The billionaire American philanthropist George Soros says that Europe must give Africa €30 billion annually to prevent the European Union from being destroyed. A few years ago Mr. Soros was a strong proponent of unlimited migration to the EU, but now he sees the influx of the migrants as politically dangerous.
In other migration news, Danish and Austrian political leaders are considering setting up camps for asylum seekers outside the EU.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Charles Low, Dean, Dora, Insubria, JD, 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.
Buffalo Woman Sentenced for Twitter Threats on Behalf of ISIS
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Buffalo, Missouri woman was sentenced today for using Twitter to transmit threatening communications against several people.
Safya Roe Yassin, 40, of Buffalo, was sentenced to nine years in federal prison without parole.
Yassin threatened two FBI employees and two former members of the military and their families, on behalf of ISIS.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook, Amazon, Google and Twitter All Work With Left-Wing SPLC
Four of the world’s biggest tech platforms have working partnerships with a left-wing nonprofit that has a track record of inaccuracies and routinely labels conservative organizations as “hate groups.”
Facebook, Amazon, Google and Twitter all work with or consult the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in policing their platforms for “hate speech” or “hate groups,” a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation found.
The SPLC is on a list of “external experts and organizations” that Facebook works with “to inform our hate speech policies,” Facebook spokeswoman Ruchika Budhraja told TheDCNF in an interview.
Facebook consults the outside organizations when developing changes to hate speech policies, Budhraja said, noting that Facebook representatives will typically hold between one and three meetings with the groups. […]
Of the four companies, Amazon gives the SPLC the most direct authority over its platform, TheDCNF found.
While Facebook emphasizes its independence from the SPLC, Amazon does the opposite: Jeff Bezos’ company grants the SPLC broad policing power over the Amazon Smile charitable program, while claiming to remain unbiased.
“We remove organizations that the SPLC deems as ineligible,” an Amazon spokeswoman told TheDCNF.
Amazon grants the SPLC that power “because we don’t want to be biased whatsoever,” said the spokeswoman, who could not say whether Amazon considers the SPLC to be unbiased.
The Smile program allows customers to identify a charity to receive 0.5 percent of the proceeds from their purchases on Amazon. Customers have given more than $8 million to charities through the program since 2013, according to Amazon.
Only one participant in the program, the SPLC, gets to determine which other groups are allowed to join it.
Christian legal groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom — which recently successfully represented a Christian baker at the Supreme Court — are barred from the Amazon Smile program…
One month later, the anti-Semitic groups — but not the Alliance Defending Freedom — are still able to participate in the program.
Twitter lists the SPLC as a “safety partner” working with Twitter to combat “hateful conduct and harassment.”
The platform also includes the Trust and Safety Council, which “provides input on our safety products, policies, and programs,” according to Twitter. Free speech advocates have criticized it as Orwellian.
A Twitter spokeswoman declined to comment on the SPLC specifically, but said the company is “in regular contact with a wide range of civil society organizations and [nongovernmental organizations].”
Google uses the SPLC to help police hate speech on YouTube as part of YouTube’s “Trusted Flagger” program, The Daily Caller reported in February, citing a source with knowledge of the agreement. Following that report, the SPLC confirmed they’re policing hate speech on YouTube. […]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Feds Indict Two Dozen MS-13 Members on Racketeering Charges for Long Island Murders
Federal authorities have hit two dozen MS-13 gang members with new racketeering charges in connection with a series of murders and other violent crimes on Long Island.
In a superseding indictment unsealed Thursday in New York federal court, prosecutors added eight defendants and three murders to an ongoing federal investigation of the notorious gang. The fresh charges raise the total number of murder charges in the case to 15.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Man Charged After SUV Explosion in Federal Way
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — Eleven guns and more than 40 pounds of explosives material, including some of the same stuff used in recent terror attacks in Brussels and Paris, is just some of what police recovered from the scene of this week’s SUV explosion in Federal Way.
Joshua Brooks was charged with possession of an incendiary device and his neighbors are talking about how these highly dangerous explosives rocked the entire block.
Ernie Moy says he was doing his laundry Tuesday evening when he heard a loud boom.
“So what I did was started dialing 911 and the king operator indicated there were several calls received already.”
When he went outside he saw fire in another neighbor’s yard and there was also damage to his own house.
Federal Way Police say the Toyota 4 Runner involved in the explosion was not registered to Joshua Brooks and he may have been using it to store explosives.
Dixie Spence was home during the blast and says the explosion was like nothing she’d ever heard before.
