Corruption is Everywhere > Certainly in Ukraine; but also in Scotland!?

 

Ukraine's ex-energy minister detained while trying to leave the country

By Darryl Coote

   

German Galushchenko, Ukraine's former energy minister, pictured here in Britain in April 2025, was detained Sunday while attempting to leave Ukraine. Photo by Chris J. Ratcliffe/EPA

Feb. 16 (UPI) -- A Ukrainian anti-corruption law enforcement initiative on Monday announced it has detained former Energy Minister German Galushchenko as he was attempting to leave the country, authorities said.

Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau said in a statement that does not mention Galushchenko by name that the suspect, identified as the former minister of energy who was in office from 2021 to 2025, was detained Sunday.

The arrest comes as part of Ukraine's Operation Midas investigation into an alleged large-scale bribery scheme within the European country's energy sector.

Investigators with NABU announced that they uncovered the scheme in November, alleging a criminal organization comprised of current and former government officials, as well as businessmen, sought to influence strategic state-owned enterprises, particularly Energoatom, to obtain unlawful benefits and launder money.

The scheme participants allegedly received kickbacks from contractors with Energoatom to avoid having payments for their services or products blocked or losing their supplier status, according to the investigators. The kickbacks were valued at between 10% and 15% of the contract's value, they said.

Five people were initially arrested and allegations were made against a total of seven people. Amid the fallout, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded Galushchenko resign, which he did.

The investigators on Monday alleged that the criminal organization received more than $112 million in cash from illegal activity in the energy sector during Galushchenko's tenure as energy minister. The transactions were allegedly conducted through a third person Galushchenko trusted, referred to as "Rocket."

About $7.4 million of the money was transferred to accounts allegedly controlled by Galushchenko's family, with a further $1.7 million worth of Swiss francs and $2.8 million in euros were paid out in cash and transferred directly to the family in Switzerland.

NABU said part of the funds were allegedly spent on his children's education at prestigious institutions in Switzerland and were placed in the account of his former wife, while the rest was placed in a deposit from which Galushchenko's family received additional income and spent it on their needs.

Corruption has long plagued Ukraine, and Zelensky has sought to eradicate it as part of his push for the country to gain European Union status.

Ex-Scottish NP leader Peter Murrell faces $626K embezzlement charge

By Mike Heuer

   

Former Scottish National Party CEO Peter Murrell (L) is accused of stealing more than $626,000 from the party and will appear in Edinburgh High Court in May, but his ex-wife, Nicola Sturgeon (R) is not accused of any wrongdoing. File Photo by Robert Perry/EPA

Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Peter Murrell, the former CEO of the Scottish National Party, has been accused of embezzling more than $626,000 over a 12-year period, an indictment made public Friday indicates.

Murrell, 61, is expected to appear in a preliminary hearing at Glasgow's High Court in Edinburgh on May 25. He is accused of embezzling the funds from the political party's accounts Aug. 12, 2010, through Jan. 13, 2023.

He initially had a preliminary hearing scheduled on Feb. 20 in Glasgow, but the court and date were changed.

A police investigation dubbed Operation Branchform led to Murrell's arrest in 2023, and he was charged in April 2024.

Prosecutors allege that Murrell used the funds to buy a motorhome, two vehicles, jewelry, luxury items and cosmetics, as initially reported by The Scottish Sun.

He faces eight charges that accuse him of embezzlement and falsifying documents to hide the alleged theft.

Police say the largest expenditure was $169,911 on the motorhome for his personal use. He allegedly created false documents that indicated the purchase was for the political party.

He also is accused of using party funds to buy a Jaguar I-PACE car in 2019, for which prosecutors say he submitted a false invoice to hide the purchase.

Investigators said Murrell sold the vehicle in 2021 and deposited the proceeds into his personal bank account.

Murrell's ex-wife, Nicola Sturgeon, is not accused of any wrongdoing. The former first minister and SNP party leader announced their divorce on Jan. 13, 2025, ending their 15-year marriage.

