‘Avalanche’ of Demand for Nazi Artefacts ahead of Australian Ban on Sale of Hate Symbols

THE GUARDIAN: Jewish groups decry ‘vomit-inducing’ frenzy of auctions before impending law change that will also prohibit public display of items

Sellers says collectors, not neo-Nazis, buy their memorabilia, but the rush of sales has been condemned as a ‘twisted obsession’ by the Anti-Defamation Commission. Photograph: Invaluable auction house
Australian militaria shops say there is an “avalanche” of demand for Nazi artefacts in anticipation of an impending ban on the sale of Nazi symbols.

A bill introduced to federal parliament in mid-June will ban the public display and sale of Nazi symbols, making it an offence to seek to profit from such material in stores or online. It will not ban private ownership or transfers of artefacts that are not for profit.

Sellers say the bill has prompted a frenzy of buying and selling, with signed pictures of Hitler, Himmler and Rommel sold at an auction last weekend on the Gold Coast. » | Mostafa Rachwani | Friday, June 23, 2023

Winning bidders of ‘despicable’ Nazi memorabilia urged to donate items to Sydney Jewish Museum: SS paraphernalia and an album of 500 photos from concentration camps which sold for $25,000 among items at Queensland auction »

Northern Ireland sale of Hitler memorabilia to go ahead despite outcry: Bloomfield Auctions rejects accusations it is acting immorally and insulting the memory of Nazis’ victims »

Gove and Hunt, Beware: True-blue Surrey Is Ready to Turf Out the Tories – and You’re Next

THE GUARDIAN: An avalanche is coming. The voters I met are abandoning the Conservatives over lying, cheating and Brexit

“Were you still awake for Raab? Or Hunt? Or Gove?” On the morning after next year’s election we may be asking each other that, remembering the magic early-hours moment in 1997 when Michael Portillo lost his seat in Enfield Southgate, north London, symbolising the earthquake that brought down the Tories after 18 long years. Imagine the shock of Tory A-listers’ seats tumbling in the forever Tory fiefdoms of Surrey.

I had never imagined it, so what I discovered while canvassing with the Liberal Democrats last weekend in Michael Gove’s Surrey Heath constituency was terra incognita to me. Before, there was no point in following the fortunes of forlorn opposition candidates trying to knock down impenetrable home-county blue walls. There is now. » | Polly Toynbee | Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Total Wealth of World’s Billionaires Has Fallen to $12.7tn, Says Forbes

THE GUARDIAN: Number of billionaires worldwide falls by 329 amid Russian sanctions, according to Forbes

The total wealth of the world’s billionaires has dipped from a record high last year amid a drop in global stock markets since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, despite the planet’s richest people still holding a combined $12.7tn (£9.7tn) in assets.

According to the annual Forbes magazine ranking of the world richest people, the number of billionaires worldwide fell by 329 to 2,668, with the total value of their combined assets falling slightly from $13.1tn on the 2021 list.

It said that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine – and the avalanche of sanctions that followed – sent the Russian stock market and the rouble plummeting, resulting in 34 fewer Russian billionaires on the list. Those from the country with billionaire status almost all saw their fortunes stagnate or decline, with their total wealth dropping by more than $260bn compared with a year earlier.

Forbes said the decline in the total number of billionaires from 2,755 to 2,668 was the largest since the 2009 financial crisis, but followed an increase of more than 600 in 2021 when global stock bounced back from pandemic lows.

Elon Musk, the maverick boss of Tesla and SpaceX, was named the world’s richest man for the first time with a $219bn fortune, up $68bn on the previous year because of the carmaker’s soaring share price.

Musk leapfrogged Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, whose fortune dropped to $171bn after a small decline in the company’s share price and donations to charity. Bezos’s estimated $1.5bn charitable gifts pale in comparison with his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott, who has given away $12.5bn to more than 1,250 organisations in less than two years. Scott, who collected a $38bn settlement in her divorce from Bezos in 2019, has fallen from the 22nd-richest person on the planet to the 30th with a $43.6bn fortune. » | Rupert Neate | Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Austria's Covid-vaccine Mandate: Can It Be Enforced? | DW News

Feb 5, 2022 • Austria has become the first European country to mandate coronavirus vaccination for all adults. It is also the first country that will now have to enforce a vaccination mandate. Starting next month, Austrian police will carry out random spot-checks to see whether people can produce proof of vaccination. Those who can't face fines of 600 euros or more. Vienna set up mobile vaccination buses to increase that number. The willingness to get a jab is stagnant, despite the new bill.

