Dejan Corovic
As above, so bellow
Its was a grosly shameful epoisode when EU sided with Spanish gov. to tororise Catalonian people into submission. And then EU talks about itself as a proterctor of democracy.
nivek
As Above So Below
America's queen of jams savages Meghan Markle's latest 'As Ever' fruit spread: 'There's no excuse for this'
The Duchess of Sussex may have set the tills ringing with the latest 'As Ever' merchandise, but her new apricot spread has been savaged by critics – within hours of going on sale.Champion jam-maker Donna Collins said: 'It's a real disappointment that Meghan is selling a fruit spread, which is what you make when your jam fails. In the jam industry a spread is what we call something that didn't work. 'It can have the best ingredients, but if I had a jam that was too runny, I'd slap a label on it and call it a spread. There's no excuse for this. It should be perfect.'
Ms Collins, who owns Jelly Queens jam company and has won more than 40 world championship honours in jam-making competitions, also queried the ingredients in Meghan's spread.
The jars, sold in keepsake packaging for £10 or plain for £7, list conventionally grown apricots, dried organic apricots, organic pure cane sugar and fruit pectin.
'Why should she include conventionally grown apricots, which will have used pesticides?' said Ms Collins. 'And why is she using pectin, which is a gelling agent, unless it's because her spread was too runny? Most spreads don't use pectin.'
Meghan launched her 'As Ever' brand in April with a raspberry spread, which critics attacked for being ill-suited for spreading on bread or toast. Many fans who jumped online the moment Meghan's 'As Ever' products went up for sale on Friday were disappointed to learn the apricot spread had sold out.
Ms Collins added: 'Her apricot spread sold out in minutes, just like her earlier raspberry spread, which may mean they only made a small batch. I don't know who's making her spread, but we all know it's not Meghan. It sounds like they really don't know what they are doing.'
Maureen Foley, owner of Red Hen Cannery near Montecito, said she suspected Meghan wanted to make a spread to take advantage of marketing opportunities. 'She may be smart trying to fill a niche,' said Ms Foley. 'Spreads can be sweet or savoury, and used on dishes for all meals, so perhaps it's just clever marketing.'
.
nivek
As Above So Below
Another European city issues cruise ship ban as overtourism anger grows
The French Riviera resort of Cannes is set to implement what its city council describes as "drastic regulation" on cruise ships, banning any vessels carrying more than 1,000 people from its harbour starting next year. The move, effective from January 1, positions the home of the world's premier film festival at the forefront of a growing global backlash against overtourism.Cannes joins a list of destinations grappling with the impact of excessive visitor numbers, following recent uproar over Jeff Bezos' and Lauren Sanchez' Venice wedding, water-gun protests in Spain, and a surprise strike at the Louvre Museum. The city council, which voted on the measures on Friday, aims for cruise tourism to be "less numerous, less big, less polluting and more esthetic." Under the new limits, only ships with fewer than 1,000 passengers will be allowed in the port, with a maximum of 6,000 passengers permitted to disembark per day. Larger ships will be expected to transfer their passengers to smaller boats to enter Cannes.
France — which drew in some 100 million visitors last year, more than any other European country and more than the country's population — is on the front line of efforts to balance economic benefits of tourism with environmental concerns while managing ever-growing crowds. "Cannes has become a major cruise ship destination, with real economic benefits. It's not about banning cruise ships, but about regulating, organizing, setting guidelines for their navigation," Mayor David Lisnard said in a statement.
Cruise operators have called such restrictions damaging for destinations and for passengers. Two cruise ships were scheduled to dock in Cannes on Sunday, each bigger than the upcoming 1,000-passenger limit and with a combined capacity of more than 7,000 people. Their owners did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new restrictions. The nearby Mediterranean city of Nice announced limits on cruise ships earlier this year, as have some other European cities.
.
nivek
As Above So Below
Multiple cell towers sabotaged across NATO nation: What to know
Sweden is investigating a series of suspected sabotage incidents involving more than 30 telecom towers, raising alarms over infrastructure vulnerability amid ongoing geopolitical tensions in Europe. The affected infrastructure spans locations along Sweden's E22 highway, where cables were severed and technical equipment damaged at multiple sites, according to local media and Data Center Dynamics.Sweden, which joined NATO in March 2024, is among several member states seeing increased focus on critical infrastructure protection, particularly in the context of the Baltic region's elevated security posture following Russia's war in Ukraine. Though the motive and perpetrator remain unknown, the nature of the damage has heightened concerns within Sweden's security community.
"This stands out and is more than usual," Roger Gustafsson, head of security at Sweden's Post and Telecom Authority (PTS), told the national broadcaster SVT Nyheter. Detective Superintendent Håkan Wessung, head of serious crime in Kalmar, said investigators "don't rule anything out," including the possibility of deliberate attacks, according to The Economic Times. Previous incidents in Sweden include a 2016 case in which a 300-meter mast was deliberately taken down, affecting tens of thousands of households.
