WatchOut News (Archive)

The Bloemfontein High Court heard that murdered Lindley farmer Adriaan (‘Attie’) Potgieter was tortured to death: stabbed over 150 times when he and his family were attacked on December 1, 2010 and murdered. Potgieter, his wife Wilna and their 2yo daughter Wilmien, were murdered on the farm Tweefontein which Potgieter was managing. Wilmien and her mother both were shot at close range: execution-style, forensic testimony revealed. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/mr386p82

Nelson Mandela is dead, and South Africa without “Madiba” will be much the same as it was before: a wreck of a country with slowly collapsing infrastructure, high crime, and the slow-motion genocide of Afrikaners. None of this much matters to the opinion makers of what used to be the West. For them, the true hallmark of leftist totalitarianism isn’t brutality - it’s kitsch, and we’ll see plenty of that. Mandela was on every magazine cover, the Internet was drowning in sentimental schmaltz, and Facebook was littered with sanctimonious status updates. The truth is, the saintly visage of Mandela - all crinkly eyes and warm smiles - conceals a violent past as a terrorist. He was the founder of uMkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress, and played a key role in the ANC’s embrace of armed struggle after a “general strike” failed miserably. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/2ba778ed

The state of emergency that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared in July 2016 gave him the power to expand a purge that has seen an estimated 60,000 people either arrested or suspended from their jobs. Much of that purge has targeted members of a massive, wealthy and influential spiritual movement led by Fethullah Gülen, a former imam living in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Gülen has not set foot on Turkish soil in 20 years, but his name evokes strong emotions among Erdoğan supporters. “We are here to care for Tayyip Erdoğan. Let the angels take him under their wings, and Fethullah Gülen be damned,” said Songül Yildirim, a housewife attending a rally in support of the Turkish president in Istanbul. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/mt5bubu9

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has said that he won’t spare reputations in his efforts to get to the bottom of a scandal that has hit public trust in the asylum process. What is the so-called 'Bamf affair'? What is the BAMF affair? The scandal centers around the Federal Office for Immigration and Refugees, which goes by the acronym BAMF. The BAMF office in Bremen is accused of wrongfully granting asylum to over a thousand refugees between 2013 and 2016 who had their applications dismissed in other federal states. Prosecutors in Bremen are currently investigating the former head of the Bremen office, Ulrike B., and various employees on suspicion that they took bribes in exchange for granting favourable decisions. In April, prosecutors searched six private properties and the offices of two law firms as part of their investigation. While it is not yet certain whether BAMF employees in Bremen received money in return for granting asylum, a lawyer's office in Hildesheim is said to have charged €1,000 to ensure that the Bremen office handed down a positive decision. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/4w5yc73b

The residents of a luxurious area of Paris told RT that they’re afraid troublemakers are among the newcomers after the authorities settled around 170 migrants in the area. Earlier this week, hundreds of migrants were cleared from their makeshift camps along the canals in the French capital, and some of them were moved to a newly-built shelter in Bois de Boulogne park. The green area is located along the western edge of the wealthy 16th arrondissement of Paris, which hosts the home of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, the Parc des Princes arena of PSG football club as well as the Roland Garros tennis stadium where the French Open is currently underway. The move came as a surprise for the locals, who said that they now have security concerns. “I think that people here are not very pleased that this people [migrants] are here,” one of the 16th arrondissement residents told RT. “They are afraid that some of them must be very difficult… some of them are very-very nice, I’m sure, but a little part of them are, maybe, bad.” Read more: https://tinyurl.com/mrybfzsm

Farmers who can afford it are leaving. Favorite destinations are the US , Australia and New Zealand. Others stay in the country and get involved. To protect themselves, white South Africans prefer to stay among themselves and live in closed settlement communities, where they also organize their private security services, because the state police are no longer reliable. But these settlements are repeatedly forced by the government to allow more diversity. In the case of the settlement “Orania” in the Cape region , the Boers have come up with something special. They have built the settlement on a large private property and officially registered as a kind of company. Their idea: Orania should enable the inhabitants to live their culture freely without state influence and control. Orania even has its own currency and flag of its own. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/4ev9wneu

