A former federal prosecutor was punched in the face while riding the subway on the Upper West Side of New York City. Meanwhile, members of a Fox News crew in Los Angeles were threatened by a man outside LA Metro headquarters when they were reporting on crime problems in the transit system.
In other news, Pope Francis told CBS News that climate change deniers are “stupid”.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, Insubria, JW, McN, MM, 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. I 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.
EU Approves Severe Limits on Cash Transactions
The European Parliament has approved a directive that will severely limit the use of cash.
Under the directive, ostensibly aimed at curbing money laundering and the funding of terrorism, anonymous cash payments over €3,000 will be banned in commercial transactions. In business transactions, cash payments over €10,000 will be completely banned. Anonymous payments in cryptocurrencies will also be completely banned.
“Under the guise of combating money laundering, you are actually waging a war against cash which has protected our financial privacy since time immemorial,” said German Pirate Party MEP Partick Breyer—one of the few opponents of the measure—during the plenary session.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fed’s Preferred Inflation Gauge Show Prices Rising Sharply
The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation showed prices rose sharply again in March, confirming that progress on bringing inflation down to the Fed’s two percent target has stalled.
The personal consumption expenditure price index rose 0.3 percent in March, the Department of Commerce said Friday. Compared with a year ago, the index is up 2.7 percent, slightly above the 2.6 percent forecast by Wall Street.
Core PCE inflation, which strips out food and energy prices, also rose 0.3 percent from February to March. Over the past 12 months, the core PCE index is up 2.8 percent, a tick above the 2.7 percent expected.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Working Australians — already battling a cost of living crisis — have now been hit with the world’s biggest income tax increases. This occurred after Labor came to power.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
36 Arrested at Ohio State as Campus Protests Spread Across the Country
More than 30 people were arrested Thursday at Ohio State University during a protest against Israel on campus.
The protest was the latest on U.S. campuses to end with police intervention and arrests. Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers were called to the Columbus campus to help break up the protest.
The event was organized by a collection of local Ohio university chapters of the Students for Justice in Palestine, organizers told the Columbus Dispatch. Omar Heif, 21, a University of Toledo student and event organizer, said the event was intended to send a message that university students across the state are in support of divestment.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Adam Schiff Robbed in San Francisco Ahead of Speaking Event, Thieves Steal Luggage Out of His Car
Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff’s luggage was stolen out of his parked car in a downtown San Francisco parking garage on Thursday. He later attended speaking event and dinner in a shirt and hiking vest.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the left-wing Senate hopeful was at the event to thank high-profile lawyer Joe Cotchett for his support to replace the late Dianne Feinstein.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
It has been revealed that members of the Biden administration secretly attempted to oust White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre by calling in favors from prominent Democrats asking them to convince her it was time to move on.
While the goal was to essentially get Jean-Pierre out as quick as possible, those involved in the plan sought a “graceful exit” to avoid the backlash they’d inevitably receive if she, a black lesbian, was fired.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
John Earle Sullivan who previously gave a speech at a Black Lives Matter rally in DC, has been sentenced to 6 years after being charged with felony obstruction of an official proceeding and civil disorder.
Prosecutors in the case said that Sullivan sought to “incite violence” and “foment anarchy” during the Capitol protests on J6, according to NBC News.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Cops Take Down Emory Professor at Anti-Israel Protest That Turned Violent, Wild Video Shows
Dozens of anti-Israel protesters were arrested at Emory University Thursday in a violent clash with cops, including at least one professor seen being wrestled to the ground and handcuffed in an online video.
In the video, filmed by CNN but widely circulated on social media, chaos unfolds on the Atlanta campus as officers move in on the impromptu tent city erected by demonstrators early that morning.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Dirt Bike Riders Chase, Shoot Teen in Passyunk Square in Possible Robbery Attempt, Police Say
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Police say a 17-year-old boy was chased down and shot in Philadelphia’s Passyunk Square neighborhood overnight in what investigators believe might’ve been an attempted robbery.
Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said there was a language barrier with the victim, who speaks Turkish, but witnesses told officers that the teenager was on a motorized scooter when a group of up to eight people riding on four dirt bikes tried to rob him near the intersection of 10th and South streets just before 12:30 a.m.
A later update from police described the suspects as a group of six to eight men wearing masks who tried to steal the teenager’s motor scooter.
When the teen tried to get away from the group on his scooter, Small said the dirt bike riders chased him about 10 blocks south to the intersection of 10th and Federal streets.
Police believe the 17-year-old was shot once in the leg at that intersection, but drove the scooter about another 100 feet before he crashed into a parked car.
Officers found the teenager at that location and rushed him to Jefferson University Hospital where he’s currently in stable condition.
“But there is a language barrier,” Small reiterated while speaking to reporters early Wednesday morning. “So we’re not exactly certain as to what occurred. The information we’re getting is from witnesses who were with this victim.”
| — Hat tip: MM | [Return to headlines] |
Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg Excluded From Feds’ AI Safety Board Filled With Top Tech CEOs
The CEOs of leading US technology companies are joining a new artificial intelligence safety board to advise the federal government on how to protect the nation’s critical services from “AI-related disruptions.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the new board Friday which includes key corporate leaders in AI development such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
AI holds potential for improving government services but “we recognize the tremendously debilitating impact its errant use can have,” Mayorkas told reporters Friday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
FCC Restores Net Neutrality Despite Concerns Over Government Intrusion
Presented as a way to secure the rights and welfare of internet consumers over the interests of broadband companies, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has taken a decisive step. Once more, the reins of the broadband industry’s activities are in the hands of the FCC, a power takeover sanctioned by a recent 3-2 voting decision in favor of restoring net neutrality rules.
This safeguard, which had been shelved during the Trump administration’s deregulatory romp, is back to ensure “fast, open, and fair” broadband access for all, according to FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
First Week of Trump Trial Ends With Final Testimony of David Pecker, Two Additional Witnesses
Friday’s trial in the case of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s falsified business records case against Trump saw the conclusion of the cross-examination of former publisher of the National Enquirer David Pecker, as well as subpoenaed witness Rhona Graff, a former Trump executive assistant, and Gary Farro, a former senior managing director at First Republic Bank.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
He went from fighting crime to getting clobbered by it.
A former federal prosecutor was punched in the face by a brute while riding the subway on the Upper West Side — an attack he said shows the crime-plagued Big Apple is “not a safe place.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fox News Crew Threatened on LA Metro While Reporting on Crime in Transit System
On Thursday, members of a small crew from Los Angeles-based Fox Broadcasting affiliate were threatened by a man outside the LA Metro headquarters while reporting on growing safety concerns in the city’s transit system.
According to FOX 11, the incident took place early in the morning near the building at 1 Gateway Plaza right beside Union Station in downtown LA. Good Day LA reporter Gigi Graciette and photojournalist Tony Buttitta were setting up for their next shot when they noticed a man behaving erratically.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
George Soros and his hard-left acolytes are paying agitators who are fueling the explosion of radical anti-Israel protests at colleges across the country.
The protests, which began when students took over Columbia University’s Morningside Heights campus lawn last week, have mushroomed nationwide.
