Ozzone 4-10 > Has that body of sin, that ‘old man’ in you been killed right out? Crucified? It’s a decision of the will, a moral decision that only you can make. The sooner you make it, the better.

 

Corruption is Everywhere - WHO, Big Pharma, EU, and Other Liars

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14 nations express 'concerns' over lack of data in WHO report on Covid-19 origins after agency chief flags access issues in China

30 Mar, 2021 18:35

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

©  Fabrice Coffrini / Pool via REUTERS

Fourteen countries including the US and UK have expressed "concerns" over a new report into the origins of Covid-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO) after the agency's own chief also highlighted data-access issues.

"It is equally essential that we voice our shared concerns that the international expert study on the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples," a joint statement from the nations read.

The signatories included the governments of Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia, the UK and US.

The statement also called for a further analysis of the outbreak of Covid-19 that is "transparent", "free from interference" and "unimpeded."

A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that China had "offered necessary facilitation for the team's work", and warned against "politicizing" efforts to identify the origins of Covid-19.

The joint statement echoes comments made by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who said that the UN health agency's scientists had trouble "accessing raw data" while in China.

"I expect future collaborative studies to include more timely and comprehensive data sharing," he said during a news briefing on Tuesday, adding he did not believe the report was "extensive enough."

Two months earlier, the WHO chief praised China's response to the pandemic, adding that President Xi Jinping had "encouraged and impressed" him with his knowledge of the coronavirus.

The 120-page WHO report was published on Tuesday after a team of international scientists visited the Chinese city of Wuhan between January 14 and February 10, 2021.

The scientists visited the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where the virus is believed to have spread from.

The team did not find the source of Covid-19, but their report effectively ruled out its origin from a laboratory accident, saying it was "extremely unlikely," while the virus's introduction through frozen food chains was considered "possible."

The report did say that the introduction of the virus through an intermediate host followed by zoonotic transmission – from animals to humans – was considered "likely to very likely."

Pretty definitive terms, 'extremely unlikely', 'likely to very likely', considering the lack of raw data they had access to. I suspect they would have arrived at those same conclusions if they had not received any data whatsoever. 

Germany says AstraZeneca Covid shot should only be given to people over 60 as country tallies 9 deaths from blood clots

30 Mar, 2021 13:58

A vial with AstraZeneca's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine is pictured in Berlin, Germany, March 16, 2021. ©  REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

Germany has restricted the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine as a precautionary measure amid reports the jab is being linked to more cases of suspected adverse effects, some resulting in death.

The country’s Standing Vaccination Commission recommended on Tuesday that AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria only be given to men and women over the age of 60, or in exceptional cases. The decision was made due to “available, albeit limited, evidence” concerning the drug’s safety.

The commission announced its recommendation hours after the city of Berlin introduced an identical policy. Earlier, two state-owned clinics in the city halted AstraZeneca shots for women under 55 years of age. Munich followed suit with its own rule banning the shot for people under 60. 

Health Minister Jens Spahn was scheduled to speak with regional counterparts about the AstraZeneca drug later on Tuesday, a ministry spokesperson announced. Germany had suspended emergency use of the AstraZeneca shot earlier this month, but then lifted the temporary ban after EU regulators deemed it to be safe.

The latest restrictions placed on the drug come after Germany's vaccine regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, disclosed that as of March 29, the country has recorded 31 cases of cerebral sinus vein thrombosis (CSVT), nine of which resulted in death, after people were given the Vaxzevria injection. CSVT is a rare form of blood clot that forms in the brain. 

31 Cases, 9 deaths - these numbers are being reported as global numbers when they are all from within Germany. Many media outlets have no real affinity for the truth.

Of the 31 cases of CSVT, all except two involved women between the ages of 20 and 63. Before the new guidelines were issued in Berlin, a district in North Rhine-Westphalia state suspended shots for women under 55 after two women suffered from blood clots. 

Nearly 2.7 million first doses of Vaxzevria have been administered in Germany. According to official figures, women under the age of 70 make up two-thirds of those vaccinated with the AstraZeneca drug. It’s believed that more women than men have received the shot because nurses were among the first group in Germany to take the jab. 

AstraZeneca has been scrambling to reassure governments that its product is safe after more than a dozen countries temporarily halted their rollout of the vaccine following similar reports of blood clots. Canada is the latest country to issue an advisory about the drug, instructing that the vaccine should not be administered to people younger than 55. 

EU health authorities have insisted that the vaccine is safe and that the medical episodes cannot be linked to the jab.

EU seems to always come out on the side of Big Pharma rather than the people of Europe! Last year, Astra Zeneca was restricted to those under 65 because they used an inappropriately small number of elderly people in the testing. This is how you inflate your efficacy numbers. Now they have reversed and use for people over 55 or 60. Astra Zeneca has zero credibility in my view.

Sicily’s Covid chief quits amid investigation into claims he rigged coronavirus data to avoid tougher lockdown

30 Mar, 2021 14:26

A police officer stands at the University Plaza during what would usually be the annual Feast of

Sant'Agata procession but this year was cancelled due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19),

in Catania, Sicily, February 2, 2021. ©  REUTERS / Antonio Parrinello

The councilor for health of the Sicilian region, Ruggero Razza, resigned on Tuesday amid an investigation into allegations that data presented to national officials was rigged to avoid tougher lockdown restrictions in the area.

The investigation centers around allegations that the Sicilian regional government rigged figures provided to Italy’s National Health Institute (ISS), with police claiming they have evidence of around 40 incidents of forged data since November 2020.

A wiretap revealed by Italian media outlets reportedly caught Razza asking an official to “spread out a little” data on deaths from coronavirus, affecting the information the national government used to determine whether to increase or ease Covid restrictions in the regions. Police have seized communication devices owned by Razza.

The councilor for health’s departure comes after three employees of the regional government were placed under house arrest by local police over the allegations. Although police believe that Razza was “partially involved in the criminal activities,” they have said that they currently don’t have any serious evidence against him.

