Islam - Current Day > Israeli Tanker Attacked by Drones; Stabbing and Shooting in Berlin; 250+ Injured Palestinians; Fulani Herdsmen Behead Father & Son

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Israel calls for harsh response to attack on Israeli-operated ship

off Oman, blames ‘terrorism exporter’ Iran

30 Jul, 2021 19:49

FILE PHOTO. An oil tanker pictured in Assaluyeh seaport at the Persian Gulf. © Reuters / Morteza Nikoubazl

Israel has squarely blamed Iran for an attack this week on an Israeli-operated tanker off Oman, urging the international community to come up with a harsh response to the incident, which killed at least two of the vessel’s crew.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid laid the blame for the incident on Tehran after discussing the attack with his British counterpart Dominic Raab late on Friday. Lapid told Raab the world needs to come up with a strong response.

“Iran is not just an Israeli problem, but an exporter of terrorism, destruction and instability that harms us all. The world must not be silent in the face of Iranian terrorism that also harms freedom of shipping,” Lapid said in a statement.

The Liberian-flagged tanker Mercer Street, operated by the Israel-based Zodiac Maritime company, came under attack late on Thursday. Initially reported as a piracy incident, the assault killed two crewmembers – a British and a Romanian national.

It remains unclear what exactly happened to the vessel, though Israeli media, citing unnamed senior officials, reported that it was attacked by drones.

Iran has remained silent on the incident, neither denying nor confirming any involvement. Tehran-based Arabic-language broadcaster al Alam TV, however, cited “sources in the resistance axis” to report that the strike on the Israeli-managed ship was a response to recent strikes on Dabaa airfield in Syria, used both by Syria’s military and by its ally, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.

Four injured in shooting and stabbing in Berlin car park,

German police mount major operation – reports

30 Jul, 2021 17:45

At least four people have been injured in a knife and gun attack in the Wedding neighborhood of Berlin, police told reporters. German media said officers and fire services mounted large scale operations in response.

The shooting reportedly occurred on Thursday in a hardware store car park near Kurt-Schumacher-Platz.

Fire department officials quoted by local outlet Berliner Zeitung said that three men and one woman were injured in the incident, with all four receiving medical treatment at the scene before being taken to hospital. 

Police told RIA Novosti that three of the victims were seriously injured, having sustained knife and gunshot wounds.

The perpetrator has apparently fled the scene. Local law enforcement has called for any eyewitnesses to come forward.

250+ Palestinians injured in clashes with Israeli forces

during protest against illegal West Bank settlements

30 Jul, 2021 22:22

Palestinians run for cover during clashes near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, July 30, 2021.

© Reuters / Mussa Qawasma

Around 270 Palestinians were injured in the occupied West Bank as they clashed with Israeli troops, who fired tear gas and rubber-coated bullets into crowds protesting Israeli settlements.

Hundreds of Palestinans gathered on Friday in the town of Beit Ummar, located northwest of Hebron, to mourn the death of a protester killed by the Israeli military a day before.

Shawkat Awad, 20, was shot in the head and abdomen on Thursday during clashes that erupted after the funeral of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy killed by Israeli troops earlier in the week. The mourners carried Awad’s body through the town, with the funeral procession spiraling into new clashes with Israeli soldiers.

Footage from the scene showed several Palestinians throwing stones at Israeli armored vehicles, in addition to what appeared to be a small petrol bomb, while the military deployed tear gas and fired riot control rounds into the crowd.

Clashes also erupted at the village of Beita near Nablus in the northern West Bank. The town has seen numerous protests since May, when illegal Israeli settlers moved in and started setting up homes and building a road on a disputed stretch of land.

Images circulating online showed dozens of Palestinians hurling rocks at the Israeli military as burning tires let off thick clouds of black smoke, apparently an effort to conceal themselves from the Israeli troops seen shooting at protesters.

The clashes left around 270 Palestinians injured across the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. While the majority of the victims were exposed to tear gas, around 50 were injured by supposedly ‘less-lethal’ rubber-coated bullets, while another seven reportedly suffered wounds as result of live fire, the Red Crescent told AFP.

Fulani herders kill kidnapped pastor; behead father, 7-year-old son

By Anugrah Kumar, 

Christian Post Contributor| 

Saturday, July 31, 2021

People react as a truck carries the coffins of people killed by the Fulani herdsmen, in Makurdi, Nigeria,

January 11, 2018. | REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

Fulani herdsmen beheaded a Christian man and his 7-year-old son and killed a pastor they had kidnapped two weeks earlier in two separate attacks in northern Nigeria, according to reports.

Thomas Wollo, 46, and his 7-year-old son, Nggwe Thomas, were beheaded by herdsmen close to their home in Tafigana village in Plateau state’s Bassa Local Government Area as they were returning from choir practice at about 8:50 p.m. on Sunday, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog group International Christian Concern reported.

Zongo Lawrence, the spokesman for Miango Youth Development Association, was quoted as saying that the herdsmen destroyed a large part of farmland in a nearby village after the attack.

“Seventeen of our people have been killed by Fulani herdsmen this year. The international community should come to our aid; we are under heavy siege,” Lawrence said.

In Kogi State last Thursday, the Rev. Danlami Yakwoi of the Evangelical Church Winning All died in captivity after being tortured by Fulani herdsmen, Morning Star News reported.

Yakwoi had been kidnapped along with two of his sons and a nephew in Tawari area on July 12, church secretary Musa Shekwolo was quoted as saying.

The news of the pastor’s death came after one of his children who was kidnapped was released.

Yakwoi’s family paid a ransom for the release of his son, Shekwolo said.

ICC designates Fulani radicals as the fourth-deadliest terror group globally, which has surpassed the Boko Haram terrorist group as the greatest threat to Nigerian Christians.

