Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that his country would begin importing natural gas from Romania, which will supply more than half of Hungary’s needs. This will end the Russian monopoly on natural gas imported into Hungary.
In other news, thousands of migrants in Italy are braving intense cold in their efforts to cross the Alps to reach their preferred destinations in France and Germany.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Charles Low, Dean, Insubria, Reader from Chicago, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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Bank of England ups UK 2018 Growth Forecast
In yet another example of how economic forecasts for Britain continue to be overly pessimistic, the Bank of England has just raised its UK growth forecast for 2018 from 1.6% to 1.8%.
Some have pointed out how this demonstrates forecasts made just 3 months ago aren’t even accurate — let alone the current Project Fear scare stories we’re hearing about for economic predictions in 15 years time.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Donald Trump Should Free Julian Assange Declares Roger Stone
DONALD Trump’s oldest political adviser has called on him to “free Julian Assange”, the founder of the controversial Wikileaks website. Writing for the Daily Express, Roger Stone, has claimed Mr Assange is a victim of the same conspiracy theory that has linked the US President to Russia and Vladimir Putin.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Farage: Money Soros Gave to Anti-Brexit Campaign is ‘The Tip of the Iceberg’
Brexit campaign leader Nigel Farage has welcomed mainstream exposure of the ‘Soros Web’ after a plot by the billionaire globalist to thwart Brexit was revealed by The Telegraph newspaper.
“Since those twin shocks of Brexit and Trump back in 2016, one of the main narratives from the establishment has been, ‘These things happened because of outside interference’,” he told listeners to his regular LBC show.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Finnish Police Confirm Last Year’s Terror Attack Was Islamic State Supporter
Finnish investigators have confirmed that the 18-year-old Moroccan asylum seeker who killed two and injured seven others in the city of Turku last August was a supporter of Islamic State.
Police confirm that after careful examination of data from the terror suspect’s computer and mobile phone that the Moroccan was a supporter of the terror group. Police spokesman Olli Toyras said that while it was clear that 22-year-old Abderrahman Bouanane was a supporter of the group, investigators believe he acted on his own, Bayerischer Rundfunk reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French ‘The Voice’ Contestant Quits Show After Radical Islamic Sympathies Revealed
A hijab-wearing contestant of the French version of the popular television programme The Voice stepped down Wednesday after facing calls to leave the programme after tweets surfaced of her calling the Nice attack of 2016 a government conspiracy and calling the French government terrorists.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German AfD Party to Set up Newsroom in Spring to Bypass ‘Fake News’
“The parliamentary group of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is going to redirect its communication to its own newsroom scheduled to be launched in spring in order to avoid any misinterpretations of party’s positions by mainstream media, AfD parliamentary leader Alice Weidel said Thursday…”
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary to Sign Deal to Allow Gas Imports From Romania
BUDAPEST, Feb 9 (Reuters) — Hungary will soon sign a deal which will allow the imports of 4 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Romania annually over the next 15 years, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.
Orban told a news conference that three Hungarian companies had won a tender in Romania for the gas. He did not name the companies.
“Within moments we will sign an agreement, which will allow for the next 15 years the imports of over 4 billion cubic meters of gas from Romania,” Orban said.
“The era of Russian gas monopoly will come to an end in Hungary …as we will be able to cover more than half of our imports from other, in this case Romanian sources.” (Reporting by Krisztina Than)
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli MP to Meet Far-Right Austrian Vice Chancellor
An Israeli parliamentarian will meet Austrian vice chancellor and head of the far-right party founded by former Nazis next week, a spokesman said Friday, despite the government cautioning against such meetings.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Election: Brussels Trembles as Eurosceptic Party Lega Nord in Regional Polls
The unexpected gain will cause concerns in Brussels after top bosses pinned their hopes for the future of Italy on the former Prime Minister.
The Lega — formerly known as the Northern League — is expected to win 30 percent of the vote in the North Eastern region of Veneto, gaining three times more votes than Mr Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI).
