Prosecutors in Istanbul have issued 121 arrest warrants for alleged members of the Fethullah Gulen network. The suspects are believed to have been involved in the failed “coup” against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 33 people have already been arrested.
In other news, a study based on police data in Germany suggests that non-natives are more than twice as likely to be criminals than native Germans.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Anton, Charles Low, Insubria, Reader from Chicago, Red Mike, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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February Jobs Report Comes in Huge: 313,000 Jobs Added
The U.S. labor market got even hotter in February.
The American economy added 313,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Entirely Your Fault!’ Assange Says Obama AG Forced WikiLeaks to Counter-Attack With Truth
WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange has pinned the blame for the website’s releases ahead of the 2016 presidential election on the Obama administration, as it put him in such conditions where he had “nothing to do but work 24/7.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trudeau’s Canada is Hemorrhaging Full-Time Jobs
Canada’s labor market eked out 15,400 new jobs in February but continued to struggle as the number of full-time jobs contracted by nearly 40,000, according to a government report released Friday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bigger Threat Than Brexit: Italy’s Populist Drive to Quit the Eurozone Would Devastate EU
The shocking outcome of the election that took place in Italy last Sunday has paved the way for populist parties Lega and Five Star Movement, which together gathered more than 50 per cent of the votes.
Both the forces are eurosceptic and have in the past promoted the idea of pushing Italy outside of the EU and the eurozone.
Experts claim the possibility of a so-called Italexit would be devastating for the EU, which would see a second country leaving its borders in less than two years.
Lorenzo Codogno, former general director at the Treasury Department of the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, thinks Italy exiting the European Union would lead to a “storm in the markets”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Do Merkel and Germany Have a Future?
The formation of the new German government scheduled for March 14 could add to the political turmoil in the country.
Germany has a new grand-coalition government (GROKO) in sight thanks to the decision by Social Democratic Party (SPD) rank and file to agree to another link-up with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU). SPD dues-paying members voted by two-thirds in a postal referendum to play second fiddle once again under Merkel at the national level. Both parties are motivated by palpable fear that failure to agree would provoke new elections in which they could both lose even more votes to the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) than they did in the shocking general election last September.
Thus, the underlying purpose of GROKO is not to achieve policy goals, but to give time for the AfD to lose political momentum and for frustrated German voters to return to the traditional parties of the center-right and center-left. The CDU/CSU and SPD (plus the Free Democrats and Greens) hope the thirteen percent vote won by the AfD last fall was its crest and with time it will lose both legitimacy and voter appeal. Is this likely?
| — Hat tip: Anton | [Return to headlines] |
EU Revolt: Polish PM Reveals the Twelve Nations Ready to Topple Macron and Merkel’s Agenda
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki dropped an EU bombshell during an interview this week, as he suggested that 12 countries could form an alliance to defeat the Franco-German pursuit of a more integrated and centralised Europe.
Speaking at the German Marshall Fund Brussels Forum this week, Mr Morawiecki said that Mrs Merkel had lost her dominance in Europe since her dismal domestic election.
The revelation came in response to a question on whether the agenda in Brussels will change, given the surge in eurosceptic political parties.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Only Surviving Paris Attack Terror Suspect Speaks for the First Time
PARIS (AP) — The sole surviving suspect from the November 2015 Paris extremist attacks has agreed for the first time to answer questions about others accused of involvement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Stephen K. Bannon to Speak at Major Front National Conference Rumoured to Rebrand Party
Former senior advisor to President Donald Trump and former Executive Chairman of Breitbart News Stephen K. Bannon is set to speak at a major rally of the French populist Front National which could see the party totally rebranded.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Italy Will be Hostile to EU’ — Rise in Populism is New Threat to Macron’s Vision
Mr Macron, who defeated far-right candidate Marine Le Pen France’s presidential election last year, wants the EU to harmonise its tax policies, establish a minimum wage in every country and a Brussels-appointed eurozone finance minister and a separate budget for countries with the common currency.
But the rising support for anti-establishment parties across Europe — seen most recently in Italy’s general election last week — is putting Mr Macron’s proposals in jeopardy.
Danielle Haralambous, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), said: “Half of the Italian electorate supported anti-establishment parties.