“I mean it was really loud. I thought maybe there was a bomb someplace or something but I looked outside and there was the car over there. It was just a mess.”…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Project Veritas Founder Discusses Teachers Union Cover-Up of Child Abuse (Part 1 of 2)
Project Veritas, which specializes in undercover journalism, has recently exposed cases of teachers unions covering up the physical and sexual abuse of children. The president and founder of Project Veritas, James O’Keefe, appeared on “Declassified,” a news program of The Epoch Times, where he discussed his latest findings.
Similar cases were uncovered by undercover reporters in New Jersey, Ohio, and Michigan. O’Keefe said, “in these states, teachers union bosses talked about covering up child abuse against students.” This included two union presidents in New Jersey talking about how they could bend the truth, and to reverse blame onto the children, to cover up crimes committed by teachers. The purpose, the union bosses say on the record, is to protect teacher jobs and pensions.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Project Veritas Founder Discusses Teachers Union Cover-Up of Child Abuse (Part 2 of 2)
Project Veritas, which specializes in undercover journalism, has recently exposed cases of teachers unions covering up the physical and sexual abuse of children. The president and founder of Project Veritas, James O’Keefe, recently appeared on “Declassified,” a news program of The Epoch Times, where he discussed his latest findings. This is the second of a two-part interview.
Project Veritas has been the target of half-truths, false framing, and ridicule for its undercover work exposing corruption in government, special interest groups, news outlets, and unions. O’Keefe noted that many of the groups it has exposed are among the “sacred cows” of the political machine.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Suicide Rates Up More Than 30 Percent in Half of U.S. States, CDC Says
Suicide rates in nearly every U.S. state rose from 1999 to 2016, with increases of more than 30 percent in half of the states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report released Thursday.
The CDC “Vital Signs” report said that more than half of people who commit suicide do not have a diagnosed mental health condition.
Health professionals didn’t offer a reason for the increase but said suicides rarely result from a single factor. They said coroners’ reports from across the country indicate that suicides often follow relationship or financial problems, substance abuse and health crises.
“Suicide is a leading cause of death for Americans, and it’s a tragedy for families and communities across the country,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s principal deputy director, said in a statement. “From individuals and communities to employers and health care professionals, everyone can play a role in efforts to help save lives and reverse this troubling rise in suicide.”
The CDC report was released a day after the suicide of fashion designer Kate Spade, whose husband said she had long struggled with depression and anxiety, though no mental health condition had been diagnosed before her death.[…]
Adults ages 45 to 64 had the largest increase in the suicide rate, from 13.2 suicides per 100,000 people in 1999 to 19.2 suicides per 100,000 in 2016.
The most extreme increase from 1999 to 2016 was in North Dakota, with a 57.6 percent rise.
Nevada, whose suicide rate decreased by 1 percent during the 17-year period, was the only state to report a decline. But Dr. Schuchat said the decrease was minor for a state with a high suicide rate.
The report used 2015 data from the National Violent Death Reporting System, which covered 27 states. It found that 54 percent of suicide victims did not have a known mental health condition.
[Just as the CDC does with obesity, the numbers are divorced from real facts. Responsible epidemiologists have to be informed cultural anthropologists without an axe to grind.]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
It is precisely the sort of subversion that takes place in banana republics — where political differences are criminalized and weaponized — and is fundamentally anti-Constitutional. It appears to be — on the part of some of the heads of the FBI, the Department of Justice, the State Department and President Obama’s White House — part of a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice and abuse power in order — as former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Joseph diGenova put it, “to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn’t win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime.”
The fraud on the court, and by extension, on the American people, appears an attempt to convert power over the ministerial state into political power.
Instead of graciously allowing his successor to get his sea legs and govern — a courtesy traditionally extended by Presidents of both parties — former President Barack Obama lingers and supports the “Resistance” movement.
What you see happening when Rep. Nunes threatens to hold Justice Department officials in contempt for hiding the basis for the FBI to obtain FISA warrants, when you read indictments about Russian sock puppets, it is something more than the good old-fashioned Beltway scandal.
What you are seeing is Constitutional political warfare unleashed by the bureaucracy against a President the bureaucracy apparently loathes.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Berlin: Muslims Attack Jewish Teen for Playing Israeli Music
A Jewish Israeli teen and two of his friends were attacked by several Arab Muslims on the Berlin subway on Saturday for listening to Hebrew-language musician Omer Adam, it is claimed.
