Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/24/2018

Pauline Krikke, the Mayor of the Hague, was robbed at a tram stop in a culturally enriched district of her own city. Ms. Krikke had tried to keep the embarrassing incident quiet, but the Dutch media found out about it.

In other news, an Islamic State mujahid was killed in a shootout with Russian police in the republic of Dagestan in the Caucasus.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Charles Low, Dean, Diana West, JD, Nick, 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.

USA
» A Postmortem on the Rejected #ExxonKnew Case in San Francisco Federal Court
» Council on Foreign Relations President: “Goodbye, Liberal World Order”
» Facebook’s Data Gold Rush: Web Giant’s Takings Soared by £12billion After it Let Companies Hoover up Users’ Data
» Facebook Faces Its Worst-Ever Crisis After Information Leak is Exposed
» Growing Questions About CNN’s Airport Monopoly as Network Veers Left
» Influence & and Experts, IV: Harvard’s Mark Kramer Comes Out as a Cell-Member
» Mark Zuckerberg Wants to ‘Trade’ Free Speech for ‘Safety’ And ‘Having an Informed Community’
» Woman Accused of Stealing Prayer Rugs, Vacuum From Islamic Center
 
Europe and the EU
» #DeleteFacebook? Assange Never Had Account With ‘Giant Intel Database Controlled by Megalomaniac’
» Breakthrough in Italy Parliament as Speakers Chosen
» FBI Agents Visiting Malta in Pilatus Bank Probe
» Former Catalan Leader Avoids Arrest in Finland, Heads to Belgium
» France: ‘Islamic State’ Gunman Killed After Taking Hostages at Supermarket
» France: ISIS Killer Shouts ‘Allahu Akbar, I’ll Kill You All, ‘ Then Opens Fire
» France: Cop Who Swapped Himself for Hostage During ISIS Attack Dies
» Hero French Officer Who Swapped Places With Supermarket Hostage Dies
» Je Ne Bregret Rien: Only 22% of Britons Want to Stop Brexit
» Muslim Patient Forbids Austrian Father From Entering Hospital Room and Visit His Ill Daughter
» Norway Presents Proposal on Full-Face Veil Ban
» Presidents of Hungary and Poland Mark Day of Hungarian-Polish Friendship
» Sweden Arrests Record Number of Drugs Smugglers
» U.K. Watchdog Eyes Evidence Seized From Cambridge Analytica
» UK: Child Sex Gang of Seven ‘Predatory’ Men Who Abused Girls as Young as 13 in a ‘S*** Wagon’ With Number Plate Ending ‘Shg’ Are Convicted After Jury Took 24 Days to Reach Their Verdict
» UK: Child Sex Gang Who Ran ‘Cynical and Predatory’ Grooming Ring Across the City Convicted
» UK: Cousin of Manchester Arena Terrorist Beat Pregnant Woman, Told Her He Wanted to Kill Her Baby
» UK: Islamization Full Speed Ahead
» UK: Soros’s HOPE Not Hate Sees Massive Backlash Over Book Ban List
» United States of Europe: EU Will ‘Reject Democracy to Become Empire’
 
Middle East
» Deaths in the Fight Against the Islamic State
» Turkish Air Raids Devastate UNESCO Heritage Site Near Afrin
 
Russia
» European Union Wages Cold War Against Russia — Marine Le Pen
» Islamic State Gunman Killed in Shootout With Russian Police
 
Australia — Pacific
» ‘It Shows the Type of People They Are’: Pauline Hanson Opens Up on Life as a Senator — and Claims Fellow Politicians Refuse to Say ‘Hello’ To Her in Parliament
» Suspicious Explosion in Perth’s South-East Leaves Man Seriously Burnt
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Nigeria: Muslim Teacher From Islamic Almajiri School Mercilessly Beats Up Little Boy With Knife, His 2 Hands Just Got Amputated
 
Immigration
» Border Patrol Agents Refuse to Turn Over Wanted Felons Because of California’s Sanctuary Laws
» Dutch Mayor Robbed in Her Own City’s Migrant Suburb
» German Minister on Migrant Knife Crime: “Don’t Let People Get Close to You”
» Malta Did Not Offer to Take in Rescued Migrants
» Merkel Pushes for EU Common Asylum System After Inviting Millions of Migrants to Europe
» Record Few Children Baptized in Sweden Due to ‘Demographic Change’
» Spain: Ten Algerians Arrested for Sexual Abuse of Underage Girls
» Swedish Study: Vast Majority of Gang Rapists Have Migrant Background
 
