GENEVA – A Swiss military official says a verdict is expected Friday in the trial of a former sergeant accused of jeopardizing Switzerland's standing as a neutral nation by joining a foreign Christian militia to fight the Islamic State group in Syria.
Swiss media say Johan Cosar is accused of training and fighting with the Syriac Military Council militia from 2013 to 2015.
Cosar's military trial on charges of joining a foreign army and recruiting other Swiss citizens opened Wednesday.
Court spokesman Mario Camelin said a concern for Swiss authorities was that a veteran of the armed forces fighting for a foreign militia could jeopardize the Alpine country's long-vaunted neutrality.
If convicted, Cosar could be fined and sentenced to up to three years in prison.
In an address to Al-Aqsa mosque-goers, Palestinian cleric Abu Taqi Al-Din Al-Dari said that France will become an Islamic state because it will mostly be inhabited by Muslims by 2050.
“France will become an Islamic country through jihad; the entire world will be subject to Islamic rule,” the cleric said.
Al-Dari said that this would happen because young European natives are not getting married, settling down and having children whereas Muslims have a high fertility rate and have lots of children.
“Muslims must have a country that will bring Islam….to the people of the west through jihad for the sake of Allah,” said Al-Dari.
Al-Dari then referenced how the Ottoman Empire previously conquered European countries and that “these events portend that the Islamic nation is capable of returning to its former self and spreading Islam.”
The cleric said that this would be accomplished in one of three ways.
“Conversion to Islam, payment of the jizya poll tax, or we will ask for Allah’s help and fight them until the entire world is subject to the rule of Islam,” he concluded.
Over the last few months, France has been rocked by Yellow Vest protests in major cities. One of the reasons given for the demonstrations is that French people feel their culture is being subsumed by mass migration.
18% of babies born in France are now being given Islamic names while the country’s Muslim population stands at around 8% of the total.
In one area of Paris alone, St. Denis, there are 400,000 illegal immigrants, the majority of them Muslims.
As philosopher Eric Zemmour warned in a recent speech, areas of France are now completely outside the control of police and are being run by Arab gangs who have imposed de facto Sharia law.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, paid $230,965 in taxes after deductions on an adjusted gross income of $850,000 between her and husband, Bruce Mann, her 2018 federal tax returns reveal.
Warren released her returns on Wednesday. They were detailed in a report by ABC News.
“I’ve put out eleven years of my tax returns because no one should ever have to guess who their elected officials are working for,” Warren said. “Doing this should be law,” Warren said.
According to the documents, Warren’s income included her $176,280 Senate salary and the $402,897 her husband earned as a professor at Harvard Law School. Warren, whose latest book was published in 2017, also reported earning about $325,000 as a writer.
Warren is the latest Democratic presidential hopeful to release tax returns. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee did so earlier. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said he will release his returns on April 15.
The release of the returns come as Democrats continue to pressure President Donald Trump to provide his, the network news reported.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal magistrate will weigh a request that would force the U.S. government to disclose details about more than 1,400 private entities including hospitals and universities that have received access to parts of the government's terrorist watchlist.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations sued to challenge the constitutionality of the watchlist, which has hundreds of thousands of names on it. As part of the lawsuit, the government recently acknowledged its list of known or suspected terrorists is shared with private groups.
The government says private entities receiving access to the list include university police and hospital security.
CAIR wants the judge to order disclosure of exactly who receives the list at a hearing Friday. They believe the list is inaccurate and causes grief for innocent Muslims mistakenly placed on the list.
Rainer Schimpf seen in the mouth of the Bryde's whale off Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in February. (Heinz Toperczer/Barcroft Images)
A diver in South Africa survived an experience out of a biblical passage last month when he ended up almost being swallowed by a whale.
Rainer Schimpf, 51, was snorkeling off the coast of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, when he ended up in the path of a Bryde's whale, which opened his jaws and engulfed him headfirst.
