The Islamization of Europe > Is Labour playing smoke and mirrors with UK's illegal migrants? Hamas puts down roots in Belgium

 

UK: 93,000 illegal migrants housed at taxpayers’ expense, Labour government accused of ‘making them disappear’

Aug 28, 2026 3:00 pm By Christine Douglass-Williams1 Comment

The Labour government continues to enable illegal migrants — mostly Muslims — from Africa and the Middle East to invade Britain at taxpayer expense, with no respite in sight. Economic costs are one thing, but the cost in terms of safety and national security is incalculable as the rates of crime, particularly rapes, and the threat of jihad attacks continue to rise. While law-abiding British citizens are scanned at airports and wait in long security lineups (precisely due to the recognized jihad terror threats to the West since 9/11), these unvetted illegals are swarming into the UK on a routine basis.

Photo: CBP Photography, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

Labour accused of ‘encouraging illegal migrants to disappear in Britain’ as more than 93,000 housed at taxpayers’ expense

Edward Griffiths, GB News, August 27, 2026:

Labour has been accused of “encouraging illegal migrants to disappear in Britain” after the Home Office revealed that more than 93,000 have been housed in accommodation across the country at taxpayers’ expense.

The new data showed over 73,000 migrants were housed in “non-hotel accommodation” in the 12 months leading up to June 2026.

The figure is three per cent higher than at the end of June 2025 and makes up 78 per cent of all asylum seekers in the UK.

Around 17 per cent of asylum seekers remain in hotel accommodation.

Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, response to asylum accommodation release: “Labour are moving illegal immigrants out of hotels and into flats in your building, and now they are telling them to go and disappear without a trace.

“More than 93,000 people are now being housed at the taxpayer’s expense, and the number crammed into dispersal accommodation has climbed by 12 per cent under Labour.

“Illegal immigrants should be deported in the first place, and we should certainly not be encouraging them to just disappear.

“The next Conservative government would deport every illegal immigrant, leaving the ECHR and any other obligation that stands in the way in order to get it done, because the surest way to empty the accommodation is to make plain that nobody who crosses the Channel gets to stay.”…

The last Conservative government had several years to accomplish this and failed miserably.  

Why should we believe the next one will be any different?

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The European Nightmare: Hamas Puts Down Roots, and Belgian Leaders Yawn

Aug 28, 2026 2:00 pm By Hugh Fitzgerald

1 Comment

Belgium has in the past been the object of French derision. Baudelaire, who moved to Belgium in later life, found the country so depressing that he wrote “Pauvre Belgique!,” an attack on the Belgians for their small-mindedness, their humorlessness, their petty bourgeois mental makeup. He wrote that “All Belgians without exception have an empty skull.” ”A Belgian is a hell unto himself.” “A people who whistle and laugh loudly without reason, a sign of cretinism.”

Molenbeek Sign, Edison McCullen, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0

A harsh judgement, but perhaps today not to be dismissed, as we contemplate how Belgium has allowed itself to become a European center for Hamas and its supporters. In the Islamization of Europe, Belgium is running ahead of the pack. More on Belgium today, and the Muslim terrorists in its midst, can be found here: 

‘They Are Against the Principles of the Country They Live In’: The Islamization of Europe

by Robert Williams, Gatestone Institute, August 25, 2026:

At the heart of the European Union, Belgium exemplifies better than perhaps any other Western European country the extent to which political elites seem to almost relish the degree to which Europe is being Islamized.

In July 2026, Israel’s Channel 12 News aired a report warning that Hamas terrorists, including high-ranking members of the organization’s Al-Qassam Brigades, now live in Antwerp — some of whom, according to local Gazans opposed to Hamas, are receiving Belgian citizenship.

“Little Gaza,” as the neighborhood in northern Antwerp is called in the report, has a large population of Gazans from Khan Younis, a major Hamas stronghold. Hamas-linked residents there traffic in illegal narcotics, run shops and restaurants, and send the proceeds to Hamas in Gaza, according to the interviewed Gazans, who only dared speak anonymously out of fear of revenge from local Hamas supporters.