“Many believe that the attacks are motivated by jihadist Fulanis' desire to take over farmland and impose Islam on the population and are frustrated with the Muslim-dominated government that is believed to be enabling such atrocities,” ICC warned in May.

The Anambra-based International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law estimated in May that as many as 1,470 Christians were killed in Nigeria during the first four months of 2021, the highest estimate in the first four months of any year since 2014. The number also surpasses the estimated number of Christians killed in 2019. The report estimated that as many as 300 people had been killed in Kaduna in the first four months of 2021. 

In the first four months of this year, the organization estimates that at least 2,200 Christians were abducted. Kaduna state recorded the highest number of abductions at 800.

The Global Terrorism Index ranked Nigeria as the third-most affected country by terrorism and reported over 22,000 deaths by acts of terror from 2001 to 2019.

Advocates, including U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Commissioner Gay Bauer, have warned that Nigeria “will move relentlessly toward a Christian genocide” if action is not taken. The U.S. State Department recognizes Nigeria as a "country of particular concern" for tolerating or engaging in severe violations of religious freedom. 

Islamic extremism, notably carried out by groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province in northeast Nigeria, has led to thousands of deaths and millions displaced in recent years.

And yet, what has the State Dep't done?

The War on Christianity > Philadelphia Loses a Skirmish at Supreme Court; Liberals Slapped Down; Virginia's LGBT Law

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Supreme Court rules Christian foster agency can't be forced

to place kids with same-sex couples

By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter 

Thursday, June 17, 2021

A general view of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, U.S., November 15, 2016. | REUTERS/Carlos Barria

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the city of Philadelphia can't exclude a Catholic charity from its foster program because the organization won't place children with same-sex couples in accordance with religious beliefs. 

In a unanimous decision released Thursday morning in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, the high court ruled city officials were wrong to quit working with Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for refusing on religious grounds to place children with same-sex couples.

The decision reversed a judgment of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and remanded it for further proceedings.

Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the court's opinion, concluding that “the City has burdened the religious exercise of CSS through policies that do not meet the requirement of being neutral and generally applicable.”

“Government fails to act neutrally when it proceeds in a manner intolerant of religious beliefs or restricts practices because of their religious nature,” wrote Roberts.

“The refusal of Philadelphia to contract with CSS for the provision of foster care services unless it agrees to certify same-sex couples as foster parents cannot survive strict scrutiny, and violates the First Amendment.”

Roberts also pointed out that Philadelphia can grant an exemption from the city's anti-discrimination policies to CSS, noting that city contracts include many exemptions.

“Once properly narrowed, the City’s asserted interests are insufficient. Maximizing the number of foster families and minimizing liability are important goals, but the City fails to show that granting CSS an exception will put those goals at risk,” continued Roberts.

“The creation of a system of exceptions under the contract undermines the City’s contention that its nondiscrimination policies can brook no departures.”

The opinion refutes the notion that fostering children is tantamount to a public accommodation.

"Certification as a foster parent, by contrast, is not readily accessible to the public," the opinion reads. "It involves a customized and selective assessment that bears little resemblance to staying in a hotel, eating at a restaurant, or riding a bus."

"As the City itself explains to prospective foster parents, '[e]ach agency has slightly different requirements, specialties, and training programs,'" Roberts wrote. "All of this confirms that the one-size-fits-all public accommodations model is a poor match for the foster care system." 

In addition to the court opinion, there were also multiple concurring opinions.

Although Alito concurred in the judgment, he expressed concern that the Supreme Court decision will not have a lasting impact on the dispute between Philadelphia and CSS.

“The City has been adamant about pressuring CSS to give in, and if the City wants to get around today’s decision, it can simply eliminate the never-used exemption power,” wrote Alito in a concurring opinion joined by conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch. 

“Not only is the Court’s decision unlikely to resolve the present dispute, it provides no guidance regarding similar controversies in other jurisdictions.”

In 2018, Philadelphia stopped placing children in the homes of foster parents affiliated with CSS and Bethany Christian Services of Greater Delaware Valley due to the groups’ refusal to place children with same-sex couples for religious reasons.

Although Bethany eventually changed its policy, foster parents and others who worked with CSS filed a lawsuit against city officials, arguing that it violates the U.S. Constitution.

Plaintiff Sharronell Fulton fostered as many as 40 kids during her 25 years of working with CSS. Fellow plaintiff Toni Simms-Busch is a former social worker who adopted her foster children through CSS.

Both were represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Becket argued that CSS was the “most successful” foster care agency in the city and that the city ended its partnership with the organization at a time that city officials admitted an urgent need for foster families with thousands of kids in the system.

“I am overjoyed that the Supreme Court recognized the import work of Catholic Social Services and has allowed me to continue fostering children most in need of a loving home,” Fulton said in a statement. “My faith is what drives me to care for foster children here in Philadelphia and I thank God the Supreme Court believes that’s a good thing, worthy of protection.”

Simms-Busch stressed that the justices "understand that foster parents like me share in the common, noble task of providing children with loving homes."

“Our foster-care ministry in Philadelphia is vital to solving the foster care crisis and Catholic Social Services is a cornerstone of that ministry," Simms-Busch stated. "The Supreme Court’s decision ensures the most vulnerable children in the City of Brotherly Love have every opportunity to find loving homes.”

The Supreme Court decision follows the ruling of a three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of the city in April 2019. The panel concluded that the First Amendment “does not prohibit government regulation of religiously motivated conduct so long as that regulation is not a veiled attempt to suppress disfavored religious beliefs.”

