Fentanyl, stolen Canadian cars funding terror groups: report - "A new Department of Finance report warns that Canada remains a hub for terrorist financing, with extremist groups capitalizing on everything from charitable fraud to spiking rates of drug trafficking and auto theft... In addition to Hezbollah, the report also notes that Canadian money had ended up in the hands of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, as well as the extremist Sikh groups Babbar Khalsa International and the International Sikh Youth Federation... As to where the money is coming from, the Department of Finance cited everything from “crowdfunding,” to cryptocurrencies to “abuse of non-profit organizations.”... Toronto resident Khalilullah Yousuf was handed a 12-year sentence for organizing GoFundMe campaigns that were ostensibly raising money for humanitarian purposes in Gaza, but were actually being funnelled to Islami State affiliates... Canada listed the Vancouver-based anti-Israel group Samidoun as a terror entity. Although Samidoun had long been active in promoting terrorist ideology both in Canada and abroad, its status as a fundraiser for terror groups was cited as one of the primary reasons it was listed as a terror entity. In a joint announcement with Canada, the U.S. Department of the Treasury called Samidoun a “sham charity” that had served as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an active terror group."
Calvin Cheng | Facebook - "The huge military parade celebrating China’s victory in WW2 is truly ironic.China would never have been so easily liberated from Japanese occupation if not for the Americans. Before Japan’s unconditional surrender after the US dropped 2 atomic bombs , this was the situation in China: Japan controlled all the major city cities and coastal areas ; the Chinese resistance fought them to a stalemate in the countryside. The KMT was making some slow gains in Guangxi and Hunan. Without American being drawn into the war against Japan, China would have been occupied for a much longer time. But America was not invited to this massive victory parade. Worse , the parade was used as a chance to gather America’s rivals. And showcase military equipment that could possibly be used to challenge America. What an irony.""
Hundreds of children poisoned by free school meals in blow to Indonesia's plan to end hunger - "In the largest mass-poisoning since the scheme launched in January, 400 people fell ill in Bengkulu, a province on the south-west coast of Sumatra island, with children as young as 12 being rushed to hospital. The incident is the latest blow to the flagship policy of President Prabawo Subianto, a former general who was sworn into power last October with an ambitious plan to fight stunting and malnutrition by feeding more than 80 million people this year. Mr Prabawo has said the initiative will turn the sprawling archipelago into a country “free from poverty, free from hunger”. But the policy, which has a hefty price tag of 121 trillion rupiah (£5.5bn) in 2025 alone, has been beset by controversy. Sarah Newey Global Health Security Correspondent, in Bangkok Related Topics Indonesia, Malnutrition 04 September 2025 2:28pm BST Food poisoning cases have been reported across the country, affecting over 1,000 people Food poisoning cases have been reported across the country, affecting over 1,000 people Credit: BAGUS INDAHONO/EPA/Shutterstock Hundreds of children have been poisoned in Indonesia after consuming free school meals, pushing some parents to avoid a flagship scheme intended to eliminate hunger. In the largest mass-poisoning since the scheme launched in January, 400 people fell ill in Bengkulu, a province on the south-west coast of Sumatra island, with children as young as 12 being rushed to hospital. The incident is the latest blow to the flagship policy of President Prabawo Subianto, a former general who was sworn into power last October with an ambitious plan to fight stunting and malnutrition by feeding more than 80 million people this year. Mr Prabawo has said the initiative will turn the sprawling archipelago into a country “free from poverty, free from hunger”. But the policy, which has a hefty price tag of 121 trillion rupiah (£5.5bn) in 2025 alone, has been beset by controversy. Demonstrations first erupted in February after it emerged ministries, including health and education, would suffer cuts of some £14bn to fund the meals. Protesters took to the streets with slogans like “children eat for free, parents are laid off” – the lavish budget reinforced a sense of irresponsible government spending, despite high unemployment and a persistent wealth gap. The quality of the programme itself is also under scrutiny. Photos show school meals stuffed with ultra-processed foods, including biscuits and burgers, while food poisoning has been such a major problem that some parents have started telling their children not to eat the free food... There has been a spate of mass poisonings since the programme launched in January... In March, Indonesia’s anti-graft bureau flagged a “real possibility” of fraud, and there have already been investigations into embezzlement."
