Month: February 2026

France’s opposition has accused President Emmanuel Macron of deliberately locking down key state institutions as the country edges closer to the 2027 presidential election.

Criticism erupted following the nomination of budget minister Amélie de Montchalin, a close Macron ally, as head of the Court of Auditors, one of France’s most powerful and sensitive constitutional bodies.

The Court of Auditors plays a central role in French democracy. It oversees the use of public money, evaluates public policy, audits state and local authorities and can now rule on the financial liability of public managers when serious mismanagement causes significant losses.

Critics argue that Montchalin’s appointment undermines the independence of the Court.

David Lisnard, Mayor of Cannes and President of the liberal Nouvelle Énergie (New Energy) party, condemned what he described as a self-serving political elite entrenching itself outside the ballot box.

“The caste walls itself up in the power it grants itself through means other than the ballot. We will have to blow these citadels to pieces in order to unlock the country, to free it from the conformism and the self-referential bubble of those who have failed but are convinced they are the only legitimate ones to occupy the top positions in the Republic,” he said on social media today.

Historian Jean-Noël Anceau warned that the appointment fits a broader and troubling pattern.

“The appointment of Amélie de Montchalin to head the Cour des Comptes, following that of Richard Ferrand to the Conseil constitutionnel and likely that of another Élysée loyalist to the helm of the Banque de France, signals a complete perversion of our institutions,” he warned.

“How will the current minister be able to issue a credible opinion on the next budget that she herself prepared? The distrust of the French toward their leaders has never been so strong since 1958. The disaster lies in wait. E Macron will forever remain its principal architect,” he added.

From the Left,  Éric Coquerel, chair of Parliament’s Finance Committee and an MP for La France Insoumise, said the nomination weakens an institution that depends on public trust.

“Nothing about this decision is right,” Coquerel said, arguing that the President of the Court must be impartial, neutral, and independent, as required by the ethical code governing financial institutions.

“It is not an insult to say that Amélie de Montchalin meets none of these criteria. From now on, any suspicion cast over the Court’s work will be legitimate,” he insisted in a press conference today.

An ally of Macron, Yaël Braun-Pivet, President of the National Assembly, defended the appointment on feminist grounds.

“The Court of Auditors has never been led by a woman in more than 200 years. I’m tired of a Republic in which women are denied access to the highest positions,” she said today.

Beyond concerns over the institution’s independence, critics have also pointed to de Montchalin’s age.

At just 40, she could remain at the head of the Court of Auditors until the age of 68, benefiting from the principle of irremovability, which effectively locks her in the job for nearly three decades.

brusselssignal

At a German train station in the city of Rosenheim, three foreigners are accused of beating a 38-year-old man because he asked them to be quieter on Sunday morning. The beating comes shortly after a foreign national beat a German train controller to death earlier this month.

The three suspects, who are from Yemen, Eritrea, and Sierra Leone, have all been charged with grievous bodily harm, according to the Federal Police Directorate Munich.

After the man asked them to be quieter, an argument ensued, and the three men jumped the victim.

When police arrived, they found two men on the ground in a fight. Witnesses told police that two other suspects had been involved and had just fled. Police tracked them down in the city of Rosenheim, according to Welt newspaper.

The victim suffered several lacerations to his face due to the assault.

The suspects are aged 35, 31, and 28 and have all been registered in the German immigration system.

Police conducted a breathalyzer and found the men had elevated blood alcohol levels of “around one and almost two per mille.”

The men have already been released from custody after being charged.

The assault aligns with general trends, which show that foreigners are vastly overrepresented in serious crimes on German public transport.

Foreigners are responsible for 62 percent of all crimes in the German state of Baden-Württemberg on public transport, despite being only 16 percent of the population.

The state of Saxony, which has a relatively small migrant population, has seen a crime explosion, with 50 percent of crimes at train stations committed by foreigners

According to German federal police data, foreigners commit 59 percent of all sexual crimes on German trains and train stations, the latest crime data shows. Sexual violence crimes have doubled between 2019 and 2024.

This all comes at a time when the left is increasingly promoting public transport for the German population as a solution to climate change.

rmx

Any progress in society has to be achieved over the fierce objection of abject liberals.

For decades, the Scandinavian Kingdom of Sweden was known for its open and welcoming society, and it took years of unchecked mass migration to destroy that.