“Independently of who forms the next government, it will be hostile towards the European Union.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘Ironman’ Zanda to Have Feet, Hand Amputated
Suffered frostbite in Yukon Arctic Ultra race
(ANSA) — Cagliari, March 9 — Italian ‘ironman’ Roberto ‘Massiccione’ Zanda is to have his feet and right hand amputated after suffering frostbite in the Yukon Arctic Ultra race in Canada and Alaska last month.
Aosta-based specialists have been unable to save his limbs, which were subjected to -50 C temperatures for 17 hours in the 400km ultramarathon, medical sources said Friday.
“The operation will be long and delicate,” said Zanda’s partner Giovanna Caria, adding that “Roberto is calm”.
Zanda said: “I can’t wait for the operation, I’ll keep fighting as I’ve always done, I’ll do so with bionic limbs too”.
A Turin-based prosthetics firm, Officina Ortopedica Maria Adelaide, on Friday offered to supply Cagliari-born Zanda with the artificial limbs.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Factbox: M5S’s Basic Income
Key part of anti-establishment movement’s electoral programme
(ANSA) — Rome, March 9 — The 5-Star Movement’s (M5S) proposal to introduce a basic-income benefit, the so-called ‘citizenship wage’, was a key part of the anti-establishment group’s electoral campaign.
Indeed, many people reportedly made enquiries about how to apply for the benefit in southern Italy after the M5S emerged as the top party following the March 4 general election, even though the vote produced a hung parliament and a new government has not yet been formed. The benefit would be for single people resident in Italy and over 18 and families in poverty.
The benefit would ensure singles have a monthly income of 780 euros.
If an applicant has no income, they would get the full amount.
If they have earnings, but under 780 euros, the benefit would take them up to the minium threshold — a person earning 400 euros a month, for example, would get an additional 380.
To get the benefit, applicants would be obliged to sign up to a job centre and the benefit would be withdrawn if they reject more than three job offers. The basic income for a family would depend how many people are in it. For a family of four made up of two adults and two children, for example, it would be 1,638 euros.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Polish-US Alliance ‘Strong as Ever’: Senior Official
The Polish-American alliance is “strong as ever,” the Polish president’s chief of staff has said after talks in Washington amid tensions over a law that criminalises blaming Poland for Nazi German crimes.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Record Number of UK Terror Arrests, Surge 58 Per Cent in One Year
The number of people being arrested in the UK for terror offences has surged by 58 per cent in a year to a new record high, with 32 per cent of suspects arrested not considering themselves as holding British nationality.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Soros-Funded Group Blames ‘Russians’ For Italian Populist Victory
The far-left Swedish magazine Expo — whose parent organisation the Expo Foundation is funded by left-wing billionaire George Soros — has claimed that Russian media influenced the Italian election by “whipping up hatred of immigrants”.
The magazine cited a study by Alto Data Analytic that was featured in Spanish newspaper El Pais which claimed that the Russian-owned media outlet Sputnik greatly affected the election with its reporting.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Steve Bannon is Done Wrecking the American Establishment. Now He Wants to Destroy Europe’s.
MILAN — Stephen K. Bannon leaned back in an armchair opposite a copy of a painting by an Italian old master and explained his modest efforts to build a vast network of European populists to demolish the Continent’s political establishment.
“All I’m trying to be,” he said, “is the infrastructure, globally, for the global populist movement.”
Just that.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tensions Build in New, ‘Explosive’ German Coalition
BERLIN (Reuters) — Fault lines are emerging in Germany’s new government before ministers have even held their first cabinet meeting, with tensions over the sequencing and extent of reforms already pulling at the fragile coalition.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Grooming Gang ‘Raped’, ‘Gave Drugs, Alcohol’ To Foster Care Home Runaways
Two “vulnerable” 14-year-old girls who were living in a care home were groomed, given drugs and alcohol, and were raped over a two-year period by a gang of ten men, a court has heard.
Opening the prosecutor’s case at Bradford Crown Court, Kama Melly QC told the jury that both girls were in the care of the state at the time, describing them as “sadly ripe and vulnerable to manipulation”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Massive Rise in Missing Sex Offenders as Police Figures Show Hundreds on the Loose
Police forces in England and Wales have admitted losing track of hundreds of sex criminals including rapists, paedophiles, and groomers.
