Eleven Saudi princes were arrested today on corruption charges, among them Al-Waleed bin Talal. Prince bin Talal is a former major stockholder in Fox News, and a current stockholder in other media and social media companies.
In other news, Spain’s crackdown on Catalonia has had the unintended side effect of raising the level of support for independence among Catalans, which is now up 8% to almost 49%.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Caroline Glick, Charles Low, Dean, Insubria, Reader from Chicago, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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Santa Monica Party Bus Shooting Suspects Sought; 1 Killed, Others Wounded
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (KABC) — A party bus shooting involving multiple suspects left one person dead and others wounded at a busy area of Santa Monica early Saturday.
Santa Monica police said suspects from one party bus started shooting at victims in another party bus at about 1 a.m. near Ocean and Colorado avenues.
“One of the buses had a group of people that got off the bus, got into an altercation of some sort with another group that was on another bus that was directly parked behind it, at which point shots were fired,” explained Lt. Saul Rodriguez of Santa Monica police.
Officers determined that after an argument between people from the first bus and several people from a second bus parked on Ocean Avenue, suspects from the second bus fired multiple shots at the first bus, striking victims onboard and another on Ocean Avenue.
The driver of the bus that was shot drove to a nearby police station with wounded passengers, who were celebrating a birthday at the time of the shooting.
Police said there were three victims on the bus who were treated and transported to a local hospital. A fourth victim suffered minor injuries.
One of the transported victims later died from her injuries, police said.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
VA Man Who Pledged Loyalty to ISIS Pleads Guilty to Gun Charge
RICHMOND — A convicted felon who was radicalized in prison and expressed support for the Islamic State has pleaded guilty to acquiring a gun after he was released from a Virginia prison.
Casey Charles Spain pleaded guilty Friday to being a felon in possession of a firearm. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Why We Are Seeing More Truck Attacks
Jihad the easy way: It doesn’t take much know-how or money to ram a vehicle through a crowd.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
21-Year Old Muslim Charged With Attempted Murder in Attack on 75-Year-Old Grandmother
The man arrested after a shocking attack that left an elderly woman in critical condition with skull brain and neck injuries is now facing an attempted murder charge.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
American Dream Attracts Young Swedes But Could Become Pension Nightmare
A new survey released by Unionen trade union shows that nearly one in every three Swedes between the ages of 18 and 36 wants to work aboard.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium Rules Out Puigdemont Extradition to Spain
The fate of Catalonia’s ousted leader remains unclear but Belgium’s ruled out his immediate extradition to Spain.
Madrid has issued a European arrest warrant for Carles Puigdemont however Brussels has made it clear the matter must be decided by its courts and not its executive.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia: Madrid’s Democratic Crackdown Backfires as Independence Support Soars
CATALONIA grows increasingly supportive of independence as Madrid issues an international warrant to bring back disputed President Carles Puigdemont back to Spain.
Catalonia saw a hike in support for the pro-independence movement since the central government in Madrid begun its crackdown on the autonomous region.
And LSE Professor Sebastian Balfour said it is more than likely Catalan people will continue to move towards the idea of independence if Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy continues his aggressive strategy to return the rule of law in Catalonia.
He said: “The latest poll, which was published last week, puts the percentage of people polled who support independence to 48.7 per cent whereas three months ago it was 41 per cent. So that figure seems to be creeping up.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Child Killed by Malaria in Italy Caught Disease in Hospital
A four-year-old girl who died of malaria in Italy in September caught the deadly disease in hospital, the health ministry said on aturday, ruling out the possibility she was bitten by an infected mosquito.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
EU is Doomed ‘Like the Holy Roman Empire’
THE European Union (EU) will end by 2027 like the Holy Roman empire (HRE) did, argues the Brexit campaigner and author Dr Niall McCrae.
The HRE was a group of Papal territories in Central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and were dissolved in 1806 by Napoleon.
Writing in an article for the think tank, the Bruges Group, Dr McCrae said: “Just as the European Union is becoming less united, the HRE was not really holy.”
