Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.
This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.
So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.
This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.
Canada’s 2 official languages:
https://www.reddit.com/r/metacanada/comments/fpiq8q/ah_the_two_languages_of_canada/
Best summary yet:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: increased transmission in the EU/EEA and the UK – seventh update
Executive summary [my shorthand, too many #s say too little]
[…] The number of reported COVID-19 cases is rapidly increasing in all EU/EEA countries and the UK, and the notification rate is increasing at similar trajectory as was observed in Hubei province in late January/early February and in Italy in late February/early March.
Clinical presentations of COVID-19 range from no symptoms (asymptomatic) to severe pneumonia; severe disease can lead to death. In EU/EEA countries with available data, 30% of diagnosed COVID-19 cases were hospitalised and 4% had severe illness. Hospitalisation rates were higher for those aged 60 years and above.
Estimates of crude case-fatality for Germany, Italy and Spain showed that both the risk and absolute numbers of deaths rapidly increased with age for those aged 60 years and above in each country. Among hospitalised cases, severe illness was reported in 15% of cases, and death occurred in 12% of these cases, with higher case-fatality rates in older adults.
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/RRA-seventh-update-Outbreak-of-coronavirus-disease-COVID-19.pdf
Crown Prosecutor: Coronavirus Cough Attacks Punishable with Jail Time (breitbart, Mar 26, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/03/26/crown-prosecutor-coronavirus-cough-attacks-punishable-with-jail-time/
“People who spit or cough at others as a threat to give them coronavirus can be arrested for common assault in the United Kingdom and face up to two years in prison.
The ruling by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) came after a spate of attacks on medics and police officers. Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Max Hill QC said: “Emergency workers are more essential than ever as society comes together to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
“I am therefore appalled by reports of police officers and other frontline workers being deliberately coughed at by people claiming to have Covid-19.
“Let me be very clear: this is a crime and needs to stop. The CPS stands behind emergency and essential workers and will not hesitate to prosecute anybody who threatens them as they go about their vital duties.”
So far two men have been convicted, one of them jailed, for coughing or spitting at police officers in England whilst claiming to be infected with the deadly pneumonia-like virus. Another man has been charged in Northern Ireland for the crime of allegedly coughing towards two police officers, according to the BBC.
The Guardian reports that as well as first responders, shop workers and vulnerable citizens have also been subjected to being spat or coughed at by those claiming to have coronavirus.
In one instance, a group of teenagers spat at an RSPCA officer while she was trying to rescue a swan. Leanne Honess-Heather said five youths aged between 16 and 17 approached her in Hull on Saturday. When she asked them to step back, “They seemed to take offence to this, which led to two of the group spitting directly into my face, going in my mouth and eyes, as they yelled ‘have corona bitch’ at me.”
On Monday, police arrested three male teenagers who had allegedly coughed at and assaulted an elderly couple in Hitchen, Hertfordshire, in the middle of the afternoon on Friday. The woman in her seventies was left with a black eye.
Emergency vehicles have also been the subject of attack. Earlier this week, ambulance drivers in Ramsgate, Kent, found that vandals had drilled holes in the tires of six ambulances.
Thieves are also targetting NHS staff. A spate of muggings across the country have been reported, with nurses especially targetted for their staff identity cards. Thugs have been stealing them in order to access priority shopping and freebies that supermarkets and food outlets have been offering to doctors and nurses as tokens of thanks for their work in the fight against coronavirus.”
(Richard: Vlad earlier today you wrote that it looked like the US is going to have to split into two or more nations because of the actions of the left. Do you really think that these Thugs and the other people the left uses as militias are going to set back and let people who disagree with them live quietly? If we do what you suggest it will be Gaza times 10 or more, the antifa thugs will start pushing out to take over more and more territory because the people who live there disagree with them. It will be much better to fight them before they get fully trained and armed.)
ANTIFA threatens to kill cops after lockdowns: “I’ll not be locked anywhere but prison cell by murdering pigs.”
