their pay and delivery time cut. Ele.me drivers have not been paid in two months. According to estimates, at least 200 strikes have occurred per month in China in 2016.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews/China Labour Bulletin) — China has been hit by more labour action. After its manufacturing plants, steel mills and hotels, its major food delivery platforms have been affected by strikes, this according to the China Labour Bulletin (CLB), which monitors strikes in the mainland per month.
Drivers are the latest group of workers to go on strike in at least four incidents in the country, affecting the three major firms — Waimai, Ele.me, and Meituan — last month over the non-payment of wages and pressure to perform their already dangerous jobs even faster and for less money.
According to CLB, years of intense competition has made it difficult for many food delivery companies to make a profit, with some getting out of the business altogether. Baidu announced in August that it was selling its Waimai subsidiary to its rival Ele.me, which is backed by Alibaba, one of the main e-commerce companies.
CLB also reported that Meituan drivers in the southwestern city of Kunming held a demonstration on 5 September protesting harsh new work rules.
One driver named Sun reported that pay rates had dropped from 6.5 yuan per kilometre to 4 yuan per kilometre, and that the time allowed for each delivery had been shortened from 43 to 37 minutes. Under the new rules, their pay had dropped from around 200 yuan to 120 yuan (US$ 30 to 18) per day.
Meituan responded by blacklisting four drivers who demanded the company change its policies. A Meituan company representative denied however that the blacklisted drivers had a labour relationship with the company. None of the drivers in fact had labour contracts.
CLB noted another strike in Beijing by a group of Ele.me drivers on 4 September. The protest had been precipitated by the announcement by an Ele.me subcontractor that it could not pay the workers their last two months wages. In total, about 40 workers were owed more than 200,000 yuan (US$ 30,000). After a tense moment, the company promised to pay the back wages.
About 19.3 per cent of labour actions in China concern the service sector and e-commerce. The most affected sector is construction with 40 per cent of workers’ actions.
It is impossible to establish the total number of demonstrations and strikes, given the censorship of this kind of news. Estimates put the number of strikes at 200 per month in 2016.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
A new anti-racism campaign launched by the Australian Human Rights Commission has sparked outrage online, with one video showing racism in a lift being heavily criticised.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuela Opposition Says Ballot Sheet Unfair for Oct. 15 Vote
CARACAS (Reuters) — Venezuela’s opposition said on Friday the pro-government election board was seeking to skew regional elections in favor of President Nicolas Maduro’s ruling socialists by including the names of candidates defeated in primaries on the ballot.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuela’s January-September Inflation 536 Percent: National Assembly
CARACAS (Reuters) — Inflation in Venezuela’s crisis-hit economy was 536.2 percent in the nine months to September, largely due to the rapid depreciation of the local currency on the black market, the opposition-controlled National Assembly said on Friday.
The government stopped releasing price data more than a year ago, but congress has published its own figures since January and they have been close to private economists’ estimates.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Frustrated’ Migrants Threaten Swedish Migration Board Staff With Rape, Violence
Abuse and threats of violence against the Swedish Migration Board staff has radically increased, in lockstep with the number of rejections. Among other things, female employees report being stalked and threatened with rape. The Migration Board itself explains the applicants’ violent behavior with “frustration.”
During the first nine months of 2017, a staggering 2,875 incidents of abuse against immigration authorities have been reported in a recent review by the Swedish daily Aftonbladet, which noted a spike in comparison to previous years.
The upward trend is obvious, as only 510 incidents were reported in 2013, as opposed to 948 in 2014, 1,671 in 2015 and 2,808 in 2016.
These include female employees who are being persecuted, threatened with rape and terrorized by email and telephone.
“I’m going to screw all you people, I’ll even screw your mother later on. I live in your country and I’m going to screw it,” an asylum seeker whose asylum application was rejected threatened a female Migration Board employee in a recorded interview cited by Aftonbladet.
The man went on to say that he would go to the woman’s house armed and kill her next day. Still not content with his rant, he called the woman a “slut” and pointed out that he was intending to have intercourse with her daughter as well.In another case, a female employee visited a sheltered asylum home in SkAne County to inform an asylum-seeking family they had to move out. The pregnant mother of the family assaulted the employee with a kitchen knife…
Luckily, the Migration Board has come up with a persuasive explanation that the threats come from “frustrated” people.