Even before the controversial bill was passed, security was tight at vaccination centers. No other topic polarizes Austrians as much as mandatory vaccination. Those who administer the vaccines can do so only when security is nearby. There is concern about hostile outbursts by anti-vaxxers.

Tens of thousands of them have been taking to the streets almost every weekend across the country to protest against COVID measures. They are a minority. But Werner Reisinger, who is researching radicalism, says, the protests should not be underestimated.

He says the Austrian government failed to reach this crowd, especially when its declaration last summer that the COVID crisis was over was followed by a political crisis of its own. Austria expects an avalanche of lawsuits by those unwilling to pay possible fines starting at 600 euros and to be enforced from mid-March. Vienna is focusing on those whose opinion could still be swayed: The undecided. The city put up billboards in various foreign languages in their latest effort to counter misinformation.

Prince Andrew Will No Longer Be ‘HRH’ – and That Is Now the Least of His Worries

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: Virginia Giuffre is unlikely to accept a settlement alone. A trial would be disastrous for the prince and his family

Prince Andrew at the Falklands veterans parade in Horse Guards Parade, London, June 2007. Photograph: Anwar Hussein Collection/ROTA/WireImage
In 1986, Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey to an avalanche of enthusiastic press coverage. Thirty-five years later, he faces a lawsuit for sexual assault from Virginia Giuffre, a woman who was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein. He is disgraced, stripped of his military titles, will no longer be officially “His Royal Highness”, nor represent the Queen. After yesterday’s summit with his mother at Windsor Castle, Andrew is no longer a working royal in any capacity and must, as the statement from Buckingham Palace made clear, face the lawsuit as a “private citizen”.

Giuffre, a survivor of trafficking and abuse, has been courageous. Attacked and slandered by powerful individuals, she has continued to argue her case. She is, her team says, determined to have her day in court. The lawsuit may now go ahead as early as this autumn. In the year of the Platinum Jubilee, which was supposed to be all about celebrating the Queen and her long reign, the royal family are confronting the worrying possibility that attention will now be on the court case against Andrew. » | Kate Williams * | Friday, January 14, 2022

* Kate Williams is professor of history at Reading University and author of Rival Queens and The Edge of the Fall

Sarah Ferguson: will ex-wife continue to ‘remain steadfast’ for Prince Andrew’? : Duchess of York appears to be one of few people Andrew can still turn to for unconditional support »

Long Slide Looms for World Population, with Sweeping Ramifications

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Fewer babies’ cries. More abandoned homes. Toward the middle of this century, as deaths start to exceed births, changes will come that are hard to fathom.

All over the world, countries are confronting population stagnation and a fertility bust, a dizzying reversal unmatched in recorded history that will make first-birthday parties a rarer sight than funerals, and empty homes a common eyesore.

Maternity wards are already shutting down in Italy. Ghost cities are appearing in northeastern China. Universities in South Korea can’t find enough students, and in Germany, hundreds of thousands of properties have been razed, with the land turned into parks.

Like an avalanche, the demographic forces — pushing toward more deaths than births — seem to be expanding and accelerating. Though some countries continue to see their populations grow, especially in Africa, fertility rates are falling nearly everywhere else. Demographers now predict that by the latter half of the century or possibly earlier, the global population will enter a sustained decline for the first time. » | Damien Cave, Emma Bubola and Choe Sang-Hun | Saturday, May 22, 2021

Elizabeth Warren, Once a Front-Runner, Drops Out of Presidential Race

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Ms. Warren, a senator and former law professor, staked her campaign on fighting corruption and changing the rules of the economy.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts dropped out of the presidential race on Thursday, ending a run defined by an avalanche of policy plans that aimed to pull the Democratic Party to the left and appealed to enough voters to make her briefly a front-runner last fall.