The major religions in Japan are Buddhism and Shinto. Shinto is as old as the Japanese culture and Buddhism was imported from the mainland in the 6th century. Islam is a minority religion in Japan with only 100,000 Muslims, 90% of which are foreigners residents and only 10% are pure Japanese. Islam in Japan has been existing for many years, more than what people would have expect. It started in the 1870s when Islam was introduced to Japanese people as a part of Western religious thought. At the same time, the life of Muhammad was translated into Japanese which helped Islam to spread and reach more Japanese people. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/335p4bm2

How German Gutmenschen neglect their own people. For the first time in Frankfurt, Germany's Financial Heart, more than half of its residents now have a migrant background, according to official data from the city’s Office of Statistics and Elections. Presenting the figures, which show that 51.2 per cent of people living in Frankfurt have a migrant background, the city’s secretary of integration Sylvia Weber said: “We have minorities with relatively large numbers in Frankfurt but no group with a clear majority.” Representing 13 per cent of the population, Turks are the city’s largest non-German minority, and 61 per cent of residents who were born abroad are citizens of other European Union (EU) countries. And the German Gutmenschen keep on singIng. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/yj42cvmc

In fear of their leadership, British police officers would rather put themselves in harm’s way. Shockingly, the main reason police are unarmed is because the officers refuse to carry guns. They have a sensible reason for not wanting guns, but it’s depressing. Every time someone is shot by the police in the UK, the case is referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). In practice, this means the officer is investigated by his professional standards body automatically and can face the sack and prosecution if it rules against him. These investigations are lengthy, stressful, and carry a huge amount of risk for the officer concerned. In fact, they are so feared that not only do the police refuse to be routinely armed, specialist firearms teams struggle to find candidates willing to do the job. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/2t8xcj57

The video was taken on March 11, 2018 and shows Afghan female laborer Sitara Wafadar, 18, wo dresses as a male in order to support her family, posing for a brick factory in Sultanpur village in Surkh Rod District, in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar Province. Sitara Wafadar, has disguised herself as a boy for more than a decade so that she can work and perform other male-only duties for her impoverished Afghan family. In Afghanistan’s patriarchal society, a cross-dressing custom known as “bacha poshi” allows for daughters to dress as men and, in doing so, essentially function as sons. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/mr386p82

In the post-colonial history of Africa two armed forces stand out, namely those of Rhodesia and South Africa. Those boys and men made it into the history books for spectacular operations, ingenuity, dedication, and gallantry Rhodesian SAS, Selous Scouts and Rhodesian Light Infantry troops formed the backbone of South Africa’s 5th Special Forces Regiment, bringing a lot of experience and determination to fight to an already famous South African Defence Force (SADF), much like Finnish-born Captain Larry Thorne did when he joined the U.S. Special Forces in the 1950s in order to carry on his fight against communism. For their part, the SADF were no slouches either. Though mostly a conscript force whose soldiers did two years of service followed by “camps” (yearly reservist deployments to the border or hotspots), their toughness, determination and ingenuity manifested itself in the Caprivi Strip, at the battle of Cuito Cuanavale and special forces raids on ANC facilities in Zambia, Angola and Botswana. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/mpev677v

Devout Muslims believe that a world without alcohol (and pork and Jews) would come too close to Paradise. When asked to rationalize the Quranic commandment that bans “even a drop of alcohol,” the pious mindlessly perseverate a limited litany of explanations: Because alcohol consumption is unhealthy, it paralyzes social life and causes crime by prompting drinkers to behave badly, and it is the main reason for fatal road accidents. Is there absolute truth in all that? Read more: https://tinyurl.com/39cyd6ee