Meanwhile, concerns about infrastructure security have extended to undersea cables. In February, a fiber-optic cable between Finland and Germany was damaged in Swedish waters near Gotland. Swedish authorities opened a sabotage investigation, although the Finnish operator reported no service disruption. "These incidents must be viewed in the context of the existing serious security situation," Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote on X, formerly Twitter, at the time.
Similar sabotage acts previously affected NATO member states, including Sweden, such as the cutting of key underwater communications cables in the Baltic, arson attacks on logistics facilities in Germany, and cyberattacks targeting defense firms. Swedish prosecutor Michelle Stein, who is leading the police investigation, told SVT: "There are circumstances that make everything seem to be connected, but it is something that the investigation will have to show."
Multiple European telecommunications firms, in an open letter to the European Union, U.K. and NATO In April: "At this crucial time for Europe's security and resilience, we commend your efforts to strengthen collective defence and protect critical infrastructure. Subsea cables play a vital role in Europe's connectivity, competitiveness, defence readiness, and economic stability. We recommend the EU/EEA and UK authorities as well as NATO renew their collaboration to address this situation effectively, together with the industry stakeholders from the EU and from the UK.
"With the rise in hybrid threats, including incidents affecting subsea cables in the Baltic and North Sea, we emphasize the importance of enhanced, coordinated action to safeguard Europe's cross-border networks. The EU Action Plan on Cable Security provides a clear approach to further increase the resilience and security of subsea cables."
Swedish authorities continue to investigate the tower incidents, with assistance from security services and technical experts. They have not announced arrests or released findings confirming sabotage. In the meantime, national and regional coordination on critical infrastructure protection is expected to intensify. The developments have pushed telecommunications and energy security higher on Sweden's national agenda as European nations adapt to a security environment reshaped by war and technological vulnerability.
.
nivek
As Above So Below
20,000 small-boat migrants this year and counting: Labour's abject failure to protect our borders laid bare
Labour's abject failure to protect our borders was laid bare today as it emerged a record 20,000 small-boat migrants had reached Britain in the first half of this year. Nearly 900 arrived in Dover from France on Monday, the latest official figures revealed. On top of a confirmed 19,982 arrivals since the start of the year, there were at least 300 more today, and the Mail witnessed scores awaiting a traffickers' 'taxi boat' off the French coast. This means the year's tally has already hit 20,000 – a milestone not reached until mid-August in previous years. Small-boat arrivals are up by 48 per cent on the same period in 2024.The news comes almost exactly a year after Labour took power and scrapped the Conservatives' Rwanda asylum deal, which was designed to deter migrants from mounting perilous Channel crossings. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'One year into Labour's Government and the boats haven't stopped – they've multiplied. Labour tore up our deterrent and replaced it with fantasy. 'This is the worst year on record, and it's become a free-for-all. We need a removals deterrent so every single illegal immigrant who arrives is removed to a location outside Europe. The crossings will then rapidly stop. People are furious – and rightly so. Under new leadership, only the Conservatives have a credible plan to stop the crossings, restore control, and end the chaos.'
Tories predicted that this year's annual total could hit a record-breaking 50,000. Since 2018, more than 170,000 migrants have reached Britain by small boat – but only about 4 per cent have been removed. Labour pledged to 'smash the gangs' by placing a new emphasis on law-enforcement tactics. But arrivals are soaring and the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels at the taxpayers' expense has gone up since the election, despite a Labour pledge to end their use.
David Wood, the Home Office's former director general of immigration enforcement, told the BBC's Today programme today: 'It won't work, and it never was going to work.' He added that Labour's efforts to gather intelligence on traffickers relied on European police having the resources and determination to make arrests. 'The evidence the strategy doesn't work is it's gone up 40-odd per cent in the last year,' Mr Wood said. It came after the chief inspector of borders and immigration, David Bolt, revealed last week that he wrote to ministers last summer to say he 'wasn't convinced' that their policy would succeed.
(More on the link)
.
nivek
As Above So Below
Shocking truth behind migrants who washed up dead with hands and ankles tied is revealed as details of hellish final moments emerge
Five men found in the sea off Mallorca with their hands and feet bound up with rags died after starving, drinking their own urine and sea water, distraught relatives have revealed. As suspected, the bodies were those of African migrants who had tried to get to the Spanish holiday island to start a new life in Europe.There was shock and horror when the five corpses were discovered in the ocean off the Balearics and it was thought they had been murdered on the crossing and then thrown into the water with their feet and hands tied. But their families have now revealed they were bound because of a death ritual after they died of starvation on the two week hazardous journey. And they confirmed that they were so hungry and thirsty that they had to resort to drinking their own urine and fatally, sea water. They also ate just one date a day.
