Reader’s Links for January 28, 2021

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.

About Eeyore

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

64 Replies to “Reader’s Links for January 28, 2021”

  1. Listening to Radio Lab at midnight a speaker reasoned why Trump was banned from social media. She listed inciting violence, child abuse etc. And the permitted included “consentual porn”.

    The fem-brained are so blind. Through this door, hell becomes called sane.

  2. Yet more on the riots in the Netherlands:
    Fire destroys theater in Rotterdam theme park; Arson suspected
    https://nltimes.nl/2021/01/28/fire-destroys-theater-rotterdam-theme-park-arson-suspected
    (videos in embedded tweets)

    14-year-old arrested for Rotterdam park fire, more are picked up for inciting riots
    https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2021/01/minor-is-arrested-for-rotterdam-park-fire-more-are-picked-up-for-inciting-riots/

    Business owners fined for breaking curfew while protecting their stores
    https://nltimes.nl/2021/01/27/business-owners-fined-breaking-curfew-protecting-stores

    Fifth night of curfew largely quiet; Few rioters on the street
    https://nltimes.nl/2021/01/28/fifth-night-curfew-largely-quiet-rioters-street

    The Netherlands: Looting is ‘pure terror’ for local shop owner
    https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-55818887

  3. When you’re dead, you don’t know you’re dead. The pain is only felt by others. The same thing happens when you’re stupid.

    • This is so funny but true.
      I know some stupid people. A total waste of time. They have a locked one-track brain process. No side openings.
      When engaging with these people, laugh at whatever they say. This really bothers them. If they question you about your laughing, just reply that they wouldn’t understand. Let it go at that.

  4. Four pings on the partially declassified Christopher Steele interview documents – Liberty Unyielding
    J.E. Dyer
    19-24 minutes

    Four pings on the partially declassified Christopher Steele interview documents

    Christopher Steele and “Primary Sub-Source” Igor Danchenko shirt up for the roles of their lives. LU Staff

    This will not be a comprehensive analysis, by any means. It’s an ordered analysis, in which I am saving what to me is the most interesting aspect of the interview for last. But other than that, it’s a way-marker for future thinking.

    Others have already compiled the basics; e.g., that Christopher Steele, when he spoke in September 2017, said the overall motive for the dossier was combatting Hillary’s email problem; that his and Orbis’s (his company’s) key concern was that Trump was a threat to the U.S./UK special relationship; that Steele went to the media when James Comey reopened Hillary’s email “matter” in the month before the 2016 election; that Fiona Hill – later of Ukraine phone-call hearings fame – had recommended the dossier’s primary sub-source (PSS) to Steele, whom she had known for some years. (The PSS has been identified as Igor Danchenko; more on him in this earlier article. I will refer to him by his FBI designation in this one.)

    As much as it may seem like this is increasingly water under the bridge, it’s important to stick with the information about 2016. Without it, we still don’t have the proper perspective on why there continues to be such a vast-scoped attempt to take down Donald Trump.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2021/01/28/four-pings-on-the-partially-declassified-christopher-steele-interview-documents/

  5. Swedish Populists Propose Building More Churches in Malmo No-Go Area (breitbart, Jan 28, 2021)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/01/28/swedish-populists-propose-building-more-churches-in-malmo-no-go-area/

    “The populist Sweden Democrats (SD) have called on the Church of Sweden to establish itself in the no-go Malmö area of Rosengård, stating that the area is perceived as a Muslim enclave.

    The party presented a motion to the local Malmö government calling on the church to establish a Christian meeting place to undertake missionary work in the area and help expose new migrant arrivals to Christianity — until recently Sweden’s dominant culture.

    “One of the Swedish church’s basic tasks is missionary work and thus it goes without saying that the Church of Sweden should be present in precisely those areas where there is currently no Christian presence and where there are many Malmö residents who can possibly convert,” the motion states.

