The London Metropolitan Police apologized after an officer said Gideon Falter, a Jewish leader of the anti-Semitism march, looked “openly Jewish”, and threatened to arrest him. This is the same Gideon Falter who, as one of the left-wing march organizers, had asked police to remove Tommy Robinson. The police obliged his request.
In other news, an aggressive sheep was shot and killed by New Zealand police after it killed a married couple.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, JW, LP, McN, Reader from Chicago, Roger, SS, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Economic Crisis Exposes Germany’s Ideological Stalemate
Germany is the worst-performing major economy in the world, but ideological differences within the governing coalition are preventing a strong response, one way or another.
There is a saying in several European countries that points to the deep interdependence between the industrial giant and its European neighbours: “When Germany coughs, the Netherlands [Austria/Poland/the Western Balkans…] catch pneumonia”.
It explains why many European countries view the current German economic crisis with strong unease. And they have good reason to be worried.
According to new projections released by the International Monetary Fund this week, the country’s economy will grow just 0.2% this year, after having contracted by 0.3% last year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
SEC Illegally Tracking Americans Who Invest in the Stock Market, Lawsuit Claims
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is illegally collecting data of every citizen who invests in the stock market, according to a new lawsuit.
The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) filed the suit Tuesday against the SEC claiming that the agency, through its “Consolidated Audit Trail,” or “CAT,” program, is collecting mass amounts of personally identifiable data by forcing brokers, exchanges, clearing agencies and alternative trading systems to capture and send detailed information on every investor’s trades in U.S. markets to a centralized database.
The agency is doing so, NCLA says, without authorization from Congress and in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable government search and seizure of private information.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
An anti-Israel protester was caught on camera near Columbia University on Saturday night screaming at opposing demonstrators holding an Israeli flag, “Go back to Poland!” and “Go back to Belarus!”
Video shows the offensive marcher, dressed in a bright yellow jacket, black baseball cap and black face mask, waving the Palestinian flag in front of several demonstrators, including those carrying a rolled-up Israeli flag, and hissing, “Get the hell out of here!
“Go back to Poland! Go back to Belarus!” the man bellows outside a gate to the Ivy League university’s campus on Amsterdam Avenue in Upper Manhattan, as the two opposing sides yell and film each other with their cell phones.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
At Least 2 Killed, 6 Others Wounded in Memphis Block Party Shooting
At least 2 people were killed and six others were injured when gunfire erupted Saturday night during a block party in Memphis, Tennessee, authorities said.
In a late-night briefing, interim Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said the shooting was reported at 7:19 p.m. local time at Orange Mound Park in southeast Memphis.
Officers arrived to find five people with gunshot wounds, Davis said. Two men died at the scene. Although police initially said there were as many as 11 other gunshot victims, they later revised that number to six other victims.
The shooting occurred during a block party with an estimated 200 to 300 people in attendance, the police chief reported.
At least 2 suspects are being sought.
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Signs Bill Gates’ Pact to ‘Combat Future Pandemics’
Democrat President Joe Biden has just signed a pact with Bill Gates to “partner” with several foreign countries in a claimed effort to “combat future pandemics.”
Biden’s White House announced that America has joined 50 other countries in signing the “Global Health Security” agreement.
The “partnership” is being led by several of Microsoft co-founder Gates’s groups.
The Biden administration claims that the pact will help to “combat future pandemics” by identifying and responding to infectious disease outbreaks.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On Thursday, Biden’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) revealed they had filed a lawsuit against the Sheetz convenience store and gas station chain alleging that its hiring practices “disproportionately screened out Black, Native American/Alaska Native and multiracial applicants.” This comes only days after President Joe Biden made a disastrous campaign stop at a Sheetz in Pennsylvania.
In a press release, the EEOC said that the chain’s long-standing practice of using criminal conviction records to screen and deny applicants was a violation of Title VII’s prohibition on “disparate impact discrimination.”
However, the EEOC did not claim that the convenience store chain “was motivated by race when making hiring decisions.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former Attorney General Bill Barr is backing his old boss in the November election despite their very public fallout — because he believes the “far left” is an even greater threat to the US.
Barr, 73, disputed the notion that former President Donald Trump will be worse for democracy than President Biden, and warned about the rise of the “far left.”
