How Sweden’s multicultural dream went fatally wrong

 

Child soldiers, gang violence and murders for hire blight the once-famously peaceful country, journalist Diamant Salihu tells The Telegrap.

To show me just how bad gang crime has become in Sweden, all journalist Diamant Salihu has to do is forward a few mobile phone messages. At first glance, they look like spam, written in garish fonts and promising large sums of money, there to be earned. It’s only on closer examination that the purpose of the pistol and skull emojis becomes clear.

These are so-called “murder ads” – posted online by gang leaders, offering bounties to anyone willing to carry out the hits.

“All types of jobs are available,” reads one, promising up to one million krona (£78,000). “Age doesn’t matter”, adds another – explaining why many of Sweden’s new contract killers aren’t hardened hitmen, but children. Part of the problem, some say, is that Swedish law dictates anyone aged under 15 is too young to be prosecuted.

“We have so many child soldiers that nobody can count anymore,” sighs Salihu, an investigative reporter for SVT, Sweden’s answer to the BBC. “There are kids as young as 13 being arrested.”

Barely a week passes in Sweden today without a teenager being arrested for such a hit, keeping Salihu extremely busy, and the public in the grip of a national crisis like no other before it. A softly-spoken former tabloid journalist, the 41-year-old could be a character from a Scandi-noir novel, shining light in society’s darker corners. The body count on his beat, though, is far higher than any Stieg Larsson novel, and holds out little prospect of a satisfactory ending.

To show me just how bad gang crime has become in Sweden, all journalist Diamant Salihu has to do is forward a few mobile phone messages. At first glance, they look like spam, written in garish fonts and promising large sums of money, there to be earned. It’s only on closer examination that the purpose of the pistol and skull emojis becomes clear.

These are so-called “murder ads” – posted online by gang leaders, offering bounties to anyone willing to carry out the hits.

“All types of jobs are available,” reads one, promising up to one million krona (£78,000). “Age doesn’t matter”, adds another – explaining why many of Sweden’s new contract killers aren’t hardened hitmen, but children. Part of the problem, some say, is that Swedish law dictates anyone aged under 15 is too young to be prosecuted.

“We have so many child soldiers that nobody can count anymore,” sighs Salihu, an investigative reporter for SVT, Sweden’s answer to the BBC. “There are kids as young as 13 being arrested.”

Barely a week passes in Sweden today without a teenager being arrested for such a hit, keeping Salihu extremely busy, and the public in the grip of a national crisis like no other before it. A softly-spoken former tabloid journalist, the 41-year-old could be a character from a Scandi-noir novel, shining light in society’s darker corners. The body count on his beat, though, is far higher than any Stieg Larsson novel, and holds out little prospect of a satisfactory ending.

For the story he has pursued for the last decade is, in effect, one giant, unsolved murder mystery: why has Sweden, long the envy of the rest of Europe for its peace and prosperity, suddenly seeing so many gangland killings?

Why, in a land that prides itself on welcoming migrants, are so many gang members from migrant communities? And is it Swedish society that is the ultimate culprit, or the migrant communities themselves?

They are questions he has already addressed in two best-selling books of reportage, both kicking a hornet’s nest that liberal Sweden long preferred to leave well alone. His first, Until Everyone Dies, chronicled a war between two Somali street gangs that left nine young footsoldiers dead.

His latest, When Nobody’s Listening, charts the upper echelons of Swedish crime, as revealed through the police cracking of Encrochat, the encrypted mobile phone service used by gangsters Europe-wide.

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A destruição da sociedade portuguesa

 

 

Rana Taslim Uddin, dirigente da comunidade bangladeshi em Portugal, num discurso proferido numa reunião com outros responsáveis da comunidade:

“Aqueles que encontraram aqui uma sociedade nova, aqueles que estão aqui presentes hoje, perguntam-me o que eu fiz para a sociedade. Irmãos, fi-lo para fazer o meu Deus feliz, não para a sociedade. Se Deus ficar feliz, ele trará uma solução para a sociedade e conduzirá esta sociedade para o caminho certo. Se não ficar feliz, então destruirá esta sociedade. Por isso tentamos agradar a Deus e ao mesmo tempo construir uma amizade com as pessoas desta sociedade.”

