Large blaze erupts near iconic Paris train station Gare de Lyon

A major fire has broken out in the vicinity of the iconic Paris train station, Gare de Lyon. The blaze prompted the evacuation of the station, while the public is advised to avoid the area.

The fire erupted near the station late on Friday. Footage from the scene shows open flames in the street outside the landmark, as well as a large plume of black smoke billowing over the area.

The blaze has apparently been started by a group of people on the sidelines of a concert, which took place at a nearby venue. Footage from the scene seemingly shows rowdy public trying to prevent the firefighters from extinguishing the flames.

The police described the apparent unrest as “unacceptable abuses,” announcing evacuation of the train station and urging the public to avoid the area.

https://www.rt.com/news/481955-large-blaze-paris-train-station/

“We Need a FOX News in Europe!” – Jews in Germany Appeal to Rick Grenell for Help Against Horrid Leftist Media

Writing in German Jewish monthly “Jüdische Rundschau“, Oliver Veld has appealed to US ambassador and acting DNI Richard Grenell for help against a left-wing media onslaught on free speech and conservatives in Europe.

Conservatives have been under intense fire in Germany from a coalition of the ruling center-left parties, left-wing media and violent Antifa ever since the opposition AfD helped elect a governor in the East German state of Thuringia February 5. The leftist outcry forced the duly elected governor Thomas Kemmerich (Free Democrats) to step down, after a wave of Antifa violence against Free Democrats and the conservative Values Union in Angela Merkel’s formerly conservative Christian Democrats (Gateway Pundit reported).

After a paranoid schizophrenic man went on a shooting spree Feb. 19 in the town of Hanau, killing 9 mainly Kurdish immigrants at two Kebap stands, the left-wing media have been trying to pin the “racist” killings on the right-wing AfD party, even though the obviously crazy lone shooter released a video in English days ahead of the rampage directed at US viewers, warning them of US president Donald Trump and “deep underground military bases where they worship the devil and torture and kill little children” in the United States.

Now, writing in „Jüdische Rundschau“, which also issues a Russian edition catering to the large, and largely conservative Russo-Jewish community in Germany, pundit Oliver Veld appealed to the US ambassador in Berlin and DNI Richard Grenell to help create a “German Fox News” to counter the massively one-side anti-American and anti-Conservative media in Germany:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/we-need-a-fox-news-in-europe-jews-in-germany-appeal-to-rick-grenell-for-help-against-horrid-leftist-media/

Angry Judge Orders Hunter Biden To Appear For Deposition In Child Support Case

Hunter Biden must appear in Little Rock, Arkansas to give a deposition in his child support case, after a judge rejected his attempt to delay until after most of the key Democratic primary debates, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

"He needs to make himself available unless his hair is on fire," said Circuit Court Judge Holly Meyer during a Wednesday conference call, denying Biden's request to delay until April. Biden's lawyer told the court this week that the former Ukrainian gas company board member was "too busy" to appear.

Biden has been ordered to show up on March 11 or March 12 to answer questions, said Meyer, while a pre-trial hearing is scheduled for March 13.

An April deposition would have meant the 50-year-old Biden's potentially embarrassing appearance would have happened after several decisive state primaries - including next week's Super Tuesday, in which his father will attempt to salvage his imperiled campaign.

Hunter is being sued in the paternity case by former stripper Lunden Alexis Roberts, 28. The court determined last month that he was the father of the toddler identified as Baby Doe, after he claimed the child wasn't his.

"My client can be available April 1, 2020," Biden's lawyer Brett Langon told the court this week, adding "My client cannot be available prior to that date."

Meyer shot back with some spice: "My questions to you is, why could your client not be available until after April 1?" she asked. "All the information I have is that he’s unemployed."

"It’s not good enough for him to just say, ‘I’m not available,'” she said. “I need to know why he’s not available or where he is or what could possibly be more important than what’s going in this case."