“There may be an everlasting wait for an asylum investigation to start, not to mention the wait for a decision. Then frustration may settle in,” Helene Liss, chief security officer at the Swedish Migration Board told Aftonbladet.
Liss argued that the Migration Board has always been an authority faced with the risk of threats and violence.
“There are also threats of self-harm and suicide. It is not uncommon for frustrated people to employ this ‘I know where you live’ type of rhetoric,” Liss argued.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Population Rises After Migrant Crisis: Figures to Increase by 2035
Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW) forecasts Germany’s population is going to increase to 83.1 million by 2035 despite previous reports suggesting the population will dip.
And it is believed the rise is due to the record number of immigrants and asylum seekers which arrived in the country in 2015.
The figure goes against analysis by the federal statistics office, which in 2015 reported the current 82 million population of Germany could drop by more than 10 million over the next 40 years.
The IW report read: “The long-expected decrease in the German population clearly isn’t going to happen in the coming decades.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Determined to Get Battisti Back — Orlando
Ex-terrporist says protected by asylum
(ANSA) — Milan, October 5 — Italy is “strongly determined” to get former leftist terrorist Cesare Battisti back from Brazil to serve two life terms for four 1970s murders, Justice Minister Andrea Orlando said Thursday — while Battisti said he was “protected” by asylum rights. Orlando said extradition “is a way, at least in part, to restore what has been taken from our country and his victims’ families”. Battisti’s extradition from Brazil “is possible”, Orlando said. “All the necessary steps have been taken” and more will be taken after Battisti’s arrest for trying to take money out of Brazil to Bolivia on Wednesday, Orlando said. Orlando noted that Italy’s extradition request had been “stalled for some time” by Brazilian authorities.
Battisti told Brazilian police Thursday he was not afraid of being extradited to Italy because he feels “protected” by a 2010 decree from former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva who granted him a “permanent visa” to stay in the South American country, according to the website of Brazilian daily Estadao.
Battisti told Brazilian police he was in the town of Corumbà on the border with Bolivia “to fish and go shopping”, local media reported. He said this was the reason he had a lot of money on him. He said two Brazilians in the car with him when he was stopped near the border were old friends. Earlier Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said the Italian government is working to have Battisti extradited to Italy. “Today with Amb. Bernardini to bring Battisti back to Italy and ensure he gets justice,” Alfano said in a tweet that was also picked up by the Italian foreign ministry’s website. “We are continuing the work started with the Brazilian authorities”.
Alfano a few months ago instructed Italy’s ambassador in Brazil to formally ask Brazilian authorities to restart extradition procedures to get Battisti back by revising former President Lula’s 2010 decision not to hand him over, foreign ministry sources told ANSA Thursday.
Battisti was arrested Wednesday in the city of Corumbà, on the border between Brazil and Bolivia. The would-be escape was launched after reports that the Brazilian government is moving towards extraditing Battisti for four murders committed in the 1970s ‘Years of Lead’.
Battisti tried to flee Brazil in a Bolivian taxi, the police who arrested him in Corumbà said Thursday.
Battisti spent the night in the local police station, where he was taken after being arrested on suspicion of trying to take undeclared money out of Brazil.
Police said the former leftist guerrilla had $5,000 and 2,000 euros on him.
Sums above 10,000 reais, or about 3,000 euros, must be declared to the authorities to be taken out of the country, according to Brazilian law.
Battisti has therefore been charged with tax evasion and money laundering. Battisti’s lawyer, Igor Sant’Anna Tamasauskas, told the local press that the reason for the ex-member of the Armed Proletarians for Communism (PAC) group’s Bolivia trip “is not clear” but he will take “all necessary measures” to secure the release of his client.
Battisti’s arrest on Thursday spurred calls from all sides of the political spectrum that the government should step efforts to have him extradited from Brazil.
On September 25 Brazilian daily O Globo reported that the Italian government has asked Brazil to review Battisti’s status of political refugee granted under the the Lula government in 2010.
O Globo said the request had been sent “in a confidential manner”.
The daily said the request has been subjected to a preliminary technical analysis and has been endorsed by two ministers in President Michel Temer’s government.
From a legal standpoint, O Globo said, the Brazilian government has found a precedent in a 1969 supreme court ruling.
On the basis of that ruling, the paper said, “the administration can quash its acts” over a technicality or revoke them “for reasons of convenience and opportunity”.
Therefore, the daily said, Lula’s no to extradition could be reversed by Temer.
But the president is currently disinclined to take up the Battisti case, O Globo said.