    According to a report from newspaper Världen Idag, the SD want a church in the area to “break the monopoly of Islam when it comes to religious presence in the area.”
    According to the newspaper, the area had a Church of Sweden church that was inaugurated in 1970 but due to lack of attendance and membership, it was eventually turned into a general community centre.

    The area does have one active church, however, a Roman Catholic church that was inaugurated in 1990.

    The closest Church of Sweden church to Rosengard, the Västra Skrävlinge church, lies just outside of the no-go area and last year was subjected to vandalism in August for seven days in a row, with vandals breaking windows and a statue of Jesus.

    Mikael Göth, the supervising priest at the church, commented don the vandalism saying, “People are distraught, anxious, and worried for their safety.”

    “We got a wave of seven nights in a row” he said and added, “They went to church, smashed windows, made a disturbance, and knocked over the statue. Now we have guards and the police are involved.”

    During that same month, locals in Malmo took part in riots and attacks against police after members of the Danish anti-Islam party Stram Kurs (Hard Line) burned a copy of the Qur’an in Rosengard.”

  6. French Police Complain Over Lack of Punishment for Far-Left Black Bloc Militants (breitbart, Jan 28, 2021)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/01/28/french-police-complain-over-lack-of-punishment-for-far-left-black-bloc-militants/

    “Police in Nantes have expressed anger at the light punishments courts have given to far-left Antifa black bloc militants who violently attack officers at demonstrations, some incidents resulting in serious injuries.

    While the French government has called on police to confront and break up violent black bloc rioters, officers in Nantes say that the local prosecutor’s office often hands out lax punishments and sometimes release the violent extremists without charge.

    A police officer, using the pseudonym Sebastian, told broadcaster Franceinfo how black bloc extremists threw bottles and stones at him and his colleagues, and described how the court released one attacker, a Spanish-speaker, because no translator was available.
    Prosecutors also allegedly released one rioter on grounds there was a lack of evidence against him, despite the militant admitting to investigators that he had thrown glass bottles and other projectiles.

    “The individual was not prosecuted ‘for lack of evidence’. We were left in complete confusion and dismay. This means that even when we see the individual attacking and throwing bottles, when he admits to doing so, when he says he belongs to the black bloc movement, well, the case is simply closed in court!” Sebastian said.

    “It’s been like this for the past 10 or 12 years in Nantes. They’re afraid of the police, because they’re running away, but they’re not afraid of justice,” the officer added.

    “The fatigue is increasing in the ranks of the Nantes police officers: too much leniency on the part of justice, a lack of support from the hierarchy,” a local police union said, revealing officers were leaving the job over the lack of support.

    Police are often the targets of Antifa black bloc members at demonstrations and have been attacked not only with Molotov cocktail firebombs but with chemicals, such as during a protest last year in Paris.

    Anifa extremists have also been arrested for allegedly plotting to murder police officers as recently as last month when seven far-left extremists were arrested. The group’s leader, 36-year-old Florian D., is said to have fought with Kurdish YPG forces in Syria.”

  7. Sweden: Student injured in axe, knife incident at school (abcnews, Jan 28, 2021)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sweden-student-injured-axe-knife-incident-school-75536814

    “A man suspected of entering a Swedish high school with an axe and a knife Thursday has been apprehended, police said.

    One student was slightly injured at the school in Fridhemsberg, a town 75 kilometers (47 miles) southeast of Goteborg, Sweden’s second-largest city, according to police.

    Witnesses described a perpetrator wearing a helmet and yellow clothes entering the school armed with a knife and an axe, and who was later seen leaving the premises.

    Police said an axe, a knife and a helmet with a visor were found at the school. Clothes, as those described by witnesses, were found in a nearby parked car.

    A man in his 20s who police said may be linked to the school incident and a nearby fire was later apprehended.

    Police spokesman Stefan Gustafsson told the Expressen newspaper said the man admitted having been on the school grounds.

