Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/19/2018

A woman crashed a car that contained accelerants into a satellite sheriff’s office in Broward County, Florida, near Miami. After the impact the car caught fire, and the woman is now in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Police have not released her name.

In other news, early on Sunday morning forty Peruvian youths got into a brawl on the street in the Italian city of Florence, using beer bottles, cans, and street signs as weapons. The altercation reportedly started after a disagreement in a nearby disco.

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

Thanks to Dean, HR, Insubria, LP, Reader from Chicago, SS, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

USA
» 74% of Americans Believe the “Deep State” Is Running the Country
» Antioch Man Who Had Watched ISIS Videos Arrested After Trying to Buy a Sniper Rifle, Feds Say
» Explosion That Injured 2 in SW Austin Possibly Triggered by Tripwire
» Police Identify First Pedestrian Killed by Self-Driving Car
» Trump Hiring Former Federal Prosecutor Who’s Argued FBI Framed President
» Woman Crashes Car Filled With ‘Accelerants’ Into Broward County Sheriff’s Office
 
Canada
» Scheer’s Delight? If an Election Were Held Tomorrow, CPC Could Have a Shot at Majority Government
 
Europe and the EU
» ‘Caught Red Handed’: Soros-Funded Body Lobbying Germany to Put Pressure on Hungary
» France: Toward Total Submission to Islam, Destruction of Free Speech
» Italy Poverty up, Boost Corruption Fight — OECD
» Italy: 40 Peruvian Youths Fight in Florence Street
» Italy: Cop-Threatening Teacher in Turin — Protest Home Searches
» Italy: Average Wait for Public Health System Appointment 65 Days
» Italy: Salvini Phones Berlusconi, ‘Summit’ In Rome Wed
» Poland’s Ruling Law and Justice Party is Still Widely Supported
» Surrender to Brussels Agreed: Britain Obeys All EU Laws, No Control of Fisheries, Open Borders to 2020
» Sweden: Rapper Fears “Open War” On the Streets of Stockholm Within 20 Years
» UK Schools in Bomb Threat: Evacuations as Parents Told ‘Collect Your Children Now’
» UK: Blairite Labour MPs ‘Plot New Pro-EU Party’ With Lib Dems and Tory Europhiles
» UK: BBC Defends Missed Telford Grooming Gangs Coverage After ‘Hundreds of Complaints’
» UK: Claim: Police Dropped Cases Against 20 Telford Groomers Because They Were ‘Too Much Trouble’
 
North Africa
» Suicide Bomber Detonates to Escape Tunisian Armed Forces
 
Middle East
» Erdogan Says Turkey to Drive Kurds From Syria and Iraq
» Turkey Says EU ‘Hasn’t Respected All Commitments’
 
Australia — Pacific
» Boy, 15, Screamed ‘Sorry’ As He Was Arrested by Police After ‘Stabbing a Woman Five Times and Stealing Her Phone’ As She Left a Train Station
» Furious Homeowners Claim They Had No Idea Devastating Bushfires Were Raging Towards Their Homes Because ‘ABC Radio Was Playing a Footy Game Instead of News Alerts’
» Is This What Australia is Coming to? Man Fights $330 Fine in Court After Seven Police Cars Were Sent to a Quiet Park to Catch Cyclists Without a Helmet
» ‘On the Day of Judgement Allah Will Ask You About Your Tattoos’: Instagram-Famous ‘Muslim Soldier’ Is Slammed Online for His ‘Haram’ Ink and Labelled a Hypocrite for Drinking Alcohol — But He Says God Will be Pleased With Him
» Science Alert: Platypus Milk Could Help US Fight Antibiotic Resistance
» ‘She Would Not be Silenced’: Muslim Youth Activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied Wins a Free Speech Prize for Her Controversial ANZAC Day Post
» ‘They Called Me Black, Paki, Currymuncher’: Muslim Cricketer Usman Khawaja Says Racist Sledges From Opposition Parents Made Him Stronger as the Sport Star’s Wife Opens Up About Converting to Islam
 