Razza has denied any wrongdoing and, in a statement, claimed that “to save the administration from unavoidable controversy, I have asked the regional governor to accept my resignation.”

Italy currently has a four-tiered system in place – white, yellow, orange, and red – with each zone requiring different Covid restrictions to help prevent the nation’s healthcare system from being overwhelmed.

Sicily is currently ranked as an orange zone, where you can only travel within your town and are prohibited from visiting other municipalities unless for an essential reason.

Since the start of the pandemic, Italy has recorded the sixth highest number of coronavirus cases – more than 3.5 million – and seventh highest fatality rate, with nearly 108,000 deaths.

French-based international pharmaceutical company Servier convicted over deadly weight loss drug deaths

29 Mar, 2021 11:09

FILE PHOTO: The logo of the pharmaceutical giant Servier Laboratoires in Suresnes, outside Paris.

©  AP Photo / Michel Euler

International pharma giant Servier has been convicted in France of aggravated fraud and involuntary manslaughter after thousands took the company to court over the effects of a drug that was sold as weight loss medication.

One of the biggest health scandals in French history

The court case was held from September 2019 to July 2020, taking up five courtrooms, with 12 people and 11 entities, Servier, nine of its subsidiaries, as well as France’s medicines agency (ANSM), put on trial. The inquiry required around 400 lawyers and featured 6,500 plaintiffs, in what was described as one of the biggest health scandals in French history.

The trial focused on a drug called Mediator, which allegedly is behind hundreds of deaths, with individuals accusing the company of ignoring the risks of the medicine and allowing it to be used for weight loss.

Sylvie Daunis, one of the magistrates presiding over the case, accused the company of having “undermined confidence in the health system,” finding the company guilty of aggravated fraud and involuntary manslaughter.

Servier has repeatedly denied that it knew about the risks posed by the use of Mediator and claims it didn’t sign off on its use as a weight loss drug, citing how it was designed to be diabetes medicine.

ANSM was accused of colluding in attempts to cover up the effects that the drug had on individuals who took it, allowing it to remain on sale.

Handing down the verdict, the judges fined the company €2.7 million ($3.2 million) and issued a fine of €303,000 to ANSM. Servier’s former deputy boss, Jean Philippe Seta, was given a four-year suspended sentence.

So, no-one goes to jail regardless of how many deaths occurred! Justice for the rich doesn't look anything like justice for the poor.

The drug was removed from circulation in 2009, a decade after it was first linked to reports of fatalities, with the French health minister stating that at least 500 people died from heart problems due to a key ingredient in Mediator, suggesting the total number could be as many as 2,000.

It could have been 10,000 and still, no-one would have gone to jail. Big pharma has no concern for the welfare of its customers, only for their money. And they have no reason to fear justice, at least, not in this lifetime.

Corruption is Everywhere - Indian Governments and Police Forces Accused of Corruption

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Maharashtra: A sensational case lays bare police extortion and

threatens Uddhav Thackeray-led government

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BJP had upped the ante and launched a high decibel campaign to bring down state government

Published:  March 23, 2021 09:05

Swati Chaturvedi, Special to Gulf News

Maharashtra: If Thackeray does not act convincingly, he won’t have a government or a reputation left

Image Credit: Reuters

Most people who live in South East Asia intuitively know that the police — any police force — is bent, ready to extort and always ready to break the law it is supposed to uphold.

So the shenanigans in the Mumbai police, which would put any Bollywood thriller to shame, are not surprising.

The plot, if you can call it that, involves explosives placed outside the residence of one the richest man in the world — Mukesh Ambani, an encounter cop taken back in the force nearly two decades after he had to leave — called a “Shiv Sainik in uniform”, a murder victim, disgruntled ex police chief making sensational charges against his political boss of asking for ₹ 100 crore every month from extortion.

If this was not embarrassing enough, with the clear and present reek of corruption, add a former chief minister desperate to return to office backed by his angry political party which is still livid at being denied power in India’s financial capital — Mumbai.

Add to this a case of fudged Television Rating Points (TRP), an anchor plus channel owner aligned with the BJP, and you have yourself the spiciest vada pav one that is difficult to even take a bite of.

BJP's final push

And, as Devendra Fadnavis mounts visceral attack after attack on the unlikely Maharashtra Vikas Agadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray who was the BJP’s first ally and saffron twin for 20 years, the matter of the explosives and the murder have been relegated to side stories as political heavyweights slug it out. Currently the survival of the government is the real stake, not solving a explosives case and a murder.

Some background for perspective. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has called Sharad Pawar chief of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) his “political guru”. Pawar invited him to Baramati, his fiefdom, exchanged pleasantries, yet chose to go with the Congress party and Shiv Sena to form a government in Maharashtra.

This came after a desperate Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tried to break the NCP by getting Ajit Pawar, nephew of Sharad Pawar, to defect to form a government with Fadnavis as the CM again. The government lasted less than the time it takes to fly from Delhi to Mumbai.

The BJP has not forgiven Pawar for this embarrassment galore. The party has also not forgiven Thackeray for spurning them and forming a government with erstwhile rivals the Congress party.

To understand the current war this background is essential. It was never about the utter collapse of law and order in Mumbai, Sachin Waze, Parambir Singh and Anil Deshmukh the home minister accused of corruption and extortion.

A big political slugfest

It was always about the real slugfest between Modi, Amit Shah, Pawar and Thackeray. And, how the MVA government can be toppled. Pawar, who conjured up this government, is now firefighting to save it.

Pawar has made three points that Singh’s allegations are serious as Deshmukh is a NCP nominee but, were made as an afterthought after he was removed from his plum post as commissioner Mumbai police, an independent inquiry needs to be held (Pawar has suggested Julio Riberio, an upright former commissioner of Mumbai police) and it is Thackeray’s prerogative as CM to sack Deshmukh if he wants.

Pawar has managed to defuse the explosive situation for the MVA government just as the BJP had upped the ante and launched a high decibel campaign to bring down the government.