Culture Wars
» ‘Highest IQ Man in the World’ on Colleges: ‘They’re a Breeding House for Parrots’
» Trump, GOP Congress Give Planned Parenthood $500 Million in Taxpayer Funds
 
General
» Earth Hour is Tonight — Instead of Turning Off Your Lights, Turn Them on to Celebrate What Electricity Has Done for Mankind
 

A Postmortem on the Rejected #ExxonKnew Case in San Francisco Federal Court

Recently, sanity prevailed in California as the judge rebuked the idea that there was a conspiracy to defraud the public by oil companies. Here’s a look at the argument presented.

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

Council on Foreign Relations President: “Goodbye, Liberal World Order”

Whatever one thinks of Trump, love him, loathe him, mock him or respect him, he’s managed to do one thing — in the one year that he’s been president, his ad hoc, haphazard, chaotic, irrational and unpredictable style of governance may have thrown the country, its institutions, its “establishment”, and certainly the press for loop, but it has also achieved one other thing: it has made the “globalists” conclude that the “liberal world order” which they created — which has resulted in the greatest accumulation of wealth by the fewest number of people; in the greatest political, social, ethnic, economic and financial polarization in recent history; in a global debt load that has put the world on the verge of financial catastrophe (only offset by constant central bank “confidence” injections); and which the “Trump vote” was a protest against — is almost over.

And nobody says it better than Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, in the following essay:…

[Comment: Note how Haas says this is a bad thing. This is likely propaganda designed to make the public give up resisting these globalists. These rabid globalists and their machinations are like Terminator robots — Kyle Reese “Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.” ]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Facebook’s Data Gold Rush: Web Giant’s Takings Soared by £12billion After it Let Companies Hoover up Users’ Data

Facebook revenues soared to billions of pounds after it started giving away users’ details.

The social media giant practically doubled its takings every year after opening up profiles to ‘tens of thousands’ of app developers.

Facebook users were yesterday waking up to how much private information has been handed out.

During the data gold-rush — which lasted from 2009 to 2015 — it appears almost anyone who described themselves as a ‘developer’ could freely mine Facebook’s database.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Facebook Faces Its Worst-Ever Crisis After Information Leak is Exposed

With Facebook mired in its worst-ever crisis, the rest of Silicon Valley is looking to come to terms with the dark side of its data-driven business model where tech titans have mined fortunes from what people reveal online.

There are signs the crisis could spread to other internet firms that have made no secret about using what they glean from digital data for targeted advertising.

That same personal data can be used effectively by those with malicious intent when it comes to influencing people.

“It is Facebook this week, but it could be others,” tech industry analyst Rob Enderle said of the crisis of confidence laying siege to the social network.

“At the very least, this is the common problem across the tech industry.”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Growing Questions About CNN’s Airport Monopoly as Network Veers Left

CNN’s ubiquitous presence in airports — where it broadcasts from thousands of screens to a captive audience of millions — is facing new scrutiny after the cable network’s hard left turn.

The CNN Airport network dates back to when CNN was known for straightforward news programming — and has been a fixture at airports since before competitors MSNBC and Fox News even existed. But critics are now asking if busy travelers should be subjected to CNN’s increasingly ideological programming — at gates, bars, food courts and baggage claims — which can include on-screen chyrons or subtitles that gleefully mock President Trump. Many travelers have even taken to Twitter and started online petitions to urge airports to change the channel.

Media Research Center Vice President Dan Gainor told Fox News that CNN has become more partisan than MSNBC since Trump moved into the White House and travelers should have the option of not watching the network.

“How are airports justifying the idea of bombarding captive viewers with content many of them oppose? Sadly, almost any outlet is fairer now than CNN,” Gainor said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Influence & and Experts, IV: Harvard’s Mark Kramer Comes Out as a Cell-Member

by Diana West

Two Sundays ago, the audiobook of American Betrayal finally came to market nearly five years after its original hardback publication by St. Martin’s Press.