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has failed to protect female migrant domestic workers from beatings, hunger, overwork, underpayment and forced labour, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday, urging authorities in the Gulf State to end the traditional kafala visa sponsorship system, which perpetuates much of the exploitation. In a new report, HRW said the kafala system, which decrees that a domestic worker cannot move to a new job before their contract ends without the employer’s consent, trapped many women in abusive conditions. There are at least 146,000 migrant domestic workers in the UAE, most of them from Asia and Africa. “The UAE’s sponsorship system chains domestic workers to their employers and then leaves them isolated and at risk of abuse behind the closed doors of private homes,” said Rothna Begum, Middle East women’s rights researcher at HRW. “With no labor law protection for domestic workers, employers can, and many do, overwork, underpay and abuse these women.” Read more: https://tinyurl.com/2fsd4rd9

The influx of migrants has had significant effects on Germany’s birth rates. In 2016 there was a 7 per cent surge in new-borns, the country’s Federal Statistics Office reported on March 28, 2018. In the year 2016, a total number of 792,131 children were born in Germany. Compared with 2015’s total of 737,575 new-borns, the number had increased by 7 per cent in a single year. A large increase in the number of these births were registered among migrant women. They were having 25 per cent more babies totaling 184,660, while an increase of 3 per cent was seen among women with German citizenship, who had 607,500 babies.

Black people in South Africa must get over it and leave the back-breaking but crucial agriculture industry firmly entrenched in white farmers’ hands. In fact, just forget about the government policies trying to address the emotive land issue. If blacks, who had been dispossessed of their land for centuries, can’t use it productively, they should forget about farming and pursue other careers. Lucky Selamolela, spokesman for the political start-up African Economic Party (AEP) made these controversial remarks during an interview with The Star on Thursday, as he discussed his party’s priorities for the upcoming municipal elections. He said organised agriculture had also done little to change the face of the industry, seen to be dominated by white commercial farmers, therefore rendering black farmers to peripheral roles within the multibillion-rand sector. And to that end, no further land should be transferred to black people until such time that they are mentally fit to toil the land, thus fulfilling the biblical scripture that by the sweat of your brow shall you eat. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/4h7zupza

Apartheid was never truly abolished in South Africa, the races were just reversed. One could even argue it is worse today. Julius Malema, the leader of the far-left Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) party, led a huge crowd in chants of “Kill the Boer.” The term Boer is an Afrikaan and Dutch referring to white farmers. White farmers are facing potential genocide thanks to “leaders” like Malema. His supporters say they are ready to kill or die for the white-owned land. The video shows Malema dancing and and then he begins singing in Afrikaans before switching to English. He can be heard shouting the following words multiple times: Shoot to kill. Kill the Boer! The farmer! He concludes his sick rant by making gun noises. The bloodthirsty audience echoes his cries throughout.

Denmark's immigration minister Inger Stojberg, known for her hardline stance on migration, has drawn ire from people on social media after she said that in order to pass language tests, asylum seekers cheat and abuse the trust of authorities. Inger Stojberg of the ruling center-right Venstre party, cited a Facebook group that provides answers to Danish language and culture tests, which all migrants have to take in the Nordic country. “A significant group” of refugees who have come to Denmark “cheats, lies and abuses our trust,” she wrote in an editorial in BT, a Danish tabloid newspaper. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/bdh82pcf

For a period of 51 years, from 1910 until 1961, South Africa, with exactly the same borders that it has today was a colony of Britain. It was called the Union of South Africa. It wasn’t until 1961 that South Africa became an Independent Country and was officially named The Republic of South Africa. During the time when the country was under the British, the South African whites (Boers) were very dissatisfied with the way things were done and they wanted nothing and absolutely nothing less than self-rule; self-determination. The right to decide their own future. Now, everybody knows that the Boers are fiercely patriotic and proudly nationalistic. I must confess that I know of no other people who are so proud of their identity, so confident of their abilities, and so optimistic about their capabilities and prospects like the Afrikaners of South Africa. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/yc5srr52

