Reader’s Links for September 10, 2018

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Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

138 Replies to “Reader’s Links for September 10, 2018”

  1. Tourists Among 7 Wounded in Paris Knife Attack; Afghan National Arrested
    https://www.news18.com/news/world/tourists-among-7-wounded-in-paris-knife-attack-afghan-national-arrested-1872533.html

    Seven people including two British tourists were wounded Sunday in Paris after they were attacked by a man armed with a knife and an iron bar, according to police and other sources.
    A source close to the inquiry said the suspect, believed to be an Afghan national, has been arrested.
    “Nothing at this stage shows signs of a terrorist nature in these assaults,” the source said, adding that the attacker had targeted “strangers in the street”.
    Of the seven wounded, four are in a critical condition, police said. [..]
    “There were around 20 people chasing him. They started throwing Petanque balls at him,” Najah said, referring to the sport popular in France also known as boules.
    “Around four or five balls hit him in the head, but they weren’t able to stop him,” he added.
    According to the same witness, the attacker then dived into an alleyway, where the man “tried to hide behind two British tourists. We said to them: ‘Watch out, he has a knife”. But they didn’t react”.
    The pair were then attacked, he said.

    • Richard: FYI it is illegal for foreign nationals to donate money to American Politicians. This is typical hypocrisy on the part of the left.

      Liberal wunderkind David Hogg tells Canadians he thinks they can donate to U.S. politicians
      By Joe Newby September 10, 2018

      In an interview with New York magazine last month, teen dullard David Hogg announced that his career objectives had changed. He is no longer seeking to become a TV journalist but instead has his sights set on running for Congress when he is 25.

      Maybe by then he will have learned about 52 U.S. Code § 30121, which strictly prohibits contributions and donations to U.S. elections by foreign nationals. If he had known this last week, he could have saved himself and fellow rallier Michael Moore some embarrassment.

      The two were addressing a crowd at the Toronto International Film Festival when Hogg said:

      https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/09/10/liberal-wunderkind-david-hogg-tells-canadians-he-thinks-its-ok-to-for-them-donate-to-u-s-politicians/

    • David Hogg Michael Moore

      Are there four other words in the English language supposed to turn me off worse?

  2. Staged Gas Attacks & US Shortcomings: US Senator Tells Sputnik About Syria Trip (sputniknews, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/interviews/201809101067877625-us-senator-black-syria-interview/

    “US Senator Richard Black in an exclusive interview with Sputnik, revealed how the Syrian people see their president, what went wrong with the US policy in the Mideast and also expressed his admiration for the state of human rights in the country, as “Syria has the greatest women’s rights and the greatest religious freedoms of any Arab country.”

    Black, a Republican member of the Virginia State Senate, has recently returned from Syria, where he met with Syrian President Bashar Assad and discussed recent developments in the country.

    Sputnik: You recently met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. What was your general opinion of the man and how accurately is he represented in Western media?……”

  3. Security Breach at Lyon Airport in France: Car Chase on Runway (VIDEO) (sputniknews, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201809101067895424-lyon-airport-security-breach/

    “Flights have been grounded at Lyon airport following reports of a man driving onto the runway, according to the radio channel Europe 1.

    A driver, pursued by police, managed to pass the glass doors and barriers, bringing the vehicle onto the runway, but later was detained. There were no reports of injuries as a result of the incident. It is currently unknown what motivated the man to break into the airport.

    According to the Europe 1, the car was previously reported to have been moving at high speed and against the direction of traffic on a highway near Lyon airport.”

  4. Border Patrol agent shot at while sitting in patrol car near border

    A Border Patrol agent was shot at early Sunday morning while sitting in his marked patrol car just north of the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities said.

    The gunfire occurred about 2:15 a.m. a mile and a half west of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, according to William Rogers, supervisory Border Patrol agent with the San Diego Sector. At least two bullets struck the driver’s side of the vehicle, but the agent was not injured and immediately drove to a safer location.
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    inRead invented by Teads

    Authorities said the gunfire appeared to have come from the Mexican side of the border. Mexican authorities responded and initially detained two people. One had a handgun, while the second person was released. Neither was identified.

    The FBI is investigating the shooting.

    http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-border-patrol-agent-shot-at-20180909-story.html

  5. Richard: Read the article some French men are fighting back.

    CINEMA BLOODBATH Paris attack – Two Brits ‘stabbed in head and chest’ by rampaging Afghan knifeman ‘who posed as child migrant’ before injuring seven

    The man was chased by 20 petanque players and pelted with metal balls, several of which hit him in the head

    TWO British tourists were stabbed in the head and chest by a rampaging knifeman who injured seven people in Paris on Sunday night.

    The 31-year-old attacker was using child identity documents issued to an Afghan minor, according to claims made by an investigating source.

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/worldnews/7216406/paris-attack-at-least-seven-injured-by-rampaging-knifeman-suspect-arrested/

  6. Man Attacks Passers-by With Scissors Near Bastille in Paris – Reports (express, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201809101067898864-bastille-square-paris/

    “On Monday Paris police detained a man armed with scissors, who wounded two passers-by in the central part of the city, the France-3 television channel reported.

    The incident occurred on Rockett Street, in the northern part of Bastille Square, according to the France-3 television channel.

    The scissor-wielding assailant struck a local postman in the throat and then attacked a passer-by and also wounded him.

    Police officers arrived at the scene very quickly since their office is only a couple of hundred meters from the square. The law enforcement personnel had to taser the attacker before arresting him.

    The incident near the Place de la Bastille (Bastille Square) took place just a day after another assault in the area of the Canal de l’Ourcq, also not far from the Place de la Bastille, on the Loire Embankment, where a 30-year-old Afghan wounded seven people with a knife.”

    • Why do I experience such intense difficultly expressing any further concern for a culture for which I otherwise care about so much?

  7. Two Killed, Dozens Injured in Attack on Libyan Oil Corporation HQ – Official (sputniknews, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/africa/201809101067894699-lybia-blast-casualties/

    “A bomb explosion at the headquarters of the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC), located in the country’s capital of Tripoli, has resulted in an unknown number of deaths and over six people being injured, a source in the corporation told Sputnik.

    Two people have been killed, dozens have been injured in an explosion that hit the headquarters of the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC), located in the country’s capital of Tripoli, spokesman for the Libyan Department of wounded Malik Marsit told Sputnik…”

  8. Merkel Confronts a Defining Moment as the Global Order Realigns

    (Bloomberg) — Ask Angela Merkel to reflect on her political legacy and she’ll tell you she’s got too much on her plate to worry about it.

