Society's Child

Belgium reopens notorious Dutch 'prison ship' as places for asylum seekers start to run out

RT
Fri, 25 Oct 2019 16:56 UTC

Facing a shortage of accommodation for immigrants seeking asylum there, Belgium is recommissioning The Reno, the notorious Dutch 'prison ship' that had previously been leased as a stopgap measure during the 2015 migrant crisis.

The boat, or rather the 'pontoon housing unit,' was one of several 'prison ships' used by the Netherlands to address a rapid rise in demand for jail space in the 2000s, partially caused by an increasing number of undocumented immigrants arriving in Belgium. A 2006 exposé by an undercover journalist, which made public the vessel's inhumane living conditions and the widespread abuse of inmates on it, sparked a scandal and forced the closure of the facility.

'The Reno' was leased by Belgium in 2016 to house 250 asylum seekers as Europe was dealing with the aftermath of the immigration crisis a year earlier. The boat was placed in the port city of Ghent and operated by the British private prison behemoth G4S until April 2017, when a sharp decrease in the number of asylum-seekers rendered it surplus to requirements.

But, soon, the boat will be back in Ghent housing asylum seekers again. According to the Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper, the Belgian immigration agency Fedasil will soon reopen the facility as part of a larger effort to tackle an influx of refugees. This time the government will be directly responsible for its operation.

"Panic mode" run on Lebanon's banks feared after 7-day closure amid protests

Zero Hedge
Thu, 24 Oct 2019 16:31 UTC

Banks across Lebanon have been shuttered now for a seventh consecutive day, with the country's banking association saying banks would remain closed Friday over "safety concerns" as massive anti-corruption protests have brought multiple cities to a standstill, which began a week ago.

Reuters reports that banking operations have been "limited to paying out customer and employee salaries via ATMs" in a situation which has also hit war-torn Syria, given many Syrians rely on the neighboring Lebanese banking system to hold dollars and savings following the collapse of Syria's currency.

For the first time addressing the protests — dubbed the 'WhatsApp Revolution' because it was initially triggered by a government a plan to boost state revenues with a daily tax rate on calls made via voice over internet protocol (VoIP), utilized by applications such as Facebook-owned WhatsApp — Lebanon's President Michel Aoun in a public speech touted an economic reform package proposed by the prime minister as a "first step" toward staving off economic collapse.

Aoun acknowledged state corruption has "eaten us to the bone" and assured the crowds, "I am ready to meet your representatives who carry your concerns, to listen to your specific demands."

He also hinted at a government reshuffle potentially in the works, saying that there was "a need to review the current government."

Comment: For commentary, see:

Lebanese president ready to meet with protesters to discuss demands

Philippine mayor killed in daylight ambush, as gang of 10 heavily armed gunmen open fire on police convoy

RT
Fri, 25 Oct 2019 16:13 UTC

A Philippine city mayor who featured on Rodrigo Duterte's 'drug list' was gunned down in an ambush by a gang of heavily armed men who assaulted the police convoy transporting the politician.

Mayor David Navarro of Clarin, Misamis Occidental, was killed and five others injured in the attack, including a police officer who was shot in the foot.

Over 500 agreements worth $12 billion inked at Russia-Africa forum

RT
Fri, 25 Oct 2019 16:09 UTC

The first ever Russia-Africa economic forum, which kicked off on Wednesday, has resulted in hundreds of deals and agreements, Russian Presidential Adviser Anton Kobyakov said.

According to him, more than 35 official events and 1,500 meetings took place in Sochi, the resort city where the summit was held.

"The total amount of agreements sealed as of this moment was more than eight hundred billion rubles ($12 billion)," Kobyakov said, adding that the meetings are continuing.

Liberal madness: Clapping hands banned at Oxford University to stop people from being triggered

Basit Mahmood
Metro
Thu, 24 Oct 2019 10:42 UTC

© Facebook
Sabbatical Officers Roisin McCallion says the move is aimed at making events ‘more inclusive’ and accessible to all

Students at the University of Oxford have voted to 'replace clapping' with a silent wave because it 'could trigger anxiety'.

They are instead being told to use 'jazz hands', where they wave their hands in the air.

The motion to 'mandate the encouragement of silent clapping' was successfully passed by the university's student union officers, following their first meeting of the year on Tuesday.

It will come apply at student union events, and if successful, rolled out to other societies and events.

Comment: If this new policy among schools of higher learning hasn't convinced one yet that we have entered a new bizzarro world, then nothing will. And just note that the above case at Oxford University (of all places) isn't just an anomaly:

Galloway: Will Britain leaving the EU break up the UK?

George Galloway
RT
Wed, 23 Oct 2019 15:46 UTC

If Britain ever leaves the EU, as the Brexit referendum of 2016 mandated its politicians to do, many speculate that this will unleash inexorable forces leading to the breakup of the United Kingdom too... but will that happen?

For my part, the answer is 'yes' and 'no.'

I think that Her Majesty, aged 93 and long life to her, will be on her throne for longer than Northern Ireland will be in the United Kingdom.

The six counties of the north east of Ireland were unnaturally torn from the Irish motherland a century ago, but its status was always historically speaking, doomed.