Though her vision excited progressives, it did not generate enough excitement among the party’s working-class and diverse base, and her support had eroded by Super Tuesday. In her final weeks as a candidate she effectively drove former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, a centrist billionaire, out of the race with debate performances that flashed her evident skills and political potential.

She entered the race railing against the corrosive power of big money, and one long-term consequence of her campaign is that Ms. Warren demonstrated that someone other than Senator Bernie Sanders, and his intensely loyal small-dollar donors, could fund a credible presidential campaign without holding fund-raisers. » | Astead W. Herndon and Shane Goldmacher | Thursday, March 5, 2020

Bill O’Reilly Sacked, Finds It ‘Tremendously Disheartening'

Former news anchor Bill O’Reilly's 21-year tenure on Fox News came to an end on Wednesday amid an avalanche of sexual allegations. Media and legal analyst Lionel of Lionel Media joins “News With Ed” to give his take on the situation.

Blizzard Brings Too Much Snow to Western Ski Resorts

Mountain areas under avalanche warnings

Angela Merkel, Person of the Year? Eine Katastrophe, More Like

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in no mood to negotiate

THE TELEGRAPH: The German leader just named 'Chancellor of the Free World' by Time Magazine has actually seen her reputation and popularity take a hammeriing in 2015

Angela Merkel has just been named “Chancellor of the Free World” and Person of the Year by Time Magazine. But the reality is that she is hardly flying high. After more than a decade in office, Germany’s first female head of government is dragging her party down in the polls, openly criticised by her finance minister, out of step with her European partners, and prompting the streets to fill with angry protestors.

Her most powerful rival, the Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, has compared her to a “careless skier” who precipitates an avalanche. His mutiny against Mrs Merkel’s “open door” migration policy has strong support from a German public that is now thoroughly alarmed by an influx with no end in sight. Protests against her policy are mounting, yet she has refused to back down.

So how did it all go so badly wrong for the world’s most powerful woman? (+ video) » | Daniel Johnson | Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Angela Merkel's Future Under Scrutiny for the First Time as German Asylum Process Criticised

THE TELEGRAPH: A popular talk show […] the possibility of a coup against the German chancellor after her own party made implicit criticisms of her policy

Angela Merkel’s political future is being questioned for the first time in Germany as divisions continue to grow in her government over her “open-door” refugee policy.

Guests on a popular television political talk show debated the possibility of a coup against the German chancellor from within her own party.

The discussion came as civil servants at the government refugee agency published warned identity checks for Syrian asylum-seekers were ineffective and open to abuse by economic migrants and terrorists.

Wolfgang Schäuble, the finance minister, warned that Germany was facing an “avalanche” of refugees set off by a “careless skier”.

And Thomas de Maiziere, the interior minister, twice acted unilaterally to introduce stricter controls on Syrian asylum-seekers without informing Mrs Merkel. » | Justin Huggler, Berlin | Friday, November 13, 2015

The Slaughter That Shames Tony Blair: Outcry from All Sides over Former Prime Minister's 'Crusader' Call for a New Blitz on Iraq as the Country Descends into a Bloodbath

MAIL ONLINE: Tony Blair said current chaos in Iraq could have been avoided / The former PM suggested the West should have bombed Syria / Blair said it was 'bizarre' that Iraq War was blamed for violence / Also suggested inaction could lead to a terror attack in the UK / But his comments prompt avalanche of criticism from Left and Right / Former minister Clare Short said he was 'wrong, wrong, wrong' / Pictures have emerged showing the mass execution of government soldiers


Iraq descended to new depths of savagery yesterday – as Tony Blair washed his hands of all blame for the bloodshed.

With Islamist jihadists now in control of large areas of the country, appalling pictures emerged showing the mass execution of government soldiers by masked fanatics.

Dozens of terrified men in civilian clothes lie in a shallow ditch before being executed in cold blood by Islamist extremists.

The Iraqi Army deserters, some wearing football shirts, were taken to scrubland where they faced a firing squad of Al Qaeda-inspired insurgents.