    “I’m totally busy,” Merkel said on RTL television when quizzed on life after politics in an interview aired Thursday. “I haven’t thought about that question.”

    https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/2018/09/09/merkel-confronts-a-defining-moment-as-the-global-order-realigns

  9. Russia Says Has to React to Aggression as Terrorists Entrench Positions in Idlib (sputniknews, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201809101067892803-idlib-russia-reaction-terrorists-agression/

    ” A gang of terrorists has taken advantage of the establishment of a de-escalation zone in Syria’s Idlib province and entrenched their positions in the region, Russia cannot but respond to their aggression, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov told Sputnik in an interview.

    “A gang of terrorists has taken advantage of the fact that a de-escalation zone had been established in Idlib and entrenched their positions there, they have increased their ranks and begun raids against the civilian population of Syria, attacks on the Russian bases … We cannot but react to such aggression,” Syromolotov said…”

    • AFP – Idlib risks becoming worst catastrophe of 21st century: UN

      The UN’s new humanitarian chief warns that a large-scale military operation against the rebel-held Syrian province of Idlib could create “the worst humanitarian catastrophe” of this century.

      His remarks came as Syrian troops, backed by Russia and Iran, massed around the northwestern province ahead of an expected onslaught against the largest rebel-held zone left in the country.

  10. Jewish group in Germany condemns ‘strongly rooted’ extremism

    BERLIN (AP) — An attack on a kosher restaurant by masked neo-Nazis on the sidelines of an anti-migrant protest in an eastern German city shows there’s a deep problem with right-wing extremism in the region and should be treated as a call to action, the head of Germany’s Central Council of Jews said Sunday.

    Josef Schuster, who had previously condemned the violent far-right protests in Chemnitz on Aug. 26 and 27 before the attack on the Jewish restaurant was even known, said “we need to call the problem by its name.”

    “The racist riots and the attack on the kosher restaurant in Chemnitz show how strongly rooted right-wing extremism is in the region,” he said.

    Hundreds of protesters took to the streets after a German man was stabbed and killed Aug. 26 after authorities say a verbal argument with migrant men escalated. An Iraqi and a Syrian have been arrested on manslaughter charges. That day several foreigners were injured after authorities said they were attacked in the streets.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/german-jewish-group-condemns-strongly-rooted-extremism-104355962.html

  11. Daesh Member Working for Ukrainian Security Service Detained in Russia – FSB (sputniknews, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/russia/201809101067892001-daesh-ukraine-russia-dpr-fsb/

    “A member of the Daesh* terrorist group, plotting a murder of “one of the leaders” of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on the assignment of the Ukrainian Security Service and the Ukrainian radical Right Sector group*, has been detained in Russia, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said Monday.

    “Russian citizen Medzhid Gabibulaevich Magomedov, a native of Dagestan, a member of the Daesh organization, who was planning the murder of one of the leaders of the DPR militia on instructions from the Security Service of Ukraine and the leaders of the ‘Right Sector,’ has been detained in the Smolensk region,” the press release read…”

    • Russia: FSB detains IS member in ‘Ukraine’ plot to kill Donestsk leader

      An alleged member of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) was arrested in Russia’s Smolensk region on Sunday over a Ukrainian plot to murder a Donetsk military leader, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday.

      Medzhid Gabibulaevich Magomedov, 30, from Russia’s Dagestan Republic, was allegedly hired by the Security Services of Ukraine and the far-right organisation Right Sector to kill one of the military leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic who was living in the Smolensk region.

      During the arrest, the FSB seized an improvised explosive device (IED) as well as a firearm with ammunition.

      The FSB said that Magomedov admitted that the Ukrainian security services helped Islamic State to plot terror attacks in Russia.

  12. 6 dead in blast at district headquarters in Somali capital (abcnews, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/large-blast-district-headquarters-somalias-capital-57719350

    “At least six people are dead after a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the gate of a district headquarters in Somalia’s capital, authorities said Monday.

    Police Capt. Mohamed Hussein said the large blast badly damaged the compound of the Hodan district’s headquarters in Mogadishu.

    An Associated Press journalist saw at least seven bodies at the scene, while the Aamin Ambulance service said the toll was at least six with another 16 wounded. Hussein said most victims were district workers and soldiers…”

  13. A shadowy extremist sect is accused of plotting to kill intellectuals in India

    A shadowy extremist sect is accused of plotting to kill intellectuals in India

    Annie Gowen, The Washington Post Published 2:41 pm CDT, Saturday, September 8, 2018

    BANGALORE, India – The killers trailed her for months, watching her every move. When the day came, they were ready for her.

    Journalist Gauri Lankesh had locked up the office of her scrappy weekly newspaper and had just returned home here when the killers arrived on a motorcycle.

    One of them – his face obscured by a helmet – drew close and began shooting. One, two, three shots. Lankesh tried to flee, but the last bullet ended her life.

    The journalist’s death a year ago reverberated across India. She was given a state funeral in Bangalore, and thousands marched in protest around the country, chanting, “I am Gauri. We are all Gauri.” Many believed Lankesh was killed because of her outspoken criticism against the government and rising right-wing extremism.

    Police investigating Lankesh’s murder believe her death was part of a wider conspiracy, with evidence linking her killing to three other meticulously planned murders of secular intellectuals since 2013. They say Lankesh’s killers were associated with Sanatan Sanstha, a shadowy extremist religious sect that has been accused of using hypnotherapy to incite its followers to kill those they consider enemies of Hinduism. Investigators uncovered a hit list of more than two dozen other writers and scholars.

    https://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/A-shadowy-extremist-sect-is-accused-of-plotting-13214996.php

  14. Turkey seeks to detain 102 over suspected links to cleric (abcnews, Sep 10,2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-seeks-detain-102-suspected-links-cleric-57719457

    “Turkey’s state-run news agency says authorities have issued detention warrants for 102 people, including military officers, over their suspected links to a U.S.-based Muslim cleric who is blamed by Ankara for a failed coup attempt in 2016.

    Anadolu Agency said Monday the Ankara prosecutor’s office issued warrants to detain 13 army majors while prosecutors in Istanbul were seeking to detain 71 military personnel as well as 18 people suspected of being secret operatives of cleric Fethullah Gulen’s network.

    Anadolu said 56 of the suspects were detained so far.

    Turkey regularly carries out such operations as part of a large-scale government crackdown on Gulen’s movement. Some 77,000 people have been arrested and around 130,000 others have been dismissed from state jobs since the coup.

    Gulen denies involvement in the coup.”

  15. China outlaws large underground Protestant church in Beijing

    BEIJING (Reuters) – Beijing city authorities have banned one of the largest unofficial Protestant churches in the city and confiscated “illegal promotional materials”, amid a deepening crackdown on China’s “underground” churches.