Copycat tent cities have been set up at colleges including Harvard, Yale, Berkeley in California, the Ohio State University and Emory in Georgia — all of them organized by branches of the Soros-funded Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) — and at some, students have clashed with police.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
At least 13 financial institutions are being investigated by Republicans in Congress for colluding with the federal government to spy on Americans after the January 6 protests looking for ‘extremism’ indicators.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government led by top Republican Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is investigating ‘collusion’ between U.S. banks and federal agencies in the aftermath of the Capitol riot.
The Biden administration worked with banks to comb through ‘extremism’ indicatorslike the purchase of a religious text, like a Bible, or searches including the terms ‘MAGA’ and ‘TRUMP,’ according to shocking revelations by the committee.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New York Times Complains About Biden’s Lack of Media Availability
The New York Times slammed President Biden in a statement on Friday over his unwillingness to participate in interviews, stating that Biden has effectively avoided more questions than all of his predecessors.
The press release titled, “A Statement From The New York Times on Presidential News Coverage,” said that President Biden should sit down with “major independent news organizations that millions of Americans rely on to understand their government.”
The Times said it’s imperative in order to hold the president accountable.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The GOP-led House Judiciary Committee released a 300-page interim report on Thursday highlighting how Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office “allowed political motivations and animus to infect its prosecutorial discretion” in the case against Donald Trump, which the committee said had “clear partisan aim.”
The report, titled “An Anatomy of Political Prosecution: The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Vendetta Against President Donald J Trump,” said that Bragg’s office “has weaponized the criminal justice system, scouring every aspect of President Trump’s personal life and business affairs, going back decades, in the hopes of finding some legal basis—however far-fetched, novel, or convoluted—to bring charges against him.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NYPD Warns Anti-Israel Protesters a ‘Seattle-Style’ Occupation Zone Won’t be Tolerated
Authored by Patricia Tolson via The Epoch Times
As protests escalate across college and university campuses in the United States, a New York Police Department (NYPD) official vowed that a “Seattle-style” occupation zone will not be tolerated on the streets of New York City.
Two New York Police Department (NYPD) officials spoke with Fox News’ “The Story” anchor Trace Gallagher on April 25. The conversation focused on growing concerns that the anti-Israel protests spreading across America’s college campuses might devolve into further violence.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry addressed growing speculation that the student anti-Israel encampments could evolve into something similar to the “autonomous zone” established in Seattle, in Washington state, in response to the death of George Floyd in May 2020, suggesting they might “linger and last all summer long and become bigger and more dangerous.”
It was a possibility immediately shut down by Chief of Patrol John Chell.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Planes Almost Collide at 2 Major Airports as Boeing Probe Advances
Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
As the U.S. Justice Department decides whether to pursue a criminal case against Boeing, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating dozens of airplane incidents since January, including one in which a Swiss Air jet almost collided with four other planes on the runway at JFK International Airport in New York City.
The FAA has more than 100 aviation accidents and incidents since the beginning of 2024. These include airplane and helicopter crashes, equipment and mechanical malfunctions, and communication breakdowns with air traffic controllers that almost caused runway collisions at several major U.S. airports.
These incidents come as public scrutiny of Boeing increases after multiple issues have been reported with their jets. After an Alaskan Airways flight experienced a mid-air blowout of a door plug on Jan. 5, the Justice Department is considering revoking a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the company and pursuing a criminal case.
There is also growing criticism of Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the FAA’s hiring practices after multiple near-collisions were reported, including at JFK Airport and Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The anti-Israel tent encampment at Columbia University is being led by a cohort of controversial student leaders — some of whom express solidarity with Hamas and say “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”
These students are the ones negotiating directly with leaders of the Ivy League university — holding campus hostage with dozens of tents and hundreds of protesters splayed out on the lawn in Morningside Heights.
One of the most prominent faces in the protest camp is Khymani James, a spokesperson for Columbia United Apartheid Divest, which is demanding that the university divest from any company that does business with the Israeli military — which includes a wide swath of the Fortune 500.
James — who describes himself as queer and uses the pronouns he/she/them — made headlines this week for a resurfaced video that showed them saying that “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former President Donald Trump announced upcoming campaign rallies at Madison Square Garden and South Bronx, according to Newsmax.
The rally at Madison Square Garden will honor police officers, firefighters, and teachers, while the one in South Bronx appears to be a strategic campaign move to further his support among the black community.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Supplies Ukraine With Long-Range Cruise Missiles in Secret
The United States has been covertly supplying Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles for weeks now, which Kyiv has already used twice to strike at Russian targets deep behind the front lines. A U.S. official confirmed—under the condition of anonymity—this military escalation in a Reuters report dated Wednesday, April 24th.
The Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS, with a range of 300 km) in question were part of the $300 million military aid package approved by President Biden on March 12th, the official said, while refusing to elaborate on the number of missiles involved. However, the more recent, $1 billion weapons package approved this week, he said, contains additional long-range missiles for Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ohio State University joined the growing list of college protests against Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Clashes between protesters and police on the campus overnight resulted in over a dozen arrests.
Those who refused to leave after warnings were arrested and charged with criminal trespass, said university spokesperson Benjamin Johnson, citing rules barring overnight events.
| — Hat tip: McN | [Return to headlines] |
US State Department Arabic Spokesperson Resigns Over Biden’s Gaza Policy
Via Middle East Eye
The Arabic language spokesperson of the US State Department has resigned over Washington’s Gaza war policy, in the third senior level resignation from the department since the war began.
Hala Rharrit, a Palestinian-American, posted her resignation on the LinkedIn social media site, stating: “I resigned April 2024 after 18 years of distinguished service in opposition to the United States’ Gaza policy.”
Rharrit, who joined the State Department as a political and human rights officer, was also the department’s Dubai regional media hub deputy director.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: Trump Challenges Biden to Debate ‘Tonight at the Courthouse’ in NY
In a Friday interview with Howard Stern, President Joe Biden said he’d be “happy to debate” Donald Trump, telling Stern: “I am, somewhere, I don’t know when, but I am happy to debate him.”
Biden’s remarks appeared off the cuff, rather than something his handlers approved, according to the NY Times, citing a top Democratic official familiar with the campaign’s thinking.
Trump responded on Truth Social, posting: “Crooked Joe Biden just announced that he’s willing to debate! Everyone knows he doesn’t really mean it, but in case he does, I say, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE.”
Trump suggested next Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evening in Michigan, “a State that he is in the process of destroying with his E.V. Mandate.”
The former President also suggested doing it on Friday — writing “In the alternative, he’s in New York City today, although probably doesn’t know it, and so am I, stuck in one of the many Court cases that he instigated as ELECTION INTERFERENCE AGAINST A POLITICAL OPPONENT — A CONTINUING WITCH HUNT!”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: Activists Assault Breitbart News Journalist at UCLA ‘Palestine Solidarity Encampment’
LOS ANGELES, California — A group of about a dozen activists physically shoved this reporter out of the “Palestine Solidarity Encampment” on the campus of the University of California Los Angeles, a public university, on Friday.
Activists have encamped there since Thursday, when they set up barricades made of plywood and furniture scraps, and pitched tents. About 100 pro-Palestinian activists appeared to be inside the encampment as of Friday morning.
Breitbart News arrived to film and photograph the encampment, which is now surrounded by steel railings. Several other news outlets were present outside the encampment, including local TV news, the New York Times, and others.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
West Philadelphia Eid al-Fitr Shooting Investigation Update Expected From DA
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel will give an update on the investigation into the shooting that interrupted an Eid al-Fitr celebration earlier this month.