Judge slaps down Trudeau government for denying summer jobs grants

to Christian university

Redeemer University met all the conditions for funding but were rejected anyway after a 'cursory search of the Internet' by a Service Canada bureaucrat, ruled a judge

Author of the article:Tristin Hopper

Publishing date:Jul 04, 2021  

Redeemer University College pictured in 2011. PHOTO BY PETER J. THOMPSON/NATIONAL POST

In an unusually harsh judicial slapdown of the Trudeau government, a federal judge has ruled that an Ontario university was barred access to the Canada Summer Jobs Program for little reason other than the fact that it was a Christian institution.

Justice Richard Mosley ruled that the federal government had breached “procedural fairness” in its treatment of Redeemer University, a private Christian liberal arts university in Hamilton, Ont. – and had denied the school funding based solely on its religious opposition to same-sex marriage. In a rare move, Mosley also ordered the federal government to pay Redeemer’s full legal costs, which amounted to $102,000.

“I have never seen that in any court, let alone the federal court,” Redeemer University’s lawyer, Albertos Polizogopoulos, told the National Post on Friday, calling the judge’s decision an obvious “punitive” measure.

Redeemer University College v. Canada by Tristin Hopper on Scribd

In 2019, Redeemer University applied for $104,187 from the Canada Summer Jobs Program in order to subsidize 11 temporary positions at the school. At the time, Redeemer had been participating in the Canada Summer Jobs Program since 2006 without incident.

Within two months, the application was rejected on the grounds that Redeemer could not demonstrate “that measures have been implemented to provide a workplace free of harassment and discrimination.”

At the time of the application, Redeemer University required its students to avoid “sexual intimacies which occur outside of a heterosexual marriage” – a policy that also informed the selection of faculty and staff.

An excerpt from Redeemer University’s 2012/2013 Academic Calendar, a version of which was cited in Service Canada’s rejection of the school’s application for Canada Summer Jobs funding.

Nevertheless, those strictures didn’t extend to the school’s 11 Canada Summer Jobs Program positions, which ranged from summer camp attendants to workers at an onsite water treatment plant. In its application Redeemer had even expressly pledged to target “LGBTQ2 youth” for hiring.

Soon after its application, Service Canada asked Redeemer to provide “missing information” as to how the school intended to maintain a non-discriminatory work environment.

In reply, Redeemer forwarded its 35-page Anti-Discrimination Policy which cited the school’s adherence to the Ontario Human Rights Code and cited Redeemer’s campus policy of the right to be “free from the threat of harassment and discrimination.”

Service Canada then rejected the school’s application, citing Redeemer’s “sexual intimacies” policy, as well as academic handbooks published by the school which listed “homosexual practice” as one of the school’s “unacceptable practices” for students and faculty.

Redeemer University College pictured in 2011. PHOTO BY PETER J. THOMPSON/NATIONAL POST

Tuesday’s Federal Court decision effectively concluded that Redeemer University hadn’t been rejected out of any red flags in its application, but because of a “cursory search of the Internet” to which Redeemer hadn’t been given the chance to respond.

“If the concern of (Service Canada) was that Redeemer discriminated based on sexual orientation, there was no contemporaneous evidence of that in the file,” wrote the Federal Court decision.

Justice Mosley added “there is no evidence … that (Service Canada) made any overt attempt to consider Redeemer’s rights to freedom of religion, freedom of expression or freedom of association in considering its application.”

Or, as Redeemer University lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos summed up the government’s stance, “we don’t like your position on sexual morality and that’s why you’re denied.” In Polizogopoulos’ submissions to the court, he alleged that Redeemer had been subjected to a “background check” beyond the usual scope of the Canada Summer Jobs Program application proceed.

There is no place for sexual morality in Canada's federal Liberal party!

Federal cabinet minister Patty Hajdu. She was Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour when

new guidelines were placed on the Canada Summer Jobs Program requiring organizations to support abortion rights.

She later became Minister of Health during the COVID-19 crisis. PHOTO BY REUTERS/BLAIR GABLE

In a statement to the National Post, Redeemer University said it pursued its court action against the federal government because the school felt it “was being rejected only because Redeemer held legal views on traditional marriage.”

Interim president David Zietsma referenced a section of the Civil Marriage Act – the 2005 law which legalized same-sex marriage in Canada – which states that “no person or organization shall be deprived of any benefit” if they held official beliefs viewing marriage “as the union of a man and woman to the exclusion of all others.”

Said Zietsma, “we were concerned about the precedent this kind of discrimination would set for religious institutions.” The lawsuit intentionally did not seek payment of the $104,187 grant, but was pursued instead because of the “principles involved.”

In 2018, the Canada Summer Jobs Program was subject to a wave of lawsuits after employment minister Patty Hajdu made funding conditional on organizations’ pledging their support for abortion.

The federal government ultimately backed off the abortion pledge, and by the time Redeemer University made its 2019 application, Service Canada was instead mandating a much more general policy of a “safe, inclusive, and healthy work environment free of harassment and discrimination.”

Redeemer University applied again for the Canada Summer Jobs Program in both 2020 and 2021. Polizogopoulos said that Service Canada delayed the school’s 2020 application until the program was out of money, but then approved its 2021 application without incident. As a result, this summer Redeemer University hired its first Canada Summer Jobs Program workers since 2017.

Said Polizogopoulos, “I don’t know what changed other than we held the government’s feet to the fire.”

Glad somebody is, the national media most certainly is not!

Judge rejects churches’ challenge to Virginia’s 

LGBT antidiscrimination law        

By Michael Gryboski, 

Christian Post Reporter| 

Thursday, July 22, 2021

Participants carrying a rainbow flag attend the annual gay pride.

| Reuters/Annika Af Klercker/TT News Agency

A judge has ruled against a group of churches, schools and a pro-life pregnancy center challenging a Virginia law that adds sexual orientation and gender identity to state antidiscrimination law.

Judge James E. Plowman Jr. issued a ruling from the bench last week in favor of the Virginia Values Act, which was passed by the Democrat-controlled state government in 2020.