SEATTLE, WA– While the rest of us are working this pandemic, some hauling medical supplies and groceries, others treating and testing people, others maintaining law and order, ANTIFA has decided that now would be a good time to ratchet up hate and violence.
Because that’s exactly what our country needs right now.
Ironic name choice, of course, in that “anti-fascists” ARE the very fascists the anti-fascists claim to work against. They regularly oppress people through threats and violence, damage and destruction, easily costing people their lives, injuries, and business losses.
https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/antifa-says-theyll-kill-cops-over-lockdowns-murdering-pigs/
Your question deserves minimum a whole post to answer it with at least one video.
In short, your right. But there are other factors as to why they will not/cannot let us live in peace or at all.
Facespitting of peace in times of corona. A “Plus” supermarket in Naarden, the Netherlands. It is now compulsory to take a shopping cart, to enforce social distancing. A certain demographic has a problem with that, there’s been many such incidents lately.
https://www.dumpert.nl/item/7876597_e294d4c3
Different angle + mugshot
https://www.facebook.com/406145472819528/posts/2431919790242076/
Coronavirus: Gordon Brown calls for new global government to fight impact of Covid-19
Former prime minister Gordon Brown has called for the creation of a temporary form of global government to be assembled to provide a unified body to tackle coronavirus.
Such an organisation could tackle the spread of the virus, coordinate production and distribution of essential equipment, and help deal with the economic fallout from the pandemic, he said.
Mr Brown’s suggestion comes ahead of an emergency video conference of the G20 countries, which even before it has begun has already seen a standoff between the US and China over responsibility for the virus.
The summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia, is designed to produce new practical measures to deal with the disease, but a coordinated fiscal response to the crisis is not expected to be agreed.
Mr Brown said the summit also ought to include the United Nations security council.
“This is not something that can be dealt with in one country,” he said, according to The Guardian. “There has to be a coordinated global response.”
Mr Brown was a key figure in the global response to the 2008 financial crisis, and while he said the current pandemic poses different problems, it also has a major economic component.
“That was an economic problem that had economic causes and had an economic solution.
“This is first and foremost a medical emergency and there has to be joint action to deal with that. But the more you intervene to deal with the medical emergency, the more you put economies at risk.”
An international body with executive powers could fight the virus on two frontsMr Brown explained. Firstly in the effort to produce an effective vaccine, and secondly to manufacture and distribute it, along with essential medical supplies, without profiteering occurring.
Mr Brown urged the G20 nations to avoid a “dog eat dog” bidding war for such supplies.
“With the healthcare crisis, the idea of individual self-isolation is now commonplace, but on the international stage, national self-isolation has taken off,” he said, according to PA.
“In the post-Cold War unipolar era, America acted multilaterally. Now, and in a multipolar era, America acts unilaterally, and aggressive America first, us-versus-them nationalism — along with China first, India first, Russia first, Brazil first, and Turkey first – is going global.
“But even the most isolationist nations must know that it is not enough to stop coronavirus in one country: it has to be stopped in every country.
“The G20 should underwrite and speed up the concerted global effort to develop, manufacture and distribute vaccines and treatments.
“Almost simultaneously every nation also needs, at scale: testing kits, ventilators, cleaning chemicals and protective equipment.
“So in place of today’s dog-eat-dog bidding wars that encourage profiteering, the G20 should come behind the WHO and Global Fund’s efforts to co-ordinate and vastly increase production and procurement of these key medical supplies and to build, over time, a global inventory, stockpile and workforce, with tariffs and other protectionist barriers removed.”
He added: “Nothing should prevent what is mass produced in and for one country, being also mass produced for other countries.”
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/coronavirus-gordon-brown-calls-for-new-global-government-to-fight-impact-of-covid-19/ar-BB11JU79
Judge’s Retirement Is Likely To Delay Trial Of Sept. 11 Defendants At Guantánamo
March 25, 20209:22 PM ET
SACHA PFEIFFER
Twitter
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A tower overlooking Camp Delta at the Guantánamo Bay naval base in 2009. The judge overseeing the proceedings there has announced his retirement just nine months after taking the job.