The incident occurred at the Zoologischer Garten U-Bahn station, near the site of the deadly Christmas Market terror attack that occurred in December of 2016 in which 12 people were killed by radical Islamic extremist and failed asylum seeker Anis Amri.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Brussels Urges EU Leaders to Push Ahead With Poland Censure
The European Commission on Thursday urged EU leaders to press forward with disciplinary action against Poland for allegedly violating rule-of-law standards, EU diplomats said.
In December, the Commission launched an Article 7 disciplinary process, which, in theory, could lead to the suspension of Poland’s EU voting rights. Brussels is pushing Warsaw to reverse controversial changes to its judicial system that Brussels says undermine the independence of judges and the courts. One of the more controversial changes, to force out many judges, is set to take effect on July 3.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook Suspends Hungarian Activist for Posting Breitbart London Article
Hungarian Identitarian movement leader Abel Bodi was suspended from Facebook this week for sharing a Breitbart London article that reported on his detainment and deportation from the UK earlier this year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: 50 Islamic Terrorists and 450 Radicalised Prisoners Will be Released by 2019
“Four-hundred-fifty radicalised prisoners will be out of jail by 2019 plus fifty Islamic terrorists,” said the French Justice Minister, Nicole Belloubet, to BFMTV.
She added that “There will be 20 Islamic terrorists who will leave prison this year and 30 next year”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary Strikes Back at International Media Over False Accusations of Anti-Semitism
Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs on Wednesday protested the use of “the anti-Semitism card” in a letter to the editor of The Globe and Mail in response to an op-ed published in the paper last week suggesting that non-Christian minorities were at risk in Hungary. A letter by Kovacs was also published by Bloomberg.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italians Less Concerned by Hate Speech, Fake News — Survey
Overexposure leads to fall in interest, attention
(ANSA) — Trieste, June 7 — Italians have become so used to hate speech and fake news that they worry about them less, according to a SWG survey presented on Thursday.
Some 53% of the 1,000 people interviewed said they are concerned about language on the internet expressing hatred of a particular group of people, compared to 70% last year. Likewise, 59% of Italians said they are worried about false stories that appear to be news, compared to 65% in 2017. The results of the survey were presented at the second edition of “Parole O_stili”, a project to raise awareness of verbal and written violence, underway in Trieste. Two thirds of respondents said they think hate speech and fake news are here to stay, while the phenomena are perceived as a problem by more educated Italians in particular. The survey also included a sample of 400 employees and 100 managers.
Some 58% of employees said aggressive and disrespectful language is widespread in the workplace and 47% that it has increased with respect to 10 years ago. Instead 81% of managers claimed companies are the target of hate speech and fake news and 59% said they had difficulty controlling their brand image on line.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Fines Ryanair for Mass Flight Cancellations
MILAN (AFP) — Italy’s competition authority (AGCM) on Thursday hit Ryanair with a 1.85 million euro ($2.19 million) fine for mass flight cancellations late last year and failing to adequately inform affected passengers of their rights.
In a statement, AGCM said it launched the procedure in September 2017 for “incorrect commercial practice” after the low cost airline cancelled thousands of flights “due to organisational and management problems.”
The problems were not “unforeseen issues or problems beyond the airline’s control, causing major inconvenience to customers,” the statement continued.
AGCM said Ryanair initially failed to inform passengers correctly of their right to financial compensation, as provided for by European law, only offering them the option of changing their ticket or getting a refund.
After AGCM launched the procedure, however, Ryanair updated “the information on its website” in February and “contacted all clients concerned individually” to inform them of their rights and how to exercise them.
Because of this, AGCM said it imposed a lower fine than was originally forseen.
In mid-September 2017, Ryanair announced the cancellation of 2,100 flights before the end of October, in a move that affected 315,000 customers.
By the end of September, the airline had added a new series of cancellations involving 18,000 flights between November and March 2018.
The company said the cancellations were due to the large backlog of days off that its pilots had to take before the beginning of 2018.
(c) 2018 AFP
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Raggi Says Will Work for Fourth Rome Subway Line
‘Will meet citizens’ demand’
(ANSA) — Rome, June 7 — Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi said Thursday she would work to bring Rome a fourth metro line once the third one is completed.
“We have just opened the San Giovanni stop on the C line…the citizens have asked us for a D line, and we will work towards meeting that request”, she said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: You’re All Honest Till Proven Otherwise — Di Maio to Retailers
We won’t be reckless with public finances says minister
(ANSA) — Rome, June 7 — Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio told retailers on Thursday that the new government will dismantle parts of the current system that seeks to uncover tax evasion. “We’ll abolish all the instruments like the spending-metre and the income-metre and we’ll bring in a reversal of the burden of proof,” Di Maio, who is also deputy premier and 5-Star Movement leader, told the assembly of retailers association Confcommercio. “You are all honest and it is the duty of the State to prove otherwise”.