Riberio however, has refused to head any inquiry calling the going on “very murky” and citing his advanced age — he is 92. What does need to be investigated is how Waze was brought back to the Mumbai police, citing Covid and then put in a high profile job, the fact that Waze was carrying a note counting machine in his Mercedes is the cherry on the cake. Yes. Re-read it slowly an assistant inspector of police carries a note counting machine.

While cops like Waze were brought back to tackle COVID, Mumbai has a record number of cases topping the charts in India.

If this is not a test case for a clean up, then what will be? Mumbai pays India’s highest income tax, most of India’s top corporates have headquarters in Mumbai, the Hindi film industry is based here and yet the reality is that anyone however rich, insulated and privileged is a phone call away from being extorted.

This ought to make any sane leader think but, clearly the only thoughts are to maximise extortion. The only way out of this morass where gangsters (Dawood Ibrahim ran his rackets in Mumbai where his father was a sub-inspector of police) and encounter cops rule the roost is police reform.

The time is now. If Thackeray does not act convincingly he won’t have a government or a reputation left.

Ozzone 4-9 > Have you seen Jesus? Not with your eyes but with your mind and heart?

 

‘When you see Him, you must tell, even if they don’t believe.’ This statement seems contrary to the point made in Ozzone 4-7. I believe Ozzie assumes that the ‘must telling’ must be followed by living a life that glorifies God. 

Islam - Current Day - Turk Throws Pregnant Wife Off Cliff; 147 Killed in Niger This Week; 100 Kilos of Dynamite in Norway; ISIS Traps 180 People

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Turkish man allegedly pushes pregnant wife off cliff after taking selfies

By Elizabeth Elizalde

February 17, 2021 | 7:41pm |

Semra Aysal seen with her husband Hakan Aysal just before her death in 2018.Newsflash

A Turkish man killed his pregnant wife by throwing her off a cliff after posing for selfies and then tried to cash in on her life insurance, prosecutors allege.

Hakan Aysal was arrested for murdering his 32-year-old wife, Semra Aysal, and their unborn baby during a vacation in Butterfly Valley in Mugla, Turkey, in June 2018, the Sun reported.

Aysal, 40, allegedly shoved his wife — who was seven months pregnant — off the cliff after they took pictures. She fell 1,000 feet and died instantly, according to the outlet.

Well, instantly once she hit the ground. She had several seconds of sheer terror to endure first. 

After Semra’s death, the husband tried to collect on a life insurance policy he took out for her worth 400,000 Turkish lira, or about $57,000. But he was denied due to a police investigation.

Prosecutors charge the murder wasn’t an “accident” and was premeditated because he wanted her money.

A court has ruled that Aysal be remanded in custody for premeditated murder.

The cliff where Semra Aysal was allegedly pushed to her death by her husband. Newsflash

Semra’s brother, Naim Yolcu, said his brother-in-law didn’t appear to show any emotion after his sister died.

“When we went to the Forensic Medicine Institute to get the body, Hakan was sitting in the car,” recalled Yoluc during a video interview in court.

“My family and I were destroyed, but Hakan did not even appear sad.”

Butterfly Valley, Mugla, TK

Niger: 10 killed in new attacks in south of country

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'Bandits' burn school and kill 3 in village of Zibane, 7 dead in Gabado

Published:  March 25, 2021 02:03

Reuters

In this file photo taken on February 23, 2021 Niger's newly elected president Mohamed Bazoum gestures at his party headquarter after the announcement of his election in Niamey, on February 23, 2021. Image Credit: AFP

Niamey: At least 10 people were killed on Wednesday in attacks on two villages in the Tillaberi region of southwest Niger, a senior security source said.

Armed “bandits” burned a school and killed three people in the village of Zibane and seven in Gabado, the source said.

Security forces are making checks at the scene and the death toll could rise, the source said. It is not clear who carried out the attack.

137 killed last Sunday

Gunmen killed 137 people in coordinated raids on villages in the southwest on Sunday, one of the deadliest days in recent memory in a country ravaged by Islamist violence. Those attacks were a few hundred kilometres away from Wednesday’s incident.

The violence represents a growing problem for Niger's newly elected president Mohamed Bazoum.

Daesh’s local affiliate is active in the zone and has been blamed for previous attacks that killed dozens of civilians and soldiers.

The violence is part of a wider security crisis across West Africas Sahel region, which is also fuelled by militants linked to Al Qaida and ethnic militias.

Tillaberi Rgn, Niger

More than 100 kilos of dynamite found as police arrest 6

in series of raids across Norway

26 Mar, 2021 17:10

FILE PHOTO © NTB Scanpix/Terje Pedersen via Reuters

Police in Norway have recovered more than 100 kilos of dynamite and detained at least six people after a series of raids on homes in the Sorlandet region during an operation that began on Wednesday evening.

The operation continued Friday and at least three people remain in custody.

Bomb squad officers recovered the large stash of dynamite in a house in the community of Tvedestrand overnight. The discovery of the explosives followed separate raids on properties in Arendal and Grimstad – communities located about 250kms southwest of Oslo.

Norway’s Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency Planning (DSB) is working with bomb squad officers in the operation.

Police are saying little about the operation or the identities of those arrested.

“When there are such large amounts of explosives going astray, which are not stored in a proper way, it is very serious,” Helge Torsvik, the officer in charge of the investigation at Arendal told broadcaster NRK.

It is important for me to point out that we do not have information that indicates that this is explosive that is intended to be used to harm others

The investigation began, police say, when they stopped a car and four people on Wednesday night in Arendal. The driver was suspected of driving drunk or being under the influence of drugs.

A weapon was recovered, leading police to search a local property. There, they found a small quantity of explosives. They later searched another property in nearby Grimstad and found more explosives.

So, if these men, I assume they are all men, are farmers with 100 hectares of land to clear, then I don't see a big problem. But if they are not, and if they are all Muslims, then Norwegians need to be protected from them.

