'No more migrants' – Sweden changes its asylum policy

"If migration levels are so strong that integration is no longer successful, we risk further problems," said Prime Minister Löfven on the topic of accepting refugees

Sweden, a country with one of the most liberal asylum policies in the world, is drastically changing its attitude towards migrants.

Although the country will provide material aid to Greece, it has decided not to accept any refugees from the burned Moria camp or other Greek islands, unlike Germany, which has agreed to take in 1,500. Sweden has thus joined Austria and the Visegrád Four countries of Hungary, Poland, Czechia, and Slovakia, which refuse to accept migrants from the camp, writes Czech news portal Novinky.

It is not clear whether the change of course in asylum policy concerns only the problem of relocating the 12,500 people from the destroyed Greek Moria camp, or whether Sweden is changing its approach to migration in general. The fact is, however, that the topic of migration dominated the 2018 Swedish elections, and Prime Minister Stefan Löfven is now under pressure. As Swedish media points out, his minority government coalition with the Green Party is the weakest in 70 years.

In 2015, Sweden recorded over 160,000 asylum applications, which was the highest number per capita in Europe. Sweden, along with Germany, was one of the most sought-after destinations for refugees. At the time, the country was proud of its liberal approach.

"My Europe does not build walls," said Prime Minister Stefan Löfven at the time.

AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

After five years, the country faces a dramatic increase in crime and failures in its integration efforts.

"If migration is so strong that integration is no longer successful, we risk further problems," said Prime Minister Löfven last week.

Sweden struggles with the spread of gang-related crime in socially disadvantaged suburbs. For example, since the beginning of this year, 27 people have died during the shootings between criminal organizations. Almost all the victims were young men and members of migrant gangs, wrote the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau daily, which writes that the growth in clan violence has "shifted the discourse in the country".

Deputy Police President Mats Löfving's televized appearance dropped like a bomb in Sweden last month where he described a "systemic threat" of migrant gang clans in the country, with his interview hotly debated for weeks. 

"These clans have come to Sweden solely to organize crime. They work to create power, they have a great capacity for violence, and they want to make money. And they do that through drug crimes, violent crimes, and extortion," said Löfving, who made remarks during an interview on Ekot's Saturday program on Swedish Radio. 

And despite a welcoming attitude in 2015, the attitudes of Swedes are also changing, with a majority of them saying they want to reduce immigration, according to polling research. 

Furthermore, the number of sexually motivated attacks is also on the rise, and "no-go" zones, which are areas barricaded off to civil or military authorities, are expanding. 

Sweden has some of the worst statistics on rape in Europe with 73 per 100,000 citizens reporting a case of rape in 2017, representing a 24 percent increase in the last decade.

In contrast, Hungary and Poland, both countries which have been opposed to mass migration, have seen dramatically lower rape rates in the country, even when accounting for different methods of reporting. Hungary's rate is 3.9 per 100,000 citizens reporting the crime of rape in the country, while Poland's rate is even lower, at 3.2 per 100,000.

The fight against criminal gangs is facing severe difficulties, and according to Swedish sociologist Göran Adamson, 58 percent of the perpetrators of crimes committed in 2017 were migrants.

"When the migration is to such an extent that integration no longer works, it is clear that there will be social tensions in society, and that is not good," said Löfven in a television interview.

His words are being seen as a sign that serious mistakes have been made in Swedish integration efforts.

Australian researchers have made a vital breakthrough in combating deadly sepsis

Australian researchers have made a vital breakthrough in combating the deadly sepsis, identifying the gene which triggers cell death and inflammation in sufferers. Scientists from Australia's La Trobe University revealed their findings on Tuesday, describing them as a major breakthrough in the fight against sepsis, which has struggled to make significant progress for the past several years.

Sepsis is an overreaction of the immune system to infection, causing extreme inflation, leading to blood clots and blocking oxygen from reaching vital organs – causing more than 11 million deaths worldwide every year.

The team from La Trobe found in cell based and animal tests that removing the protein receptor, TREML4 leads to almost absolute protection from sepsis. They also identified the human equivalents of the TREML4 receptor, with the next step to develop therapeutic antibodies for use in clinical trials. Lead researcher Dr Christina Nedeva explained that sepsis wreaks havoc with the body's immune system and therefore its ability to fight infection. "The initial inflammatory phase, or septic shock, is followed by a prolonged immunosuppression phase, which commonly leads to pneumonia. While the shock accounts for about 15 percent of sepsis-related deaths, the immunosuppression phase accounts for 85 percent," Nedeva said. "Excitingly, we've discovered the TREML4 gene regulates both of these phases."

While sepsis is both deadly and widespread, current therapies such as the use of steroids have made little progress in reducing the death toll. "Steroids reduce inflammation, but they also wipe out the immune system, preventing our body from fighting both mild and serious infections," study lead supervisor, Associate Professor Hamsa Puthalakath explained. "The removal of TREML4 can be described as the 'Goldilocks' approach, in that it leaves the body with some inflammation, but the immune system remains uncompromised and is healthy enough to fight off infection." Puthalakath added that there have been more than 100 clinical trials for sepsis-related therapies in the last 25 years, none of which have proved successful. "La Trobe is on the forefront of potentially life-saving research. We hope to secure new funding for the next stage of our study, which will focus on the development of therapeutic antibodies against the TREML4 receptor," he said.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency

PM Boris Johnson confirms his plans to make the UK a world leader in green energy

"Some people used to sneer at wind power... and say it wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding," says Boris Johnson, who used to sneer at wind power, and say it wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding.

He adds, "We will become the world leader in low cost, clean power generation. In ten years time, offshore wind will be powering every home in the country."