He said instruments like the ‘spending-metre’ had “made slaves of those who produce value”.
Di Maio said tax evasion would be tracked down by the cross-checking of data in the possession of the civil service. He said the new government would not be reckless with the public finances but stressed that it would not be afraid to have differences of opinion with the European Commission.
“The solidity of the accounts is dear to us,” Di Maio said.
“If you love Italy, and we love Italy, if we want to carry out economic projects, you have to negotiate with Europe about the conditions that Italy cannot sustain, including by saying no”. He said the government will bring in a minium wage for all workers who are not employed on contracts regulated by national collective-bargaining systems. “Our recipe to enable the companies that create jobs to have lift-off is to leave them in peace,” he added.
“First of all we have to lighten up the laws, because there are too many”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s New Government Wins Parliament’s Vote of Confidence
Italy’s new government officially took the reins of the eurozone’s third largest economy on Wednesday after a decisive victory in the country’s chamber of deputies gave parliamentary approval to a populist coalition that has alarmed EU officials.
The alliance between the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the far-right League gained the chamber’s endorsement with 350 votes in favour, 236 against and 35 abstentions, following senate approval for prime minister Giuseppe Conte’s government on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
King Felipe Swears in Spain’s New Pro-EU Government
King Felipe VI on Thursday swore in Spain’s new pro-EU government with a record 11 women members including in key posts such as defence and economy, and six male ministers.
The new executive composed by the 46-year-old Pedro Sanchez, who ousted conservative veteran Mariano Rajoy as prime minister last Friday in a no-confidence vote, includes astronaut Pedro Duque as science minister.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Le Pen Says Putin’s Visit to Austria Sign of Europe’s Liberation
MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. The leader of France’s National Rally party (former National Front), Marine Le Pen, says she sees signs of what in her opinion is the beginning of Europe’s liberation, citing as an example the soaring popularity of right-of-center forces in several European countries and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz during his visit to Vienna.
“The meeting of Kurz, [Heinz-Christian] Strache (vice-chancellor, minister for civil service and sport) and Putin and rapprochement between [Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo] Salvini and [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban: the liberation of Europe begins now,” Le Pen tweeted on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pollen Season: Switzerland Runs Short of Hay Fever Medicines
Anyone who suffers from pollen allergies will know it has been a horror spring for hay fever.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Romania: First for EU Fund Fraud Investigations in 2017
OLAF, Bucharest followed by Hungary, Poland and Greece
(ANSA) — BUCHAREST — Romania was targeted by the highest number of investigations related to the misuse of European funds in 2017 of all the 28 EU member states, shows the 2017 activity report of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).
The office carried out 11 such investigations targeting Romania and issued recommendations in eight of them. Hungary and Poland were next, with 10 investigations each, followed by Greece with 9.
According to Romania-Insider.com, two of the investigations carried out in Romania were given as examples by OLAF on how EU funds are defrauded, sometimes with the involvement of political figures and the falsification of documents.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Rakhmat Akilov Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Stockholm Terror Attack
Rakhmat Akilov, the Uzbek national who carried out the April 2017 Stockholm terror attack, has been sentenced to life in prison for “terrorist crimes”.
Stockholm District Court also found him guilty of 119 counts of attempted murder and 24 counts of endangering others. He will be deported from Sweden once his sentence is served and banned from returning.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Schools Force Child Veiling if Parents Demand it, While Norway Bans Headscarf in Classrooms
Swedish municipal preschools in so-called “vulnerable areas” may force children to wear Islamic veils if their parents demand it while neighbouring Norway has banned the full-face veil from classrooms.
Swedish Education Minister Gustav Fridolin has expressed outrage at the review of the preschools, carried out by newspaper Göteborgs Posten, saying, “there is still some uncertainty about these issues”, calling the report “worrying”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism Cost EU Countries $212 Billion Between 2004 and 2016
The European Union (EU) countries lost around €180 billion ($212 billion) in GDP terms due to terrorism between 2004 and 2016, according to a new study. According to the study, changes in economic behavior could be the reason behind the observed negative effects on economic growth, as people and companies change their purchasing, saving and investing behaviors following terror attacks. The UK (€43.7 billion) and France (€43 billion) suffered the highest economic losses in GDP terms due to terrorism.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: 80+ Terrorists to be Freed This Year
More than 80 people who have been convicted of terrorism offences are set to be freed before the end of 2018. This is a follow up to the story of Anjem Choudary being prepared to be released by October this year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: London Crime Wave: Nearly 90% of Knifepoint Robberies Go Unsolved
Just one in ten London knife robberies was solved by police last year, data has shown, as leftist Mayor Sadiq Khan finally speaks up on the problem, begging the public to help police the city.