    The case was being investigated on suspicion of preparation for murder and arson, police said in a statement.”

  8. Iran says production of enriched uranium exceeds goals (abcnews, Jan 28, 2021)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iran-production-enriched-uranium-exceeds-goals-75534739

    “Iran has exceeded 17 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium within a month’s time, state TV reported Thursday, moving its nuclear program closer to weapons-grade enrichment levels amid heightened tensions with the U.S.

    Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, during a visit to the country’s Fordo nuclear facility, said in a televised speech that in less than a month, scientists passed 17 kilograms (37.5 pounds) of 20% enriched uranium.

    Uranium enriched to 20% is a short technical step away from weapons-grade 90% enrichment. Western nations have criticized Iran’s enrichment activity and called on Tehran to adhere to a 2015 nuclear accord.

    Iran has said it would produce 120 kilograms (44 pounds) of 20% enriched uranium per year, or 12 kilograms per month on average, so 17 kilograms would exceed that timetable.

    Roughly 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of 20% enriched uranium are needed to convert it into 25 kilograms of the 90% enriched needed for a nuclear weapon.

    The development brings Iran closer to crossing the line between nuclear operations with a potential civilian use, such as enriching nuclear fuel for power-generating reactors, and nuclear-weapons work, something Tehran has long denied ever carrying out.

    Former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew America from Iran’s nuclear deal, in which Tehran had agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. After the U.S. then ramped up sanctions, Iran gradually and publicly abandoned the deal’s limits on its nuclear development.

    President Joe Biden, who was vice president when the deal was signed during the Obama administration, has said he hopes to return the U.S. to the deal.”

  9. 2 men caned 77 times for having sex in Indonesia’s Aceh (abcnews, Jan 28, 2021)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/men-caned-77-times-gay-sex-indonesias-aceh-75533566

    “Two men in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province were publicly caned each 77 times Thursday after neighbors reported them to Islamic religious police for having sex.

    Dozens of people witnessed the caning at Banda Aceh’s Tamansari city park. It’s the third time that Aceh, the only province in Indonesia to practice Shariah law, has caned people for homosexuality since the Islamic law was implemented in 2015 as a concession made by the government to end a long-running separatist rebellion.

    The men, aged 27 and 29, were whipped across the back and winced with pain as a team of five enforcers wearing robes and hoods took turns, relieving one another after every 40 strokes.

    The men were arrested in November after residents became suspicious and broke into their rented room where they were caught having sex, said Heru Triwijanarko, Aceh’s acting Sharia police chief.

    A Shariah court last month sentenced each man to 80 strokes, but they were caned 77 times after a remission for time spent in prison.

    Four other people received 17 strokes for extra-marital relations and 40 strokes for drinking alcohol.

    A Shariah code allows up to 100 lashes for morality offenses including gay sex. Caning is also punishment for adultery, gambling, drinking and for women who wear tight clothes and men who skip Friday prayers.

    With the exception of Aceh, homosexuality is not illegal in Indonesia, but the country’s low-profile LGBT community has been under siege in the past years.”

    • These are the same “appreciative” muslims who spat at western aid workers when they came to help after the tsunami while their countries donated some 12 billion $ in aid(for an eye opener on islamic concepts of charity and altruism have a look at how much was the sum total of aid from ALL of the oil rich ME arab states (<<1 billion IIRC with Iran giving 500k)).

  10. Absolute madness

    Denis McDonough has been confirmed as Secretary of the VA. I guess nobody knows or cares what a terrorist supporter this vile loser is.

  11. Gravitas: Wuhan Virus Pandemic: Leaked audio featuring WHO officials reveal China’s lapses

  12. Advisor: Trump Will Not Launch a New Party; Biden’s China Policy Still under Review: WH Press Sec.

  13. Meet Biden’s Def Secy. – Ex director of an arms selling major who wishes to destabilise West Asia.

    • Jellyfish have survived 650 million years despite not having a brain- – this gives so many people hope.