Jellyfish shut nuclear r eactor in France
Jewellery boss ‘made staff pose as customers in £170m scam’ - "A jewellery boss who allegedly scammed investors out of £170m reportedly had his staff pose as customers to make his shops look busy to keep up the ruse. In what could be the UK’s biggest diamond scam, Vashi Dominguez is also alleged to have had shop workers sit at work benches and pretend to be goldsmithing when business was faltering. Investors claim that when the facade was exposed, they still hoped they could be bailed out by the £157m worth of diamonds they were told were held in stock. However, the remaining gemstones were valued at just £100,000, a BBC Panorama investigation claims."
A body in concrete, a warped landlord and a kitchen turned into a ‘kill room’
‘I’ve had the name longer than him’: Mark Zuckerberg sued by Mark Zuckerberg - "A lawyer called Mark Zuckerberg is suing Facebook after the social network repeatedly took down his page, claiming he was impersonating the company’s boss. Mark Stephen Zuckerberg, a bankruptcy lawyer in the US state of Indiana, says he has spent thousands of dollars promoting his services on Facebook but his page has been repeatedly blocked by the site. Mr Zuckerberg says his life has been turned upside down by sharing a name with the world’s third-richest man, including receiving death threats and incessant tech support phone calls... He said he had had the name Mark Zuckerberg “way longer than he has” and was suing after years of having his account unfairly removed. He said he had spent more than $11,000 (£8,000) on Facebook adverts to promote his law practice, but that both his business and personal pages had been repeatedly removed for “impersonating a celebrity”. Mr Zuckerberg said it often takes months to restore his account, leading to lost business, and that the company had broken “fair dealing” laws. “I’d rather not pick a fight with them, but I don’t know how to make them stop,” he said. “I don’t know how else to get their attention.” Mr Zuckerberg has a website where he chronicles cases in which sharing a name has affected his life. This includes being sued by the state of Washington because of mistaken identity, turning off his phone at night because of a torrent of notifications, receiving more than 100 friend requests daily, and having to use a fake name when booking restaurants, which otherwise assume it is a prank. In one case, a limo driver holding a sign bearing his name in Las Vegas was surrounded by fans eagerly awaiting the Meta billionaire. Mr Zuckerberg has been practising law for 38 years, when the younger and richer Mr Zuckerberg was three years old. Meta said: “We know there’s more than one Mark Zuckerberg in the world, and we are getting to the bottom of this.” Mr Zuckerberg said he would be satisfied if the Meta billionaire offered him a week on his superyacht. “[If he] let me spend a week on his boat to say I’m sorry, I’d probably take him up on that,” he said."
‘Smart water’ spray reduces domestic attacks by a fifth - "Domestic abuse attacks have been cut by more than a fifth by spraying the homes of victims with smart water to deter perpetrators, police have revealed. Officers have deployed the water in devices hidden in the victims’ homes that spray or tag the abuser with the liquid if they try to attack, harass or contact them in breach of court orders."