Justice Minister Andrea Orlando has said Italy wants the former terrorist back to serve two life terms for the four murders committed while in the PAC.
Battisti has admitted being a PAC militant but denies committing the murders.
Italy has the “clear political will” to bring Battisti back, Orlando has said.
Battisti, 63, was arrested in Brazil in April 2007, some five years after he had fled to that country with the help of false documents to avoid extradition to Italy from France after the end of the Mitterrand doctrine which gave sanctuary to fugitive leftist guerrillas.
He had lived in France for 15 years and become a successful writer of crime novels.
In January 2009 the Brazilian justice ministry granted Battisti political asylum on the grounds that he would face “political persecution” in Italy.
Then in one of his last acts in office, former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva declined Rome’s request to extradite Battisti in December 2010, sparking outrage in Italy.
The families of Battisti’s four victims have been lobbying hard for Italy to try to overturn Lula’s ruling.
Alberto Torregiani, son of a Milanese jeweler, Pierluigi Torregiani, gunned down by Battisti’s leftist militant group in 1979, said: “those politicians and judges should be hauled onto a plane and brought to Italy to understand the nonsense they have said”.
Torregiani, left wheelchair-bound by the attack at the age of 13, said he was “angry and upset” at the news and reiterated he would try to organise street protests with the other relatives — something he has since done.
Alessandro Santoro, the son of a prison guard, Antonio Santoro, shot dead in Udine in 1978, said he was “very bitter for us and all the other families who have suffered for so long only to see ourselves humiliated yet again”.
The relatives of the other two victims in 1978 and 1979, Milan security police officer Andrea Campagna and Mestre butcher Lino Sabbadin, also expressed their unhappiness with Lula’s decision.
Sabbadin’s son Adriano branded Lula “an accomplice” of Battisti’s.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Youth Gags Turn Berlin Area Into Borderline No-Go Zone
The area around the Alexanderplatz metro in Berlin has become a centre for migrant youth gang violence and drugs, leaving the police to lose control and the district to demand more resources to fight the lawlessness.
The situation around Alexanderplatz has rapidly deteriorated due to the ongoing fights between rival migrant gangs from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and North Africa.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pics: Migrants Open New Illegal Route to UK via Normandy
Illegal migrants are attempting to reach the UK by breaking into lorries leaving from a port in Normandy as security around Calais continues to be tightened.
The port of Ouistreham is 200 miles south of Calais’ ports and Eurotunnel entrance — now surrounded by an imposing parameter to protect ships and trains headed for the UK.
British holidaymakers passing through the Normandy port have reported seeing a rise in migrants in the area. The attempts to illegally board lorries pictured below took place at 3 pm on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss ‘Sugar Mama’ Faces Jail for Illegally Smuggling Much Younger Migrant Boyfriend
Swiss national Barbara Schwager, 56, faces potential prison time in Switzerland after she smuggled her 27-year-old illegal migrant boyfriend out of Switzerland to avoid his deportation back to Pakistan.
The 56-year-old claims that she wants to marry her much younger partner Nadeem Akram in order to get him legal residence in Switzerland, Blick reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
George Soros is Funding Massive Pro-Abortion Rallies in Poland
WARSAW, Poland, October 6, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — Poland loves her babies, but foreigners want to kill them. The black-clad, pro-abortion protests that swept through Poland last October were neither “spontaneous” nor part of a “grassroots movement” but funded from abroad.
In a comprehensive report released October 3, Poland’s Ordo Iuris Institute presented its evidence that the country’s marginal feminist movement has received “enormous funding from abroad.” It traced most of the money to organizations funded directly or indirectly by Hungarian-American financier George Soros. Poland’s pro-abortion groups received about one million Polish zloty to block the Polish government’s 2016 attempt to completely ban abortion.
[Comment: Soros will have to answer to God.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
More Jihadists in the West — Why?
[…]
On the other hand, many in the West are far too lenient toward these fundamentalist groups. There is a belief that you should give them the same rights to enjoy freedom of speech, press, and assembly as everyone else. These rights in themselves are valuable. But the issue becomes, where do you draw the line? When a radical imam in the US or Europe is publicly inciting anti-Semitic, anti-American, and anti-Western hate, should they be allowed to continue? When many radical Muslim centers in the West preach jihad and terrorism, should you still let them enjoy freedom of speech and assembly? Their preaching is the major factor behind the increasing terrorism we have currently spreading throughout the West. It is this hate speech, and incitement of violence, that has taken lives of many innocent people. If we allow them to continue, the vicious trend will only ratchet up exponentially.