Sorlandet Region, Srn Norway

Attack by ISIS-linked militants traps over 180 people, including foreigners,

in Mozambique hotel for days

27 Mar, 2021 16:29

FILE PHOTO. ©  Reuters / Grant Lee Neuenburg

Foreign employees working on French Total’s LNG terminal construction project are among those trapped in a hotel in northern Mozambique which has been besieged by militants for three days.

The coastal town of Palma in northern Mozambique located not far from the Tanzanian border was overrun by Islamist insurgents earlier this week. A local extremist group, known as al-Shabab (and not linked to its Somali namesake), launched a coordinated three-pronged assault on the town on Wednesday, reportedly involving some 100 militants.

Mozambique’s Defense Ministry confirmed the attack on March 25 and said its forces were “working tirelessly to restore security and order as quickly as possible.” Still, the operation is apparently ongoing since there have been no reports about the extremists being driven out of the town.

“Almost the entire town was destroyed. Many people are dead. As locals fled to the bush, workers from LNG companies, including foreigners, took refuge in hotel Amarula where they are waiting to be rescued,” a local worker told AFP news agency.

Human Rights Watch said, citing witnesses, that bodies were lying on the streets as militants who earlier pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) fired indiscriminately at people and buildings.

The exact number of casualties remains unknown as the media reports that a significant part of the town has been burnt down. At least one South African citizen was killed in the attack, according to South African media which also reported that the nation’s President Cyril Ramaphosa was about to convene an emergency meeting over the situation.

Local media also claimed that the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) might potentially be sent to neighboring Mozambique to aid the local military in their operation. There was no official confirmation of these reports, though.

An unverified video circulating on social media shows an unidentified man sitting in what looks like a hotel lobby with some other people saying the situation on the ground is “critical.” The man in the video said those who are hiding in the building have run out of food but still have water. The sound of a helicopter somewhere near the hotel can also be heard in the background.

According to some media reports, the military have been trying to airlift people trapped in the hotel by helicopter. It is unclear how many people, if any, have already been rescued.

The town of Palma is located not far from a liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal construction site in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province. The project worth $20 billion is mostly financed by the French oil giant Total, although some other international companies including ExxonMobil are also involved in the area.

The attack on Palma came just hours after Total announced resumption of construction works at the site. The company withdrew most of its workforce from the area back in January amid an insurgency in the Cabo Delgado province.

The al-Shabab militants, active in the vicinity since 2017, had been advancing toward the town, and the LNG construction site, and seized some nearby villages at that time. The oil giant decided to resume construction works on Wednesday after the Mozambique government agreed to establish a 25-kilometer buffer zone around the site and strengthen local security forces.

The conflict which saw al-Shabab take entire towns in 2020 has claimed the lives of more than 2,500 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). More than 700,000 people were forced to flee their homes, according to the UN estimates.

Corruption is Everywhere - Parler Warned FBI of Capitol Riots; 4th German MP Falls; Another Russian Governor;

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Parler says it referred FBI to violent content more than 50 times BEFORE riot,

including on ‘specific threats’ to the Capitol

26 Mar, 2021 02:44

FILE PHOTO. ©  Global Look Press / Keystone Press Agency / Thiago Prudencio

The conservative-friendly social media network Parler said it directed the FBI to dozens of posts encouraging violence in the weeks before the January 6 Capitol riot, also arguing other sites permitted “far more” violent content.

The company forwarded posts to the FBI on more than 50 occasions prior to the unrest in Washington, DC, it said in a letter addressed to the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Thursday, rejecting allegations that the site acted as a “far-right instigator” ahead of the riot.

“The company has acted to remove incitement and threats of violence from its platform and did so numerous times in the days before the unlawful rioting at the Capitol,” Parler said, adding that it took “the extraordinary initiative to develop formal lines of communication with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

In fact, in the days and weeks leading up to January 6, Parler referred violent content from its platform to the FBI for investigation over 50 times, and Parler even alerted law enforcement to specific threats of violence being planned at the Capitol.

Parler cited a November 2020 email exchange between the platform and an FBI agent, who said a colleague “spoke highly” of the company and its “working relationship with the FBI.” The company said that after establishing a line of communication with the bureau, it “regularly” forwarded screenshots of “unlawful posts that called for violence,” or that merely “merited additional investigation to protect public safety,” including specific threats against US officials such as former Attorney General Bill Barr.

“Even after the violent attacks stopped, Parler continued to dutifully and proactively report posts to the FBI where users threatened additional violence,” the company continued.

Parler also claimed it had been targeted by “absurd conspiracy theories” put forward by “Big Tech and its media allies,” arguing they were part of a “widespread disinformation campaign designed to scapegoat Parler for the riots at the US Capitol.”

Soon after the unrest, Parler was swiftly booted from both Apple and Google’s app platforms, while Amazon kicked the site off of its cloud servers and effectively took it offline, a decision the company condemned as “unlawful and anticompetitive.” All three tech firms accused Parler of allowing violent content to proliferate on its platform, but the company insisted that it did more to remove such posts than other, larger social media sites. 

“It is now well-documented and understood by honest observers that incitement occurred far more frequently on Big Tech platforms like Facebook and Twitter than Parler,” it argued, pointing to a Forbes analysis last month which found that “Facebook was far and away the most utilized social media platform by rioters on January 6.”

Thursday’s letter was penned as a response to a House Oversight inquiry sent to the company in early February, which relayed a litany of charges against the site and urged it to disclose details about its ownership and financing, suggesting it might have murky “ties to the Russian government.”

Parler rejected those allegations unequivocally, denying any collusion with “the Russians” or that it attempted to “promote Russian disinformation,” as the Democrat-led committee insinuated. 

“We have investigated these claims and explained to Committee staff that there is no evident or relevant Russian connection to the company, and we repeatedly requested that the Committee staff provide us with additional details that could facilitate a more targeted review to avoid a costly and unduly burdensome fishing expedition into the company’s files,” the letter went on.