Latin America
» Nearly 3,000 Venezuelans Leaving Their Country Every Day
 
Immigration
» Australia to Offer Another Visa to Make it Easier for Big Companies to Hire Foreigners With ‘High-Tech Skills and Talent’ On More Than $180,000 a Year
» German Nurses Need Self-Defence Courses Against Increasing Migrant Violence in Hospitals
» Greek Court Jails Syrian Asylum Seeker for Islamic State Membership
» Rescue Team Saves 18 Migrants From Rushing Waters in Evros, Northern Greece
» Respect Italy’s Migrant-Rescue Code of Conduct — EU
» Spanish Ship Seized by Italy for Saving Migrants From Libya Return
 
Culture Wars
» Sydney University Lecturer Cancels a Class Due to be Held in Church in Case it Offended His Gay Students
 

74% of Americans Believe the “Deep State” Is Running the Country

For the past two years, the long-running narrative, at least that promulgated by the mainstream media which continues to “explain away” Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump, is that Americans had fallen for a massive, long-running fake news scam (in part aided and abetted by the likes of Facebook), which boosted Trump’s popularity at the expense of Hillary’s as part of some giant “Russian collusion” conspiracy theory between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin (which Mueller was supposed to uncover, but has instead shifted to investigating obstruction, seemingly unable to find anything).

But what if that entire narrative is dead wrong: what if Americans have become so skeptical in the government process and structure, they never needed a “fake news” boost to vote for an establishment outsider?

According to a new poll, that’s precisely the case because a supermajority of Americans believes the faction of unelected officials, known as the deep state, is orchestrating policy in Washington, D.C. and effectively running the nation.

The Monmouth University Polling Institute found that no less than 74% of Americans believe in a “deep state” when it is described as a collection of unelected officials running policy. Only 21% do not believe this kind of group exists.

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

Antioch Man Who Had Watched ISIS Videos Arrested After Trying to Buy a Sniper Rifle, Feds Say

Federal authorities have arrested an Antioch man accused of trying to buy a sniper rifle after researching ISIS and mass shootings online.

Agents received “a number of alarming notifications” about Khari Milak Whitehead’s behavior and his attempts to buy a gun early in 2018, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday. An investigation revealed Whitehead, 26, lied while trying to get a semi-automatic rifle at a local Walmart in February, the complaint stated.

While trying to buy the gun, Whitehead said he had never been committed to a mental institution, according to the complaint. But records show a Rutherford County judicial officer ordered him committed for an evaluation in December based on evidence that Whitehead might have been radicalized.

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

Explosion That Injured 2 in SW Austin Possibly Triggered by Tripwire

AUSTIN, Texas — An explosion that injured two men in southwest Austin on Sunday night—the fourth explosion this month—was possibly set off by a tripwire.

It happened in the 4800 block of Dawn Song Drive near Mopac and 290 around 8:45 p.m. Sunday.

There were reports of additional explosions in the same neighborhood, but those have not yet been confirmed.

Austin Police are urging residents in the area of Dawn Song Drive to stay in their homes until given the “all clear” by officers.

APD Chief Brian Manley says residents within half mile radius of Dawn Song Drive are advised to stay inside or avoid the area until daylight, and that police are investigating a second item—a backpack—found in the neighborhood.

Early Monday morning Chief Manley said that the explosion on Sunday evening could have possibly been detonated by a tripwire.

He said investigators are “working under the belief” that the explosives are similar, but Sunday’s bomb was possibly on the side of the road, not on a front porch.

Speaking to “Good Morning America,” Manley says the most recent bomb showed “different level of skill…

           — Hat tip: LP [Return to headlines]
 

Police Identify First Pedestrian Killed by Self-Driving Car

Authorities have identified the woman believed to be the first pedestrian killed by a self-driving car.