The whereabouts of at least 372 sex offenders are unknown, according to data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, with figures suggesting the problem has been getting worse year on year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia: Arms and Ammunitions Export Increases in 2017
Saudi Arabia leading importer
(ANSA) — BELGRADE, 08 MAR — In 2017, Bosnia and Herzegovina exported arms and ammunitions worth 193.9 million convertible marka, approximately 99 million euro, the portal SeeNews reported, quoting data from the national foreign trade chamber.
Between January and December 2017, the biggest importer from Bosnia and Herzergovina was Saudi Arabia, with 45.6 million marka, followed by Afghanistan, with 29.9 million. The United States imported from Bosnia arms and ammunitions worth 26.2 million marka, Turkey for 18.3 million. Bosnia and Herzegovina imported arms and ammunitions, mostly from neighbouring Serbia,worth 14.1 million marka.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
GB, S. Arabia to Invest 90 Bn in Bilateral Trade
Initiative discussed during visit by crown prince
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 8 — Great Britain and Saudi Arabia are ready to invest 90,2 billion dollars in bilateral trade over the next few years, Arab News reports. The investment was discussed during a meeting at Downing Street between the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and the British Premier Theresa May against the backdrop of plans to sell shares in the kingdom’s oil company Aramco on international markets. Prince Salman was also received by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles.
However during question time on Wednesday Labour opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn attacked the Conservative premier for Britain’s alleged “collusion” with Riyadh, which he accuses of indiscriminate bombing in Yemen. Corbyn asked May to suspend the massive arms supplies to Saudi Arabia and raise the matter with the prince.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: 121 Arrest Warrants Issued Over ‘Gulen Ties’
Raid across 29 provinces, nephew of anti-Erdogan imam arrested
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, MARCH 18 — Prosecutors in Istanbul on Thursday morning issued 121 arrest warrants in a new sweeping operation against the alleged network of exiled imam Fethullah Gulan, judicial sources were quoted as saying by Anadolu news agency.
At least 33 people have been arrested as part of the operation, including Fatmanur Gulen, nephew of the magnate and Islam preacher who lives in exile in the United States, whom Ankara has accused of masterminding a failed coup.
One of the arrest warrants was issued against Belkis Nur Tetik, sister-in-law of Adil Oksuz, another alleged putschist, according to investigators. Police operations to track down the suspects are reportedly ongoing in 29 provinces.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Trial Against Opposition Newspaper Resumes
Sixth hearing in Cumhuriyet ‘terrorism’ case
ISTANBUL — A trial against journalists and directors of the secular opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet resumed on Friday morning in the Silivri jail in Istanbul. The case has become one of the symbols of threats to freedom of the press in Turkey. Some 19 people stand accused of terrorism, including some of the most well-known journalists in the country such as former editor-in-chief Can Dundar — who has sought refuge in Germany and is being tried in absentia — and his successor at the head of the newspaper, Murat Sabuncu, who has been detained for 495 days. Also on trial is the chairman of the newspaper’s borad, Akin Atalay, and the investigative jounrlaist Ahmet Sik, who has been in jail for 434 days. The defendants are accused of links with the network under imam-in-exile Fethullah Gulan, allegedly behind a failed coup in July 2016, the Kurdish PKK or the far-left DHKP/C, all of which are considered terrorist groups. Another ruling is expected in this sixth hearing on whether the accused will continue to be held in jail as a preventative measure or not. According to the Platform for Independent Journalism (P24), a civil society organization founded by members of the Turkish press, a total of 155 journalists are currently detained in Turkish jails, more than in any otehr country in the world.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Muslim community in Russia continues to grow, having reached 25 million, according to the grand mufti of Russia, Sheikh Rawil Gaynetdin.
In a recent interview, Gaynetdin has told Anadolu news agency that t he Muslim community in Russia is indigenous and continues to grow in acceptance with Russia’s other faiths…
| — Hat tip: Red Mike | [Return to headlines] |
CNN Host: Trump Will Go Down as a “Great President” If He Fixes North Korea
Even the mainstream media is being forced to praise President Trump over his success in bringing North Korea to the table, with CNN’s Erin Burnett acknowledging that Trump will go down as a “great president” if he fixes the problem.