And besides the fraying of the social fabric by an army of unassimilating migrants, Sweden was soon going to have to deal with a surge in organized crime activity, including the use of children for hits.

Now, it’s a common sight to note ‘children being pulled off the streets and searched without a warrant, or having their phones spied on by detectives’.

The Telegraph reported:

“But after four years of gang violence that has seen children as young as 12 recruited on social media to carry out hit jobs against rival gangsters, police say it has become a grim but necessary reality.

In April 2024, Swedish police were handed sweeping new powers to tackle the rise of Middle Eastern drug syndicates that were grooming boys and girls into being ‘foot soldiers’ by offering them up to 150,000 kroner (£12,500) per job.”

Another Swedish case from last year: A 16 year girl named as "Lisa" accepted a gig job as a murder commando. She and a 15 year old boy entered an apartment complex and shot a young women to death, the woman's husband was shot in his hand.

It was her first job for a criminal gang https://t.co/bwBwXZx610 pic.twitter.com/DPJUh7wxuE

— Birch Brother 🪓 (@BjorkBrodern) February 9, 2026

Now, Swedish officers have the power to stop and search people and vehicles without specific suspicion of a crime.

“Children under the age of 15 can also be placed under phone and internet surveillance by police if they are suspected of serious crimes, such as being involved in gang assassinations or bomb making.

Two years on, the laws – which had prompted outcry amongst liberals – are working. Sweden has seen the biggest decline in gun violence since the crisis began in 2022, according to the latest data.”

A 20-year-old has been attacked in a park in Stockholm.

The attackers cut his hand off with a machete.

The police say it’s a case of violence between gangs competing for shares of the drug market 🇸🇪 pic.twitter.com/kAHYhLG5HQ

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) December 7, 2025

thegatewaypundit

On December 30, 26-year-old Kiano Vafaeian was killed by euthanasia in a Vancouver funeral home. Vafaeian had diabetes and had been struggling with depression and vision loss. In 2022, he had been scheduled for euthanasia at Toronto’s MAiD House; a petition campaign by his mother, Margaret Marsilla, had successfully saved his life when the doctor withdrew under public pressure.

According to his family, who spoke at length to journalists in a virtual press conference attended by LifeSiteNews last month, Vafaeian was ineligible for euthanasia in Ontario, but he was able to “shop” around for a doctor willing to kill him. He found Dr. Ellen Wiebe, the infamous Vancouver abortionist-turned-euthanasia practitioner. By Wiebe’s own admission, she has ended the lives of over 430 people; Vafaeian’s parents made clear that they believe that to be a very low estimate.

Vafaeian had never stopped trying to find someone willing to euthanize him. In November 2023, his request was refused at a Toronto hospital, with doctors stating that he did not qualify because he was not terminally ill and was not nearing a natural death. “We don’t have all the records yet,” said his stepfather, Joseph Caprara. “We know this by his own account, saying to his mother that anyone that he would go see for MAID declined him.”

In fact, even though he was turned down for euthanasia in Ontario, he was told that he could try other provinces and was even emailed a link to help him search. Eventually, he succeeded. “If I knew what I know now, that you can go from province to province to shop for MAID doctors, I would have had a closer eye on my son,” she said. “I wouldn’t think other provinces would have entertained my son.”

“If people persist long enough, they can often find a way to get MAID. You can have eight out of 10 people that think you’re not acceptable for medical assistance in dying, but if you find two out of 10 it’s going to be okay,” University of Toronto bioethicist Kerry Bowman told the National Post. “You can fly across this massive country of ours and get reassessed on the other side of the country.”

“Regardless, he wasn’t able to get MAID here in Ontario after 2022,” Marsilla told journalists. Her son’s death has attracted international attention, but what is most shocking about it is that it was very likely legal. This, Marsilla emphasized, is simply how the Canadian euthanasia regime works. “We lost a son because of the Canadian system. The Canadian system is wrong.”

According to the medical certificate of death, his qualifying medical conditions for euthanasia were his partial blindness (a consequence of his diabetes) and “severe peripheral neuropathy,” which constitutes nerve damage outside the brain and can cause burning sensations, muscle weakness, and pain in the hands and feet. His mother insists that her son’s condition was not debilitating.