“You feel as if you are visiting Palestine”, one Arab said. The local baker, who sells only Gazan specialties, agreed that walking on that street was like “walking in Khan Younis.”…

“They send money to Hamas and support them,” said another local Gazan. He mentioned fundraisers for the children of Gaza as one way to drive donations….

And some of the money sent to Hamas from Belgium comes from the welfare benefits that the Belgian government distributes to Palestinian Arabs on the dole. Belgian taxpayers are, unbeknownst to themselves, financially supporting Hamas, which is not only a declared enemy of Israel, but as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, is an enemy of all non-Muslims.

Belgian politicians, however, do not appear particularly bothered by this increasing political, cultural and demographic threat. After the report was issued, Belgian federal MP Sam van Rooy, who also serves as a representative in the Antwerp City Council for the Vlaams Belang party, requested a city council emergency session, but could not find enough votes to get one….

Vlaams Belang is the anti-Muslim immigrant party in Belgium, routinely and wrongly described as “far-right.” It is also a strong supporter of Israel, with its leader, Tom Van Grieken, declaring that Israel’s fight against Islamic terrorism is a “fight for the whole world” as part of a “permanent struggle” against what he calls “radical Islam.”

A Hamas terrorist from Khan Yunis, Mohannad al-Khatib, who participated in the October 7, 2023 massacre but calls himself as a freelance journalist, was able freely to enter Belgium to claim asylum there. Belgian authorities were only alerted to his terrorist background because the Antwerp-based Jewish Information and Documentation Center (JID) compiled information about him appearing in footage inside or near Israeli territory during the Hamas invasion.

Al-Khatib was a Hamas terrorist when he lived in Gaza. He has been exposed as taking part in the planning of a terrorist attack in Europe on the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 atrocity. He is able to travel throughout Schengenland, and is thus a menace not just to people in Belgium, but to all those Europeans who live in that vast area. Yet for reasons unknown, he has been allowed to remain in Belgium. Why? Are the Belgian authorities so indifferent to the safety of their citizens? Could it be that they think Al-Khatib is a threat “only to Jews,” and so they don’t give a damn? Other Europeans, and especially those who lead the National Rally in France, the Fratelli d’Italia in Italy, the Reform Party in the UK, and the Alternative für Deutschland in Germany, should demand that the Belgian government shut down the Hamas support system, beginning by deporting Al-Khatib, and also explaining why, until now, he has not been deported.

Go ahead, Belgium. Come to your senses. Be a good neighbor to the people of Europe as they face the greatest threat — Islamization — to their existence. And prove Baudelaire’s anathematizing wrong.

The Media is the Message > CBC staff told not to refer to 911 as a terrorist attack

 

Canada: Leaked Memo to CBC journalists orders staff not to call 9/11 a terrorist attack

Aug 28, 2026 5:00 pm By Christine Douglass-Williams14 Comments

Consider: In 2015, a special U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund (USVSST) was established to compensate just that, victims of terror. 9/11 victims and their family members are paid from this fund. Out of the roughly 22,700 total eligible international terrorism claimants for the USVSST, over 13,000 are 9/11-related victims. The USVSST splits money for regular distributions as follows: 50% is strictly allocated to 9/11-related claimants. The USVSST Fund has already paid out nearly $7 billion to eligible claimants in six rounds of payments, where $1.41 billion went exclusively for 9/11 families.

Basem Boshra is ordering Canada’s state run broadcaster CBC’s journalists to lie about Muslims murdering thousands of Americans on 9/11. Add in the many more injuries and health fallout for emergency workers. If it were up to Basem Boshra, since 9/11 wasn’t a terrorist attack in his view, none of these victims of terror are actually victims, so they wouldn’t be compensated.

So what was the motivation of Basem Boshra? Did he agree with the mass murder of infidels on 9/11, and thus doesn’t view 9/11 as a terrorist attack? Is he undermining jihad terror to protect jihadists? How else might Basem Boshra be abusing his position to influence and shape news about jihad terror in Canada, under the banner of the state broadcaster, the CBC?

