7 Migrants Charged with Attempted Murder After Homeless Man Nearly Set on Fire

German prosecutors say suspects came to Berlin as asylum seekers from Syria, Libya

CBC News 

The Schoenleinstrasse subway station in Berlin is pictured in this 2010 file photo.

German police have charged seven males between ages 15 and 21 with attempted murder

after they allegedly tried to set a homeless man on fire in the subway station early

Sunday morning. (Tobias Kleinschmidt/dpa via Associated Press/file photo)

Police have charged seven young migrants with attempted murder after they allegedly tried to set a homeless man on fire in a Berlin subway station, Germany's broadcaster Deutsche Welle reports.

The 37-year-old was sleeping on a bench in the Schoenleinstrasse subway station at around 2 a.m. Sunday. Passersby extinguished the paper that he apparently had used to cover himself, and a train driver used a fire extinguisher to prevent the flames from spreading.

The man, who was intoxicated, was unhurt.

Six of those charged turned themselves in Monday evening and the seventh was arrested after authorities released surveillance camera pictures and video footage of them in a subway train, German police said Tuesday.

They're all male and between 15 and 21 years old. Six are from Syria and one is from Libya, and all came to Berlin as asylum seekers, according to prosecutors.

no video

UK's Key Role in Brokering UN Resolution on Israeli Settlements Confirmed

Brokering the resolution wording between the

Palestinian Authority and the USA

Confirmation that Britain helped draft resolution in secret puts UK on collision course with Israel – and at odds with Donald Trump

Members of the United Nations Security council vote in favour of condemning Israel for building settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Photograph: Manuel Elias/AP

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor, Guardian

Britain played a key behind-the-scenes role in brokering the UN resolution condemning Israel for violating international law with its policy of building settlements on occupied Palestinian territory, it has been confirmed. The UK helped draft some of the key wording to ensure it met US concerns.

The UK role, first highlighted by Israeli diplomatic sources, leaves the UK on a collision course not just with Israel, but at odds with Donald Trump, the US president-elect and a strong opponent of the UN resolution, the first to be passed that is critical of Israel for seven years.

The UK has never hidden its support for the UN resolution, voting for its terms, and subsequently both UK ministers and diplomats have publicly justified its wording. It is also usual for the UK to play a key brokering role on UN resolutions, especially on the Middle East.

Obama's Legacy

It has been confirmed the UK helped with drafts of the resolution with Egypt and the Palestinians in a bid to ensure that it met with the concerns of the US president, Barack Obama. The US said it did not veto the resolution because it was balanced, condemning violence and incitement, as well as illegal settlements. The US has insisted it did not draft the text, and did not even tell other delegations how it intended to vote in the key consultations process.

The US did not draft the text but it is clear the UK was making sure the US concerns were being addressed. Technically, that is not 'drafting the text', but the impression the White House gives is that it wasn't involved in the back-stabbing when it most certainly was at the heart of it. 

Barack Obama's legacy was that he was a man of character, honest. That legacy is sinking into a quagmire of lies and hypocrisy when it comes to Israel. 

Formally the Foreign Office did not deny it had been involved in the drafting process. It stressed “the resolution was proposed and drafted by the Egyptian delegation”, adding that the UK, as one of the five permanent members of the security council, “engaged with” the text “as we do with all security council texts”.

Israel claims the UK’s diplomatic activity in New York, conducted in liaison with the French and the US, took place behind its back. It is dubious that the US played a hands-off role.

Israel’s ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, speaking to the US media this week, said: “This is not a text that was formulated by the Palestinians or Egypt, but by a western power.” It was not clear if this was a reference to the US or the UK.

In particular the UK is thought to have played a major role in mediating between the Palestinians and the Americans to ensure the text eventually put forward by New Zealand, and not Egypt, met the concerns of both sides.

The UK in conjunction with Gulf states said the resolution should go ahead even when Egypt decided not to sponsor it.

A last-minute glitch came up when Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, proposed postponing the vote until after Christmas, according to an interview the deputy Russian ambassador to Israel gave on Israel Army Radio. This reportedly followed a phone call between the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Russian president, Vladi­mir Putin. The other security council ambassadors refused to wait, however.

Growing antisemitism in the UK

The UK Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood welcomed the UN resolution on Twitter, and the UK ambassador to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, also highlighted the UK support for the resolution.

The British foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, has not so far issued any public statement either way, but it is not claimed this is significant.

The UK support for the UN resolution has already led to reports that a tentatively planned meeting between Theresa May, and Netanyahu scheduled for Davos international summit this month has been cancelled.