Three people were shot during the Ramadan event in West Philadelphia’s Parkside section on April 10, according to police.
Police said around 1,000 people were in attendance for the event celebrating Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, at Clara Muhammad Square on the 4700 block of Wyalusing Avenue.
The press conference is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at The Philadelphia Masjid. You can watch it in the video player above.
“In the midst of Eid al-Fitr, a Holy Day of celebration, our city’s Muslim community experienced a sacrilegious act of gun violence today in a West Philadelphia park. Every community of faith has the absolute right and need to worship in peace,” Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker wrote on X following the shooting. “We stand united with the Muslim community, and vow to work together to restore balance and light to our communities.”
| — Hat tip: MM | [Return to headlines] |
Big Tech Sponsors Event With Canadian Pro-Censorship Justice Minister Advocating Online Censorship
Canada’s government, represented by “captain of censorship” Arif Virani — the country’s justice minister and attorney general, will use an upcoming event as the opportunity to once again push for more speech-restrictive legislation, allegedly solely in order to deal with online “harm and hate speech.”
No surprise there, but the list of the sponsors of the event — dubbed, “Where Online Harms Have Real World Consequences: The Case for Legislating Against Harm and Hate” — is interesting. It includes Meta, and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Aging Troops, Slow Recruitment: Germany’s Ongoing Defense Woes Exposed in Latest Report
Despite €100 billion in special funds and the Chancellor’s new defense policy, the Bundeswehr continues to have personnel, material, and financial problems. This is the conclusion of a report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, Eva Högl.
Among other things, she calls for “substantial improvements in personnel, material and infrastructure.”
“The troops are aging and numbers are shrinking,” Högl wrote in her annual review for the Bundestag. The average age of soldiers has risen from 33.5 in 2022 to 33.8 last year. The number of applicants for the Bundeswehr has fallen slightly. Thousands of posts above the enlisted ranks have not been filled for years.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Brussels Fumes as Slovak PM Overhauls Public Broadcaster
Robert Fico’s sovereigntist government has submitted a proposal to change the organizational structure of the Slovak state broadcaster, RTVS (Radio and Television of Slovakia), in an attempt to make it more impartial and politically balanced.
According to the prime minister, the reshuffle is needed because RTVS fails to perform its public service duty to inform and represent the people, especially voters of the three governing parties. The broadcaster is “constantly at war with the government,” Fico said, adding that violates people’s right to objective information.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Czechs View Poland as the ‘China of Europe’
Czech admiration for Poland’s economic strides in recent years was evident at a conference organized by Czech news service Seznam Zpravy, where business leaders extolled the virtues of their northern neighbor.
Daniel Burys, CEO of Kofola Group, noted, “We can all agree that Poland is effectively handling economic challenges. They are truly the predators. They are the China of Europe, and that’s how we should view them.”
The Czech business community highlighted several areas where Poland excels, such as lower inflation rates compared to Czechia, faster infrastructure development and greater resilience to the energy crisis.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
European Parliament “Protecting” Von Der Leyen in Pfizergate Scandal
“The majority of the European Parliament is more concerned with protecting Ursula von der Leyen than doing its job, which is to answer to the people whom it represents,” Christine Anderson, MEP for the German anti-globalist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, told The European Conservative after being stopped from talking about the Pfizergate corruption scandal involving Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Anderson submitted a motion to include the controversial vaccine deals on the parliamentary agenda—an initiative that was quickly rejected by the left-liberal majority. While making her case for her request to be accepted, Anderson said: “We in Parliament must show von der Leyen the red card, at the latest now that the public prosecutor’s office is investigating her for corruption. It is bad enough that the president of the Commission is corrupt but a parliament that covers up this corruption is just as corrupt.” At this point, Parliament President Roberta Metsola abruptly switched off Christine Anderson’s microphone, to the joy and laughter of many MEPs.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In a move that will leave farmers in the lurch across Europe, the European Parliament on Tuesday voted by a large majority to extend the duty-free import of Ukrainian agricultural products for another year. The move was criticized by Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy.
The minister pointed out that Brussels, while continuing to support Ukraine, was actively harming farmers.
The European Parliament decided on Tuesday to extend the suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian agricultural products until June 5, 2025.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In an exclusive interview with Remix News, Dutch political commentator and lawyer Eva Vlaardingerbroek warns Europeans that they must take a stand against rapid demographic change or become a minority in their native countries
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Fast-Fashion’ Firm Shein Falls Under Brussels’ Control as the Digital Service Act Applies
The European Union has designated Chinese-founded fast-fashion company Shein as a very large online platform (VLOP) after it reported a huge number of users, the bloc said in a statement on April 26.
Tech giants with user bases exceeding 45 million individuals are classified as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), subjecting them to heightened regulations regarding online content.
These regulations mandate a more rigorous approach to combating illegal content, harmful material, and counterfeit goods across their platforms.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Firm Provides Anti-Snooping Tech to Putin and Other Top Officials Despite Ban
A French company based in Chateauroux continues to supply avionics and other onboard electronic equipment for Russian aircraft used by high-ranking military and political figures. The equipment enables secure and reliable communication for mobile phones used by Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
The company, PGA, a subsidiary of the American Astronics Corporation, provides advanced systems that control various in-flight aspects, from cabin lighting to communication and data transmission systems, for aircraft used by high-ranking Russian officials.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Despite Spy Scandal, Krah to Stay at Top of AfD List — for Now
The political repercussions continue following the arrest of a Chinese parliamentary aide to Maximilian Krah, lead AfD candidate for the European elections on suspicion of espionage. Krah was summoned to Berlin to explain the matter to his party boss Alice Weidel Wednesday morning.
Suspicions about the activity of Jian Guo, the arrested parliamentary assistant, from AfD party colleagues in Brussels were originally published by The European Conservative in April last year.
Popular among the party’s grassroots and critical of Atlanticist foreign policy, Krah found himself excluded from the AfD’s election launch in Berlin this morning, with speculation that the party would seek to remove the Dresden-based MEP from the head of the party’s list for June with the party distancing themselves from Krah on the campaign trail.
“In order not to burden the election campaign and the party’s reputation, he decided not to take part in the upcoming election campaign kick-off in Donaueschingen,” said the party leaders.
While Krah remains at the head of the list for now, this may change with the announcement of a new probe from German prosecutors regarding alleged payments from Chinese sources and likelihood that the MEP could have his parliamentary immunity lifted.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German police officers descended on several properties linked to left-wing extremists in the city of Leipzig on Wednesday, including the office of a prominent Green Party politician.
In a mass operation led by the Saxon State Criminal Police Office, more than 100 officers searched a total of 10 apartments and offices belonging to several individuals believed to sympathize with the notorious far-left Hammer Gang responsible for a series of severely violent beatings of right-wing activists across the country.
Several items were seized in the raid as part of the ongoing investigation by the Special Commission on Left-wing Extremism working out of the Police Terrorism and Extremism Counter Center of Saxony.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary: PM Orban at CPAC: The 5 Methods of Oppression Liberals Are Using to Silence Conservatives
In the run-up to major elections across the West, including the U.S. presidential election and the EU parliament elections in June, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that conservatives face unprecedented pressure from liberals, who are lashing out over fears they may lose power.