    The Zion church had for years operated with relative freedoms, hosting hundreds of worshippers every weekend in an expansive specially renovated hall in north Beijing.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-religion/china-outlaws-large-underground-protestant-church-in-beijing-idUSKCN1LQ07W

  16. 43 suspects in deadly Philippine bombings face criminal raps (abcnews, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/43-suspects-deadly-philippine-bombings-face-criminal-raps-57717488

    “Criminal complaints have been filed against 43 Muslim militants from two armed groups linked to the Islamic State group for two bomb attacks in the southern Philippines, including a suspected suicide bombing that killed 11 people, police said Monday.

    Murder complaints were filed against 18 suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf for a powerful blast on July 31 that killed 11 people and wounded several others in Lamitan city on Basilan island, said Director General Oscar Albayalde, the national police chief. A foreign militant who drove the bomb-laden van died in the suspected suicide attack.

    Among those facing charges is an Abu Sayyaf commander, Furuji Indama, who Albayalde said ordered the bombing but remains at large along with nine other suspects.

    Eight suspects, including a militant bomb expert, Julamin Arundoh, who police said rigged the van with plastic gallons containing the explosives, have been captured…”

  17. Argentines seek soup kitchens, barter markets amid crisis

    BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Men wait outside the metal-grill door of a soup kitchen in a slum, hoping to get a small serving of beef and mashed potatoes. At a barter market on the capital’s outskirts, a woman tries to persuade another to exchange for her granddaughters’ tiny shoes.

    Argentines are struggling in crisis in what was once one of the world’s most prosperous nations. Consumer prices are soaring, unemployment is high and the Argentine peso has plunged, bringing back haunting memories of the country’s economic meltdown in 2001 that pushed millions into poverty.

    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/09/10/argentines-seek-soup-kitchens-barter-markets-amid-crisis.html

  18. Taliban attack Afghan security forces in north, killing 37 (abcnews, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/officials-taliban-attack-afghan-security-forces-killing-21-57719142

    “Taliban insurgents have launched separate attacks on Afghan security forces in the country’s north, killing at least 37, provincial officials said Monday.

    Mohammad Yusouf Ayubi, head of the provincial council in Kunduz province, said that at least 13 security forces were killed in an attack on a checkpoint they were manning in Dashti Archi district, with another 15 security forces wounded there. The firefight began late Sunday and continued into Monday morning.

    Meanwhile in Jawzjan province, Provincial Police Chief Gen. Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani said the Taliban attacked Khamyab district from different directions, forcing Afghan forces to withdraw from the district headquarters to avoid civilian causalities.

    “There was intense fighting and we didn’t want civilian houses destroyed, or any civilian casualties,” said Jawzjani. He said that at least eight policemen were killed and three other police were wounded. Seven Taliban were killed and eight were wounded during the gun battle, he added.

    Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the group for the attacks in Kunduz and Jawzjan provinces…”

  19. Swiss Village Says ‘Yes’ to 2,500-Franc a Month Free Money Trial

    (Bloomberg) — It’s hard to say ‘no’ to something for nothing.

    A village in Switzerland has decided to go ahead with an experiment on basic income, with a payout of 2,500 francs ($2,570) per month. The next step is to raise money to finance the plan via crowdfunding.

    More than 50 percent of the inhabitants of Rheinau, close to the German border, signed up for the project, according to the organizers website. At least half the 1,300 inhabitants needed to say ‘yes,’ and the count stood at 692 on Monday. The submitted ballots also still have to be checked against government data to ensure eligibility.

    https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/2018/09/10/swiss-village-says-yes-to-2-500-franc-a-month-free-money-trial

  20. Heartbroken parents harvest dead son’s SPERM to create ‘designer grandson’ in British ‘first’

    The wealthy pair took the extraordinary step after their 26-year-old son was killed in a motorcycle crash

    A wealthy couple harvested sperm from their dead son and used it to create a “designer grandson” in likely the first case of its kind in Britain.

    The couple were left devastated after their only child was killed in a motorcycle crash and seemingly ended their chance of becoming grandparents.

    But the pair, who are in their 50s, were reportedly desperate for an heir decided to harvest the 26-year-old’s sperm, which was frozen and exported to the US, bypassing strict laws in the UK.

    Their grandson is now three and is believed to be living with them in Britain in a case that highlights ethical and legal concerns.

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/heartbroken-parents-harvest-dead-sons-13215814

  21. Russia claims U.S. dropped phosphorus bombs in Syria, Pentagon denies it

    OAN Newsroom
    UPDATED 6:37 AM PT — Mon. Sept. 10, 2018

    Russia is claiming the U.S. dropped phosphorus bombs over Syria despite the Pentagon denying the allegations.

    On Sunday, Russia’s military stated two U.S. F-15 jets dropped banned white phosphorus bombs above Syria’s Deir al-Zor region over the weekend.

    The airstrikes were reportedly targeting the Syrian village of Hajin, which is known as the last major refuge for ISIS.

    http://www.oann.com/russia-claims-u-s-dropped-phosphorus-bombs-in-syria-pentagon-denies-it/

  22. Crime Wave Britain: Six Police Officers Stabbed, Rammed, Run over in 72 Hours (breitbart, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/09/10/crime-wave-britain-six-police-west-midlands-stabbed-rammed-72-hours/

    “Attacks against police officers are increasing amid a violent crime wave in Great Britain, with six officers injured in one force area over a three-day period.

    West Midlands Police covers a wide geographical area which includes Birmingham, Britain’s multicultural second city, and Wolverhampton, the former seat of the late anti-mass migration campaigner Enoch Powell.

    The first officer to be attacked was stabbed during an attempted carjacking while off-duty on September 5th, in a shocking scene captured on CCTV.

    A hooded man clad in black is said to have approached the 25-year-old officer in Walsall in the middle of the day at 1:30 pm and demanded his car keys, chasing him down and stabbing him in the chest several times when he tried to run.

    Carrying firearms, pepper spray, or any other article for self-defence is prohibited in the United Kingdom, even for off-duty police officers and members of the Armed Forces — with the exception of Northern Ireland.

    The remaining five officers were injured in the line of duty over a period of only a little over 24 hours.

    The most serious incident involved a 50-year-old female officer who was run down by a car at 9 in the morning on September 6th, also in Walsall, while trying to diffuse a domestic situation.

    The officer was hospitalised with a serious head injury, punctured lung, and broken ribs.

    Another officer had been injured in a vehicle attack only hours beforehand, suffering neck and back injuries when his patrol car was rammed repeatedly and badly damaged by a van after he had pursued a suspected shop robber in Strechford.

    The morning before that, three armed officers had been injured in a similar incident, when a suspected stolen car they had pulled over lurched backwards into one of them as he approached the vehicle, leaving him with a broken ankle. The officers inside the patrol vehicle then suffered whiplash injuries when the car proceeded to ram them.