It comes as the European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, admitted there were now “more cracks” in the EU after Catalonia declared itself independent of Spain last week.
Dr McCrae said that by 2027, there will be “rising tension between nostalgic nationalism and expanding ethnic enclaves”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
FIFA Corruption Trial Opens in New York
It was the raid that changed the face of the world’s most popular sport. Swiss police swooped in on a five-star Zurich hotel at dawn, arresting seven soccer officials at US request.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Warns of EU Breakup by 2040
The European Union and the West as we know it could fall apart within the next few decades, according to an internal projection by the German military.
The “Strategic Perspective 2040” outlines six possible scenarios for how social and political trends could unfold over the next 23 years. The report was created in February but was kept secret until German magazine Der Spiegel published segments from it Saturday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Petition to Question Regeni’s Cambridge Tutor
Rome prosecutors also want speak to other students sent to Cairo
(ANSA) — Rome, November 2 — Rome prosecutors sent a formal petition to the British authorities last month to be able to question Giulio Regeni’s Cambridge University tutor, Professor Maha Abdelrahman, La Repubblica reported on Thursday.
The Rome-based daily reported that the prosecutors also want to acquire the professor’s mobile and fixed-line phone records from between January 2015 and February 28 2016 to reconstruct her network of relations.
The move regards alleged ambiguity and omissions by the woman in relation to the probe into the torture and murder of the 28-year-old Italian post-graduate student in Egypt early last year, La Repubblica wrote in an article entitled ‘The Lies of Cambridge’.
It also reportedly relates to unease expressed by Regeni in two Skype conversations with his mother Paola. Rome prosecutors reportedly want clarification on several aspects of the case, the newspaper said.
These regard how the subject of Regeni’s research on street trader unions was chosen, the selection of his tutor in Egypt, the research method used, who decided what questions to ask the traders and whether Regeni gave the results of his research to Professor Abdelrahman during a meeting in Cairo on January 7, 2016. Rome prosecutors have also asked the British judicial authorities to identify all of the Cambridge University students working under Abdelrahman who were sent to Cairo between 2012 and 2015, sources said on Thursday. The petition requests that those students be questioned in the presence of Italian investigators. The investigators want to know whether there were other cases like Regeni’s in which students were asked to research the independent unions in Egypt. Regeni was asked to look into this by his tutor even though his PhD regarded the general subject of the North African nation’s economic development.
The British authorities have until January 23 to respond to this new petition, formally called a European Investigation Order, after being notified on October 23. It is the third petition sent to the British authorities over the Regeni case. In relation to the first one in June 2016, Abdelrahman refused to be questioned by the judicial authorities and sent an email saying she only met Regeni briefly on the morning of January 7, 2016, in a Cairo bar. The second one regarded consultancy firm Oxford Analytica, which said it had not had relations with Regeni after September 2014. “For Giulio Regeni we demand only the truth,” Democratic Party (PD) leader and ex-premier Matteo Renzi said on the @matteorenzi Twitter account. “Are the Prof of Cambridge hiding something? #verità”.
A Cambridge University spokesperson told ANSA Thursday that Dr Abdelrahman, “has repeatedly expressed her
willingness to fully cooperate with the Italian prosecutors”.
The spokesperson added that the university does not intend “to respond to sensationalist insinuations that are of no help”.
He said the university had yet to receive a formal request for her to testify.
In the meantime, the spokesperson said, it would be “wholly inappropriate for Dr Abdelrahman to speak to the media before
giving evidence to the Italian authorities”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 2 Nabbed for Raping Girls, 14, Picked Up in Web Chatroom
Men, 20 and 21, living in Roma camp
(ANSA) — Rome, November 3 — Italian police on Friday arrested two men aged 20 and 21, born in Rome in Bosnian families and living in a Roma camp, suspected of raping two 14-year-old Roman girls they had picked up in a Web chatroom, judicial sources said.