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/angry-judge-orders-hunter-biden-appear-deposition-child-support-case

'Stakes higher' in Idlib but NATO 'won't run to Erdogan's aid' despite efforts to have allies intervene in Syria

NATO will not offer anything more than words of support to its member Turkey despite Ankara's efforts to rally its allies after Turkish soldiers came under fire from the Syrian Army in the Idlib 'de-escalation' zone, RT was told.

NATO's collective defense pledge is "not applicable in the case of Turkey because we have an armed conflict on Syrian soil," Sergey Balmasov, an expert with the Russian International Affairs Council and the Moscow-based Institute for the Near East, told RT. Ankara requested an urgent NATO meeting on Friday, shortly after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in an airstrike by the Russian-backed Syrian Army in the country's Idlib province. NATO has issued condolences but no military aid.

The US-led military bloc's founding treaty states that its members are duty-bound to defend each other only if one of them is attacked in Europe or North America. "Turkey's European partners understand this very well. They wouldn't want to get dragged into Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's territorial claims," Balmasov said, while admitting that "the stakes have grown higher" in Idlib in recent weeks.

Nobody in Paris or Berlin will run to Erdogan's aid, especially considering that he himself behaves at times as if NATO doesn't exist, and remembers about NATO only when he needs to.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg argued that Friday's meeting in itself was "a clear sign of solidarity with Turkey." Balmasov added that the generic statements of support are probably all Ankara will get. He believes it is "very unlikely that [US President Donald] Trump will decide to quarrel with [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin because of Erdogan's actions," and "neither Americans nor anyone else will seriously fight because of Turkey."

Jamal Wakim, a history and international relations professor at the Lebanese University in Beirut, said that NATO member states will not move to "raise the tensions with the Russians," despite Erdogan's efforts to "pressure" them into intervening on his behalf in Idlib.

"That is why Erdogan has reverted back to blackmailing the European Union [with threats] about opening the Turkish border for Syrian refugees to cross through Turkey to Greece and other EU states," he told RT.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Turkish troops came under Syrian fire because they were acting within combat units of the terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an offshoot of Al-Qaeda in Syria, that launched an offensive within the Idlib 'de-escalation zone' set up by Russia and Turkey in 2018. Moscow also claimed that Ankara failed to notify it about the presence of its personnel in the area.

https://www.rt.com/news/481928-nato-turkey-syria-idlib/

Leaked Internal Reports Show China's Main Priorities Are Controlling Public Opinion, Social Stability

Chinese officials in Wuhan and other cities within Hubei Province, where the novel coronavirus outbreak is most severe, reported to their higher-ups in the provincial government that people are not able to secure treatment, running out of supplies amid restrictive lockdown measures, and feeling fearful and anxious about the spreading disease.

Despite such observations, authorities prioritized how to “control the society” and “manipulate public opinion” to view China’s efforts to contain the virus positively, according to internal government reports that The Epoch Times obtained.

Authorities in the city of Shiyan, for example, listed their working targets as:

“monitor closely petitioners and people whose benefits have been severely damaged”—in other words, people most likely to dissent against the authorities;

“strictly prevent key people and groups from assembling and making trouble;”

and “punish heavily the people who spread improper speech or rumors related to the epidemic.”

‘Increased Social Anger’

The Political and Legal Affairs Commission (PLAC) is a Communist Party agency that oversees the country’s security apparatus, including police, courts, and prisons. In the wake of the outbreak, local branches of the PLAC in Xiaogan, Shiyan, Xiantao, and other cities within Hubei, have recently written up “working reports on how to control society.”

The local PLACs described difficult living conditions after authorities suspended transportation, public gatherings, and economic activities in order to prevent the virus from spreading.

“Because the epidemic is getting worse and worse, the control methods must be upgraded. People have experienced lots of difficulties due to the comprehensive suspension of business operations, transportation, schools, and so on,” the Shiyan city PLAC wrote in its report to the Hubei PLAC on Feb. 16.