    West Midlands Police Assistant Chief Constable Chris Johnson praised the bravery and service of the officers involved in the incidents, saying they “highlight once again the dangers our brave officers face every day… they put themselves in harm’s way to deal with dangerous situations.””

  23. Sweden Vote: International Election Observer ‘Shocked’, ‘Never Seen Such an Undemocratic System’ (breitbart, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/09/10/sweden-election-osce-shock-undemocratic/

    “After the first time a Swedish election has been monitored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), observers have expressed “shock” at the nation’s “undemocratic” system.

    Danish delegate Michael Aastrup Jensen, who has previously monitored elections in Russia and Eastern Europe, told Berlinske: “In all the many election observations I’ve been on, I have not seen anything that comes close to how undemocratic the Swedish voting system is.”

    The foreign policy spokesman for Denmark’s liberal governing party Venstre, Jensen said the major issue with the Swedish election system is the lack of privacy for citizens casting their ballot.

    Separate parties have separate ballot papers in Sweden, the choosing of which takes place in public, as voters must select their preferred ballot papers before placing them into a ballot box.

    “It is just so far beneath anything remotely resembling European election standards, or anything we would allow even in Eastern Europe,” he said.

    Jensen told the Danish newspaper how, outside of official monitoring duties, he visited a number of polling places in Malmö to see, ‘with his own eyes’, voting take place, and found “party soldiers” standing in front of the stations, where they were trying to hand voters ballot papers for their respective parties.

    As chairman of Denmark’s delegation to the Council of Europe, the organisation responsible for the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Jensen hopes to bring attention to problems with the Swedish election system.

    “I will highlight the issue with the Council of Europe so that we can hopefully send the strongest possible signals to Sweden that they should introduce the sort of rules seen in Denmark and in virtually every other country in the world,” he said.

    Speaking on the outcome of the Swedish election, which saw the worst result in 100 years for the ruling Social Democrats, the Danish foreign minister also hit out at the refusal of mainstream parties to cooperate in any way with the populist Sweden Democrats, which this year secured its largest ever share of the vote.

    “Even though 60 percent voted against the current government,” Jensen said, Sweden would likely end up with the “unimaginable situation” in which it continues to govern, thanks to parties’ refusal to work with the Sweden Democrats.

    “From a point of view of democracy this seems very wrong to me, as it basically amounts to [politicians in the other parties] telling the many Swedes who voted for the Swedish Democrats that they are not important,” he told news agency Ritzau.

    Reporting he had urged Venstre’s Swedish sister parties, the Centre Party and Liberals, to speak with the Sweden Democrats, to no avail, he commented that despite the parties sharing the same values on paper, “It is as though we live in two different worlds.”

    “Sweden is at a place where Denmark was in the 1990s, where you call someone racist if they talk about the problems that really exist,” the Danish minister remarked.

    The Financial Times recently reported that a number of Social Democrat candidates resigned or were suspended for telling lies about the centre-right Moderates and the Sweden Democrats, including that they would be accusing Muslims of crimes in order to take their children away from them.”

  24. the guardian – UN human rights chief sends team to Italy after ‘alarming’ anti-migrant violence

    Michelle Bachelet says the country’s decision to refuse entry to NGO rescue ships had ‘serious consequences’

    The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, is sending teams to Italy and Austria to look into protection of migrants after what she called an “alarming escalation of attacks” against asylum seekers and Roma people.</strong

    In her maiden speech to the UN human rights council on Monday, in Geneva, Bachelet said: `“Italy’s decision to close its sea ports, denying entry to NGO rescue ships, had serious consequences on the most vulnerable. Even though we are seeing a big drop in the numbers of coming from Libya over the past 12 months, the numbers of those who died during the crossing is higher in the first six months of 2018 than it was.”

    The approach adopted by Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Salvini, whose League party is in coalition with the populist Five Star Movement, has involved the government launching a series of anti-immigrant policies, including preventing migrant rescue ships from docking in Italian ports.

    Anti-racist groups in Italy have warned of a dangerous acceleration in attacks on immigrants after14 shootings, two murders and 56 physical assaults were recorded in the three months since Salvini entered government in June.

    Opposition politicians, charities and NGOs have accused Salvini of creating a climate of hate following the attacks, which have coincided with an anti-migration drive that has included a vow to expel Roma people.

    “We do not accept lessons from anyone, let alone from the UN,” said Salvini, calling the UN “misinformed” about the situation in Italy. “They should first focus on other members where fundamental human rights are being violated every day.”

    Salvini was placed under investigation by Italian prosecutors from Agrigento, Sicily, for kidnapping, relating to his refusal to allow 177 migrants on board the coastguard ship, Ubaldo Diciotti, to disembark.

    During her speech, Bachelet – who is a former president of Chile – warned about abuses worldwide, citing among others the “deeply disturbing allegations of large-scale arbitrary detentions of Uighurs and other Muslim communities, in so-called re-education camps across Xinjiang”, and the Trump administration’s “unconscionable” separations of migrant families.

    Outrage over Trump’s ‘sickening’ plans to detain migrant children indefinitely
    Read more

    Bachelet voiced concern over the 500 migrant children in the United States taken away from their parents who have not yet been returned by authorities. She denounced the announcement by Donald Trump’s administration last week that it would sidestep a court agreement limiting detention of migrant children to 20 days. In July, the UN completed an agreement to handle the global flow of migrants which was boycotted by the United States, under orders from the Trump administration.

    The US withdrew from the UN human rights council in June, accusing the body of “hypocrisy” and anti-Israel bias.

    Bachelet, who is the daughter of a general who opposed Augusto Pinochet’s overthrow of Chilean president Salvador Allende in 1973, and assumed office on 1 September, called for a new institution to “collect evidence with a view to future prosecution of crimes against Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar”.

    She urged the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen to show “greater transparency in its rules of engagement and hold to account perpetrators of airstrikes on civilians”, and voiced alarm at anti-migrant violence in Germany, raising concerns of recent unrest in Chemnitz, where 2,500 people have marched in a far-right demonstration after a German man died following a fight with two Afghans.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/10/un-human-rights-chief-sends-team-to-italy-after-alarming-anti-migrant-violence

    ============================================================
    Won’t accept lessons on racism – Salvini

    Interior minister responds to announcement UN sending team

    (ANSA) – Rome, September 10 – Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini said Monday that Italy will not accept any lessons after Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations’ new human rights chief, said the UN wants to see a team over reports of migrants facing attacks and racism.

    “Over the last few years, Italy has received 700,000 immigrants, many of whom were illegal, and it never received any cooperation from other European countries,” Salvini said.

