rpannier
rpannier's JournalSecret bunkers and mountain hideouts: hunting Italy's mafia bosses
On the slopes of the Aspromonte mountains, Pasquale Marando, a man known as the Pablo Escobar of the Calabrian mafia, the feared ’Ndrangheta, built a secret bunker whose entrance was the mouth of a pizza oven.
Less than 10 miles away, Ernesto Fazzalari, who allegedly enjoyed trap shooting with the heads of his decapitated victims, lived in a 10 square-metre hideout in the formidable southern Italian range. When authorities came for him in 2004, Fazzalari, then the second most-wanted mafia boss after Matteo Messina Denaro of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, had already escaped through a secret tunnel under the kitchen sink.
Before his eventual arrest in 2016, Fazzalari spent 20 years as a fugitive in the Calabrian mountains, where the wanted men of the ’Ndrangheta have for decades planned and built elaborate mirror cities underneath their villages. It is a literal underworld of bunkers located behind sliding staircases, hidden trapdoors and manholes linked by endless tunnels that merge and separate, leading to escape routes among the sewer system or amid the brambles of a dry river bed.
To smoke them out of their holes the Italian authorities formed a special military unit composed of elite and highly trained soldiers known as the Carabinieri Heliborne Squadron, or the Cacciatori, literally: the hunters.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/22/calabria-cacciatori-hunting-italy-underground-mafia-bosses-ndrangheta
Just remember, when Lindsey Graham says he didn't see anything in the hearings that changed
his mind
Ask him, "How would you know if there was anything? You said you weren't going to watch."
or you could say, "You didn't watch! So of course you saw nothing!"
Who Is The Ethnic Serb Nationalist Slated To Lead Bosnia-Herzegovina?
Without a government for more than a year due to ethnic-political discord, Bosnia-Herzegovina took a big step toward resolving its leadership deficit when Bosnian Serb nationalist Zoran Tegeltija was nominated as prime minister on November 19.
Tegeltija is a close political ally of ultranationalist Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency and the leader of Republika Srpska's ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD). Tegeltija has been a member of the SNSD for more than two decades.
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Dodik and the SNSD declared Republika Srpska's neutrality in 2017 and, since then, have blocked efforts to move Bosnia-Herzegovina toward NATO membership.
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Tegeltija, 58, is an economist and finance expert from Mrkonjic Grad -- a small town in Republika Srpska's western region of Bosanska Krajina where Bosnian Serbs suffered atrocities at the hands of Croat and Bosnian Croat forces at the end of the Bosnian War.
https://www.rferl.org/a/tegeltja-ethnic-serb-nationalist-prime-minister-bosnia-herzegovina-/30283267.html
In Syria, A Mutilated Corpse, Video Evidence, And New Scrutiny For Russian Mercenaries
The graphic video shows four men in camouflage gear exchanging jokes in unaccented Russian as they pour flammable liquid over a man's mutilated corpse strung up on two wooden beams.
Before setting it alight and watching it burn as they pose for the camera, they scrawl a Russian phrase praising the country's airborne forces on its chest.
snip
The newspaper ties the men to Vagner, a shadowy Russian mercenary group widely believed to be spearheading the expansion of Russian influence across Africa and the Middle East.
In its report published late on November 20, Novaya Gazeta identified one of the men shown in the clip as a former police officer from the southern Russia region of Stavropol who promised to "represent the interests of Russia abroad" in a form he allegedly submitted to Vagner upon joining the organization in 2016.
link
https://www.rferl.org/a/in-syria-a-mutilated-corpse-video-evidence-and-new-scrutiny-for-russian-mercenaries-/30285242.html
needless to say, the Russian government, "Knows Nothing! Nothing!"
Man found guilty of killing heavily pregnant ex-wife with crossbow
A man has been found guilty of murdering his pregnant ex-wife with a crossbow as she fled up the stairs, say police.
Sana Muhammad, a 35-year-old mother-of-five was killed on November 12, 2018, at her home in east London.
She was eight-months pregnant at the time.