Party leader Matteo Salvini said: “I think the Lega will overcome Forza Italia, but Italians will carry out the ultimate poll, the elections.
“I just need 0.1 percent more than Forza Italia, because that means our substance and coherence has been rewarded.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 4 Mn Seized From Heirs of Late Puglia Mafia Boss
In Molfetta
(ANSA) — Bari, February 4 — Italian police on Wednesday seized four million euros in assets from the heirs of a late Puglia mafia boss.
Assets including a bar on the Molfetta seafront and the fruit and vegetables firm where boss Alfredo Fiore was shot and killed in 2014 were seized by finance police.
The Puglia mafia, the Sacra Corona Unita (United Holy Crown, SCU), is the fourth and smallest of Italy’s four mafias.
The other three are ‘Ndrangheta from Calabria, Cosa Nostra from Sicily and the Camorra from Naples.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Raggi Says Gentiloni Not Helping Rome
Mayor says premier says no to all requests
(ANSA) — Rome, February 8 — Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi on Thursday accused Premier Paolo Gentiloni of being uncooperative with the local authority in the capital. “Gentiloni is from Rome but he is not proving to be particularly benevolent with his city,” Raggi told Radio Capital. “We asked him for more funds and he said no.
“We asked him to pass the implementation decrees of the reform of the Rome Capital authority and he said no.
“We asked to be able to manage the debt of the commission management administration and he said no. “We don’t have support for the functions of the capital.
“He is not boycotting us, but the capital”.
Raggi is a member of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) while Gentiloni belongs to the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Totti, Fendi, Malagò Saved From Returning Resort Land
At Sabaudia
(ANSA) — Rome, February 6 — Italy’s supreme Court of Cassation on Tuesday rejected a bid from the coastal resort of Sabaudia south of Rome to reclaim the sand dunes on which generations of VIPs have built luxury villas.
The suit, which started in 1962, failed because Italy’s former Fascist government awarded the land to other local towns and not to Sabaudia, judicial sources said.
Among the VIPs saved by the definitive ruling are the Fendi family, soccer icon Francesco Totti and the head of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), Giovanni Malagò.
Sabaudia, built from reclaimed swampland by Benito Mussolini’s regime, has long been a favoured liberal-leaning watering hole and has been a backdrop of films by the late Michelangelo Antonioni and Bernardo Bertolucci.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 6 Guilty Over Failure to Clean up Bagnoli
Jailed for 2-4 yrs
(ANSA) — Naples, February 5 — Six people were found guilty Monday of failing to clean up the former Italsider steel plant area at Bagnoli in Naples. The six got jail terms ranging from two to four years. They were found guilty of environmental disaster, fraud and other crimes.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Salvini Says Military Service Should Return
Better for democracy says League leader
(ANSA) — Milan, February 7 — League leader Matteo Salvini on Wednesday called for Italy to bring back obligatory military service. “Yes, I think a conscription army is best for democracy in the face of a rise in racism and the threat of terrorism,” Salvini said at an event organised by veteran associations in Milan.
“We have proposed a law reintroducing military service on a regional basis for six months.
“It would do many young men and women good”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Riots: Protestors Clash With Police Weeks Before Election
RIGHT-WING protestors clashed with Italian riot police in Macerata last night, just days after a gunman fired at six African migrants in the city.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Lefty Eurocrat Martin Schulz Resigns as German Foreign Minister After Only 36 Hours in Office
Facing internal challenges and a lack of confidence from his own Social Democrat (SPD) party, former European Parliament president Martin Schulz has resigned from his post as Foreign Minister just 36 hours into Germany’s new ruling coalition.
