Month: January 2023

Anti-open borders protesters faced off against Antifa and NGO officials on Saturday as Ireland’s mass immigration crisis continues to mount.

Irish men and women protesting their government’s platform of mass immigration faced off against Antifa and the members of various NGOs in the country’s capital of Dublin on Saturday.

The country has seen a surge in demonstrations against the arrival of large numbers of foreign migrants in recent weeks, with the nation’s left-leaning government bringing in tens of thousands of would-be refugees and asylum seekers despite not having anywhere to house them.

With officials having spent the last number of months smuggling migrants into disused office blocks and hotels around the country, more and more people in local areas have taken to the streets in response, with many demanding that a cap be put in place on the number of asylum seekers arriving in the country, and that those without passports not be granted the opportunity to claim refuge.

Such demonstrations have provoked the ire of the country’s NGO and activist complexes, with Saturday’s well-attended demonstration against mass immigration in the country’s capital of Dublin being challenged by counter-demonstrators.

Organised by Le Chéile — an anti-“far right” umbrella group made up of a number of organisations, many of which receive government funding — the counter-protest was attended by members of various left-wing NGOs and political groups, with at least one counter-demonstrator at the counter-demo waving a large Antifa flag.

However, according to multiple reports penned by legacy media outlets, the counter-protest — despite being backed by a number of notable figures within Ireland’s politicaland media sphere — was outnumbered by those attending the grassroots demonstration against mass immigration.

While there were tense moments between the two crowds, with the anti-demonstrators repeatedly linking those attending the grassroots protest to fascism, there was little to no violence at either event.

“Saturday was the culmination of a growing feeling of disquiet and anger that ordinary Irish working people are beginning to feel at the way their needs are being ignored by a government,” one speaker at the event, Irish Freedom Party Chairman Michael Leahy told Breitbart Europe in relation to the demo.

He went on to describe the influx of over 80,000 asylum seekers and refugees into the country of only 5 million people as “unprecedented”, denouncing efforts by NGOs and media outlets in the country to label local communities as “racist” for speaking out about the issue.

“Ordinary Irish people have become deeply disturbed by these developments, and this anger is crystallising around the issue of open borders and uncontrolled immigration, which is being witnessed in large and small communities throughout the country,” he said.

The two demonstrations represent the latest chapter in Ireland’s migrant influx, which has seen tens of thousands of people arrive in the country.

Such arrivals have upset large swathes of the country’s population, with many struggling to find a home to buy or rent as a result of an ongoing housing crisis that appears to have been greatly exasperated by the recent surge in foreign arrivals.

This in turn has prompted the phrase “Ireland is Full” to enter the country’s political lexicon, much to the chagrin of many within the country’s now-embattled political sphere.

However, despite repeated accusations that the term is racist, officials within the country’s government now appear to be suddenly echoing it, with even the country’s pro-open borders integration minister, Roderic O’Gorman, warning on Sunday that the government may soon find it impossible to house many migrants.

“We have a very real situation coming into the next week where we won’t be able to accommodate everybody arriving here,” the Green party official, who recently came under fire after discussing taking in climate refugees, said.

“There is a real risk that those maybe travelling… as single adults won’t be accommodated over the next number of weeks,” he went on to say.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/01/24/anti-open-borders-protesters-face-off-against-ngos-antifa-in-irish-capital/

The stars have aligned for India to take decisive action directed at Darul Khada and Islamist radicalism.

Reasons? Unlike in the past, when India was vulnerable to an oil embargo by Middle East nations, the country now gets a very large share of its oil from Russia. Facing an economic black hole, Pakistan cannot engage in a protracted military conflict. West’s ability to twist India’s arm is limited due to the war in Ukraine and its dependence on India as a counter to China.

Darul Khada (“God’s court”) is a Taliban-styled court – the tip of the spear to terrorise and Islamise India through violence, intimidation, and deceit. These courts have created a parallel government by pretending that Sharia is god’s law (more later).

National Investigation Agency (NIA) learned that on the orders of Darul Khada, the Popular Front of India (PFI) formed hit squads to kill Hindus – such as RSS leader Rudresh and PMK leader Ramalingham – opposed to the conversion of Hindus to Islam. The squads killed pharmacist Umesh Kolhe and tailor Kanaihya Lal, who were deemed offending Islam.