New Zealand rips up Jacinda Ardern’s ban on wealthy foreigners - "restrictions introduced by the Ardern government – which famously shut off the country from the world during the Covid-19 pandemic – backfired. The country slipped into a recession last year, with weak growth in 2025. A Right-wing coalition government is now trying to revive its economic fortunes"
Its biggest champion Lord Hermer has just demolished the case for the ECHR - "Appearing before the Lords Constitution Committee, he could not find a single legal reason why we should remain members of the ECHR. He claimed that leaving would have adverse diplomatic and political consequences (not his responsibility) – not that it would threaten our freedoms. Pressed by the crossbench peer, Lord Anderson, he admitted that if we left, Britain would be in the same “club” as Canada, Australia and New Zealand – who maintain exemplary rights without submitting to an international court. He admitted that the Human Rights Act, which was supposed to “bring rights home” by letting our courts interpret the Convention before cases reached Strasbourg, has backfired. Our immigration tribunals give even greater rights to foreign nationals than do Continental courts. So, he promised to give courts “guidance” on interpreting Convention rights, if need be, by Act of Parliament. That destroys the whole rationale of the ECHR. The central tenet of the human rights religion is that human rights are too important to be entrusted to elected politicians. Hence, the task of creating law defining each right and deciding how rights may be balanced against other legitimate objectives must be removed from Parliament and given to judges – unaccountable and therefore immune to political pressures. For Hermer to admit that British judges have been getting it wrong, and Parliament should tell them how to do it better, is sheer heresy. Hermer may have lost faith in the superiority of British courts, but his belief in the infallibility of the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights is unshakeable.. The Strasbourg Court recently overruled a Swiss referendum, declaring that “Democracy cannot be reduced to the will of the majority of the electorate and elected representatives in disregard of the requirements of the rule of law” – as interpreted by the Court. None of his arguments for remaining in the ECHR related to our rights. If we left, he asserted, “it is inconceivable” that our European neighbours would enter into agreements with us on extradition. But France has mutual extradition treaties with Algeria, Morocco, the UAE and China. He repeated the fatuous claim that leaving would bracket us with Russia and Belarus. In fact, it would bracket us with the EU which, despite the Lisbon Treaty obligation to join the ECHR, refuses to accept any court as superior to its own. Once again, he asserted that “from its inception” Britain has been a “key promoter” of the ECHR. In fact, Attlee, Churchill and his Conservative successors refused to accept the authority of the Strasbourg court precisely because they foresaw it would transfer the power to make law from Parliament to the courts. The inexorable effect of which is to emasculate Parliament and politicise the judiciary – threatening the rule of law which is the the Lords Committee’s concern."
Landeur 🏴 on X - "Just watched a Labour MP on GB News say that the ECHR gives us the right to trial by Jury... We had this for 700 years before the ECHR btw."
Leaving ECHR ‘would not threaten peace in Northern Ireland’ - "Leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) would not threaten peace in Northern Ireland, leading lawyers have claimed. They said suggestions the UK could not withdraw because of commitments made in the Good Friday Agreement were “entirely groundless”, in a report backed by Jack Straw, the former Labour home secretary. Prof Richard Ekins of Oxford University was one authors of the report, for Policy Exchange, the think tank. He said public debate about human rights law reform had been “distorted” by the repeated assertion that withdrawal from the ECHR would breach the historic peace deal."
We were told that Brexit would lead to civil war in Northern Ireland, so
Healey's ridiculous gaffe on the ECHR and Nato is worrying for soldiers like me - "The Defence secretary, John Healey, who hitherto appeared to be one of the few reasonably safe pairs of hands in the Cabinet, has now said on television that if we left the ridiculously inflexible and ill-conceived European Convention on Human Rights, we would be the only nation in Nato to be outside it! Of course the United States of America – without which Nato would be a pale shadow of itself – and Canada, both Nato members, are both outside the ECHR and lucky to be so. The ECHR is profoundly damaging to military morale, as our membership of it is a primary reason for many damaging prosecutions and judgements against our service people. This is not even to mention the swarming young men, mostly economic migrants, who cross the Channel illegally in small boats and the many other migrants who gain the right to live here against the will of the British people – in large part because we are signed up to the ECHR. We soldiers also smile wryly at the news that illegal immigrants will no longer be housed in comfortable hotels but in military bases – which were always, of course, good enough for us! Perhaps the Defence secretary and the rest of this Government should reset the way they look at our military folk. Perhaps this nation should take a more American style “thank you for your service” approach rather than the traditional “Tommy this, and Tommy that”. Left-wingers in this country seem to support Hamas terrorists more than the people who keep them safe in their beds at night. This was made especially clear by the recent decision in Northern Ireland by councillors in Derry and Strabane not to allow the British Army to come to the local jobs fair. At a time when once again an evil tyrant is threatening war across Europe, we need a few good men and women from both sides of the Irish border in our forces – as we have always needed them. Though the Republic of Ireland is not a Nato member, it relies totally on the UK and Nato to protect it against the current Russian aggression – as incidents involving Russian submarines in Irish waters have lately shown... John Healey and so many of the current crop of MPs have never served in the military. We have seldom been more reliant on our armed forces than we are today. Our leaders, among them Mr Healey, must ensure that the woke, the hard left and the ambulance-chasing lawyers are kept well away from our fighting men and women. Those who would do us harm will strike without hesitation if we show any weakness or lack of commitment to our Armed Forces and the defence of these isles."