Last Sunday the Washington Post’s Sunday Outlook section dismissed it as “Myth No. 5” in “Five Myths about Espionage” by Mark Kramer.

But not just my book, which Kramer featured, unnamed but hot-linked, as Exhibit A of the larger “myth” that he was alleging to debunk. The “surprisingly common misperception” Kramer was laying to rest, he claimed with all of the assurance of an endowed chair at Harvard, was that people actually believe intelligence agencies “set out” to influence policy-making in the countries in which they function.

Imagine that.

The Harvard professor opened this way:…

           — Hat tip: Diana West [Return to headlines]
 

Mark Zuckerberg Wants to ‘Trade’ Free Speech for ‘Safety’ And ‘Having an Informed Community’

In an interview with Wired magazine, Mark Zuckerberg revealed Facebook’s political agenda — he wants to curb free speech and free expression on the platform in exchange for “safety.”

From the Wired interview:

I think at the heart of a lot of these issues we face are tradeoffs between real values that people care about. You know, when you think about issues like fake news or hate speech, right, it’s a tradeoff between free speech and free expression and safety and having an informed community. These are all the challenging situations that I think we are working to try to navigate as best we can. (Emphasis added)

Zuckerberg’s “trade-off” confirms Facebook’s long-suspected agenda: to take the platform away from first amendment principles, towards a European understanding of speech, in which elites determine what ordinary people can and cannot say, based on vague, flexible terms like “hate speech” and “fake news.”

[Comment: Stop using facebook, let it become myspace 2.0]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Woman Accused of Stealing Prayer Rugs, Vacuum From Islamic Center

A Cortlandt Manor woman faces a felony charge after being accused of stealing from an Islamic community center. Yorktown Police said Christina M. Deagan, 50, of Ernest Avenue in Cortlandt Manor, was charged with third-degree burglary, a felony.

Police said they received a call about stolen property from an employee of the Hudson Valley Islamic Community Center at 3680 Lexington Ave. in Mohegan Lake around 5:52 p.m. March 14.

The responding officer’s investigation found that a vacuum cleaner and four prayer rugs had been stolen.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

#DeleteFacebook? Assange Never Had Account With ‘Giant Intel Database Controlled by Megalomaniac’

In the fallout from the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data mining scandal, Julian Assange has reminded his followers that it is highly unwise to trust all their personal data to a “megalomaniac” who calls his users “dumb f**ks.”

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

Breakthrough in Italy Parliament as Speakers Chosen

With Italy still in political deadlock following the general election earlier this month, the two parties battling it out to head a new government reached agreement Saturday on the respective positions of speaker for both the lower and upper houses of parliament.

In a horse-trading deal that could now pave the way for discussions over who will lead the country, a member of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), Roberto Fico, was elected speaker of the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies.

In return, Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, a member of the Forza Italia that forms part of the right-wing coalition — and a close friend of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi — was voted head of the upper house, the Senate.

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

FBI Agents Visiting Malta in Pilatus Bank Probe

Agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation are expected in Malta as part of an ongoing investigation into the former chairman of Pilatus Bank.

Sources said FBI experts had already been in touch with several authorities in Malta to facilitate their work here.

Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, the Iranian-born banker behind the beleaguered Ta’ Xbiex-based bank, is facing up to 125 years in jail in connection with charges that include money laundering and evading US sanctions on Iran. He was arrested on Monday in the US where he is known to reside.

The sources said the US investigators were being coy about the nature of their visit to Malta, which suggested they might not be willing to give away too much, not even to the Maltese authorities. It could even be a matter of trust, they noted.

Sources close to senior investigators in Malta said they were uncertain what the FBI agents hoped to learn from Malta but they believed this was an exercise in “joining dots”.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Former Catalan Leader Avoids Arrest in Finland, Heads to Belgium

BARCELONA/HELSINKI (Reuters) — Facing arrest by Finnish authorities acting on an international warrant issued by Spain, former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has left Finland and was headed to Belgium, a Finnish lawmaker and ally said on Saturday.

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

France: ‘Islamic State’ Gunman Killed After Taking Hostages at Supermarket

A gun-wielding extremist unleashed bloodshed in a quiet corner of southern France, killing three people as he hijacked a car, opened fire on police and took hostages in a supermarket.