The UK role has divided opinion inside the Conservative party. Conservative Friends of Israel’s parliamentary chairman, Sir Eric Pickles, said: “CFI is disappointed by the UK’s decision to support the controversial UN security council resolution, which legitimises the Palestinian Authority’s attempts to internationalise the issue and avoid the necessary direct peace talks.

“In addition, the resolution will embolden the hardline BDS movement and the ramifications for Jerusalem and Judaism’s holiest site – the Western Wall – are seriously troubling.”

By contrast the Conservative Middle East council said the resolution affirmed the “establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including east Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-state solution”.

If this is how a Conservative government treats Israel, it must be frightening for Israel to ponder the possibility of a Labour government in the future. Antisemitism is growing at an alarming rate in the UK Government and would be much worse under Labour. Is this a consequence of Islamization? Or is this an example of 'astro-turfing' - the acceptance of propaganda as being the truth and as being accepted by the majority of people?

How is it that all the pressure to accept a two-state solution is being applied to Israel when it is clearly the Palestinians who don't want a two-state solution. They want Israel gone, period! They are not willing to negotiate a reasonable settlement, yet the UK and the US are not pressuring them. Antisemitism! Surely they know that people in the Holy Land did not even call themselves Palestinians one hundred years ago? And they only began doing so as a response to Jews entering the land as they were expelled from across Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa, 850,000 of them.

Was that 'ethnic cleansing' ever recognized or condemned by the UN?

The UK is also backing the French-hosted Middle East conference on 15 January, where more than 70 countries may endorse an international framework, including a two-state solution for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel has long vowed not to attend, with the Israeli defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman, comparing the summit to “a modern version of the Dreyfus trial” at a meeting of his party’s deputies.

The trial and conviction of Alfred Dreyfus was the event that instigated the Dreyfus Affair,

a political scandal which divided France during the 1890s and early 1900s.

It involved the wrongful conviction for treason of Alfred Dreyfus,

a French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish background.

Israel says it will only hold bilateral talks with the Palestinians.

Ex-Argentine Leader Kirchner Charged, $633M Frozen in Corruption Case

Corruption is just about everywhere even in developed countries. But in developing countries it seems to be more rampant. Christina, the most glamorous First Lady or President of Argentina since Eva Peron, doesn't appear to be above cheating her people for her own benefit. We can hope and pray that Christina's prosecution is a sign that the new president will not tolerate graft. He is certainly setting a dangerous precedent if he doesn't.

By Doug G. Ware, UPI

Former Argentine leader Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner inspects a military honor guard during

a ceremony on July 13, 2010. On Tuesday, a federal judge approved criminal corruption charges

against the former two-term president stemming from accusations that she unlawfully steered

dozens of government contracts to a business acquaintance. Kirchner has denied the charges

and is expected to file an appeal. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- A judge on Tuesday approved criminal corruption charges against former Argentine leader Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and ordered frozen more than $630 million of her assets, pending the outcome of a federal trial.

Judge Julian Ercolini supported charges of illicit association and fraudulent administration against the ex-leader, for allegedly steering dozens of government contracts to a personal business acquaintance.

The judge outlined the charges in a 794-page resolution Tuesday, which says Kirchner conspired "to commit crimes, in order to illegally and deliberately seize funds assigned to public road works."

Kirchner, who endured multiple corruption scandals while she was in office between 2007 and 2015, has denied any wrongdoing and said the prosecution is politically-motivated. Defense attorneys said they will appeal.

In addition to upholding the criminal charges, Ercolini also ordered $633 million of Kirchner's assets to be frozen pending the outcome of the prosecution.

Charges in the case were also approved Tuesday against two former Kirchner aides, as well as Argentine construction magnate Lazaro Báez -- whose company, Austral Construcciones, was allegedly the illegal recipient of about 50 government contracts.

Báez, whose name was mentioned in multiple scandals tied to Kirchner, opened his construction business just days before she took office in 2007. Once open, prosecutors argue, the company was awarded many public works projects and consistently over-billed the government for them. The prosecutors' case covers a 12-year period that started when Kirchner was first lady of Argentina in 2003.

Kirchner left office in December 2015 following eight years of various accusations of corruption. Her late husband and predecessor, Néstor, was also targeted by scandals during his time in office.

A trial of the former leader could drag on for years, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. If convicted, Kirchner could face as many as 10 years in prison.

Youths Who Set Fire to Homeless Man in Berlin Arrested; All are Refugees

Six are from Syria and the 7th from Libya

Refugee suspects surrender to police after homeless man set on fire in Berlin

The suspects accused of setting a homeless person on fire in the Berlin underground have been identified as refugees from Syria and Libya, police confirmed. Six of them surrendered to police, while the seventh was arrested in a police operation.