U.S. Navy via Reuters
There’s another setback in the long-delayed Sept. 11 case at the U.S. military court in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba: The judge overseeing the proceedings has announced his retirement just nine months after taking the job.
Judge W. Shane Cohen, a U.S. Air Force colonel who arrived at Guantánamo nine months ago, said on Wednesday that he is retiring from active duty military in July and his last day on the bench will be April 24. He said he is leaving “based on the best interests of my family,” and his departure makes it highly unlikely that the trial will begin as scheduled in January 2021, a date many Guantánamo lawyers had already said was unrealistic.
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/25/821743555/judges-retirement-is-likely-to-delay-trial-of-sept-11-defendants-at-guantanamo
Paywall, but the gist is up top:
Beijing twisted my words on coronavirus’s Italian origin, says scientist Giuseppe Remuzzi
A well-known Italian scientist has said Beijing’s attempts to twist his words to suggest the coronavirus originated in Italy is a textbook example of “propaganda”.
Giuseppe Remuzzi, director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, has refuted any suggestion that the virus started in his homeland after comments he made circulated widely in Chinese state media.
In an interview he gave last week, Professor Remuzzi said that local doctors had reported seeing strange symptoms in older people as far back as November.
He told the American news organisation NPR: “It means that the virus was circulating at least in Lombardy before we were aware of this outbreak occurring in China.”
His comments were seized upon in China as the country sought to [-cut-off]
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/beijing-twisted-my-words-on-coronaviruss-italian-origin-says-scientist-giuseppe-remuzzi-6twwhkrvn
local doctors had reported seeing STRANGE symptoms in older people as far back as November.
A Guide to “Safe Circles”
The Chinese Virus Is Accurate, Not Racist: Self Quarantine Update
Seasonality of SARS-CoV-2: Will COVID-19 go away on its own in warmer weather?
So in summary:
For the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, we have reason to expect that like other betacoronaviruses, it may transmit somewhat more efficiently in winter than summer, though we don’t know the mechanism(s) responsible. The size of the change is expected to be modest, and not enough to stop transmission on its own.
Based on the analogy of pandemic flu, we expect that SARS-CoV-2, as a virus new to humans, will face less immunity and thus transmit more readily even outside of the winter season. Changing seasons and school vacation may help, but are unlikely to stop transmission.
Urgent for effective policy is to determine if children are important transmitters, in which case school closures may help slow transmission, or not, in which case resources would be wasted in such closures. Previously it was thought children were not easily infected with SARS-CoV-2.
Recent evidence from Shenzhen suggests that children may be infected and shed detectable virus at about the same rate as adults — so now the only question is whether they transmit as readily. It seems likely the answer is yes, but no data as of this writing to my knowledge.
https://ccdd.hsph.harvard.edu/will-covid-19-go-away-on-its-own-in-warmer-weather/
Just for fun-
Covid-19 is scary. Could a rogue scientist use CRISPR to conjure another pandemic?
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/26/could-rogue-scientist-use-crispr-create-pandemic/
‘We’re racing against the clock’: Researchers test wearables as an early warning system for Covid-19
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/26/wearables-health-workers-coronavirus/
Iran Looms Large in Central Asia Despite Sanctions and Saudi Financial Muscle
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: After years of tension, relations are warming between Tajikistan and Iran—a development that bodes ill for Saudi Arabia and its relations with that country as well as others in Central Asia.
Saudi Arabia may have gotten more than it bargained for when authorities in Khujand, Tajikistan’s second-largest city, ordered that the city’s largest and most popular mosque be converted into a cinema.
The order followed the closure of some 2,000 mosques in the country in the last three years and the arrest last month of scores of Muslim clerics and teachers, many of whom were accused of being members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that is banned in both Tajikistan and the kingdom.