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring released a statement last Friday expressing support for the ruling, which will be entered as an order within the next few weeks.  

“Our landmark civil rights protections will remain in place, and Virginia will remain a place that is open and welcoming to all, no matter what you look like, where you come from, how you worship, or who you love,” stated Herring.

Except for anyone who actually believes in the God of the Bible.

“I was proud to support passage of the Virginia Values Act and am so proud of our work to successfully defend the law twice against legal attack.”

God hates pride!

In late September of last year, Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on behalf of two churches, three private schools, and a pregnancy care center against the Virginia Values Act.

In the suit, Calvary Road Baptist Church of Fairfax County and its school, Community Fellowship Church of Staunton and its school, Community Christian Academy of Charlottesville, and Care Net of Loudon County claimed that the new law forced them to compromise various hiring and employment practices based on their sincere religious beliefs.

“[The Act] puts the Ministries in an impossible position: they must either abandon the religious convictions they were founded upon, or be ready to face investigations, an onerous administrative process, fines up to $100,000 for each violation, unlimited compensatory and punitive damages and attorney-fee awards, and court orders forcing them to engage in actions that would violate their consciences,” stated the suit, in part.

“Even merely posting their religious beliefs on their own websites could subject the Ministries to prosecution and exorbitant fines. These penalties could easily exceed a million dollars, ruin the Ministries financially, and make continuing their Christian missions impossible.”

In March, U.S. District Court Judge Claude M. Hilton rejected a separate challenge to the Virginia Values Act, another lawsuit filed by the ADF, this time on behalf of Robert Updegrove of Bob Updegrove Photography.

In his decision, Hilton argued that the Updegrove lacked the standing to sue since the Act “has never been enforced against” him “or any other person.”

“In the almost nine months since the statute became effective, no complaint has been filed under the statute,” wrote Hilton in late March. 

It won't be long now!

“No case or controversy exists when a person expresses a desire to change his previously compliant conduct to violate a new statute that no person, government or otherwise, has ever sought to enforce.”

So, you have to wait until the circumstances are such that your ministry will be destroyed before you can sue. Good system.

English church vandalised just days after reopening, with windows

smashed & premises covered with bleach, fire extinguisher powder

31 Jul, 2021 11:14

St Mary Magdalene's parish church, Caldecote, Hertfordshire. © Wikipedia

A church in Caldecote, Hertfordshire was heavily vandalised in an attack which saw its windows and decorations smashed – a mere ten days after it reopened following nine months of repairs.

The 14th and 15th century Church of St. Mary Magdalene, which is Grade II-listed and maintained by the Friends of Friendless Churches charity, had its windows smashed, its decorations destroyed, and its furniture, floors and altar covered in fire extinguishing powder and bleach on Thursday afternoon.

The Friends of Friendless Churches published photos of the destruction on social media, noting that though “it may not look like much,” the fire extinguishing powder “is everywhere” and “in every crevice.”

“It's thick. Hours of cleaning and barely any difference made,” the charity declared. “The vandals were very obviously disturbed. It could have been so much worse, but this is so disheartening. Why? Why do something like this?”

In its own statement, the Church of St. Mary Magdalene condemned the “mindless act of vandalism,” and claimed that the police “are treating the crime very seriously.”

Due to the police investigation and clean-up efforts, the church announced that it would “remain closed until further notice” until it can be “safely re-opened.”

Several cases of vandalism against churches have been recorded in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic. In April, historic stained glass windows at a church in Lincolnshire were damaged after vandals appeared to use them for “target practice,” while, in October last year, a man was filmed trying to pull a large crucifix off a church roof in London.

This summer, Canada has also experienced a surge in arson attacks against churches, with at least 57 churches set on fire or otherwise vandalised. The attacks started after the discovery in May of unmarked graves near an old Catholic school for indigenous Canadians.

Ozzone - 5-6 > Where the modern evangelical church has strayed so badly

 

European Politics > Ukraine Too Broken for NATO; Merkel's Successor Disgraceful X2; Lithuania Helped by Estonia to Stop Migrants; Scotland's Soaring Drug Deaths; Baltics

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Ukrainian membership in NATO is not realistic & country should

focus on fixing internal issues, says French Ambassador in Kiev

13 Jul, 2021 13:40

© REUTERS / Yves Herman; (inset) Getty Images / Valentyn Semenov / EyeEm

Kiev should focus on its internal process of reform and forget about joining NATO in the near future, which is not ‘realistic’ because there is no consensus among the current members of the transatlantic alliance.

That’s according to Etienne de Poncins, the French ambassador to Ukraine. De Poncins has been in his role since 2019. Speaking to Ukrainian news website TCN, the ambassador noted that Kiev must follow the roadmap provided for it by NATO if it wishes to officially be put on a Membership Action Plan (MAP).

“We prefer and insist on the implementation of what was decided last year, in particular within the framework of the expanded partnership between NATO and Ukraine,” he explained.

Last year, Ukraine joined NATO’s enhanced opportunity partner interoperability program.

“At the moment, there is no consensus among the members to grant MAP to Ukraine,” he explained. “It’s not a question of France or other countries. It’s just a matter of consensus.”

As things stand, only one country – Bosnia and Herzegovina – has the status of a Membership Action Plan. Ukraine has long wanted to join the Bosnians, having first applied in 2008.

When asked if France would support Ukraine receiving the MAP if Germany decided to back Kiev, the ambassador refused to be drawn, saying that “it doesn’t work that way in an international alliance or organization.”

“At this point, the consensus, as I said, is to implement what exists,” he continued. “Let’s do our homework and not open up a perspective that is not yet realistic.”

Joining NATO was a stated goal of President Volodymyr Zelensky when he was elected leader in 2019, and he has repeatedly begged to be allowed into the alliance. However, the group does not accept states with unresolved territorial problems – a huge stumbling block for Kiev.