“Anybody that knows Kiano or has been following him on TikTok or Instagram or other social media outlets would know he was independently walking; he was able to stand, walk, travel, carry on with his activities of daily living without any signs of suffering whatsoever,” his stepfather stated. “None of the medical records in Ontario ever mentioned anything about nerve problems with any of his extremities.”

Marsilla believes that her son was told what to say to qualify for euthanasia because he had never mentioned the pain described in his death certificate to her. “For these reasons, I strongly believe that Kiano was coached, whether directly or indirectly, on how to frame his symptoms in a way that would meet MAID eligibility criteria,” she said. “He was clearly on a mission. He knew MAID was there and was an easy way out for him. It was very evident that he was obsessed with getting MAID, he had such an obsessive type of personality.”

At the press conference, his family detailed Vafaeian’s struggle with mental illness that was exacerbated by drug use and substance abuse; he started using marijuana daily after a car accident at age 17. Through everything, his family adored him, sought to help him. “When Kiano was on a high, he felt like, ‘I can live life,’” Marsilla said. “When he was on a low, he would close himself up in his room, in his home. He didn’t want to talk to people. He was miserable. He would fight with everyone.”

Vafaeian did not tell his family that his search for a euthanasia practitioner had succeeded at first. He traveled to Mexico in December and sent them pictures. Then, on December 17, he told them he was scheduled to die on December 18. His mother and stepfather were in shock and called the police. The next information they received was a phone call on January 3 telling them that he was dead. Marsilla believed it was a “prank” at first, but soon the nightmare became real.

The family is asking that Canadians share his story and are calling on MPs to vote for MP Tamara Jansen’s Bill C-218, which would ban euthanasia for those suffering solely from a mental illness. Marsilla says that the family is both devastated and traumatized. When they reached out to Wiebe’s office for answers, the receptionist said that Wiebe was in the next room “doing a procedure,” but if the call was about “MAiD,” she could interrupt. Vafaeian’s parents hung up instead.

“Hopefully, our loss and our suffering will wake up all individuals across not just this country but in every country that’s considering this awful type of legislation,” Caprara said. Marsilla’s conclusion was simple. “If MAiD wasn’t available in Canada, Kiano would still be here.”

lifesitenews

A Manchester NHS Trust has advertised what it called an “exciting new job opportunity” for a nurse specialising in “close-relative” marriage support.

The position, which has now closed, aims to help cousins having children together through “informed reproductive decision-making”.

Job requirements made it clear the trust wanted someone fluent in Urdu and who “values diversity and difference”.

As part of the role, posted by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, the nurse will help parents “make informed choices in a culturally sensitive empowering way”.

Cousin marriage is prevalent among communities in Britain like those of Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage – and has been the subject of serious warnings over safety.

Earlier this year, top Tory Richard Holden told GB News how cousin marriage “is an issue bound up with serious health implications, closed communities, and the isolation of the vulnerable”.

But recent NHS guidance has described concerns about disease risks from cousin marriages as “exaggerated” and “unwarranted” – and has even told midwives about the “benefits” of the practice.

The health service document says between 10 to 15 per cent of cousin couples have children affected by genetic conditions.

By comparison, the national average for unaffected children stands at around two per cent.

The guidance suggests health risks “should be balanced against the potential benefits… from this marriage practice”.

These, it claims, include “economic benefits” alongside “emotional and social connections” and “social capital”.

Critics have accused the NHS of ignoring an “indefensible cultural practice”.

Kellie-Jay Keen, who leads the Party of Women, has branded it “dangerous” and insists it is “not part of our culture”.

“The cost to the NHS and social care of this practice is enormous,” she told the Daily Mail. “Subjecting children to this risk unnecessarily is cruel.”

“The Government knows the harm, but it is unwilling to confront the cultural practices of certain communities for fear of being labelled ‘racist’ or ‘Islamophobic’,” she said.

“So instead of protecting children, it chooses silence and appeasement.”

She called it “unconscionable to pander to any special group” when children face high risks of serious disabilities.

Aisha Ali-Khan, whose parents Mohammed and Barkat were first cousins, has spoken about her family’s devastating experience.

“Four of their seven children were born with severe disabilities,” she said. “Three have died – one of them my twin brother – and I am carer to my beloved older sister Tahira, who has a mental age of about eight. I also have a genetic medical condition.”

The practice of first-cousin marriage between white British cousins stands at about one per cent.