Western social scientists have failed to understand the cause of Islamist radicalism. For example, a top American political scientist, Barbara Walter, has admitted that the “growth [of extremist groups such as the PFI] suggests an underlying level of support from Muslim communities around the world that we do not yet understand.”  But I have applied the ideas borrowed from physics to identify its root cause.

By calling Sharia (a clerical interpretation of Islam) “God’s law” – allegedly covering all aspects of a Muslim’s life and commanding that Sharia be followed – clerics can exert control over the lives of their flocks. But Sharia interpretations are often contradictory; therefore, it is not divine law.

Why have clerics and Sharia courts become so influential in India? My researchreveals that public support for Sharia law is a good measure of a community’s radicalisation and support for violent extremism. A 2021 survey report showed that 74% of Indian Muslims preferred Sharia courts over regular ones. This Sharia support explains why Darul Khada has grown to be a menace.

The role of the so-called Muslim vote bank makes the electoral process a sham and a vehicle for anarchy. In my estimation, around 25% of Indian children under the age of five were born in Muslim households. Moreover, poor Hindus living near Muslim communities are often forced to convert to Islam. The Muslim population, around 10% at the time of India’s independence, is set to explode and play the kingmaker role in the electoral landscape.

Thus, it is increasingly unlikely that a Hindu nationalist party such as BJP can come back to power at the center. If any other party takes power, it will likely cater to radical Islamist interests.

The stone-pelting (especially from mosques) we have witnessed in Ram Navami or Hanuman Jayanti processions are symptoms of minority radicalisation and the involvement of some clerics. Since the PFI is a symptom, banning it and arresting its leadership hardly dents the threat.

Only Indians can save their country.

The time has come to act now by neutralizing violent radical Islamists’ power centers on the grounds of religious freedom and human rights. By portraying Sharia as not divine but as false law, the government can neuter the influence of Darul Khada and bring the minority into the mainstream. But such acts are outside the scope of the democratic mode of governing because radical Islamists have successfully put India under siege.

What can and must be done?

I contend that the power equation with Islamists can be reversed in about six months under an emergency and by imposing martial law. There are several ways an imaginative government can justify invoking an emergency. Under a martial law, India will not be fighting Islam or Muslims. If anything, it is only helping those oppressed by the radicals.

Singapore was built by the visionary Lee Kuan, who wisely ignored ill-informed westerners and did what had to be done. Kuan was proven correct that an authoritarian government that focused on economic growth and put down instabilities with an iron hand should lead to a stable and functional democracy in the future.

Time is not on India’s side.

All the talk of economic growth is moot when a growing Islamist anarchy threatens to subsume the country. It is now or never.

Timing is everything. Can BJP act?

https://www.opindia.com/2023/01/radical-islam-india-bjp-govt-act/

The red-green-red senate has reiterated its claim that two thirds of the suspects arrested on New Year’s Eve were German. The state government does not want to disclose the first names, which could give information about a possible migration background. The AfD parliamentary group had also asked for this information in a parliamentary question.

The answer of the Berlin state government, which is exclusively available to the newspaper JUNGE FREIHEIT, states that “71 criminal charges were filed after attacks on the Berlin police and the Berlin fire brigade”. In 42 cases, according to the Senate, at least one suspect is being investigated. All of them are at large, no arrest warrant has been issued in any of the cases.

According to the report, 28 people with German citizenship and 14 foreigners were among those arrested. The AfD’s further question about the first names of these persons was rejected by the Senate: “First names of suspects cannot be transmitted due to data protection reasons, especially the personal rights of the persons concerned”.

The parliamentary director of the AfD parliamentary group, Ronald Gläser, who asked the question, is not satisfied with this. He told the newspaper JUNGE FREIHEIT: “What kind of data protection reasons are these supposed to be? First names are not complete names. No one can infer a specific person.” He announced that he would sue for the release of the information. He said the Senate knew that his group would be proved right with the lawsuit. “He is just trying to stall for time before the election,” Gläser suspects. The election for the House of Representatives will be held on February 13.

Gläser had already asked the parliamentary question on January 3. Two days later, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) publicly announced that it would ask for the first names in the Interior Committee of the Berlin House of Representatives. Already there, the Senate did not answer. As expected, it retreated to formal criteria. Since then, the CDU has not investigated the matter any further. The issue had disappeared from the media.

