The Divided State of Europe

[nivek]

That is astonishingly arrogant to ask for such a thing...Air force one isn't a shuttle plane...

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Harry and Meghan asked to return on Air Force One with Biden after Queen's funeral but were DENIED - and Jill didn't attend Invictus Games to avoid upsetting the Royals. So, are Sussexes' attempts to become U.S. political players faltering?​

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wanted to ride back to the United States on Air Force One after the Queen's funeral – but the request was denied by the White House in case it caused a 'commotion,' sources have revealed to DailyMail.com. Months earlier, First Lady Jill Biden was also invited to attend Harry's Invictus Games – but the idea was killed amid concerns that the Royal Family may have been offended by her presence there. Both the failed initiatives are understood to have been part of a campaign by the Sussexes to gain political influence in the US as they settled into life in California. Meghan publicly advocated for paid family leave to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and worked behind the scenes to connect with the Bidens, DailyMail.com discovered from speaking to many current and former officials in the Biden administration and in the British government. The couple tried a variety of methods, sources outlined to DailyMail.com – as well as wanting Jill Biden to attend the Invictus Games, and getting that ride back to the United States on Air Force One, the First Lady also received an intriguing gift to thank her for what was seen as a supportive gesture towards Meghan following her controversial TV interview.

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[wwkirk]

Presently listening to an audiobook about The Spanish Civil War, so this caught my attention.

Spain's early election could put the far right in power

A general election this Sunday could make Spain the latest European Union member to swing to the right

abcnews.go.com

 

[nivek]

Muslim billionaire Asif Aziz wins permission to turn London’s famous landmark into a mosque​

Mega-rich Asif Aziz, 56, known as Mr West End will take over the Trocadero in the centre of the capital. He had applied to build a 1,000-person capacity mosque but plans were withdrawn because of backlash from residents.

But now Westminster Council has approved a three-storey mosque for 390 worshippers, reports the Mail on Sunday. Its thought it will be called 'Piccadilly Prayer Space' and could be open within months.

A council spokesperson said: “A planning application by the Aziz Foundation to convert a part of the London Trocadero was approved by the council's planning committee in May 2023.”

The Trocadero, situated between Picadilly circus and Soho, first opened in 1896 as a restaurant - but it closed in 1965. It reopened in 1984 as an exhibition and entertainment space - with the building sponsored by Sega.

It was downscaled in 2011 before part of the building reopened as a hotel in 2020. Mr Aziz bought the Trocadero itself for more than £220million in 2005.

It's believed he is founding the mosque through his charitable arm, the Aziz Foundation. They say the mosque will serve Muslims who work in the area, as well as those visiting London as tourists. Mr Aziz is CEO and founder of property group Criterion Caption, which owns large portions of London's West End.

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[nivek]

Terrified Brits fleeing for their lives from Rhodes' wildfire 'warzone' beg for help - as stranded families are left without food or water and forced to sleep on sunbeds as inferno ravages Greek island​

Terrified British tourists stranded in Rhodes are making urgent calls for help after wildfires led to thousands of them being evacuated from their hotels.

Relatives have been left at their wits' end after hearing from family members who were forced to flee their accommodation and rely on help from overburdened local authorities. Over 30,000 people were evacuated from Rhodes yesterday.

Debbie Antione is desperate to find assistance for her daughter Kelly Nicholls since the latter was forced to dash from her hotel with her young family.

Ms Antoine said: 'My daughter Kell, her husband and two young children along with another family of four had to run for their lives from the Princess Andriana Resort & Spa.

'All staff and Jet2 people were nowhere to be seen regarding the evacuation. They have walked for miles to escape and no one except local people have given them drinks. They’ve had no food since 9am Saturday morning. I’ve tried all the emergency numbers and no one is there to help. They have got to a hotel but they are having to sleep on sun beds.

'The hotel gave them towels and nothing else, no food or drink. They are literally stranded and have lost everything as they ran in their swimwear.' Many tourists have been forced to shelter in schools and gymnasiums as authorities work out how to get them to safety.