Schulz announced his resignation Friday only a day an a half after he was appointed to the ministerial position as part of the new grand coalition deal between the SPD, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) Kronen Zeitung reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Long-Term Brits in Norway to Get Back Vote, As London Announces End to Time Limit
The British government announced on Thursday that it would lift a ban on citizens voting in UK elections if they had lived longer than 15 years outside the country.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Norway’s Olympians Shell-Shocked as They’re Sent 15,000 Eggs
In the first paragarph of this online news article: You had one job! Norwegian chefs hoping to buy 1,500 eggs to feed hungry Olympic athletes have had their dinner plans scrambled after a mix-up with a grocery order.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Police Bust Spain-Based European Drug Racket
In the first paragarph of this online news article: Spanish police say they have torn down one of Europe’s leading drug rackets, based in Galicia.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Seven Songs That Will Help You Learn Italian
In the first paragarph of this online news article: If the subjunctive just won’t stick and you’re fed up of the future simple, we’ve got the playlist for you. In honour of the 2018 Sanremo festival, here are seven songs that show sometimes the best way to learn Italian is to sing it.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Tommy Robinson Takes on German MSM at Cottbus Protest
Here’s the first in our three-part series in, where we document the resistance coming from ordinary Germans who are fed up with what’s been happening to their country.
We started out in Cottbus, where we heard about the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old girl called Mia in Kandel, by a “child” migrant who was taken in and looked after “like a son” by her parents.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tourism to the Czech Republic Sets Record
There was a record number of tourists last year in the Czech Republic, according to the Czech Statistical Office (CSU). The number of guests in collective accommodation establishments during 2017 broke 20 million for the first time to hit 20,061,635; this was by 1.7 million more than in 2016, an increase of 9.1 percent.
Collective accommodation establishments include hotels of all categories, pensions, hostels, campsites and similar establishments.
Both foreign and domestic tourist numbers increased. The number of foreign tourists was over 10.1 million, an increase of 9.2 percent. Domestic tourism went up to 9.9 million arrivals, up 9.0 percent.
A more important figure for travel is the total number of nights that tourists spent in the country.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Updated: Swiss Cash Delivery Driver Pays ‘Millions’ To Free Daughter Kidnapped in France
Robbers posing as plumbers kidnapped the daughter of a cash van driver and demanded the vehicle’s contents as ransom in a heist that could have netted them over 20 million euros, investigators said Friday.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican Launches SuperPope Charity T-Shirt
Signed by Maradona, Totti, Del Piero
(ANSA) — Vatican City, February 8 — The Vatican on Thursday presented a ‘SuperPope’ charity T-shirt to be signed by soccer legends including Diego Maradona, Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero.
The t-shirt bearing the famous image of the short-lived mural painted near the Vatican by street artist Mauro Pallotta aka MauPal will be auctioned off this summer, the Vatican said.
The proceeds will go to the Catholic Church’s charitable works.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU: 2025 is Ambitious for Serbia and Montenegro to Join in
New strategy for 6 W.Balkans, enhanced pre-accession funds
(ANSA) — BRUXELLES, 06 FEB — Concrete initiatives to support the integration of the Western Balkans, strengthening of pre-accession funds for the region and policies that Serbia and Montenegro will have to adopt to join the European Union by 2025. The European Commission has introduced today an EU strategy for the enlargement to the Western Balkans which involves all six countries. “Although there will be no further enlargement within this mandate, with a strong political will the Western Balkans can move forward on their respective European paths,” the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said.
Montenegro and Serbia could join the EU in 2025: this is an “indicative” but “very ambitious” perspective, Brussels underlines. The two frontrunners are required to “commit themselves to real and sustained reforms, and to the definitive solutions to disputes with neighbors”. The normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina is “essential” both for Serbia and the whole region, EU High Representative, Federica Mogherini, pointed out. An agreement should be reached by the end of 2019. Kosovo, however, it is not indicated as a potential member country in the document.