The Tempe, Arizona police department said 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg died after a self-driving Uber vehicle crashed into her as she crossed the road. While an operator was behind the wheel, the vehicle was in autonomous mode.

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

Trump Hiring Former Federal Prosecutor Who’s Argued FBI Framed President

Trump lashes out, cites ‘massive conflicts of interest’ in Russia probe

President Trump is hiring longtime Washington lawyer Joseph diGenova, who has suggested that the FBI is seeking to frame Trump, to his legal team.

“Former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Joe diGenova will be joining our legal team later this week,” Jay Sekulow, a counsel to the president, said in a statement. “I have worked with Joe for many years and have full confidence that he will be a great asset in our representation of the President.”

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

Woman Crashes Car Filled With ‘Accelerants’ Into Broward County Sheriff’s Office

The Broward County Sheriff’s office announced Monday that a woman had crashed a car filled with “accelerants” into a department satellite office earlier that morning.

According to a statement from BSO, the incident happened just before 11:30 am ET.

The unnamed woman drove a Toyota Camry into the community service room of the sheriff’s South Broward Office. Following impact, the car reportedly caught on fire…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Scheer’s Delight? If an Election Were Held Tomorrow, CPC Could Have a Shot at Majority Government

March 19, 2018 — The passage of time appears to have done nothing to soothe Canadian voters irritated with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau since his highly criticized passage to India last month.

This, combined with a simmering unease among the electorate over the federal government’s deficit spending has, for the first time, driven Trudeau’s disapproval rating north of 50 per cent.

All of this adds up to a ten-point gap between the Liberal and Conservative parties in vote intention. The latest polling analysis from the Angus Reid Institute shows that if an election were held tomorrow, the CPC — led by Andrew Scheer, would be in range to form a majority government.

The bleed away from the Trudeau Liberals includes not just vote intention, but perception of leadership. On a number of key metrics, including those that have traditionally been strengths for the Prime Minister, Scheer is seen as a better bet.

But with 18 months before an expected election, key areas of Liberal support remain solid. Millennials, many of whom turned out to the ballot box for the first time in 2015 principally because of Justin Trudeau, have not changed their minds about the leader — a majority (55%) still approve of him. And the party remains either in the lead or competitive in vote-rich urban centres, where a red surge pushed the Liberals to a 2015 majority…

           — Hat tip: HR [Return to headlines]
 

‘Caught Red Handed’: Soros-Funded Body Lobbying Germany to Put Pressure on Hungary

The head of a Soros-funded organisation described how his group lobbies Germany to pressure Hungary into abandoning its NGO transparency law.

Balazs Dénes detailed how the Civil Liberties Union for Europe, supported by George Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF), attempts to influence Germany via its links to think tanks close to the German government, according to recordings obtained by The Jerusalem Post.

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

France: Toward Total Submission to Islam, Destruction of Free Speech

After the murders of much of the staff at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris on January 7, 2015, the hostage-taking and slaughter at a kosher supermarket two days later confirmed what was already obvious: France was a target of Islamic terrorism. A huge demonstration, organized in Paris on January 11, brought together a million and a half people, with politicians from around the world in attendance.

For a brief moment, France seemed to be the country where the multitudes were ready to stand up for freedom of speech, and the government was ready to fight for Western values.

Unfortunately, that impression did not last long.

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

Italy Poverty up, Boost Corruption Fight — OECD

Anti-poverty programmes haven’t worked

(ANSA) — New York, March 19 — The OECD said in a report for today’s financial G20 in Buenos Aires that Italian poverty had risen and Rome’s fight against corruption should be boosted. In the last 10 years, it said, poverty had risen especially among young people, “reflecting the ineffectiveness of anti-poverty programmes”.

It said “progress on the front of reforms depends on a capacity to restore confidence by improving the efficiency of the public administration and the fight against corruption”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: 40 Peruvian Youths Fight in Florence Street

Use street signs as weapons

(ANSA) — Florence, March 19 — Some 40 youths fought in the street in Florence at dawn Sunday morning, sources said Monday.