The Ukrainian government also wishes to join the European Union – another one of Zelensky’s goals. In 2016, then-president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said that it would take around 20 or 25 years for Ukraine to join the EU and NATO.

Merkel’s potential successor Laschet apologizes after laughing

during German president’s speech about deadly floods

17 Jul, 2021 21:53

FILE PHOTO: Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia

and candidate for Chancellor Armin Laschet. ©  Reuters / Thilo Schmuelgen

The leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party, Armin Laschet, has found himself in hot water after he was filmed laughing as the German president expressed solidarity with the victims of the devastating flooding.

The incident occurred during President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s visit to Erftstadt – a small town in western Germany some 20 kilometers (12 miles) southwest of Cologne. The town was ravaged by record flooding this week as heavy rainfall caused the river and streams to burst their banks.

A huge sinkhole opened near the town’s district of Blessem, swallowing up cars, castle ruins and even some half-timbered buildings. Steinmeier arrived in Erftstadt on Saturday to express his sympathies and promise assistance to the disaster victims.

Laschet, who is also state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Erfstadt is located, was apparently not in a somber mood, however. The frontrunner in the race to be Germany’s next chancellor was caught on video laughing and cracking jokes with fellow politicians in the background at the very moment Steinmeir was addressing the nation.

Video of the faux pas quickly spread on social media and sparked a wave of indignation among both politicians and ordinary citizens. “I am really speechless,” said Lars Klingbeil, the general secretary of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Deputy chair of the SPD, Kevin Kuhnert, described the situation as a “question of character.”

Netizens denounced Laschet’s actions as “disrespectful” and “ignorant.” Laschet’s “schoolboy-like behavior is just repulsive and disgusting,” a commenter tweeted. Hashtag #LaschetDarfNichtKanzlerWerden (Laschet must not be Chancellor) also started trending on Twitter.

Laschet, who took the reins in Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in January, is its candidate for the chancellorship in the upcoming general elections in September.

The CDU must be horrified and considering drastic measures to deal with this. Laschet should step down before he drags the CDU down with him.

Responding to the mounting backlash over his PR blunder, Laschet issued an apology. 

“The regional government takes the fate of those affected to heart,” he wrote in a Twitter post, adding that he regrets the impression that was created during the president’s speech. “This was inappropriate and I am sorry,” he said.

Many critics apparently felt his apology was “half-hearted.” 

“Wouldn’t you just tell us the joke that was so funny it made you laugh in the face of all this suffering?” a German columnist and author, Sarah Bosetti, said in response to Laschet’s tweet.

Germany is still reeling from this week’s “catastrophic” flooding. At least 143 people have already died in the calamity, including 98 people in the tiny rural district of Ahrweiler south of Cologne, one of the hardest-hit areas in the country. Earlier, local authorities reported that over 1,000 people were missing there.

Germany was not the only nation hit by the disaster. A further 27 people were killed in neighboring Belgium, where Prime Minister Alexander De Croo declared that July 20 would be a national day of mourning. Local media also reported that the Belgian National Day celebrations next Wednesday will also be downsized as a result.

Merkel’s potential successor apologizes after book on immigration

was flagged for plagiarism

30 Jul, 2021 15:31

©  Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP

As parliamentary elections in Germany loom, chancellor candidate and leader of the ruling Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) Armin Laschet has issued an apology over a lacking source in a book he wrote.

The potential plagiarism incident had been brought to light by a consultant and publicist, Karsten Weitzenegger, who shared a side-by-side comparison of his own work that Laschet had failed to reference. Weitzenegger also stated that the case was brought to his attention by ‘plagiarism hunter’ Martin Heidingsfelder.

Laschet’s book in question, which included the part, dates back to 2009 and is titled: “The Ascending Republic. Immigration as an opportunity”.

On Friday, the CDU Chairman claimed responsibility for the error, explaining that “at least one author of the material used in the book is not mentioned either in the text or in the list of sources”.

Alongside his apology, Laschet promised to have the book further analyzed immediately “in order to clarify whether there are other errors”.

Laschet, who stands a chance of succeeding Merkel as chancellor of Germany, is not the first politician to come under fire recently for academic malpractice. A rival Green party candidate, Annalena Baerbock, was scrutinized earlier for failing to correctly reference five sources in her new book. A party spokesperson called the plagiarism accusations attempted “character assassination”.

The recent findings of academic misconduct do not bode well in Laschet’s favor ahead of the September 26 parliamentary elections. While the CDU are in the lead of the electoral race, the Union’s chairman has been losing popularity. Laschet was staunchly criticized for laughing during a visit to regions in Western Germany that were rocked by fatal floods earlier in July.

Over the last decade a number of German politicians have had their academic integrity attacked. For political figures, plagiarism is a serious offence to be accused of, one that can be potentially career-destroying. Germany’s former defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, was found guilty of borrowing passages of other authors’ work without correctly citing them, leading to his resignation in 2011.

As migrant crossings surge, Estonia to gift Lithuania

100km of sharp Razor Wire for border fences

24 Jul, 2021 17:18

FILE PHOTO. Lithuanian army soldiers install razor wire on border with Belarus. © REUTERS/Janis Laizans

Tallinn says it will help Vilnius build military-grade obstacles on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border by sending drones and razor wire to its neighbor. It comes amid a surge of Middle Eastern migrants trying to cross into the EU.

Some hundred kilometers (60 miles) of concertina wire will immediately be sent to Lithuania for free, Estonia’s defense ministry announced on Saturday. It has also promised drones for better border surveillance. The move comes as Vilnius is desperate to lock its borders to illegal migrants from the Middle East and Central Asia attempting to cross through Belarus.