During his speech at the third annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Budapest, Hungary, Orban described five methods of oppression being deployed by liberals to silence the opposition, with the Hungarian prime minister noting that some of the most advanced forms of oppression, including court action and intelligence service spying, are already being deployed against conservatives across the West.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Tourist Hotspots Introduce New Payment Measures to Regulate Footfall
Venice became the first city in the world on Thursday to introduce a payment system for visitors in an experiment aimed at discouraging tourists from arriving during peak periods.
However, it is not the only place in Italy that has recently introduced new measures aimed at slowing tourist flows.
Venice has introduced day-trip tickets that cost €5 and are valid from 8:30 a.m to 4 p.m. local time. The experiment came into effect on April 25, a national holiday in Italy. Tickets will be required for the next 10 days and then for most weekends until mid-July.
Other cities, such as Como, have announced they are considering introducing a similar measure, but are waiting to see how Venice’s initiative works out before making a decision.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Man Arrested for Attack on Jewish Brigade in Milan
Eight others cited over incident linked Liberation Day march
A 19-year-old Egyptian man has been arrested for allegedly hitting with a stick a security guard protecting Jewish Brigade representatives on the sidelines of Thursday’s Liberation Day march in Milan, sources said on Friday.
Eight other men from North Africa have been reported to criminal prosecutors over the attack on the Jewish Brigade near a fast food restaurant that also featured kicks and punches.
They were all charged with incitement to commit racial, ethnic and religious discrimination.
The incident was not related to the pro-Palestine demonstration in Milan’s Piazza Duomo.
The marches that took place in Milan and Rome for Liberation Day, when Italy celebrates its liberation from Fascism and the Nazi occupation in World War II, were marred by tension.
In Rome firecrackers and stones were thrown and pro-Palestinian protesters in Milan managed to break through a police cordon.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kaczynski Doubts PM Tusk Will Support Poland’s Participation in Nuclear Sharing Program
Poland’s opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has told reporters that Polish participation in the nuclear sharing program has gained not only his party’s support, which it always had, but also due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has become widely accepted as something Poland should seek.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Kaczynski said the present Polish ruling left-liberal coalition “serves the other side” which knows that the presence of nuclear arms in Poland would be a huge barrier to any expansion by Russia. He believes that Russia knows, it cannot engage in nuclear war, as the United States is too strong to challenge.
Asked whether, in his opinion, the current ruling coalition is mature enough to decide on nuclear sharing, the Law and Justice (PiS) leader stated that “the current government coalition will never mature to that point […] because, as I said, it represents an external party. That is, one whose decision-making centers are essentially outside of Poland.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Leaked Document Highlights Hypocritical EU Approach to Banning Iran’s Revolutionary Guards
Efforts to proscribe Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at an EU-wide level are simmering this week in Brussels, as member states and MEPs squabble over what stance the bloc should take in the ongoing standoff between Iran and Israel.
Tehran’s recent aggression towards Tel Aviv has accelerated moves to include the IRGC on Brussels’ list of terror organisations, with the EU slowly ratcheting up sanctions against the Iranian regime earlier this week but falling short of fulfilling American demands to restrict oil imports.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is stalling moves to ban the IRGC, claiming that there is a lack of evidence that doing so would require approval by at least one court in any member state.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
More Chaos as Scottish Nationalist-Green Coalition Breaks Down
Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Humza Yousaf has terminated the governing coalition deal between his party and the Scottish Greens—one which he once described as being “worth its weight in gold”—with “immediate effect.”
The Greens were preparing to vote on ending the agreement in the coming weeks, after airing their frustration over Yousaf’s decision to drop a key climate pledge and to U-turn on the use of puberty blockers. Now they won’t have the chance to do so, after Yousaf decided to jump before he was pushed.
But there is a chance he will still be pushed out of his position yet, with reports showing that the SNP leader could face a vote of no confidence as early as next week.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Wilders Does Not Want His Speech at Far Right Conference to Cause a Political Problem
With his speech to the ultra-conservative CPAC Hungary conference in Budapest, PVV leader Geert Wilders said that he did not want his prepared remarks to cause a political problem in the Netherlands. The leader of the far-right party is negotiating with three more moderate right-wing parties to form a new coalition government. Talks with the VVD, NSC, and BBB have been ongoing since the November elections, and the current round is set to end within two weeks.
At the start of the speech, he said that as the leader of the largest political party in the Netherlands, he has a big responsibility and is taking it because he wants the negotiations to succeed.
After that, Wilders, as usual, criticized the “left elite” before attacking woke culture and warning his listeners of mass immigration from Africa.
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PM Rutte ‘Goes Dutch’ as He Pays for Turkey Trip in Hunt for NATO-Bid Support
Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte, in his hunt for a post-prime ministerial job, made his way to Turkey to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who might help him land one as NATO’s next Secretary General.
Rutte took a commercial flight on April 26 rather than the Government jet and paid for the trip out of his own pocket, the Government Information Service confirmed.
He has support from 28 of NATO’s 32 allies for the role but has yet to convince Turkey, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
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Poland: Conservatives Warn That the Tusk Government Will Not Resist EU Treaty Change
Conservative Law and Justice (PiS) MEPs, Patryk Jaki and Witold Waszczykowski, have reacted negatively to the foreign policy speech in the Polish parliament made by Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, in which the top diplomat said Poland may have to accept treaty changes that limit the member states’ power of veto.
Sikorski took center stage in the Polish parliament on Thursday with a lengthy exposé of the Tusk government’s foreign policy. He covered Polish relations with the EU, Germany, and the country’s stance on the conflict in Ukraine.
The minister said that Poland may have to agree to changes in EU treaties leading to limiting the member states’ power of veto in order to ensure that the enlargement of the community to include Ukraine goes ahead, and to ensure that the EU’s decision-making becomes more effective so that “the EU becomes a superpower.”
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Poland: Top Ministers From Tusk’s Government to Run in Upcoming EU Elections
Members of Donald Tusk’s government have made it onto the candidate list for the European Parliament election, including Minister of State Assets Borys Budka, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski, and Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, who has already announced his resignation as Minister of Culture “in connection with the approval by the National Council of the Civic Platform of the lists of candidates for the European Parliament.”
These three ministers played a major role in scrutinizing the former conservative Law and Justice (PiS) governments in recent months. Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz was responsible for putting public media into liquidation.
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During an interview with DoRzeczy.pl, sociology Professor Henryk Domanski assessed the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party’s performance in the second round of local elections, where they faced defeats in most cities but managed victories in smaller towns.
“It’s clear, PiS loses in cities. The larger the city, the more likely their defeat, which reflects the demographic and professional structure of these urban areas, where higher-educated and higher-positioned voters typically support the Civic Platform (PO),” Domanski explained.
The professor pointed out that while it is crucial not to become complacent with these victories, there is a greater need to appeal to a broader electorate in larger cities.
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Pope Francis: Climate Change Deniers Are ‘Stupid’
ROME — Pope Francis told CBS News this week that climate change deniers are “stupid” to refute compelling evidence of a climate emergency.
“Some people are stupid (necios), and stupid even if you show them research, they don’t believe it,” the pontiff told CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell when asked what he would say to the deniers of climate change.