Photo: 9/11 attack, National Park Service,

Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

KINSELLA: 9/11 wasn’t a ‘terrorist attack,’ according to the CBC

by Warren Kinsella, Toronto Sun, August 26, 2026:

Terrorism.

The definition of that word is widely known and widely accepted.

The Encyclopedia Britannica people define it this way: “Terrorism is the calculated use of violence, or the threat of violence, to create general fear in a population and coerce a government or society to achieve political, religious, or ideological goals.”

By any reasonable and objective standard, that is what happened nearly 25 years ago, on September 11, 2001: Terrorism.

On that terrible day, four airplanes were hijacked by 19 terrorists. They piloted two of those planes into New York City’s World Trade Center, destroying both buildings and murdering 2,753 innocent people. Two dozen of them were Canadians.

A third plane hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. There, 125 people were slain — military and civilian. The 59 people on board the hijacked American Airlines flight were also killed.

A fourth plane, a United Airlines flight, slammed into a field in Pennsylvania after the hostages attempted to seize control from the four terrorists. Thirty-seven passengers and seven crew members were murdered.

Around the world, pretty much everyone accepts what the word terrorism means. The government of Saudi Arabia — where the majority of the 9/11 killers came from — officially call what happened on that day “terrorism.” No less than Osama bin Laden, who conceived of 9/11, used the word “terrorism” too — although, in his case, he usually applied it to those of us in the West, not him.

So, the word is understood to mean what it means: The use of violence to achieve some goal, political or religious or ideological. That is what 9/11 obviously, unarguably was: Terrorism by terrorists.

Memo sent to CBC News staff

Except, not at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

This week, I received a memo — presumably confidential — addressed to CBC News staff. It is authored by one Basem Boshra, who is the “Senior Director of Journalistic Standards and Public Trust at CBC News.” In Boshra’s memo, reporters are editors are told this:

“Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks.”…

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Latin America Rising > Tren de Aragua chief arrested in Bogota; Argentine household debt surging; Fujimori wants 120 days to rule by decree in Peru

 

Colombia captures alleged Tren de Aragua chief wanted by U.S.

By Mar Puig    

Alleged senior Tren de Aragua leader Luis Saúl Pérez Nieto, also known as “Páez” or “Nairobi,” was arrested, Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella (pictured) announced Thursday. Photo by Mauricio Duenas Castaneda/EPA

Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Colombian authorities captured an alleged senior Tren de Aragua leader in Bogotá who was wanted by the United States for crimes that include international arms trafficking and drug trafficking, President Abelardo de la Espriella announced Thursday.

Luis Saúl Pérez Nieto, also known as "Páez" or "Nairobi," was arrested in Fontibón, a district in western Bogotá. De la Espriella identified him as the gang's top leader in Peru and a trusted associate of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as "Niño Guerrero," the leader of the Venezuelan criminal organization.

Tren de Aragua began as a prison gang in Tocorón and expanded across South America and into the United States. It has been involved in murder, extortion, drug trafficking, human trafficking, sex trafficking, kidnapping and other violent acts.

"Nairobi" allegedly coordinated extortion, international arms trafficking, targeted killings and drug trafficking along strategic routes in South and Central America, according to the president's announcement.

De la Espriella said U.S. authorities wanted Pérez Nieto in connection with those crimes. Colombian and U.S. officials have not publicly disclosed the jurisdiction handling the case, the specific charges against him or whether Washington has submitted an extradition request.

"Colombia will not be a refuge or sanctuary for any criminal," De la Espriella said. "We will pursue them, capture them and bring them to justice, no matter where they come from."

The operation involved Colombia's National Police and Attorney General's Office, along with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to Colombian outlets.

Police sources told Semana that Pérez Nieto was allegedly involved in trafficking ketamine, cocaine and weapons from Bogotá. Authorities had been tracking his movements in the Colombian capital before carrying out the arrest.

Peruvian media also reported the detention, but authorities in Peru had not announced whether Pérez Nieto faces charges or an extradition request there.