Trump is set to meet with Kim Jong-un before May, with North Korea agreeing to suspend missile tests and eventually work towards “permanent denuclearisation”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The group of Irish mothers accused of ripping off businesses throughout Queensland have allegedly also trashed four brand-new Brisbane apartments after a series of similar stunts recently.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
An elderly Melbourne woman has had her nose broken in a brazen random attack that follows a string of similar crimes in the area this week. The offender fled the scene quickly after the assault.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Victoria Police say they are ‘beefing up’ ahead of this weekend’s Moomba Festival on the south bank of the Yarra River, following two years of riots by members of the Apex gang at the event.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
We Never Could Have Imagined (or Prepped for) What Actually Happened in Venezuela
Can we prepare for everything?
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Christian Refugee Returns to Syria Because Europe is Flooded With ISIS Supporters
Spiro Haddad is a Christian refugee who returned to Syria from Austria. In an interviewwith a German TV broadcaster in Syria, he tells how his life was in danger in Austria and why he made the decision to return.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German Study Finds Foreigners Twice as Likely to be Suspects in Crimes
A study carried out using data gathered by the police in the German region of Schleswig-Holstein has claimed that non-Germans are twice as likely to be suspects in crimes.
The study, conducted by the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN), looked at crime statistics from 2013 to 2016 and found that German citizens were underrepresented in crime in relation to their share of the population, broadcaster Norddeutsche Rundfunk reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Berlin Teachers Complain of ‘Religious Bullying’ From Muslim Students
Teachers in some of Berlin’s most heavily migrant-populated schools have complained that they are seeing a large increase in bullying along religious lines, primarily from Muslim students.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Crime Increases 61% in Just One German Region
A study in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, showed that migrant crime has greatly increased in the region. The number of migrant suspects in the state more than doubled in three years, German newspaper Die Welt reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Our Aim is Clear’ Sebastian Kurz Vows to Use EU Presidency to Prevent Illegal Immigration
Kurz is governing in coalition with the anti-immigration Freedom Party, making Austria the only western European country to have a far-right party in government. This follows an election last year dominated by Europe’s migration crisis.
Austria will take over the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union in July, giving it an important say in setting the agenda at the many meetings between member states.
The bloc has been bitterly divided over immigration and eastern member states like Poland and Hungary refuse to take in their share of refugees under a resettlement system. Kurz, an immigration hard-liner, has pledged to use his good relations particularly with Hungary to bring the two sides closer.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Prosecutors Want Life for Afghan Migrant Accused of Killing German Teen
BERLIN (AP) — Prosecutors are demanding a life sentence for an Afghan migrant on trial in Germany for the rape and killing of a 19-year-old medical student in October 2016.
Chief prosecutor Eckart Berger told Freiburg’s regional court Friday that the defendant should also be imprisoned beyond the usual 15-year life term in Germany.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: More Than Half of Students in No-Go Suburb School Not Qualified to Enter High School
Over half of the students in a school in the heavily migrant-populated Stockholm no-go zone suburb of Rinkeby are not qualified to enter high school.
According to a report from the Swedish National Agency for Education, over half of the students in grade nine at both Rinkeby and Hjulsta primary schools are underperforming, Sveriges Radio reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch — Tommy Robinson Knocks Out Migrant Trying to Attack His Cameraman in Rome
Citizen journalist and former leader of the English Defence League Tommy Robinson has released a video of himself defending his camera crew against an attempted attack by a migrant in Italy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
With half the kids incapable of entering high school, the Swede situation is getting as bad as the USA’s over the last half century…then on to college, to repeat!
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BLACK MAGIC
https://morklaggning.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/niqab.jpg
CNN Host: Trump Will Go Down as a “Great President” If He Fixes North Korea
“Fixes”, as in the veterinarian sense.
Well, that’s better than the outmoded “gunboat diplomacy”. Somehow I can’t imagine NoKo’s president having a little mini-me hiding behind the curtains. HE was/is the mini-me.