  14. Liberty Minute: Reddit vs Wall Street, Proud Boys Leader with FBI, Biden Bans “China Virus”

  15. Some in Weld County asking to secede from Colorado to join Wyoming

    KDVR-TV | Jan 28, 2021 | News | 0
    Some in Weld County asking to secede from Colorado to join Wyoming

    WELD COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) – If you live in Weld County, you may soon be asked if you want to live in Wyoming instead.

    According to the political committee “Weld County Wyoming,” the question is part of a new push to get a measure on the November ballot that would “instruct Weld County Commissioners to engage and explore the annexation of Weld County with the State of Wyoming’s Legislature.”

    “Can this be done? Yes, it can be done. Is it going to be easy? No,” Christopher “Todd” Richards said during a meeting posted to YouTube in November.

    According to Colorado’s campaign finance disclosure website, Richards registered Weld County Wyoming in February 2020. He said during the meeting posted to YouTube that he got the idea in 2019 after reading an op-ed in the Denver Post and began pursuing the idea through a Facebook page soon after.

    “We’re going to move a county to a different state,” he explained during the meeting. “We’re not really moving. We’re just moving a line.”

    The idea is to re-draw the state lines to exclude Weld County from Colorado and include it within Wyoming’s borders instead.

    “Specifically for those of us who live in Weld County, we live in a state who is no longer a minister to us for good,” a pastor at the meeting posted to YouTube said. “The state of Colorado is at war with three major economic drivers for Weld County: small businesses, agriculture, and oil and gas.”

    With a population of more than 324,000 people and growing, not everyone in Weld County agrees with the the idea to “move.”

    “I absolutely love living in Colorado. For those that don’t love living here, there are certainly less ridiculous ways of moving to Wyoming,” Greeley City Council member Tommy Butler told FOX31.

    If Weld County joined Wyoming, the state’s population would increase by more than 50%; its current population is about 579,000.

    FOX31 reached out to city leaders in several cities across Weld County as well as the county commissioners.

    Erie Mayor Jennifer Carroll said in a statement:

    https://www.gopusa.com/?p=105842?omhide=true

  16. Iraq’s Prime Minister Announces Elimination of Daesh ‘Deputy Caliph and the Governor of Iraq’ (sputniknews, Jan 28, 2021)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202101281081910141-iraqs-prime-minister-announces-elimination-of-daesh-deputy-caliph-and-the-governor-of-iraq/

    “In late 2020, official Baghdad said that the Daesh* terrorist group had scaled up its operations in the country. Iraq previously declared victory over the group in 2017.

    Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi has announced the elimination of Daesh* commander Abu Yaser Al-Issawi. He was a commander who claimed to be the leader of the group in Iraq and its “deputy caliph”.

    Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said in November that the Daesh* group had intensified its activities and was present in the provinces of Anbar, Kirkuk and Diyala, and certain areas in Nineveh province.

    Baghdad maintains contact with Western European nations on their citizens who have joined Daesh* and staged terror attacks in Iraq, the foreign minister noted.

    Iraq declared victory over the terror group in late 2017. At the same time, the Iraqi Armed Forces, supported by people’s militia and the international coalition, continue purges and operations to identify sleeper cells of terrorist groups in certain areas.

    In 2019, the United States announced that Daesh* leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed in Syria during a special operation undertaken by US troops. Then-President Donald Trump thanked Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Syrian Kurds for their assistance in the operation to eliminate the terror group’s leader.

    *Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other states”

    • Jellyfish have survived 650 million years despite not having a brain – – this gives so many hope but it never seems to change.