“The Biden administration is in fact the greater threat to democracy,” Barr told Fox News’ “Cavuto Live” on Saturday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
BLM Leader Convicted of Fraud for Stealing Donated Money to Fund Lavish Lifestyle
A Black Lives Matter (BLM) leader from Toledo, Ohio has been convicted of fraud charges after he was caught stealing donation money to fund his lavish lifestyle.
The BLM “activist,” Sir Maejor Page, was found guilty of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering.
Page, who is also known as Tyree Conyers-Page, was convicted by a jury after a six-day trial this week.
He was stealing money that was donated money to his BLM organization and using it for personal gain, according to the Northern District of Ohio U.S. Attorney’s Office.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chicago Police Officer, 30, Shot Dead Overnight While Heading Home From Work: ‘Another Sad Day’
In off-duty Chicago cop was shot and killed as he came home from work early Sunday in what the police superintendent called “another sad day” for the Windy City.
Cops responded to a gunshot detection alert in the Gage Park neighborhood at about 3 a.m., according to a statement from police.
When officers arrived, they found one of their own — Luis M. Huesca, 30 — with several gunshot wounds, police and the mayor’s office said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
CIA Director Refuses to Provide Information on Spanish Company’s Espionage of Julian Assange
CIA Director William J. Burns has invoked the National Security Act of 1947 and the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 to refuse to provide any information to a New York court judge investigating how a Spanish company spied on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during his stay at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
In an eight-page letter sent to Judge John G. Koeltl, Burns claims that the information could cause “serious damage to the national security of the United States.” He further cites the CIA’s statutory privileges “to protect intelligence sources, methods and activities” at issue in the case.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Columbia Rabbi Tells Jewish Students to Go Home for Their Own Safety as Pro-Hamas Protests Intensify
The top rabbi at Columbia University and Barnard College is telling students to go home “as soon as possible,” and remain there for their own safety at this time after anti-Israel protesters attacked Jews and hurled antisemitic threats at them.
“What we are witnessing in and around campus is terrible and tragic. The events of the last few days, especially last night, have made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy,” Rabbi Elie Buechler said in a mass message to Columbia and Barnard students Sunday morning.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Concerns Remain After Chicago Officials Unveil Plan for Slowing Robbery Spree
With robberies up by nearly 30% across the city compared to just 24 months ago, Chicago Ald. Chris Taliaferro said he wishes Mayor Brandon Johnson’s new plan for restoring law and order focused more on beefing up manpower across the police department.
“We’re down over 2,000 police officers and how can you deter crime when folks know that there’s not enough police officers out there,” Taliaferro, a former Chicago Police Department officer and current member of the city’s Public Safety Committee, told The Center Square. “We’re not putting the emphasis on policing and we’re letting police officers attrition out and not replacing them responsibly.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson sat down for a wide-ranging three-hours-plus discussion last week, touching on everything from UFOs, spirituality, and religion; from artificial intelligence costs and benefits to questioning ‘science’ consensus; and from government secrecy and lying to the threat to democracy driven by our domestic intelligence agencies.
They begin by discussing a recently leaked government project named “Project Aqua” which involves advanced aerospace vehicles and their interaction with humans, leading to medical injuries and even deaths.
“Here’s what we know is that US servicemen have died as a result of contact with or being in the proximity of these vehicles and we know that because there are a lot of suits working their way through the VA system.”
The conversation turns specifically to the nature of UFOs, suggesting they could be more than just physical or technological phenomena, potentially tied to spiritual or supernatural origins.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Serves Subpoenas at Chicago Suburb of Scandal-Ridden ‘Supermayor’ Tiffany Henyard
The FBI on Friday served subpoenas in the Chicago suburb where controversial Mayor Tiffany Henyard has faced accusations of corruption, Fox 32 Chicago reports.
Henyard, the self-described “supermayor” of Dolton, and Thornton Township Supervisor, has recently been dubbed the “worst mayor in America” by critics after being accused of misdeeds ranging from weaponizing police raids to spending taxpayer money on luxuries in Las Vegas. Most recently, the scandal-ridden mayor has also come under fire for an alleged sexual assault by one of her allies during the Vegas trip, where the alleged victim claims to have been fired after speaking out.
On Friday, four agents from the FBI paid a visit to Dolton Village Hall at around 2:30 p.m. where they served two federal subpoenas, according to Fox 32.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Jewish Yale Student Journalist Stabbed in the Eye With Palestinian Flag During Protest
A Jewish Yale University student journalist reporting on an anti-Israeli protest at the Ivy League school Saturday night was stabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag — while her assailant has gone unpunished.