Dramatic pictures and a shocking video have been published by Spanish newspaper Diario de Ibiza showing the migrants packed into the tiny boat on the choppy ocean. At one stage, their distress is evident as they wave orange sticks to try and attract passing boats. Their tiny boat had left Algeria and was adrift for two weeks as the engine had broke down during the second day of the crossing.
After receiving the survivors, who were between 15 and 27 years old (there were several minors on board), the Red Cross found that most of them had very acute symptoms of dehydration, wounds and infectious symptoms. During their anxiety, they fed themselves with a date a day and most ended up drinking their own urine to survive, since they consumed all the milk and fresh water they had on them. 'One of the people had eaten toothpaste because he did not have anything else and did not want to let go of the bottle when he arrived here,' the Red Cross explained to the Alicante newspaper Información.
All the migrants were Somalis, except for the two alleged skippers, who are Nigerian nationals. One of them died during the crossing and the other was arrested by the National Police. He is accused of crimes of organising illegal immigration, reckless homicide, injuries and membership of a criminal organisation. Doctors said those who chose to ingest seawater ended up dying.
(More on the link)
.
nivek
As Above So Below
'This is a crime - yet everyone seems happy': Nigel Farage takes to the Channel to witness the French Navy hand over an overcrowded dinghy of migrants to be ferried to Britain in a Border Force vessel
If the polls are right, Nigel Farage is on course to be Britain’s next prime minister. He would be within his rights to spend the day holed up in his office preparing a response to new migrant deal being announced later by Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron. Instead, he has chosen to come and see the problem first-hand – something he has been doing for the last five years.
(More on the link)
.
nivek
As Above So Below
Britain is no longer a civilised country
Good news for Middle England, for the strivers, the parents clobbered by Labour’s pointlessly vicious VAT raid, the millions dragged into higher tax bands: the Government is now blaming you for the rise in shoplifting, too. According to the policing and crime minister, it’s the middle classes who are responsible for pushing up store prices. But let’s be honest, Sainsbury’s aren’t tagging wine, steaks and cheese to deter accountants, solicitors and members of the Rotary Club.If this laughable deflection is Labour’s answer to the scourge of shop theft, I expect rates will continue to shoot through the roof. There were over half a million such incidents in England and Wales in 2024, a 20 per cent jump on the previous year. Nearly a quarter of Brits admit to having shoplifted at some point in their lives.
But it’s not just the headline data which are unsettling. It’s not even that the police are patently failing to create a remotely credible deterrent, with just one in six incidents resulting in a charge in 2024, down from nearly 30 per cent in 2016. Too much policing is now purely reactive – squad cars and vans packed with coppers twiddling their thumbs waiting for the adrenaline buzz of performative action rather than being on boring neighbourhood patrols.
Granted, none of us is perfect. But what’s truly alarming is our collective loss of morality when it comes to these supposedly “low level” crimes. When YouGov polled Londoners about fare-dodging recently – an offence which, as with shoplifting, too many deem “victimless” – a third said the authorities shouldn’t bother to clamp down if the money recouped doesn’t cover the cost of enforcement. While the money is certainly important, is there no concern over the ethics of this behaviour?
Our social order is collapsing before our eyes. In the past, the strongest barrier to crime has been a sense of community. We should abide by the law not only because of the threat of punishment, but because we can distinguish between right and wrong. Long ago, Adam Smith wrote of an “impartial spectator” in our heads, who judges our behaviour and fears that, if caught, we will be shamed. Or Jiminy Cricket, if you prefer.
Conscious attempts during the Victorian era to civilise the country – with schools, churches, charities, even trade unions competing to impose respectability – eventually succeeded.
There was a sharp fall in violent offences during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; crime plunged to such low levels during the 1920s and 1930s that the government was able to close underutilised prisons. And yet a century later we are forced into implementing risky early release as a consequence of overcrowding. We now lack the space even to warehouse bad people who would probably, given squalid conditions across much of our estate, be made worse by the experience anyway.
How do we begin to explain what has happened to our country? Why did crime double between 1957 and 1967, and double again by 1977? During the Second World War, the men had been away, the children had run wild, and religious practice plummeted. Consider the shoplifter: the endeavour is almost entirely “risk-free” if you believe there is no God to answer to. Antisocial behaviour soared in the second half of the 20th century, along with marriage breakdown. By 1991, a car was reported stolen on average once every minute across England and Wales. Aeroplanes made smuggling easier; computers created new kinds of offences. Then came unmonitored mass immigration, with roughly 12 per cent of our prison population now foreign nationals.
But we didn’t just lose our personal moral infrastructure, we lost our leadership. There is no one at all to look up to now: everyone from the Archbishop of Canterbury down seems to have feet of clay.