Read More

• France's Marine Le Pen launches appeal against embezzlement conviction
• Former Bolivian President Luis Arce held in $52M graft investigation
• House Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick charged with stealing $5M in FEMA funds

Islamization of UK > Muslim Extremists trying to buy Scottish island for new Sharia compliant Islamic home

 

UK: Shi’ite Muslim cleric raises $3,850,000

to buy small island and turn it into

Sharia-adherent Islamic state

Jul 29, 2024 3:00 pm By Robert Spencer

A man should not be able to buy land in a sovereign nation and enforce a legal system separate from that of the nation itself. But shattered, staggering, dhimmi Britain is unlikely to summon the will to stop Yasser al-Habib. To do so would be “Islamophobic.”

Anyway, Yasser al-Habib is impatient. Before too long, the whole country will be under Sharia anyway.

Hate cleric with his own ‘army’ raises £3m to create Islamic homeland on Scottish island – as the extremist who already runs military-style training camps bids to build his own school, hospital and mosque and practise sharia law at remote spot

by Abul Taher and Daisy Graham-Brown, Daily Mail, July 28, 2024:

A firebrand cleric who has been accused of spreading hate has raised more than £3 million to buy a small British island and turn it into his own Islamic state.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Sheikh Yasser al-Habib, 45 – who claimed asylum in Britain 20 years ago after fleeing his native Kuwait – and his followers are in advanced talks to buy the remote isle of Torsa, off the west coast of Scotland.

Torsa is one of the Slate Islands in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Lying east of Luing and south of Seil, this tidal island was inhabited until the 1960s. There is now only one house there, which is used for holiday lets. Wikipedia

Area: 113 ha

Highest elevation: 62 m (203 ft)

Island group: Slate Islands

Population: 0

Sovereign state: United Kingdom

The extremist scholar, who already runs military-style training camps, hopes his organisation can build its own school, hospital and mosque on the island, where it intends to practise sharia law.

In a video encouraging supporters to donate towards their £3.5 million target, the cleric says he will negotiate with the Government to allow Muslims ‘from all over the world’ to be given a visa in order for them to live in their new ‘homeland’.

Residents on the neighbouring island of Luing reacted with concern when The Mail on Sunday revealed his plans to them.

One man said: ‘I’ve spent much of my life working in Muslim countries so have no issues whatsoever with that community, but this group do seem alarming from what I’ve just seen now.’

Al-Habib, who is accused of stirring up sectarian hatred in Britain and in the Arab world between Shias and rival Sunni Muslims, has his ‘global headquarters’ in the picturesque village of Fulmer, South Buckinghamshire….

Al-Habib has since said on Fadak TV that Torsa, which comes with two little adjoining islets, is an ‘irreplaceable opportunity’.

Encouraging supporters to donate, he said Torsa will become an Islamic ‘homeland’ which they will create to prepare for the coming of their messiah, known as mahdi.

In one three-minute video, al-Habib says: ‘If you want to live free under the banner of the imam [Shia leader], in a special homeland where you feel everything in it reminds you of the awaited mahdi, everything is the Shia homeland…support this project.’

In the same video, another man, who is filming from Torsa, says: ‘Here, my brothers, God willing, we want to build a large mosque, a school and a hawza [Shia seminary]. We want this place to be a homeland to the Shias and the believers.’ The footage switches to images of al-Habib’s ‘army’, called Al-Shurta Al-Khamis, training and doing drills in the grounds of his mosque in Fulmer.

In another video, al-Habib, who spent nearly three months in jail in Kuwait for insulting the Sunni faith, said the MSU will obtain the right for Shias from around the world to immigrate to the island….

Turning this bleak, little island into Mecca NW is going to take an engineering miracle. Can you imagine thousands or tens of thousands of people on this island? What are they going to eat and where will they get water from, not to mention building materials.  

Bits and Bites from Around the World > Thieves Steal Ohio Bridge; BoJo's Clown Prince; Witches to be Pardoned

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Thieves steal entire bridge in Ohio

17 Dec, 2021 15:38

A photograph of a bridge stolen in Akron, Ohio, posted to Facebook by Akron Police Department on December 10, 2021

© Facebook / Akron Police Department

Police in Akron, Ohio are baffled by the theft of an entire 58-foot bridge. The bridge had been sitting in a field awaiting restoration, but the bandits managed to make off with the entire structure over several days.