The youths, all said to be Peruvians, used beer bottles, cans and street signs.

The brawl was sparked by an incident in a disco, sources said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Cop-Threatening Teacher in Turin — Protest Home Searches

Three arrests, four obliged to sign in operation linked to violent demo

(ANSA) — Turin, March 19 — Police conducted several arrests and searched the homes of a number of suspects on Monday in relation to a probe into clashes last month at an anti-Fascist protest in Turin. Among the suspects whose home was searched was Lavinia Flavia Cassaro, an elementary school teacher who is under investigation and risks getting the sack after insulting police at the rally. Cassaro shouted “Cowards, you must die, Fascists” at the police who were separating anti-Fascist protesters from a neo-Fascist CasaPound rally. Cassaro said she was not wishing death on the officers but on “the apparatus that defends Fascism”. Three activists linked to the Askatasuna leftwing centre were arrested in Monday’s operation, including one person put under house arrest, and four others have been notified they must regularly sign in with the authorities, sources said.

Police were attacked with bottles and cherry bombs containing nails during the protest.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Average Wait for Public Health System Appointment 65 Days

Increase of almost one month in three years

(ANSA) — Rome, March 19 — The average waiting time for an appointment for a specialist examination or test on the national health service is 65 days, according to a study released Monday by C.R.E.A. Sanità for the CGIL trade union. This compares to an average wait of seven days at private health facilities and six days via the ‘intramoenia’ system for the private provision of health services at public facilities. The public waiting times have increased by between 20 and 27 days in the three years between 2014 and 2017, according to the study based on research in four regions, Lombardy, Veneto, Lazio and Campania, which account for 26 million people, 44% of the Italian population. For example, the average wait for a public appointment with an eye specialist went up to 88 days in 2017 from 61 in 2015.

The wait for an orthopedic examination has gone from 36 days to 56.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Salvini Phones Berlusconi, ‘Summit’ In Rome Wed

(ANSA) — Rome, March 19 — Anti-migrant Euroskeptic League leader Matteo Salvini phoned centre-right Forza Italia (FI) leader Silvio Berlusconi Monday and confirmed the two allies’ engagements to mull recent talks with other parties on electing parliamentary Speakers in Italy’s hung parliament. Salvini, the centre right’s premier candidate, will soon also speak to the third ally, far-right Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader Giorgia Meloni, to arrange a summit in Rome on Wednesday.

This will give them a chance to assess talks with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and the leftwing Free and Equal (LeU) party, sources said.

The League came out on top on the centre right with about 17.5%, to FI’s 14%, making Salvini the premier candidate. The centre right coalition won 37% of the vote but did not get a majority.

The M5S was the top individual party with 32% but also did not get a majority.

The PD got under 19%, its lowest score ever, prompting the resignation of leader and ex-premier Matteo Renzi and the appointment of deputy secretary Maurizio Martina as caretaker leader.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Poland’s Ruling Law and Justice Party is Still Widely Supported

A new poll, by Kantar Public says Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) party is supported by 37 per cent of Poles.

Support for the PiS party is stable and has not changed compared to February this year. The Law and Justice party is way ahead of the Civic Platform (PO). Poland’s largest opposition party is now backed by 22 per cent of voters.

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

Surrender to Brussels Agreed: Britain Obeys All EU Laws, No Control of Fisheries, Open Borders to 2020

The United Kingdom will agree to follow all European Union rules after Brexit and keep the nation’s borders open for the duration of the transition period to 2022, with further bad news for fisheries and communities in Northern Ireland as a new agreement was reached in Brussels Monday.

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

Sweden: Rapper Fears “Open War” On the Streets of Stockholm Within 20 Years

Hip-hop artist Ken Ring says he fears “open war” on the streets of Stockholm within 20 years and says he is thinking about moving to Africa because it is safer than some parts of Sweden.