The new statistics, from London’s Metropolitan Police force, shows there was a fall in all cases of knife crime successfully investigated in the capital last year, as the number of recorded attacks shot up.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police Arrest Suspect in Fatal Mugging of 100-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a 100-year-old widow who died nine days after she was attacked in a street robbery on her way to church in Derby.
Zofija Kaczan died in the early hours of Wednesday morning, having suffered multiple injuries on May 28 when she was approached from behind and thrown to the ground by a mugger who made off with her handbag.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
We Remain in NATO and Allied to the United States, Says Italy’s Di Maio
Industry and Labour Minister Luigi Di Maio said Thursday that the new 5-Star Movement/League government’s call for sanctions on Russia to be revised does not mean it wants to exit NATO.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and the US Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchinson said Wednesday that the sanctions should stay.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinians: “Burn the Jews!”
The Palestinians, who have been sending flaming kites from the Gaza Strip into Israel the past few weeks, say that their real goal is to “burn the Jews” and destroy Israel. They see the kites as a new weapon to achieve their goal. They are disappointed, they say, that no Jew has been hurt yet as a result of the fires triggered by the flaming kites.
The kites have ignited dozens of fires in Israeli fields and forests adjacent to the border with the Gaza Strip, much to the satisfaction of the Palestinians and their supporters in the Arab and Islamic countries, who took to various social media platforms to celebrate the “success” of the Palestinian terror kites.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Eight Years on, Syria Army Conscripts Pack Bags for Home
DAMASCUS (AFP) — After eight years of military service, Syrian conscript Sonel Ali swapped his drab army uniform for bright civilian clothes last week as he packed his things one last time.
Ali was among thousands of young men who was enlisted in 2010, a year before the brutal repression of anti-government protests in Syria spiralled into one of the worst conflicts of the century.
He thought he was joining the military for a maximum of two years, but instead ended up serving in Syria’s war until now.
His drawn-out deployment ended last Friday, after the army ordered 2010 conscripts to demobilise.
“I’m finally leaving guns and dirt barricades behind,” said the ecstatic 34-year-old, who hails from the central city of Homs but was last deployed hours away in Syria’s south.
As he packed, Ali’s phone buzzed with calls from loved ones congratulating him, but also from comrades for whom the good news had not yet arrived.
“We’re the first ones and you will join us,” he reassured a friend over the phone. “The biggest battles are over.”
The number of frontlines has diminished now and Syria’s regime has retaken more than half of the country with Russian backing, this year notching up a string of victories against rebels near Damascus.
Before he zipped up his black canvas bag, Ali dropped in the gourd and traditional straw he had used to slurp bitter mate tea throughout the seven-year war.
“I’m keeping” these, he said. “They were my companions throughout my military service.”
All packed, he posed with fellow fighters for their first group picture out of army slacks, before heading their separate ways back to civilian life.
– Hero’s welcome –
Before Syria’s conflict erupted in 2011, men 18 and older had to serve up to two years in the armed forces, after which they remained part of the reserves.
But when war began, anyone enlisted stayed on active duty.
The government’s 300,000-strong army is estimated to have been nearly halved by deaths, injuries and defections, and conscripts kept having their deployments extended.
Mohammad Damour had always wanted to become a reporter, but his dreams were postponed when his 18-month deployment turned into an eight-year tour.
“War set me back 10 years, but I was demobilised today,” Damour told AFP in a bustling market in Damascus, snapping pictures of sweet stands with his camera.
“I was supposed to have graduated at 22. But I’m 27 and still in the first year of journalism school,” he said.
On the edge of Syria’s second city Aleppo, Maher Daro’s family had prepared a hero’s welcome.
His father was waiting to ferry the returning soldier home in a sleek black Mercedes, specially festooned with red and white flowers. He had even hired a drumming band.
As soon as Daro pulled up in his car, the drums kicked off, celebratory gunfire rang out, and relieved relatives broke into a traditional Arabic circle dance.
Daro’s mother and sisters let off shrill ululations typically heard at weddings and other celebrations.
“It’s like a new birth,” Daro said. “Those who go to war are lost, and those who return are born again.”
Grinning from ear to ear, he embraced long-lost friends and distributed sweets to those who had come to greet him.