Once used by pedestrians to cross the Cuyahoga River in Akron’s Middlebury Run Park, the bridge had sat unused in a nearby field since 2004, when a wetlands restoration project got underway in the park. However, police discovered in November that someone had cleared the brush that had grown around the bridge and made off with its treated lumber deck boards, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.

A week later, the entire structure – 58 feet long, 10 feet wide, with six-foot sides – was gone.

What motivated the thieves is a mystery. Police spokesman Lt. Mike Miller told Fox 8 that as the structure is made out of almost all polymers, it would have little value on the scrap market. 

However, Miller said that the bridge was mostly held together with bolts, meaning anyone with a basic socket set and the time and inclination could dismantle and steal it. The bridge could then “be used for a variety of different things to include as simple as landscaping or they could use it for some other engineering project, some other large scale project.”

The city of Akron wasn’t planning on reinstalling the bridge over the Cuyahoga. Instead it was due to be used in a parking lot project in aid of a battered women’s shelter. City officials say that the bridge was valued at between $30,000 and $40,000.

The cops have appealed to the public for help finding the bridge. Among other lines of inquiry, they are quite literally looking for someone with a bridge to sell.

Civil servant tasked with investigating No. 10 parties

'held own party'

17 Dec, 2021 21:16

Cabinet Secretary Simon Case walks to the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, April 26, 2021

© Reuters / Toby Melville

British Cabinet Secretary Simon Case will no longer investigate a series of alleged lockdown-breaching Christmas parties at Downing Street, after it emerged that a festive gathering was held in his office over the same period.

Case had been investigating a number of alleged festive gatherings held last winter at Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Downing Street office, as well as a party at the Department of Education. These events, at least one of which was attended by Johnson himself, reportedly took place in breach of the government’s own coronavirus restrictions.

However, Case stepped down on Friday after it was revealed that a lockdown-defying party was held in his own office on December 17 last year. First reported by the Guido Fawkes gossip blog, the party was attended by around 15 people. Invites were sent out and the event featured “copious booze and music.”

"To ensure the ongoing investigation retains public confidence, the cabinet secretary has recused himself for the remainder of the process,” read a statement from Downing Street on Friday. 

A government spokesperson downplayed the party, describing the event as a “virtual quiz” attended by half a dozen staffers in person in the cabinet secretary’s private office, but in which Case played no part. However, they said he walked past partiers on the way out of the building, indicating he was at least aware of the event at the time. 

"No outside guests or other staff were invited or present. This lasted for an hour and drinks and snacks were bought by those attending. He also spoke briefly to staff in the office before leaving,” the spokesperson told the BBC.

The investigation will be taken over by senior civil servant Sue Gray. Gray ran the 2012 ‘Plebgate’ inquiry that led to the resignation of minister Andrew Mitchell, oversaw several cabinet reshuffles, and investigated MP Damian Green for sexual harassment in 2017.  

Opposition MPs were scathing in their criticism of the turn of events on Friday. "Boris Johnson as prime minister has set the tone for the civil service and the rest of government,” said Labour Party deputy leader Angela Rayner. "With each new revelation there is growing evidence of a culture of turning a blind eye to the rules.”

Ian Blackford, the Scottish National Party’s leader in Westminster, was more succinct. "This is a government that stinks of corruption and stinks of sleaze," he told the BBC.

Witches executed 300 years ago to be posthumously pardoned

19 Dec, 2021 14:41

FILE PHOTO. © Getty Images / ZU_09

Thousands of people, mostly women and girls, who were accused of witchcraft in Scotland hundreds of years ago are set to be pardoned following a two-year long campaign by the Witches of Scotland activist group.

The women’s alleged crimes were reportedly as varied as causing hangovers to meeting with the Devil — and more than half of those accused under the Witchcraft Act between 1563 and 1736 were executed. According to estimates cited by the Sunday Times, some 85% of the victims were female.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s administration has reportedly backed a bill proposed in parliament which calls on the government to posthumously clear the victims’ names. The likely pardon comes after a two-year long campaign led by a group named ‘Witches of Scotland’.