“Six suspects turned themselves in at various police stations [Monday] evening, [and] another suspect was arrested last night by undercover investigators,” an official police release said. 

The seven young men allegedly set a homeless person on fire as he slept at the Berlin Schonleinstrasse station overnight into Christmas Day on Sunday, police say.

The attackers fled the scene, but the victim survived without any injuries after passersby helped to extinguish the flames.

Following the incident, police released images of the perpetrators, asking locals to help identify them. Law enforcement officials qualified the incident as an “attempted murder,” and announced that an investigation was underway.

Police have now been able to establish the identities of all of the suspects, and have stated the men are all refugees aged between 15 and 21.

"The seven suspects are all young men between 15 and 21 years of age,” Thomas Neuendorf, deputy head of the Berlin police press office, told Ruptly video agency.

“Six of the suspects were born in Syria and one of the suspects was born in Libya. All of the suspects have refugee status here [Germany]," the official said.

It is so far not clear when exactly the suspects entered the country, Spiegel Online reports, citing a police spokeswoman.

Police have also identified the main suspect in the case, Berlin’s RBB reports. “We know who the prime suspect is. It is the 21-year-old [refugee],” the police spokesperson told the media outlet.

Berlin’s minister for the interior, Andreas Geisel, branded the attack “inhumane” and thanked the passersby for coming to the aid of the homeless person.

“I am horrified and I am thanking all those who courageously helped. This is truly a fellow-humanity,” Geisel said, as quoted by Die Zeit. 

video 2:37

Police in Berlin recently used video images to arrest another underground attacker. Two weeks ago CCTV footage emerged showing a male kicking a young woman down the stairs at a station, breaking her arm.

Although the incident happened back in October, police released the video evidence over a month later, asking for help in the identification of the assailant. On December 18, law enforcement finally managed to detain the attacker, who turned out to be a 27-year-old Bulgarian man. He is now being investigated alongside his two brothers and another person seen in the CCTV footage during the assault.

Startling Comments on the New World Order (Astro-Turfing) from Putin

This is a duplicate of the post on my other blog

- I think it's that important!

The world that is dramatically changing in ways that are too numerous to count and at a pace that is nothing short of astonishing, is a frightening place and few politicians seem to have a grip on it that compares with Russian President Putin's. Although he hasn't discovered the word yet, he is describing the effects of 'astro-turfing' on society. This will be explained below.

He may be the Oligarch of all oligarchs, and have a history that is nothing short of horrifying, but he is seeing 'the big picture' right now better than any major politician on the planet. 

video 2:20

Political correctness is the vehicle for 'The New World Order'. Political correctness, however, is not correct; it is built on a platform of lies and feelings that disregard truth and history. Whether it is the obvious, like same-sex marriage, or gender transformation; or whether it is more subtle, like the acceptance of millions of migrants into Europe, it is dangerous and will result in destruction and doom for planet Earth.

The acceptance by many people today that gays are born gay is as anti-Christian an attitude as one can possibly have. That God finds homosexuality an abomination is found throughout the entire Bible. If you are not prepared to believe the Bible, how can you even call yourself a Christian? 

God created woman with an anatomy specifically designed to have sex with man. Man was not created to have sex with man or parts of him would have been designed very differently. It is an insult to God to think otherwise.

For nearly 1400 years, Muhammed's followers have been trying to conquer Europe and have been thwarted most every time, until the past two years when, through 'astro-turfing', Europe decided it needed to embrace the invasion and receive as many Muslims as wished to come. "How can we not?" was the cry. "We have to save these poor Muslims!" 

Europeans can be commended for their generosity and their heart, but it comes on the wings of colossal naivety! Gone unnoticed was the fact that very few Muslim countries were the least bit interested in taking in any refugees. The wealthy Gulf States didn't take any! Qatar had accommodations for 70,000 people ready to move into and jobs for at least that many. Who is living in those accommodations now? Mostly Indians and others from southeast Asia. Qatar didn't want Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans or North Africans, neither did Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, or Bahrain, all wealthy Muslim countries, so Europe took them.

What is astro-turfing?

It is grass-roots movements which are completely artificial. There is no actual grass, nor are there any roots! It is all disingenuous. Lies!

This brilliant video explains how astro-turfing works in the framework of pharmaceutical companies and their dishonest and unbelievably evil practices of convincing people how badly we need their medication. But astro-turfing occurs in many other areas including moral degradation, climate change, and the need for insanely powerful and expensive weapons because everyone is a threat to everyone else. 