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Reconquête’s European Dream on a Knife-Edge, French Poll Suggests
France’s hard-right Reconquête party risks failing to secure any seats after European Parliament elections in June, according to a new poll.
With just over a month remaining until the vote, the European list for Reconquête, led by Marion Maréchal, niece of National Rally MP Marine Le Pen, garnered just 5.5 per cent support in a poll on April 25 by Ifop — with a projection of almost zero growth.
In France, seats in the European Parliament are distributed among the lists that obtain at least 5 per cent of the votes cast, by proportional representation based on the highest average. Seats are allocated to candidates in the order in which they appear on each list.
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Right-Wing MEP Censored in EU Parliament for Criticizing Green Policies
The European Parliament has once again made it clear whether it stands on the side of globalist powers or the European people.
MEP Jorge Buxadé Villalba, head of the Spanish VOX delegation and co-chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, was silenced during Wednesday’s plenary session in Strasbourg for criticizing, in a creative way, the EU’s green transition and the UN’s “Agenda 2030,” the global action plan involving 17 “sustainable development goals” to be implemented by the end of the decade.
The plenary debate in question was titled “The attack on climate and nature: far-right and conservative attempts to destroy the Green Deal and prevent investment in our future“—a “meme” in itself, as Buxadé remarked after taking the floor.
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Russia-Chinagate: The EU Left’s Strategy to Discredit the Right
The recent revelations linking one of Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) MEP Maximilian Krah’s assistants to Chinese intelligence provided a perfect opportunity for the left wing in Brussels to amplify their ongoing smear campaign against all conservative lawmakers in the European Parliament—despite the embarrassing lack of credible evidence against anybody else.
“The AfD is once again showing its true, unpatriotic face. Anyone who votes AfD in the European elections is voting for more influence from Russia and China,” German MEP Daniel Caspary of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) said on Monday. Politico—”the always faithful servant of the Brussels bureaucracy,” as our senior columnist Mick Hume put it while talking at NatCon—smugly described Germany’s second most popular party as the “Alternative for Dictators.”
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Spain: Madrid City Hall “Deaf” to Problems With Low Emission Zone Fines
A Madrid man who received 30 fines in 15 days for entering the city’s low emission zone without the proper tag in his car has had the fines annulled in a judicial ruling that could set a precedent for similar cases, El Debate reports.
Driver defense associations are already working on behalf of hundreds of drivers who have incurred multiple fines in the space of a few days—or even a single day—while making necessary trips into the low emission zones However, the case of Sergio, the father in the case, is striking, as he incurred the fines while taking his child to the hospital daily, for a series of treatments. In cases such as this, drivers can violate the fine print of the rules without even realizing it.
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Spain PM Sanchez Says Weighing Resignation After Wife’s Graft Probe
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday night he was “reflecting” on the possibility of resigning after a court opened an investigation into his wife Begoña Gómez on suspicion of graft.
“I need to stop and think” in order to decide “whether I should continue to head the government or whether I should give up this honour,” he wrote in a letter posted on X, formerly Twitter, adding he would announce his decision on Monday and suspend his schedule until then. He made this announcement without first informing the king, the government, or his own party.
A Madrid court said earlier on Wednesday that it had “opened an investigation into Begoña Gómez for the alleged offence of influence peddling and corruption” in response to a complaint by Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), an anti-corruption pressure group whose leader is linked to the “far right.”
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Top German Officials Accused of Manipulating Nuclear Phase-Out Advice
The decision to close down the last working nuclear power plants in Germany was made on manipulated information, Berlin-based Cicero magazine has claimed.
Officials from the ministries for economics and environment advised the that continued operation of the atomic facilities should be considered, but “green” activists within the ministries allegedly “played dirty games” to have such advice buried, the magazine claimed on April 25.
Cicero sued for the release of said documents after the ministry led by Economic Affairs and Climate Action minister Robert Habeck tried to stonewall attempts to report on the issue.
When the documents were released on judge’s orders, they turned out to be “extremely explosive”.
Alexander Marguier, Cicero editor-in-chief, said they showed “how the Habeck ministry was tricked and deceived in order to deceive the public but also the responsible minister himself”.
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Trump Addresses CPAC Hungary: We’re in an Epic Struggle to Liberate Our Nations From Sinister Forces
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Former President Donald Trump delivered an upbeat message to attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Hungary on Friday morning.
“Together, we’re engaged in an epic struggle to liberate our nation from all the sinister forces who want to destroy them. Every day we’re battling to preserve our culture, protect our sovereignty, defend our way of life and uphold the timeless values of freedom, family and faith in Almighty God,” Trump said in a video address at gathering for conservatives in Europe.
Trump thanked Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, seen as Europe’s top crusader against the spread of wokeism, and said he looked forward to working closely with him again.
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UK: Anger After SUVs Have Tyres Deflated by Activists
Owners of some sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in north London have said their car tyres were deflated by an environmental group.
A leaflet left on the vehicles by the group Tyre Extinguishers, in Islington on Tuesday, said SUVs and 4x4s were “a disaster for our climate”.
One resident said she had been trying to get to her mother in end-of-life care when she discovered all four tyres had been deflated.
Tyre Extinguishers has not yet responded to a request to comment, but on its website,the group describes itself as a “leaderless, autonomous movement of groups that act independently”.
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Uproar Over Tusk’s ‘Sabotage’ Against Polish Central Airport and Rail Links Project
The biggest transportation project in Poland, which was initiated under the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government, is now under threat. Those campaigning to continue the PiS initiative of constructing a major transport hub comprising an airport and a railway interchange close to Warsaw, are alarmed at the news that the new management of the company responsible for the investment is planning to scrap the railway element of the scheme.
The new management has signaled that it sees the planned interchange next to the airport and the building of high-speed rail lines (2,000 km of railway track) as being “the vision of one man which is not necessarily the right one.” It also said that since no rail construction was envisaged until 2030 and that there is plenty of time for a review of the project, which would be based on an economic and demographic assessment of the feasibility of each railway line planned.
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The European Union has not just wasted the last five years, but has actively failed to tackle the existential problems facing the bloc in the modern day, a Hungarian MEP told left-wing lawmakers in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
“Five wasted years are behind us, the European Union has failed in crisis management, it is weak and divided, and we need a change in Brussels in June,” said Eniko Gyori, an MEP for Viktor Orban’s governing Fidesz party, during the final plenary of the current European Parliament.
Speaking to Hungarian journalists during a break in the session, Gyori accused European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of “living in an alternative reality” after she claimed the bloc was in a better state now than it was five years ago.
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Von Der Leyen ‘Finished’, Says Senior ECR MEP Tertsch
Ursula von der Leyen is “finished” and will not be reappointed as European Commission president following the June European Parliament elections, according to a senior European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group MEP.
VOX representative Hermann Tertsch told Brussels Signal the European People’s Party (EPP) would likely drop von der Leyen as its lead candidate.
This, he argued, was because the group would no longer be able to rely on her to build a cross-party majority for her candidacy as in 2019.
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Wilders to Speak About “Conservative Connection” as Guest of Honor at CPAC in Hungary
PVV leader Geert Wilders will speak today at the CPAC conference organized by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest. The far-right Dutch politician, currently negotiating a new Dutch Cabinet, is a guest of honor at the conference for ultraconservatives. Wilders will speak on the theme of “conservative connection,” NU.nl reports.