Parler’s lengthy rebuttal comes amid ongoing legal battles not only with Amazon, which it sued over its decision to deplatform the site, but also with its own ex-CEO, John Matze. The former executive filed a suit against Parler earlier this week, arguing he was unlawfully forced out of the company and that rivals within the firm had stolen his 40% ownership stake, which he claimed was worth millions.

Twice in the long history of my news watching, have I been astonished at the complete lack of security that allowed a grievous event to occur. The decision to not have any extra security for the house when there were months of social media discussions about it, is incomprehensible.

The previous event was the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald. Even as a dumb teenager I was horrified when I saw Oswald emerge into the garage at the head of all his security. It seemed obvious to me, even then, that it was a staged event. It is just as obvious that the FBI, and who knows who else, wanted the attack on the Capitol Building to occur for some nefarious reason.

As mask bribery scandal spreads in Merkel’s conservative bloc,

another German politician resigns

21 Mar, 2021 15:39

Alfred Sauter, seen alongside protective face masks © Wikipedia and Reuters / Fabrizio Bensch

A Bavarian lawmaker has quit his party offices amid a probe into allegations he took bribes to arrange procurement contracts for face masks. He is the fourth politician connected to Chancellor Angela Merkel to resign this month.

Alfred Sauter is a three-decade veteran of the Christian Social Union (CSU), a sister party of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) based in the southern German state of Bavaria. He served two stints as the state’s minister for justice in the 1990s, and until Sunday afternoon sat on the CSU’s board, chaired its financial committee and held the district chairmanship of the CSU in his hometown of Guenzburg.

Sauter relinquished all of these offices on Sunday and paused his membership of the party’s parliamentary group, days before the CSU was due to hold a vote on expelling him.

His resignation came as prosecutors in Munich investigated reports that he took bribes from a supplier of protective equipment to land them a lucrative contract with the state as the coronavirus pandemic hit Bavaria last year. Sauter rejected the allegations of bribery, and claimed that any money he was given personally in relation to the deal was donated to charity.

In a letter to party bosses seen by the Augsburger Allgemeine on Sunday, Sauter said that he was stepping down to deflect bad publicity away from his party, but insisted that he was innocent.

“I am doing this even though I am convinced that I have in no way violated my parliamentary duties or the law,” he said. He went on to blast the CSU for even considering a vote on expelling him, writing that “to exclude a member of parliament on suspicion – in my case after a 31-year membership – before clarifying the facts… is incompatible with the constitutional rights of the MP.”

A corruption scandal involving a regional political figure wouldn’t usually make international headlines, but Sauter is at least the third elected official this month to resign in the face of similar accusations, all of them members of the CSU and CDU.

The multiple scandals came immediately before voters went to the polls in the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The CDU suffered heavy losses in both states, a dark omen given their previous support for the party, especially in the run-up to a general election in September.

Russian regional governor facing time behind bars on corruption charges after allegedly accepting $415k bribe from pharma company

22 Mar, 2021 14:04

Russia's Penza Region governor has been remanded in custody after being accused of taking a bribe from Biotek, a Russian pharmaceutical company. The alleged bribe was reportedly paid in part with a Mercedes V250D car and a watch.

Governor Ivan Belozertsev is the latest in a long line of regional chiefs to be arrested in the last few years. Belozertsev was a member of the United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin. The former governor’s party membership was revoked after his arrest.

According to investigators, Belozertsev received a bribe of 31 million rubles ($415,000) from Boris Spiegel, the head of pharmaceutical company Biotek, in return for "competitive advantages" for their work in the region. Spiegel's wife Evgenia was also implicated, as well as Anton Koloskov, the head of a local chain of pharmacies.

It is also alleged that the bribes were partially received in the form of a Mercedes V250D car and a Breguet watch.

From January to October 2020, medical institutions in Penza signed almost 300 contracts with the company, totaling an amount of over 700 million rubles ($9,000,000).

According to Moscow daily Kommersant, around 500 million rubles ($6,600,000) were found in cash during the search of the governor's home. The newspaper also reported that the investigation decided to look into all of Belozertsev's financial and economic activities since he was elected in 2015 and discovered irregularities in the amount of around 2.9 billion rubles ($38,000,000).

News agency Interfax, citing a source, also claimed that Belozertsev's conversations have been wiretapped.

According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin may dismiss the Penza Governor due to loss of trust, but, so far, no decision has been made.

"[Putin] is aware of what happened," Peskov explained. "As for the substance of the case and the charges brought, that's a matter for the law-enforcement agencies at the moment."

According to Russia's criminal code, bribe-taking can be punished with a sentence of up to fifteen years in prison.

Belozertsev was appointed as acting governor of the Penza Region in May 2015. Later that year, he won the regional election with 86% of the vote. In September 2020, he was re-elected with 78.72% of the vote.

Islam - Current Day - Muslim Madness in Moscow and Boulder

Nanny who paraded down Moscow street with severed head

of 4 y/o girl she was watching set for deportation back to Islam

23 Mar, 2021 13:48

Smiling sweetly in a Russian courtroom, it could be hard to believe that babysitter Gulchehra Bobokulova had shocked the nation with the brutal murder and dismemberment of a severely disabled child she’d been trusted to care for.

WARNING: Graphic details that may be upsetting to some readers

However, a judge ruled in 2017 that she was guilty of killing four-year old Nastiya Meshcheryakova, who suffered from a birth defect that left her unable to walk, as well as epilepsy and learning difficulties. The year prior, having waited for the girl’s parents to leave home, Bobokulova strangled the child and severed her head with a knife.

The nanny then torched the apartment and took the head in a taxi to a metro station in the east of the Russian capital, where she began to pray, shouted “Allahu akbar” and announced she would blow herself up. Police apprehended her shortly afterwards.

On Monday, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that Bobokulova, an Uzbek citizen, would be deported to her homeland at the end of court-mandated treatment in a secure psychiatric facility. According to officials, the decision was made because of the “undesirability” of allowing her to remain in the country.