  17. “1-27-21 The Biden Flush: Will America save Her Republic?”
    Ann Vandersteel – Streamed live 18 hours ago
    @23:43 Guest: Andrew Romine – Very Interesting…

  18. At Least 6 Dead, Others Taken to Hospital After Chemical Leak in Georgia: Officials
    By Jack Phillips
    January 28, 2021 Updated: January 28, 2021
    biggersmaller Print

    Officials in Georgia said at least six people died and about a dozen people were hospitalized following a chemical leak at a food processing plant on Thursday.

    A liquid nitrogen leak occurred at the Prime Pak Foods facility at 10 a.m. local time in Hall County, officials told WSB-TV. They said an “explosion” may have occurred.

    Other reports, including one from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said five people died and 10 people were injured.

    The Hall County Emergency Management Department issued a shelter-in-place order for the Lyman Hall Elementary School over the leak.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/at-least-6-dead-others-taken-to-hospital-after-chemical-leak-in-georgia-officials_3675749.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-01-28-2

  19. John Brennan’s Dark Fantasies Become a Homeland Security Bulletin
    Chris Farrell
    6-8 minutes

    Pictured: Former CIA Director John Brennan. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

    In a shocking moment of honesty and clarity, Obama CIA Director John Brennan gave the rest of America keen insight into The Washington DC Establishment’s plans and actions for the Trumpsters and other “Deplorables” populating the land.

    In an interview, Brennan lies and exaggerates to the public about a supposed domestic terrorist insurgency across the country that is gaining strength and threatening the republic. Brennan asserts that he knows that members of the Biden team:
    6-8 minutes

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17008/john-brennan-dark-fantasies

  20. PACKING THE COURT: Biden Launches Commission On ‘Supreme Court Reform’

    https://gellerreport.com/2021/01/biden-2-pack-the-court.html/

    “The commission will be housed under the purview of the White House Counsel’s office and filled out with the behind-the-scenes help of the Biden campaign’s lawyer Bob Bauer,” the article continues.

    “Its specific mandate is still being decided. But, in a signal that the commission is indeed moving ahead, some members have already been selected, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions.”

  21. No More Hard Questions: Biden Team Considers Banning Conservative Media from Press Briefings
    Jim Hoft
    4-5 minutes

    In January 2017 the Gateway Pundit announced we would be represented in the Trump White House with a reporter at the daily briefings.

    The liberals did not take the news well and our reporter Lucian Wintrich was attacked nearly every day he set his foot into the press room. Lucian was even accosted and harassed at one point by the vicious reporter-activists in the room.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/no-hard-questions-biden-team-considers-banning-conservative-media-press-briefings/

  22. ‘Wartime Mode’: Inside China’s Current Virus Hotspots
    By Eva Fu and Frank Fang
    January 27, 2021 Updated: January 27, 2021
    biggersmaller Print

    China is seeing its worst CCP virus resurgence in months as the Lunar New Year approaches. During the annual holiday, tens of millions travel across the country, crowding buses, trains, and planes, to reunite with their families. But this year, dozens of Chinese provinces and cities are urging against “unnecessary trips,” telling people to stay where they are while imposing quarantine measures to contain the virus.

    At daily virus press briefings, officials have spread theories about imported cases seeding local outbreaks and people getting infected through frozen food packaging—though disease experts have said the risk of infection through viral material on food packaging is very low.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/wartime-mode-inside-chinas-current-virus-hotspots_3672911.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-01-27-5

  23. Being a guinea pig sucks. I’m lodging a complaint with the North American Guinea Pig Association.

  24. THIS IS THREAT OF WAR! Philippines files protest over China’s new coastguard laws in South China Sea

  25. US calls on Turkey and Russia to ‘immediately’ withdraw forces from Libya
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-calls-turkey-russia-withdraw-forces-libya

    “The United States has called for the immediate withdrawal of Russian and Turkish forces from Libya after a United Nations-mandated deadline for them to leave was left unanswered.

    Under a United Nations-brokered ceasefire signed in October last year, foreign troops and mercenaries were mandated to pull out of Libya within three months.