    “So we don’t take lessons from anyone, least of all the UN, which has again proved itself to be biased, pointlessly costly and badly informed.

    “The police deny reports that is a racism emergency.

    “Before doing checks on Italy, the UN should investigate its member States who ignore basic rights like freedom and equality between men and women”.

    Bachelet said Monday that: “we intend to send personnel to Italy to evaluate reports of a sharp increase in acts of violence and racism against migrants, people of African descent and Roma.” She added that a team would also be sent to Austria for similar reasons.

    http://www.ansa.it/english/news/politics/2018/09/10/wont-accept-lessons-on-racism-salvini_2e78d1d8-aa17-42c6-9764-d8be501d6c01.html

    • UN to send team to Italy to scrutinise plight of migrants and refugees amid reported rise in racist attacks (telegraph, Sep 10, 2018)
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/10/un-send-team-italy-scrutinise-plight-migrants-refugees-amid/

      “The UN’s new human rights chief is to send a team to Italy to scrutinise the plight of migrants and refugees, amid a reported increase in racist attacks following the formation of a populist government in June.

      Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile, told the UN human rights council in Geneva that she would dispatch staff to Italy “to assess the reported sharp increase in acts of violence and racism against migrants, persons of African descent and Roma (gipsies).”

      The populist coalition’s decision to close Italian ports to NGO rescue vessels had had “devastating consequences” for vulnerable men, women and children, she said.

      Ms Bachelet, who was imprisoned and tortured under the Pinochet regime, noted that in the absence of NGO vessels, which have found it almost impossible to operate under the new restrictions, the number of migrants dying at sea had sharply risen.

      Matteo Salvini, Italy’s combative interior minister, has been accused of fomenting intolerance and hatred towards migrants with his uncompromising rhetoric.

      There have been a number of incidents since the coalition’s election in June, including Italians shooting at groups of black Africans with air rifles, including one case in which the assailants yelled “Salvini, Salvini”.

      But the minister angrily dismissed the UN’s concerns, saying: “In the last few years Italy has taken in 700,000 migrants and has never received cooperation from other European countries. So we don’t accept lessons from anybody, least of all the UN, which is biased, costly and misinformed.”

      He said Italian police had “denied that there is an emergency of racism.”

      Mr Salvini conceded, meanwhile, that expelling all unauthorised migrants in Italy will take 80 years at the present rate of repatriations.

      As head of the hard-right League party he made bold promises during Italy’s election campaign earlier this year to kick out half a million illegal migrants.

      But rhetoric has fallen far short of reality since the populist coalition came to power in June, with the League and its partners, the Five Star Movement, coming up against the same problems faced by previous Italian governments.

      They include a lack of bilateral agreements with source countries, making it hard to send some nationalities back home, as well as the time it takes to process migrants’ requests for asylum and the appeals they are entitled to lodge if rejected.

      “As things are going now, it would take 80 years to repatriate them all,” Mr Salvini said.

      “We estimate that there are between 500,000 and 700,000 migrants to repatriate and we’re working to do what other governments failed to do over the last 20 years.”

      The interior minister acknowledged what critics have long said – that the pledge to swiftly expel 500,000 migrants or even a fraction of that was wildly unrealistic, given the legal and logistical difficulties involved.

      Mr Salvini, who has emerged as by far the most vocal and prominent member of the coalition, said he wanted to strike bilateral accords with more countries to enable migrants to be sent home, including Sudan, Niger, Ivory Coast, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

      “Currently the only repatriation scheme that works decently is the one with Tunisia,” he said.

      That is fortunate for the government, because Tunisians have become the most numerous nationality to reach Italy so far this year.

      Since January, more than 4,000 have landed on Italian shores, many of them reaching the tiny island of Lampedusa in the middle of the Mediterranean.

      “In Tunisia there’s no war, there’s no famine, there’s no bubonic plague and so we don’t understand why all these young guys need to leave the country.”

      Mr Salvini has attracted opprobrium abroad, but support at home, for his hardline stance of not allowing NGO rescue vessels to disembark migrants and refugees in Italian ports, telling other EU countries that they need to step up and help.

      The policy has seen The League’s support jump from 17 per cent at the general election in March to around 32 per cent – nearly double.

      The number of migrant and refugee arrivals is down by about 80 per cent compared to last year, with Italy and other EU countries cooperating with the Libyan coast guard to block the boats from crossing the Mediterranean.”

    • Switzerland: Migration ‘grounded in reality not panic’ says commissioner

      «…historically people have always moved …»

      The new UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet made her first address to the Human Rights Council as it opened a three-week session in Geneva on Monday.

      Immigration was one of the central issues in Bachelet’s speech.

      “Erecting walls; deliberately projecting fear and anger on migrant communities; denying migrants fundamental rights by limiting their right to appeal, curtailing their right to non-refoulement, separating and detaining families, and cutting integration programmes: such policies offer no long-term solutions to anyone – only more hostility, misery, suffering and chaos,” Bachelet said.

      She added that it is in interest of every country “to adopt migration policies that are grounded in reality, not in panic” and encouraged the UN member-states to “provide opportunities for safe, regular movement instead of forcing people to take lethal risks.

    • Italy to weigh UN funding cut – Salvini

      Interior minister rejects lessons on racism’

      Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Monday that Italy would consider cutting the amount of money it puts into the United Nations.

      The comments came after Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations’ new human rights chief, said the UN wants to see a team to Italy over reports of migrants facing attacks and racism.

      “The UN is an organization that costs billions of euros, to which Italy gives over 100 million every year in contributions and we will weigh with our allies on the usefulness of continuing to give these 100 million euros to fund waste, embezzlement, theft for a body that wants to give lessons to Italians and that also has countries that engage in torture and (still have) the death penalty,” Salvini said.

      “If I were the UN,” Salvini continued, “I would have half a world to send inspectors to before Italy. Go look for racism elsewhere, not in Italy.”

      Bachelet said Monday that: “we intend to send personnel to Italy to evaluate reports of a sharp increase in acts of violence and racism against migrants, people of African descent and Roma.” She added that a team would also be sent to Austria for similar reasons.

      http://www.ansa.it/english/news/politics/2018/09/10/italy-to-weigh-un-funding-cut-salvini_b909b26b-2a04-481b-8a33-855251aa65a8.html

    • Italy ‘to weigh cutting UN funding’ says Salvini (ansa, Sep 10, 2018)
      http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2018/09/10/italy-to-weigh-cutting-un-funding-says-salvini_ecf723c5-5c7a-4ed0-9a93-5435dd070b7d.html

      “Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Monday that Italy would consider cutting the amount of money it puts into the United Nations.