Jayanti Dutta, docente e investigadora do Centro de Literaturas e Culturas Lusófonas e Europeias (CLEPUL) da Universidade de Lisboa, foi a responsável pela tradução da intervenção de Rana Taslim Uddin, de acordo com o programa da TV Polígrafo

Liberdade de expressão em risco na Europa? Detenções por “discurso de ódio” disparam no Reino Unido e na Alemanha

 

Na Alemanha e no Reino Unido, o policiamento do “discurso de ódio” está a aumentar e uma publicação ofensiva nas redes sociais pode pôr o “infractor” em maus lençóis com a Justiça, podendo até ser condenado a uma pena de prisão efectiva. Por ano, o Reino Unido está a levar a cabo cerca de 12 mil detenções – mais 58% do que em 2019. Na Alemanha, nem mesmo os ‘memes’ escapam às autoridades, e há equipas formadas para vigiar aquilo que se diz na internet. Algumas associações da sociedade civil temem retrocessos no direito à liberdade de expressão, até pela natureza dúbia daquilo que representa “discurso de ódio” e o modo abrangente como tem sido interpretado.

Na Alemanha e no Reino Unido, uma publicação “ofensiva” nas redes sociais, mesmo se feita no ‘calor do momento’, pode deixar o “infractor” em maus lençóis com a Justiça, arriscando uma condenação ao pagamento de milhares de euros, ou até a uma pena de prisão (efectiva ou suspensa).  

Através de várias forças policiais, as autoridades britânicas estão a fazer cerca de 12 mil detenções por ano, com base em conteúdos divulgados nas redes sociais e em outras plataformas digitais – o que dá uma média de mais de 30 por dia –, de acordo com dados avançados no início do mês pelo jornal Metro. 

Em 2023, foram feitas 12.183 detenções; o que representa um aumento de 58% em relação a 2019. Três anos antes, em 2016, ‘só’ cerca de 3.000 pessoas tinham sido detidas e interrogadas devido a “incidentes de ódio” por conteúdos publicados na internet.  

No entanto, em sentido inverso, as condenações têm vindo a diminuir desde 2015. Em 2023, foram conhecidas 1.119 sentenças decorrentes destes processos; um número bastante inferior ao que se registou para as detenções.

De facto, para que alguém arrisque ser alvo de um processo criminal no país não é preciso muito: a Lei de Comunicações Maliciosas de 1988 criminaliza as mensagens enviadas com a intenção de causar “irritação”, “angústia” ou “ansiedade” a terceiros por via telefónica ou através de plataformas digitais. No Reino Unido, é ilegal o envio de mensagens “grosseiramente ofensivas” ou com conteúdos de “carácter indecente, obsceno ou ameaçador”, segundo a Lei de Comunicações de 2003. 

Estes critérios revelam-se, porém, nebulosos, e algumas associações da sociedade civil, como a Big Brother Watch e a Free Speech Union, criticam aquilo que consideram um policiamento excessivo do discurso e a ameaça que estas acusações representam para o direito à liberdade de expressão. 

Além disso, uma vez que a propagação de discurso de ódio configura um “crime de ódio”, pode ser mesmo punível com prisão. O Governo britânico, contudo, não divulga os dados referentes aos “crimes” que têm lugar no ciberespaço, tornando públicos apenas as estatísticas globais dos “crimes de ódio”. 

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Australian state could send Christians to jail if they pray for people with unwanted same-sex attraction

 

Legislation known as the Conversion Practices Ban Act 2024 became law in the Australian state of New South Wales on April 4, raising alarm among Christians. 

Christians in Sydney and throughout the rest of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, could now face five years in prison and fines of up to $100,000 for offering counseling to or praying for “LGBTQA” individuals, even if they say their same-sex attraction or gender confusion is unwanted. 

On April 4, legislation known as the Conversion Practices Ban Act 2024 became law, raising alarm among Christians who by merely explaining the Good News of Jesus’ power to heal, the immutable definition of marriage, or timeless truths about the complementarity of man and woman, risk being punished as criminals in NSW.  

As such, this is a major step toward criminalizing Christianity and the fullness of the Gospel message in “the land down under.”

While the NSW government has been careful to assert that the new law has no impact on religious freedom, that is a misleading statement. It will have an enormous chilling effect on non-woke, orthodox Christians who reject neo-Marxist identity politics and the teachings of affirmation-only religious denominations and sects.   

Australian commentator Ben Davis described the new law introduced by the NSW government as modern “LGBTQA apostasy laws.”

“What are we, China?” asked fellow conservative commentator Evelyn Rae. “This is straight out of China. It criminalizes Christianity.” 

“The state has literally become the arbiter of truth and authority and they are now deciding what Christianity is allowed to say and do,” she said, adding: The LGBTQ community is just as much a religion as Christianity, because they’re taking a stance right now on what Christians can and can’t say. They’re taking a moral stance on sexuality and gender. They are just as much a religion as Christianity and the state has said, ‘You know what? That religion trumps Christianity.’