According to the Senate’s answer to the AfD’s question, 49 police officers and 15 firefighters were injured on New Year’s Eve. The rioters also damaged a total of 36 vehicles; 26 of the police and ten of the fire brigade.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230124070327/https://jungefreiheit.de/politik/deutschland/2023/berlin-silvester-vornamen-afd/

One of the most liberal cities in Germany, the university city of Freiburg located in southern Germany, is facing a massive crime wave perpetrated by North African migrants as well as mass riots at the city’s main asylum reception center.

The violence at the reception center has required the police to launch major operations on five separate occasions. Freiburg’s police forces were overwhelmed during the incidents and forced to call for reinforcements from neighboring districts and the German Federal Police to control the chaos, according to German newspaper Stern.

Just on Sunday, approximately 40 foreigners, mostly North Africans and Syrians, attacked each other with knives, sticks, and other objects. Officers made three arrests, but just hours later, another mass brawl broke out involving knives, with 300 foreigners either fighting or watching the fights unfold. Later, at midnight, a third riot broke out involving 40 men who attacked each other with various objects, according to police.

The next day, residents of the asylum home triggered fire alarms and then threatened the responding firefighters and police officers with a knife. When police went to make arrests, they faced considerable resistance.

A few hours later, staff said they were threatened by North African residents inside the center, requiring a large police response.

Eight migrants were injured over the course of just two days. The violence at the reception center is draining police resources right at a time when the police are facing serious problems with migrant crime in the city center.

‘Skyrocketing crime in city center’

Due to a sharp rise in shoplifting, pickpocketing, and other petty crimes that affect the quality of life of Freiburg residents, the police and the city’s prosecutor’s office are announcing they will pursue a tougher approach.

Police describe the suspects as “young men, mainly from the North African region, who have often only been in Freiburg for a few days and whose identity is usually not certain.” When they are stopped during a theft and “confronted with the accusation of the crime, the perpetrators usually act unimpressed. Police officers are often insulted or attacked.”

Police have announced 30 arrests in connection with the crackdown, with many of the suspects having already appeared in Freiburg District Court.

Many of the thefts take place in high-end clothing retailers and at the perfume counters of department stores. Police report that the number of such crimes has “skyrocketed,” with most of the suspects men from North Africa. Media reports indicate that many of the migrant men lie about their age in order to avoid stiffer penalties, a trend that is well-documented in Germany.

The men have also been accused of stealing wallets and cell phones.

This isn’t the first crime wave involving migrants in Freiburg. Already in 2016, following a string of sexual assaults and thefts, nightclubs in the city joined together to bar migrant men from entering.

Despite the history of crime in the city, Green and other left-wing politicians have often pushed for more migrants to come to the city under the motto “We have space!”

Foreigners are responsible for a massively disproportionate share of crime in Germany, according to police statistics.

On New Year’s Eve, mass riots took place in major German cities, which involved migrant men attacking ambulances, firefighters, and police. The events have led to a new public debate about mass immigration in the country and called into question Germany’s open borders immigration policy.

https://rmx.news/crime/north-africans-terrorize-german-green-university-city/

The asylum disaster continues unabated in 2023. According to a confidential “Status Report on Migration and Refugees” by the EU Commission dated January 11, the number of asylum applications in the EU rose by around half in the past year to well over 900 000.

Accordingly, the number of asylum applications in the 27 EU countries increased last year by 46,5 percent to a total of 923 991. The EU Commission’s “situation report” refers to previously unpublished figures from the European Asylum Support Office (EUAA) from the beginning of January.

Also no surprise is that Germany remains the main destination for economic migrants. The number of applications has increased by a third compared to 2021 to the highest value since 2016. Every third applicant in Germany came from Syria, followed by Afghanistan (17 percent), Turkey (10 percent) and Iraq (6,7 percent).

Overall, by far the most asylum applications in the EU were made in Germany in 2022, totalling 226 467. France (154 597), Spain (116 952) and Austria (108 490) were the other popular destinations.

Hungary is at the bottom of the list with only 46 applications. The Orbán government attaches great importance to strict border protection and rigorously deports illegal immigrants.

Open revolt against incomers

This human wave is not welcomed by most Germans. The people in the 650-strong village of Peutenhausen (Upper Bavaria) no longer feel safe: after four burglaries and two sexual assaults by asylum seekers, the mood in the village, which has taken in 30 people from Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen, as well as 20 Ukrainian war refugees, has changed.