CPAC stands for Conservative Political Action Conference. It originated in the United States, where conservative politicians and activists have gathered annually since 1974 to celebrate their movement. This year is the third edition of Orban’s version.
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Arrival of First French Fighter Jets Resurrects Croatian Air Force
The first six of the 12 Rafale multi-role fighter jets for which Zagreb signed a contract with France two years and five months ago have arrived in Croatia.
In May 2021, the Croatian government decided to purchase 12 second-hand Dassault Rafale F3R fighter jets worth €1.13 billion: 10 single-seat and two two-seat fighters.
The selected multi-role aircraft belong to the latest generation of the fighter jet family and are among the best in the world, said then Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, noting that this will provide the country with a capability that will increase the combat power of the Croatian Army several times over the next 30 to 40 years.
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National Conservative Wins First Round of Macedonian Presidential Race
A candidate affiliated to the Republic of North Macedonia’s main conservative opposition party has won the country’s first round of presidential elections on Wednesday, April 24th, claiming 41.2% of the total votes.
Lawyer and university professor Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, part of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization—Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) beat the ruling social democrat (SDSM) party’s candidate, incumbent President Stevo Pendarovski, who finished with only 19.9%. As no candidate received over 50% outright, the two are heading for a run-off election on May 8th—the same day as the high-stakes parliamentary election takes place.
Popular aspirations to overturn socialist rule were also reflected in the turnout, which—at 49.9%—was unusually high for a presidential race, exceeding figures from four years ago by eight points.
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Luciano Mondino holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations from the Catholic University of La Plata (Argentina) and a master’s degree in international politics from the Complutense University of Madrid. He is an international analyst specialising in the Middle East and Israel.
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Egypt Sends Delegation to Israel, Its Latest Effort to Broker a Cease-Fire Between Israel and Hamas
CAIRO — Egypt sent a high-level delegation to Israel on Friday with the hope of brokering a cease-fire agreement with Hamas in Gaza, two officials said. At the same time, it warned that a possible Israeli offensive focused on Gaza’s city of Rafah — on the border with Egypt — could have catastrophic consequences for regional stability.
Egypt’s top intelligence official, Abbas Kamel, is leading the delegation and plans to discuss with Israel a “new vision” for a prolonged cease-fire in Gaza, an Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the mission freely.
As the war drags on and casualties mount, there has been growing international pressure for Hamas and Israel to reach a cease-fire agreement.
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NATO is turning Poland and the Baltic into a “military bridgehead” as a prelude to using “extreme military force” against Russian puppet Belarus, that country’s long-serving dictator Alexander Lukashenko has told the national ‘People’s Congress’ on Thursday.
Belarus has accused NATO of launching “combat drone” strikes against its capital and of building military bases close to their border, which Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko — euphemistically called a ‘strongman’ leader in reports for his extremely long time in power and disinterested approach to democracy — warned risked nuclear war.
The allegations have been rejected by Western figures as “continuous hostile provocation” and as a retrospective justification by Lukashenko for Belarus having recently acquired nuclear weapons possibly in contravention of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1968.
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EU and US Eye New Sanctions Against Russia as Moscow Moves to Seize $440 Million From JPMorgan
Barely 24 hours after a $440 million seizure order imposed by Russia on US financial giant JPMorgan Chase came to light, the European Commission is reported to be planning new sanctions on Russia’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.
Russia’s VTB Bank has filed the suit against JPMorgan Chase and its subsidiaries in St Petersburg court.
The papers said VTB had sought interim relief because the defendants were taking steps to withdraw their assets from Russia.
The lender, represented by the State, is seeking to recover these amounts.
The European Commission, meanwhile, is on the brink of unveiling a sanctions package targeting Russian LNG, marking a new escalation in the EU’s response. The forthcoming proposal includes measures to clamp down on the trans-shipment of Russian LNG within EU waters, alongside targeted sanctions aimed at three major Russian LNG projects: Arctic LNG 2, Ust Luga and Murmansk.
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Fears are growing that Ukrainian men who moved abroad to Poland will be forced back to the country to participate in desperate fighting at the frontline. The Ukrainian authorities have decided that men of military service age will only be issued with documents that will allow them to return to Ukraine and not for any other purpose. The decision was taken suddenly on April 23 and implemented the next day.
In one video, indignant Ukrainians scream: “Give me the documents! Screw it. Go to Ukraine yourself and f**king serve!”
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Qatar Pledges $3M to Ukrainian Human Rights Body
Qatar has announced that it will provide $3m to the office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, as part of a push to support “welfare and safety” in the war-torn country.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday that the funds aim to support initiatives designed to improve the lives of children, citizens affected by armed conflicts and the overall population in Ukraine.
“Furthermore, the fund will contribute to increasing legal support and improving the necessary infrastructure required to provide the support needed for families affected by conflict in Ukraine,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry and the commissioner’s office also reiterated “their dedication to a world where human dignity is respected, and where each individual’s rights are protected”.
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Russia Will Target US Nuclear Weapons in Poland if They Appear
Russia has warned that Poland will make itself a ‘priority target’ if it hosts NATO nuclear weapons on its territory. In a Thursday statement Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said “Moves in this direction will not provide greater security (for Poland or other nations that host such weapons).” He was further quoted in Russian media as saying:
Moscow considers any expansion of NATO’s nuclear-sharing arrangement as “deeply destabilizing” in nature, “and in fact threatening” Russia, Ryabkov was quoted as saying by TASS on Thursday. This applies to joint missions, where non-nuclear members of the US-led bloc are trained to use American hardware, and even more so to the permanent stationing of such weapons “which hotheads in Warsaw are talking about,” he said.
In follow-up, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stipulated that “any nuclear weapons deployed to Poland would be legitimate targets in the event of war with the alliance.” Russian media translations said Moscow would see this as a “priority target”.
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Ukraine Agriculture Minister Accused of Corruption Offers to Resign
Ukraine’s agriculture minister has tendered his resignation amid a corruption investigation. Mykola Solskyi is accused of involvement in illegal land acquisition between 2017 and 2021, prior to becoming a leading figure in the Zelensky government.
Illegally transferring the ownership of state land—with an estimated value of €6.9 million—is punishable by up to 12 years in jail, according to prosecutors at a hearing on Thursday night. Solskyi has announced he would be “grateful” if parliament accepts his resignation before the formal conclusion of the investigation; if not, he will continue to serve.
Not long after the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine announced that an unnamed minister was under official suspicion, the identity of the accused became publicly known.
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Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Resigns Over Corruption Charges
Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi has tendered his resignation after being accused of illegal land deals, Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Ruzlan Stefanchuk announced on Facebook on Thursday.
The minister’s resignation will be considered by the legislature at one of the upcoming plenary sessions.
Solskyi is being prosecuted by Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency on suspicion of involvement in the illegal acquisition of 291 million hryvnias (€6.86 million) worth of state land for his agricultural holding and an attempt to acquire other land worth 190 million hryvnias. Prosecutors say the charges relate to events between 2017 and 2021, before he became agriculture minister in March 2022.
The prosecution alleges that the land was illegally taken from two state companies and given to war veterans on the condition that they lease it to private companies. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.
Solskyi denies the charges against him, insisting he never received any money.