“After the city was locked down, the majority of residents lost their income,” the Shiyan PLAC said.

“Overall, people have strong negative emotions, such as grief, panic, anxiety, and suspicion. The feeling of anger among society has increased.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/chinas-internal-reports-on-coronavirus-response-our-main-priorities-are-controlling-public-opinion-social-stability_3253554.html

HIDDEN IN THE DETAILS: The Market Downturn is Being Blamed on Fears of Coronavirus But Several Experts Claim It’s Due to Actions By the Fed

In 2018 Jerome Powell and the Fed destroyed the hottest stock market and economic growth in US history costing the country trillions and blunting the growth rate.

It was a greater market decline than during the 9-11 attacks.

Fed chairman Jerome Powell is either a complete idiot and failure or a compromised political operative.

He should have shown some integrity and resigned over a year ago

The markets downturn this week is blamed on coronavirus fears but it may be just as much related to actions by the Fed, per the analysis of experts in the financial sector.

The Markets took a dive this week but even with the worst four days in DOW history, the markets remain up more than 40% since the 2016 election.

This week’s economic downturn was almost invisible when looking at the DOW historically:

The cause of the downturn was universally claimed as related to the coronavirus. But some say the FED is to blame for the market downturn.

For one, the Fed has reached an all-time high for Treasury holdings which are offset by repo lendings:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/hidden-in-the-details-the-market-downturn-is-being-blamed-on-fears-of-coronavirus-but-several-experts-claim-its-due-to-actions-by-the-fed/

https://youtu.be/5Hvn4OTiiTA

Gold Tumbles - Is The BoJ Back In The Market?

Gold prices are down over $50 this morning, despite a collapse in stocks and bond yields - and generally weak trend lower in the dollar..

https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/gold-tumbles-boj-back-market

100s of DEAD voters still registered for 2020 election in Pennsylvania – lawsuit

An Indiana-based law firm is suing Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in federal court for having hundreds of dead people registered to vote in the upcoming 2020 election, among other bizarre irregularities.

The lawsuit alleges that some 1,600 dead people are registered to vote in the 2020 election, while almost 1,200 people are registered to vote without a date of birth listed, and some have even listed the 1800s as their birth years, all violations of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

“One registrant is stated as being born in ‘June 1800,’ the same year Thomas Jefferson won eight of Pennsylvania’s 15 Electoral College votes against President John Adams,” the lawsuit filed against Allegheny County, Pennsylvania by the Public Interest Legal Foundation claims.

The nonprofit law firm behind the suit is run by a former member of President Donald Trump’s now-disbanded Voter Fraud Commission.

In addition, almost 200 of the county’s 900,000 registered voters have no date of registration, and 35 have unclear or out-of-state addresses. Almost 7,500 voter registrations have been flagged as duplicates, with one individual registered to vote up to seven times in one day while others are registered to vote three or four times.

“We are not assigning any kind of bad intent to the registered voters of Allegheny County. We don’t even really believe they know this is happening. This appears to be errors that are occurring inside the four walls of the elections office,” Public Interest Legal Foundation spokesman Logan Churchwell said.

Bucks, Chester and Delaware Counties have also come under scrutiny for failing to make “reasonable efforts” to maintain voter lists, threatened with a similar lawsuit by the conservative group Judicial Watch in December.

https://www.rt.com/usa/481922-lawsuit-voter-fraud-pennsylvania/

>>8275418

European Nightmare As Turkey "Opens The Gates" On Refugees While Covid-19 Ravages Nearby Iran

As coronavirus ravages Iran and threatens to spread through the broader Middle East, potentially hitting refugee and war-torn populations hardest, it appears Erdogan is now making good on prior threats to "open the gates" of a flood of refugees on Europe. On Friday top Turkish officials were quoted as saying Turkey has no choice but to "loosen" its stance on the some 3.4 million refugees it is hosting.