Activists Claire Mitchell QC and Zoe Venditozzi launched a petition on International Women’s Day 2020, demanding that the authorities pardon, apologize, and memorialize those killed as witches in Scotland. On September 1, a parliamentary committee agreed to pass the issue on to the Scottish government.

The bill granting the pardon could be passed as early as summer 2022, according to media reports. Natalie Don, a Scottish National Party lawmaker, told the Sunday Times that it was right that “this wrong should be righted, that these people who were criminalised, mostly women, should be pardoned.”

Religion and superstition-fueled witch-hunts were not unique to Scotland, with similar practices seen in west Germany, France, northern Italy, and Switzerland, and what would later become the US. Tens of thousands of women accused of witchcraft were burned at the stake or hanged over a span of several centuries.

And while in the West, the prosecution of witches ceased by the late 18th century, elsewhere in the world witchcraft is still considered a crime. Saudi Arabia, for example, established an anti-witchcraft unit in 2009 and accused women have even been put to death. Similarly, the Central African Republic doles out extremely harsh punishments to those accused of being witches.

I expect some actually were practicing witches, but likely a very small number.

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.

Islam - Current Day - Islamization in Europe

Banning Islamic Calls to Prayer may silence Danish church bells

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Danish political parties push for ban on calls to prayer,
sidestep constitutional issue by not mentioning Islam

© Swen Pförtner/ dpa/ Global Look Press

Several Danish political parties are urging the government to investigate banning calls to prayer due to the disruption they cause. But the move makes no mention of Islam because of likely issues with Denmark’s constitution.

Denmark’s second-largest party, Venstre, is leading the parliamentary push to ban prayer calls such as those played through loudspeakers by mosques, arguing that they’re “very disruptive.”

The Danish People’s Party, the Conservatives, and the New Right joined Venstre in presenting a resolution on the issue to parliament, Danish news outlet DR reports. Together, the four parties command 71 of the seats in Denmark’s 179-seat parliament.

Venstre member of parliament Mads Fuglede said the move is sparked by the disruption caused by the calls to prayer, which are known in Arabic as the adhan, and the fact they have not traditionally been heard in Denmark.

“For Venstre, it is not about a single religion, although I realise that prayer calls are often linked to Islam. Prayer calls are not something we have a tradition for in Danish society. We think that it will be very disruptive in Denmark,” Fuglede explained.

The debate about minaret calls in Denmark has rumbled on for several months, ever since a mosque in Gellerupparken, near Aarhus, played the call from a local football field instead of from the mosque, as the latter was shut due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It was the first time a public call to prayer had been heard in the Scandanavian country, and lawmakers have been debating its legality.

The resolution put forward by the four parties this week does not specifically mention Islam or any religion, referring instead to a ban on prayer calls using speakers in a public place.

Rasmus Stoklund, a spokesman for the ruling Social Democratic Party, says the government “essentially agrees” that prayer calls shouldn’t be allowed in Denmark, and Integration Minister Mattias Tesfaye is investigating the legality of having them banned.

However, the proposed ban would potentially violate the constitution if it is aimed specifically at Islam, and there are fears that it could affect Christian churches too, if the law is too broad. 

“If we make legislation now, we also run the risk of it hitting the church bells of the Danish Church, and that we are on edge with constitutional rights on religious freedom and various conventions,” Stoklund said.

Calls to prayer violate regulations in many countries, but the laws are being relaxed in some places. Denmark’s neighbor Sweden first allowed them to be played in public in 2013. 

The issue has also been debated in the UK, in recent months, as mosques there were permitted to call worshipers to personal prayer through loudspeakers for the first time, so as to encourage them to stay – and pray – at home amid the coronavirus pandemic. The development prompted calls from leading clerics for the practice to be allowed to continue in the future.

'I'M GOING TO STAB THEM' 

Glasgow knife attacker named as ‘loner’ asylum seeker who ‘vowed to stab hotel neighbours for making too much noise’

Holly Christodoulou, Brittany Vonow, The Sun

A CRAZED asylum seeker told pals he was going to "stab" his loud neighbours the night before he went on the Glasgow knife rampage.