A psychiatric examination found that the 39-year old former childminder suffers from a chronic mental disorder. She was charged with murdering a child, arson and falsely reporting having a bomb. Her translator said that she had pleaded guilty to the charges before being remanded in custody.

The crime caused a sensational media storm in Russia, particularly after a video was released in which Bobokulova said that she had killed Nastiya as “revenge” for Russia’s role in the ongoing conflict in Syria. In the erratic clip, she insisted that Russian President Vladimir Putin “spilled blood. Planes carried out bombings,” and asked “why are Muslims being killed? They also want to live.”

“I came to the absolute conviction that it is impossible…impossible…for any human being to read the biography of Mohammed and believe in it, and then emerge a psychologically and mentally healthy person.”

 - Syrian Psychiatrist Dr. Wafa Sultan

Dr Sultan is saying that anyone who is a devout follower of Mohammed is mentally ill. That concept has proven itself over and over and over. There should be no place for devout Muslims in any healthy society except Islam.

Boulder shooting live updates: 21-year-old (Muslim) charged in rampage that 'monstrously struck down' 10 at supermarket; family says he's antisocial

John Bacon

Dennis Wagner

Jorge L. Ortiz

USA TODAY

A 21-year-old Colorado man faced murder charges Tuesday in the shooting rampage at a Boulder supermarket that left 10 people dead and fueled chaos as panicked shoppers fled to safety amid the hail of bullets.

Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold released the names of the victims and said they ranged in age from 20 to 65. Among them was officer Eric Talley, 51, a father of seven who responded to the 911 call.

Monday's carnage was the nation's second mass shooting in a week, coming six days after an attack at three Georgia massage spas that left eight people dead. The Boulder attack was the seventh mass killing this year in the U.S., according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA TODAY and Northeastern University.

The Boulder shooting suspect, identified as Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, was shot in the leg, Herold said. He was booked into the county jail on murder charges Tuesday after being treated at a hospital. Alissa is due to make his first court appearance Thursday.

"Today our city is grieving the senseless loss of 10 lives in our community," Mayor Sam Weaver said. "A man with a gun monstrously struck them down."

Details we know so far:

The victims were identified as Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker, 51; Eric Talley, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Waters, 65.

A law enforcement official briefed on the shooting told The Associated Press that the gunman used an AR-15 rifle, a lightweight semi-automatic rifle. Officials were trying to trace the weapon. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

The shooting began around 2:30 p.m. local time at a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, about 25 miles northwest of Denver and home to the University of Colorado.

Family says suspect was paranoid, antisocial, possibly mentally ill

The 21-year-old suspect in Monday's deadly shooting in Boulder, Colorado, was described by family members as paranoid and antisocial, and his brother said he believes younger sibling Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa is mentally ill.

Alissa, a resident of the Denver suburb of Arvada, went to a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder — about 20 miles away — with two weapons, including an AR-15-style rifle he purchased six days before, according to an arrest affidavit. He shot and killed 10 people before surrendering to police with a leg wound, after stripping down to his shorts.

The affidavit describes Alissa as standing 5 feet, 6 inches tall, and weighing 200 pounds, with a beer belly and a balding head.

Ali Alissa, 34, told CNN his brother was bullied in high school for being Muslim and became antisocial and increasingly paranoid around 2014. As a high school senior in 2018, Ahmad Alissa was found guilty of assaulting a fellow student in class after knocking him to the floor and punching him in the head several times, according to a police affidavit that said Alissa complained the student had called him "racial names.''

Ali Alissa said he believes his brother has a mental illness.

“He always suspected someone was behind him, someone was chasing him,'' Ali Alissa said. "He would say, ‘Someone is chasing me, someone is investigating me,’ and we’re like, ‘Come on, man, there’s nothing.’ He was just closing into himself.’’

There is much more on this story at USA Today.

Young Russians Falling Away From Orthodox Christianity for Atheism and Islam - Is it a Sign?

..

Poll reveals big drop in number of Russians who claim to be Orthodox Christians as Islam becomes more popular with country's youth

23 Mar, 2021 14:29

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill conducts a service marking the 12th anniversary of his enthronement,

at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, in Moscow, Russia. © Sputnik

The number of atheists in Russia has doubled from 7% to 14% in just four years, with less than half of those under the age of 25 declaring themselves to be Orthodox Christian, compared to 66% for the population as a whole.

That’s according to a new poll from WCIOM, which revealed that faith in a Christian God is dropping with each generation.

On the contrary, Islam has held steady, remaining at around 6% of the entire population. Unlike Christianity, the popularity of the Muslim faith is far more prevalent in the young than the old, with under 25s having double (12%) the proportion of believers compared the country as a whole.

During the Soviet era, religion was officially banned, and church property was seized by the state. In the following decades, Orthodox Christianity rose in popularity, with the Russian Academy of Sciences estimating in 2013 that 79% of Russians were believers. However, in recent years, polling has shown a decline in the number of religious citizens.

According to the study, in 2017, 7% of Russians called themselves atheists. This has now risen to 14%. This has come at the expense of Orthodox Christianity, with the 2017 figure of 75% dropping to 66%. Islam has held steady at 6%.

Other recorded religions included Buddhism (1%) and Protestantism (1%), with Catholicism receiving 0%.

Interestingly, the age ranges most likely to consider themselves atheists are 18-24, 25-35, and 60+. The figure for the oldest group may reflect a generation growing up before the fall of the Soviet Union, where state atheism was an official policy.

Last summer, Russian citizens voted in favor of a packet of amendments to the country’s constitution. One of the most controversial additions was to explicitly mention faith in God as a core belief of the country.

"Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition" - 2 Thess 2:1-3

Islam - Current Day - Denmark Tries to Dilute Muslim Effect; Study Reveals Islam Worst Place to be a Woman, Duh; Turkey Ends Its Own Treaty on Protection of Women

Danish government wants to cap number of ‘non-western’ residents in neighborhoods at 30%

18 Mar, 2021 00:54

FILE PHOTO. ©  Reuters / Ritzau Scanpix / Mads Claus Rasmussen

Denmark is seeking to limit the number of “non-western” residents living in its neighborhoods to no more than 30 percent, part of a controversial bill aimed at fostering integration and preventing the rise of “parallel societies.”

Read, "No-Go Zones"!

High concentrations of foreigners living in residential areas increases the risk that distinct “religious and cultural parallel societies” will emerge in Denmark, Interior Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek said as he presented his government’s new initiative to combat the ghettoization of “vulnerable” areas.

While it has yet to receive the necessary backing in parliament, the measure is designed to ensure that, in ten years, non-western immigrants and their descendants will make up no more than 30 percent of the population in any given neighborhood or housing area. 

If passed, the bill is expected to affect some 58 areas and more than 100,000 people, according to Denmark’s Berlingske newspaper. So far, no date has been set for the proposal to be debated in parliament.

The new bill would amend controversial “ghetto package” legislation introduced by the then-Conservative government and passed back in 2018. At the time, the cap on non-western populations in such vulnerable areas had been set at 50 percent.

With some of the strictest immigration policies in Europe, Denmark has also officially designated some of its residential areas as ‘ghettos’ each year since at least 2010. The government has set four criteria to define such areas: an unemployment rate above 40 percent; more than 60 percent of middle-aged residents lacking in secondary education; gross income levels 55-percent below average; and a crime rate three-times above the national average.

To qualify as a ghetto, an area must meet at least two of those criteria, and must also have an immigrant population of at least 50 percent. If a neighborhood remains on the ghetto list for more than four years, it is then declared a “severe ghetto.”

Currently, at least 15 neighborhoods fall into that category and 25 others are considered to be “in danger” of becoming ghettos. However, the interior minister said the term is “misleading” and plans to do away with it in the new legislative initiative.

“I think it contributes to eclipsing the large amount of work that needs doing in these neighborhoods,” Dybvad Bek said, adding that from now on, they should be designated ‘vulnerable’ or ‘disadvantaged’ areas rather than ‘ghettos.’

Danish authorities have tried to beat back ghettoization for some time now, imposing double penalties for misdemeanor offenses in those neighborhoods, while daycare is mandatory for all children over the age of one.

Some unconventional strategies have also been employed to reduce social pressures on vulnerable neighborhoods, such as a 2019 initiative by the city of Odense to offer financial compensation to local criminals if they moved out of troubled neighborhoods.  

What? Are you serious? 

Denmark has seen a rapid growth of its migrant population in recent decades. Of the country’s 5.7 million people, 11 percent have a migrant background, while over 6 percent are of “non-western” origin.

The nation’s immigration policies have been especially harsh as of late. Back in 2018, the government said it would send rejected asylum seekers to live on a remote island, with Immigration Minister Inger Stojberg stating the policy would send the message that they are “unwanted.” Now, a similarly strict approach to immigration has been adopted by the Social Democratic government of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who has called to reduce the flow of asylum-seekers to “zero.”

As the UK publishes its first census of women killed by men,

here’s a global look at the problem

More than half of women and girls killed by men are murdered by their current or previous partners.

Image: Unsplash/Charl Folscher

25 Nov 2020

Douglas Broom

Senior Writer, Formative Content

Six women are killed by men every hour in a “global pandemic of femicide” that is being partly hidden by COVID-19 – and the United Nations is calling for urgent action.

More than half of women and girls killed by men are murdered by their current or previous partners, according to UN data.

The latest UN figures show that 137 women across the world are killed every day by a partner or member of their own family – a total of 50,000 women a year murdered by people they know and should be able to trust.

Women are more likely to be killed by their current parents or relatives.

80% of murders were committed by men in 2017.

Image: Statista

“As the world grapples with the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its negative impact on women, a pandemic of femicide and gender-based violence against women is taking the lives of women and girls everywhere,” says Dubravka Šimonovic, a UN human rights expert.

Violence against women and girls is “still so deeply embedded in cultures around the world that it is almost invisible,” the UN says, describing it as “a construct of power and a means of maintaining the status-quo”.

Preventable deaths

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020 found that between a fifth and nearly a half of women globally suffer physical or sexual abuse from their male partners. The Middle East and North Africa has the highest rate with 45% of women being harmed.

Of course, the Middle East and northern Africa are almost entirely Muslim

Share of women who suffered intimate partner physical and/or violence.

45% of Middle Eastern and Northern African women have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence.

Image: World Economic Forum

But the problem persists across the world. In North America, the rate was 32% and in Western Europe 22%. And in the UK, a new first-of-its-kind report from the Femicide Census shows that a man kills a woman every three days in the country – a statistic unchanged across the 10 years studied.

“Men’s violence against women is a leading cause of the premature death for women globally but research in the UK and Europe is limited and unconnected,” said Karen Ingala Smith, co-founder of the Femicide Census.

“By providing detailed comparable data about femicides in the UK since 2009, including demographic and social factors and the methods men selected to kill women, we can see that these killings are not isolated incidents, and many follow repeated patterns.”

Speaking ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the UN’s Šimonovic called for countries to halt the problem by setting up “national multidisciplinary prevention bodies or femicide watches/observatories on violence against women”.

“Many of these femicides are preventable,” she adds, noting that although a growing number of states have begun to tackle the problem it has been mostly left to human rights and women’s groups to highlight the scale of the death toll.

It doesn't seem to me to be that difficult to teach high school kids that girls do not belong to boys, and women do not belong to men, even if they are married. However, I am sure this would not go down well in Islam as it contradicts Islamic scripture.