Take a ride on our ludicrously named Overground lines and you will see people hunched over their phones, paying no attention to fellow passengers, or speaking a dozen different languages. Keir Starmer tried to put into words this general sense of detachment and malaise with his “island of strangers” intervention, only to say weeks later that he “deeply regretted” his hurty words. He’s the Prime Minister of a country which once ruled half the globe, for heaven’s sake, yet he instantly capitulated in the face of gentle criticism from his halfwitted backbenchers and self-righteous quangocrats. It would be difficult to imagine Margaret Thatcher, Harold Macmillan or even Harold Wilson displaying such pitiful spinelessness.
Only when it fits into the woke agenda do we, as a society, display some pastiche of morality. When Netflix releases a documentary which hands politicians carte blanche to pillory the “big tech” firms they’ve always loathed. When Met Chief Mark Rowley declares it “shameful” that black boys in London are more likely to be dead by 18 than white boys, without mentioning that black youths are hugely over-represented amongst killers too. Or when the minister in charge of our policing spots an opportunity to blame middle class shoppers for the fact that losses from customer theft have reached a record £2.2 billion in a single year.
No wonder Britain is in the state it is in.
.
nivek
As Above So Below
Police ‘abandoning shoplifting as a crime’
Police have “basically abandoned” treating shoplifting like a crime, a senior executive at Mike Ashley’s retail empire has claimed.Chris Wootton, chief financial officer at Frasers, which owns Sports Direct, Flannels and House of Fraser, said that its stores had seen an uptick in crime and questioned whether theft was being treated seriously by authorities.
He said: “It doesn’t help that the police have basically abandoned shoplifting as a crime.” Frustration has been growing among retailers who are battling an epidemic of shoplifting and assaults on staff across the UK, which is costing them billions of pounds. Mr Wootton said: “I can definitely say, over the last few years, our staff are suffering more … whether it’s verbal or physical [attacks], which is obviously not good.”
Police forces have been criticised for not doing enough to crack down on criminals, with 60pc of respondents to a survey of British Retail Consortium (BRC) members saying that last year they believed the police response to retail crimes was either “poor” or “very poor”. Retail crime soared to its highest level on record in the year to August 2024, according to BRC data, rising by more than 50pc to above 2,000 incidents a day.
In an attempt to address the issue, the Labour Government has pledged to spend £200m on neighbourhood policing and will make it a more serious offence to assault a shopworker. It has also ditched legislation that made it a lower-level offence to steal goods worth less than £200.
Dame Diana Johnson, the policing and crime minister, earlier this week vowed to punish thieves, whatever their background amid a simultaneous rise in opportunistic middle-class shoplifting as well as crimes perpetrated by organised gangs. Mr Wootton said: “If the police are saying ‘we’re going to invest more in protecting [staff]’, that’s absolutely a great thing, and I hope they go and do it.”
Alex Goss, assistant chief constable of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said: “We know retail crime has a significant impact on victims, damages businesses and communities and goes far beyond financial loss.
“Over the last two years, we have made significant strides in our fight against retail crime, strengthening relationships with retailers and greatly improving information sharing, which has resulted in a number of high-harm offenders being brought to justice, and the new retail crime strategy builds on this even further.”
Despite the rise in retail crime, Mr Wootton insisted Frasers had not seen a “material” impact on its finances as a result, adding: “We’ve got pretty strong processes and procedures.” His comments came as Frasers posted a 7.4pc fall in sales to £4.9bn in the year to April 27. Shares in the company fell as much as 4pc after the announcement but later pared back these losses to rise by almost 2pc.
It said there had been an “exceptionally weak period” after last year’s Budget, when the Chancellor unveiled a string of tax rises for businesses. Mr Wootton said: “The period around that October and November was absolutely diabolical. I’ve been with the business eight years, and that’s the worst month or two I’ve ever seen.”
The company said it was working to mitigate the impact of £50m in extra costs linked to the Budget and that recent sales trends “have been more encouraging” in 2025.
Mr Wootton said: “[It is] frustrating with the government penalising industries which really don’t need penalising, like hospitality and retail. There’s a definite economic illiteracy going on there, to say the least.”
.
nivek
As Above So Below
nivek
As Above So Below
Story behind Starmer's 'catastrophic' Palestine U-turn
A couple of weeks ago, a Cabinet minister contacted one of Keir Starmer's senior aides to ask about reports the Government was preparing to recognise a Palestinian state. 'That's not the plan,' the minister was emphatically told. 'We won't be making any moves until September at the very earliest.'Yesterday Keir Starmer announced Britain was preparing to recognise a Palestinian state. As one minister complained to me, the Prime Minister 'simply cannot hold a line on anything'.