This was the immediate, and perhaps predictable reaction, to Thursday's dramatic escalation involving the deaths of some 33 Turkish soldiers in Idlib via airstrike, in the single deadliest day for Turkey in Syria throughout the entirety of the war. Widespread early reports said it was a Russian strike, but in a sign that Ankara doesn't want to confront the more formidable Russian Air Force, it has blamed Syrian forces.

Turkey has announced it has opened its until now sealed border with Idlib for at least 72 hours, and will allow unhindered passage of refugees to Europe.

So it begins, as Middle East Eye reports:

Turkey will open its southwestern border with Syria for 72 hours to allow Syrians fleeing the pro-government forces' assault free passage to Europe, Turkish official sources have told Middle East Eye.

The decision came after a security meeting chaired by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara late on Thursday after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in Syria's Idlib province.

A senior Turkish official said on Thursday that Syrian refugees headed towards Europe would not be stopped either on land or by sea.

The European Union is downplaying the fact that crowds of Syrian refugees have already been seen en route to Greece via land borders as well as the Aegean Sea.

Buses in Istanbul were filmed providing transport to refugees and migrants to the Bulgarian and Greek borders.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/european-nightmare-turkey-opens-gates-refugees-covid-19-spreads-region

‘Fair trial threatened’ as judge rejects Assange request to sit with lawyers: Day 4 of US extradition hearing as it played out

Day four of Julian Assange’s extradition hearing saw lawyers discussing whether international law supersedes English law and a dramatic rejection by the judge of a simple request for Assange to be allowed to sit with his lawyers.

Snowy and wet weather didn’t deter the WikiLeaks founder’s supporters who gathered outside the Woolwich Crown Court and could again be heard inside the courtroom itself.

It was expected that the day would begin with Judge Vanessa Baraitser considering an application by the defense for Assange to sit on the benches with his lawyers, rather than in the glass-fronted dock where he has been so far, flanked by security guards, and unable to communicate with his team or hear proceedings properly.

Instead, however, the court offered Assange headphones to help him hear. He took the headset and Edward Fitzgerald QC for the defense said they would “give it a try” but he would need to be “glued to the mic” to ensure Assange could hear him and it may not be a proper solution.

It was not the last that was heard of the issue, which blew up dramatically later in the day.

‘Subverting parliament’

Legal arguments kicked off with James Lewis QC for the prosecution rehashing points made on Wednesday that English law contains no exception to extradition for “political offenses” and that this trumps international law. On the contrary, the defense has argued that a 2003 US-UK extradition treaty (along with a slew of other treaties and international conventions), do prevent extradition for political offenses — and that this is more relevant.

Lewis argued that Fitzgerald was trying to introduce an exception through the “backdoor” and subverting the intention of parliament. He also argued that “political offenses” would need to mean Assange explicitly aimed to overthrow the US government or incite a change in policy — and said it was not clear that this was the whistleblower’s goal when he leaked information.

Lewis also reiterated his argument from Monday’s hearing that Assange was not being prosecuted for leaking information to the media, but for putting “lives at risk.” The prosecution has not, however, been able to prove that any lives were actually lost due to WikiLeaks’ actions — and the defense has, over the past three days, made a thorough case that Assange went to great lengths to redact documents, even warning the US government directly when other actors were about to dump unredacted versions online.

https://www.rt.com/uk/481823-assange-judge-denies-bench-lawyers/

‘Don Jr. Better Not Get Close To Me’: Democratic Congressman Appears To Threaten Trump Jr.

Democratic California Rep. John Garamendi appeared to threaten Donald Trump Jr. during a Friday morning interview on MSNBC.

Garamendi told host Hallie Jackson more than once that Trump Jr., who has suggested that some Democrats would prefer a pandemic so that they could blame it on President Donald Trump, should not make such comments in his presence.

“He better not get close to me,” Garamendi said during a portion of the media appearance.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/02/28/coronavirus-john-garamendi-threat-donald-trump-jr-msnbc-hallie-jackson/