"We were very astonished that out of nowhere this whale came up," he told Sky News. "I was busy concentrating on the sharks because you want to know if the shark is in front of you or behind you, left or right, so we were very focused on the sharks and their behavior -- then suddenly it got dark."
Schimpf, who has worked as a dive operator for over 15 years, said he was in the water with two others for just a matter of minutes before the whale appeared. He had happened to be with a group recording a sardine run, which is where marine animals such as dolphins, whales, and sharks gather fish into bait balls.
The 51-year-old said once the whale grabbed him, he felt pressure around his body but soon realized he was too big for the whale to swallow him whole which was "kind of an instant relief."
"So my next thought was that the whale may take me down into the ocean and release me further down, so I instantly held my breath," he told Sky News. "Obviously he realized I was not what he wanted to eat so he spat me out again."
Unlike the biblical story of Jonah, Schimpf didn't end up in the whale's belly but was able to swim away after being released.
Bryde's whales are members of the baleen whale family, a group that includes blue whales and humpback whales, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"Bryde’s whales are named for Johan Bryde, a Norwegian who built the first whaling stations in South Africa in the early 20th century," the agency says. "Bryde’s whales are found in warm, temperate oceans including the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific."
The whales can weigh about 90,000 pounds and grow to a length of 55 feet, according to the NOAA. The whales have a diet that consists mainly of krill, red crabs, shrimp and a "variety of schooling fishes," but clearly not adult humans.
Schimpf said the whole experience showed him just how small humans are in the world.
"Once you're grabbed by something that's 15 tons heavy and very fast in the water, you realize you're actually only that small in the middle of the ocean," he told Sky News.
MADRID – Spain's political parties are set to start campaigning for the country's April 28 general election, in which the ruling Socialists are trying to remain in power and the extreme right is seeking to enter Parliament.
The campaign period that starts at midnight on Thursday promises to be a fierce fight for what polls show is a large pool of undecided voters. Successfully wooing those voters could be key to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez continuing to govern or ushering in a coalition government made up of right-wing parties.
Polls indicate the far-right party Vox is poised to win its first seats in the lower house of Spain's parliament. If that happens, it could increase the fragmentation in Spanish politics by introducing a fifth national party of significant size.
Rahul Gandhi at a village on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, November 24, 2017. REUTERS/Amit Dave/Files
March 13, 2019
By Devjyot Ghoshal
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s main opposition Congress party will reserve a third of federal government jobs for women if it comes into power, its chief Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday, in a sign women’s rights are rising up the political agenda for next month’s election.
Over the last week, two powerful parties from eastern India said they would field women in a third of parliamentary races, putting pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other big parties to follow suit.
India ranks at 149 out of 193 countries – worse than neighboring Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Pakistan – for the percentage of women in national parliaments, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an independent organization promoting democracy.
“…Frankly, I don’t see enough women in leadership positions. I don’t see them leading enough companies, I don’t see them leading enough states, I don’t see enough of them in the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas,” Gandhi said in the southern city of Chennai, referring to India’s lower house of parliament and state legislatures.
Federal government jobs in India are already subject to numerous quotas, including one passed in January that reserves 10 percent of openings for people outside high income brackets.
Gandhi also said that Congress would pass the Women’s Reservation Bill this year if it came to power. The bill, which reserves 33 percent of the seats in national and state assemblies for women, has been on hold for two decades despite being championed by Congress and the BJP at different points.
The BJP, which says it has empowered women through nationwide schemes including clean fuel and sanitation, questioned how the Congress jobs plan would be implemented.
“For how many generations have people talked about reservation in party positions, reservation for elections, reservation in jobs? But it doesn’t seem to happen,” BJP spokesperson Shaina N.C. said.
There are currently 66 women out of a total 543 elected members in India’s lower house of parliament. At 12 percent, this is the highest ever proportion of women in the Lok Sabha.