Sudanese national Badradeen believed his fellow hotel guests were "making noise to deliberately annoy him".

Siraj (pictured) said the suspect had called him to say he was going to stab his loud neighbours

Credit: SKY NEWS

A paramedic covers his face after the horror unfolded at the Glasgow hotel

Credit: Alamy Live News

The "loner" made the chilling threat to friend, Siraj, just hours before launching into the frenzied stabbing spree.

Six people were knifed in the horror yesterday - including a dad-of-two cop - with armed police shooting Badradeen dead.

Siraj, 22, told Mail Online: "He said that he was going to attack two guys in the room next to his because they're were making noise to deliberately annoy him.

"I said 'No No No' and that it was just that the hotels walls were thin and it was just noise."

But he said Badradeen told him: "No. They hate me. And I hate them. I am going to stab them."

HORROR ATTACK
Siraj warned hotel staff at the Park Inn but he later woke to find blood splattering the walls.

Badradeen, who is believed to have been in the UK for around six months after travelling from Sudan, has been described as having "big hair" and a cute face.

One fellow hotel guest, who saw Badradeen holding a knife, said he was "fed up" and wanted to go back home.

The knifeman was aged in his 20s and his mental health had been declining for around "three months".

It comes after Sky News today reported that a liaison worker had spoken with hotel staff about 11pm on Thursday - warning of concerns for the man's state of mind.

It was further claimed that just minutes before the attack unfolded on Friday, the asylum seeker had spoken with an immigration solicitor on the phone.

The lawyer said he would raise concerns with a "safeguarding" team at the Home Office but minutes later at 12.50pm, the man began the knife rampage.

BLOODBATH
Police shot dead the suspect after the attack at the hotel, which is being temporarily used to house 100 asylum seekers.

Guests were alerted to the stabbing spree when screams rang out at the city centre hotel after the knifing around 1pm yesterday afternoon.

Cop David Whyte, 42, today remains in hospital in a stable condition - attacked as he arrived at the scene just two minutes after it began to unfold.

Witnesses yesterday revealed how they found the reception area strewn with blood and victims lying inside and on the street.

A 17-year-old boy and the other victims, all men, are aged 18, 20, 38 and 53 and remain in hospital.

Police Scotland today confirmed three other people who were injured were asylum seekers staying at the Park Inn Hotel while the other two people who were injured were hotel staff.

All of them remain in hospital. One is critical but stable, and two are stable, at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Two others are in stable conditions at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

A hero delivery driver yesterday told how he tried to stem the blood of a handyman caught up in the violence.

And a traumatised friend recounted how his pal screamed "help me" after being stabbed by the "calm" knifeman.

Daniel Redhead said: "I saw him trying to fight the guy off as he was stabbing him."

It comes after it was reported the knifeman had threatened other refugees rehoused in a hotel recently after complaining about living conditions, the Telegraph reports.

Emergency services flooded to the scene in GlasgowCredit: EPA

Ako Zada, an activist from Kurdish Community Scotland, told the Telegraph: “The attacker was a Sudanese asylum seeker and he’d been telling his friends that he was very hungry in the hotel.

"In the past few days he was threatening people, and it was reported to the staff the day before.

"Sitting in a hotel for three months was a big issue - they said it was like being in prison."

During lockdown, the hotel has been used to help shelter asylum seekers and trafficking victims by accommodation provider Mears Group.

Fears were raised in April over social-distancing measures among the men, women and families moved into shelter amid the coronavirus crisis.

In the wake of the attack, Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: "The toughest of days for Glasgow. My thoughts and best wishes are with those injured, and my deep gratitude goes to our emergency services, especially Police Scotland.

"I’m proud to call this city home and I know the strength and humanity of its people will always see it through."

Boris Johnson tweeted his support to those affected, saying: "Deeply saddened by the terrible incident in Glasgow, my thoughts are with all the victims and their families.

"Thank you to our brave emergency services who are responding."

Police officer David Whyte is in hospital after rushing towards danger

Credit: Spindrift Photo Agency. All Rights Reserved.