Germany Threatens EU Members with Legal Actions over Ignoring Refugee Quotas

Germany has threatened to launch legal action against those EU members who are refusing to take in refugees under mandatory quotas.

Dresden: PEGIDA Weihnachtsliedersingen – 21.12.2015

PEGIDA Weihnachtsliedersingen für Frieden und Meinungsfreiheit, für unsere Kultur und die Zukunft unserer Kinder, live vom Königsufer Dresden.

USA: Trump Says Merkel Is "Destroying Germany"

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump was welcomed by hundreds of supporters after landing his private Boeing 757 at Mesa Gateway Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, Wednesday.

‪'Attempt to Create Police State System’: EU to Eye New Border Guard Agency‬

An EU summit in Brussels has come out in favor of creating a new border and coast guard agency to stem the refugee crisis, and also endorsed a system of direct migration from Turkey. Meanwhile, the Brexit issue was met with both “concerns” and “compromises.”

Starnes: Students Sing 'Allah Akbar' at Holiday Concert

Dec. 18, 2015 - 1:21 - Nothing says Merry Christmas like a Ramadan song. That was apparently the thinking at Blaine High School in Minnesota.

Can Anyone Save America?

Dec. 16, 2015 - 9:32 - 'The O'Reilly Factor': Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points 12/16

Italian Town Erects Signs Warning Only People Respecting Its Christian Culture Will Be Welcome

One of the new signs erected in Pontoglio

THE TELEGRAPH: Signs, erected outside the town in Lombardy, criticised as racist and discriminatory

An Italian town has been accused of racism after erecting signs warning that only people who respect its “Christian traditions” are welcome.

The signs were put up this week outside Pontoglio, near Brescia in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, by its centre-Right council.

They declared the town, known in local dialect as Pontoi, to be a beacon of “Western culture and deep Christian traditions” and warned: “Those who do not intend to respect local culture and traditions are invited to stay away.”

Some residents branded the signs “racist” and “medieval”, who called for them to be taken down immediately.

The panels delivered a particularly hostile message to the town’s large foreign population. Of its 7,000 inhabitants, 1,160 or 16 per cent are foreign-born and many of them are Muslim.

They include 238 Albanians, 203 Moroccans, 192 Romanians and 150 Indians, many of whom have lived in Pontoglio for years and have families and regular jobs. » | Nick Squires, Rome | Friday, December 18, 2015

Turkey Sends Tanks & Troops, ‘Raiding Civilian Houses’ in Kurdish Areas

The Turkish Army has reportedly sent military vehicles, including tanks, into civilian areas in its predominantly-Kurdish southeast. Local activists have posted frightening photos on social media.

Worlds Apart: Europe Needs to Limit Liberty for the Sake of Security - Ex Czech FM

The EU has been tackling crisis after crisis in recent years – from debt to terrorism, regional conflicts and migration. And while its leaders have tried to produce collective political responses, many members are struggling to reconcile their national interests with the bloc's policies. How has this turbulence challenged the idea of European values, and is it prudent to force Europe's diverse voices to sing as one chorus? Oksana is joined by Cyril Svoboda, the former Foreign Affairs Minister of the Czech Republic, to explore these issues.

Putin Says Trump Is ‘Absolute Leader’ in U.S. Presidential Race

THE WASHINGTON POST: MOSCOW — Russian President Vladi­mir Putin ranged from conflict zones to U.S. politics Thursday in a news conference in which he tried to close gaps with Washington over Syria, noted that Moscow remained engaged in Ukraine and gave a nod to Donald Trump as the “absolute leader” in the White House race.

Putin — over three hours of questions and some overtime remarks — also touched on Russia’s battered economy and tense relations with Turkey over the downing of a Russian warplane.

Many of Putin’s comments circled back to relations with the United States, including a bit of look-ahead musing on the White House race. Putin said Russia would work with “whomever the American voters choose,” but he singled out Trump.

“He’s a very lively man, talented without doubt,” Putin said according to the Interfax news service after the news conference. He added that Trump is the “absolute leader in the presidential race.” (+ video) » | Andrew Roth | Thursday, December 17, 2015

Family of Teenage Saudi Protester Sentenced to Death Appeal for His Life

Abdullah al-Zaher was tortured and forced to make a
confession, his family say.

THE GUARDIAN: Abdullah al-Zaher, who was arrested when he was 15, faces beheading and crucifixion for participating in protest rally

The family of a teenage protester who faces beheading in Saudi Arabia have come forward in public for the first time to plead for his life.

The father of Abdullah al-Zaher, 19, called on the world to help before it is too late and his son is executed in the kingdom along with a reported 51 other people.

“Please help me save my son from the imminent threat of death. He doesn’t deserve to die just because he participated in a protest rally,” Hassan al-Zaher told the Guardian.

Arrested in March 2012, just shy of his 16th birthday, after participating in protests in Saudi Arabia’s eastern Shia-dominated province, Zaher was charged with “harbouring” protesters, participating in demonstrations and chanting slogans, setting fire to a car and throwing Molotov cocktails.

His family and the death penalty campaign group Reprieve allege that Zaher was tortured, saying that after his arrest Saudi security forces beat him with wire iron rods, forced a confession from him and did not allow him to speak to his family or a lawyer. » | Shiv Malik | Thursday, December 17, 2015

'I Started the Arab Spring. Now Death Is Everywhere, and Extremism Blooming'

Tunisian municipal officer Faida Hamdy

THE TELEGRAPH: Faida Hamdy confiscated a vegetable stall in Tunisia five years ago today. Neither she nor the rest of the world could have imagined the consequences

It is hardly surprising that when Faida Hamdy wonders whether she is responsible for everything that happened after her moment of fame she is overwhelmed.