Please watch this video; it is startling and life-altering:

video 10:54

Berlin U-Bahn Attackers Try to Set Homeless Man on Fire on Christmas Eve

Just weeks after a subway attack triggered a national outcry,

a group attacked a homeless man with fire.

Police are treating the attack as an attempted murder.

Deutschland Obdachloser sollte angezündet werden (picture alliance/dpa/P. Zinken)

A group of people attempted to set fire to a homeless person sleeping in a Berlin subway station on Christmas Eve, police said on Sunday.

Police were searching for five or six unknown assailants who threw a burning object onto the 37-year-old man, setting fire to his bedding, a police report said.

People passing by, including a train driver with a fire extinguisher, rescued the man from the flames. He was uninjured but his belongings were destroyed.

"These days we should expect charity. Instead, we are experiencing human contempt," said Berlin's state interior minister Andreas Geisel on Sunday.

Just two weeks ago the nation was shocked by an unprovoked attack

in a station three stops away on the U8 line.

A 27-year-old Bulgarian man allegedly kicked a young woman down a set of stairs in Hermannstraße, breaking her arm. The incident was captured on security cameras.

 CCTV captured a man kicking a young woman down a set of stairs (Polizei Berlin) 0:37

The unprovoked attack in a station three stops away triggered nationwide condemnation. 

"I am horrified and thank all those who have courageously helped. This is true fellow-humanity."

The attack happened in the Schönleinstraße U-Bahn station, on the border of the Kreuzberg and Neukölln districts.

Police were treating the attack, which was captured on unreleased closed circuit camera footage, as an attempted murder.

German news agency dpa said the attack was carried out by a group of teenagers. 

What they are not saying is that it appears the gang consisted of migrants. Welcome to the new Germany. 

After the attack, several police organizations called for more video surveillance in Germany, and, it appears Germans are more and more willing to accept increased surveillance.

Only 2% Potential Migrants Amid 10,000 Rejected Boarding Denmark-Sweden Ferry

File picture shows a Danish custom officers at the Oeresund Bridge border control between

Denmark and Sweden © Morten Germund / Reuters

A multimillion dollar project mandated by Swedish authorities aiming to find illegal migrants and asylum seekers crossing the strait from Denmark only has a success rate of some 2 percent, mostly complicating ordinary commuters lives, a ferry operator revealed.

Stockholm introduced identity checks for travelers from Denmark to Sweden in January as part of measures to reduce the flow of illegal migrants. Passengers boarding trains, ferries or buses bound for Sweden are required to show a passport or other form of ID in order to be allowed onboard.

Now HH Ferries, which offers sea connections between the two neighbors, says that security checks only stem out 2 percent from the entire flow of passengers.

The route that runs between the Danish town of Helsingør and Helsingborg in Sweden, this year, only refused 200 entries to illegal asylum seekers while turning down 10,000 Swedes and Danes, who simply forgot to take along their papers.

“The majority of the people we refuse boarding are Scandinavian citizens, mostly Swedes. We’re obviously all used to travelling in a region where mobility is in flow,” Henrik Rørbæk, administrative director of HH Ferries, told DR.

One would think being fluent in Danish or Swedish would be sufficient proof. They are looking for migrants after all. Is that too much like racial profiling for the Swedish government?

While the nationwide success rate of the ID check program is not known, Rørbæk believes the mandatory government requirements are not worth the expenses. Rørbæk claimed that his company spends an equivalent of $325,000 every month to follow government’s regulation. Failure to check ID may result in a government fine of $5,400.

“It is a big procedure for the sake of relatively small figures. And in general, the flow of asylum seekers up here has not been very great. It also shouldn’t be any secret that this is costing us large amounts each month,” Rørbæk continued.

Over three million passengers passed through ID checks in 2016, reports DR. HH Ferries Group owns the ferry route between Helsingborg and Helsingör running across Öresund strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border.

With vessels departing every fifteen minutes on a 20 minute-long route, the company’s fleet can transport up to 50,000 passengers and 9,000 cars as well as 1,600 buses and trucks across Öresund on a daily basis.

But frustrating as it may be for Scandinavians to cross their borders, Sweden’s Integration Minister Inger Støjberg maintains that border control should stay.

“We know that things can change very quickly and that a large number of asylum seekers who possibly want to travel on to Sweden might come here, and get stuck here, so as long as the Swedes maintain their ID checks, I see no reason why we should lift our border control,” Støjberg told DR.

Overall Sweden in 2015 received about 163,000 asylum seekers, but has lowered the estimate to about 30,000 bids in 2016.