The condemnation over his announcement was swift – and united people across the political spectrum. 'Palestinian statehood is not a bargaining chip. It is not a threat. It is an inalienable right of the Palestinian people. Our demands on this shameful Government remain the same: end all arms sales to Israel, impose widespread sanctions, and stop the genocide, now,' raged Jeremy Corbyn.
Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu was outraged, saying: 'Starmer rewards Hamas's monstrous terrorism and punishes its victims. A jihadist state on Israel's border today will threaten Britain tomorrow.'
But the most damning verdict came from the British families of the hostages being held by Hamas. They said they were 'deeply concerned that the UK's approach risks disincentivising Hamas from releasing the hostages. This risks doing exactly what the Prime Minister's statement says the UK will not do: reward Hamas for its heinous and illegal acts'.
Since the election, Keir Starmer has played the part of the international statesman at one jamboree after another. He has won plaudits in some quarters for his quiet and careful diplomacy. But yesterday's statement is swiftly turning into his personal political and diplomatic disaster.
The reality is the Prime Minister panicked. And, I can reveal, he was effectively bounced into his announcement by a combination of domestic political pressure, lobbying from his colleagues and the manoeuvring of his supposed international allies.
The beginning of his latest catastrophic U-Turn came last week, with the publication of a letter signed by more than 130 Labour MPs demanding immediate recognition of Palestine. According to one minister: 'It was the straw that broke the camel's back. Cabinet ministers were privately encouraging people to sign it. Keir was told: "There's no way we can hold the line any more."'
A second minister told me, however, that the letter was in fact tacitly endorsed by No 10 itself. 'MPs were privately told, "You're pushing on an open door. Keir is moving this way, anyway,"' the minister said.
The second decisive moment came when Emmanuel Macron tweeted last week that France would unilaterally recognise Palestine. According to UK Government sources, the timing and nature of the announcement caught London off-guard. 'It surprised them,' I am told. 'And in response they felt they had to move fast.' This was evidenced by Keir Starmer's sudden and unexpected emergency cabinet meeting on Tuesday to discuss recognition.
However, over the weekend, within No 10 there was still uncertainty about what a British statement of recognition would look like, I understand. According to another senior Government source, over the weekend the position shifted. Initially the plan was to place conditions on both Israel and Hamas. But by the time of Starmer's announcement, the conditions on Hamas had been dropped. 'The position changed between Friday and Monday,' the source told me. 'There was going to be stronger language on the [remaining Israeli] hostages [held by Hamas] – but it was removed.'
A second source told me: 'On Friday, Keir had a settled position. But then he was ambushed by the Cabinet. They were the ones demanding the Cabinet meeting. They basically forced his hand.'
This ongoing uncertainty, I can now reveal, is partly why Starmer withheld outlining his plan to Donald Trump when they met in Scotland. Trump later said he was 'surprised' the Prime Minister had not informed him of the proposals, and tactfully criticised the policy for giving succour to Hamas. A Downing Street source insisted to me that 'the conflict was raised more broadly' during their meeting.
Starmer's announcement also blindsided the Israeli government. According to one minister: 'The first they heard about it was when Keir started speaking. David [Lammy] was supposed to have had a phone call to give them a heads-up, but for some reason it didn't happen.'
Indeed some ministers tell me the Foreign Secretary was instrumental in convincing Starmer to make the policy shift altogether. 'David's been pushing on this for months,' says one. 'He sees it as being his major political legacy.'
A number of MPs and ministers view things very differently from Lammy. They see this as a grave diplomatic error and are still struggling to come to terms with the implications of the PM's botched announcement. As one pointed out to me: 'We used to have a clear, consistent and defensible position. Statehood, but only as part of a negotiated settlement and peace-process. Now he's turned all that on its head.'
Quite so. Labour's manifesto pledge was clear. It stated: 'We are committed to recognising a Palestinian state as a contribution to a renewed peace process which results in a two-state solution with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state.' Starmer's decision to try to use Palestinian statehood as a device with which to threaten the Israeli government reneges on that position.
It's true that many Labour MPs are relieved they now have something to offer the far-Left pro-Palestinian activists who are making their lives a daily nightmare. 'I just need to be able to say: "Look. The Government's not blind. We can see what's happening in Gaza, and it's appalling. But we're acting,"' says one party figure.
But others see yet another major strategic blunder. 'We keep caving. Or rather, he keeps caving. And this just can't keep happening,' complains one minister.
The biggest problem for Keir Starmer is that once again, in his efforts to appease everyone, he has satisfied no one. His pro-Palestinian critics believe he has not gone far or fast enough. Meanwhile, supporters of Israel see an even greater betrayal. In December, at the Labour Friends of Israel annual dinner, Keir Starmer told his audience: 'After October 7, we stood by Israel. Today, we still stand with Israel's right to defend herself against aggression.' Empty words.
