Austria’s largest newspaper has received an unexpected response after its columnist claimed that the term “population replacement” was not appropriate for the Alpine land. Hundreds of people said it is the reality they live in.

Austria’s Kronen Zeitung daily has admitted that it received“hundreds” of letters from its readers in just over a week, after they said they felt like foreigners in their own homeland because of mass immigration.

The strong response was provoked by the paper’s columnist, Conny Bischofberger. In an interview with Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, she called the notion of “population replacement” a concept used by “far-right extremists.”

The term, which describes the gradual replacement of a native population by immigrants, is popular among those on the far-right. They use it to portray growing ethnic and religious diversity as a result of some deliberate malicious actions taken by “anti-popular forces.”

After she was confronted by people asking why they should not use the term, Bischofberger dismissed it in an explanatory piece as a conspiracy theory and a mere “feeling” that “may or may not correspond with the real general demographic developments.” However, she apparently failed to strike a chord with Kronen Zeitung readers, who sought to explain that this was a reality they have been living with for years.

“We were a happy household until 10 years ago. Then everything collapsed like a house of cards,” one person wrote to the newspaper.

“The mood in our condominium has deteriorated so much that we (65 and 68) are ready to move away to finally be able to live in peace again,” another couple wrote.

“Foreign-language parents with their children do not bother to speak our language… It’s sad, but one doesn’t feel well anymore,” another message read.

After receiving hundreds of similar messages, Bischofberger still insisted that, for many people, the notion of “population replacement” came in handy as it allowed them “not to think about the problem behind” mass immigration. However, she also admitted that “it would be cheap to defame all those people, who wrote to the Kronen Zeitung, as xenophobes, racists or far-right extremists.”

Those people were apparently asked “to accept too much migration” and did not receive enough attention from the authorities, the columnist said.

Austria took in one of the largest numbers of asylum seekers per capita during the refugee crisis. Some 150,000 people were accepted by the Alpine land since 2015 – which accounts for over one percent of its total population. Such developments gave rise to widespread anti-immigrant sentiment and brought a conservative coalition to power, which adopted a strict stance on migration.

Foreigners constitute 15.8 percent of the Austrian population, and 29.6 percent in the capital, Vienna, according to a 2018 survey. In February, a former MP from the conservative Austrian People’s Party, Marcus Franz, sparked a heated discussion on social media by saying that Austrian-born girls wear headscarves to prevent assaults from migrants on the streets of Vienna.

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The Pentagon will reportedly station four B-52 heavy bombers in the Middle East in response to what the White House called a “credible” Iranian attack plan on Americans or US allies in the region.

Two of the warplanes will leave the Barksdale Air Force base in Louisiana for Qatar on Tuesday, where the other two will join them some time in the coming weeks, unnamed Pentagon sources told CBS. They will be stationed at the US Central Command’s headquarters at the al-Udeid Air Base near Doha.

The move comes after the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group set sail for the Persian Gulf on Monday. White House National Security Advisor John Bolton announced both deployments over the weekend, claiming they are a response to “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” related to an Iranian attack.

Washington wants “to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force,” Bolton said.

Though Bolton gave virtually no details about the threat, reports suggest the intelligence came from the Israeli Mossad. They, too, left the matter vague.

A Pentagon official told the New York Times on Sunday that he was unaware of any attack plan, and that the threat may have emerged in the “previous 24 to 48 hours,” but the Israeli intelligence was passed to Washington weeks ago.

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While such deployment decisions are often made well in advance, hawks in the Donald Trump administration are capitalizing on the so-called “attack plan,” portraying the deployment as a rapid, spontaneous response to a foreign threat.

In a mocking tweet, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif slammed the deployments, pointing out that the ship movements had indeed been announced weeks ago.

“If US and clients don’t feel safe, it’s because they’re despised by the people of the region – blaming Iran won’t reverse that,” Zarif said.

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Terrifying footage shot inside the Sukhoi-100 shows its wings burning as the plane travels fast on the landing strip at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. Sparks are also seen from the jet’s window.