Women only leave the house with pepper spray and avoid the dark. “The bad thing is: They sought our protection because they couldn’t find any protection at home because they had to flee. And now we have to protect our citizens here in Germany so that they are not harassed. Of course, that’s a bit schizophrenic,” said Mayor Alfred Lengler (CSU).

Last week, on Thursday evening, residents of the Saxon community of Laussig, which has around 4 000 inhabitants, moved out to protest against the planned conversion of a former elementary school into asylum accommodation.

At the same time, the mayor of Laussig, Lothar Schneider, held a non-public meeting with representatives of the district office in the local community center, where they discussed the accommodation of asylum seekers. Up to 300 demonstrators are said to have come together in the small town under the protest motto “Laussig fights back, stop the flood of asylum seekers”.

The protest march made its way to the municipal office where marchers loudly demanded that Mayor Schneider answer questions. They chanted slogans like: “We don’t want any homes for asylum seekers” and called out the mayor.

When most of the demonstrators had gone home, the mayor went to the window with a megaphone. When he tried to deny that a decision on housing would be made that day, a commotion erupted in the crowd.

As reported by a local newspaper, which also supported the protest, construction work for the project had already been going on for days. The crowd reacted and called out to Schneider in chorus: “Resign, resign!” The meeting had not been announced, but the “police operation was largely trouble-free”.

More asylum seekers expected

The International Center for Migration Policy (ICMPD) in Vienna believes a second large wave of refugees from Ukraine to be likely. Up to four million war refugees could leave in 2023.

The Center for Migration Policy, a think tank led by Austrian ex-Vice Chancellor Michael Spindelegger (ÖVP), has run through several scenarios. In their migration outlook for 2023, the experts estimated the number of refugees to range from 500 000 to four million.

Since the Russian military operation in Ukraine began on February 24, 7,9 million Ukrainians have fled to Europe, according to the report. Some 4,9 million have applied for temporary protection in the EU and other European countries.

The attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure, which have been ongoing since October, have so far destroyed at least 50 percent of the energy system and placed an immense burden on Ukrainian society. The Viennese experts assume that 18 million Ukrainians within the country are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. “Receiving countries must anticipate scenarios of increasing and potentially sudden influxes of Ukrainian refugees in 2023,” it said.

The Ukrainian refugees who arrived last year will increasingly enter the labor market from 2023, the ICMPD further predicted. This required more targeted support in the areas of language training, childcare, recognition of qualifications and on-the-job training.

https://freewestmedia.com/2023/01/24/internal-eu-report-asylum-applications-has-increased-by-half-except-in-hungary/

By Brian C. Joondeph, M.D.

The expression, “If some is good, more must be better” might apply to chocolate, vacations, and American Thinker articles, but not to everything in life. I speak of COVID vaccines, a hot topic in personal discussions and on social media.

The corporate media and government, including most world health authorities follow a similar quote, attributed to May West, ““If a little is great, and a lot is better, then way too much is just about right!” Is that so? Are an endless series of mRNA “vaccines” really in the best interests of virtually all Americans for whom they are recommended?

I know many individuals who have been fully vaccinated against COVID, and had three additional boosters, including the newest bivalent vaccine, who have come down with COVID. Not hospital or ICU COVID as we saw three years ago, but bad flu-like COVID, the type that lands one in bed for several days.

This is not surprising as viruses mutate to be more contagious and less lethal, independent of vaccines, making the vaccines less important than this natural mutation course. But are they making things worse?

The CDC subscribes to “the more the merrier” approach. From their website, updated a few weeks ago the, “Updated (bivalent) Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine also became available on December 9, 2022 for children aged 6 months–4 years to complete the primary series.”

How at risk are children? CDC data shows fewer than 650 children ages 0-4 years have died of COVID. How many had medical comorbidities such as immunodeficiencies or malignancies versus otherwise healthy children? How many died “with” rather than “from” COVID, testing positive for COVID incidentally while they died of an unrelated cause?

Medical authorities know the difference between “with” and “from”, right? Perhaps not. In Colorado, the deaths of a murder-suicide couple were included in the state’s COVID death numbers, “because the two tested positive for COVID-19 within 30 days before their death.” How’s that for good science?