Sahar Tartak, the editor-in-chief of the Yale Free Press, was covering the protest — which saw hundreds of students camping at the campus in support of Palestinians — when she was suddenly surrounded by demonstrators.
Tartak said she and a friend were singled out for wearing Hasidic Jewish attire as the crowd formed a blockade around them to interfere with their filming.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Louisiana Lawmakers Looking to Require State Universities to Seek Approval for ESG Usage
A bill in the Louisiana House of Representatives would require university boards to seek approval from lawmakers before using environmental, social and governance criteria.
House Bill 909 would mandate the universities’ boards of regents and public postsecondary education management boards to ask for approval from the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget before instituting any activities related to ESG.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Charles Owen, R-Rosepine, and was taken up by the House Education Committee on Wednesday. He didn’t want to force a vote on his bill by voluntarily deferring it, but said the issue required “intricate study and analysis.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Near Collision at Reagan Airport Renews Debate Over Control of Air Traffic Into Nation’s Capital
(The Center Square) — A near collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has lawmakers and advocacy groups at odds, once again, over existing laws governing the airport.
Two planes preparing for takeoff at the airport on Thursday came within 300 feet of colliding, misdirected by air traffic control. Control noticed the planes’ paths intersected and shouted for them to stop where they were.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A massive new anti-Israel tent city took over Columbia University on Sunday, just days after an NYPD raid cleared another intrusive encampment there and cuffed more than 100 protesters.
At least 30 tents were sprawled across the Manhattan Ivy League school’s West Lawn along with piles of food and supplies as embattled university officials struggled to contain the growing crisis.
The upheaval and threats to Jewish students have become so intolerable that a prominent rabbi at the prestigious school urged them Sunday to stay home — and university officials told them they could take classes online.
“We are looking for our demands, and we are going to continue that,” an encampment protester defiantly told The Post on Sunday. “We are here forever. We’re here as long as [it takes till] Columbia meets our demands.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New School Students Hijack Lobby With Anti-Israel Tent City in Solidarity With Columbia ‘Comrades’
Anti-Israel students at Manhattan’s New School hijacked a university lobby Sunday, setting up a “Liberty Zone” encampment at the Union Square campus — the Big Apple’s latest Mideast protest.
The ramshackle sit-in materialized as another larger sprawling one was taking over the West Lawn of uptown’s Columbia University — where it had been dismantled last week, resulting in dozens of arrests, only to defiantly pop up again.
As many as 20 protesting students took over around the New School’s University Center lobby on West 12th Street with tents and signs.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NY Home Depot Hires Guards, Dogs to Keep Parking Lot Safe From Thieves, Aggressive Migrants
A New York Home Depot has deployed a guard dog — and other stores may be close behind — to protect shoppers from aggressive migrants and thieves flooding their parking lots, The Post has learned.
Two men wearing MSA Security caps and bulletproof vests with a German Shepherd in tow patrolled the Home Depot in New Rochelle on Tuesday.
“It’s more about omnipresence,” one guard said, explaining that the company was contracted a few weeks ago. “It’s not like we let them go bite anyone or anything.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Reporter Sounds Alarm on ‘Troubling Numbers’ for President Biden in Latest Poll: ‘A Clear Liability’
NBC News’ Steve Kornacki sounded the alarm on the outlet’s latest polling, noting some “troubling numbers” for President Biden, as he trails former President Trump in several key categories, such as mental and physical health.
According to the NBC News poll, Trump leads Biden among voters in handling a crisis, being competent and effective, dealing with inflation, having the necessary physical and mental health, and having a strong record as president.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
RNC Files Flurry of Lawsuits as Part of Election Year Strategy That’s ‘Very Important’ to Trump
CHICAGO (AP) — As President Joe Biden and Donald Trump step up their campaigning in swing states, a quieter battle is taking place in the shadows of their White House rematch.
The Republican National Committee, newly reconstituted under Trump, has filed election-related lawsuits in nearly half the states. Recent lawsuits over voter roll maintenance in Michigan and Nevada are part of a larger strategy targeting various aspects of voting and election administration.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Public school students in Washington State are planning a school walk-out on the first day of Passover this week. The walk-outs have been promoted and sponsored by the Seattle chapter of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a group that has been banned in Germany for its support of terrorist organizations, including Hamas.