    That deadline passed on Saturday with no movement to leave announced or observed on the ground.

    “We call on all external parties, to include Russia, Turkey and the UAE, to respect Libyan sovereignty and immediately cease all military intervention in Libya,” Richard Mills, acting US ambassador to the UN, said on Thursday during a UN Security Council meeting on Libya…”

  26. Somalia, Syria, Yemen most corrupt states in the world
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210128-somalia-syria-yemen-most-corrupt-states-in-the-world/

    “A report by the global watchdog group Transparency International has ranked Somalia, Syria, and Yemen as among the most corrupt states in the world in a list of 180 countries.

    The annual Corruption Perceptions Index survey released by Transparency International, which measures perceived public-sector corruption and highlights the impact of corruption on government responses to COVID-19, revealed that the three countries with the lowest perceived corruption levels are Denmark, New Zealand, and Finland.

    Meanwhile, Somalia and South Sudan fared the worst with scores of 12 to put them at 179th place, behind Syria with a score of 14, Yemen and Venezuela at 15, Sudan and Equatorial Guinea with 16, and Libya with 17…”

  27. US secretly moved Russia air defence system from Libya, report reveals
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210128-us-secretly-moved-russia-air-defence-system-from-libya-report-reveals/

    “The United States’ military has been revealed to have transported a captured Russian air defence missile system from Libya to Germany, in covert efforts to gather intelligence from the system’s infrastructure.

    The truck-mounted Pantsir S-1 missile battery, which can engage multiple targets from low altitudes with a range of around 20 miles, was transported to the US air force’s Ramstein base in south-west Germany in June last year due to fears that it could end up in the hands of militias or smugglers in the war-torn country.

    The air defence system, owned by the United Arab Emirates which gave it to the Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, was recovered from the Watiya airbase in May last year after Libyan government forces captured it. Government fighters then sent the Pantsir to the town of Zawiya where a Daesh-affiliated militia commander named Mohamad Bahroun seized it.

    The Libyan Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha and his forces, however, pressured Bahroun to release the missile system, which was then taken to a base and then Zuwara airport where the US air force’s C-17 Globemaster cargo plane collected it.

    According to the British newspaper the Times, the US aimed to acquire the captured missile defence system in order to gather intelligence on it and to study its mechanisms and database. This was especially in retaliation for the shooting down of a US reaper drone over Libya in November 2019, which was allegedly carried out by a Pantsir system.

    A Russian official has reportedly admitted that his country knew that the US had transported the missile system, but dismissed notions that any important intelligence could be collected from it. That is because export versions such as the one owned by the UAE are allegedly stripped of a confidential identification database to hide transponder codes for all jets in the Russian air force.

    The US’ mission to transport the system further reveals the extent to which Washington and Moscow operate against each other in the embattled north African country. Last year in particular witnessed the US exposing Russia’s interference in Libya, when the US’ Africa Command openly stated that Russia had deployed fighter jets to the country in support of Haftar.

    Then in December, US intelligence released a report indicating the UAE’s involvement in funding and deploying Russian mercenaries from the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group to Libya, acknowledging the Gulf country’s role in the conflict and war crimes.

    Speaking to the Times, Libya researcher Wolfram Lacher from the German think tank SWP said: “It’s remarkable that a state which is a major importer of US weapons would then hand a sophisticated weapons system to a warlord who handles it so recklessly that it then falls into the hands of a potentially dangerous militia leaders on the other side.””

  28. 47 illegals arrested at Riyadh market
    https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/47-illegals-arrested-at-riyadh-market-1.1611826190538

    “Saudi labour authorities had arrested 47 expatriates illegally working at a vegetable and fruit market in Riyadh as part of a clampdown on irregular migrant workers. The 47 have violated the kingdom’s residency and labour regulations, according to Saudi media.

    They were handed over to the directorate in charge of expatriates to finalise their deportation procedures.