Now he has buckled to the pressure being exerted by his party's pro-Palestinian opponents. Jeremy Corbyn has not yet named his own party, but he has already secured his first significant policy concession. And as the hostage families accurately point out, Hamas is now being rewarded for the atrocities it perpetrated on October 7.
From pensioner winter fuel payments to a statutory inquiry on grooming gangs and cuts to disability benefits, the U-turn is coming to be the defining feature of Keir Starmer's Government. This latest capitulation is unlikely to be his last.
.
AD1184
Celestial
After decades of work striving to such an end, Labour policies (which the Conservative party never repealed, or even opposed, so they may as well own them too) have imported a sizeable Muslim minority into Britain. Keir Starmer and the Labour government have been brought into power largely by the Muslim block vote. Until recently this was a more or less guaranteed Labour constituency which held the balance of power in many parliamentary seats. He must appease them for Labour to remain a force in British politics. In recent days, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and suspended (now-ex) Labour MP Zarah Sultana, have launched a new political party ostensibly of the left (currently without a name). However, it is another curious merger like we have seen elsewhere recently: dissatisfied former Labour far-left wingers, Greens, and far-right Muslims. This is shaping up to be a nascent Party of Islam. Starmer is therefore under political pressure to head off this political challenge on his left flank for the sake of the Labour party's continued existence. In the end, it probably will not be enough, and it will be a political own goal decades in the making.
nivek
As Above So Below
Parents abandon 10-year-old son at Barcelona Airport so they wouldn't miss their flight
A couple reportedly left their 10-year-old son at a Barcelona airport after his passport had expired so they wouldn't miss their flight to their home country, according to media reports. The Sun reported that a terminal worker at the airport said the couple left Barcelona's Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport on Wednesday without their child, choosing to have a relative pick him.The air traffic control worker who went by Lilian, discussed the incident in a TikTok video, saying the child was prohibited from flying because of his expired passport. He also required a visa.
"His passport in the country was expired, so the child was traveling with a Spanish passport but the Spanish passport needed a visa. As they did not have a visa, they left the child at the terminal and called a relative to come and pick him up," said Lilian.
Airport staff found the boy by himself and alerted authorities, the worker claimed, according to The Sun report. "He told them that his parents were on the plane on their way to their home country, going on vacation," she said.
Contact was made with the plane's pilot, who reportedly confirmed that the police told him there was a minor in the car park. He then asked passengers "if someone had left a child in the terminal and no one had answered." The parents were located, who were accompanied by another younger child.
The parents were taken to a police station to get their son.
"How is it possible for parents to leave their ten-year-old son at the terminal because he cannot travel due to documentation issues?" Lilian said. "They call a relative but the relative may take half an hour, about an hour, about three hours and they take the flight so calmly and leave the child behind!"
It was not clear if the parents were charged with any crime or their nationality.
.
nivek
As Above So Below
Muslim riots explode in Spain as quaint little town bans Islamic festivals: Right-wing parties surge as Euro migrant crisis deepens
A Spanish town has become the first in the country to ban Muslims from using public facilities to celebrate religious Eid festivals just weeks after a nearby area was rocked by anti-migrant riots. The controversial ban was passed in Jumilla, a town in the Murcia region with a population of around 27,000 - roughly 7.5 per cent of whom come from mostly Muslim countries.The motion was proposed by Spain's conservative People's Party (PP) and backed by the hard right Vox party.
It prohibits the public facilities such a sports halls and civic centres being used for 'religious, cultural or social activities alien to our identity' unless officially organised by the local council. It comes less than a month after several people were left injured during anti-migrant rioting in Torre Pacheco, just 70 miles from Jumilla, when a pensioner was reportedly beaten up by three Moroccan men.
A 68-year-old man told Spanish media he was beaten up in the street on July 9 by three young men of North African origin.
Amid the announcement of the latest ban, critics have said the wording is a thinly veiled attack on Islamic traditions, and have warned that the ruling could breach Spain's constitutionally protected freedom of religion.
The local Vox party openly celebrated the decision, declaring on X: 'Thanks to Vox the first measure to ban Islamic festivals in Spain's public spaces has been passed. Spain is and will be forever the land of Christian people'.
The move prevents Muslims in Jumilla from gathering in public gyms or civic buildings to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha, the Islamic festival of sacrifice.
Muslim leaders have condemned the decision.
Mounir Benjelloun Andaloussi Azhari, president of the Spanish Federation of Islamic Organisations, said the ban was a direct attack on the country's Muslim population, calling it 'Islamophobic and discriminatory'.