But, to derision from Left and Right, Mr Blair insisted that the sectarian violence tearing the country apart had nothing to do with his own actions in supporting the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Instead, he blamed the West’s failure to bomb Syria last year – and called for fresh Western military action against both nations.

‘We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that “we” have caused this,’ the former Prime Minister wrote in an extraordinary essay. ‘We haven’t.’ Read on and comment » | Jason Groves | Monday, June 16, 2014

Dutch Lap Up Wilders' Hardline Message

BBC: In the Netherlands many polls are predicting the maverick anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) will win the European elections being held on 22 May.

And a recent race row - he told supporters a vote for the PVV would mean fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands - may have done him more good than harm.

This talk is too extreme for many - so what explains his appeal to Dutch voters? I took a spin around The Hague on my bike to find out.

Geert Wilders' Moroccan comments provoked an avalanche of criticism. High-profile PVV members quit, accusing their leader of going too far. More than 5,000 people filed complaints to the public prosecutor, calling for Mr Wilders to be charged with inciting racial hatred. (+ BBC video) » | Anna Holligan | BBC News | The Hague | Saturday, April 26, 2014

Matteo Renzi's Female Ministers Face 'Sexist' Onslaught Over Dress Sense

Italy's new Prime Minister, 39-year-old Matteo Renzi, is
greeted by a well-wisher as he leaves a church

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The eight women appointed to Italy's new cabinet have been deluged with criticism over their outfits at the swearing-in ceremony

Eight women appointed as ministers in Italy's new government have faced an avalanche of criticism over their dress sense, with one stylist urging them to give Giorgio Armani a call.

New prime minister Matteo Renzi aimed at boosting equality in Italy at the weekend by naming the women to his 16-strong cabinet, including 33-year-old Marianna Madia, who is eight months pregnant.

But instead of hailing a breakthrough for gender equality the press has been dominated by catcalls revolving around the clothes they wore to the swearing-in ceremony.

In particular the electric blue trouser suit worn by Maria Elena Boschi, 33, the new minister for reform, was described by Corriere della Sera as a colour "unknown in nature".

La Stampa likened the blue of Ms Boschi's suit to that worn by "a Marvel superhero like Captain America", adding that her trousers were so tight that when she bent over to sign in as minister "many were reminded of Pippa Middleton's silhouette." » | Tom Kington, Rome | Sunday, February 23, 2014

Engulfed by Weapons: Germany Under Fire as Arm Exports to Gulf Nations Triple

Germany recently came under an avalanche of criticism over a multi-billion dollar arms deals it sealed with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations who also have a questionable human rights record. Activists also claim German-made small arms, ammunition and military vehicles were commonly used by Middle Eastern and North African regimes to suppress peaceful demonstrations. Adam Coogle from Human Rights Watch says that Germany should give up its business ambitions in the Gulf.

Funeral Held for Dutch Prince Friso after Lengthy Coma

BBC: The funeral has been held for Dutch Prince Johan Friso, who died on Monday following a ski accident.

He remained in a coma for a year and a half after being hit by an avalanche at an Austrian ski resort in 2012.

The prince was buried in the small village of Lage Vuursche, near the castle where his mother, former Queen Beatrix, plans to retire.

Only residents and around 80 official guests attended, including Friso's godfather, Norway's King Harald V.

The royal family is planning a public memorial event later this year. Until then, a book of condolences has been opened online. (+ video) » | Friday, August 16, 2013

Obituary: HRH Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau »

Dutch 'Sad But Not Shocked' Over Prince Friso Death

BBC: The royal palace in the Netherlands says Prince Friso, the younger brother of King Willem-Alexander, has died at the age of 44.

He had been in a coma since being buried in an avalanche while skiing in Austria last year.

Anna Holligan reports. (+ video) » | Monday, August 12, 2013

Related »

Obituary: HRH Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: HRH Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau, who has died aged 44, was second in line to the Dutch throne until being excluded from the line of succession by his choice of a wife; for the past 18 months he had been in a coma after being buried by an avalanche at an Austrian ski resort.

