Month: June 2022

A 19-year-old people smuggler has been sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the deaths of two Syrian illegal immigrants who suffocated in the back of a van he was driving across the border to Austria.

The Eisenstadt court found the 19-year-old people smuggler, a Latvian national, guilty on Monday of people smuggling and actions that led to death and was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was not found guilty of the murder charge the prosecutor had demanded, however.

The Latvian pled guilty to the charge of smuggling but not guilty to the charge of murder, and admitted he knew the 30 asylum seekers in the back of his vehicle had been in distress after being locked in the cargo area of a van for eight hours without a break, Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung reports.

The deaths of the two Syrian nationals took place on October 19th of last year after the Latvian picked up the group of migrants in a forest along the border with Serbia and Hungary and drove them to Austria.

Around two hours into the trip the oxygen in the cargo area of the van had run out and the desperate asylum seekers tore our piece of the van and banged on the walls in an attempt to make the driver stop.

The driver eventually did stop after being forced to a checkpoint by Austrian soldiers at Siegendorf, near the border of Hungary, where the migrants were found by authorities, two of them dead. The Latvian managed to flee the scene but was arrested in his home country two months later.

The Latvian is said to have been part of a larger smuggling network, with 19 members of the network already having been convicted of crimes in April.

The case echoes another incident in which migrants died in a van along the border of Austria and Hungary in 2015 that saw 71 people die, including a baby and was one of the first major events of the 2015 migrant crisis.

Eight men, one Afghan and seven Bulgarians, were later put on trial over the deaths of the migrants who had been abandoned by the side of a motorway and left to die. In 2018, the Afghan, said to have been the leader of the smuggling gang, received a 25-year sentencefrom a Hungarian court, along with three other accomplices, while others received lesser sentences.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/06/29/austrian-court-convicts-people-smuggler-who-left-two-syrians-to-die-in-van/

As fuel prices hit record highs in the US, thieves either target pumps and transport vehicles, or hack into networks of gas retailers.

Earlier this month, at Virginia Beach, police observed “many vehicles” using equipment to pump gas from a gas station that had closed down.

“Individuals then sell gasoline at a discounted price via a telephone application and operate it on social media. It was determined to have been advertised. In a few days, a few thousand dollars worth of gasoline was stolen from the business,” Virginia Beach Police Station Said in a press release on June 14.

To protect themselves from cyberattacks, fuel retailers now have to make sure that their networks are well-protected, with vulnerabilities in their technology infrastructure and hackers breaking into and stealing or modifying information.

Some 25 percent of fuel retailers have reported increased gas theft. Citing data from the US Energy Information Administration, an industry analyst told Fox News Digital that a quarter of gas retailers were experiencing an increase in gas theft compared to last year.

Thieves digitally “accesses the pump, physically or electronically disables the system in some way, resets the price very low, or keeps a transaction open that allows multiple people to perform the same transaction,” he explained.

“It’s one trend. Another trend is people who modify or re-adjust flat panel vans or certain vehicles, park them on underground storage tanks, draw gas from the underground storage tanks, and then resell them. And that’s probably the most common right now.”

In Salt Lake City, Utah, security camera footage was taken of a thief stealing gas from a truck parked outside just before it caught fire.

According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average gasoline price on weekends is $4,91 per gallon, exceeding $5 and $6 per gallon in some western and northeastern states. In California, Saturday’s average was $6,33.

https://freewestmedia.com/2022/06/29/americans-stealing-gas-as-prices-soar/

The Bavarian Business Association (VBW) warned that as many as 5.6 million jobs across Germany could be lost in the case of a gas supply stop from Russia.

According to the association’s calculations, a German boycott of Russian gas could also reduce the country’s economic output by 12.7 percent, with immediate abandonment of the raw material hitting the glass, iron, and steel industries particularly hard; losses in these sectors would be almost 50 percent.

VBW highlighted that with an import rate of 89 percent, Germany is almost totally dependent on foreign supplies of natural gas. In 2021, Russia was the largest importer, with a value of 424 terawatt-hours (TWh), followed by Norway with 275, the Netherlands with 82, and Belgium with 18 TWh.

Earlier this week, Germany’s association of municipal companies (VKU) warned that the country will experience drastic energy price hikes that will drastically increase bankrupt enterprises.

“If there is no more gas coming from Russia for a short time, we will have a real problem in winter. It will be worse than the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Managing Director Ingbert Liebing.

Liebling warned that if gas flows shut down, companies will be forced to shut down either whole or in part.

A major problem for Germany remains its own lack of domestic gas production, and what gas production there is in constant decline. According to the VBW study, Germany urgently needs to open up new funding sources to be more independent from other countries in the long term. However, the discovery, development, and approval of new gas sources is a process that takes at least three years, the VBW stated.

