Egypt is building a new walled buffer zone more than 2 miles wide on Gaza border, satellite images show

 Egypt is building a massive miles-wide buffer zone and wall along its border with southern Gaza, new satellite images show, as fears grow over Israel’s planned ground offensive in Rafah where more than half of Gaza’s population is sheltering.

The images, taken in the past five days by Maxar Technologies, show a significant section of Egyptian territory between a roadway and the Gaza border has been bulldozed.

If the buffer zone — which stretches from the end of the Gaza border to the Mediterranean Sea — is completed, it will completely engulf the Egyptian-Rafah border crossing complex. 

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The Influx of Immigrants into Europe and the Increase in Sexual Violence

 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born into a Muslim family in Somalia, and after a brief period of living in Saudi Arabia her family settled in Kenya, where she was raised. In 1992, at the age of 23, fleeing an arranged marriage she sought asylum in the Netherlands. Successfully escaping from her family who had forced her to undergo genital mutilation as a child, she integrated into Dutch society. She learnt the language and studied political science at Leiden University. Soon, she became a prominent critic of radical Islam, triggering the wrath of Muslim extremists (she was put on an Al-Qaeda hit list in 2010) as well as achieving international recognition, making it onto Time’s top 100 most influential people in the world in 2005. A US citizen since 2013, she now works at the Hoover Institution where she did her research writing under the title Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women’s Rights.
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As to why Europe does so little to prevent the erosion of women’s safety, Hirsi Ali argues that it is politically inconvenient for many European governments to acknowledge that the crisis of women’s safety might be linked to immigration, as well as to the cultural heritage of the immigrants.
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In parts of Paris and other great European cities there are now ‘no-go’ areas for women, and women seem to disappear from public spaces as they are no longer safe for them. Europe is undergoing a change—this is the thesis of the book—and the hard-earned rights and safety of women are now being rolled back.
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Avoiding the question of whether increasing sexual violence in Europe is or is not linked to the immigration of a large number of men will not solve the issue, The Wall Street Journal argues. On the other hand, a taboo surrounding this question can indeed fuel the radical right, which will, therefore, monopolize the discussion. As The Wall Street Journal highlights, Prey is ‘a courageous and bracing book’ which tries to shed light on this unquestionably important and inconvenient topic by dragging it out of the taboo zone. By normalizing the conversation about immigration and its effect on women’s rights, the topic can be the subject of a democratic discourse in which all sides are able to take part freely, instead of allowing the radicals to monopolize the discussion.
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What real rape culture looks like

On New Year’s Eve, mobs made up of a thousand Muslim men, many of whom are asylum seekers, coordinated and planned sexual assaults on women attending public festivities in the city of Cologne, Germany. At first, it was reported 100 women suffered abuse, but that number has now grown to more than 500 cases. The majority of the cases involve groping and violent sexual assault, with the women reporting being surrounded by men and torn from their friends.

In Norway, The New York Times recently reported on government-funded classes being held for asylum seekers. The classes are being held in an effort to teach men new to the country that rape is wrong and unacceptable in their new culture.
‘The goal is that participants will ‘at least know the difference between right and wrong,’ said Nina Machibya, the Sandnes center’s manager,” the paper reported. “A course manual sets out a simple rule that all asylum seekers need to learn and follow: ‘To force someone into sex is not permitted in Norway, even when you are married to that person.’
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One of the most horrifying of all rape cover-ups occurred in Rotherham, England. There, 1,400 boys and girls were being raped and sold into sex slavery for more than 10 years. This was known by public officials in the area but was ignored because the men carrying out the rapes were Muslim men from Pakistan. Fears of Islamophobia accusations trumped any kind of righteous intervention or prosecution of these men for more than a decade.
Cover-ups of serious crimes committed by Muslim men have become a standard pattern of behavior from Western public officials, who are supposed to be civilized and hold themselves to a high moral standard. They’ve not only ignored these repeated crimes, they’ve become complicit for the sake of promoting a political narrative that refugees don’t pose a threat to European culture. These men come from countries where rape is acceptable, Sharia law reigns and women have no rights. This reality is ignored at a very high cost.

Migrants and rape: unveiling myths and facts about the dark side of the refugee crisis

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Official crime statistics in Germany do confirm an increase of nearly 13 percent in sexual assault and rape cases in 2016 compared to the previous year – with 9.2 percent of the overall number of assailants reported as Syrian nationals and 8.6 percent as Afghan nationals. In total, 38.8 percent of those convicted of sexual assault and rape were reported as non-German nationals. This means that roughly 4 out of 10 sexual assaults and rape cases each year are committed by foreigners in Germany. Before the refugee crisis, that ratio was 3 out of 10.
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Regardless of whatever motivation might drive migrants to commit rape and other acts of sexual assault, the unacceptable nature of such transgressions has to be emphasized in integration classes, says Psychologist Maggie Schauer, who specializes in this field at the University of Konstanz. Schauer tells DPA that migrants sometimes use cultural and religious differences as an excuse for such acts despite knowing better:
"Men have to learn to control their aggressions regardless of what religion they might have," she says, adding that it is possible to change attitudes especially because of the universally intolerable nature of rape and sexual assault: "Violent crimes, sexual assaults, and rape: none of these things can be excused by arguing that people come from a different culture. And men do actually know this very well."