In the summer of 2003 Prince Friso announced his engagement to Mabel Wisse Smit, a beautiful and intelligent blonde who was known for her work in the promotion of human rights. Soon afterwards, however, it was claimed that, 15 years earlier, she had been in a relationship with a Dutch mobster and international drug dealer called Klaas Bruinsma.

The claim was made by one of Bruinsma’s former bodyguards, who said that his boss and Mabel had been lovers — and that she had been the only woman allowed on board Bruinsma’s yacht. Miss Smit strenuously denied the allegations, saying that she had been merely an acquaintance of Bruinsma; she admitted that she had spent the night on his yacht on several occasions, but denied that there had been a sexual relationship, insisting that she had known him for only a few months and broke off contact after she found out how he made his money. They had, she said, shared a passion for sailing.

Miss Smit had been an expert on the Balkans at the UN, and promoted the cause of human rights for the Open Society Institute, funded by George Soros. She had been vetted by the Dutch secret service and approved as a suitable bride.

Shortly after becoming engaged, however, she issued a statement saying that she had known Bruinsma — who was shot dead in a gangland killing in 1991 — for a few months while she was a student, but had broken with him when she learned of “the practices he engaged in”. » | The Daily Telegraph | Monday, August 12, 2013

Related »

Dutch Prince Johan Friso Dies After Skiing Accident Coma

THE GUARDIAN: The prince – once second in line to the throne – had been in a coma since February 2012, following fall in Lech, Austrla

Dutch prince Johan Friso, who went into a coma following a skiing accident in February 2012, has died, the government said on Monday.

"Prince Friso died from complications that arose as a consequence of the brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation following his skiing accident," the government said in a statement.

The prince, 44, was skiing off-piste in Lech, Austria, when he was buried in an avalanche. Rescuers pulled him from the snow, unconscious, 20 minutes later. He was resuscitated at the scene and flown to hospital, but remained in a coma for months.

Before the accident, Friso, the second of the former Queen Beatrix's three sons, had sometimes been known as "Prince Brilliant". He studied at UC Berkeley, the Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam, graduating from the Dutch universities cum laude, with degrees in engineering and economics. He later earned an MBA at France's prestigious INSEAD school of business. » | Agencies, Amsterdam | Monday, August 12, 2013

LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR: Décès du prince Johan Friso d'Orange-Nassau » | Thomas Escritt; Anthony Deutsch, Clémence Apetogbor pour le service français | lundi 12 août 2013

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Prinz Johan Friso ist tot: Der niederländische Prinz Johan Friso ist gestorben. Der Bruder von König Willem-Alexander war im Februar 2012 beim Skifahren in Österreich von einer Lawine erfasst worden. Seither lag er im Koma. » | Von Michael Stabenow, Brüssel | Montag, 08. August 2013

VIDEO hier abspielen.

Dutch Royal Family Statement »

Related »

The Lies We Tell Ourselves About Moderate Islam
THE JERUSALEM POST: Fundamentally Freund: President Barack Obama and much of the Western press seem to have difficulty saying in close proximity to one another: ‘Islamic’ and ‘terror.’

The past few weeks have been difficult ones for the United States and its allies, as they received some painful reminders that the war on terror is far from over.

In a dastardly attack on April 15, two bombs went off at the Boston Marathon, killing three people, wounding 264 others and leaving more than two dozen amputees. A week later, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced that they had arrested two people in a plot to attack a passenger train heading to Toronto from New York.

There were other incidents as well. On April 18, gunmen stormed a hotel in the Kenyan town of Garissa and sprayed bullets into the restaurant, killing 10.

And on April 28, two assassins opened fire on army intelligence officers in the town of Lamitan in the Philippines, killing two people.

What all these episodes have in common is one highly conspicuous fact: they were all carried out by Muslim terrorists bent on killing as many “infidels” as possible.

Indeed, despite an ongoing avalanche of violence being perpetrated around the world by Muslim extremists, there are two words President Barack Obama and much of the Western press seem to have difficulty saying in close proximity to one another: “Islamic” and “terror.”

They would rather soothe themselves – and us – into complacency, as if refusing to call something by its name will magically make it go away. » | Michael Freund | Monday, May 06, 2013