The group advocates for the release of convicted terrorists from prison and has a direct affiliation and ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sidney Powell Handed Win After Judges Dismiss Disciplinary Effort by Texas State Bar
Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
Sidney Powell, a lawyer who filed lawsuits after the 2020 election, got a win in Texas after an appeals court ruled that the Texas bar did not prove that she engaged in misconduct or fraud.
A panel of judges on the Fifth District of Texas Court of Appeals in Dallas ruled Wednesday that the state bar’s arguments lacked merit and evidence. They found that state bar prosecutors “employed a ‘scattershot’ approach to the case” that had alleged Ms. Powell did not have a reasonable basis to file lawsuits that challenged the 2020 election’s outcome in battleground states.
“The Bar employed a ‘scattershot’ approach to the case, which left this court and the trial court ‘with the task of sorting through the argument to determine what issue ha[d] actually been raised,’“ Justice Dennise Garcia wrote in the court’s ruling. “Having done so, the absence of competent summary judgment compels our conclusion that the Bar failed to meet its summary judgment burden.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Four published books, debate trophies, perfect attendance and a 100 average weren’t enough to get a Queens eighth-grader into her dream high school.
Kristina Raevsky, 14, found out on March 7 she wasn’t accepted to Townsend Harris High School in Flushing because of a lottery system that grouped her perfect test scores with kids who scored over a 94.
“I was shocked,” Raevsky told The Post. “Everyone I told said, ‘How is this possible?’ And I told them, ‘I don’t know, it isn’t me that is the problem. The system is the problem.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Leads U.S. in Job Growth, Surpassing Its Previous Record for Total Number of Jobs
Every month, after U.S. Department of Labor employment data is released, Texas’ jobs report is better than any other state’s and its job growth rate is higher than the national rate. March employment data was no different.
“The Texas labor market maintained its momentum in March to reach a 36th consecutive month of positive annual growth and once again set new record-high levels for jobs, Texans employed, and the civilian labor force,” the Texas Workforce Commission reported.
In March, Texas again surpassed all previous records it broke for having the greatest number of total jobs, the greatest number of Texans working, and the largest labor force in state history.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Top Eurocrat Verhofstadt Brands Republicans Who Voted Against Ukraine Aid as ‘Traitors’
A leading Eurocrat in Brussels branded Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives who voted against President Joe Biden’s demands to send billions more of American taxpayer dollars to fund the war in Ukraine as “traitors”.
On Saturday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for violated the ‘Hastert Rule’, which requires Republican speakers to only put forward bills to the floor of the House if a majority of the GOP conference supports the measure, to push through a $60 billion Ukraine aid bill.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Two Men Stabbed, Three Hurt in Brooklyn Party Boat Brawl
Two men were stabbed and a third was hit on the head with a bottle in a violent brawl aboard a party boat in Brooklyn Saturday afternoon, cops said.
“We were having an amazing time and then as soon as it was time to get off the boat, that’s when the commotion started,” said one woman who wished to stay anonymous.
Police responded about 5 p.m. to a 911 call for a knife assault on a party yacht dubbed the ‘Cornucopia Majesty,’ docked at Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Army Terminal near 58th St. in Sunset Park.
“We were standing there and everybody started fighting,” said one witness who asked to remain anonymous. “Then I see a guy got stabbed, laid in his car, blood running off his chest and a whole bunch of cops started coming in.”
Police found a 32-year-old man stabbed once in the lung, a 40-year-old man stabbed four times in the chest and abdomen, and a 28-year-old man who had been whacked in the head with a bottle. Two other people were injured but refused medical attention, the FDNY said.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
White House Condemns Antisemitic Actions of Pro-Palestinian Protesters at Columbia University
The White House condemns the pro-Palestinian protests that have rocked New York City’s Columbia University over the past week, leading the school’s campus Orthodox rabbi to urge Jewish students to stay away from campus for the time being.
“While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous — they have absolutely no place on any college campus, or anywhere in the United States of America,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates tells The Times of Israel.
“Echoing the rhetoric of terrorist organizations, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, is despicable. We condemn these statements in the strongest terms,” Bates says.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Woman, 18, Dies After Being Shot at Delaware State University; Campus Closed
DOVER, Del. (AP) — An 18-year-old woman died after she was shot on the campus of Delaware State University on Sunday, authorities said.
Dover police said officers responded at about 1:40 a.m. to a report of shots on the campus.