Fewer men sport beards in Tajikistan after being harassed by police, while women in hijabs are few and far between after many were detained and intimidated.
Imams deliver sermons praising President Emomali Rahmon that are approved by authorities, reinforcing his effort to cloak himself in Islamic legitimacy despite the crackdown.
https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/iran-central-asia/
The American College of Pediatricians issued a statement condemning gender reclassification in children by stating that transgenderism in children amounts to child abuse.
“The American College of Pediatricians urges educators and legislators to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex. Facts – not ideology – determine reality.”
https://thedailyclown.weebly.com/childabusse.html#.Xn0lPDps0Xc.reddit
(Richard: Why do I get the feeling that the second wave has alread started and started in Wuhan city in the Hubai Provence?)
Beijing’s state newspaper warns a second coronavirus outbreak in China is ‘INEVITABLE’ due to loopholes in the health screening for people arriving from abroadA second coronavirus outbreak in China is ‘highly likely’ and ‘even inevitable’ as the pandemic escalates, China’s state newspaper has warned.
Loopholes in the health screening process and inadequate quarantine measures for people arriving from abroad are the main factors for the looming new crisis, according to state-run Global Times.
The stark warning comes as former epicentre Hubei Province, apart from its capital Wuhan, is set to lift travel restrictions tonight after being locked down for two months.
It also comes as Wuhan has registered its first native infection, a doctor, after reporting zero cases for five consecutive days.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8146089/Beijings-state-newspaper-says-second-wave-coronavirus-China-inevitable.html
Seth Frantzman – exceptional:
Lockdown Generation: Most Governments Failed The Public Over Covid-19 And Post-Trauma Will Result
https://sethfrantzman.com/2020/03/26/lockdown-generation-most-governments-failed-the-public-over-covid-91-and-post-trauma-will-result/
BC DECLARES FULL COMMUNISM: “New unit is being established to coordinate the distribution of goods and services on the supply chain by land, air, marine and rail.” 1 year in jail for citizens caught selling food. (article is very badly written).
https://globalnews.ca/news/6735937/coronavirus-state-emergency/
Alex Berenson -thread
1/ This is a remarkable turn from Neil Ferguson, who led the @imperialcollege authors who warned of 500,000 UK deaths – and who has now himself tested positive for #COVID; newscientist.com/article/223857…
2/ He now says both that the U.K. should have enough ICU beds and that the coronavirus will probably kill under 20,000 people in the U.K. – more than 1/2 of whom would have died by the end of the year in any case bc they were so old and sick.
3/ Essentially, what has happened is that estimates of the viruses transmissibility have increased – which implies that many more people have already gotten it than we realize – which in turn implies it is less dangerous.
4/ Ferguson now predicts that the epidemic in the U.K. will peak and subside within “two to three weeks” – last week’s paper said 18+ months of quarantine would be necessary. imperial.ac.uk/news/196477/j-…
5/ One last point here: Ferguson gives the lockdown credit, which is *interesting* – the UK only began ita lockdown 2 days ago, and the theory is that lockdowns take 2 weeks or more to work.
6/ Not surprisingly, this testimony has received no attention in the US – I found it only in UK papers. Team Apocalypse is not interested.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1243133211011690499.html
Here We Go… Former British PM Gordon Brown Calls for New Global Government to Fight Impact of Coronavirus
Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for a new global government to fight the impact of the coronavirus and coordinate production and distribution of essential equipment.
Here We Go… Former British PM Gordon Brown Calls for New Global Government to Fight Impact of Coronavirus
Jim Hoft by Jim Hoft March 26, 2020 201 Comments
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You just knew this was coming.
Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for a new global government to fight the impact of the coronavirus and coordinate production and distribution of essential equipment.
Isn’t that why we have a World Health Organization (WHO)?