The 26-year-old attacker, who called himself a “soldier of Islamic State” when he entered the supermarket, was killed as police stormed the store with the help of an officer who had switched places with a hostage and suffered life-threatening wounds — one of 16 people injured.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

France: ISIS Killer Shouts ‘Allahu Akbar, I’ll Kill You All, ‘ Then Opens Fire

First, he took his little sister to school.

Next, he hijacked a car, blowing the driver’s brains out.

His final stop was the Super U shop in Carcassonne in southwestern France.

Redouane Lakdim, 26, walked into the store, screamed “Allahu Akbar, I’ll kill you all” and unleashed his sickening bloodlust.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

France: Cop Who Swapped Himself for Hostage During ISIS Attack Dies

TREBES, France — The French police officer who swapped places with a female supermarket employee being held hostage had already received a lifetime of accolades by the time he walked unarmed into the store under attack by an extremist gunman.

Known for his courage and sang-froid, Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame was acclaimed by neighbours, colleagues and French authorities as a hero Saturday after his death from wounds the day before. President Emmanuel Macron announced plans for a national ceremony to formally honour him.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Hero French Officer Who Swapped Places With Supermarket Hostage Dies

A French police officer who switched places with a female hostage during an Islamic State-inspired terror attack in southwest France has died of his wounds, officials said Saturday.

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

Je Ne Bregret Rien: Only 22% of Britons Want to Stop Brexit

Almost 60 per cent of Brits think the government should respect the referendum result and “get on” with delivering Brexit.

In a new poll by BMG for Change Britain, respondents were asked if they agreed that “the government should get on with implementing the result of the referendum to take Britain out of the EU and in doing so take back control of our borders, laws, money and trade”.

A strong 57 per cent agreed and less than a quarter — just 22 per cent — disagree with the statement, according to the results, seen by Guido Fawkes. Twenty-one per cent did not answer the question.

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

Muslim Patient Forbids Austrian Father From Entering Hospital Room and Visit His Ill Daughter

Having a sick child is one of the most horrible cards a person can be dealt in life and not even being allowed into your child’s room is even worse. In Vienna the family Salfenauer experienced exactly that and not because of medical reasons but because of the religious beliefs of another patient.

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

Norway Presents Proposal on Full-Face Veil Ban

Three ministers from the Norwegian government presented on Friday a proposal to ban face-covering garments at schools, daycares and other educational institutions.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

Presidents of Hungary and Poland Mark Day of Hungarian-Polish Friendship

Hungarian President Janos Ader received his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda at a ceremony with military honours in Veszprem, in western Hungary, on Friday afternoon. The two heads of state mark the occasion of Polish-Hungarian friendship day in the city.

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

Sweden Arrests Record Number of Drugs Smugglers

Large seizures of narcotics have been made from a record number of smugglers, with 58 individuals currently facing police charges, according to a report.

The high volume of seizures has customs offers working harder than ever, reports newspaper Sydsvenskan.

Major gateways for smuggling into Sweden include Malmö via the Öresund Bridge and ferries from Helsingborg in Denmark. Smuggling also takes place on boats to Ystad and Trelleborg, according to the report.

[Comment: An enterprising reporter could look into the background of these drug smugglers.]

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

U.K. Watchdog Eyes Evidence Seized From Cambridge Analytica

LONDON — Britain’s information regulator said Saturday it was assessing evidence gathered from a raid on the office of data mining firm Cambridge Analytica, part of an investigation into alleged misuse of personal information by political campaigns and social media companies like Facebook.

More than a dozen investigators from the Information Commissioner’s Office entered the company’s central London office late Friday, shortly after a High Court judge granted a warrant. The investigators were seen leaving the premises early Saturday after spending about seven hours searching the office.

The regulator said it will “consider the evidence before deciding the next steps and coming to any conclusions.”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Child Sex Gang of Seven ‘Predatory’ Men Who Abused Girls as Young as 13 in a ‘S*** Wagon’ With Number Plate Ending ‘Shg’ Are Convicted After Jury Took 24 Days to Reach Their Verdict

A sex gang of seven ‘predatory’ men have been convicted of abusing young girls.

The group of seven men aged between 37 and 47 were described as ‘predatory and cynical’ by a judge after being convicted on Friday following a five-month trial, at Oxford Crown Court.