Police said an 18-year-old Wilmington woman who was not a registered student was found with a gunshot wound to the upper body near Warren-Franklin Hall, which the university describes as a freshman dorm.
The victim was provided aid and rushed to Bayhealth Kent Campus, where she was pronounced dead, police said. Her name wasn’t immediately released pending notification of her family. No other injuries were reported and no description of a suspect was immediately available.
A university statement provided by police said the campus was closed Sunday with no visitation permitted, all events canceled and police patrols increased.
Delaware State University said counseling services would be available in the Tubman Laws Hall housing office and said it would “continue to take all necessary actions to ensure the health and well-being of our campus community.”
Dover police and Delaware State University police are investigating the case, which was classified as a homicide, police said.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Invoking Emergencies Act Against Freedom Convoy Cost Taxpayers $73 Million
The Liberal cabinet’s 2022 invocation of the Emergencies Act cost taxpayers more than $73 million. Final costs have yet to be finalized, according to Department of Public Safety records.
“Costs associated with fiscal year 2023-2024 are still to be determined,” the department wrote in an inquiry of ministry tabled in the House of Commons.
A ministry response at the request of Conservative MP Ziad Aboultaif asked, “With regard to enactment of the Emergencies Act in 2022, what was the cost burden for the government?”
The costs are $73,550,568 and counting, reported Blacklock’s Reporter.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Regina Church Arsonist Sentenced to a Year in Jail
A man has been sentenced to over a year in jail for starting a fire at a church in downtown Regina this past February.
Jordan Willet, 31, was given 378 days behind bars after being found guilty of “intentionally or recklessly causing damage by fire or explosion to property in addition to failing to comply with a probation order,” local outlet 980 CMJE reports.
Pastor James Hentges of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church previously told the Regina Leader Post he and the members of his church found the incident frightening, especially after seeing video of the arson attack.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has called upon the left-wing Labour Party to “reset” relations with the European Union if they win the next general election.
Tony Blair, who led the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007, urged current leader Sir Keir Starmer to seek closer trading and political ties with Brussels if he ascends to Downing Street, as all polling suggests.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Compare: Where in Europe Now Has the Lowest Birth Rate?
The number of births in Europe have dropped dramatically in recent years, new statistics reveal. But which countries have seen the biggest drop in the birthrate?
Births in Europe have reached their lowest point since the 1960s in 2022, as only 3.88 million babies were born compared to more double some sixty years ago, according to the EU statistical office Eurostat.
In the period 1961—2022, all countries (EU member states as well as EFTA countries Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) saw steady declining birth rates.
The highest level recorded was 6.8 million in 1964. By 2002, births had declined to 4.36 million, followed by a modest increase to 4.68 million in 2008, and a general downward trend after that year (except for 2021, during the pandemic).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Energy Crisis Costs Each German Citizen €2600 Per Year
The Hans Böckler Foundation has calculated that due to the energy crisis, each German citizen loses approximately €2600 per year. According to Professor Sebastian Dullien, Germany’s GDP shrinks annually by five percent—significantly more than in other countries, as reported by Bild.
For comparison, in Italy, the energy crisis leads to a loss of around €1700 per citizen, and in France, €230. The average across the EU is approximately €880.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 26-Year-Old Soccer Star Drops Dead From Heart Attack Mid-Game
Italian soccer player Mattia Giani has tragically died suddenly at just 26 years old, according to reports.
A report from the Daily Mail reveals Giani dropped dead on the field mid-game while clutching his chest.
He reportedly collapsed seconds after he took a shot at goal in the 15th minute of a game at Lanciotto Campi in Tuscany.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Lithuanian-Polish Military Exercises Begin in the Suwalki Corridor
Joint Lithuanian-Polish tactical exercises with an aviation component, “Brave Griffin 24/II,” are set to begin on Sunday, as reported by LRT. These exercises will also involve allies from the US and Portugal.
During the exercises, 1,500 troops from the “Žemaitija” Infantry Brigade named after the Great Lithuanian Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, along with allies, will test defensive scenarios in the so-called Suwalki Corridor, in line with the bilateral Lithuanian-Polish “Orsha Plan.” This plan was prepared by the Lithuanian and Polish army commanders in 2022, with a large portion of it classified.