Late at night after most guests had left, he regaled his closest friends with stories from the front, including the former rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus that the regime recaptured in April.
– ‘Where will I go?’ –
Syria’s government has recovered more than half the country, bolstered by air strikes from its Russian ally, by local militias and regional fighters.
The army has replenished its ranks with thousands of young men living in these areas who had not completed their compulsory service.
“It’s a five-star war now,” said Daro. “Everywhere I fought is safe now: Damascus, Homs, Latakia.”
But such a warm welcome was not in store for all.
In a military barracks outside Damascus, Mohammed Ala, 31, huddled in a corner of his room after hearing he would be among those demobilised.
“Where will I go?” he asked again and again, cupping his forehead in his palm.
Ala, speaking under a pseudonym, said he was cut off from his northern home city of Raqa after it was overrun by rebels and then the Islamic State group, before falling to US-backed fighters.
His family had fled to Turkey, and he had no way to reach his childhood home and beloved farmland.
“I would spend all my leaves at the barracks,” he told AFP on the eve of the demobilisation order.
“But in a day’s time, I have no idea where I will sleep, or what I will eat or drink.”
Ala gazed nostalgically at an old picture of his mother, fretting over what awaited him.
“For those without shelter, military service was the closest thing to a fixed job with a decent salary,” he said.
by Maher al-Mounes
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Election: Voters in Germany Head to Polls
Voting for Turkish voters abroad is underway. But as a visit to the polling station at Berlin’s Turkish consulate found, opinion on the future of Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is divided.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Opening on Sanctions Positive — Moscow
Russian foreign ministry tells ANSA will work with Italy
(ANSA) — Moscow, June 7 — The Russian foreign ministry has welcomed the new Italian government’s call for Western sanctions on Russia to be revised. Responding to ANSA, the ministry said that Moscow aims to work “jointly with the new Italian government in a spirit of positive continuity of Russian-Italian relations.
“We weren’t the ones to introduce them (the sanctions) but we will undoubtedly welcome considered, reasonable approaches.
“The declarations of the (new) Premier Giuseppe Conte in the Italian parliament (this week) show that the head of the new government intends to cooperate with our country.
“Russia intends to do the same”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Asked Austria to Set Up Summit With Trump in Vienna
And cue the cries of ‘treason’ from the left…
Just a day after praising “courageous and mature” President Trump for his plans to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un and five days since The Wall Street Journal reported that The White House is planning a summit between Trump and Putin, The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Putin is seeking a meeting with Trump in Europe.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Will Invite Kim if Singapore Summit Successful: “Maybe We’ll Start With the White House”
President Trump said on Thursday that he would “certainly” invite North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the United States if their upcoming summit in Singapore on June 12 goes well.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US Says More Diplomats in China Hit by Mystery Illness
WASHINGTON/GUANGZHOU—The U.S. State Department has brought a group of diplomats home from Guangzhou City in southern China, over concerns they were suffering from a mysterious malady that resembles a brain injury and has already affected U.S. personnel in Cuba, a spokeswoman said.
After confirming one government employee had “suffered a medical incident” in Guangzhou, the department deployed a team to screen employees and family members at its consulate there, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on June 6.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook Bans Imam for Slamming Terrorists
Facebook this week banned Mohammad Tawhidi, a reformist imam from Australia, in his words — because he made a sarcastic remark about Hamas, designated a terror organization by the United States.
Facebook blocked his profile and unpublished his fan page.
Tawhidi is known as the Imam of Peace with over one hundred thousand followers and part of his international mandate is to call out extremists and terrorists. He is not shy about calling a spade a spade and in this context, after Hamas launched a missile into Israel targeting children; he sarcastically called them a “global charity organization.” “For Facebook to allow Islamist extremists to say whatever they like and for anyone to make offensive remarks about Israel on a regular basis, it seems like double standards that they have banned Imam Tawhidi,” said Clarion’s Raheel Raza.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A security guard accused of exposing himself to a toddler at a Sydney shopping centre has told a jury the three-year-old girl refused to move from a stairwell with no CCTV cameras.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
A Sri Lankan man who threatened to detonate a bomb on a flight out of Melbourne has been sentenced to 12 years’ jail.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
1,600 Immigration Detainees Are Off to Federal Prison
About 1,600 people Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained will be sent to federal prison, according to a Thursday Reuters report.
Five federal prisons will hold the detainees, who are awaiting immigration civil court hearings, an ICE spokeswoman told Reuters. One prison in California will hold 1,000 of the detainees.