But a bombshell study revealed how in three inner-city Bradford wards, a staggering 46 per cent of mothers from the Pakistani community were married to their first or second cousin, according to Born in Bradford data published three years ago.

Born in Bradford is a research project conducted by Bradford Institute for Health Research, which found having blood-related parents could increase health risks through recessive disorders, such as sickle cell disease or cystic fibrosis.

The research followed 13,500 babies born between 2007 and 2011.

The study was in the headlines just days ago when it emerged an NHS trust in the city was also hiring a cousin-marriage nurse.

Around the world, cousin marriage remains a prevalent practice in around 10 per cent of the population, including in the Middle East and North Africa.

But more than 80 per cent of people marry their cousins in parts of rural Pakistan.

The rate also remains significantly above the global average in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Iran.

gbnews

Premier Giorgia Meloni has blasted the centre-left opposition for alleged double standards after right-wing comedian Andrea Pucci said Sunday that he would not be co-hosting an evening of the popular Sanremo music festival later this month, as planned, after coming under a wave of online abuse.
The centre-left Democratic Party had called for clarification from State broadcaster Rai after it was announced that Pucci was slated to be part of the festival presenter and artistic director Carlo Conti’s team for the third night of the much-loved festival-cum-contest, alleging he was “homophobic and racist”.
The announcement also sparked outrage among users of Instagram, X and Facebook.
On Sunday Pucci said he was pulling out because “the insults, threats, epithets and whatnot received by me and my family over the last few days are incomprehensible and unacceptable.
“Homophobia and racism are terms that highlight hatred of humankind, and I have never hated anyone,” he continued.
Meloni expressed solidarity for Pucci soon after.
“It makes one think when, in 2026, an artist feels forced to renounce doing his job because of the climate of intimidation and hatred that has been whipped up around him,” she said on social media.
“It is unacceptable that ideological pressure reaches the point of forcing someone to give up taking the stage.
“This also tells us of the double standards of the Left, which considers satire (including insults) ‘sacred’ when it is directed toward its opponents, but calls for censorship against those who say things that the Left itself does not agree with.
“The illiberal drift of the Left in Italy is becoming frightening”.
Opposition politicians accused Meloni of making an issue of the case to distract attention from Italy’s “serious social emergencies”.

ansa

The future Monarchs say their piece.

The British political world has turned upside down with failing Prime Minister Keir Starmer fighting for his political life over his appointment of Jeffrey Epstein’s friend Lord Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, even though Starmer knew the ‘Prince of Darkness’ had remained friends with the disgraced financier well after his conviction for sex crimes.

And the scandal keeps besmirching the Royal family with the relentless influx of damaging information about former Prince Andrew coming from the US DOJ’s ‘Epstein Files’.

So, the future Monarchs decided to break their silence over the scandal that became a major crisis in the Kingdom.

A spokesperson for the Prince and Princess of Wales addressed the Epstein documents, including ‘incriminating photographs of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’.

Prince William and Kate were heckled in Stirling a few days ago about how much the RF knew and covered up about Andrew's involvement with evil pedophile Epstein.
The man was shut down by William's security.
NO ONE should be shut down or silenced. It's a question every journalist… pic.twitter.com/WsdtcSrIVP

— Narinder Kaur (@narindertweets) February 1, 2026

Vanity Fair reported:

“Prince William and Kate Middleton are “deeply concerned by the continuing revelations” from the recent release of new files related to Jeffrey Epstein, which included incriminating photographs of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and ‘their thoughts remain focused on the victims’, a spokesperson for the couple said Monday.

The brief statement, issued ahead of Prince William’s three-day trip to Saudi Arabia, echoes the sentiments of King Charles, Queen Camilla and Prince Edward, who have also spoken about the importance of remembering the victims in the Epstein scandal.”

Watch:

Here are William & Kate’s media minions admitting that the 2 fraudsters only gave the statement about Epstein to ensure that the reporting about the poor abused young women is not a “distraction” from what they consider to be more important … William’s PR stunts. Shameful!😤 pic.twitter.com/EATtr8kxSp

— Zandi Sussex (@ZandiSussex) February 9, 2026

“Sources close to William and Catherine say they are appalled by the scale of Andrew’s involvement in the Epstein files. William hopes that by addressing the topic ahead of his trip to Saudi Arabia, he is less likely to have to address it in person while on the ground for what is already deemed to be a potentially controversial visit. William wants the focus to be on his meetings and building a better working relationship with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salem, not the headlines regarding his uncle.”