Tren de Aragua originated in Venezuela's Tocorón prison and later expanded across South and Central America and into the United States. Washington designated the group a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025.

The State Department has offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of "Niño Guerrero." The U.S. government has accused him of expanding Tren de Aragua from a prison gang into a criminal network operating across the Western Hemisphere.

Read More

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Argentine household debt surges to highest level in region

By Banyeliz Muñoz    

People shop at a supermarket in Buenos Aires in January. Household debt is surging and millions of borrowers are falling behind on payments amid declining purchasing power and a rising cost of living. File Photo by Juan Ignacio Roncoroni/EPA

BUENOS AIRES, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Argentine household debt is at one of its worst levels in decades.

The country has the highest bank loan delinquency rate in Latin America, as household debt surges and millions of borrowers fall behind on payments amid declining purchasing power and a rising cost of living.

A report by the Argentine Center for Political Economy, or CEPA, based on data from the Central Bank and its Central Debtors Registry, shows a sharp deterioration in households' ability to repay debt.

According to the study, delinquency rates have reached levels not seen since Argentina's 2001 economic crisis.

The problem extends from traditional banks to newer financial platforms. In June, 12.8% of bank loans to households were delinquent. Among digital wallets and other companies providing credit outside the banking system, the rate reached 30.1%.

The deterioration began to accelerate in late 2024. In October that year, just 2.5% of bank loans to households were delinquent. By June 2026, the rate had increased more than fivefold.

The problem is even more severe in digital lending. The delinquency rate rose from 7.3% in November 2024 to 30.1% in June, surpassing the peak recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it reached 27.1% in May 2020.

Official data showed 20.96 million people had debts with banks or nonbank credit providers in June 2026. Of those, 5.91 million were behind on payments.

Argentina also ranks first in Latin America for bank loan delinquency. A report by the Latin American Federation of Banks, or Felaban, published by Infobae, compared 16 Latin American countries and found that 7.3% of loans issued by Argentine banks to the private sector were delinquent in the first quarter of 2026.

That was well above the regional average of 2.78%. Argentina ranked ahead of Brazil at 4.3% and Colombia at 3.7%.

The regional figures cover only traditional banks. They do not include loans issued by digital wallets, fintech companies and other nonbank credit providers.

Opponents of President Javier Milei's government say the rise in delinquency is a consequence of his administration's economic austerity measures and deregulation. The government, however, says banks, financial companies and borrowers should resolve the problem themselves.

Milei and Economy Minister Luis Caputo have described the situation as a "problem between private parties."

The government's position was reiterated this week during a news conference by presidential spokesman Adrián Ravier.

"The problem here, to a large extent, lies with the banks and nonbank financial institutions that issued loans at high interest rates, perhaps to protect themselves against the risks they were taking, and this has left these financial institutions exposed," Ravier said.

"Having the government rescue them with taxpayers' money would, in some way, mean taking resources from one part of the population to save the banks."

The problem is concentrated particularly in two forms of credit used by millions of families: personal loans and credit cards. Delinquency on personal loans rose from 3.3% in October 2024 to 15.9% in May. For credit cards, the rate increased from 1.6% to 13.1%.

Young people are the most exposed group. The analysis found that people under 35 account for 38.7% of all delinquent borrowers, meaning nearly 4 in 10 people behind on payments are in that age group.

Digital wallets also play a particularly significant role among younger borrowers. Of delinquent borrowers younger than 35, 72.6% owe money to those platforms.

Hernán Letcher, director of CEPA, told UPI the main factor behind rising household debt is the loss of purchasing power.

"Many families had to compensate for that loss by taking on debt," Letcher said.

The problem, according to Letcher, was compounded by sharp increases in expenses that households cannot avoid. Utility costs rose about 850% and transportation costs nearly 1,500%, while wages increased by an average of 300%.

"For many families, that adjustment meant cutting spending, but also taking on debt. First, they postponed payments and rolled over their debts until they reached a point where they could no longer keep paying them," he said.

Letcher also pointed to the high cost of borrowing. Although the government has managed to reduce some benchmark interest rates, he said the total cost a borrower ultimately faces can be much higher.