(More on the link)
.
nivek
As Above So Below
More than 50,000 migrants have crossed Channel since Keir Starmer became PM: Asylum seeker reaches Britain's shores every 11 minutes... but minister still insists it's 'not our fault'
Small boat crossings under Labour have surged past 50,000 - equivalent to one migrant arriving every 11 minutes, Yesterday, 474 people illegally entered the UK in eight small boats - taking the total number of migrants to have crossed the Channel since Labour came to power to 50,271 people. The milestone underscores the failure of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's 'smash the gangs' strategy, which critics have long insisted will not work without an effective deterrent for the migrants themselves.The crossings continued this morning, with extraordinary pictures from Gravelines in northern France showing dozens of migrants rushing into the sea towards an overloaded dinghy. Migrants in lifejackets were later seen being brought ashore at Dover. Asked about the passing of the 50,000 milestone, Labour education minister Baroness Jacqui Smith of Malvern called it 'unacceptable' - only to then claim it was the fault of the previous Conservative government. She told BBC Breakfast: 'It is an unacceptable number of people. It sort of demonstrates the way over the last six or seven years that the criminal gangs have got an absolute foothold in the tragic trafficking of people across the Channel.'
The 50,000 figure has been reached after just 401 days under Sir Keir compared to 603 for Mr Sunak. The Labour leader scrapped his predecessor's Rwanda scheme as one of his first acts in office. Earlier this morning, one attempted crossing ended in tragedy when a young woman tried to board a boat but fell off and drowned, according to French media. The woman, believed to be Somalian and aged between 25 and 30, is the 19th migrant to die in the Channel this year. Before entering Government, Labour had promised to 'smash the gangs' to bring numbers down.
The problem had plagued Mr Sunak's government, which had struck an agreement with Rwanda to send asylum seekers there to have their claims processed. However it was cancelled under the incoming Labour Government, after only a handful of migrants had gone to the central African country voluntarily. Ms Cooper claimed the Tories had spent £700 million on it. Labour's 'one in, one out' deal with France became operational last Wednesday but has done nothing to slow the record number of arrivals.
Earlier today, Lady Smith told Sky News that Ms Cooper has a tough job to tackle the gangs as she placed responsibility on Mr Sunak and his former ministers. 'I think it's tough because the last government enabled this hideous criminal activity to really get its roots into across Europe,' Lady Smith said. But speaking yesterday during a visit to Epping – which has been the centre of anti-asylum seeker hotel protests – Tory leader Kemi Badenoch insisted Labour were a soft touch.
'Not everyone here is a genuine asylum seeker. People are arriving in our country illegally,' she said. 'That is why we have a plan to make sure that people who arrive here illegally are deported immediately. We need to close down that pathway to citizenship that means that lots of people get here not making any contributions, claiming welfare, claiming benefits. We also need a deterrent.'
During her visit, Mrs Badenoch warned that some communities 'don't feel safe'. Speaking about the possibility of putting asylum seekers in camps, she said: 'We need to make sure that communities like Epping are safe. What a lot of the parents – the mothers and even some of the children – have said to me is that they don't feel safe. It is unfair to impose this burden on communities... lots of people here have been talking about being harassed by a lot of people in the hotels.'
The Labour Government has previously set out its intention to close asylum hotels by the end of the Parliament. But Mrs Badenoch warned that things were likely to get worse as Labour tried to move people out of hotels and into private accommodation. She also rounded on Sir Keir's pledge to deport foreign criminals, pointing out that he tried to stop flights when the Tories were in power. She questioned Labour's plans to remove foreign offenders from the UK, saying the Prime Minister had previously condemned the practice.
Labour has announced plans to deport foreign criminals as soon as they are sentenced, and before they can appeal, to free up much-needed space in prisons. She said: 'When we were deporting criminals, Keir Starmer was writing letters trying to stop our deportations, so I'll believe it when I see it. This is the sort of stuff they should have been doing on day one. The fact that they tried to stop deportations before means I don't really believe it. The Government has released 26,000 prisoners since they came to power, released them early, there are now more criminals on our streets, that's what I'm really worried about.'
In 2020, Sir Keir, then a shadow minister, wrote to then prime minister Boris Johnson calling for charter flights from the UK to Jamaica to be suspended. He co-signed the letter saying he had 'grave concern' over the Home Office plans to deport 50 people to Jamaica by charter flight on February 11, 2020.
.
nivek
As Above So Below
Girl, 17, is stabbed to death while calling cops to report being followed on her bike ride home in Holland as cops arrest asylum seeker 'who raped woman days earlier'
A wave of national fury has swept Holland following the arrest of an asylum seeker for the killing of a 17-year-old who was stabbed to death while she was calling the police to report being followed on her bike ride home. The lifeless body of Lisa was discovered by police in a roadside ditch in the early hours of Wednesday morning.She was returning from a night out with friends before she was attacked by a man who also had a bicycle with him, while she was phoning the emergency police number. The main suspect in the case - a 22-year-old male asylum seeker - was arrested four days ago for a rape in Amsterdam on August 15, and allegedly assaulted a third woman five days earlier. The violent murder of the teenager has triggered widespread outrage and a nationwide 'reclaim the night' campaign, after a Dutch actress and author wrote a poem that went viral about Lisa's final moments cycling home.