Lithuania has previously said it’s facing a full-blown crisis as the number of illegal migrants has multiplied by 30 compared to last year, with almost 2,500 people detained. Having declared a state of emergency earlier this month, it started building a fence, but soon ran out of the military-grade wire.

Having blamed Minsk for the migrant crisis, the Baltic country appealed to its western neighbours for help. Poland has responded by sending tents and heating facilities. The EU said it won’t be helping with the border wall, but promised to help deal with the influx of migrants financially.

“The European Commission does not fund fences. Our funding is aimed at inclusive solutions to control borders which guarantee that illegal crossings will not remain unnoticed,” its spokesperson has told RIA Novosti news agency. The money should also be used to help shelter migrants, the EU official added.

According to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, his country has been a “barrier” for illegal migration and drugs trafficking from the east. However, after Minsk’s relations with the West deteriorated dramatically and Lukashenko’s government came under a barrage of sanctions, he said Belarus would no longer stem the migrant tides, as it had “neither money nor strength” due to the sanction-inflicted losses. Vilnius has, meanwhile, accused Minsk of using migration flows as a “political tool” and called on the EU to impose even more sanctions on its neighbor.

‘Out of her depth’: Calls for Sturgeon to resign as new data show

Scotland boasts most drugs deaths in Europe, by a country mile

30 Jul, 2021 13:29

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (FILE PHOTO) © Andy Buchanan/Pool via REUTERS

Criticism over Nicola Sturgeon’s government is mounting in Scotland as new figures show another increase in drugs deaths, with narcotic-related fatalities there overtaking those of European nations.

On Friday, state archive National Records of Scotland published its latest figures on Scotland’s drug epidemic. The data showed that, in 2020, 1,339 lost their lives in Scotland to drug-related deaths, that’s 75 more than in 2019 and the highest number since records began in 1996. 

The national rate of 21.2 deaths per 100,000 people is more than three-and-a-half times higher than England’s and Wales’, and vastly greater than any EU nation, and the European average. The country’s largest city, Glasgow, was most afflicted, registering 30.8 drug related deaths per 100,000; meaning that around one in 3,000 people of all ages had died from narcotics in 2020. Over the last decade, drug-related deaths have more than doubled. 

Scotland’s drug-use epidemic, as well as its rampant alcoholism, has long been an issue for the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP). On Friday, reacting to the figures, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said, “the number of lives lost to drugs is unacceptable,” adding that she is determined to make changes that may positively impact the country’s “shameful” record.

However, Sturgeon’s promise of action has come too late for some who demanded her resignation on Friday. “Scotland’s shame,” wrote Alliance for Unity on Twitter, adding the trending hashtag #ResignSturgeon. Another person, responding to Sturgeon’s tweet directly, called on the leader to “stop insulting our intelligence and resign.” 

Many people questioned her record as Scottish leader, noting that she had failed on independence approval, economics and investment, but she’d managed to take Scotland to the top of the table for drug deaths. 

“Drug policy is a disaster,” another asserted, claiming that everything else the embattled leader touches is, too. “How about the truth for once in life or are we not intelligent enough for that?” they added. 

One Twitter user agreed, claiming that the nationalist leader was “out of her depth,” and that if she can’t “tax it, ban it or make it free” she doesn’t have a plan.

Some people even said that they were cancelling their SNP membership today, saying that Sturgeon has had too many chances to take the nation forward and had failed. 

Others asked how Sturgeon and her spin doctors planned to deflect the criticism, wondering if Scotland’s drug problem would eventually be Westminster’s fault. 

Despite the widespread criticism, several Scots stood up for their leader, asking why is it her fault if some people are “stupid enough” to take drugs. “Blame the idiots for taking the drugs not her!” 

Sturgeon has previously admitted that the country’s record on drugs was "indefensible" and "a national disgrace." Her government has pledged a further £250 million ($349mn) to reduce drug deaths. 

While her party and the cause of Scotland’s independence remain popular, the leader has come under fire for her drugs policy, for an embarrassing scandal involving former first minister Alex Salmond and for her government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Big Pharma - Advanz Fined for Price Hike of More Than 6000%

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UK watchdog slaps Advanz pharma company with massive fine

over 6,000% price hike on essential thyroid drug

29 Jul, 2021 17:41

The UK competition watchdog slapped a pharma company with a fine of over $100 million after a more-than-tenfold price hike on a crucial thyroid drug, which made it unaffordable for the NHS and forced people to give up treatments.

The hefty penalty was imposed on Advanz – a multinational pharma giant with headquarters in London – as well as on two private equity firms which were previously owners of the businesses now forming part of the company, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said in a statement on Thursday.

The CMS investigation revealed that between 2009 and 2017 the company charged “excessive and unfair prices” for its liothyronine tablets, which are essential for patients with thyroid hormone deficiency.

“They achieved this because liothyronine tablets were among a number of drugs that, although genericised, faced limited or no competition and therefore could sustain repeated price increases,” the statement said.

The hikes began in 2007 and eventually saw the price of the drug growing by a whopping 6,000%, the watchdog said.

According to the BBC, the tablets, which used to cost £20 (about $28) a decade ago, were sold at £248 (nearly $350) in 2017.

There was no viable justification for such a strategy, given that the production costs of the drug and its volumes didn’t change significantly over that period and no meaningful innovations had been introduced, the CMA said.   

Instead, Advanz had simply “exploited a loophole enabling it to reap much higher profits,” Andrea Coscelli, the watchdog’s chief executive, said.

Because that's what Big Pharma is all about - profits. Zero concern for their patients.

The strategy eventually made the drugs too expensive for the UK’s publicly funded healthcare system. The NHS used to pay around £600,000 (about $838,000) for the supply of the thyroid remedy before 2009 but, when the bill had increased to £30 million by 2016, the drugs were placed on the ‘drop list.’