Are more vaccine dosages of net benefit or harm? Is there any thoughtful discussion among physicians and the medical establishment of the risk benefit ratio, instrumental in any medical intervention recommendation?

Again from the CDC, “The updated (bivalent) boosters are called ‘bivalent’ because they protect against both the original virus that causes COVID-19 and the Omicron variant BA.4 and BA.5.” Are these the COVID variants we need to be concerned about today? Or are they extinct?

The original Wuhan strain, which caused havoc in early 2020, is long gone. As are most of last year’s Omicron variants. The current version of COVID is a variant called XBB.1.5, also known as the Kracken variant, growing “from about 1% of cases nationwide [in December] to 43% as of Jan. 13, according to data from the CDC.”

This means that we are boosting against variants that are or will soon be extinct. This would be like taking the flu vaccine from two years ago, this year, offering some protection against influenza variants of the past, not the present.

Yet health authorities recommend continued boosters. When will enough be enough? When will we have confidence that natural immunity, as most Americans have been exposed to COVID by now, will offer not perfect, but sufficient protection? Are endless boosters making things worse for people?

At this point, I must add the necessary disclaimer that I am not “anti-vaccine”, having been inoculated against COVID in late 2020 and I am not offering any medical advice. COVID decisions should be made in conjunction with your healthcare provider. I am simply observing and asking questions, both necessary in the advancement of medicine and science.

Cleveland Clinic answered the question about endless boosters in a December 2022 paper. It has not been peer reviewed yet, but given its conclusion, most medical journals would likely reject it, preferring to publish “peer reviewed” papers that they had to subsequently retract, as did the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet. Peer review may not be all that it’s touted to be.

The Cleveland Clinic paper reached a simple conclusion as summarized by Steve Kirsch in his January 19 newsletter, “Top study shows people with more jabs were more likely to get COVID than people with fewer jabs.”

This study included over 51,000 Cleveland Clinic employees who were followed over  a 98 day period. Results were plotted by the incidence of test positive COVID versus number of vaccine doses, ranging from zero to more than three. At the end of the observation period, the differences were statistically significant between number of doses and infection for all groups except the 3 and >3 doses.

Cleveland Clinic is not some right-wing conspiracy theory Q-anon Twitter account but one of the premier medical institutions in the world. These results should be newsworthy, with honest and inquisitive journalists asking Drs Anthony Fauci and Rochelle Walensky to explain this data. Instead, the media is chasing Rep George Santos, leaving it to independent journalists on Substack to actually report these results.

Another Chinese study in humanized mice found that, “Extended immunizations impaired the serum neutralization activity.” While this animal study has not been confirmed in humans, their conclusion was worrisome, to say the least, “We found that the protective effects from the humoral immunity and cellular immunity established by the conventional immunization were both profoundly impaired during the extended vaccination course.”

Alex Berenson, formerly of the vaccine happy New York Times, in his newsletter, offered a concise summary of this paper including this conclusion, “The finding may help to explain why large epidemiological studies keep finding that people who have received multiple boosters are at higher risk for Omicron infection than unvaccinated people.” Although not a human study, the results are similar to the Cleveland Clinic paper on humans.

Both papers are dutifully ignored by the corporate media, preferring to stick to their “safe and effective” narrative despite conflicting data that at a minimum warrants further analysis and discussion

Physicians practice, or at least should, under the mantra “First do no harm”. New data must be considered, and hypotheses and recommendations changed in response to new information. Doing otherwise may lead to harm and erosion of trust in the medical system, which in America has previously been the best in the world.

How will history view those who looked the other way out of fear or hubris, daring not to ask questions and think beyond the pronouncements of government health agencies? And how many Americans will have their lives upended by dutifully adhering to government pronouncements?

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/01/covid_vaxes__its_not_the_more_the_merrier.html

The Nedumangadu Police detained three accused in Thiruvanathapuram district after a child marriage of a 16-year-old rape victim came to light. Those arrested include Al Ameer (23), a native of Panavoor in Thiruvananthapuram who ‘married’ the minor, Anwar Sadath (39), the Ustad (Muslim cleric) from Thrissur who solemnized the child marriage, and the girl’s father. 

All three accused were charged under various provisions of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, according to the police. 