The court heard how the gang would often abuse girls aged between 13 and 15 in a ‘s wagon’ with licence plate ending ‘SHG’.

The lengthy trial saw seven defendants convicted — Raheem Ahmed, Moinul Islam, Kamran Khan, Kameer Iqbal, Khalid Hussain, Alladitta Yousaf and Assad Hussain.

Two others who stood trial, Saboor Abdul and Haji Khan, were acquitted of all charges. Two other men involved in proceedings cannot be named for legal reasons.

The court heard throughout the trial how the seven men on numerous occasions coerced the girls into sex at a number of addresses across Oxford.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Child Sex Gang Who Ran ‘Cynical and Predatory’ Grooming Ring Across the City Convicted

A CHILD sex gang who preyed on vulnerable young girls, abusing them on a ‘massive’ scale across the city, have been convicted.

The depraved grooming ring of seven men, described at Oxford Crown Court as ‘predatory and cynical’, were convicted on Friday by a jury of four women and seven men after a record breaking 107 hours and 31 minutes of deliberations over the course of 24 days.

During the five-month trial, which began on October 9, jurors have heard accounts from the five victims as well as recorded police interviews and testimonies from a number of the men, who each denied their part in the child sexual exploitation.

Judge Peter Ross, who presided over the trial, one of the biggest of its kind in Oxford, said once the final verdicts were handed out: “Systematic and widespread grooming, that is what this case has revealed.

“The investigation has involved countless hours of work and [the police] are entitled to commendations for the work they have done.”

The charges in full:

Raheem Ahmed, 40, of Starwort Path, Oxford, was convicted of two counts of indecent assault and one count of false imprisonment. He was cleared of one count of rape.

Moinul Islam, 41, of Wykeham Crescent, Oxford, was convicted of two counts of indecent assault, one count of rape and one count of supplying cannabis to another. He was cleared of false imprisonment.

Kamran Khan, of Northfield Road, Bolton, was convicted of indecent assault and false imprisonment. He was cleared of one count of rape.

Kameer Iqbal, 38, of Dashwood Road, Oxford, was convicted of three count of rape.

Khalid Hussain, 37, of Ashhurst Way, Oxford, was convicted of one count of rape and count of indecent assault. He was cleared of another count of rape.

Alladitta Yousaf, 47, of Bodley Road, Oxford was convicted of one count of indecent assault.

Assad Hussain, 37, of Iffley Road, Oxford, was convicted of two counts of indecent assault, three counts of rape and two counts of conspiracy to rape. He was cleared of one count of indecent assault.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Cousin of Manchester Arena Terrorist Beat Pregnant Woman, Told Her He Wanted to Kill Her Baby

Hamman Forjani received a short 21-month sentence for brutally attacking a pregnant woman, kicking her so hard he left shoe imprints on her face.

Manchester Crown Court heard that after Forjani, cousin of Manchester Arena terror attacker Salman Abedi, had kicked and beat his victim, he said that he wanted her unborn baby to die, reports the Manchester Evening News.

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

UK: Islamization Full Speed Ahead

The UK is accelerating its Islamization at an ever-increasing speed. The desire of the British establishment to submit to Islam appears to be overwhelming.

In a recent report, the Henry Jackson society exposed how the UK used taxpayer funds to support Islamist charities working against British society to the tune of more than six million pounds in 2017 alone. According to the report, “As the case studies in this report are illustrative rather than comprehensive, it is likely that this sum represents only the tip of the iceberg”. The report concludes, “Until more comprehensive action is taken, a network of Islamist extremists operating in the UK will continue to use charities and taxpayer money to fund the spread of divisive, illiberal and intolerant views within our communities”.

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

UK: Soros’s HOPE Not Hate Sees Massive Backlash Over Book Ban List

The far-left activist group HOPE not Hate (HnH) received a widespread backlash on social media, including from prominent anti-extremism campaigner Maajid Nawaz, after they released a list of books they campaigned to get banned from UK retailers.

The group unveiled a new campaign earlier this week to pressure book retailers, including Amazon and WH Smith, to remove a list of books deemed “Nazi” and “far-right” by the organisation. HnH tweeted out a link to the campaign and within 24 hours saw an overwhelmingly negative response from users equating the group to promoting book burnings.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

United States of Europe: EU Will ‘Reject Democracy to Become Empire’

‘The nation against nationalism’ written by Gil Delannoi, a professor at the Sciences Po institute in Paris, declares the EU will become a superstate.