Ramanodge Unmathallegadoo, 51, had hidden in the shed at the end of Sana's garden armed with two crossbows.
https://www.euronews.com/2019/11/22/man-found-guilty-of-killing-heavily-pregnant-ex-wife-with-crossbow
5 Stories from Europe You May Have Missed
1. New Push To Pass Domestic-Violence Law Angers Russia's 'Traditional Values' Conservatives
At a time when alarming cases are drawing attention to domestic violence in Russia, activists are pushing -- again -- for a law that would criminalize it. Conservative groups are pushing back. Russia is the only country in the Council of Europe that has no criminal statute on domestic violence. Of the 47 member states, only Russia and Azerbaijan have failed to sign the 2011 Istanbul Convention on combating violence against women and domestic violence.
More than 40 times over the last decade, bills on domestic violence have been introduced in the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, but none of them has passed even the first reading.
In each instance, the efforts have met staunch resistance from socially conservative organizations and self-professed advocates of so-called traditional values. That history is now repeating itself as activists and their allies in the Duma prepare yet another bill seeking to address the persistent problem.
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In October, more than 180 "traditional values" organizations and their regional branches signed an open letter denouncing the proposed bill as a purported product of "gender ideology" and an "instrument for the fundamental and forcible alteration of the basic foundations of Russian society and the destruction of our traditional family and moral values."
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-domestic-violence-law-traditional-values-conservatives/30283060.html
2. Malta's PM urged to step back from case of murdered journalist
A senior European monitor is calling for Malta’s prime minister to distance himself from the investigation into the killing of the prominent investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia due to a potential conflict of interest.
Malta’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, has the power to grant immunity from prosecution to a key witness who may have vital evidence about those who commissioned Caruana Galizia’s assassination two years ago.
However, two current members of Muscat’s government have been linked to a businessman arrested on Wednesday in connection with the killing.
snip
Investigations have revealed Fenech as the owner of a secretive offshore company, 17 Black, which Caruana Galizia was looking into at the time of her death. It was later revealed 17 Black was due to make payments to other offshore companies belonging to Konrad Mizzi, Malta’s then energy minister, now in charge of tourism, and Keith Schembri, Muscat’s current chief of staff.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/22/maltas-pm-urged-to-step-back-from-investigation-into-journalists-killing
3. Spain tracking mobile phones on massive scale for statistical survey
Spain's National Institute of Statistics (INE) has launched a controversial survey this week involving tracking mobile phones on a massive scale — and without the consent of customers.
The move raised concerns over consumers' privacy and data protection, with some questioning the legality of such a survey.
snip
The purpose is to understand mobility dynamics within the national population on workdays or during holidays
https://www.euronews.com/2019/11/20/spain-tracking-mobile-phones-on-massive-scale-for-statistical-survey
4. Court acquits mountain guide charged with helping asylum seekers
A French appeal court ruled on Thursday that mountain guide Pierre Mumber committed no crime in providing help to asylum-seekers in the Alps last year, his lawyer told Euronews
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The verdict is a relief to Mumber and his advocates, who kept saying the mountaineer only offered hot tea and warm clothes to four West Africans who arrived in France through the mountains from Italy.
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Since the beginning of the migration crisis in 2015, Mumber, like hundreds of other people living along the French-Italian border, has been participating in “maraudes”- the name that is given in France to roaming operations intended to help those in need.
The incident Mumber was charged for occurred on January 6 last year. The mountain guide and other volunteers were roaming the border when they found four migrants. One of them was a seriously injured Nigerian woman.
https://www.euronews.com/2019/11/20/crime-or-act-of-kindness-french-mountaineer-faces-suspended-sentence-for-helping-asylum-se
5. Merkel successor challenges party to back her or sack her
The embattled leader of Germany’s ruling Christian Democrats has challenged delegates at the party’s conference to back her vision or else “end it here and now”, amid deep divisions over the future direction of the party.
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer told the CDU’s annual conference in Leipzig she was putting her future on the line in response to stinging criticism over her leadership style.
The 57-year-old, who took over as CDU head from Angela Merkel almost a year ago, shocked party members towards the end of a rousing 90-minute speech by inviting them to move to vote her out if they wanted to.