The men are accused of group sexual violence and abduction.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ISIS Fake Passports ‘Made in Naples’
Moroccan woman ‘handed papers to Brussels terrorist’
(ANSA) — Naples, November 3 — Fake passports used by ISIS-linked terrorists in the March 2016 Brussels airport attacks were made by a Moroccan woman in Naples, her Algerian former companion told police in the southern Italian city in January, according to Il Mattino.
The Algerian said the woman, his former partner, “handed over the documents to one of the Brussels terrorists”.
His ex supplied fake papers to radical North Africans “all over Europe,” the Naples daily said.
These included one of the three Brussels terrorists, it said.
Thirty-two people were killed and 300 injured in the three coordinated suicide bombings in Belgium on March 22, 20016.
Two occurred at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, and one at Maalbeek metro station in central Brussels.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Intercepts Massive Opioid Stash Meant to Fund ISIS
Italian police intercepted a massive shipment of opioid pills they believe were meant to finance terrorist attacks for the Islamic State.
More than 24 million tramadol pills were discovered Friday in the southwestern city of Gioia Tauro, home to Italy’s largest container port. The pills cost 2 euros each ($2.3) and ISIS would likely have made some 50 million euros ($58 million) if the stash went on the market, Italian police said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: America: Laughingstock of the Middle East
The United States has a credibility problem. Put plainly, aside from Israel, no one in the Middle East appears to take the Americans seriously.
Let’s start with the Palestinians.
In the wake of last month’s unity deal concluded between US-backed Fatah and Iran-backed Hamas, US President Donald Trump’s special Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt announced, “Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognize the State of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties — including to disarm terrorists — and commit to peaceful negotiations.”
On Wednesday, the unity deal passed its first test of implementation.
Hamas permitted the US-funded, Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority to take charge of Gaza’s border crossings with Israel and Egypt. In exchange the PA is renewing its monthly payments to Hamas — underwritten by US taxpayers to the tune of nearly $500 million a year.
Greenblatt’s statement was stomped on by Fatah leaders. They have spent the better part of the past month attacking Britain for issuing the Balfour Declaration, which facilitated the establishment of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel a hundred years ago.
Clearly, the US’s “moderate” Fatah faction isn’t willing to recognize Israel. As for the terrorists from Hamas, they also spit in Greenblatt’s face…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia Arrests Eleven Royals
Saudi Arabia announced Saturday the arrest of 11 princes and several other current and former government ministers, in what appears to be a decisive move by Saudi King Salman to consolidate power around his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
News of the arrests was first reported on Al Arabiya, the Saudi state satellite TV network whose broadcasts are approved by the government, reports the New York Times. Among those arrested was Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, who is one of the royal family’s most prominent members and a major investor in Apple and Twitter.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Donald Trump Leaves for Historic 10-Day Trip to Asia
President Donald Trump departed on Friday for a 10-day trip to Asia, where he will visit China, Japan, Philippines, South Korea, and Vietnam.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
One-third of voters in Queensland would support minor parties or independents a new poll suggests, as Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party soars in popularity.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuela Summons Bondholders, But Default Appears Closer
CARACAS, Venezuela — The Venezuelan government invited bondholders on Friday to begin negotiations later this month to restructure the country’s $120 billion foreign debt, which has put the country near bankruptcy.
But bondholders and analysts said the offer was unlikely to draw much interest, moving the country closer to default.
Vice President Tareck El Aissamí, who is a target of United States sanctions over allegations of drug trafficking, appeared on television to propose beginning talks on a restructuring in Caracas on Nov. 13. He made the invitation the morning after President Nicolás Maduro, announcing the debt strategy, appointed him to head a government team in such negotiations.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Federal Greens MP Adam Bandt has accused Immigration Minister Peter Dutton of being a ‘terrorist’ over the treatment of 600 asylum seekers at the now-closed Manus Island centre.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Immigration Minister’s Car Runs Over Immigrant After Attempt to Assault Politician
A visit to a deportation centre for illegal migrants by the Danish minister for immigration and integration Friday quickly turned violent as angry residents attempted to attack the politician, before throwing themselves in front her departing car.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Asylum Seeker Nabbed for Drug Pushing
Nigerian, 20, near Modena
(ANSA) — Bologna, November 3 — A 20-year-old Nigerian asylum seeker was arrested Friday at Polinago in the Apennines near Modena for pushing drugs.