A gray haired and bearded man was caught in the act while performing, what looks like a virginity test, on a very young girl. The person playing the main role, was claimed as being Sheikh Mohammed Qasim Al Nasooh an Imam in Deir ez-Zor, Syria and that the girl is his granddaughter. According to her behavior she obviously endured his virginity tests from very young age. Being an Imam, grandpa clearly is familiar with the 'Sirat Rasul Allah' (Life of the messenger of Allah) and enlightened his granddaughter about the prophet and his wife Aisha. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/yc4bww8m

Muhammad Saad al-Beshi’s first job was in 1998 in Jeddah. "The criminal was tied and blindfolded. With one stroke of the sword I severed his head. It rolled meters away." Of course he was nervous, he says - there were a lot of people watching, after all - but now stage fright is a thing of the past. He says he is calm at work because he is doing God's work. "But there are many people who faint when they witness an execution. I don't know why they come and watch if they don't have the stomach for it. Me? I sleep very well." Muhammad Saad al-Beshi beheads up to seven people a day. "It doesn't matter to me: Two, four, 10 - as long as I'm doing God's will, it doesn't matter how many people I execute," says Saudi Arabia's leading executioner. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/42wt5wfh

In an interview as bizarre as they come, Hajj Abd al-Nabi, a chief warrant officer in the Egyptian police, boasted that he has executed as many as 800 criminals of every stripe, calling the death penalty he carries out “the law of Allah.” “In all honesty, I love my work. I just love it! I never say ‘no’ when they need me at work,” al-Nabi, an animated man who gesticulated throughout the interview, told the reporter. With a hint of a smirk, the gravelly voiced executioner said that he honed the art of his trade as a child, calling himself “a little Satan.” At the age of 13 or 14, al-Nabi said, “my hobby was to catch a cat, to place a rope around its neck, to strangle it, and throw it into the water. I would get hold of any animal – even dogs. I would strangle these animals and throw them into the water – even dogs.” “Strangulation was my hobby” Read more: https://tinyurl.com/42wt5wfh

German authorities opened an investigation into allegations that 19 Turkish imams affiliated with the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs were spying on members of Gülen’s flock on behalf of Turkey’s state-run Religious Affairs Directorate, Diyanet. Investigators reportedly possessed documents confirming that Diyanet’s foreign relations boss, Halife Keskin, had personally instructed Turkish missions around the world to gather information about Gülenists. The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe, however, announced earlier this month that it had closed the case. One of the reasons cited for the dismissal was that the “defendants believed they had to fear significant repression by government agencies in Turkey if they had refused to implement the mission of Diyanet.” Read more: https://tinyurl.com/bdeh8hzv

Erdogan in Turkey is grabbing more power which is both worrying the West but also the Middle East as everyone wants to know where does this journey end. Does Turkey lose all of its western liberal identity and become an Islamic state with no real democratic aparatus nor real press? Some say we're there already but this short explainer-type film from Vox does a good job at explaining what's really at stake.

Muslim women living in Germany have been brutally murdered by family members. Their crime? Trying to break free and live Western lifestyles. Within their communities, the killers are revered as heroes for preserving their family dignity. How can such a horrific and shockingly archaic practice be flourishing in the heart of Europe? The deaths have sparked momentary outrage, but will they change the grim reality for Muslim women? Read more: https://tinyurl.com/5n7wj494

More than four months of relentless fighting and continual air strikes have left Raqqa in ruins and almost completely devoid of people. The Syrian Democratic Forces, along with the U.S.- and British-led coalition, have successfully managed to capture the city, which is also the capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate of the Islamic State. What seemingly managed to slip under the public radar is the fact that local Syrian officials made a deal with ISIS fighters that allowed both them and their families to escape unharmed. In wake of recent events in Syria, it seems that the reason Syrian officials made the deal was to end fighting in the city ruins and spare the lives of the Kurdish, Arab and other forces fighting the Islamic State. However, the fact that the mass exodus of ISIS fighters and their families was kept secret has raised numerous red flags when it comes to the safety of the region. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/yc56z493