Labour plans to remove our ancient British right to trial by jury are despicable - " This Labour Government claims to be utterly beholden to international law, human rights and the latest faddish and woke interpretations of the European courts. But when it comes to the rights of the individual in this country Sir Keir Starmer’s record is an international embarrassment, as we can see with the creeping infringement of the right to free speech and the way our military veterans are being hounded decades after their service. Now this Government has announced plans to abolish the right to trial by jury for a wide range of cases. Trials by jury have existed in England literally since “time immemorial”. The legal definition of time immemorial was originally taken as a custom which had been in existence since before the year 1189."
Of course, the UK can't leave the ECHR, because all of Britons' fundamental human rights dating back to Magna Carta depend on being in the ECHR. Since the right to a jury trial isn't in the ECHR, the UK doesn't need it
‘Shadow system’ of Sharia courts challenges British justice - "A job posting for a Sharia Law Administrator on the Department for Work and Pensions’ careers board was like a red rag to a bull for Nigel Farage. To the Reform UK leader, the advert for the £23,500 a year job in the suburb of Didsbury, Manchester, showed “our country and its values are being destroyed.” The listing itself said any potential candidates should have previous experience in “Shariah law-related fields and/or Shariah courts in Muslim countries,” alongside expertise in British law. But Farage was not the only politician outraged. Senior Tories also lined up to criticise the posting, which briefly emerged in July before being deleted... Maryam Namazie, an Iranian-born human rights campaigner from the One Law for All campaign, says: “The problem with Sharia or any religious court is that it relies on laws perceived as divine, which cannot be challenged or questioned.” Above all, opponents fear Sharia courts effectively operate as a parallel legal system that diverges from British legal norms. Critics cite the fact that, unlike the Beth Din courts used in Jewish communities, the vast majority of Britain’s Sharia councils are not signed up to the Arbitration Act of 1996 – meaning there’s little oversight over the way they operate or recourse for when things go wrong... “The reason why they’re controversial is twofold,” says Prof Samia Bano, of the School of Oriental and African Studies, who specialises in Islamic family law. “First of all, there is a concern that they are parallel legal systems. Is this Islamic law being practised through the back door in a way which usurps and undermines English family law? “The second concern is about what is going on in these privatised spaces. Are women who go to these bodies experiencing undue pressures or coercion to potentially reconcile with their husbands, who may be problematic? Are there other family law disputes that are being discussed in these spaces, without any knowledge of the state law?” Submissions to a 2018 Home Office report on the Muslim courts included testimony from women who said Imams tried to force them to return to their husbands in cases of serious domestic violence. One woman, referred to as Maryam, said Imams repeatedly telephoned her to persuade her to meet a husband who had violently abused and sexually assaulted her. “These Imams just don’t listen – they try and force you back to your husband no matter what, and feel they have the right to disturb your life,” she said. Another woman, Ayesha, said a Sharia council repeatedly refused to let her divorce her husband even after he attacked her while she was pregnant and attempted to throw her daughter out the window. A separate letter from Southall Black Sisters, a domestic abuse charity, was signed by 300 abused women and voiced concerns that “hard line” clerics presided over Sharia councils in Britain... Southall Black Sisters also claimed in its submission to the 2018 Home Office review that Imams on Sharia law courts were “often corrupt, primarily interested in making money and abusing their positions of power.” Bano says high fees charged by some had led to allegations they were little more than “money-making schemes”."