The decisions made by Advanz “came at a huge cost to the NHS, and ultimately to UK taxpayers,” but more importantly they meant “people dealing with depression and extreme fatigue, as a result of their thyroid conditions, were told they could not continue to receive the most effective treatment for them,” Coscelli said.

The fresh fines and the work done by CMA “sends a clear message that breaking the law has serious consequences” for Advanz and the whole pharma sector in the UK, she added.

Advanz itself will be fined around £41 million, while the two private equity firms, HgCapital and Cinven, are finded £8.6 million and £51.9 million respectively. In a statement, an Advanz spokesperson said the company “utterly disagrees” with the CMA’s decision and “will be appealing.”

Big Pharma needs to be taken out of the greedy hands of the private sector and placed in universities with a mandate to find medications that work and are not insanely expensive. Federal governments could fund the research with the WHO funding clinical trials. All three players would then receive a portion of the profits.

Corruption is Everywhere > In China, But Who's Guilty? Tunisian Politics; Monsanto Fined in France; Malta's Mafia-Like Culture; Billions Looted from Tunisia

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Chinese billionaire Sun Dawu sentenced to 18 years for

‘attacking state organs’ amid land dispute

28 Jul, 2021 15:09

FILE PHOTO. Chinese pig farmer Sun Dawu in Hebei, outside Beijing. © AFP / NOEL CELIS

A Chinese court sentenced Sun Dawu to 18 years in jail on Wednesday after the billionaire was detained last November on charges that included “provoking trouble” and “gathering a crowd to attack state organs.”

The charges against the self-made billionaire were related to a land dispute between Sun’s agricultural firm, the Dawu Group, and a state-owned competitor.

Sun was tried in secret in a Gaobeidian court near Beijing. As well as the long stint in prison, he was fined 3.11 million yuan ($475,000).

He was detained by authorities back in November, along with 19 relatives and business associates, after Dawu employees tried to stop a government-owned enterprise from demolishing a company building in August 2020. According to a social media post by Sun, more than 20 people were injured in a clash with the police.

Sun’s legal team said prosecutors alleged that the Dawu Group acted deceptively toward its employees, interfering with the government’s administrative duties, and causing political instability. The billionaire has faced a slew of other charges,  including illegal mining and illegal occupation of farmland.

However, Sun reportedly claimed some responsibility for faults, including posting messages online and unspecified mistakes over the ‘land issue’. He said he wished to take the charges upon himself, even if severe, in exchange for the release of others. 

Sun – a self-proclaimed ‘outstanding Communist party member’ – said in response to the claims against his firm that the Dawu Group was “wholly socialist, everyone is on the road to common prosperity, and Dawu employees live very well,” according to his team.

The billionaire’s lawyers said that the secrecy of the trial “violated legal guidelines and did not protect the defendant's litigation rights.”

The land dispute is not the first time the pig-farmer billionaire has butted heads with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

In the early 2000s he ran a website that included criticism of state-owned banks, which he accused of neglecting rural investment while funneling rural residents' savings toward urban projects.

In 2003, he was charged with ‘illegal fundraising’ after reportedly taking illegal deposits without approval from the People’s Bank of China. Instead, he solicited investments for his business from friends and neighbors.

After abandoning his appeals for the case, the sentence was suspended and Sun received probation.

More recently, in 2019, he criticized the government’s handling of the swine fever outbreak, publicly disputed the scale of the epidemic, saying it was far more severe than officials had said. He reported that about 15,000 pigs on his farms had died from the disease and posted photos of the dead animals online.

Tunisia’s biggest political parties under investigation over

foreign funding, judiciary announces

28 Jul, 2021 16:15

Police officers stand guard outside the parliament building in Tunis, Tunisia July 27, 2021 © REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi

A Tunisian court has said it is investigating three of the country’s political parties, including Ennahda and Heart of Tunisia, over allegations they received foreign funds during the 2019 election campaign.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Tunisian judiciary told the Tunis Africa News Agency that investigations were launched in the first two weeks of July into allegations of political wrongdoing. 

The spokesman added that the inquiries began before President Kais Saied decided to dismiss the prime minister and freeze parliament. Ennahda and Heart of Tunisia have said Saied’s move is tantamount to “revolution.”

The investigation concerns three political parties – the country’s two largest, Ennahda and Heart of Tunisia, and Aish Tounsi – over  allegations that they received foreign funding during the 2019 election.

None of the parties were available for comment, according to Reuters. Tunisia is currently facing one of its toughest political challenges after Saied dismissed the PM and froze the country’s parliament for 30 days after an emergency meeting at his palace on Sunday night.

Ennahda has since called for calm after previously inviting its supporters onto the streets to protest the president’s move. While the situation has not escalated throughout the week, the army remains stationed around the parliament building to prevent further demonstrations.

Also on Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told his Tunisian counterpart, Othman Jerandi, that it was of the utmost importance that Tunisia quickly names a new prime minister, according to a foreign ministry statement.

French data regulator hits Monsanto with $472,000 fine for

illegally compiling watch list to secure support for weed killer

28 Jul, 2021 14:32

FILE PHOTO. © Reuters / Stephane Mahe

France’s data protection regulator has fined agricultural firm Monsanto €400,000 ($472,320) for illegally creating lists to help the company lobby support during a debate about the authorization of a key weed killer ingredient.

The case was launched by the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) after seven plaintiffs complained about Monsanto, now owned by German giant Bayer, compiling files on individuals who were involved in the public debate about the use of controversial weed killer glyphosate.

Which is, in my humble opinion, not just a weed killer but a bee and butterfly killer.

While the lists themselves were not deemed illegal, Monsanto fell foul of the data regulator by keeping the files secret and failing to inform individuals that their information was gathered, giving them the right to refuse to be included.