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Turkey exits Istanbul treaty designed to protect women from violence

The Associated Press · 

Posted: Mar 20, 2021 1:13 PM ET

Hundreds of women gather in Istanbul on Saturday to oppose a move by the Turkish government to exit the Istanbul Convention, a European treaty designed to protect women from violence. (Umit Bektas/Reuters)

Turkey withdrew early Saturday from a landmark European treaty protecting women from violence that it was the first to sign 10 years ago and that bears the name of its largest city.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's overnight decree annulling Turkey's ratification of the Istanbul Convention is a blow to women's rights advocates, who say the agreement is crucial to combating domestic violence.

Hundreds of women gathered at demonstrations across Turkey on Saturday to protest the move.

Marija Pejcinovic Buric, the Council of Europe's secretary general, called the decision "devastating."

"This move is a huge setback to these efforts and all the more deplorable because it compromises the protection of women in Turkey, across Europe and beyond," she said.

Marija Pejcinovic Buric, the Council of Europe's secretary-general, calls the decision by Turkey to leave the Istanbul Convention 'devastating.' (Lehtikuva/Mesut Turan via Reuters)

The Istanbul Convention states that men and women have equal rights and obliges state authorities to take steps to prevent gender-based violence against women, protect victims and prosecute perpetrators.

"Shame on this bigotry, patriarchy, heartlessness that protects bullies and murderers instead of women," Turkish author Elif Safak said on Twitter of the withdrawal.

Istanbul's mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, said ditching the pact was "painful" and disregarded women's struggle over years.

Some officials from Erdogan's Islam-oriented party had advocated for a review of the agreement, arguing it is inconsistent with Turkey's conservative values by encouraging divorce and undermining the traditional family unit.

Critics also claim the treaty promotes homosexuality through the use of categories such as gender, sexual orientation and gender identity. They see that as a threat to Turkish families. Hate speech has been on the rise in Turkey, including from Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, who described LGBT people as "perverts" in a tweet. Erdogan has rejected their existence altogether.

Exit prompts protests

Women's groups and their allies who have been protesting to keep the convention intact immediately called for demonstrations across the country on Saturday under the slogan, "Withdraw the decision, implement the treaty." They said their years-long struggle would not be erased in one night.

"We were struggling every day so the Istanbul Convention would be implemented and women would live. We now hear that the Istanbul Convention has been completely repealed," said Dilan Akyuz, 30, who joined other women demonstrating in Istanbul. "We are very angry today. We can no longer bear even one death of a woman. We do not have any tolerance for this."

Rights groups say violence against and killing of women are on the rise in Turkey, but the interior minister called that a "complete lie" on Saturday.

Police officers scuffle with protesters during a rally in Istanbul on Saturday. (Emrah Gurel/The Associated Press)

A total of 77 women have been killed since the start of the year, according to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform. Some 409 women were killed in 2020, with dozens found dead under suspicious circumstances, according to the group.

Numerous women's rights groups slammed the decision. Advocacy group Women's Coalition Turkey said the withdrawal from a human rights agreement was a first in Turkey. "It is clear that this decision will further encourage the murderers of women, harassers, rapists," their statement said.

Government claims commitment to issue

Turkey's justice minister said the government was committed to combating violence against women.

"We continue to protect our people's honour, the family and our social fabric with determination," Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul tweeted.

Erdogan has repeatedly stressed the "holiness" of the family and called on women to have three children. His communications director, Fahrettin Altun, said the government's motto is "Powerful Families, Powerful Society."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, shown in February, issued a decree annulling Turkey's ratification of the Istanbul Convention. (Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images)

Many women suffer physical or sexual violence at the hands of their husbands or partners, but up-to-date official statistics are unavailable. The Istanbul Convention requires states to collect data.

More than 1,000 women and allies gathered in Istanbul, wearing masks and holding banners. There was a heavy police presence in the area, and the demonstration ended without serious skirmishes.

They shouted pro-LGBT slogans and called for Erdogan's resignation. They cheered as a woman speaking through a megaphone said, "You cannot close up millions of women in their homes. You cannot erase them from the streets and the squares."

"As women, we now think that the withdrawal is a direct attack on women's rights and a direct attack on the rights of modern young women, in particular," Ebru Batur, 21-year-old demonstrator, said. "This of course makes us feel insecure and like our rights are appropriated."

Turkey signed on first

Turkey — which applied to join the European Union in 1987 but is not yet a member — was the first country to sign the Council of Europe's "Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence" at a committee of ministers meeting in Istanbul in 2011. The law came into force in 2014, and Turkey's constitution says international agreements have the force of law.

Some lawyers claimed Saturday that the treaty is still active, arguing the president cannot withdraw from it without the approval of parliament, which ratified the Istanbul Convention in 2012.

But Erdogan gained sweeping powers with his re-election in 2018, setting in motion Turkey changing from a parliamentary system of government to an executive presidency.

The justice minister wrote on Twitter that while parliament approves treaties that the executive branch puts into effect, the executive also has the authority to withdraw from them.

Women lawmakers from Turkey's main opposition party said they will not recognize the decree and called it another "coup" on parliament, which had unanimously accepted the treaty, and a usurpation of the rights of 42 million women.

Women's rights, as well as rights for gays, lesbians transgenders, etc., are a movement in the opposite direction from an Islamic state. Erdogan's dream of being the next Sultan of the old Ottoman Empire, leaves no room for such rights. They counter Sharia.

Germany, France criticize withdrawal

Germany's Foreign Ministry joined the criticism, saying "withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention is a wrong signal for Europe, but especially for the women of Turkey."

"Only a few weeks ago, President Erdogan introduced an action plan for human rights which also includes the fight against domestic violence and violence against women," the German ministry said in a statement. "Quitting an important convention of the Council of Europe questions how serious Turkey is when it comes to the goals mentioned in that action plan."

"It is clear that neither cultural, nor religious or other national traditions can serve as a disguise in order to ignore violence against women," Germany said.

France's foreign affairs ministry said on Saturday it deeply regretted Turkey's decision and that the move marked a new regression in terms of respect for human rights.

"This decision will primarily affect Turkish women, to whom France expresses all its solidarity," the French ministry said in a statement.