A man’s voice is heard calling for calm. In the end of the video somebody commands to get up and go to the exit.

An emergency on board forced the Aeroflot flight SU 1492, en route from Moscow to the Russian northern city of Murmansk, turn back to Sheremetyevo. 

Leaked CCTV footage of the landing appears to show the Sukhoi Superjet-100 aircraft  bouncing off the runway and hitting it with full force, as the engines burst into flames. At least 41 persons on board lost their lives.

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The Indian Armed Forces are to be reinforced by more than 460 cutting-edge Russian-designed T-90 tanks in the near future. RT takes a closer look at what the advanced war machine has in store.

The Indian Army is expected to purchase 464 upgraded T-90 ‘Bhishma’ main battle tanks between 2022 and 2026, the Times of India reporter citing sources within the Defense Ministry. The military hardware acquired under the $1.93 billion contract will be deployed to India’s border with Pakistan to enhance its “shock and awe” capabilities.

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The tanks will be assembled at the Avadi Heavy Vehicle Factory (HVF) from prefabricated parts supplied by Russia. Moscow has extended the manufacturing license for New Delhi in early April. The Indian Army already has around 1,070 T-90 tanks as well as 2,400 older T-72 tanks and 124 domestic ‘Arjun’ models in its 67 armor regiments.

So, what capabilities do these new tanks have?

1. Control over battlefield in online mode

One of the core features of the new T-90 variant is its highly sophisticated control system, which allows the crew to regularly get a full picture of the situation on the battlefield.

“The data are immediately transferred between the unmanned aerial vehicles, the command structure and reconnaissance units,” military analyst Sergey Suvorov told RT, adding that all the information about the battlefield is available at the tank commander’s computer.

The new system makes it easier for a tank unit to exchange information online and adapt to the constantly changing environment as well as forms a unified information network. This new systems ideally fits India’s new strategy that involves agile integrated battle groups (IBGs) centered around the T-90 tanks, along with a mix of infantry, artillery, air defense, signals and engineers, backed by attack helicopters.

2. Impenetrable defense

The Russian developers managed to greatly increase the tank’s defense characteristics. All manned compartments are equipped with a state-of-the-art anti-spar liner made from special cloth from aramid fiber. Tanks are also capable of surviving a head-on hit by any type of modern munition. At the same time, their radar visibility has been reduced, thus making it harder for the enemy to target T-90s.

The war machines are also outfitted with new universal explosive reactive armor systems ‘Relict’, which increase the tanks’ defense against hollow-charge and sub-caliber munitions. The new adjustments were made as the engineers studied the experience the Russian forces gained during the fighting against terrorists in Syria.

3. Guided missiles & high maneuverability

The tanks also received a brand new 125mm canon, which increase the shooting accuracy by 30 percent and effective shooting distance by 15 percent. The weapon is now capable of using a whole range of modern high-precision munitions, ranging from preprogrammed remote detonation high-explosive munitions to even guided missiles, according to the manufacturers.

Despite all these upgrades, the tank’s weight remained the same and is not expected to exceed 50 tons, making sure the war machine would still have high speed and maneuverability characteristics.

4. Howling success

T-90 is considered to be one of the most popular tanks on the international arms market. Russia has sold more than 1,500 these tanks over 20 years. Apart from India, the vehicles were also acquired by seven other nations, including Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Iraq, Syria and Uganda.

Egypt is also planning to start assembling T-90 under Russia’s license starting in late 2019. India’s neighbor and regional rival Pakistan is also discussing a deal with Moscow, which would involve purchasing some 360 such tanks.  

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In a dramatic departure from its usual reliability it appears the media has got the ‘Russian spy whale’ story all wrong. Far from being a secret agent a new report suggests the whale may have actually provided therapy to children.

The, seemingly slandered, white beluga whale was the subject of countless newspaper articles and news packages last week as Western media outlets fell over themselves to engage in their latest round of Russia bashing.

