WARSAW (Dispatches) – The leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) has denounced the EU as a “culturally alien” project led by a neo-imperialist Germany, saying it was “the sacred duty” of Polish politicians to oppose it. 

Speaking at an economic forum in Karpacz this week, Jarosław Kaczyński said, “We had to join the EU just to exist and develop,” adding, “There was no other way back then.” It was something Poland had affirmed at the time of accession by passing a resolution to defend its sovereignty, Kaczyński added. The leaders of the party have recently shown intentions for an anti-EU and anti-German climate as it would face competition in next year’s parliamentary elections. Kaczyński further denounced the opposition that they are being supported by Germany to rule over Europe and are kneeling to neighboring powers that will enslave Poland. “In the EU, there is a rule: who is stronger is better,” he said while explaining that the essence of the EU project had been revealed.

 

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MARYLAND (Xinhua) – Two adults and three children have been found dead at a residence in Cecil County, in the U.S. state of Maryland.  The Cecil County Sheriff’s Office said in a release that a male individual called 911 in the morning to report that three children and a female had been shot and were dead. Deputies arrived at the residence in the unit block of Hebron Court in Elk Mills and observed an unresponsive subject inside of the detached garage. They entered the residence where they ultimately discovered five dead people in various locations inside the residence and the detached garage, according to the release. “All of the deceased appeared to have suffered gunshot wounds,“ the release read. “A semi-automatic handgun was located near the dead man.” “This is a tragic and terrible day for our county and our community,“ Cecil County Sheriff Scott Adams told reporters Friday afternoon. Investigators were on the scene executing a search and seizure warrant and actively investigating the incident.

 

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STOCKHOLM (Anadolu) – A mosque in Sweden affiliated with Turkey’s Presidency of Religious Affairs was pelted with stones in an attack on the place of worship, an official said on Friday. Mehmet Ozer, an official from the Jonkoping Mosque in southern Sweden, told Anadolu Agency that they noticed the attack when they went for Friday prayers. “The incident was reported to the police and relevant authorities,” Ozer added. “This is the third attack on our mosque in the last three months. We’re filing our complaint, but we aren’t too hopeful, as we didn’t get any results from the previous complaints.” Ozer said that the kitchen window of the mosque, affiliated with the Swedish Religious Foundation, was broken in the attack, and they suspect that the attack was made with racist motivations.

 

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CANBERRA (Al Jazeera) – Refugees in Australia are stepping up pressure on the three-month-old government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to deliver on a promise to give them permanent protection visas that would allow them to work and study and live more normal lives. More than 1,000 refugees, advocates and activists converged on Parliament House to press their case. “We’re here because we want action, we want change. We want to be acknowledged within this community,” said Mostafa Faraji, a speaker at the rally in Canberra. At the moment, there are 31,000 refugees living in Australia on various temporary visas that put limits on their lives – whether it is for work, study or family relationships. In the run-up to May’s election, Albanese’s Labor party promised to abolish some of the temporary visas and provide permanent protection in their place. During the protest, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs of Australia Andrew Giles, posted a statement on social media reiterating the promise and saying it would be fulfilled “as soon as possible”.

 

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AUCKLAND (Al Jazeera) – Five people are reported to have died after a boat in New Zealand capsized, reportedly after a collision with a whale, local media reported. New Zealand’s public broadcaster RNZ (Radio New Zealand) reported on Saturday that the boat capsized off Goose Bay near the South Island town of Kaikoura. Eleven people were on board the vessel when it overturned and five bodies were later recovered by emergency services workers, RNZ reported, citing local police. Six people were rescued. “Police said the boat overturned after a ‘collision’, but could not confirm what it collided with,” the broadcaster reported. Kaikoura’s Mayor Craig Mackle told The Associated Press news agency that the sea was calm at the time of the accident and the assumption was that a whale had surfaced from beneath the boat and flipped it. Mackle said there were sperm whales in the area and also some humpback whales travelling through at the time. The boat that capsized had been chartered by a group of women.

 

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JAKARTA (AFP) – A strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Papua region Saturday morning and was followed by a 5.8-magnitude aftershock minutes later, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Both quakes hit at a relatively shallow depth of 15 kilometers (9.3 miles), about 272 kilometers from the town of Abepura, according to the USGS. No casualties or damages were immediately reported by authorities but the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BKMG) warned of moderate shaking and light damage in a tweet. Indonesia experiences frequent earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide, that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. A 6.2-magnitude quake that shook Sulawesi island in January 2021 killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless, reducing buildings to a tangled mass of twisted metal and chunks of concrete in the seaside city of Mamuju.