But Mr Delannoi questions why the bloc would embark on a risky political venture when a tried and tested model of liberal democratic government already exists.

He said: “Utopian or not, this goal is not desired by the crushing majority of Europe.”

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

Deaths in the Fight Against the Islamic State

Number of U.S. military deaths since October 2014 and the names of U.S. troops killed recently in the fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, as announced by the Pentagon:

Fatalities: 61 (13 in hostile actions)

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Turkish Air Raids Devastate UNESCO Heritage Site Near Afrin

Rockets struck Brad, a site that has several Byzantine churches and monasteries as well as tombs from the Roman period. Many buildings were destroyed, including the tomb of Saint Maron and the Julianus church. For Syrian expert, the site held one of the most beautiful pages of the history of Christianity in the East. Not even the Mongol invasion caused such damage.

Afrin (AsiaNews) — Turkish air raids have damaged an ancient Christian heritage site in northeastern Syria near the city of Afrin, a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria, which Ankara-led forces captured on 17 March, Syria’s antiquities department said Thursday.

“Turkish regime planes bombed the archaeological site of Brad, 15 kilometres south of Afrin city,” the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums said in a statement.

Brad — which includes many Byzantine churches and monasteries as well as tombs dating back to the Roman period — has been on Unesco’s world heritage list since 2011.

Rockets “destroyed many important archaeological buildings”, including the tomb of Saint Maron of the Maronite community, said Syrian antiquities chief Mahmoud Hamoud.

Turkish planes also destroyed “the Julianus Church, which includes the mausoleum and is one of the oldest Christian churches in the world, built at the end of the 4th century,” he added.

On 20 January, Ankara launched a major offensive against the mostly Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which it says is allied with the “terrorist” Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). The latter has been fighting for the independence of Turkish-occupied Kurdistan.

As President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced, after conquering Afrin, Turkey is now turning its attention towards other Kurdish towns in the area in order to control the border region in the eastern part of Syria.

Turkish troops and anti-Assad jihadi groups have not damaged only Christian sites. In late January, Syria accused Turkey of damaging the 3,000-year-old iron age neo-Hittite temple of Ain Dara as it pressed its bombardment of the Afrin region.

For its part, the Turkish military denied the charges, saying that “religious and cultural buildings, historical sites, archaeological ruins and public facilities are absolutely not among the targets” of its offensive. Still, damages from its planes to Syria’s and the world’s cultural heritage are there to see.

In addition to the tomb of Saint Maron, which was discovered in 2002 by a group of French archaeologists, the ancient city of Brad also has several Christian sites from the Roman and Byzantine periods.

“This site is one of the most beautiful pages of the history of Christianity. It is home to three churches, a monastery and a five-metre-high tower,” Syria’s former antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said. “Not even the Mongol invasion did this,” he added.

In recent weeks, experts have voiced concerns over some 40 Christian villages in the Afrin region, which Unesco describes as “ancient villages of northern Syria” and has included in its World Heritage Sites.

The UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation says these villages provide, among other things, “an exceptional illustration of the development of Christianity in the East, in village communities”, and must be protected and preserved.

Meanwhile, the BBC has reported that one of the last rebel groups in the besieged enclave of Eastern Ghouta, outside Damascus, has announced a ceasefire.

The Faylaq al-Rahman group has accepted a UN-brokered truce, saying that the move would allow talks with the Russian military, Syria’s ally, on guarantees for the safety of civilians.

Syrian troops currently hold 80 per cent of the enclave.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

European Union Wages Cold War Against Russia — Marine Le Pen

President of the National Front French political party Marine Le Pen has commented on the development of the situation around the poisoning of ex-Russia spy Sergei Skripal during a speech on the Franceinfo radio station.

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

Islamic State Gunman Killed in Shootout With Russian Police

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia says a militant affiliated with the Islamic State group has been killed in a battle with police in the country’s southern republic of Dagestan.