Many of the breathless reports noted that the whale, who was dubbed “Hvaldimir” in Norwegian media, had a very playful disposition and was friendly towards humans. Now a fresh report from Norway’s Fiskeribladet newspaper suggests there’s a good reason for that: the whale was trained to entertain and offer comfort to children suffering from mental health problems.

Morten Vikeby, a former journalist at the newspaper, did a story on whales trained for therapy purposes near Russia’s border with Norway back in 2008. He said he believes the tame whale which appeared off the eastern coast of Norway is called Semion as he recognized it from his visit to the facility. The newspaper published archived video footage from the center on Tuesday.

Vikeby said the harnesses found on the whale were probably used to tow small boats with children on board. “That’s also the reason the whale is so social,” he said. “He thrives among people.” Several of the tricks performed by the whale in the video are similar to those performed by “Hvaldimir,” where it currently resides in Norway.

There is a notable problem with the theory that the whale is actually Semion: the friendly beluga has got distinctive scars which he got in a fight with a sea lion when he was only a calf. However, his “girlfriends” could have well learned the same tricks that he mastered. RT has requested comment from the northern Russian diving center where Semion reportedly lived.

The new theory about the whale’s origins was welcomed by Norway’s fisheries inspectorate, which currently has responsibility for the whale. “We had thought along the lines of espionage or war, but now it looks like this is a whale trained to do good,” spokesperson Jørgen Ree Wiig told Fiskeribladet. “That’s fantastic.”

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Passengers rushed to exit the ill-fated Superjet 100 while it was still speeding, and some reported that cabin windows were melting, a stewardess recalled after the fiery crash-landing claimed over 40 lives in Moscow.

Lightning struck the plane 10 minutes after take-off, Tatyana Kasatkina revealed in an interview to local media just hours after she survived the emergency landing. “There was strong hail, a noise was heard outside, then a bang occurred,” she said, adding that a flash and black smoke could be seen.

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The pilot announced that the plane was returning to the airport right away, she said, but indicated that communication was severely impaired. The plane’s light signaling was also out of order.

Kasatkina said passengers were gripped by panic as they began to jump off their seats while the plane was still traveling at high speed.

Panic intensified as the plane stopped, but there was no fire inside the cabin, the stewardess said. Some passengers noticed the cabin windows were melting, she recalled. 

As the evacuation started, she had to kick people off the plane in order to keep them moving.

A total of 41 people died in the tragedy including steward Maxim Moiseev, officials have confirmed. Moiseev died as he was trying to open the rear door of the aircraft to speed up the evacuation as fire engulfed the back of the plane, a source told TASS news agency.

The Aeroflot flight SU 1492, which was traveling from Moscow to the northern Russian city of Murmansk, suffered a crash-landing on Sunday evening shortly after take-off.

 Leaked CCTV footage suggests the aircraft bounced off the runway and then hit it at full force as its engines burst into flames.

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The US is running an unprecedented campaign to oust legitimate Venezuelan authorities, the Russian Foreign Minister said. He noted it’s typical of Washington to tell nations they are waging war against that US intentions are good.

“The attempts to force the change of government in Caracas have nothing in common with the democratic process and only undermine the prospects of a political solution,” Sergey Lavrov said, during a media conference with his Venezuelan counterpart Jorge Arreaza in Moscow. He explained that the “unprecedented Washington-led campaign to oust the legitimate government” is “in rude violation of the international law.”

“It’s a particular feature of the US that they have been projecting power for decades by explaining that they are bringing good, democracy and protection of human rights to nations they are waging the war against,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov insisted that the fate of Venezuela should only be decided and created by its people and that all political forces in the country should be included in the dialogue.
Arreaza in turn thanked Moscow for supporting Venezuela’s sovereignty and international law.

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Lavrov’s appeal to the US and their allies in respect of Caracas comes ahead of his meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Finland on Monday, at which they are expected to discuss the situation in Venezuela and other hotspots of the world.