(More on the link)

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[Dejan Corovic]

One influencer, Nigel Farage, single handedly cleans up British banking system.

Banks closing people's bank accounts on a knee jerk notice was quite widespread problem in UK, yet nobody reported on it. Apparently there is a Facebook group with 19,000 members who had their bank accounts closed by just one of UK banks, Nat-West bank. Yet no journalist / media found it worthy of mention.

Now, one celebrity got his account close and everybody got involved, from government, to media, to social media and bank's share price fell 3%. And finally bank's chairmen resigned over it.

I find it very disturbing that 19,000 law abiding ordinary people went unreported and they had to suffer injustice in obscurity for years. And then just one person, an influencer, rose his voice and everybody is paying attention and even heads are rolling.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-66296935

 

[AD1184]

One influencer, Nigel Farage, single handedly cleans up British banking system.

Banks closing people's bank accounts on a knee jerk notice was quite widespread problem in UK, yet nobody reported on it. Apparently there is a Facebook group with 19,000 members who had their bank accounts closed by just one of UK banks, Nat-West bank. Yet no journalist / media found it worthy of mention.

Now, one celebrity got his account close and everybody got involved, from government, to media, to social media and bank's share price fell 3%. And finally bank's chairmen resigned over it.

I find it very disturbing that 19,000 law abiding ordinary people went unreported and they had to suffer injustice in obscurity for years. And then just one person, an influencer, rose his voice and everybody is paying attention and even heads are rolling.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-66296935

It's worth mentioning that the information secured by Farage from the Bank (Coutts, a subsidiary of the 40% taxpayer-owned NatWest group) in a data access request revealed a 40-page dossier the bank had accumulated on him. The information gathering centred largely on infractions of political correctness committed by Farage (supporting Brexit, having incorrect opinions on transgender and "pride" issues and BLM, and also unsubstantiated smears connecting Farage to Russia which the bank also admitted there is no evidence for). The minutes of a meeting reveal that they "de-banked" him for his views, with a pretext that it was because a mortgage he had with them was due to expire, and the executive present said that she believed that they were taking the action in the interests of "inclusion". Coutts requires customers to have three or four million pounds as a minimum in savings, or one million as a loan, to be a customer of theirs, which are very inclusive criteria.

One consequence of being "de-banked" by one bank is that you must then declare it to any other bank you attempt to get an account with. When the other banks learn that you have been denied a bank account at another bank, they are then unlikely to give you an account. Thus people who have been "de-banked" find themselves without the ability to bank anywhere, which is ruinous to anyone in today's world.

 

[nivek]

The information gathering centred largely on infractions of political correctness committed by Farage (supporting Brexit, having incorrect opinions on transgender and "pride" issues and BLM, and also unsubstantiated smears connecting Farage to Russia which the bank also admitted there is no evidence for). The minutes of a meeting reveal that they "de-banked" him for his views,

Disgusting that the banks commit these actions in an allegedly free western society...

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[Dejan Corovic]

a 40-page dossier the bank had accumulated on him

and that dossier consisted on unverified gossip, tittle-tattle and smears from his political opponents. Practically, somebody who hates you writes a tweet and then Nat-West bank closes your bank account and pushes your life off the cliff.

Actually the source of this unverified info is a company that Farage mentioned. They just scrape slur from internet and then sell it to banks for $800/month. I've been to their site but forgot the name now. They started their business on coat-tails of anti-terrorist legislation and run completely unchecked with it. Its that company which is source of this illegal activity.