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Ukraine Signals Willingness for Peace, Claims Polish Expert
In a conversation with the Polish Press Agency (PAP), Wojciech Kononczuk, director of Warsaw’s Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), pointed out that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky underscored his readiness to move toward peace negotiations in the war with Russia.
“However, he set a crucial condition: The outcome of negotiations must be favorable for Ukraine,” said Kononczuk.
“I think this signal sent by Zelensky should be read as a certain readiness of the Ukrainian state to at least freeze this war,” he added, emphasizing that there was no question of capitulation or acceptance of Russian terms, but rather something that “the Ukrainian side could at least consider and which would be positively received by some of the largest Western countries.”
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Australia is Rocked by Another Alleged Shopping Centre Stabbing as Police Swoop to Arrest Teenagers
The alleged gang fight at Melbourne’s Highpoint Shopping Centre on Thursday is the second within a week at the mall and comes just days after the Westfield Bondi Junction mass killing.
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Brazil Targets Twitter Files Author Who Revealed Censorship Orders
Twitter Files journalist Michael Shellenberger, who has recently been covering the public clash between X owner Elon Musk and the President of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and Supreme Federal Court (STF) justice Alexandre de Moraes, is now likely to himself be targeted by one of those courts, the STF.
If the court starts a criminal prosecution against Shellenberger, it will be at the request of Brazil’s Attorney General Jorge Messias, who claims that there is information proving that the US journalist has committed a “probable crime” against the rule of law and institutions, along with an “attempt to destabilize the democratic state.”
Messias further accuses Shellenberger of disclosing confidential information related to the events of January 8, 2023.
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Brazil’s AG and Supreme Court Reportedly Consider Shutting Down Access to X
According to reports out of Brazil, the country’s attorney general, Jorge Messias, and the Supreme Federal Court (STF) are trying to find a way to shut down X in that country.
The Gazeta do Povo newspaper says that it has had exclusive access to a 10-page document that Messias earlier this week sent to Alexandre de Moraes, an STF justice and president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), asking STF to suspend or completely shut down X, if there is proof that the company “prejudiced” STF and TSE investigations.
Messias also wants Moraes to share with his office any evidence from the ongoing investigation into X owner Elon Musk’s conduct, who is suspected of “obstruction of justice.”
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“My Europe Builds Walls”: Sweden Dems Unveil EP Election Campaign Message
The leader of the conservative, sovereigntist Sweden Democrats presented the party’s central European campaign message on Thursday, ahead of EU elections in June that will determine the bloc’s fate over the next five years and beyond.
Like other parties in the European Conservatives & Reformists (ECR) and Identity and Democracy (ID) groupings, the Sweden Democrats have placed the need to stop mass migration at the top of their campaign priorities. They poll presently in second place, with 21% of the projected national vote.
Speaking at a press conference, party leader Jimmie Åkesson unveiled the slogan that will appear on the party’s campaign posters: “My Europe Builds Walls: Against Immigration, Against Criminal Gangs, Against Islamists.”
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Dozens of migrants have been intercepted crossing the English Channel today — the first day of arrivals since five people died attempting the journey on Tuesday.
Mainly male migrants aboard an inflatable dinghy were spotted being brought ashore at the Port of Dover by a Border Force vessel after being intercepted in the strait.
Wearing orange life jackets, they were marshalled off the boat and then were taken into the immigration processing centre in the former cruise terminal on the Kent coast.
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The overwhelming majority in Ireland have turned against the open borders agenda favoured by elites in Dublin, with eight in ten now saying that they think immigration is too high.
Over the past two decades, Ireland has seen a radical shift in its demographic makeup as mass migration policies saw the foreign-born population more than double since 2006 and now makes up a fifth of the entire population of the Emerald Isle.
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Irish Minister Claims 80% of Illegal Migrants Arriving Via UK
More than eight in ten migrants arriving in Ireland have crossed into the country from the UK, Dublin officials have claimed.
With tensions over mass migration already high, and a housing crisis which has resulted in many asylum seekers living in tents, Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee said:
This is the challenge that we have, that we have advocated for an open border on this island.
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Irish Police Claim Self Defence After Shield-Charging Anti-Migrant Camp Protesters
Irish police claim to have acted in self defence by shield-charging and pepper-spraying protesters at the site of a possible migrant camp on Thursday night, but a journalist witness challenges this version of events.
Protests have been ongoing at Newtownmountkennedy, County Wicklow, which is alleged to be the intended site for a migrant camp. Ireland is presently experiencing extremely high levels of immigration and in common with other European countries that have experienced this phenomenon the state is struggling to find space enough to house its new residents, sometimes resorting to tent cities.
Now those protests have seen clashes with police, with six arrests made overnight into Friday but, fortunately, no injuries. Dublin Live reports “several Garda Public Order Units” were deployed to the area and that a fire raged near the entrance to the contested site.
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Remix News’ sat down with Italian MP Simone Billi at the CPAC Hungary event in Budapest on Thursday, where Billi discussed the stance of Matteo Salvini’s Lega party on the ongoing migration crisis, how he feels the center-right coalition in Rome is faring, and why other conservatives across Europe appear to gravitate more towards his party leader than Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
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These States Are Making it Illegal for Illegal Immigrants to Enter
Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
Conservative states across the country—Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia, and Oklahoma—are taking border security matters into their own hands, proposing or passing legislation targeting illegal immigration.
The Oklahoma legislature just passed a bill designed to prohibit illegal immigrants from entering or living in the state.
HB 4156 states: “A person commits an impermissible occupation if the person is an alien and willfully and without permission enters and remains in the State of Oklahoma without having first obtained legal authorization to enter the United States.”
The bill passed the state House and Senate by wide margins and Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, is expected to sign it into law.
The legislature declared the issue a crisis in the state and stated in the bill: “Throughout the state, law enforcement comes into daily and increasingly frequent contact with foreign nationals who entered the country illegally or who remain here illegally.
“Often, these persons are involved with organized crime such as drug cartels, they have no regard for Oklahoma’s laws or public safety, and they produce or are involved with fentanyl distribution, sex trafficking, and labor trafficking.”
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UK Police Charge Two After Migrant Deaths Off France
UK police on Friday charged two men who were arrested after five migrants, including a girl, died this week trying to cross the Channel from France.
Three men, a woman and a seven-year-old girl lost their lives in the early hours of Tuesday in the sea near the northern French town of Wimereux.
They had been in a packed boat that set off before dawn but whose engine stopped a few hundred metres from the beach.
A South Sudanese national, aged 22, has been charged with assisting illegal unlawful immigration, the National Crime Agency said.
Both he and a second man, also 22, from Sudan, were charged with entering the UK illegally.
A third man who was arrested, an 18-year-old from Sudan, had been bailed pending further inquiries, the agency added.
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UK’s Rwanda Bill ‘Causing Migrants to Opt for Ireland’, Claims Irish Deputy PM
The tightening of asylum policies in the UK is causing ripple effects in Ireland as the threat of being deported to Rwanda spurs migrants to seek refuge in the Emerald Isle.
Micheal Martin, Irish Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence, told The Telegraph more than 80 per cent of asylum seekers to Ireland came from the UK after London moved forward on the Rwanda Bill.
Martin said the policy was already “impacting on Ireland” as people were “fearful” of staying in the UK, adding that “maybe that’s the impact it was designed to have”.