“Cooperation between Russia and the US can play a very significant and positive role in solving most issues, if we are building this cooperation on the principle of finding common approaches,” Lavrov said, rebuking Washington for often offering one-sided solutions.
He noted that, despite disagreements on Syria, Afghanistan, North Korea and other flashpoints, Moscow and Washington hold consultations on these issues on a very professional level. “I hope that common sense will prevail,” Lavrov said.

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President Donald Trump has expressed his full support for Israel after another escalation in the conflict, when Gaza militants launched hundreds of rockets and IDF responded with massive air strikes.

“These terrorist acts against Israel will bring you nothing but more misery,” Trump tweeted, advising the Gazan people to “END the violence.”

Disregarding the Israeli use of force against residents of Gaza and the mounting casualties there, Trump stressed that the United States “support[s] Israel 100%” in its defense of its citizens’ against “a barrage of deadly rocket attacks by terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.”

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At least 18 people were killed in Sunday’s Israeli assault on Gaza, WAFA reported, as the IDF take measures protect its civilians from hundreds of rocket launches by Hamas or Islamic Jihad militants that had escalated on Saturday.

Over 320 “terror sites” had been struck by Sunday evening, the IDF said, after militants from the enclave fired over 600 rockets. At least four people in Israel were killed and at least 10 injured by shrapnel from rockets, missiles and mortar shells from the Gaza Strip, Times of Israel reports.

As Egypt and the European Union reportedly continue to attempt brokering a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian groups, the cross-border battle continues. The IDF said it targeted “observation headquarters, underground bunkers, weapons caches, military facilities, launchpads, observation posts and more” in its most recent air raids.

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Hamas and Israel have reached a ceasefire agreement, according to Palestinian and other media, following two days of intense cross-border confrontation between Gaza and its neighbor, in which both sides suffered casualties.

The ceasefire was expected to go into effect at 4:30 am on Monday (01:30 GMT), according to the Times of Israel, which noted there had been no rockets for two hours before the announcement. 

The deal, reportedly brokered by Egypt and the European Union, was also confirmed by a second Reuters source, as well as a TV station belonging to Hamas.

At least 25 Palestinians died and another 125 sustained injuries in some 320 air raids carried out by the IDF against militant targets in the enclave since Saturday, WAFA news reported, citing the Gazan Health Ministry.

Four people in Israel died as a result of the attacks, while at least 10 others were injured by shrapnel from rockets, missiles and mortar shells from the Gaza Strip, after militants launched over 600 missiles at southern Israel, local media reports. The IDF has yet to comment on the reports of a ceasefire.

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Two US warships have sailed through the South China Sea, a move that has angered Beijing. The naval maneuver comes a day after Donald Trump threatened China with more tariffs as part of an ongoing trade war.

The US military has confirmed that two of its warships sailed near islands claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea on Monday. China says the waterway is part of its territorial waters, while Washington insists that the sea is open to international transit under the principle of “freedom of navigation.”

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The US guided-missile destroyers ‘Preble’ and ‘Chung Hoon’ traveled within 12 nautical miles of Gaven and Johnson Reefs in the Spratly Islands, Reuters reported.

Commander Clay Doss, a spokesman for the Seventh Fleet, described the maneuver as “innocent,” arguing that it served to “challenge excessive maritime claims and preserve access to the waterways as governed by international law.”

The Chinese Navy reportedly asked the US vessels to leave.

“The relevant actions of the US warships violated China’s sovereignty and undermined peace, security and good order in the relevant sea areas,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a press briefing.

“The Chinese side expresses strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to the operation, Geng added, noting that the ships had entered the area “without permission.”

The move comes hours after US President Donald Trump announced he would hike American tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods this week and target hundreds of billions more soon. The threat was made amid faltering negotiations between Washington and Beijing to end a months-long trade war.

The resource-rich South China Sea is the subject of conflicting claims by a number of countries, including China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The US has been regularly sending its warships to carry out patrol missions in the disputed area, a policy decried by Beijing.

The South China Sea isn’t the only waterway that has seen recent US activity. The White House announced on Sunday that it would deploy the USS ‘Abraham Lincoln’ Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the Middle East, in an effort to “to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime.”

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