      The comments came after Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations’ new human rights chief, said the UN wants to see a team to Italy over reports of migrants facing attacks and racism.

      “The UN is an organization that costs billions of euros, to which Italy gives over 100 million every year in contributions and we will weigh with our allies on the usefulness of continuing to give these 100 million euros to fund waste, embezzlement, theft for a body that wants to give lessons to Italians and that also has countries that engage in torture and (still have) the death penalty,” Salvini said.

      “If I were the UN,” Salvini continued, “I would have half a world to send inspectors to before Italy.

      Go look for racism elsewhere, not in Italy.” Bachelet said Monday that: “we intend to send personnel to Italy to evaluate reports of a sharp increase in acts of violence and racism against migrants, people of African descent and Roma.” She added that a team would also be sent to Austria for similar reasons.”

  25. Fake child asylum seekers exposed at rate of nine per week (express, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1015386/Asylum-seekers-Home-Office-children-Calais-camps

    “ASYLUM seekers are being exposed at a rate of nine per week for pretending to be children to get an easy ride with UK authorities, shocking official statistics have revealed.

    Home Office figures have highlighted 2,336 cases over the past three years where claims to be under 18 have been challenged.

    The number who turned out to be adults stood at 1,403 – which works out at a rate of nine per week.

    It comes amid widespread concerns that child migrant rules are being exploited.

    These were sparked by complaints two years ago that large numbers of applicants, admitted to this country from Calais refugee camps, appeared to be older than children…”

  26. MERS case revives unhappy memories in South Korea (telegraph, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/mers-case-revives-unhappy-memories-south-korea/

    “61-year-old South Korean man is being treated in a hospital in Seoul after being diagnosed with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), reviving unpleasant memories of an outbreak in 2015 that killed 38 people and left millions of people reluctant to leave their homes.

    The man, who has not been named, was returning from a three-week business trip to Kuwait via Dubai when he fell ill. He went directly to the Samsung Medical Centre from Incheon International Airport on arriving back in South Korea, Yonhap News reported.

    Running a fever and with symptoms of pneumonia, the man was immediately referred to Seoul National University Hospital, where he tested positive for the disease.

    MERS is a viral respiratory disease with a fatality rate of around 36 per cent. It was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and it is caused by a coronavirus. It is thought to have originated in camels and them made the jump to humans. The World Health Organization has described MERS as having the potential to spark a worldwide pandemic.

    There is no vaccine or treatment for the disease.

    To date, cases have been reported in at least 21 countries, including the UK, but the South Korea outbreak in 2015 was the worst outside the Middle East.

    Last month, a man who had returned to the UK from the Middle East was diagnosed with the disease.

    The South Korean government on Sunday convened an emergency meeting…”

  27. global news – ‘We want to build a community’: Rohingyas call on Canada to resettle more refugees

    The Nayapara refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh is a world away from Kitchener, Ont., which Saifullah Muhammad now calls home.

    Saifullah’s family was part of the 1992 exodus of persecuted Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to Bangladesh. He managed to secure refugee status in Canada in 2016 after spending several years working as an interpreter for the United Nations and international news organizations in Malaysia.

    But his family remains in limbo in Bangladesh, among the estimated 700,000 Rohingyas to have taken refuge there after fleeing the bloodshed in Myanmar.

    On Sunday, Saifullah let Global News into his apartment as he enjoyed the rare privilege of a Skype call with his family, who gathered in their cramped tent in the Nayapara refugee camp.

    He started by asking younger brother Amir how things were going in the refugee camp. The response was stark.

    “Our situation is not good. If we went to hospital for medicine, the doctors said [to] us there is no medicine enough,” Amir responded in broken English. “There is no water for us enough. There is no water for bathing… for drinking, for everything.”

    He added: “Our life is very bad.”

    In addition to Amir, Saifullah also has another younger brother and a younger sister. He worries about their future because they’re growing up without an education.

    “Because my brothers and sisters are growing up in camps, they have no future, they are not allowed to go out of the camp to study,” Saifullah told Global News.

    “There’s thousands of Rohingya kids who are unable to study in school… we are very much concerned about their security because if these kinds of kids don’t get proper education, proper manners, proper knowledge, it is very easy to be exploited.”

    Bangladesh has urged Myanmar to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled the crackdown against their community. But Rohingya are wary of returning, fearful of suffering further atrocities at the hands of the Myanmar military and rival ethnic groups.

    Saifullah says his beloved uncle was one of the thousands of Rohingyas to have been slaughtered in Myanmar. A respected village elder, he went out fishing in October 2017 but was accosted by a group of ethnic Rakhine people, who beat him up before throwing him in the water.

    “When I was young, my uncle loved me, took care of me, took me everywhere,” Saifullah said. “I miss him a lot, still I miss him a lot.”

    Now resettled in Kitchener, where he lives with his wife and baby daughter, Saifullah is going to college to study journalism, a profession that he hopes will help him become a strong voice for his community.

    He’s also the media and public relations coordinator of the Canadian Rohingya Development Initiative (CRDI), an NGO that lobbies for the resettlement of Rohingya refugees in Canada and provides community support and resources to Canada’s Rohingyas, most of whom are concentrated in southeastern Ontario.

    Saifullah says he and the CRDI have met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen to discuss the issue, and while the government has made encouraging noises, tangible action has been slow to come.

    “Our message to the government is, like me there are so many Rohingya brothers and sisters in Canada who are traumatized for their parents, for their brothers and sisters in Bangladesh and Burma [Myanmar]. They want to bring family here,” he said.

    Washim Ahmed, a refugee lawyer and spokesperson for CRDI, said he believes the leaders of Canada and Bangladesh are willing to cooperate towards resettling refugees.

    “I believe it’s the bureaucracy that’s delaying the resettlement process of the refugees, so we would request the government to expedite that process,” Ahmed said. “It’s psychologically very tough for Canadian Rohingya refugees to live here in Canada in peace when their families are suffering and going through horror and trauma in refugee camps.”

    Ahmed says he’s hopeful for progress in the wake of a new United Nations report that accused the Myanmar military of committing genocide. The use of the word “genocide” ostensibly raises pressure on the international community to step in to help those affected.

    Myanmar has consistently denied allegations of committing atrocities against Rohingya refugees, saying it has only carried out justifiable actions against armed Rohingya militants.

    For Saifullah, the resettlement of Rohingya refugees is about more than the desire of him and other Rohingya in Canada to be reunited with their families.

    “We want some Rohingya here in Canada as we can grow our community here,” Saifullah said.