In a post shared on her Instagram, Nienke Gravemade wrote: 'The red bag. I keep thinking about that red bag. How it dangled from her handlebars as she drove through the night. A night that belonged to her too. 'I claim the night. I claim the streets. I demand that the fear be lifted.' Alongside the poem, the author posted the hashtag #rechtopdenacht or 'right to the night'.
(More on the link)
.
nivek
As Above So Below
The muslim invasion is what has happened...See how Poland has fared by keeping muslim migrants from occupying their lands?...
View: https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1959906824129266056
.
View: https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1959906824129266056
.
nivek
As Above So Below
Migrant rights trump the rights of local citizen's?...I would be furious too, that is wrong!...
...
Dozens of marchers - some wearing hoods, others with face coverings and carrying English flags - made their way to The Bell Hotel, which houses asylum seekers this evening.
Earlier, Elon Musk took to X to share his thoughts on the argument presented to the Court of Appeal by lawyers representing the Home Office, branding them as 'a government against its people'
Last week, Mr Justice Eyre granted an interim injunction to Epping Forest Council, stopping the owner of the Bell Hotel, Somani Hotels, from using the building to accommodate asylum seekers beyond September 12.
However this morning, lawyers argued the High Court judge was 'wrong' not to let Home Secretary Yvette Cooper challenge the district council's application.
Following today's hearing, protesters blocked the road outside the hotel, as they could be heard chanting 'send them back' and 'go home'.
Many of those who made a bid to enter the property had arrived to the protest separately from demonstrators who had gathered earlier, letting off flares as they made their way to the building in an attempt to break a police cordon.
'It's all kicking off,' one protester said. 'We are so angry. We won't stop.'
(More on the link)
.
...
Furious hotel Epping protesters shouting 'we won't stop' clash with police hours after Home Office lawyers argued rights of migrants trump those of local residents in court bid to keep asylum hotel OPEN
Anti-immigration demonstrators have continued to protest in Epping after the Home Office argued the rights of migrants trump those of local residents in their bid to keep a controversial asylum seeker hotel open.Dozens of marchers - some wearing hoods, others with face coverings and carrying English flags - made their way to The Bell Hotel, which houses asylum seekers this evening.
Earlier, Elon Musk took to X to share his thoughts on the argument presented to the Court of Appeal by lawyers representing the Home Office, branding them as 'a government against its people'
Last week, Mr Justice Eyre granted an interim injunction to Epping Forest Council, stopping the owner of the Bell Hotel, Somani Hotels, from using the building to accommodate asylum seekers beyond September 12.
However this morning, lawyers argued the High Court judge was 'wrong' not to let Home Secretary Yvette Cooper challenge the district council's application.
Following today's hearing, protesters blocked the road outside the hotel, as they could be heard chanting 'send them back' and 'go home'.
Many of those who made a bid to enter the property had arrived to the protest separately from demonstrators who had gathered earlier, letting off flares as they made their way to the building in an attempt to break a police cordon.
'It's all kicking off,' one protester said. 'We are so angry. We won't stop.'
(More on the link)
.
nivek
As Above So Below
nivek
As Above So Below
Councils vow to fight to close migrant hotels as Labour is accused of 'taking the side of migrants over Britons' - while grinning asylum seeker gives protesters the middle finger
A grinning migrant was caught on camera giving protesters outside an asylum hotel the middle finger just hours after the government won a controversial court victory. The young man was seen at the window of the Roundhouse hotel in Bournemouth, Dorset, last night as around 200 demonstrators called for it to be shut down.Protests erupted up and down the country yesterday after the Court of Appeal overturned an injunction ordering the removal of 138 migrants from the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.
The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard. The government had argued that the need to protect the human rights of asylum seekers by housing them in hotels, outweighed the safety concerns of local families. However, MPs and the local council reacted furiously to the decision, with Reform leader Nigel Farage saying illegal migrants now had more rights than Britons under Sir Keir Starmer. Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch also accused the prime minister of 'putting the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of British people'.
Now at least 13 councils have vowed to fight back and press ahead with campaigns to shut down asylum hotels in their areas. According to The Times, this includes at least four Labour-run authorities - Wirral Council, Stevenage Borough Council, Tamworth Borough Council and Rushmoor Borough Council. Meanwhile, there are fears of mass unrest across the UK today with protests planned in towns and cities including Braintree, Luton, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Stockport and Barry, among others.
(More on the link)
.