Mrs Hamdy was the council inspector who, five years ago today confiscated the vegetable stall of a street vendor in her dusty town in central Tunisia.

In despair, that young man set himself on fire in a protest outside the council offices. Within weeks, he was dead, dozens of young Arab men had copied him, riots had overthrown his president, and the Arab Spring was under way.

As the world marks the anniversary, Syria and Iraq are in flames, Libya has broken down, and the twin evils of militant terror and repression stalk the region.

“Sometimes I wish I’d never done it,” Mrs Hamdy told The Telegraph, in her only interview to mark the occasion. » | Radhouane Addala in Sidi Bouzeid and Richard Spencer, Middle East Editor | Thursday, December 17, 2015

Imam: I Was Forced to Resign after Supporting Muslim Ban

Dec. 11, 2015 - 7:40 - 'Hannity' panel weighs in on surveillance of mosques, stopping immigration of Muslims to U.S.

«Wie will Trump so eine Mehrheit schaffen?»

‘ISIS Far Smarter Than We Give Them Credit For’ – McAfee Predicts Cyber War

Islamic State has quote 'unprecented' support within the United States according to a report released by the George Washington University. This comes as cybersecurity pioneer John McAfee warns that world war 3 will be a cyberwar and that civilization has created a doomsday machine that terrorists can use against us. He thinks that the way cybersecurity is handled in America needs to be changed and improved.

Libya's Cultural Heritage 'Being Destroyed and Plundered by Isis'

The Temple of Zeus, part of the world heritage site at Cyrene, Libya.

THE GUARDIAN: Museums and UN say ancient artefacts and artwork are in danger of obliteration or being looted and sold illegally

Greek and Roman antiquities and prehistoric artwork are under threat from Islamic State extremists in Libya, leading world museums and the UN have warned.

The International Council of Museums released a list of cultural treasures in peril and appealed to Interpol, customs officers and art traders to watch out for looted Libyan goods.

Isis extremists have destroyed temples and ancient sites in Iraq and Syria, and experts believe they are also selling plundered antiquities on the illegal market. Isis has also made inroads across Libya, which is split between rival governments and plagued by weapons smuggling, people smuggling and extremism. Read on and comment » | Associated Press in Paris | Tuesday, December 25, 2015

Putin Shows Dave How It's Done: Russia Launches Huge Crackdown on Homegrown ISIS Jihadis

EXPRESS: VLADIMIR Putin today showed David Cameron how Russia deals with homegrown terrorists as he launched a huge crack down [sic] on Islamic State (ISIS) recruiters.

The iron-fisted president has called in his feared secret service to round up thousands of jihadis just hours after it emerged that British police are wilfully letting our extremists flee to safe havens abroad.

Moscow has identified more than 2,900 of its citizens suspected of joining ISIS and other radical Islamist groups, and is actively hunting them down both at home and abroad.

In Syria Mr Putin's warplanes and feared Spetsnaz special forces troops are tracking and killing Russian-born jihadis to prevent them from returning home and carrying out terrorist atrocities.

So far they have taken out 198 radicalised jihadis in a matter of months, whilst a further 214 have fled back to Russia where they have been "put under close control" of the security services. Read on and comment » | Nick Gutteridge | Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Donald Trump on Muslims: 'They're Not Coming to This Country If I'm President'

Rivals go on the attack over Muslim ban plan as they audition to be America's Commander-in-Chief - but Trump defends his policy in final Republican debate of year

Islamist Preacher in Germany Arrested over Terror Links

Islamist preacher Sven Lau delivers a speech during
a pro-Islam demonstration

THE TELEGRAPH: Convert Sven Lau suspected of recruiting volunteers and providing money and equipment a jihadist group with links to al-Qaeda

An Islamist preacher who set up his own “sharia police” in Germany has been arrested on suspicion of links to jihadists in Syria.

Sven Lau, a 35-year-old convert to Islam, is notorious in Germany for the “sharia police” incident, in which he and a group of vigilantes patrolled the streets of Wuppertal in high-visibility vests trying to stop people drinking and listening to music.

He escaped punishment over the episode last week when a court ruled the group had not broken any laws.

But Mr Lau, who is also known as Abu Adam, now faces much more serious charges of supporting a foreign terrorist organisation.

He is suspected of recruiting volunteers and providing money and equipment for Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (JMA), a jihadist group with links to al-Qaeda. » | Justin Huggler in Berlin | Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Verwandt »

EU-Beitritt: Flüchtlingskrise verschafft der Türkei Rückenwind

Die EU-Länder haben die Beitrittsverhandlungen
mit der Türkei ausgeweitet.

SRF: Die Türkei ist für die EU das Schlüsselland in der Bewältigung der Flüchtlingskrise. Als Gegenleistung kommt nun neuer Schwung in die eingeschlafenen Beitrittsverhandlungen: Die EU-Staaten gaben grünes Licht für die Ausweitung der Gespräche.

Angesichts der Flüchtlingskrise hat die Europäische Union trotz offener Menschenrechtsfragen ein neues Kapitel in den Verhandlungen über einen EU-Beitritt der Türkei eröffnet. Künftig wird die EU mit der Türkei Verhandlungen über Wirtschafts- und Währungsfragen führen.

«Die Türkei hat ein eminentes Interesse mit uns zusammenzuarbeiten, wir haben ein Interesse eine vernünftige solide Zusammenarbeit zu machen», erklärte Erweiterungskommissar Johannes Hahn zum Auftakt von Gesprächen über die wirtschaftliche Integration der Türkei in die EU. Die Situation sei zurzeit sehr günstig, um bei den Verhandlungen Fortschritte zu machen. » | SRF 4 News 21:30 Uhr; agenturen/hesa; blur | Montag, 14. Dezember 2019