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The First Victim of Trump’s Trade War: Michigan’s Economy

 

DETROIT—If President Trump’s trade war has a physical battleground, it is Michigan, where companies and workers are already feeling the beginning of an onslaught that could blow a hole in the state’s economy.

Nearly 20% of the economy is tied to the auto industry, which has become increasingly dependent on parts and vehicles from Canada, Mexico and China—imports Trump hit with steep tariffs in recent weeks. This trade has grown so large that Michigan ranks fifth in the nation by the size of its imports and exports, even though its total economy ranks 14th.

Detroit’s automotive executives have shifted into battle mode. They are stockpiling imported components, wrestling with suppliers over price increases and setting up war rooms to figure out how to cut costs.

Workers at the state’s biggest auto factories are tightening their belts, too, in case tariffs spark layoffs by causing a spike in vehicle prices and a drop in demand. Some early moves have added to their jitters. Hours after the latest tariffs took effect last week, Jeep parent Stellantis temporarily laid off about 900 workers in Michigan and Indiana who supply parts to factories in Canada and Mexico that the company idled at the same time.

One auto executive early last week darkly predicted “Chernobyl” if tariffs broadly hit imported parts, which they’re scheduled to do next month. Industry executives and analysts later said what the administration outlined Wednesday was worse than they expected.

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Angry protesters from New York to Alaska assail Trump and Musk in ‘Hands Off!’ rallies

 

Crowds of people angry about the way President Donald Trump is running the country marched and rallied in scores of American cities Saturday in the biggest day of demonstrations yet by an opposition movement trying to regain its momentum after the shock of the Republican’s first weeks in office.

So-called Hands Off! demonstrations were organized for more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists. The rallies appeared peaceful, with no immediate reports of arrests.

Thousands of protesters in cities dotting the nation from Midtown Manhattan to Anchorage, Alaska, including at multiple state capitols, assailed Trump and billionaire Elon Musk ‘s actions on government downsizing, the economy, immigration and human rights. On the West Coast, in the shadow of Seattle’s iconic Space Needle, protesters held signs with slogans like “Fight the oligarchy.” Protesters chanted as they took to the streets in Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles, where they marched from Pershing Square to City Hall.

Demonstrators voiced anger over the administration’s moves to fire thousands of federal workers, close Social Security Administration field offices, effectively shutter entire agencies, deport immigrants, scale back protections for transgender people and cut funding for health programs.

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U.S. stocks see biggest 2-day wipeout in history as market loses $11 trillion since Inauguration Day

 

Roughly $11.1 trillion has been wiped away from the U.S. stock market since Jan. 17, the Friday before President Donald Trump took the oath of office and began his second term, according to data from Dow Jones Market Data.

Some $6.6 trillion of that figure was lost on Thursday and Friday alone — the largest two-day wipeout of shareholder value on record, Dow Jones data showed.

Many investors were caught flat-footed on Wednesday when Trump unveiled sweeping global tariffs that were much larger than expected.

Financial markets have since been heaping pressure on the administration to step in and pare back the planned levies or to announce meaningful progress toward a deal, said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, in emailed commentary Friday.

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Americans watch in horror as savings are WIPED OUT as Wall Street chaos sees trillions more dollars evaporate

 

Wall Street has had its worst two-day wipeout in history - with $6.6 trillion wiped off the value of US stocks.

After plunging yesterday, stocks crashed again on Friday as it looks increasingly likely that President Donald Trump's tariffs will cause a global recession.

US stocks have lost about $11.1 trillion in value since January 17 — the Friday before President Trump began his second term, according to MarketWatch analysis Dow Jones Market Data. 

About $6.6 trillion of that was wiped out on Thursday and Friday alone — marking the biggest two-day loss of shareholder value ever recorded, according to the data. 

Markets have seen bigger percentage drops, such as in 1929 when they tumbled 25 percent over October 28 and 29 that year, but never as much in dollar terms. 

This week's carnage has hit ordinary Americans whose retirement savings, including 401(K) are tied to the market. 

When markets closed in New York at 4pm, the S&P 500 was down 5.97 percent. The Nasdaq plummeted 5.82 percent and The Dow Jones 5.5 percent. 

That follows Thursday's losses for the three major US indices, which ranged between 4 percent and 6 percent. The S&P 500 had its worst since March 2020, when the pandemic crashed the economy.

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