And are they the ones who screwed up their response and lied about the mortality rate?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/here-we-go-former-british-pm-gordon-brown-calls-for-new-global-government-to-fight-impact-of-coronavirus/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=daily
UTT: TRAIN THE TRAINER
WHAT: Train the Trainer is a world class program with leading experts in the field, and will certify students to present “Understanding the Threat” material while giving them a graduate-level depth of information about the Global Jihadist Movement, the Marxist/communist Movement in the United States, and how to present this information to others. This is the only course of its kind in the world.
WHERE: Understanding the Threat is launching our first online training program…
WHEN: …beginning next Monday March 30th. This NEW Modified Online Train the Trainer (TtT) program (2 WEEKS) will run Monday through Friday the weeks of March 30 to April 3 and April 6-10. We will begin each day at 9 am CST and end no later than 4 pm CST.
WHO: Richard Higgins – Stephen Coughlin – Robert Spencer – Trevor Loudon – John Guandolo – John Bennett – Stephanie Ameiss – Peggy Mast
COST: $975 – As many of you know, this is incredibly inexpensive for what you will be getting.
If you are interested and would like to apply for this course, please email Stephanie Ameiss at St*******@********************at.com
https://www.understandingthethreat.com/product/train-the-trainer-online/
Hmm… SEIU Union in California Suddenly Finds Mysterious Stash of 39 Million Face Masks — 3 Days After AG Bill Barr Announces They’re Going After Hoarders
The President was joined by Vice President Mike Pence, US Attorney General Bill Barr and others.
Trump signed a second executive order to providing authority to address hoarding and price gouging that threatens the supply of medical supplies.
Attorney General Bill Barr put hoarders on notice and said they will get a knock on the door if they are sitting on a large amount of supplies.
“We have started to see some evidence of potential hoarding and price gouging,” said Barr. “So, earlier today the president signed a second executive order providing the authority to address…hoarding that threatens the supply of those necessary health and medical resources.”
“If you have a big supply of toilet paper in your house, this is not something you have to worry about. But if you are sitting on a warehouse with masks, surgical masks, you will be hearing a knock on your door,” Barr said.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/hmm-seiu-union-in-california-suddenly-finds-mysterious-stash-of-39-million-face-masks-3-days-after-ag-bill-barr-announces-theyre-going-after-hoarders/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=daily
California Police to Use Chinese-Made Patrol Drones Equipped with NIGHT VISION CAMERAS to Patrol Streets for Quarantine Busters
Never let a crisis go to waste, right?
California is really ramping up its efforts to control the population after a couple dozen people died from the Coronavirus.
Governor Gavin Newsom recently said he was considering martial law after 12 people died from the Coronavirus.
Now a California police department is planning on using drones with night vision cameras and loudspeakers to monitor the population amid the Coronavirus shutdown after approximately 28 confirmed deaths in the state.
Via the Washington Examiner:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/california-police-to-use-chinese-made-patrol-drones-equipped-with-cameras-and-loudspeakers-to-monitor-coronavirus-shutdown/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=daily
OTTAWA — Ottawa’s largest hospital is rationing face masks for staff amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ottawa Hospital says it will now be providing staff members two face masks per shift, according to a memo obtained by CTV News Ottawa.
“I am worried that the hospital is leaving us unprotected,” said a frontline nurse at the Ottawa Hospital. CTV News has chosen to protect the identities of staff members due to confidentiality concerns.
https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-hospital-starts-rationing-masks-for-staff-as-covid-19-spreads-1.4869604
Coronavirus: Why the US Isn’t Testing Enough People
Horowitz: WHEN did coronavirus begin in the US? And why it matters
https://www.conservativereview.com/news/horowitz-coronavirus-begin-us-matters/
DO NOT Do This in Quarantine! | Celebrity Meltdowns
Joe Biden Gets #MeToo’d
US cuts millions in aid to Houthi-run Yemen despite looming coronavirus crisis
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-cuts-aid-houthi-run-yemen-looming-coronavirus-pandemic
“The Trump administration is cutting millions in aid to northern Yemen despite pleas from Democrats and aid groups that the reduction will severly impede efforts to confront the looming coronavirus crisis.