This is the first time ICE detainees have been transferred to federal prisons on this scale.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Another Massive Blow to EU as Slovenia Swears in Anti-Migrant Government
THE anti-migrant Slovenian Democratic Party is to be invited to form a government by the country’s President Borut Pahor, it was announced today.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Yesterday we reported on the 14-year-old Susanna Maria Feldmann, who was missing for more than two weeks. The German teen girl has now been found dead, local media say. A Turkish citizen has already been arrested in connection with the case, but the Iraqi migrant Ali Bashar is still wanted, tabloid Bild reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Austria Wants to ‘Resolve the Migrant Issue’ During Its EU Presidency
Austria’s right-wing government will focus on the EU’s external frontiers and immigration — hot-button issues for populist leaders — during its upcoming six month bloc presidency, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Wednesday.
“We must resolve the migrant question and if there is no solution at the (EU leaders’) June summit, then we will have to continue to tackle the issue,” Kurz said after talks in Brussels with European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Czech PM Rejects Merkel’s “Flexible” EU Immigration Plan as Aftermath of Migrant Crisis Intensifies
European Union member states remained mostly divided to start June over how to embrace and share burdens of the aftermath of the migrant crisis in a troubling sign, that political divisions will continue to develop.
While millions of people have escaped the world’s worst war zones and poverty-stricken areas in Africa and the Middle East, they have made the treacherous journey by land and sea to Europe. In 2015, the number of people applying for asylum in Europe peaked at 1.26 million and triggered the current migration crisis, which has created unwanted stress for numerous member states in the Eurozone.
In particular, Czech Republic Prime Minister Andrej Babis has had enough with Brussels. Babis on Monday rejected a new “flexible” European Union strategy for refugee migration peddled by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Provides 1.5mn Euros to Bosnia to Address Refugee Crisis
EU humanitarian aid for migrants in W. Balkans is 30.5m euros
(ANSA) — BRUXELLES — The European Commission has announced today 1.5 million euros in humanitarian aid to address the refugee crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Migrants walk through the Balkan route to reach Europe.
“The number of refugees and migrants arriving in Bosnia and Herzegovina has increased and we must act swiftly”, EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Christos Stylianides, said.
“We are committed to help Sarajevo deal with this situation and deliver assistance to the most vulnerable refugees and migrants” providing “emergency shelter, food and health assistance, as well as protection”, he underlined.
Since the beginning of the refugee crisis in the Western Balkans, the European Commission humanitarian funding amounts to 30.5 million euros.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
European Leaders Weigh Asylum Center Outside EU
Danish PM and Austrian chancellor support idea
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JUNE 7 — Several EU countries are discussing the creation of camps for asylum seekers in a country on the continent but outside the European Union. Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen spoke of the idea with local media on Wednesday. “I am optimistic,” he was quoted by De Standaard as saying, “on the basis of my talks with other EU leaders, and dialogue at the official level. I expect us to be able to make the first step this year.” Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz seconded Rasmussen in speaking in Brussels, according to Thursday’s German edition of Handelsblatt. “We suggested a long time ago that it would make sense to offer protection outside of the European Union, where (migrants) get protection where it is necessary but do not have the opportunity to pick the best system in Europe,” Kurz said. Rasmussen and Kurz said talks were being held between European governments but not within the EU framework.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
European Leaders Preparing to Build Asylum Camps Outside the EU
With the prospect of passing a common asylum law slipping away, leaders of European nations are in talks to house third world migrants in camps outside the EU.
The governments of Austria and Denmark are among those looking to develop a system that would offer protection to people in a place unattractive to people smugglers while their asylum application is processed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Police Hunt Iraqi Asylum Seeker Over Rape-Murder of Teenage Girl
Authorities in Wiesbaden have detained a man on suspicion of raping and murdering a teenage girl. A second suspect is believed to have fled to Iraq.
Police confirmed on Thursday that a body discovered the previous day in scrub land outside the state capital of Hesse belonged to 14-year-old Susanna F.
The teenager had been missing since May 22nd when she never turned up at home after meeting friends in the Wiesbaden town centre.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
ICE Agents Raid Ohio Company and Arrest 114 Workers Suspected of Being in Country Illegally
About 200 federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers raided two locations of an Ohio gardening and landscaping company on the morning of June 5 and arrested 114 workers suspected of being in the country illegally. One business was in the Sandusky suburb of Perkins Township and another in Castalia
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Seven Iraqi migrants were caught wrapped up in aluminum foil in a bid to go undetected through x-ray detectors at an Turkish port as they tried to smuggle themselves to Europe.