 

[nivek]

David and Victoria's close friendship with Meghan and Harry is 'over' after being left 'absolutely furious' at claims they leaked stories about the royal couple - as Duchess cultivates new group of chums​

Years ago when she was an actress, Meghan Markle often wrote in her blog The Tig about the group she called her 'closest friends'. Gradually, that circle of chums broadened to include clothes designers, socialites and charity campaigners. Among them were David and Victoria Beckham, who were guests at her wedding to Prince Harry at Windsor in 2018. However, their friendship seems to have died. Reciprocally, Meghan and Harry were not guests at the wedding of the Beckhams' son Brooklyn to US heiress Nicola Peltz in April last year. Nor were either of the Sussexes at one of the biggest celebrity events of the year, last weekend, when Argentina's Lionel Messi made his debut for David's Inter Miami football team as Kim Kardashian, tennis legend Serena Williams and a host of other big names partied in the VIP boxes. Like many in Meghan's world, the Beckhams appear to have been 'Markled'. The word is cruelly used by critics of the one-time soap serial actress to describe how she is seemingly able to swiftly move on from some of those once closest to her.

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[nivek]

Harry and Meghan make friends with John Travolta after 'spat' with Beckhams - as expert claims no stars want to befriend 'untrustworthy and melodramatic' couple​

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are understood to have befriended scientologist and movie star John Travolta amid reports they have fallen out with the Beckhams. The couple spent time with the Grease and Pulp Fiction star at a bash at The Beverley Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, where they socialised at its exclusive Polo Lounge, the Sun reports. An insider told the paper that although there is no suggestion Harry and Meghan are interested in Scientology, the three 'got on extremely well' at the event for the Archewell foundation. It is not the first time Travolta has come face to face with royalty, having danced with Harry's mother Princess Diana at the White House in 1985.

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[nivek]

Harry needs to go back home, America isn't the place for him...

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Staff at California tech firm that pays Prince Harry 'seven-figure salary' turn on him as 100 of them are laid off: Workers say royal is a 'distraction' and no one knows what he actually DOES​

Staff at a life-coaching company have started questioning the Duke of Sussex's work there. They have turned on the Duke - who reportedly earns a seven-figure salary as chief impact officer - after more than 100 San Francisco-based BetterUp employees were laid off last week. The staff claim he has become a 'distraction' with one concluding that with Harry 'the juice isn't worth the squeeze'.

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[AD1184]

Harry needs to go back home, America isn't the place for him...

...

Staff at California tech firm that pays Prince Harry 'seven-figure salary' turn on him as 100 of them are laid off: Workers say royal is a 'distraction' and no one knows what he actually DOES​

Staff at a life-coaching company have started questioning the Duke of Sussex's work there. They have turned on the Duke - who reportedly earns a seven-figure salary as chief impact officer - after more than 100 San Francisco-based BetterUp employees were laid off last week. The staff claim he has become a 'distraction' with one concluding that with Harry 'the juice isn't worth the squeeze'.

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Harry who? Never heard of him.

 

[nivek]

How 'disloyal' Meghan and Prince Harry are seen as 'grifters' in the US like noughties David and Victoria Beckham - as expert reveals what the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could learn from Posh and Beck's rebrand​

David and Victoria Beckham were among the most high-profile guests at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's fairytale Windsor wedding in May 2018. But while the A-List couple were hugely supportive of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at first, the two couples have reportedly drifted further and further apart in recent years. Last week, the Mail on Sunday exclusively revealed David and Victoria's friendship with Harry and Meghan is 'over' after they were accused of leaking stories about the royal couple during a tense phone call. Although their friendship has fallen by the wayside, there's still one thing the couples have in common: they both know how difficult it can be to build a brand in the US. Here FEMAIL looks at how David and Victoria initially struggled to crack America - and what lessons their estranged friends Meghan and Harry could learn from them.

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[nivek]

Royal Family 'is distancing itself from Harry and Meghan': After Harry's HRH title was stripped from website, expert warns the Sussexes are seen as 'unpredictable and unreliable'​

Biographies of the couple have been moved down the homepage so they now appear towards the bottom alongside the Duke of Kent and Prince Andrew (see image, inset). Meanwhile, Harry's (left) styling as His Royal Highness has been quietly ditched from the site. Under the terms of the 2020 Megxit agreement, the Palace said Harry and Meghan Markle could retain their HRH titles but would not be allowed to use them after stepping down as senior royals. Pictured right: Harry and Meghan in May.