In an interview with Norwegian broadcaster NRK, Ring, whose brother was murdered, pointed to the area in which he grew up, the Stockholm suburb of Hässelby, which was calm and safe then but is now the site of “open gang war,” violent crime and drug trafficking.

Ring specifically pinpointed the surge of Muslim migrants as being responsible for the problem, an issue he first raised back in 2009.

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

UK Schools in Bomb Threat: Evacuations as Parents Told ‘Collect Your Children Now’

A bomb has been placed on school grounds and will be detonated if demands are not met, the threat says.

Parents have been told to collect their children immediately.

More than 400 schools have been contacted across the country including London, Essex, Suffolk, Lincolnshire, Greater Manchester, Cumbria, Yorkshire, Humberside and Northumbria.

They are believed to have come from the United States via email and contained a ransom note demanding money.

The email is said to demand $5,000, giving the school three hours to send money.

According to Sky News, the hoax has come about following a conflict between rival Minecraft gamers.

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

UK: Blairite Labour MPs ‘Plot New Pro-EU Party’ With Lib Dems and Tory Europhiles

Senior Labour MPs opposed to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership have been meeting with the Liberal Democrats in secret talks about setting up a “centrist” pro-Brussels party, sources have claimed.

The Labour leader’s caution over blaming Russia for the Salisbury poisoning was a “watershed moment” that “has caused a number of people to question why we are in this party”, a former member of the Shadow Cabinet told The Times.

Hoping to launch a new party in Spring 2019 after Brexit, sources present at the meetings said ‘Start Again’ has emerged as its working title out of a range of possible names, including Back Together, the Democrats, and Regain.

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

UK: BBC Defends Missed Telford Grooming Gangs Coverage After ‘Hundreds of Complaints’

The BBC’s news editor has defended their lack of coverage of the Telford of grooming gang revelations, insisting the corporation is doing the “right thing” in relation to grooming gangs generally.

On the BBC’s NewsWatch programme, presenter Samira Ahmed also revealed they had received “hundreds” of complaints about a perceived initial reluctance to cover the allegations.

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

UK: Claim: Police Dropped Cases Against 20 Telford Groomers Because They Were ‘Too Much Trouble’

Three police officers have come forward to reveal how cases against Telford rape gang members were allegedly dropped because pursuing court orders was considered “too much trouble”.

One officer was said they were “horrified” by the decision and another claimed the scale of the abuse was “huge”, after a probe by journalists suggested there could be as many as 1,000 victims in the small town.

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

Suicide Bomber Detonates to Escape Tunisian Armed Forces

In Ben Guerdane, accomplice fled towards Libya

TUNIS — A jihadist suicide bomber detonated on Monday in Ben Guerdane, the last Tunisian city before the Libyan border, while another fled to Libya, said the Tunisian Interior Ministry in a statement.

The statement said the two terrorists were being chased by Tunisian armed forces and that there was an exchange of gunfire.

It said one of the two terrorists detonated, while the other allegedly opened fire on the soldiers before fleeing towards Magroun through Sidi Toui, towards the Libyan border.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Erdogan Says Turkey to Drive Kurds From Syria and Iraq

After Afrin, now aiming at Manbij, Kobane, and possibly Sinjar

ISTANBUL — Turkey is ready to take military action to drive the remaining Kurds of the northern Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD) out of northern Syria, following the Turkish military offensive in Afrin, as well as to drive Kurds of the Iraqi-based Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from northern Iraq, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Turkish military is aiming in particular at Kobane, the city that symbolises the Kurdish revenge against ISIS.

“By taking the centre of Afrin, we have accomplished the most important step,” Erdogan said in Ankara.

“We will continue with Manbij, Ayn al Arab (Kobane), Tal Abyad, Rasulayd, and Qamishli, until the corridor of terror is totally eliminated,” he said, referring to northern Syria.