"The total financial cost of a loan can range from 180% to 1,500%. With annual inflation at 35%, that is extremely expensive," he said.

To illustrate the problem, Letcher said he simulated a short-term loan offered by a digital wallet and found an interest rate of nearly 900%.

"I have a very good payment record and even then, they offered me that rate. I didn't take the loan," he said.

Letcher identified a third factor: the ease with which people can obtain new loans.

"Apps constantly offer credit and often do not sufficiently assess the income of the person applying," he said. "That creates a very dangerous combination: people who need money and platforms that make it extremely easy for them to borrow."

Gala Díaz Langou, director of the International Panel on Social Progress, or IPSP, agreed that declining incomes are increasing the need for credit.

She told UPI that more people are turning to loans to cover everyday expenses instead of using them to purchase high-value goods.

"There is greater demand for credit because real income has fallen. Many people are using credit to cover their everyday consumption," Díaz Langou said.

The expansion of credit outside the traditional banking system has added to the problem.

"Nonbank lending, which carries greater risks, has expanded. That includes digital wallets and cards issued by nonbank financial companies," she said.

A third factor, she said, involves the government's response. In her view, the official position that the situation is exclusively a "problem between private parties" limits the possibility of implementing refinancing programs that could help families restructure their debts.

"The government's refusal to intervene prevents the creation of refinancing programs that could ease the situation," Díaz Langou said. "Without those tools, the problem could continue to grow."

Guido Zack, economics director at the consulting firm Fundar, also questioned the government's position.

"Millions of people made similar decisions. It is not possible to think that they all coordinated to make the same mistake at the same time. What existed were the wrong incentives," Zack told UPI.

He said the government also bears responsibility for creating those conditions because officials "created those incentives and now maintain that it is not their responsibility to do anything."

Zack said about 1 in 4 Argentines with a loan is behind on payments. He also estimated that one in every six pesos lent to households is not being repaid on schedule.

Read More

• After the commodity boom, Latin America confronts its growth trap
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Peru's Fujimori seeks 120-day authority to legislate by decree

By Macarena Hermosilla    

Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori's government was to ask Congress on Friday for authority to legislate by decree for 120 days, seeking broader powers to advance its security and economic agenda. Photo by Paolo Aguilar/EPA

Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Less than a month after taking office, Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori's government was to formally ask Congress on Friday for authority to legislate by decree for 120 days, seeking broader powers to advance its security and economic agenda.

The Council of Ministers, led by Fujimori, approved a bill containing 66 legislative proposals Thursday night for congressional consideration and debate.

The core of the government's request centers on the so-called "Shield Plan," a punitive security strategy designed to address the country's public safety crisis and the expansion of transnational organized crime.

The bill seeks to establish the legal framework needed to institutionalize and expand joint patrols by the Armed Forces and National Police in urban areas with the highest rates of violent crime.

The proposal also includes measures to address prison overcrowding and organized crime by giving the military administrative control of prisons as well as responsibility for border security.

The legislative package also proposes changes to the Penal Code to increase penalties for common crimes and redefine police powers during preliminary investigations conducted in coordination with the Public Prosecutor's Office.

On the economic front, Fujimori's proposal seeks to reshape labor market conditions to attract investment and boost economic activity.

The government contends that reducing nonwage labor costs for businesses is necessary to address an informal employment rate that affects almost 70% of the economically active population.

The government also proposes greater flexibility in traditional employee benefits through individual agreements or collective bargaining between workers and employers.

In Peru's new bicameral Congress, the government needs a simple majority in the Chamber of Deputies to secure the legislative package approval, requiring at least 66 votes from the chamber's 130 members.

Because the governing bloc does not have enough votes on its own, Fujimori's government must negotiate with moderate opposition lawmakers and secure at least 10 additional votes.

Read More

• After the commodity boom, Latin America confronts its growth trap
• U.S., 18 countries across Americas launch anti-crime task force
• Moody's warns Latin America faces hurdles in critical minerals boom

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