(More on the link)

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[nivek]

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[nivek]

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[nivek]

Ecowas orders deployment of force to restore constitutional order in Niger​

West Africa leaders have directed the deployment of a ‘standby force’ to restore democracy in Niger after the coup.

The Ecowas bloc in West Africa has ordered the deployment of a standby force to restore constitutional order in Niger, even as coup leaders say they'll kill the ousted president if neighbouring countries intervene. West African leaders meeting in Nigeria have directed the deployment of a ‘standby force’ to restore democracy in Niger after the coup.

But two Western officials have told The Associated Press that junta leaders in Niger told an American diplomat that deposed President Mohamed Bazoum would be killed if there was any attempt to intervene militarily.

Representatives of the junta told US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland of the threat to Bazoum during her visit to the country this week, a Western military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. Bazoum, who was deposed on July 26, says he is being held hostage at his residence and the United Nations has expressed concern that he and his family have only limited food and water.

Ecowas gave no details about the make-up, location and proposed date of deployment for any military intervention force following its meeting on Thursday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

Asked for clarification, the president of the Ecowas commission, Omar Alieu Touray, said he could only reaffirm the decisions by "the military authorities in the subregion to deploy a standby force of the community." Financing had been discussed and "appropriate measures have been taken," he said. He blamed the junta for any hardship caused by the sanctions imposed on Niger and said further actions by the bloc would be taken jointly, not by any single country.

"It is not one country against another country. The community has instruments to which all members have subscribed to," he said.
After the junta defied the deadline of Sunday set by Ecowas to reinstate Bazoum, analysts say the bloc may be running out of options as support fades for intervention.

Nine of the 11 heads of state expected to attend were present, including the presidents of Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone. The non-ECOWAS leaders of Mauritania and Burundi also participated in the closed-door meeting. "It is crucial that we prioritise diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach," said Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who currently chairs the bloc, said before the closed part of the meeting.

Niger was seen as the last country in the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert that Western nations could partner with to counter jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group that has killed thousands and displaced millions of people. The international community is scrambling to find a peaceful solution to the country's leadership crisis.

"Let me tell you, any coup that has succeeded beyond 24 hours has come to stay. So, as it is, they are speaking from the point of strength and advantage," said Oladeinde Ariyo, a security analyst in Nigeria. "So, negotiating with them will have to be on their terms."

(More on the link)

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[nivek]

King Charles III more popular with Americans than Biden or Trump, poll finds​

King Charles III of England is proving more popular with the U.S. public than the two most prominent candidates for president.

A poll from Gallup released Wednesday shows the British monarch is more popular with the American public than both President Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Respondents gave identical ratings for Biden and Trump, both polling at about 41% favorable. Biden suffered a slightly higher unfavorability rating, receiving 57% to Trump's 55%.

King Charles scored better numbers than Trump and Biden on both accounts with a favorability score of 46% and an unfavorability score of 37%.

However, scoring even higher than King Charles — and highest out of all individuals in the survey — was his son, Prince William. Prince William scored a 49% favorability rating and a mere 22% unfavorability rating.

(More on the link)

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[nivek]

Are rogue European bouncers targeting British tourists? Another Brit is killed 'by doormen' on holiday in Cyprus amid fears Mediterranean nightclub security staff are targeting UK tourists with extreme violence​

Huseyin Mavideniz, 29 (main), died after being attacked on Thursday morning outside a club in Iskele, northern Cyprus. He was allegedly punched in the head several times by the club's security, with one of the doormen said to have stamped on his head as he lay unconscious on the pavement. It has sparked fears Britons are being targeted by bouncers in holiday destinations. Last month James Taylor, 18, was left with two black eyes (inset) after being attacked by bouncers in Greece (left). Footage from Marbella also showed British women being slapped and thrown to the ground by aggressive doormen (right).

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[nivek]

Cameras are being installed all across London, including in residential neighborhoods, as part of the far-left mayor Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) plan to charge drivers every single time they drive. Drivers will be charged £12.50 ($15.8) every time they drive in any area of London unless there car is electric or meets certain emission standards.



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