Brussels provides six concrete measures in areas ranging from the rule of law to security and migration, from socio-economic development to transport and energy connectivity, digital agenda and good neighborly relations between 2018 and 2020. The EU sets out a financial commitment, with a gradual increase in pre-accession funding to the whole region until 2020. In 2018 the provision of 1.07 billion euro of assistance to the region has been foreseen.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
AFP — The Pacific nation of Tuvalu — long seen as a prime candidate to disappear as climate change forces up sea levels — is actually growing in size, new research shows.
A University of Auckland study examined changes in the geography of Tuvalu’s nine atolls and 101 reef islands between 1971 and 2014, using aerial photographs and satellite imagery.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Woman Charged Over ‘Islamic State-Inspired’ Stabbing in Melbourne
A 24-year-old Bangladeshi woman will appear in court, charged over an “Islamic State-inspired attack” following a stabbing incident at Mill Park, in Melbourne’s north on Friday.
Police were called to a home in Callistemon Rise about 4:20pm on Friday where they found a 56-year-old man who had been stabbed in the neck while he was asleep.
The man will undergo surgery today but his injuries were not life-threatening.
His young child was present at the time but was not injured.
Police allege the woman is a Bangladeshi national who travelled to Melbourne on February 1 on a student visa.
She was renting a room at the man’s home while she was studying.
Police are executing search warrants at the home in Mill Park and at another home in Bundoora, where the woman had previously stayed.
However, police said there was no suggestion the residents of the Bundoora home was involved in any way.
Ian McCartney, the acting Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner, said police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.
“We will allege this was a stand-alone, Islamic State-inspired attack, designed to cause harm to our community,” acting Deputy Commissioner McCartney said.
Since September 2014, when the national terrorism threat level was raised, police have charged 85 people, including this woman, following 36 counter-terrorism operations around Australia.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Don’t Mix Migration With Security — Gentiloni
Justifying Fascism outside Constitution says PM
(ANSA) — San Benedetto del Tronto, February 9 — Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Friday “let’s not mix the migratory situation we are facing with that of security.” He said “those who are fanning the flames (of anti-migrant sentiment) is finding room.
But we are working on the opposite side. And it we do so we will have the majority of citizens” by our side. Gentiloni added that “justifying Fascism is outside the Constitution”. He said that “no one is minimising criminal actions” such as the murder of Pamela Mastropietro near Macerata but this did not justify the actions of rightist activist Luca Traini who shot six migrants in a drive-by spree.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Has No Budget for Elderly, But Will Spend 93 Billion on Migrants
We’ve heard a lot of stories from Germany’s elderly. Some have to pay thousands of euros a year on healthcare, amounts they either cannot pay or amounts that lead to family struggles.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary and Poland: We Won’t Take Illegal Immigrants and Our Cooperation Becomes Stronger
In a time of increasing EU threats, Poland and Hungary have repeated that they will not accept illegal immigrants.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto, repeated the stance of both countries after a meeting with Poland’s Interior Minister, Joachim Brudzinski.
Szijjarto said: “As the pressure, blackmail and ultimatums mount, Hungarian-Polish cooperation on migration issues becomes ever stronger and more stable.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Illegal Immigrant Guilty of Killing Cops
Luis Enrique Monroy Bracamontes, a Mexican citizen who repeatedly entered the U.S. illegally, was found guilty Friday of killing Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy Danny Oliver and Placer County Sheriff’s Detective Michael Davis Jr. in 2014, the Associated Press reports.
Bracamontes shot Oliver outside a motel and then killed Davis a few hours later. He ultimately surrendered after a standoff with local authorities.
As the verdict was read, he smiled at the victims’ families. “I’m going to kill more cops soon,” he said as he was taken away. His callous behavior was on display throughout the trial, during which he shouted threats in Spanish and English, vowing to slaughter more police and murder jurors.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 10,000 Refugees in Occupied Buildings, ‘Ghettos’ — MSF
Doctors Without Border says in report on asylum seekers in Italy
(ANSA) — Rome, February 8 — At least 10,000 asylum seekers and refugees in Italy between 2016 and 2017 were living in an estimated 47 “informal settlements”, including occupied buildings, or stranded at the border in the northern cities of Ventimiglia, Como, Gorizia and Bolzano without access to basic necessities and medicines, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a report out on Thursday.