Why Europe dodged America's Fentanyl crisis

Max Daly
Vice
Thu, 07 Feb 2019 17:20 UTC

In 2017, a spike in fentanyl-related deaths in the north of England and a series of police raids on suppliers led many to believe the super potent opioid had finally found its way into Britain's narcotic food chain. It was only a matter of time, the thought went, before the devastation wreaked in parts of America and Canada — by heroin suppliers stretching out supplies with cheaper, more potent fentanyl — would start to be mirrored in the UK and Europe

On January 18, three dealers busted in April 2017 were jailed for a total of 43 years for selling 2,800 packages of fentanyl and 635g of pure carfentanil over the darknet from their storage unit in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Yet, in the nearly two years between their arrest and jailing, the expected US-style fentanyl explosion has so far failed to ignite. The drug has a growing presence in Europe, but that's still nowhere near the levels seen in north America.

Comment: See also:

Mystery private jet reportedly travels from Israel to Saudi Arabia and back

Sputnik
Thu, 24 Oct 2019 12:53 UTC

Saudi Arabia and Israel do not maintain official diplomatic relations, let alone a direct air link, so a journey from Tel Aviv to Riyadh by an unidentified individual or a group of individuals is by no means a negligible event.

A private flight was reportedly made this week from Israel to Saudi Arabia with a stop-over in Jordan, sparking speculation that high-profile Israeli officials could be on board.

A Bombardier Challenger 604 jet departed from Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv and arrived at an airport in Amman, Jordan on Tuesday, where it stopped for two minutes before heading towards Saudi Arabia, according to security reporter Yossi Melman.

"A mysterious flight to Saudi Arabia," Melman, a contributor for the newspapers Maariv and The Jerusalem Post, tweeted on Wednesday. "The Challenger took off from Ben Gurion Airport last night, and left for Amman, where it stopped for two minutes to launder the flight, then took off Riyadh. After a 55-minute stop-over at the Saudi airport's runway, the plane returned to Ben Gurion Airport."

Illinois manufacturing executives charged with knowingly hiring illegal aliens

John Binder
Breitbart
Thu, 24 Oct 2019 19:56 UTC

Four executives at an Illinois manufacturing plant have been charged with knowingly hiring illegal aliens, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency reveals.

According to ICE officials, four executives at the sheet metal KSO MetalFab Inc. manufacturing plant in Streamwood, Illinois — a suburb of Chicago — have been charged with one count each of knowingly harboring illegal aliens and one count each of knowingly hiring illegal aliens.

The four executives include 81-year-old Dora Kuzelka, 62-year-old Kenneth Kuzelka, 56-year-old Kari Kuzelka, and 58-year-old Keith Kuzelka. ICE officials allege that the Kuzelkas knowingly hired at least 18 illegal aliens.

Israel's endgame: Make Gaza uninhabitable

Jonathan Cook
21st Century Wire
Sat, 19 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC

"Israel has ignored warnings by the United Nations that Gaza is about to become uninhabitable, acting as if Palestinians there can be caged, starved and abused indefinitely. Now crises are unfolding on all fronts - social, economic, political and humanitarian - and Israel is running out of time to find solutions." - AMEU (September-October 2019)

The only way Israelis can be made to sit up and take note of the disaster unfolding next door in Gaza, it seems, is when they fear the fallout may spill out of the tiny coastal enclave and engulf them too. Environmental experts from two Israeli universities issued a report in June warning that the imminent collapse of Gaza's water, sewage and electricity infrastructure would soon rebound on Israel.

Gideon Bromberg, the Israeli director of EcoPeace Middle East, which commissioned the report, told journalists:

"Without urgent, vigorous action, plagues and infections will break out that could cost a great many lives, both in Israel and in Gaza, and no fence or Iron Dome [Israel's missile interception system] can thwart them."

Israel's liberal Haaretz newspaper paraphrased another of Bromberg's comments:

"If something isn't done, the upshot could be political horror in the form of hundreds of thousands of Gazans fleeing for their lives toward Israel - for fear of catching disease."

Great interview with Professor Petrovsky, a very brave soul ! He is clear and concise from a Vaccine researcher /producer point of view and calls...

Gator

There's no mileage in anything the Smith's have to say, their well versed in interfering with things. So we can all sleep safely in our bed...

Winternights3

Seriously, lets break down these words, and I am fully equipped for this task that I give to myself NOW. gives OSHA the authority to act quickly...

Buffalo_Ken

Forensic pathologists performed a postmortem and concluded that the man had probably died mid-flight Let me see ... he walked onto the plane,...

HashAttack2

This ain't no fucking real emergency. It is an effing emergency in the mind of a few....who thought they were gonna put the rest of us into...

Buffalo_Ken

Society's Child

Belgium reopens notorious Dutch 'prison ship' as places for asylum seekers start to run out

"Panic mode" run on Lebanon's banks feared after 7-day closure amid protests

Philippine mayor killed in daylight ambush, as gang of 10 heavily armed gunmen open fire on police convoy

Over 500 agreements worth $12 billion inked at Russia-Africa forum

Liberal madness: Clapping hands banned at Oxford University to stop people from being triggered

Galloway: Will Britain leaving the EU break up the UK?

Why Europe dodged America's Fentanyl crisis

Mystery private jet reportedly travels from Israel to Saudi Arabia and back

Illinois manufacturing executives charged with knowingly hiring illegal aliens

Israel's endgame: Make Gaza uninhabitable

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