In addition, the issue calls for a departure from the coalition agreement because it does not provide for any new permits for oil and gas drilling beyond the framework operating permits already granted for the North and Baltic seas.

Neither a permanent increase in domestic production, nor a short-term solution to compensate for the loss of Russian gas can be expected without entry into fracking technology in Germany.

To save energy, the VBW recommended decreasing room temperatures in hotels, restaurants, and private households by two degrees. According to a current draft law, the savings in electricity generation could even be enforced during a crisis if necessary. Such measures could help to prevent factories from shutting down production and harming economic output to an even greater extent.

https://rmx.news/article/german-business-association-warns-of-5-million-job-losses-if-russia-ceases-its-gas-supply/

On Monday June 27, two people aged 16 and 28 were arrested by the police and taken into police custody for homophobic insults. The attack took place in the early afternoon at around 3.30 pm on a bus of line 10 at the “Carrefour Genève” stop on the Avenue de Genève in Annecy.

According to initial information, confirmed by a woman who had witnessed the scene, the two men violently attacked a man on the bus.

The duo hurled homophobic and transphobic insults at the man before physically threatening and severely abusing him.

The victim, a 26-year-old man from Annecy, filed a complaint. An investigation was opened for public insult based on sexual orientation. The two persons of Afghan origin, who have no known fixed abode but live in the catchment area of Annecy, denied the crime at the hearing.La Dauphiné

https://www.fdesouche.com/2022/06/28/annecy-deferlement-dinjures-homophobes-et-menaces-physiques-dans-le-bus-deux-afghans-en-garde-a-vue/

Adding to a chorus of dramatic forecasts for the coming winter, Germany’s association of municipal companies (VKU) is warning that Germany will experience drastic energy price hikes that will drastically increase bankrupt enterprises.

“If there is no more gas coming from Russia for a short time, we will have a real problem in winter. It will be worse than the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Managing Director Ingbert Liebing.

If the gas stops, companies will be forced to shut down in whole or part, and the economy will go into another lockdown. According to Liebing, Germans will have a real problem in winter without Russia’s raw materials. He said that while the bankruptcy rate has remained low up until now, that number is expected to steadily increase.

“There will soon be more, and then it will threaten our existence,” warned Liebing.

Liebing also detailed in an interview with German newspaper FAZ how many Germans have gotten off lightly so far because when it comes to energy prices, the country’s public utilities procured the necessary energy with a bit of foresight.

“They bought part of the gas for the coming winter at significantly lower prices two years ago,” stated former deputy Liebing.

While this move has bought Germany some time, the price of natural gas is currently four to six times higher than in previous years, and it will be much more expensive for customers next year. According to Liebing, Germans must reckon with increasing energy costs globally.

Liebing describes how the process will play out, saying that first gas suppliers will get into trouble because they must deliver the gas on specified terms. With the Energy Security Act, politicians have created an opportunity for utility and energy companies to pass on the higher procurement prices to end customers. However, neither private households nor commercial customers can pay five times the value of gas in previous years, Liebing warned.

Instead, the association director suggests supporting the prices at the import level and not passing on the additional costs to the end customers. The government must initiate support programs to ensure each level in the chain can afford the coming price hikes.

Liebing stated that Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) is not doing enough. 

“The Federal Ministry of Economics primarily takes care of the large companies,” said Liebing. He criticizes government policy, suggesting that “I would like more consideration of the practical conditions on site at energy companies. More clearly: All municipal companies are systemically important.”

Liebing calls for a protective shield for municipal utilities because most buy gas directly from wholesalers and have not yet received any help.

https://rmx.news/article/it-will-threaten-our-existence-leading-german-association-predicts-horror-winter-without-russian-gas/

New images of damage to the Hagia Sophia has caused outrage and anger, this time due to a cleaning machine being used inside the cathedral-turned-mosque breaking the marble floor.

With the headline: “Marbles were broken in Hagia Sophia”, Cumhuriyet talks about: “Endless martyrdom of Hagia Sophia” due to the new damage.

“The destruction continues in Hagia Sophia, which has been turned from a museum into a mosque. The historic marbles were broken in many places by the heavy machine used to clean the marbles,” the newspaper notes.

The X-ray machines at the entrance of the monument, which have not been operating since it was turned into a mosque, have been activated for two weeks.

Officials continue to warn women who enter without a headscarf, as well as those who attempt to enter with indecent clothing. However, it seems that there is no concern for its effective protection.

As the article notes: “It is visible that the marbles that were already broken in some places and are on the imperial route at the exit door, have been broken in other places as well.”

A tour guide told Cumhuriyet that: “When Hagia Sophia was a museum, visits were made with great respect. At the moment, its interior looks like a festival.”

https://greekcitytimes.com/2022/06/28/new-damage-to-hagia-sophia/