    “We want to build a community so we can help our suffering community in Burma [Myanmar], in Bangladesh and other refugees living in other countries.”

    https://globalnews.ca/news/4437105/rohingya-refugees-canada-resettlement/

  28. NYT -New Taliban Attacks Kill Dozens of Afghan Soldiers and Police Officers

    MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents killed at least 57 Afghan police officers and soldiers in four attacks in northern Afghanistan on Monday, a day after more than 60 people were killed in a separate barrage, Afghan officials said.

    The insurgents carried out simultaneous assaults on six outposts in the strategic Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz Province just after midnight, killing seven police officers and 13 soldiers, according to Mullah Akhtar Kaker, the local police commander in the district.

    Other officials confirmed the violence in Kunduz Province with slightly different casualty figures. The district governor, Nasruddin Saadi, put the death toll at 19, with an additional 22 officers and soldiers wounded.

    The other attacks in the north were at widely scattered locations. The insurgents killed 14 police officers and militiamen in Samangan Province and 17 other police officers and soldiers in Sar-i-Pul Province.

    In the fourth episode, in Jowzjan Province, Taliban insurgents on Monday captured the government center of Khamab District, according to Faqir Mohammad Jowzjani, the provincial police chief.

    Seven members of the Afghan security forces were killed, while others fled to the district police headquarters nearby, where fighting continued to rage, according to Babur Ishchi, the head of Jowzjan’s provincial council.

    “Ninety police officers and soldiers are surrounded by the Taliban,” Mr. Ishchi said. “They have not received any support yet.” .

    Khamab became the latest of more than 20 of Afghanistan’s 407 government districts to fall to insurgent control. Forty or more other districts are listed by the American military as “insurgent influenced,” and many others as contested.

    The four attacks Monday were the latest in a series of setbacks for Afghan government forces.

    On Sunday, 40 members of the Afghan security forces were killed in the northern province of Baghlan when Taliban fighters overran a military base. That same day, seven people in the capital, Kabul, were killed as a suicide bomber attacked a commemoration. And in Wardak and Herat Provinces, an additional 19 police officers and soldiers were killed in two assaults.

    The military base captured by the Taliban on Sunday was the second major base to fall to the insurgents in Baghlan Province in the past month, and the third in northern Afghanistan during the same period.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/world/asia/taliban-attacks-afghanistan.html

  29. the gateway pundit – Authorities Say Mandalay Bay Killer Stephen Paddock Had $1.3 Million Stashed in Several Bank Accounts

    […]Nearly a year after the massacre the news broke this weekend that Paddock had $1.3 million stashed in several bank accounts.

    Radar Online reported:

    Evil Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock Opens a New Window. had $1.3 million stashed away in various bank accounts.

    He hoarded the money up until he went on his now infamous killing spree that killed 58 people, injuring 851 others.

    Paddock lived in Mesquite, Nevada, and was a real estate developer, property manager and retied accountant

    Investigators are still trying to determine what led to him to firing into a crowd of 22,000 concertgoers attending a country musical festival on the famous Las Vegas strip.

    https://radaronline.com/exclusives/2018/09/las-vegas-shooter-stephen-paddock-had-1-3-million-stashed-away/

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/09/authorities-say-mandalay-bay-killer-stephen-paddock-had-1-3-million-stashed-in-several-bank-accounts/

    • Germany: Govt. spokespersons grilled over far-right action

      As the spokespersons for Germany’s various ministries convened for a regular press conference in Berlin on Monday, the topic of ongoing right-wing incidents in Chemnitz and Kothen was what dominated the agenda.

      Many journalists pressed the government’s spokespersons for answers on the report written by the President of the Ministry for the Protection of the Constitution Hans-Georg Maassen on recent violent incidents in Chemnitz.

      The previous week, Maassen spoke to BILD newspaper where he cast doubts that foreigners were chased during right-wing protests in the Saxony town on August 26.

      Now having submitted a report on the incident to the Interior Ministry, spokesperson Eleonore Petermann said, “The Interior Minister has been informed and is aware of the doubts of Mr Maassen. But the facts behind this, he doesn’t know.”

      Meanwhile, press spokesperson for the German government Steffen Seibert expressed the reaction of the government to a protest that took place in Kothen on Sunday evening, after which a video emerged of protesters chanting Nazi slogans. “At the end of the day in Kothen, a video showed public, national-socialist speeches being made. That also concerns us and we must be appalled by that,” Seibert said.

      Right-wing protesters had marched through Kothen on Sunday evening to mourn the death of a man who died following a fight with two Afghans. Protesters were filmed shouting “Sieg Heil” and “national-socialism now”. The prosecution determined that the man had, in fact, died of acute heart failure after the fight.

    • Germany: ‘Neither gray nor brown!’ – Anti-far right concert held in Chemnitz

      An anti-far right concert took place in Chemnitz on Monday, in an effort to promote the message: ‘Chemnitz is neither gray nor brown.’

      Around 500 people gathered at the monument of Karl Marx to listen to musicians play for free promoting an anti-fascist message that not all people in Chemnitz are far-right supporters.

      “I make this for all the people here, in the town, in Chemnitz my friends,” said the singer of ‘Apfeltraum’ music group Robert Glaser, adding that “the people are all my brothers and sisters.”

      Among the musicians were Dirk Zollner with his band and the groups ‘Apfeltraum’ and the ‘Steinlandpiraten.’

  30. Channel 4 – The MEK: The shadowy cult Trump advisers back to rule Iran

    President Trump sees the Iran as America’s biggest enemy. The MEK, a shadowy cult, is the group some of his advisers back for power.

    Before assuming office, his National Security Advisor John Bolton said US policy should be regime change in Iran.

    He and other Trump advisers have long touted a shadowy exiled cult as an alternative to the Iranian government.

    The Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) has had a very active propaganda wing for years, but now they have influence at the highest level.

    They also have a secretive camp in Albania, 30km from the capital, Tirana.

  31. Man arrested after breakfast with woman in Saudi Arabia (BBC, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-45471549

    “An Egyptian man in Saudi Arabia has been arrested after a video of him having breakfast with a woman went viral on Twitter.

    In the video, a man with an Egyptian dialect eats breakfast beside a woman wearing a full face veil, who many assumed to be Saudi.

    This is in contravention of the law in Saudi Arabia, where in workplaces or eateries like McDonald’s and Starbucks, families and single men have to sit in different areas.

    Women must sit separately from single men in these places.

    They are not allowed to exercise most activities without being accompanied by their male guardians, usually a father or husband, but possibly a brother or a son.

    The man was arrested by the Saudi Ministry of Labour and Social Development, who accused him of “committing several violations and taking up a post exclusively reserved for Saudis”.

    The Arabic hashtag “an Egyptian having breakfast with a Saudi” has been used over 113,000 times on Twitter, where it has become the centre of a cultural divide.