A spokesperson for USAID, a US government agency, told Middle East Eye on Thursday that Washington had started reducing assistance to northern Yemen, citing “unacceptable interference” by the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels that control the region.
Oxfam, an aid agency, warned that the cutbacks may be as much as $200m annually and result in a reduction in sanitation schemes that would be vital in the event of a Covid-19 breakout.
“The US has begun a reduction in assistance in northern Yemen,” a USAID spokesman told MEE.
“Despite the international aid community’s tireless advocacy and diplomatic engagement, the Houthis have failed to demonstrate sufficient progress towards ending unacceptable interference in these operations.”
The USAID spokesman said the organisation would continue funding the “most urgent life-saving assistance” and was in the process of deciding how to respond to Covid-19, which has torn across the Middle East but is not understood to have reached Yemen.
“We have been carefully planning with our partners in northern Yemen for months to ensure they can continue the most critical aid activities – including those aimed at preventing famine and the spread of cholera,” the spokesman said.
The US and Britain along with other donors and aid agencies have complained for months about Houthi rebels trying to slap taxes on aid projects in Yemen’s north, restricting the travel of humanitarian personnel and nixing their projects…”
Any person or organization Middle East Eye considers reliable is, ipso facto, S C U M.
Qatar builds new embassy in Somalia
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200326-qatar-builds-new-embassy-in-somalia/
“Qatar is building a new embassy in Mogadishu, signalling the latest step in the recovery of the Somali capital after years of violent conflict. It is planned to be the second largest embassy in Somalia; the largest is the Turkish Embassy…”
UK Psychologist Wants to Ban “Nerd” As Hate Speech
France: Three French nationals and an Iraqi freed in Iraq
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200326-france-three-french-nationals-and-an-iraqi-freed-in-iraq/
“Three French nationals and an Iraqi who work for a French non-governmental organisation have been released in Iraq more than two months after they went missing, French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said on Thursday, Reuters reports.
“The President of the Republic welcomes the release of our three nationals Antoine Brochon, Julien Dittmar, Alexandre Goodarzy and Iraqi Tariq Mattoka”, it said in a statement which indicated the four had been kidnapped.
The four men all work for SOS Chretiens d’Orient, an NGO which states on its website that it seeks to help Christians in the region. The four disappeared in Baghdad on Jan. 20.”
Saudi-Led coalition destroys drones launched by Yemen’s Houthis towards Kingdom
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-houthis-drones/saudi-led-coalition-destroys-drones-launched-by-yemens-houthis-towards-kingdom-idUSKBN21D3UG
“Saudi-Led coalition intercepted and destroyed drones launched by Iran-aligned Yemen’s Houthis towards “civilian targets” in Saudi cities of Abha and Khamis Mushait, state news agency spa said early Friday, citing the coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki.
The attack comes after Yemen’s warring parties had welcomed a U.N. call for an immediate truce on Thursday to fight the coronavirus outbreak.”
Taliban is a Strategic Tool for Pakistan’s Foreign Policy
https://www.khaama.com/taliban-is-a-strategic-tool-for-pakistans-foreign-policy-6756758/
EU to launch new Libya mission Irini
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2020/03/26/eu-to-launch-new-libya-mission-iriri_5bf85716-775f-4a93-86cd-5b8cfcf6279a.html
“EU ambassadors reached a deal Thursday to start the EU military operation Irini to monitor the UN arms embargo on Libya, ANSA was told by several diplomatic sources. The mission will take the place of the current anti-trafficking operation Sophia, the mandate of which will end at the end of March.
Several unresolved issues have been resolved over the past weeks but that of ports at which to disembark migrants rescued at sea and how to redistribute them afterwards was still under debate. Irini will have air, naval, and satellite means at its disposal and though rescuing migrants will not be part of its mandate, on the basis of international law the ships taking part in the operation will be obliged to rescue any at risk of growing at sea.”