The man was caught red-handed thanks to a video surveillance system, police said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Breitbart News Executive Chairman and former White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon told the American families of illegal alien crime victims during a speech that illegal immigration to the United States comes down to two benefits for the political and economic elite: cheap labor and cheap votes.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rallies in support of the refugees on Manus Island have been held in Sydney and Melbourne — with recorded messages from men within the detention centre being played to hundreds of people.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
On; We Are Forgotten People: Only hundreds turned out in support of illegal immigrants instead of the thousands that used to. Good!
There is only one possible reason that 600 illegals still left on Manus Island would not wish to return to their own countries after being refused entry into Australia and the United States – they are all criminals.
It’s so disgusting to promote illegal migrants stories and throw around “terrorist” like it’s nothing, while the victims of terrorist attacks are always quickly swept under the rug. “Australian (European/American/Canadian etc) lives don’t matter” is the message.
The EU is on life support now….not 2040 A.D. the Brits are leaving, the Catalans are terrorized by Madrid, and the Poles, Czechs and Hungarians smell Soros…everywhere. This part of the vile NWO stands for nothing but Leftist bureaucratic controls and massive 3rd world immigrations. The EU must die peacefully or otherwise….and soon.
Look up nazis eu. It was started by the Nazis when they realised they were losing the military war in 1943, for the sole purpose of enabling Germany to subjugate the European peoples by the more economically efficient economic means. Given that no-one in the EU can now fart without permission from Germany (which controls all the EU economic reins), it seems to be succeeding.
Even the Saudis are taking note of the new paradigm that the Trump effect is having. They have arrested those perfumed princes who hopped aboard the Globalist wagon and will look to closing down those Mosques that are in cahoots with Iran.
The winds of change are a blowing!
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2017/11/05/hamtramck-race-mayor-heats-up/785108001/
A once great Polish community that is now a tumorous alien colony that must be excised from the state of Michigan, along with Dearborn.
This bin Salman fellow may actually be a reformer/modernizer for Saudi. One can only hope.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-04/shocking-purge-saudi-king-arrests-billionaire-prince-bin-talal-others-anti-money-lau
Also some interesting comments floating around that Trump and bin Salman have made a deal – bin Salman gets rid of the old guard involved in money laundering and buying influence in the US in exchange for Trump permitting the Saudi Aramco IPO to go forward on one of the US stock exchanges.
This would be good because it would prop up the US markets for several more years and help provide funding for Saudi efforts to modernize and diversify their economy away from oil.
Again, probably too good to be true but one can always hope. Would be far and away Trump’s greatest deal if this is what is really happening.
I read that it was a simple purge to remove all who oppose the Salman Clan, and pocket their financial holdings. However, I could believe that their greed might be overcoming their hatred for the West, so maybe you are right. Dancing with the Devil might be seen as a good way to “Hold your friends close, and your enemies closer”.
If the Iranian supported Mosques are shut down then it is no simple purge. It is a paradigm shift away from the old ways.
More intrigue out of Saudi:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-05/saudi-helicopter-carrying-8-high-ranking-officials-crown-prince-mansour-crashed-all-
An accident of coincidental timing? Yemenis striking back? Or the new Crown Prince consolidating power?
My money is on the Sudairi faction wanting absolute control and the elimination of their half-clan from any future succession plans.
In Muhammads w0rld, when one becomes dictator, all pretenders to the throne are killed-brothers, uncles, fathers, nephews et al. In Saudia Arabia what with all of the family in the “royal” line, to kill all pretenders would be somewhat problemitical. So, in this special case, we will have to wait and see what happens.