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Kramp-Karrenbauer has been seen as Merkel’s successor, sometimes even referred to as “mini Merkel” since she was narrowly elected party leader last December. She was subsequently appointed as defence minister and has drawn both praise and criticism for pushing for Germany to play a stronger role on the international stage.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/22/merkel-successor-annegret-kramp-karrenbauer-back-her-or-sack-her
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Someone pm'd me asking what the criterion I used for stories I chose. I choose stories that I think are interesting and, I think, will be of interest to others. Some stories do get coverage in Europe, like the kidnapping in Romania that I posted stories last spring and how it exposed the incompetence and corruption within sectors of the Romanian government, the journalist murdered in Malta and the corruption in the Malta government that it has exposed.
Some I do not post are stories involving Trump, Brexit stories and the Separatists in Spain --unless they're peripheral (both Brexit and Spanish separatists): I debated whether to include a story on a restaurant in the UK that has said it will provide a place for homeless to vote -- I thought that was interesting (it will appear in its own thread). Brexit and Catalonia stories are easy to find and the cacophony surrounding Brexit and Catalonia are covered everywhere.
Kramp-Karrenbauer probably also is getting decent coverage in Europe right now as well. Not sure if it's getting a lot of coverage in the states. I know coverage of Malta has been sparse in the states
I do wish to thank the people who regularly check out these threads. It's nice to see the numbers of views.
Thank you
Winter War: The 1939 Soviet Invasion Of Finland (Many pics)
Shattered buildings and a car burn in Helsinki after an air raid on the opening day of the Winter War.
A Soviet plane on a bombing run.
Amid an international outcry over the unannounced attack on Finland, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov claimed on the radio that planes were dropping food supplies -- rather than bombs -- to hungry Finns.
An artillery shell explodes near a farmstead during a Soviet advance.
One cheap anti-tank weapon the Finns devised were Molotov cocktails (pictured) made of gasoline and tar.
Showing their dark sense of humor, the fighters named the firebombs after the Soviet foreign minister as a "drink to go with the food" that Molotov had claimed to be dropping on Finland. Thus giving birth to an oft-used weapon in conflicts through the decades since.
Dressed in white camouflage, the defenders were almost impossible to see among snow-dusted trees.
The invading Red Army troops initially wore dark uniforms, making them easy targets for Finnish sharpshooters.
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Rest of pics and stories about the Winter War
https://www.rferl.org/a/finlands-winter-war-with-the-soviet-union/30280490.html
Maclean's compiled a list of questions they'd like asked of Prince Andrew
https://www.macleans.ca/news/26-more-questions-for-prince-andrew-about-his-relationship-with-jeffrey-epstein/1. You say you have no recollection of meeting Virginia Roberts, who claims she was told by Ghislaine Maxwell to have sex with you. She says she was forced to have sex with you a total of three times, including twice when she was 17.
But there are lots of other young women who have been identified as having been abused by Jeffrey Epstein. Their faces have been all over the media. Do you recognize any of those faces? If yes, then please explain the circumstances.
2. Virginia Roberts (now Virginia Giuffre) has repeated her claims against you both in public and in legal filings since 2015. Aside from a few blanket written statements denying any involvement in Epstein’s crimes, you have never specifically refuted her claims regarding that day in London on March 10, 2001. Now you say you took your daughter, Beatrice, to a party at a Pizza Express in Woking and then, later, were home with your children while your ex-wife was away. You said you were reminded of your whereabouts on that day and then remembered the pizza event, which was unusual.
Who reminded you of that day?
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12. Did Epstein give any other money beside that one payment to anyone in your family? Describe the circumstances. Has that money been paid back?
13. Has Epstein ever done a favour for you or your family? Describe the circumstances.
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15. Do you understand why so many find it unbelievable that you went to New York, stayed in his mansion for four days, and took part in a dinner party in order to end your relationship with him, because he was now a convicted sex offender?
16. Why stay there—even if it is a “convenient place to say”—as there are lots of hotels in New York?
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22. Was Epstein vetted before being allowed into those royal residences? If not, do you now vet such guests?
23. You said you met Ghislaine Maxwell earlier this year, before Epstein’s arrest. Given all the allegations against her, that she procured young girls for Epstein and helped cover up his crimes, why are you still meeting her?
https://www.macleans.ca/news/26-more-questions-for-prince-andrew-about-his-relationship-with-jeffrey-epstein/
Sesame Street - Goodbye Mr. Hooper
Just Because. How true
Many in the cast were barely able to hold it together
This was one of their best ever and one of the best on death on TV ever
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Member since: Fri Jan 30, 2004, 05:44 AM
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