Reuters reported they were refugees on a truck trying to head to Italy when they were caught on Wednesday.
The men were in a shipping container on the truck which was meant to be carrying car parts, according to local reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: New Govt Won’t Say Yes to Everything on Migrants — Di Maio
Ready to cooperate says deputy premier
(ANSA) — Naples, June 7 — Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio said Thursday that Italy’s role in sinking a proposed reform of the EU’s Dublin Regulation on asylum this week showed that the new government will not accept everything when it comes to migration. “All it took was a few signals on immigration to slow the (reform of) the Dublin Regulation,” said Di Maio, who is also 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader and deputy premier.
“Reformed in that way, that regulation offloaded the problem of immigration onto Italy.
“But now they have understood that there’s a government that doesn’t say yes to everything, that is ready to cooperate in the interests of the Italian people”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Minister Salvini Announces 3-Point Immigration Program
Italy’s new interior minister Matteo Salvini has laid out a three-point program to deal with Italy’s migrant crisis, which he calls simple common sense.
The first point of Salvini’s action plan, he declared in a tweet Thursday, “is to increase the number of repatriation centers so that immigrants can be housed there rather than wandering the streets causing confusion.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Soros Demands Europe Give Africa 30 Billion Euros a Year to Prevent Collapse of the EU
Left-wing Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros has called on European Union member states to give €30 billion to Africa annually for several years to curb the flow of migrants which he now claims could bring down the political bloc.
Mr. Soros, who in 2015 pushed for mass migration remarking in an interview that “our plan treats the protection of refugees as the objective and national borders as the obstacle”, now wants the EU to pay billions to Africa to prevent mass migration, Kronen Zeitung reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden’s Left Collapses: Anti-Migration Party Becomes Largest of the Country, Poll Shows
The leftist Social Democrats, of Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, collapses, a Sentio survey shows. In the meantime the right-wing Sweden Democrats surge and become the biggest party of the country.
Jimmie Åkesson and his Sweden Democrats (SD) are on their way to become Sweden’s biggest party during the next election on 9 September this year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Suspends Migrant Deal With Greece
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has suspended a bilateral agreement with Greece allowing Athens to return migrants to Turkey, in retaliation for Greece’s failure to extradite eight Turkish officers who fled to Greece after Turkey’s failed 2016 military coup.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters Thursday that the readmission agreement with Greece had been halted, although a separate migrant deal reached with the European Union was still in place.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“In other migration news, Danish and Austrian political leaders are considering setting up camps for asylum seekers outside the EU.”
I think those camps are called the migrants countries.
Iftar in White House once again:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-white-house-iftar-dinner/
Now it’s over a year that this man is in the office and did nothing for Counter Jihad. Closure of Muslim Brotherhood and sending the criminals for justice is the bare minimum request of Counter Jihad people and it won’t take more than a week of presidential time.
Now it’s the time to ask:
What does president Trump think about Muslim Brotherhood?
-If it’s a terrorist group, why not shut-down yet?
-If it’s not, in president’s opinion, then Americans need another president.
Mr Trump should not be allowed to waste time anymore. Now Brotherhood and other terrorist groups are in hibernation. Finish them. If you don’t finish them now they will return stronger. Instead, he spends his time in Satanists’ rituals and gives yet another meaningless lecture. Not acceptable.
I request effective action against these terrorist groups that have been implanted inside the US soil. The time is now.
Agree that this is hugely disappointing, even if it is only a symbolic event.
Almost as disappointing as the lack of action on the wall, which could have been easily funded by punitive taxes on the $65 billion in annual remittances to Mexico.
The removal van keeps bringing them in.
A haunting melody from times past, of living through the changes in Britain.
A tragic black comedy, with the truth etched in it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efox-uWtjwg
Living Next Door To Ali – Parody Song (joke) 3m. 31 secs.
Parody Song by “Daniel the Spaniel”
Daniel Bostock
A wry smile; and good for a laugh too.
Your description reminds me of a computer program the B wrote many years ago to prove that like-minded (or like-cultured) would tend to clump together. The neighborhoods were either yellow, green, or blue. You could run the program and watch how, over a twenty-year period (or more. The user gets to set the parameters) the same colors would clump together. It perfectly showed why cultural diversity is a cruel joke.
Horrific cultural news from Minnesota:
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/minnesota-teen-wins-international-quran-award/89-561997506
There is literally nothing American about this. Right down to the soil that was formerly part of the US state of Minnesota, now it is clearly part of Dar-al Islam.
Truly sad.