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

‘It Shows the Type of People They Are’: Pauline Hanson Opens Up on Life as a Senator — and Claims Fellow Politicians Refuse to Say ‘Hello’ To Her in Parliament

From her make-up to her politics, Australia’s red-headed controversial senator Pauline Hanson knows what she wants — something she believes comes with age.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Suspicious Explosion in Perth’s South-East Leaves Man Seriously Burnt

A man is in hospital with extensive burns after an explosion at his home in Darling Downs, between Armadale and Byford in Perth’s south-east.

Neighbours rang emergency services around 9.10pm Saturday night saying they had heard an explosion and yelling, even as police officers on patrol nearby saw the house engulfed in flames.

Police found the 42-year-old man at a neighbour’s house. The only person home during the explosion, he was badly burnt to the arms and legs, representing about 30 per cent of his body.

Paramedics took the man at top speed to Fiona Stanley Hospital, where he remains in stable condition.

It took firefighters an hour to extinguish the fire, leaving the house severely damaged.

Arson Squad officers were investigating at the scene on Sunday morning.

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Nigeria: Muslim Teacher From Islamic Almajiri School Mercilessly Beats Up Little Boy With Knife, His 2 Hands Just Got Amputated

A yet to be identified young boy has landed in a hospital after he was allegedly injured by his teacher in an Islamic school in Gombe state.

It was reported that the boy was brutally flogged on both hands — which got him seriously injured in the process.

The boy’s hand which was badly infected had to be amputated by doctors.

It was also gathered that the teacher who allegedly committed the act has been arrested.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Border Patrol Agents Refuse to Turn Over Wanted Felons Because of California’s Sanctuary Laws

Border patrol agents are refusing to hand over illegal immigrants with felony warrants to police in California because they can’t be sure local authorities will return the criminal aliens to federal custody, according to a top border security official in San Diego.

Rodney Scott, the chief patrol agent in the Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector, said earlier this month that California’s statewide sanctuary law was undermining normal cooperation between his agency and local law enforcement.

In a little-reported declaration in support of the Department of Justice’s March 6 lawsuit against California, Scott recalled multiple instances in which a Border Patrol agent in the San Diego sector determined that releasing a criminal alien to a local law enforcement would likely result in the person being released without notification to federal authorities.

“In each instance, the Border Patrol Agent determined it was not appropriate, consistent with his or her federal responsibilities to ensure the enforcement of immigration law, to release a criminal alien to the state and local law enforcement,” Scott said in a court declaration. “This was because, although the alien was subject to removal, if released to California law enforcement, the alien would ultimately be released into the public.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Dutch Mayor Robbed in Her Own City’s Migrant Suburb

The mayor of The Hague, Pauline Krikke, was robbed in her own city earlier this month. Krikke tried to keep the robbery out of the media, but after Dutch TV broadcaster RTL discovered she was robbed, the mayor admitted it.

Krikke was robbed as she waited at a tram stop in the city’s notorious Schilderswijk suburb, which is known for its large migrant population and its pro-ISIS and pro-Gaza protests.

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

German Minister on Migrant Knife Crime: “Don’t Let People Get Close to You”

Herbert Reul tells German citizens to be more “sensitive”

A German Minister has caused controversy after he reacted to reports of increased knife crime amongst migrants by telling German citizens to not “let people get close to you”.

Knife crime is surging in Germany, having increased by around 1200% in the last ten years. Although official figures on the link between migrants and knife crime are largely buried, since Germany imported around 2 million largely Muslim migrants, knife crime has jumped 600%.

A German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs study revealed that there was a correlation between a surge in violent crime and the arrival of migrants, with migrants being over represented in crime statistics.

However, according to Herbert Reul, Minister of the Interior of North Rhine Westphali, who is a member of Angela Merkel’s CDU party, the solution to migrant knife crime is simply for Germans to be more “sensitive” towards it.

“Citizens will just have to be more sensitive,” said Reul, adding, “You don’t necessarily have to let people get close to you.”

[Comment: Brilliant. What sage advice. /sarc]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Malta Did Not Offer to Take in Rescued Migrants

Lawyers of a Spanish NGO whose vessel was impounded in Sicily after a rescue operation said Malta did not offer to take the 218 rescued migrants despite being the “closest safe port”.

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

Merkel Pushes for EU Common Asylum System After Inviting Millions of Migrants to Europe

German Chancellor Angela Merkel laid out a six-point plan this week to prevent a future migrant crisis, including a common asylum system across all European Union (EU) member-states.