'The Prince and Princess of Wales have been deeply concerned by the continued revelations…'

GB News' @_Jack_Carson reports as Kensington Palace release a statement by Prince William and Princess Catherine reacting to revelations in the Epstein files. pic.twitter.com/BqwVnwrocU

— GB News (@GBNEWS) February 9, 2026

thegatewaypundit

Tesla and X chief Elon Musk pledged to pay the legal bills of any victim of Jeffrey Epstein who comes forward to name others who participated in the dead sex predator’s crime amid ongoing speculation about the extent of his activities and what evidence is still being hidden.

This past Super Bowl Sunday featured a TV spot in which a group of Epstein survivors assail the fact that some three million documents pertaining to the billionaire still have not been released as required by law, declaring, “we all deserve the truth.”

BREAKING: The Epstein survivors are releasing this ad on this Super Bowl Sunday to send the message that they will not “move on” from the largest sex trafficking scandal in the world. #standwithsurvivors pic.twitter.com/JehYZa1hGw

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) February 8, 2026

The ad renewed questions about why the survivors themselves have not named who other than Epstein raped them. Defenders say doing so would open themselves up to defamation suits if the government does not release the evidence necessary to corroborate their claims; critics retort that to protect themselves they could file police reports or share the name in closed testimony with members of Congress. 

Chiming in on one such argument, Musk offered, “I will pay for the defense of anyone who speaks the truth about this and is sued for doing so.”

I will pay for the defense of anyone who speaks the truth about this and is sued for doing so

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 8, 2026

The offer comes days after Musk’s own name appeared in the Justice Department’s latest release of another 3.5 million Epstein documents on January 30. According to one 2012 email exchange, Musk discussed coming to Epstein’s private island via helicopter with his then-wife Talulah Riley for “wildest” partying.

Musk has responded to the revelation by noting that “as the email shows, I obviously didn’t anticipate anything actually shady, as I was bringing my wife at the time,” and ultimately “came to my senses and declined to go. Epstein tried to get me to go to his island so many times that eventually I just blocked him.”

The dispute comes amid a tangled web of tensions over the extent of Epstein’s influence, more than six years after he killed himself in his prison cell while being held on charges of trafficking underaged girls to be raped by himself and wealthy associates.

In November, President Donald Trump signed legislation giving the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) 30 days to release whatever documents it still has in its possession pertaining to Epstein in a reversal from his previous dismissal of the effort as a “hoax” and distraction amid months of discontent over his administration’s handling of the situation since returning to office. In a January 5 court filing, the DOJ admitted more than two million unreleased documents were still in “various phases of review and redaction,” and that the government had released “less than 1 percent of the total” material in its possession.

House Republicans are currently battling with former President and First Lady Bill and Hillary Clinton to get them to testify under oath about their relationship with Epstein. The 42nd president says they will only testify if the hearings are made public.

lifesitenews

Nigel Farage delivered a powerful speech at a packed Reform UK rally in Birmingham as Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces growing leadership turmoil. Joined by Danny Kruger, Sarah Pochin, Lee Anderson, Richard Tice, Andrew Rosindell, and host Jeremy Kyle, the event focused on immigration, national security, and Britain’s political future.

The best thing about Trump from the moonbat point of view is that he can be blamed for all bad things, shifting the blame from the actual cause of most bad things, namely moonbattery. For example, Mustafa Aslan, one of the numberless colonists from the Islamic world who have been imported by leftists to displace the German population, killed a train conductor in Rhineland-Palatinate, evidently for expecting him to buy a ticket. Can you guess who German public broadcasting blames?

Via Allah’s Willing Executioners, Apollo News confirms that Trump bears responsibility:

At least, that’s what listeners, readers and viewers of WDR are being told. In a TV interview about the death of the train conductor, the public broadcaster discusses the increasing brutalization of society with a sociologist.

WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) is Germany’s largest public broadcaster.

“Does this also have something to do with the overall situation?” asks the journalist, adding: “We are seeing Donald Trump and others around the world acting according to the law of the jungle and no longer relying on international law.”

Sociologist Joris Steg had to remind her that there is “no direct connection” between Trump and an Islamomaniac beating a conductor to death on a German train.

German Public Media Implicates Trump in Migrant Killing Train Conductor – MoonbatteryMoonbattery