The West needs to understand that the Islamists do not see these rights as something to appreciate; they see them as something to exploit.
These very rights are used to manipulate and radicalize citizens and foreigners alike, to turn against the host government and the innocent people who share the land they stand on. They are brainwashed and then encouraged, if not commanded, to go out and change everything around them.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
I am not responding to what the ‘News Feed’ has on tonight, and although I tend to read its contents every day, I do not always respond to its content, but choose at times to respond to those who take to putting their concerns up that I find more in common with my own thinking.
To say that the state of the world, as I now know it to be, frustrates me, and I have no doubt, many others too, and greatly, would indeed be an understatement, IMHO. But there is an article in this particular ‘News Feed’ that should get everyone who is concerned with the lack of prudential government that is so evident throughout the West to sit up and take note, and that is the piece that provides an example of what the average politician represents today – a self-serving hypocrite and prostitute who sells himself or herself to the highest bidder so long as there is some kind of guarantee that their name can escape the cultural destruction that they are being paid to enforce!
And if that is not reason enough for all who consider themselves as patriots to be out in the streets with tar and feathers and sharpened pitchforks, myself included, then I don’t know what is!
And so, my spleen has been vented!
So, where would you like the world to be going?
The homeless and hungry are a part of any community where they are. On earth, it would seem reasonable to figure out a way (or ways) whereby there would be no such concerns. Given the power to get off the earth (which we now have) it seems reasonable to go elsewhere to see what is there to be of benefit to what’s on the earth.
Our history has always been the few controlling the majority. What makes you believe that humanity would be any better off on another planet if we cannot make this world right?
.
The compleete mystery – how can a highly intelligent and perceptiv
academician voluntarily choose to become a muslim?
Did he marry a muslima?
An interesting theme for GoV to discuss.
Dr. Kevin Barrett, a Ph.D. Arabist-Islamologist, holds advanced degrees in English Literature, French Literature, and African Literature, and is the author of three books including Questioning the War on Terror: A Primer for Obama Voters (2009) which deconstructs the “war on terror” through Socratic questioning.
Dr. Barrett was also the lead editor, along with John Cobb and Sandra Lubarsky, of 9/11 and American Empire v.2: Christians, Jews and Muslims Speak Out.
Dr. Barrett has been a Muslim since 1993. He serves on the board of the nonprofit religious corporation Khidria, Inc. which sponsors a mosque in Madison, Wisconsin and is dedicated to “spreading the truth to build a sustainable future.”
He has both a scholarly and personal interest in Islamic spirituality, and wrote a Ph.D. dissertation comparing medieval North African saints’ legends to contemporary personal experience narratives from the Fes and Oujda regions of Morocco.
He is a co-founder of the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth and Muslims for 9/11 Truth, and has lectured widely throughout the U.S. as well as in Canada and Morocco.
Blacklisted from teaching in the University of Wisconsin system since 2006, Dr. Barrett has recently worked as a talk radio host, author, public speaker, and congressional candidate (Wisconsin’s 3rd District, 2008).
One of the best-known critics of the War on Terror, Dr. Barrett has appeared on Fox, CNN, PBS, ABC-TV, and Unavision, and has been the subject of op-eds and feature stories in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, and other publications.
Dr. Barrett hosts two talk radio shows, one on a liberal and the other on a conservative network, and runs the website TruthJihad.com. He lives in McFarland, Wisconsin with his wife, two children, and a dog named after Salman Rushdie.
Muslim Dr KevinBarrett,on AlexJones and why he suddenly turned antiislamic..mp3 = https://vocaroo.com/i/s1HOs6czgiwp
Good question up at the top.
Soros…wherever there’s a cultural attack on the West…there’s Soros?
More of the usual car attacks in London:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-07/car-slams-pedestrians-outside-london-natural-history-museum-driver-arrested
I imagine you’d see less of this sort of thing in Europe if the police took sane measures, like, oh I dunno….the ability to use lethal force as soon as they witness the enricher carrying out his attack.
…aaaaand terrorism has already been ruled out as a motive.
RIP Britannia, we hardly knew ye.
On a lighter note, I would like to share a little Hungarian with you. Soros can easily be renamed as Szaros (which means sh***y) and I believe it fits him well.
The man is an abomination.