The German leader, who recently formed a new coalition months after last September’s election, released her six-point plan to stop another migrant crisis after many held her responsible for creating the first one in 2015.

The first point involves support for the EU-Turkey migrant deal, which saw the political bloc give billions to Turkey and a promise of visa liberalisation for Turkish citizens, in exchange for keeping migrants from crossing the Aegean Sea to Greece.

“I know that the EU-Turkey agreement has many opponents. But I will defend it,” Merkel said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Record Few Children Baptized in Sweden Due to ‘Demographic Change’

The drop in the number of baptisms is seen as part of the overall trend of Swedes leaving the church; immigration hasn’t reversed this trend, as most hail from non-Christian countries.

Almost 50,000 newborns were baptized in the Church of Sweden in 2017, which corresponds to a record low 42 percent, Swedish Radio reported. One of the reasons is that more parents come from abroad and lack any connection with the Church of Sweden.

“In 2000, 73 percent of the newborn Swedes were baptized, but afterwards the figure has been steadily creeping down. In 2010, we had just over half of the newborn children baptized, and now we are down to just over 42 percent,” Church of Sweden analyst manager Pernilla Jonsson told Sweden’s Radio.

In Stockholm County, only 32 percent of newborns children were baptized, which is the smallest percentage in the country. On the other end the scale is Norrbotten County in northernmost Sweden, where 62 percent of the newborns were baptized.

According to Johnsson, demographic changes resulting from mass immigration are one of the main reasons for the shift.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Spain: Ten Algerians Arrested for Sexual Abuse of Underage Girls

Ten Algerian migrant men were arrested in eastern Spain this week after they were alleged to have sexually abused three underage girls by luring them to an apartment offering drugs and money.

The ten migrants were brought to court on charges of sexual abuse in the city of Alicante, where they are believed to have sexually molested and assaulted three girls aged 14, 15, and 17, Le Point reports.

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

Swedish Study: Vast Majority of Gang Rapists Have Migrant Background

New figures highlight severity of the problem

A new study by Swedish newspaper Expressen has found that virtually all of the men convicted for gang rape in 2016 and 2017 have a migrant background.

The study found that 32 of the 43 men sentenced for gang rape are immigrants, with a further eight being born in Sweden but with two parents who were born abroad. A further two offenders were born in Sweden to one immigrant and one Swedish parent, with just one offender born in Sweden to parents who were both born in Sweden.

The research also uncovered how 13 of the offenders had not even reached the age of 18 at the time of the crime. Perpetrators of gang rape were on average 21-years-old.

Despite the figures, Sweden’s crime prevention unit Brå insists that there is no need to conduct a new official government study of immigrant crime, despite it being 13 years since the last one took place.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘Highest IQ Man in the World’ on Colleges: ‘They’re a Breeding House for Parrots’

Christopher Michael Langan has been called the “smartest man in the world” for having an IQ said to be anywhere from 190 to 210.

In this piece from Scout Productions, Langan says colleges are a “breeding house for parrots,” democracy is a recipe for rule by “mediocrity” and says if he ran the world he’d institute a benign “anti-dysgenics” program.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trump, GOP Congress Give Planned Parenthood $500 Million in Taxpayer Funds

President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans broke their promise to conservative voters by including funding for Planned Parenthood, which receives approximately $500 million in taxpayer funding each year, in the omnibus bill that Trump signed into law on Friday.

Trump, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and other Republican leaders promised their voters for years that they would defund Planned Parenthood if given the chance to govern.

Now, with Republican majorities in the House and Senate and a Republican in the White House, the nation’s number one killer of unborn children will continue receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding.

Planned Parenthood receives approximately $500 million in taxpayer funding every year through Medicaid and Title X grants for family planning.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Earth Hour is Tonight — Instead of Turning Off Your Lights, Turn Them on to Celebrate What Electricity Has Done for Mankind

This excellent essay on the Earth Hour event, to be held tonight at 8:30PM in every local time zone, is an eye-opener. Earth Hour is a testament to stupidity, in my opinion, and deserves to be mocked. North Korea reminds us what it is like to like in darkness, both politically, and in energy poverty.

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