The French list of more than 200 people gave each individual a rating of one to five, marking influence, credibility and their level of support for the agricultural firm, specifically its pesticide and crop modification practices.

Siding with the plaintiffs, the CNIL fined Monsanto €400,000 over its data collection system and failure to provide individuals with the right to request their data be removed or not collected.

After Monsanto was acquired by Bayer in 2019, the German firm launched an internal investigation that found around 1,500 people had been targeted globally, “primarily within the EU,” but argued that there was no evidence anyone was illegally surveilled. 

The watch lists were created during a heated debate in the EU over the use of weedkiller Roundup amid lawsuits that claimed it has the potential to cause cancer. Monsanto has repeatedly claimed that Roundup and its main ingredient glyphosate is safe, denying there is any wrongdoing or cause for concern. 

The EU ultimately renewed the right to use glyphosate for a further five years in 2018 despite the US ordering Monsanto to pay $289 million in damages as part of a settlement over claims it causes cancer. The EU’s decision to stand by the use of the weedkiller means that it will be 2022, at the earliest, before the ingredient could be banned permanently from the continent.

I'm sure there was no business under the tables of the EU in 2018. I'm pretty sure.

While the lists were initially created to help lobby support during the debate across the EU, Monsanto continued collecting information and growing files on key figures until 2019, according to the CNIL, when media reports exposed the firm’s practices. However, despite the CNIL’s condemnation of the data collection, the regulator accepted that the information was not used to engage in any illegal lobbying, according to a statement from a Bayer spokesperson.

Maltese govt’s ‘culture of impunity’ led to murder of

anti-corruption journalist, independent inquiry finds

29 Jul, 2021 14:38

People place flowers on a makeshift memorial during a protest and vigil marking twenty-one months since the assassination of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. © REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi

The Maltese government created a “culture of impunity” that led to the assassination of reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia five years ago, an inquiry has said while claiming the state bears responsibility for her death.

The investigative journalist was killed in October 2017 when a car bomb detonated under her vehicle as she drove out of her home. By the time of her death, 53-year-old Caruana Galizia had become known for her anti-corruption reporting, having accused Maltese officials of engaging in illicit activities. Malta’s former prime minister, Joseph Muscat, tendered his resignation in 2019 after an investigation into Caruana Galizia’s death implicated close associates of the then-leader. He has never been accused by police of being involved in her murder.

The 437-page report, published on Thursday, follows an independent inquiry that ran for two years and heard from numerous witnesses, including Muscat, other Maltese politicians, and journalists. Laying out its findings, the inquiry said that the government at the time of the killing had created “an extended culture of impunity.”

“The tentacles of impunity then spread to other regulatory bodies and the police, leading to a collapse in the rule of law,” the panel’s report highlighted.

While the inquiry did not specifically cite a motive for the murder of Caruana Galizia, it claimed that the assassination was either intrinsically or directly linked to her investigations. It also cited unwarranted closeness between businesses and government officials which were later found to result in irregularities on big project deals.

Following the publication of the report, Prime Minister Robert Abela released a statement declaring that “lessons must be drawn” from its findings, committing to “continue with greater resolve” to implement reforms to protect the rule of law.

Since her death, Caruana Galizia’s family have sought justice for her murder, with her son describing Malta as a “mafia state” and her mother claiming the journalist was assassinated for having “stood between the rule of law and those who sought to violate it.”

Meanwhile, a police investigation has indicted three men on charges of murdering Caruana Galizia. In February, one of the accused pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years behind bars. The other two suspects have not yet gone on trial. A fourth person has been charged with complicity over the murder, but denies the allegations.

The independent inquiry was launched two years after Caruana Galizia’s death, with Muscat giving the green light for its creation shortly before he left office. It was headed by former judge Michael Mallia, ex-chief justice Joseph Said Pullicino and Madam Justice Abigail Lofaro.

Muscat and others were outed by Galizia from the Panama Papers for hiding money offshore where it can't be taxed.

Tunisian president tells businessmen they won’t be prosecuted

if they return billions of dollars ‘looted’ from people

29 Jul, 2021 07:37

Tunisia's President Kais Saied (L) meets UTICA business union Samir Majoul at the Carthage Palace

outside capital Tunis. © Facebook / Présidence Tunisie

Tunisian President Kais Saied, who seized control of the government last weekend, said that billions of dollars had been stolen from the country and offered businessmen an option to return the money if they wanted to avoid prison.

During his meeting with the head of the UTICA business union, Samir Majoul, on Wednesday, Saied blamed 460 individuals for snatching 13.5 billion dinars (around $4.8 billion) from Tunisia.

He promised a crackdown on corruption, but, at the same time, insisted he had “no intention to harm or abuse” Tunisian entrepreneurs.

“I propose a penal reconciliation with businessmen involved in looting the people’s money and tax evasion in exchange for their commitment to projects ... instead of being prosecuted and imprisoned,” the president said in video footage of the meeting distributed by his office.

The man sounds brilliant! Hope he can make it work.

The businessmen on Saied’s list will be ranked in accordance with the amount of money they owe the country. Over the next ten years, they will be asked to fund the construction of schools, hospitals, and other socially important infrastructure, according to the proposal.

The head of state also urged traders to be “patriotic” and to reduce their prices, promising punishment for those caught speculating or hoarding goods.

Saied, who became president in 2019 after campaigning against corruption and the entrenchment of the political elite, used emergency powers to dismiss the government and freeze the parliament late on Sunday. He insisted the harsh move was necessary to “save” the country amid protests caused by people’s anger over its “dysfunctional” political system and crumbling healthcare provision.

His opponents have labeled the consolidation of power in Saied’s hands as a “coup” and a pushback against the achievements made by Tunisia during the Arab Spring uprising in 2014, and urged their supporters to take to the streets. However, the president has warned that the military would “respond with bullets” if the situation got out of hand.