    The illegals had been exposed during inspection tours conducted by teams affiliated with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development in the Riyadh region. The inspectors, moreover, recorded 42 breaches of the Saudi labour system.

    The ministry’s branch in Riyadh has said it receives reports on labour violations via the smart app “Together for Monitoring” and the hotline 19911. In November, Saudi Arabia unveiled major labour reforms, allowing job mobility and regulating the exit and re-entry visa issuance for expatriate workers without employers’ approval.

    Millions of migrant workers in the kingdom stand to benefit from the reforms, which will come into effect in March. However, the reforms, drastically revamping the country’s sponsorship system, will not apply to domestic workers including chauffeurs, gardeners and home guards, according to local media.”

  29. Arab Group Wants Permanent Seat at UN Security Council
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2021/01/333506/arab-group-wants-permanent-seat-at-un-security-council/

    “The Arab Group at the UN, represented by Kuwait, called on Tuesday, January 26, for having a permanent Arab representation at the UN Security Council, if the council undergoes an expansion.

    The international group also called for a “more proportional” Arab representation in non-permanent UN Security Council seats.

    Kuwait’s Ambassador to the UN, Mansour Al-Otaibi, made the statement on behalf of the Arab Group during a meeting of the 75th UN General Assembly for intergovernmental negotiations.

    The meeting tackled the issue of “equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the security council.”

    The UN Security Council is currently composed of 15 member states, including five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US — and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms.

    The debate about the reform of the Security Council and its expansion to become more inclusive has been ongoing for over a decade, but it is yet to bear results.

    In the event the UN Security Council gets expanded in the future, member states of the Arab League would like to have a permanent seat.

    A permanent seat at the council gives its holder the power of veto, enabling them to prevent the adoption of any “substantive” resolution, regardless of its level of international support.

    Al-Otaibi said on Tuesday that the Arab Group’s call is “based on objective criteria represented by the Arab population density and the number of Arab countries in the United Nations.”

    The Kuwaiti diplomat also argued that Arab countries deserve to have a permanent seat at the Security Council because much of the council’s agenda relates to conflicts in the Arab world.

    Al-Otaibi expressed the Arab Group’s support for a “real and comprehensive” reform of the UN Security Council to make it “more representative, transparent, neutral, and credible.””

  30. Mosque prayer leader found dead in Lahore with throat slit
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/2281682/mosque-prayer-leader-found-dead-in-lahore-with-throat-slit

    “The prayer leader of Shalimar Mosque, situated in Multani Colony in Lahore, was found dead on Thursday with his throat slit.

    The police identified the deceased as Asif, son of Mureed Hussain. His body was found from the quarters adjacent to the mosque.

    According to preliminary investigation, unidentified people had come to meet the victim in his quarters last night. The police suspect the same visitors to have killed Asif.

    Lahore police chief Ghulam Mehmood Dogar informed that an FIR has been registered and investigation launched. “The culprits will soon be arrested,” he added.

    The body of the deceased had been moved to a morgue for autopsy.

    In early January, police claimed to have arrested two suspects involved in the kidnapping and subsequent murder of two sisters in Kahna area. The victims were found with throats slit and limbs tied.

    The bodies of the two women were recovered from a drain in Kahna in December last year and January this year.

    The victims were identified as Abida 26 and Sajida 28. Both had gone missing on November 26 under suspicious circumstances after they left home for shopping in a nearby bazaar. An abduction case in Kahna police station was also registered.

    Police said suspect Mumtaz Khan and Muhammad Naeem were arrested after being nominated in the FIR registered by the family of the slain women.

    On December 14, the body of an unidentified woman was recovered from the drain in Kahna. The victim’s throat was slit and her arms and legs were tied. The other body was recovered on January 4. She had also been murdered in a similar fashion and dumped into the drain.

    It was only after the second woman’s body was discovered that the police found the two women to be sisters.”