The Suwalki Corridor is approximately a 100-kilometer border area between Lithuania and Poland, bordered to the west by the Kaliningrad Oblast and to the east by Belarus. The exercises will last until April 26. In Lithuania, the “Saber Strike” exercises organized by the US Armed Forces continue.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Half of PVV Voters Think Wilders Has Conceded Too Much During Cabinet Formation Process
Roughly half of those who voted for the PVV during the last election think the far-right political party’s leader, Geert Wilders, has made too many sacrifices in an attempt to form a coalition government with the VVD, NSC, and BBB. A survey conducted by RTL Nieuws found that two-thirds of the 4,300 PVV voters surveyed do not want Wilders to compromise further, despite the fact that wide gaps remain between the four parties on crucial policy issues, like immigration, asylum reception, and environmental sustainability in agriculture.
The far-right nationalist party remains the most popular in the Netherlands, according to political pollster Maurice de Hond. The PVV took 37 out of 150 seats in the November election for the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Parliament. If a new election were held today, the party would take 50 seats, De Hond wrote on Sunday. Most of that support would come from the VVD, which would lose nine of its 24 seats, and the NSC, which would lose out on 12 of its 20 seats.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Voters Head Back to Polls in Another Test for Globalist PM Tusk
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish voters are casting ballots Sunday to choose mayors in hundreds of cities and towns where no candidate won outright in the first round of the country’s local elections two weeks ago.
Mayors will be chosen in a total of 748 places, including in the cities of Kraków, Pozna’n, Rzeszów and Wroclaw. Those are places where no single candidate won at least 50% of the vote during the first round of elections on April 7.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
SNP-Led Scottish Government on Brink of Collapse as Greens Ready to Quit
Scotland’s coalition government is at risk of collapse after the Scottish Greens announced a vote on their partnership with the SNP following a row over climatetargets.
Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, said today that Scotland is “years behind taking action to reduce emissions” after it dropped its 2030 climate change goals, and admitted he did not know whether the coalition would continue.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Met Police Apologises for ‘Openly Jewish’ Comment
The Met Police has apologised after an officer said an antisemitism charity leader looked “openly Jewish” as he was threatened with arrest for being near a pro-Palestine march.
Gideon Falter was wearing a kippah skull-cap when he was stopped in the Aldwych area of London on Saturday.
He was told by police his presence was causing a “breach of peace”, in a video posted online.
Scotland Yard apologised for the officer’s phrase.
The force then withdrew its initial statement, after “reflecting on the strength of the response” to it, and issued a second apology for causing further offence.
The original statement talked about a “new trend of those opposed to the main protests appearing alongside the route to express their views”, and “knowing their presence is provocative”.
However, this was criticised as victim-blaming, and the Met issued a second statement saying that “being Jewish is not a provocation” and apologising again.
Mr Falter, who is chief executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), said he had been walking in the capital after attending synagogue and was not there to counter-protest.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tommy Robinson Back on Trial on Monday for Attending March Against Antisemitism
I’m in London, England right now, having flown all the way from home in Western Canada to report on the latest trial of Tommy Robinson, the “controversial” citizen journalist and activist.
Tommy was attending a march against antisemitism here in London a few months ago. He was there as a journalist to document the march, but also as a supporter of the Jewish people.
But instead of welcoming Tommy as a supporter, Gideon Falter, one of the left-wing march organizers, asked the police to remove Tommy. Not because Tommy did anything wrong, because he hadn’t. It’s just that Tommy’s mere presence there made Falter tense. Even crazier, though, the police obliged Falter. They grabbed Tommy, they handcuffed him, and then they pepper sprayed him in the face again.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Unacceptable’: Outrage Over Just Stop Oil Plot to Derail Britons’ Summer Holidays
Environmental protest group Just Stop Oil has been slammed as “selfish” and “shooting itself in the foot” after details of the activists’ plot to spark travel chaos this summer emerged.
Back in March, the group had schemed to cause “disruption on a scale that has never been seen before” by demonstrating at airports in the UK and across Europe from the middle of June.
Protesters, in conjunction with Europe-based campaign group A22 Network, are set to call off flights by gluing themselves to runways, storming airport terminals and even climbing on planes in tourist spots including Spain, Greece and Turkey — which would see prospective holidaymakers’ summer travels plagued by delays at home and abroad.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli Leaders Condemn Expected US Sanctions, Netanyahu Vows to Fight it With All His Might
Leaders in Israel criticized potential sanctions that are expected to be imposed by the U.S. as early as this week against an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) military battalion accused of violating human rights back in 2022.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken could announce sanctions against IDF battalion “Netzah Yehuda” within days, marking the first time the U.S. will have placed sanctions on military units operated by Israel. If Blinken follows through with the sanctions, it could further strain relationships between the allies, which have already become tense as Israel continues its war in Gaza.