Women make up nearly half of all voters in the country of 1.3 billion people, according to the Election Commission of India. Based on recent state polls, women will likely head to voting stations in droves for the elections due by May, surpassing male turnout, analysts predict.
On Tuesday, Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal state, said her All India Trinamool Congress party would field 17 women candidates across 42 seats.
Earlier, on Sunday, the Biju Janata Dal, which rules Odisha state in eastern India, said it would reserve seven of 21 seats it is contesting for women candidates.
“33% reservation in parliament will give them bigger role in highest policy making body,” Naveen Patnaik, leader of the BJD and Odisha’s chief minister, said in a tweet. “Women of our nation rightfully deserve this from all of us.”
(Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Nick Macfie)
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
April 26, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said trade talks with China are going very well, as the world’s two largest economies seek to end talks with a trade agreement to defuse tensions.
Trump said on Thursday he would soon host China’s President Xi Jinping at the White House.
Earlier this week, the White House said that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would travel to Beijing for more talks on a trade dispute marked by tit-for-tat tariffs between the two countries.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
April 26, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments on North Korea this week following the Russian leader’s summit with Pyongyang’s Kim Jong Un.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump also said China was helping with efforts aimed at the denuclearization of North Korea.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Makini Brice; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Representatives of Russian Transneft, Ukranian Ukrtransnafta, Polish Pern and Belarusian Belneftekhim gather to hold talks on fixing tainted oil supplies to Europe, in Minsk, Belarus April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
April 26, 2019
By Katya Golubkova and Andrei Makhovsky
MOSCOW/MINSK (Reuters) – Russia is confident it can soon resolve a problem of polluted Russian oil contaminating a major pipeline serving Europe and affecting supplies as far west as Germany, a senior official said on Friday at talks with importers about the issue.
Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin did not give a precise timeframe but Moscow has previously said it would pump clean oil to the border with Belarus from April 29, seeking to end a crisis hitting the world’s second-largest crude exporter.
Sorokin was speaking at talks with officials from Belarus, Poland and Ukraine in Minsk on the issue. Belarus said the issue had cost it $100 million, while analysts say alternative supply routes for refiners cannot fully fill the gap.
Poland, Germany, Ukraine and Slovakia have suspended imports of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. Halting those supplies has knock-on effects further along the network.
The problem arose last week when an unidentified Russian producer contaminated oil with high levels of organic chloride used to boost oil output but which must be separated before shipment as it can destroy refining equipment.
Russia’s Energy Ministry said pipeline monopoly Transneft and other Russian companies had a plan to mitigate the effects of the contaminated oil. It did not give details.
Russian officials have said contaminated oil has already been pumped into storage in Russia and Friday’s talks would focus on how to partially withdraw the tainted crude from the Druzhba pipeline running via other countries.
The suspension cuts off a major supply route for Polish refineries owned by Poland’s PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos, as well as plants in Germany owned by Total, Shell, Eni and Rosneft.
Some refiners have outlined plans for alternative supplies, but analysts say other routes cannot meet the shortfall.
OIL PRICES
Ukraine’s Ukrtransnafta suspended the transit of oil through the pipeline on Thursday, closing supplies via Druzhba’s southern route to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
The pipeline issue, which has supported global oil prices, lifted Russian Urals crude differentials to an all-time high on Thursday.
With pipeline supplies to Europe shut, Russia faces a challenge of how to divert about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) that was meant to be shipped through the network to other destinations at the time when export capacity is at its limits.
State-run Russian Railways held talks with energy firms on using up to 5,000 rail tankers to transport crude, RIA news agency reported on Friday.
Concerns about the quality of Urals crude also caused delays in loadings at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga, when buyers refused to lift cargoes, resulting in a brief shutdown of the port on Wednesday and Thursday. An Ust-Luga official and traders said on Friday loadings had resumed.