Local police confirmed that Ameer was granted bail after spending four months in prison for the rape of the same minor girl in 2021. The marriage occurred at a private function at the girl’s house on 18 January. The shameful incident was disclosed on Monday following the arrests.    

The atrocious event came into public view after school authorities from a hilly area of the district tipped off the police. School authorities inquired when the victim, a Plus One student, failed to come to school under Thiruvananthapuram Rural. This was when they got the information about child marriage. The school authorities filed a written complaint with Nedumangadu police. 

Local media reported that Ameer, the primary suspect, has multiple criminal cases against his name. That includes at least two rape charges, assault cases, and possession of weapons. He groomed the minor girl many years ago and exploited her. He kidnapped the minor and took her to places like Hyderabad and Vijayawada, where she was raped. 

On the complaint of the girl’s father, the police arrested the suspect from Ernakulam in 2021 and imprisoned him. The accused, who got out of jail on bail, started harassing the girl again. The wretched parents intervened again but kept quiet after learning the accused’s underworld links and his history of crimes.

Ameer began appearing at the girl’s house at night, and the rapes continued. Finally, the parents gave up and agreed to Ameer’s marriage proposal. Mysteriously, Nedumangadu police never intervened all this while. A quick online search of the police station does not provide a rosy picture. It shows police allegedly acting like goons and the honest ones getting transferred as per the whims and fancies of the political class in Thiruvananthapuram.

Sadath, the Ustad, is a Thiruvananthapuram native but works at a mosque in Thrissur. The Muslim cleric organized child marriage secretly and made all the arrangements. The wedding occurred at the girl’s home, with only close relatives present. It was also attended by the groom’s family and close relatives.

Police recorded the victim’s statement that the child marriage happened and that the accused had exploited her. Her father and Ameer were taken into custody from the girl’s house. The Ustad was arrested from a village in Nedumangad taluk. 

They were taken into custody at night, and their arrests were recorded. The detained individuals were presented in court and remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.

Authorities refused to reveal the victim’s father’s name or religious identity. There are allegations of the involvement of the conversion mafia in the whole incident. Kerala police are yet to ascertain or arrest the other guests who attended and approved the child marriage. 

https://hindupost.in/featured/muslim-child-marriage-reported-from-kerala/

A married Hindu woman from Sindh was reportedly abducted and raped for three days in the southern Sindh province of Pakistan as she refused to convert to Islam. Minority Rights activist Shiva Kachhi shared two videos of the woman.

She accused Ibrahim Mangrio, Punho Mangrio and one accomplice of abducting and raping her for three days in Samaro town of Umarkot district.

Samaro Umerkot#Shanti Jogi, a married #Hindu Women who was abducted and forcibly converted four days ago, has returned to her parents.The girl says that she was abducted and raped by #ibrahim Mangrio and his accomplices, and now they are threatening to kidnap and kill her again. pic.twitter.com/yC64EVD085

— Shiva Kachhi (دراوڙ)🇵🇰🇵🇰 (@FaqirShiva) January 21, 2023

As per the latest information shared by Kachhi, one person was arrested in the matter while two were still absconding. Earlier, the woman and her family were made to sit outside the police station for hours, waiting for the police to register the case. However, looking at the past record of Pakistani judiciary, it is highly unlikely that the accused will face justice.

Mirpur Khas
In the case of kidnapping and adultery of Shanti, the police have arrested one of the accused, while the other accused, Ibrahim Mangrio and Punhon Mangrio have not yet been arrested by the police. FIR is being filed against
#JusticeForShantiJogi pic.twitter.com/7EYsQN5tRD

— Shiva Kachhi (دراوڙ)🇵🇰🇵🇰 (@FaqirShiva) January 22, 2023

In her statement, the woman said she was forced to convert to Islam. When she refused, the accused abducted and raped her for three days. She somehow managed to escape and come home. Similar cases have been reported in different parts of Sindh with Hindu populations, including Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Thar, Ghotki and Khairpur. Hindu women and young girls from poor families face rampant abductions, forced marriage and conversion to Islam.

In an ongoing matter, a Hindu man named Laloo Kachhi was murdered by abductors as he tried to save her sister.

On January 16, UN Experts expressed concern over the reports that Hindu girls as young as 13 years old are being abducted and converted to Islam in Pakistan.

https://www.opindia.com/2023/01/pakistan-married-hindu-woman-abducted-raped-for-three-days-for-refusing-to-convert-to-islam/

Austria’s right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ), known for its strict stance on immigration and opposition to Russia sanctions, is now the top party in Austria once again after seven years.