    In the 30-second video, the man and woman briefly joke about eating their breakfast together, with nobody else invited.

    But the point which has caused the most consternation comes at the end of the video, when the woman appears to feed the man.

    Many Saudis on social media were highly critical of both the man and the woman, with the majority of people wondering why the man was punished instead of the woman.

    “I need to understand why men are constantly punished and not women,” said Twitter user Malak. “I am a Saudi [woman] and I swear I want them to punish her with him. Laughter, eating at the workplace… where are your limits?”…”

  32. Afghan violence rages for second day, killing dozens (BBC, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45476860

    “Militants are continuing to attack Afghanistan’s northern Sar-e Pul province, as officials say its capital will fall without reinforcements.

    At least 17 government security forces had been killed in the last 24 hours near Sar-e Pul city, the governor said.

    Taliban fighters attacked the province on Sunday night, with further clashes in three neighbouring provinces.

    The violence follows recent diplomatic efforts to end the lengthy war between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

    A spokesman for the provincial governor reportedly said militants were gathering to the east of Sar-e Pul city, warning “the centre will fall to the Taliban” if the government did not send more troops.

    Security forces had killed at least 39 Taliban fighters, he said.

    A Taliban spokesman meanwhile said their fighters had taken checkpoints no more than five kilometres (3 miles) from the city centre.

    At least 50 civilians in the province were killed by militants last month, after fighters attacked a police checkpoint and Shia Muslim civilians in a nearby village.

    Government forces have suffered several setbacks in recent weeks in their battle against the Taliban.

    Over the last few days, dozens of security forces were killed fighting in the northern Jawzjan, Kunduz and Samargan provinces.

    Militants also briefly seized the major city of Ghazni in August, sitting on the main highway between the capital Kabul and the south of the country.

    The renewed fighting has dampened the prospect of diplomatic progress ending the war…”

  33. MEMRI TV – Algerian Blogger Says Gov’t Using “Homosexual Zionist” Actor to Turn Children into “Homosexuals”

    Algerian blogger known as Toufik.Dz weighed in on a controversy raging in the Algerian media around the casting of Gérard Depardieu as Husein Dey, the last Ottoman provincial ruler in the Regency of Algiers, in a new movie titled “Ahmed Bey.” Calling Depardieu “that homosexual, French Zionist actor,” Toufik.Dz said that instead of casting an Algerian to play the role of one of Algeria’s “greatest men,” they chose Depardieu, who has been accused of rape in France.

    It is part of a “fierce campaign to turn our children into a generation of homosexuals and sissies,” he said, complaining that “the message they want to convey… is that in Algeria, homosexuals have rights.” He posted the video on his YouTube channel on September 6, 2018.

  34. Trans Lecturer Smeared Academics to Silence Critics with ‘Hate Crime’ Claims (breitbart, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/09/10/trans-lecturer-pushes-silence-critics-hate-crime-claims/

    “Transgender activists and academics have been coordinating attacks aimed at silencing critics of their gender ideology by accusing them of “hate crimes” and endangering students.

    Natacha Kennedy, a lecturer at Goldsmiths, is accused of orchestrating a “blacklist campaign” against university academics who are not convinced biological men can become actual women.

    The activist also campaigns against Brexit and describes herself as a “Citizen of the World” and a “Stroppy, bolshie transgirl with attitude who hates the Tories with a passion.”

    She exclusively targeted biological women she disagreed with and has previously written for The Guardian newspaper.

    She asked thousands of members of a Facebook group, seen by The Times, to create and spread a list of academics she deemed to be “transphobic”, calling the list “necessary” so that students could avoid accepting a place on a “dangerous” course.

    Staff at Oxford, Warwick, Bristol, Sussex, and Reading universities were among those deemed “unsafe” for employing people who question gender ideology, with members of the social media circle encouraging hate crime allegations against them.

    The philosophy department of the University of Sussex was “clearly an unsafe environment”, they claimed, because of Kathleen Stock, a professor who has argued against the idea biological men can be lesbians.

    “File a hate crime report against her, and then the chairman and vice-chair,” advised one member of the group. “Drag them over the f***ing coals.”

    Rosa Freedman, a professor of law, conflict and global development, at the University of Reading, was attacked for saying “biological males” should not have access to women’s refuges.

    One activist boasted she had reported the professor for “hate speech” several times and another called for them to imply the University “supports staff who use hate speech against students”.

    Professor Freedman told The Times: “We are talking about the aggressive trolling of women who are experts. I have received penis pictures telling me to ‘suck my girl cock’. This is straight-up, aggressive, anti-woman misogyny.

    “The idea that writing about women’s rights automatically becomes a hate crime in some people’s eyes is ludicrous.”

    Professor Stock added: “What would make a philosophy department unsafe is if its academics weren’t allowed to challenge currently popular beliefs or ideologies for fear of offending.

    “Deliberately plotting to have my department lose students, or to have me dismissed, through covert means, is surprising behaviour from a fellow academic.”

    The university confirmed Ms Kennedy was an employee. A spokesman said: “Goldsmiths prides itself on its inclusive community and is committed to the values of freedom of speech within the law.””

  35. Saudi Royal Family Member Claims Jewels Stolen at Paris Ritz (breitbart, Sep 10, 2018)
    https://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2018/09/10/saudi-royal-family-member-claims-jewels-stolen-at-paris-ritz/

    “A member of the Saudi royal family has reported the theft of hundreds of thousands of euros’ worth of jewellery from her hotel room at the Ritz hotel in Paris, police sources said Monday.

    The person, who was not identified by name, said the theft — which would be the second reported jewel heist at the five-star hotel on Place Vendome this year — took place on Friday afternoon.

    The jewels, worth an estimated 800,000 euros ($930,000), were not in a safe when they were taken and there was no sign of forced entry, the source said, confirming a report on France Info radio.

    France Info said the victim was a Saudi princess staying in one of the hotel’s suites.

    An investigation has been opened by France’s anti-organised crime brigade, a legal source said.

    In January, an armed gang swiped an estimated four million euros’ worth of jewels from shops inside the Ritz after bursting into the hotel and using hatchets to smash display cases.

    All of the loot, some of which the robbers dropped while trying to make their escape, was recovered”

  36. Man charged with murder of Marrisa Shen, 13, was new to Canada
    Syrian national Ibrahim Ali, 28, charged over the weekend in the July 2017 death of the Burnaby teen

    A 28-year-old Burnaby, B.C., man with no previous criminal record has been charged with the first-degree murder of 13-year-old Marrisa Shen.

    Police say Ibrahim Ali, a Syrian national and permanent Canadian resident, arrived in the country 17 months ago. He was arrested in Burnaby on Sept. 7.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/marrisa-shen-homicide-developments-1.4817072