Why the middle class are fleeing Paris - "The middle classes are fleeing Paris amid complaints that the City of Light is turning into a shiny “showcase” for tourists, singles and the super-rich rather than welcoming families. Over the past decade, Paris has shed more than 120,000 residents – an average of 12,200 people per year, despite births outnumbering deaths. While the wealthy prosper and the poor are offered social housing, critics say those stuck in the middle are being squeezed out by high property prices, limited availability of larger apartments, and the spread of short-term tourist rentals, such as Airbnb. Dirt, rats, ugly urban architecture, rising local taxes and chaotic urban planning are also frequent complaints against Anne Hidalgo, the capital’s socialist mayor. Her war on motorists, who last year were hit with a double whammy of speed cuts on the capital’s ring road and the tripling of parking fees for heavy vehicles, such as SUVs, has also sparked fury among families. The city’s remaining population is disproportionately composed of single-person households, older adults, and affluent professionals who can afford high rents. Half of all households in Paris are now single-person, a figured predicted to rise to 55 per cent by 2050... Showcase projects like the Olympics and bathing in the Seine mask this underlying problem. Local education academy figures point to a 20 per cent decline in the number of children in state schools in the capital since 2010... Jacques Baudrier, Paris’s communist deputy mayor for housing, insisted that the city had not lost its pull. “On the contrary, people want to live here more than ever,” he said, pointing to a record number of applications for social housing (around 308,000) as well as private rentals. He argued the population decrease was “solely down to the increase in the number of vacant dwellings and second homes”. There are currently 300,000 of these, “representing 28 per cent of the private housing stock”. To remedy this, the Left-wing municipality is campaigning to triple the taxes on these flats. “If the government finally allows taxes to be increased, we will be able to house 200,000 more people,” he told Le Parisien. He also insisted Paris was “winning the battle against Airbnb” by forcing owners wishing to rent out their second homes to apply to the local council for authorisation to change the use of the property to a commercial activity. Primary residences can only be rented out for 90 days per year. But such arguments don’t wash with those who have already left... Experts temper talk of exodus by saying it is a long-term trend that started in the 1960s with a few blips. Some suggest Paris’s small-sized flats mean the city has always been more a place to study and work than to start a family. Others argue that losing inhabitants isn’t all bad. With 20,000 inhabitants per square kilometre, Paris is the densest city in Europe, not far off Calcutta. And while the city inside the ring road is losing inhabitants, the population in towns and suburbs outside the ring road is rising as transport improves around Greater Paris improves... “We cannot talk about a happy demographic decline when, between a very wealthy Paris and a very subsidised Paris, the middle classes are forced to leave,” retorted Mr Boulard."
The reality of being an ex-expat: ‘People don’t talk about how difficult it is to come home’
Online shopping for 45 minutes a day at work ‘not grounds for dismissal’ - "Spending 45 minutes a day at work online shopping is not “excessive”, an employment judge has ruled. If your boss does the same, then browsing Amazon or Rightmove during office hours does not amount to “misconduct”, a tribunal said. The ruling was made in the case of an accountant who was sacked for shopping on her work computer after her employer put “spyware software” on it. A tribunal found the amount of time Anna Lanuszka, 34, “devoted to personal matters” during work hours – almost an hour and a half over two days – was not “shown to be excessive”. It awarded her £14,120 for unfair dismissal after finding her employer installed the spyware because it wanted an excuse to sack her... The tribunal heard Ms Lanuszka’s defence was “that she was allowed to use the computer for personal matters if she had no other work to do”. She said her boss Ms Krauze also used her computer “for personal matters in the office”, which was accepted by the tribunal."