In the report ‘Fuori campo’, or offscreen, MSF said that these asylum seekers and refugees were not part of the official system, although they were residing on Italian territory.
The report said the migrants came from various countries, from sub-Saharan Africa to the Horn of Africa, as well as from Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Some of those surveyed had just arrived in Italy while others had been living in the country for years.
MSF also said that, in some instances, Italian citizens were living in the same place and sharing the same conditions as migrants.
The “informal settlements” cited in the report included abandoned or occupied buildings (53%), open-air accommodation (28%), tents (9%), shacks (4%), cabins (4%), containers (2%), mainly in the Lazio region, followed by Puglia, Sicily, Calabria and Piedmont.
Only 45% of settlements had access to water and electricity.
Small children under the age of five were found in 17 out of the 47 settlements surveyed by MSF, the organization said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants Defrauded German Taxpayers
An Islamic State flag and drugs were found at several residences after German police cracked down on a ring of young migrants who had used fake identities to defraud German taxpayers.
Police raided the residences of 43 families this week on suspicion that they had participated in a scheme to defraud the government using fake identities. They estimate that around 78 suspects, all under 25 years old, were able to steal 141,000 euros in a coordinated and elaborate scheme, Bild reports.
Investigators found that the suspects had coordinated their scheme through the encrypted messaging app WhatsApp and had used shisha bars to recruit new migrants into the fraud.
The migrants were able to send applications to the government which stated they were entitled to retroactive benefits by using fake application or employment termination letters from various companies, some of which had been insolvent for years.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
New Migrants to Italy Hit 5-Year High in 2017 — ISTAT
Number of people emigrating down 2.6% last year
(ANSA) — Rome, February 8 — The number of new migrants to arrive in Italy reached 337,000 in 2017, a rise of 12% with respect to 2016 and the highest level of the last five years, ISTAT said on Thursday. It said the number of people to emigrate from Italy last year was 153,000, down 2.6%, for a positive net balance of 184,000.
This compared to a net rise of 144,000 in 2016 when incoming and outgoing migrants are calculated.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of Migrants Pour Across the Alps Headed for France and Germany
Thousands of migrants are attempting to traverse the Alps to get out of Italy to their preferred destinations of Germany and other Northern European countries.
Volunteers working with migrants in the region say that they are finding more and more migrants with injuries sustained from extremely cold temperatures. They say that thousands of migrants are attempting to cross the Alps and that many end up in hospital, Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Radio reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UN Warns of Sexual Violence in Greek Migrant Camps, Calls for Gender Segregation
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The United Nations refugee agency is urging Greece’s government to provide separate housing and washing facilities for women and children at island refugee camps, citing the risk of sexual violence.
The UNHCR says it has received reports from about 180 camp residents who say they have suffered some form of sexual or gender-based violence after arriving in Greece.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In a shocking admission by a high-level mainstream media operative, the CEO of News Corp. has revealed that major media corporations are pushing the likes of Google and Facebook to censor the alternative media despite the fact that the vast majority of Americans have little to no trust in the establishment press.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
http://www.heute.at/welt/news/story/Nazi-Skandal-in-Ausbildungszentrum-fuer-Rauchfangkehrer-Kaminkehrer-Muehlbach-bei-Dietfurt-55686709
“Sieg Heil” and Nazi songs in Education Center
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I think that the teacher played the scene of their film “Triumph of the Will” 1935
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_uMYC-jHw4
Finally, a bit of positive news from the Olympics:
https://sports.yahoo.com/anti-muslim-protests-pyeongchang-get-winter-olympics-prayer-room-scrapped-141802474.html
Outstanding work by the PyeongChang Olympics Gangwon Citizens’ Islam Countermeasure Association! I would welcome them to the West to teach us a thing or two about opposing the Ummah!