Sandra Madureira viola ordem do tribunal e arrisca castigo pesado

 

Sandra Madureira cometeu um erro crasso que pode custar-lhe caro, no âmbito do processo Operação Pretoriano.
Tudo porque a mulher de Fernando Madureira comentou uma publicação nas redes sociais de Lipinho, o substituto de Macaco, na liderança dos Super Dragões. Na publicação em causa, Lipinho fala em lealdade.
"A lealdade é um valor humano relacionado com a capacidade de uma pessoa de ser plenamente confiável, manter sua retidão moral, honestidade e honrar compromissos. Também encontrado como sinônimo de fidelidade, dedicação e sinceridade. Sempre contigo!", escreveu na legenda de uma foto de Fernando Madureira.
Sandra Madureira comentou: "A lealdade tem um preço muito caro e um valor incalculável", escreveu.
Ora esta publicação viola a medida de coação que lhe foi imposta pelo tribunal e que a proibia de qualquer contacto por qualquer meio (incluindo linguagem escrita) com elementos dos Super Dragões. Assim sendo, a esposa de Fernando Madureira corre o risco de ver as medidas de coação agravadas, podendo ser aplicada a prisão preventiva.

Não é só Alexei Navalny: outras mortes misteriosas ligadas à Rússia

 

A morte do advogado e ativista Alexei Navalny foi confirmada na sexta (16 de Fevereiro) por agências russas. Ele é mais uma pessoa a perder a vida de forma misteriosa desde que o presidente da Rússia, Vladimir Putin, está no comando.

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PGR explica tomada de decisão sobre Madeira e sublinha: "Mantém-se atual"

 

A Procuradoria-geral da República (PGR) emitiu esta sexta-feira uma nota explicativa sobre o caso de corrupção na Madeira, no seguimento de várias críticas após a libertação dos três arguidos, que estiveram quase três semanas em prisão preventiva.

 Assim, atendendo às dúvidas suscitadas no "espaço público" relativamente às investigações de crimes ligados a contratação pública na Região Autónoma da Madeira, a PGR esclarece que "a realização da operação do passado dia 24 de janeiro que conduziu à detenção de três arguidos, entre os quais o presidente da câmara do Funchal, foi ponderada pelas três magistradas que dirigem as investigações e pelo diretor do DCIAP".

E, de acordo com a PGR, "essa ponderação permitiu concluir que [...] os elementos probatórios até então recolhidos apontavam indiciariamente, de forma consistente e sustentada, para o cometimento de um conjunto de ilícitos, dos quais foi dada nota pública no próprio dia das diligências, e para a necessidade de aplicação de medidas de coação mais gravosas do que o termo de identidade e residência".

Assim sendo, ainda segundo a PGR, "o referido entendimento, subscrito também pelos inspetores da Unidade Nacional de Combate à Corrupção da Polícia Judiciária (PJ), que coadjuvam o Ministério Público (MP), mantém-se atual".

A PGR recorda no mesmo documento que "em momentos anteriores, cinco diferentes juízes de instrução proferiram no processo decisões sustentadas na convicção de existirem já então indícios de ilícitos criminais imputados".

"Não tendo sido esse o juízo conclusivo alcançado pelo magistrado judicial que conduziu os interrogatórios", a PGR confirma que o MP "interporá recurso do respetivo despacho".

MP alertou "múltiplas vezes" para "incomum demora"

Na mesma nota a PGR lamenta "o longo período de tempo decorrido desde as detenções até à prolação do citado despacho" e garante que "as magistradas do Ministério Público presentes nas diligências de interrogatório procuraram sensibilizar, por múltiplas vezes e pelos meios ao seu alcance, o magistrado judicial que as conduziu, para a incomum demora registada e para a necessidade de lhes imprimir maior celeridade, tendo inclusivamente dirigido, logo no dia 1 de fevereiro de 2024, exposição ao Conselho Superior da Magistratura, enquanto órgão de gestão e disciplina da magistratura judicial".

A PGR termina o comunicado revelando que vai manter "um acompanhamento próximo da evolução das investigações e prestará esclarecimentos sempre que, não existindo prejuízo para o seu desenvolvimento, o entender oportuno".

East Timor: Santa Cruz massacre

 

The Santa Cruz massacre (also known as the Dili massacre) was the murder of at least 250 East Timorese pro-independence demonstrators in the Santa Cruz cemetery in the capital, Dili, on 12 November 1991, during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor and is part of the East Timor genocide.
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During a brief confrontation between Indonesian troops and protesters, some protesters and a major, Geerhan Lantara were stabbed. Stahl claimed Lantara had attacked a group of protesters including a girl carrying the flag of East Timor, and FRETILIN activist Constâncio Pinto reported witness accounts of beatings from Indonesian soldiers and police. When the procession entered the cemetery some continued their protests before the cemetery wall. Around 200 more Indonesian soldiers arrived and advanced on the gathering, weapons drawn. In the graveyard, they opened fire on hundreds of unarmed civilians. At least 250 East Timorese were killed in the massacre. One of the dead was a New Zealander, Kamal Bamadhaj, a political science student and human rights activist based in Australia.
The massacre was witnessed by the two American journalists—Amy Goodman and Allan Nairn—and caught on videotape by Max Stahl, who was filming undercover for Yorkshire Television. As Stahl filmed the massacre, Goodman and Nairn tried to "serve as a shield for the Timorese" by standing between them and the Indonesian soldiers. The soldiers began beating Goodman, and when Nairn moved to protect her, they beat him with their weapons, fracturing his skull. The camera crew managed to smuggle the video footage to Australia.
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