U.S. officials have not identified the sanctioned unit, though Israeli leaders and local media identified it as Netzah Yehuda, a battalion established nearly 25 years ago.
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‘Only Way to Free Hostages’: Israel PM Vows to Increase ‘Military Pressure’ on Hamas
Jerusalem: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel will increase “military pressure” on Palestinian group Hamas in a bid to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza.
“In the coming days we will increase the military and political pressure on Hamas because this is the only way to free our hostages,” Netanyahu said in a video statement on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover, threatening to “deliver additional and painful blows” without specifying.
Despite an international outcry, Netanyahu has repeatedly said that the army will launch a ground assault on Rafah, a southern Gaza city so far spared an Israeli invasion where more than 1.5 million Palestinians have taken refuge.
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Russia Claims Advances Near Chasiv Yar as Ukraine Hails New Aid
Russia said Sunday its forces had gained territory near the key battleground town of Chasiv Yar in east Ukraine, highlighting the pressure facing Kyiv as it gears up to receive $61 billion in new U.S. aid.
After nearly a year-and-a-half delay, the United States House of Representatives finally approved the aid package in a vote Saturday, giving a morale boost to Ukrainian forces on the defensive.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday it had taken control of Bohdanivka, a small frontline village less than three kilometers northeast of Chasiv Yar.
“Units of the southern grouping of troops have completely liberated the settlement of Bohdanivka,” the ministry said.
Chasiv Yar, which had a population of about 13,000 before the conflict, has been largely destroyed by fighting and most residents have fled.
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Aggressive Sheep Kills New Zealand Couple, Leaving Community Shocked
An aggressive sheep was shot and killed after it was determined to be responsible for the deaths of an older New Zealand couple.
A man went looking for his mother and father Thursday after not hearing from them for a few days. The couple, both in their 80s, lived at a rural rented property in Waitakere, West Auckland.
When he entered the property’s paddock, he found both of his parents, Alfred Helge Hansen, 82, and Gaye Carole Hansen, 81, dead.
According to the New Zealand Herald, authorities believe the man was killed when he went out to feed the ram. His wife suffered the same fate when she went out to check on her husband.
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement along with Removal Operations (ERO) in Boston have re-arrested a Honduran national illegally present in the United States. They criticized local officials for releasing him despite an immigration detainer.
The 26-year-old Honduran national, arrested for first-degree sexual assault of a minor, was apprehended in New Britain by ERO Boston’s Hartford field office on April 4. Despite ICE issuing an immigration detainer, local officials released him from the Hartford Correctional Center.
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In Germany, They No Longer Want to Accept Ukrainian Refugees
Given the consistently high level of migration, regions in Germany have warned of limited capacity to accommodate new refugees, Welt reports.
“Several districts and municipalities are overwhelmed by regular and illegal migration. Integrating everyone is increasingly impossible. Problems are growing,” said Reinhard Sager, President of the German Association of Districts (DLT).
Therefore, according to him, regions no longer want to accept refugees from Ukraine. Only in the state of Baden-Württemberg, twice as many Ukrainian refugees reside as in the entire country of France. He suggested “weather-protected housing in safe western Ukraine,” as once envisaged by the Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.
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A wealthy New York town has launched a legal bid to block a suburban childcare center from taking in unaccompanied migrant children.
Officials in Mount Pleasant, Westchester, are embroiled in a court battle with the Jewish Child Care Association (JCCA) over whether asylum-seeking minors can be housed at the Pleasantville Cottage School.
The JCCA sued the town first after officials declared an emergency order to keep migrants out of the town — the childcare group accused the measure of preventing them from carrying out their mission to shelter children in need.
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Nevada Supreme Court Backs Pro-Abortion Ballot Measure
The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled in favor of supporting a ballot measure advocating for abortion as a “fundamental reproductive freedom.”
This judgment overturned a prior challenge to the measure’s language, the Washington Examiner reported.
The decision from the high court now clears the measure’s path to the ballot this November.
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Robert Ivinson said he was disciplined after a student next door in halls of residence heard the comments then complained he had been offensive and ‘transphobic’.
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The sheep was ram raiding. The couples son headlocked it to the ground before the cops came and made it mutton.. very rare for rams to kill humans apparently