Germany: IS sympathizer jailed 10 years over poisoning plan
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-is-sympathizer-jailed-10-years-over-poisoning-plan/a-52932922
“Planning a ricin attack in Germany has ended in 10 years of jail time for an IS adherent. The Dusseldorf court heard that the Tunisian and his wife had stashed toxins and bomb components in their Cologne apartment.
The 31-year-old Tunisian who arrived in Germany in 2016 and became a postie was jailed by the Düsseldorf regional court Thursday on charges of concocting a biological weapon and preparing a serious act of violent subversion.
Federal prosecutors had told the court that Sief Allan H., whose full name was suppressed under German privacy rules, was caught in Cologne on Juni 2018 after purchasing castor beans to produce the toxic ricin.
The case against his 44-year-old wife is subject to separate proceedings. Their arrests follow a tip, reportedly from a foreign ricin cologneintelligence service.
They had also bought 250 steel bearings, said prosecutors, and were in the advanced stages of making explosive devices, which if detonated, could have killed a large number of people.
They had done so in their apartment in Cologne’s densely populated precinct of Chorweiler, with their children close by.
The Tunisian had staged a test detonation in a grassed area and tested the toxin on a hamster. It survived.
After a futile bid to join IS jihadis in Syria, he had let IS backers coach him on how to assemble a bomb, said prosecutors.
The convicted man had admitted bomb-making activities but denied having planned an attack inside Germany”
Terror convict Mullah Krekar extradited to Italy
12-year term for international terrorism
(ANSA) – Rome, March 26 – Faraj Ahmad Najmuddin aka Mullah Krekar was extradited to Italy from Norway Thursday to serve time for international terrorism.
He landed at Fiumicino and was taken to Rome’s Rebibbia Prison.
Krekar was sentenced last July 15 to 12 years in jail together with another five defendants, like him of Kurdish-Iraqi origin, for “association with terrorism purposes, also international”
http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2020/03/26/terror-convict-mullah-krekar-extradited-to-italy_9bb94b7e-e721-4227-94f3-8aa51334f6ba.html
BBC – Norway extradites jihadist preacher Mullah Krekar to Italy
A fundamentalist Iraqi cleric has been extradited to Italy from Norway, despite concerns about the coronavirus.
Mullah Krekar, real name Najmaddin Faraj Ahmad, is considered a terrorist by the UN and the US.
In July 2019 he was convicted by an Italian court of leading a jihadist group.
His lawyers challenged his extradition, citing the coronavirus pandemic.
Italy is the country worst affected by the outbreak. It has reported more than 7,500 deaths.
Norway has recorded 3,250 confirmed cases and 14 deaths.
Who is Mullah Krekar?
The 63-year-old Iraqi Kurdish preacher came to Norway as a refugee in 1991.
He was the founder of the defunct Islamic group Ansar al-Islam, although has since distanced himself from the group.
Norway has been trying to extradite him for years, judging him to be a threat to national security since 2007.But under Norwegian law it would be illegal to extradite him to Iraq – despite repeated requests by Kurdish authorities – because he could face the death penalty.
Last year, an Italian court sentenced him to 12 years behind bars for leading the Rawti Shax network, a now-disbanded Kurdish movement that allegedly has links with the Islamic State group and is thought to have planned attacks in Western countries.
Krekar has previously called the charges “fake”.
What happened?
On Thursday, Norwegian Justice Minister Monica Maeland told journalists he had been extradited to the country.
“We have been given assurances that he will receive the help he should have and needs,” she told reporters.
But Krekar’s lawyer, Brynjar Meiling, said the authorities had not even allowed his client to say goodbye to his family.
Krekar is at particular risk from coronavirus due to his diabetes and high blood pressure, his lawyer said. Mr Meiling called it a “day of shame” for Norway.
Krekar does not hold Norwegian citizenship, unlike his wife and four children.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52054602
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