He said asylum seekers were seeking “to get sanctuary here and within the European Union as opposed to the potential of being deported to Rwanda”.
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Italy: Anti-Gay General to Run With League in EU Vote
Salvini says Vannacci has agreed to ‘fight with us’
Deputy Premier, Transport Minister and League leader Matteo Salvini has announced that suspended anti-gay Army General Roberto Vannacci is set to run in June’s European elections.
Vannacci was recently suspended from duty for 11 months following a disciplinary procedure sparked by the self-publication last year of his controversial bestseller ‘Il Mondo al Contrario’ (The World Back To Front).
In the book Vannacci, a 55-year-old former paratrooper commander, says that gays are not normal.
The book also espouses the Great Replacement conspiracy theory about mainly Muslim migrants replacing ethnic Italians, suggests only white people can be real Italians, and lauds stand-your-ground self-defence laws.
Salvini said Vannacci will be among the League’s candidates in all of Italy’s constituencies.
“I am happy that a man of value like the general has decided to pursue his battles for freedom together with the League in the European Parliament,” Salvini said.
Vannacci stressed Thursday night that he was running as “an independent candidate who maintains his own identity and will fight, with courage, to affirm his values of Fatherland, tradition and family”.
Speaking Friday on spoof radio show Un Giorno da Pecora (A Day as a Sheep), Vannacci said “I decided to run in the last few days.
Three days ago.
And I wrote a message to Salvini on WhatsApp. He replied to me that he was very happy with my decision.
“I thought about it a lot. I’d like to give them (the voters) a better Italy and a better Europe”.
The League’s support for the controversial general is not unanimous.
Already, over the last few days, several high-ranking figures have said they would prefer to support League insiders rather than someone who has been parachuted in from outside.
One of these, Friuli Venezia Giula Governor Massimiliano Fedriga, reiterated Friday he would not be voting for Vannacci.
“I’m very happy with the three candidates proposed by Friuli Venezia Goilia,” he told Un Giorno da Pecora.
“Only three preferences are possible”.
Salvini’s key ally Premier Giorgia Meloni said last month that a possible candidacy by Vannacci “would not be a problem”.
In his suspension order, the defence ministry pointed to the “circumstances of the publication of the book” that had not been cleared by top military brass.
These circumstances allegedly showed a “lack of sense of responsibility” and caused “injury to the principle of neutrality of the Armed Force”, “compromising the prestige and reputation of the Administration to which it belongs and generating possible disruptive and divisive emulative effects within the military structure”.
Vannacci claims the disciplinary measure is in conflict with the right to freedom of expression guaranteed to all citizens, including military personnel, and has appealed.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
On Thursday, Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill that would criminalize adults who help minors seek sex change procedures without parental consent.
This comes after Tennessee voted to ban sex change procedures for minors earlier this year.
SB 2782, which was passed in the House on a 63-16 vote. It was sponsored by state Senator Janice Bowling and would make it a felony offense for an adult to recruit, harbor, or transport an unemancipated minor within the state of Tennessee for the purpose of receiving a prohibited medical procedure that would alter the minor’s biological sex or affirm a minor’s gender identity.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UCLA Students Forced to Take Mandatory ‘Fat Positivity’ Class
Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news
UCLA medical school is under fire for forcing students to attend ‘health equity’ classes where ‘fat positivity’ is promoted, and reading material claims that the medical term ‘obesity’ is a slur “used to exact violence on fat people.”
Yes, really.
The Washington Free Beacon obtained the entire syllabus for the mandatory course, titled Structural Racism and Health Equity, which one medical expert who has reviewed it describes as “education designed to ideologically indoctrinate physician-activists.”
As part of the required course, all first year medical students are made to read an essay by ‘fat liberationist’ Marquisele Mercedes (pictured), who uses made up terms like “fatphobia” to argue that the medical profession is biased against fat people, and that trying to lose weight to be more healthy is a “hopeless endeavor” because it is a disability that cannot be reversed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Education Secretary Pledges to Stop Saying Trans Women Are Women
In a major about-turn, British education secretary Gillian Keegan has finally admitted what most ordinary people knew all along. She has said she will no longer use the phrase “trans women are women” after a major review found that treatments for children questioning their gender are based on “remarkably weak evidence.”
Keegan claimed that her understanding of the issue has “evolved” and she has “learnt a huge amount more about this complex and challenging subject.”
The Cass Review, conducted by leading paediatrician Dr Hillary Cass, found that studies are often “exaggerated or misrepresented” to support gender ideology. It also said that children who claim to be questioning their gender may need simply to be treated for mental health issues.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The poope has fallen for the Al Gore hoax.
As for “climate change”. it is a hoax that originated with Al Gore. Gore is an anti-Christ and he is so stupid that he failed to mention that if we got rid of carbon, all the plants and trees would die and that we would die from lack of oxygen.
““climate change”…is a hoax that originated with Al Gore.”
I think anyone objectively studying the history of earth’s climate has to conclude that “climate change”, at least the man-made strain, IS a hoax. Certainly, there’s vanishingly little OBJECTIVE evidence to support the theory.
I’ve got a book, “The Cooling”, that was published a year BEFORE Al was elected to congress—when “the science” led “the experts” to predict our use of fossil fuels was [inevitably] leading to a second ice age—The Cooling; and long before he reckoned “climate change” was an even more profitable SCAM than being a member of congress (I think history’s proven him right on that score!).
“There’s a sucker born every minute.” —(generally attributed) P.T. Barnum
“Fox News crew in Los Angeles were threatened by a man outside LA Metro headquarters when they were reporting on crime problems in the transit system.”
Wait, it gets better..
“LA Metro declares public safety emergency due to recent wave of violence”
https://www.foxla.com/news/la-metro-declares-public-safety-emergency
fred3X: I love the way that waves of violence always occur without anyone actually committing the violence. Waves of violence are a natural occurence, much like ocean tides. Long after Man passes from planet earth, waves of violence will continue to plague our deserted inner cities. Scientists attribute waves of violence to gravity, but, I’m not convinced.
“fred3X: I love the way that waves of violence always occur WITHOUT ANYONE ACTUALLY COMMITTING THE VIOLENCE [my emphasis]…”
Ugh. Just this past week..
“A man SUFFERED SERIOUS BURNS IN AN ATTACK that took place on a Los Angeles Metro train.”
https://www.foxla.com/video/1447613
“On Friday, a man was STABBED IN BROAD DAYLIGHT near a bus stop located by Figueroa Way and Adams Boulevard in University Park.”
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/police-investigate-fight-turned-stabbing-near-la-metro-bus-days-after-deadly-assault/3398839/
“A woman in her 60s has DIED FOLLOWING ANOTHER VIOLENT INCIDENT involving public transportation in Los Angeles.”
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/woman-dies-after-unprovoked-attack-at-los-angeles-metro-station-in-studio-city/
Why are you protesting :
Have you heard the saying: Americans are ignorant and are proud of it.
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2024/04/nyu-why-are-you-protesting-i-dont-know-im-pretty-sure-theres-something-about-israel
Listen to the video
“Weight loss is a hopeless endeavor.” Right. Nobody has ever lost weight.
tharmon: According to the Law of Conservation of Mass, whenever someone loses weight, someone else get fatter. It’s physics.
Then there must have a lot of Poles who got fat living near Auschwitz.