He said since the start of Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch, 3,622 Kurdish YPG and ISIS militants have been “neutralised” (killed, injured or captured).

“We have invited Baghdad to resolve the problem” of the Kurdish PKK in northern Iraq, Erdogan said.

“If that doesn’t happen, we will also intervene in Sinjar,” he said.

“One night, we could enter Sinjar without warning,” he said, using the same phrase he used prior to the military campaign in Afrin.

A high-ranking Kurdish-Syrian official, Aldar Xelil, said that with the Turkish “occupation” in Afrin, “all of northern Syria is in danger”.

Xelil said Erdogan is trying to reestablish the type of influence in Syria that existed during the Ottoman Empire.

According to local Kurdish sources and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Afrin is now almost entirely under Turkish control, although some pockets of Kurdish YPG resistance still remain.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Says EU ‘Hasn’t Respected All Commitments’

Lack of Syrian legal travel, visa liberalisation, EU accession

ISTANBUL- Turkey’s Minister for European Affairs on Monday tweeted that the EU hasn’t respected all of its commitments regarding the EU-Turkey migrant accord.

“Thanks to the EU-Turkey statement of 18 March 2016, the daily average of illegal crossings” from Turkey to the EU “has dropped from 7,000 in October 2015 to about 43. Turkey has acted according to the principle of pacta sunt servanda and has adhered to all of its obligations relative to the 18 March accord. Unfortunately, the EU has not honored all of its commitments,” he tweeted, two years since the agreement on refugees was signed.

“We are still waiting for the EU to activate the Voluntary Humanitarian Admission Scheme, which would provide legal ways for Syrian migrants to travel” and for the EU “to take concrete steps on accession talks, visa liberalisation for Turkish citizens and the upgrading of the Customs Union”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Boy, 15, Screamed ‘Sorry’ As He Was Arrested by Police After ‘Stabbing a Woman Five Times and Stealing Her Phone’ As She Left a Train Station

A 27-year-old woman walking to a Perth train station was stabbed five times at random with knife. A 15-year-old boy fled on a bike but found ‘screaming he was sorry.’

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Furious Homeowners Claim They Had No Idea Devastating Bushfires Were Raging Towards Their Homes Because ‘ABC Radio Was Playing a Footy Game Instead of News Alerts’

As an out-of-control bushfire raged at the coastal town of Tathra in New South Wales, residents say no emergency alerts were sent out via radio.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Is This What Australia is Coming to? Man Fights $330 Fine in Court After Seven Police Cars Were Sent to a Quiet Park to Catch Cyclists Without a Helmet

Officers told cyclists in Sydney they were out to ‘enforce the law’ during a peaceful protest ride in one of the city’s biggest parks on Saturday as cycle campaigners challenged new ‘trivial’ laws.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

‘On the Day of Judgement Allah Will Ask You About Your Tattoos’: Instagram-Famous ‘Muslim Soldier’ Is Slammed Online for His ‘Haram’ Ink and Labelled a Hypocrite for Drinking Alcohol — But He Says God Will be Pleased With Him

The Sydney Instagram star’s body is covered in ink, and he has hit back at critics who say his tattoos are forbidden in Islam, saying God ‘watches his inside’.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Science Alert: Platypus Milk Could Help US Fight Antibiotic Resistance

A new report out about Australia’s oddest animal, the platypus, claims that a newly discovered protein in the critters’ milk could help humans fight the globally growing resistance to antibiotics.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

‘She Would Not be Silenced’: Muslim Youth Activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied Wins a Free Speech Prize for Her Controversial ANZAC Day Post

A civil liberties group in Victoria gave the 27-year-old former ABC presenter, who now lives in London, its Young Voltaire Award for weathering criticism from ‘internet trolls’.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

‘They Called Me Black, Paki, Currymuncher’: Muslim Cricketer Usman Khawaja Says Racist Sledges From Opposition Parents Made Him Stronger as the Sport Star’s Wife Opens Up About Converting to Islam