Described as a “polling earthquake” by Austrian newspaper Heute.at, the party would win 28 percent of the vote, according to the monthly poll conducted by Unique opinion research Institute for news magazine Profil.

At the same time, the Social Democrats (SPÖ) lost 2-percentage points, dropping to 24 percent. SPÖ fell even farther on the question of chancellor, with only 12 percent of respondents say they would vote for Pamela Rendi-Wagner, while last month that was 15 percent.

Currently, the FPÖ, led by Herbert Kickl, has a 4-point lead over SPÖ. Kickl has gained in popularity, with 17 percent saying they would vote for him, while in December, only 15 percent said they would.

What is fueling the swing towards the FPÖ?

Austria has seen a record number of asylum applications in 2022. In fact, asylum applications nearly tripled from 2021, reaching nearly 60,000. The news has shocked Austria and led to a sharp backlash from a population highly skeptical of mass immigration. The FPÖ, more so than any other major party, has made immigration restriction central to their platform.

At the same time, the FPÖ party is the only major party opposed to Russian sanctions, which it blames for creating inflation and economic turmoil in the Austrian and European economy. Many Austrians are sympathetic with this position.

“It’s finally time to appear in the EU and say: These sanctions harm us much more than Putin. Our people have to foot the bill for them,” said deputy FPÖ chairwoman Dagmar Belakovich in the plenary session of the National Council last year.

The party’s leader, Herbert Kickl, has also pointed to the absolute necessity of Russian energy for Austria’s households and businesses. He blames much of Austria’s inflation woes to economic sanctions on Russia.

“If you were honest, you would have to say to the population: We can’t do without this Russian oil and gas for a long time,” said Kickl. “We need this cheap energy for households, for heating, for cooking, for hot water, for manufacturing companies.” 

How do other parties fare?

The poll also showed that incumbent Chancellor Karl Nehammer is still the most popular pick to become chancellor, with 20 percent expressing confidence in him. His Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) would receive 22 percent of the vote.

The Greens stand at 12 percent while the liberal NEOS remain unchanged in fourth place with 9 percent.

Austria is currently governed by a coalition of the ÖVP and SPÖ.

The poll also asked what people thought should happen to climate protesters of the Last Generation blocking roads. The results show 42 percent of Austrians were in favor of fines, 31 percent for prison sentences and only 19 percent for not punishing the activists.

https://rmx.news/austria/polling-earthquake-austrias-anti-immigration-freedom-party-fpo-is-now-countrys-no-1-party/

Four German federal states have burned a total of over 17 million expired Corona masks. They were bought with taxpayer money. The government wants to burn 800 million masks in total.

This is according to a survey of all the states published by German daily Welt. Thus, 6,1 million masks were destroyed in Baden-Württemberg, 5,5 million in Saxony, five million in North Rhine-Westphalia and 656 000 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Eleven federal states reported that they had not disposed of any Corona masks so far, but some were planning to do so.

Thuringia could not provide any information on the type of recycling. The Federal Ministry of Health in Berlin has also “energetically recycled” masks in recent months. The number of masks recycled so far is “less than one million”, a spokesperson said.

Several state ministries want to have more masks destroyed in the future. So far, however, they can only burn masks that they have purchased themselves. For masks purchased by the federal government and distributed to the states, they need the consent of the federal government.

According to a report by Der Spiegel, around 730 million surgical masks and 60 million FFP2 or similar half masks are affected because they are past their expiry date.

Taking no responsibility

The Federal Court of Auditors has accused ex-Health Minister Jens Spahn for the “massive over-procurement” of masks. In addition, quality defects have been found in around 20 percent of the masks procured since March 2020. They were also blocked for delivery and are now to be “disposed of thermally“.

In September, Spahn published a book in which he acknowledged many mistakes in dealing with the pandemic. His book is entitled “We will have to forgive each other a lot”. It is based on a phrase he used in April 2020 in the Bundestag to promote “understanding” for his controversial choices. After the end of his ministerial term in December 2021, Spahn no longer publicly commented on Corona policy.

https://freewestmedia.com/2023/01/24/over-17-million-expired-corona-masks-incinerated-so-far/