Russian loading plans indicate it aims to boost Urals exports in May before the expiry of a deal on output cuts agreed with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, Reuters calculations and Energy Ministry data show.
The provisional loading plan for Russia’s Baltic Sea ports and Novorossiisk in May show exports rising to 10.7 million tonnes, the highest level in half a decade.
Minsk estimated its loss from lower oil product exports due to contaminated Russian oil at around $100 million, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Thursday, citing Belarusian state oil company Belneftekhim.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, in charge of government energy policy, said this week that those found responsible for contaminating the oil could be fined. He did not provide names.
(Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko in WARSAW, Sandor Peto in BUDAPEST, Jason Hovet in PRAGUE, Matthias Williams and Natalia Zinets in KIEV, Katya Golubkova, Olesya Astakhova, Gleb Gorodyankin, Olga Yagova and Maxim Rodionov in MOSCOW, Andrei Makhovsky in MINSK; writing by Katya Golubkova; editing by Michael Perry and Edmund Blair)
FILE PHOTO: A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat April 1, 2014. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo
April 26, 2019
(Reuters) – India has once again delayed the implementation of higher tariffs on some goods imported from the United States to May 15, a government official said on Friday.
The new tariff structure was to come into force from May 2, the spokeswoman said without citing reasons for the delay.
Angered by Washington’s refusal to exempt it from new steel and aluminum tariffs, New Delhi decided in June last year to raise the import tax from Aug. 4 on some U.S. products including almonds, walnuts and apples.
But since then, New Delhi has repeatedly delayed the implementation of the new tariff.
Trade friction between India and the U.S. has escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans earlier this year to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States.
In a further blow, U.S. on Monday demanded buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers including India to continue importing limited volumes.
(Reporting by Manoj Kumar in New Delhi and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Raissa Kasolowsky)
Joe Biden has hired Symone Sanders, a prominent political strategist, as a senior adviser to his newly launched presidential campaign. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP)
One of Joe Biden’s newly-hired senior advisers has seemingly had a very recent change of heart.
But Sanders, who has also served as a CNN contributor, is seen in resurfaced footage from November 2016 expressing her opposition to a white person leading her party after Donald Trump’s election.
“In my opinion, we don’t need white people leading the Democratic party right now,” Sanders told host Brianna Keilar during a discussion on Howard Dean potentially becoming DNC chairman.
“The Democratic party is diverse, and it should be reflected as so in leadership and throughout the staff, at the highest levels. From the vice chairs to the secretaries all the way down to the people working in the offices at the DNC,” she said.
Sanders wrapped up her remarks by saying: “I want to hear more from everybody. I want to hear from the millennials and the brown folks.”
“@JoeBiden & @DrBiden are a class act. Over the course of this campaign, Vice President Biden is going to make his case to the American ppl. He won’t always be perfect, but I believe he will get it right,” she wrote.
The hiring of Sanders has been viewed as another indication of the expected tough fight that Biden and Sanders are in for as the two frontrunners battle a deep Democratic field.
Biden’s entry into the race – at least in the early going – sets up a battle between himself and Sanders, who thanks to his fierce fight with eventual nominee Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic nomination, enjoys name ID on the level of the former vice president.
Justice Democrats — who also called Biden “out-of-touch” – is an increasingly influential group among the left of the party. They’ve championed progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as well as Sanders. The group was founded by members of Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.
Biden has pushed back against the perception that he’s a moderate in a party that’s increasingly moving to the left. Earlier this month he described himself as an “Obama-Biden Democrat.”
And Biden said he’d stack his record against “anybody who has run or who is running now or who will run.”
Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile – a Fox News contributor – highlighted that “Joe Biden can occupy his own lane in large part because he’s earned it. He’s earned the right to call himself whatever.”
But she emphasized that “elections are not about the past, they’re about the future…I do believe he has the right ingredients. The question is can he find enough people to help him stir the pot.”
Fox News Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.
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