Pakistan-born Khawaja emigrated with his parents and two older brothers in 1991 before making his way through the New South Wales system and becoming the first Muslim to represent Australia.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Nearly 3,000 Venezuelans Leaving Their Country Every Day

The increasing flood of Venezuelan refugees is putting so much pressure on neighboring countries that the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is calling for help. More than four million people have left Marxist Nicolas Maduro’s socialist “paradise” in just the last four years, and the numbers are increasing. They are finding temporary refuge in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Aruba, and Spain; however, those countries are being pushed to their limits.

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

Australia to Offer Another Visa to Make it Easier for Big Companies to Hire Foreigners With ‘High-Tech Skills and Talent’ On More Than $180,000 a Year

The Global Talent Scheme aims to attract the world’s ‘high-tech skills and talent’ and will allow Australian companies to sponsor migrants for positions paying over $180,000.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

German Nurses Need Self-Defence Courses Against Increasing Migrant Violence in Hospitals

Hospital personnel in Bielefeld are increasingly being threatened, abused and attacked, the Neue Westfälische reports. Especially younger nurses report of verbal abuse and physical attacks by migrants. The hospital now needs to take special security measures to protect its personnel.

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

Greek Court Jails Syrian Asylum Seeker for Islamic State Membership

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A court in northern Greece has convicted a Syrian refugee of having been a fighter with the Islamic State group in Syria, and sentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment.

The Komotini court acquitted the man Monday of murder and explosives-related charges concerning his alleged activities with the group, his lawyer said.

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

Rescue Team Saves 18 Migrants From Rushing Waters in Evros, Northern Greece

A total of 18 migrants, including five children, were rescued on Monday in the rushing waters of a torrent in Itea Feres in Evros, northern Greece, as the van carrying them fell in a torrent.

The migrant smuggler; who was driving the van, had tried to escape after being chased by a border patrol. His van fell in a torrent and was carried away.

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

Respect Italy’s Migrant-Rescue Code of Conduct — EU

Commission spokesperson comments after NGO ship seized

(ANSA) — Brussels, March 19 — European Commission Spokesperson Natasha Bertaud called for Italy’s code of conduct for migrant search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean to be respected after as ship run by the Proactiva Open Arms NGO was seized by Italian prosecutors. “There is an Italian code of conduct that aims to avoid these situations,” Bertaud said. “We call on all parties to respect it in future.

“We have been closely following the case since Friday and we are in contact with the Italian authorities.

“Specifically, (Migration and Home Affairs) Commissioner (Dimitris) Avramopoulos has spoken to (Italian Interior) Minister (Marco) Minniti”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Spanish Ship Seized by Italy for Saving Migrants From Libya Return

Italian authorities have seized a Spanish charity’s rescue ship after it brought 216 migrants stranded off the coast of Libya to Sicilian shores.

Proactiva Open Arms picked up the migrants and refused to release them to the Libyan coastguard, which would have returned them to Africa.

A public prosecutor in Sicily ordered the boat’s seizure after it docked in the port town of Pozzallo on Sunday.

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

Sydney University Lecturer Cancels a Class Due to be Held in Church in Case it Offended His Gay Students

University of Technology lecturer Dr Timothy Laurie emailed his students two days before lectures were due to begin saying class was cancelled due to ‘the suitability of a church as a venue’.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

3 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/19/2018

    • Only you can save yourself, even if that takes blood. Not everybody gets saved, some nations will simply perish. Is it the turn of Sweden? I don’t know.

      I cannot bring myself to listen to ABBA anymore because they sound like the epitaph of Sweden that was.

  1. I couldn’t understand how someone that is not even remotely close to being Australian is allowed to represent the country as a member of the national cricket team….

    …then I saw the article about seven police units being sent to chase down cyclists without helmets and it all began to make sense.

Comments are closed.