How the highest criminal court in the world is facing its gravest crisis yet - "Red-carpet treatment from Xi Jinping; a bear-hug from Narendra Modi. The indictment of Vladimir Putin for war crimes did not prevent the leaders of the world’s most populous countries from giving him an effusive welcome at this week’s summit in China. The cheery greetings from China’s president and India’s prime minister demonstrated how Putin’s indictment for kidnapping tens of thousands of Ukrainian children has failed to turn him into a global pariah. That is a telling commentary on the reputation of the institution that brought the charge: the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague... the court is now enmeshed in its gravest crisis. Last week, it emerged that a second woman has accused Karim Khan KC, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, of sexual misconduct... And the institution’s troubles go well beyond the personal difficulties of its chief prosecutor. The court is now pursuing bigger and more formidable targets than ever before: its latest indictments are not levelled at obscure rebel leaders or military commanders, or even the ministers of overthrown regimes, but the sitting presidents and prime ministers of powerful states... The conclusion of this case leaves the ICC with just one current trial – that of a militia leader from the Central African Republic called Mahamat Said. This saves the institution, which has an annual budget exceeding £160m, from being a court without a trial."
Fire chief sacked after ‘throwing disabled YouTuber’s phone over hedge’ - "A senior firefighter was sacked for allegedly throwing away a disabled YouTuber’s phone at the scene of a fire, a tribunal has heard. John Linden, who was a station manager at Norfolk Fire Service, has claimed unfair dismissal and accused his former employer of discriminating against him on account of his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) diagnosis."
Thread by @oldbooksguy on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "After the French revolutionaries beheaded their king, they had another bright idea: "Let's make the day 10 hours long" This is NOT a joke. Left-wing "experts" actually changed the length of minutes, hours, and weeks in the name of science... This is the story of that disaster:
The French revolutionaries adopted a new calendar for three reasons:
- To eliminate religious consciousness from the French society
- To make time more “rational”
- To announce the birth of an egalitarian era
In their zeal they forgot an important factor: human nature
This is a story of political arrogance. The revolutionaries overestimated the power of science. And underestimated the stickiness of religion. One hour = 100 minutes. One min = 100 seconds. New year shifted from 1st Jan to 22nd Sept.. A radical attempt to redefine time itself. In France, from 1793 to 1805, one week had 10 days. The 7th day, traditionally a holiday - “holy day” - became a typical week day. An attempt at secularization. Every 10th day was made the rest day. John Adams called this change "superficially frivolous" and "coarsely vulgar". Sociologist Zerubavel notes that the 10-day week was meant to disrupt the “traditional, sacred seven-day cycle”. Purpose was to disorient people and make them lose track of “Sunday”. That is, the day for going to Church. And having a weekly sitdown with the divine
The French Revolutionary Calendar was designed by the top experts of the day. The chief designer: CG Romme (Physics professor). Mathematicians & astronomers chipped in. Tradition/old habits didn’t matter. The designers answered “solely to the principles of Reason and Science”
Sociologist Zerubavel: “The Revolutionary Calendar was introduced in an age which advocated the total obliteration of the old order in the name of progress & modernity: the beginning of the new Republican Era marked the total discontinuity between past & present” Ring a bell?
Every calendar has “critical dates” which are suffused with a symbolic importance. The Revolutionaries changed the first day of the year from January 1 to 22nd September - the day of the “foundation of the French Republic”. Society was to spin not around religion but politics. Days which had a unique flavor due to their religious significance like “the saints' days, Sunday and the Church's religious holidays” were abolished. Each day became mathematically and symbolically alike. Differences were to be erased - whether among people or on the calendar
By adopting calendrical rhythms alien to the rest of the world. The French created artificial barriers to communication, understanding, and ultimately trade. How would you fix delivery schedules with a country whose calendar is untranslatable into yours?... By denouncing all authority as arbitrary, the revolutionary finally harms himself. On what grounds will HE govern once the king is gone? In hindsight we can see the “boomerang effect” of the Calendar redesign. If the old dogmas were random. Why are the new ones any better?
The people HATED the new Calendar. It made them work for 9 days straight instead of 6. Plus it was confusing. Special clocks were made to translate the Revolutionary calendar into the Gregorian calendar and back. People’s age-long habits were redesigned without their consent
STALIN imposed a new calendar too. The week was cut to 5 days to eliminate the holiday of Sunday. Days were assigned colors, and workers were given colors. When it was your colored day, you took a day off. Families and friends had different colors and so they never hung out"
