1. Here is an excellent resource I have seen for the spread of the current Ebola outbreak. You can pause it, once you start playing it, anytime and click the article links as well. I plan to watch it a few times. First time through what I found interesting was that the percentage of deaths to infections seem to climb from the start of the outbreak where it appears to be around 50% to closer to 75% by now.
2. Saudi top cleric blasts Qaeda, IS as ‘enemy No 1’ of Islam
(This article helps make a lot of sense out of a lot of the world’s handling of Islam. One can see that the strategy of having a government controlled ‘head imam’ who keeps the religious rabble under control while answering to the powers that be is not unique to Russia or even, in the case of the Catholics, to the British. Think Henry VIII. It is a losing strategy though unless you consider Dagestan a peaceful place or Saudi Arabia a secular paradise.
His statement though is an excellent example of an attempt to steer the religious by the state using half truths and spin doctoring. To give the devil its due however, at least that aspect of it is indeed islamic)
3. The Catholic pope appears to want an international coalition to stop the Islamic State but also seems not to want to use violence. He is willing to stop them, but doesn’t say how.
4. Israel delegation pulled from Cairo peace talks as Hamas launches missiles on Israel.
(Please note the name of this AP video)
5. UK: An interesting DM article about a man jailed for 17 years for keeping a sex slave.
(My question is, why did he actually get a sentence he deserved this time? Usually they don’t face anything like 17 years. Could it be because the victim is also a muslim? Is this another example of back door sharia?)
A picture has emerged of the British Consul General to Jerusalem wearing an Arab Keffiyeh (scarf) with the Palestinian flag draped over the entirety of the State of Israel and the Palestinian territories. The image depicted on the scarf is the one used by protesters and belligerents in the region who wish to see the State of Israel wiped off the map.
Thank you M., Wrath of Khan, Tundra T., Richard and Yucki and all who sent in links with many who cannot be named. Tis the age of the famous Chinese Curse indeed.
GAZA – Hamas fighters show defiance in Gaza tunnel tour with Reuters crew
Hamas fighters, clad in black and armed with assault rifles, navigated the dimly lit tunnel with ease, saying they felt at home in their network of underground passages in the Gaza Strip.
A rare tour that Hamas granted to a Reuters reporter, photographer and cameraman appeared to be an attempt to dispute Israel’s claim that it had demolished all of the Islamist group’s border infiltration tunnels in the Gaza offensive.
“We are speaking to you today from inside one of those tunnels, which Israel said it had destroyed. Our men are still operating in those tunnels prepared for all options,” said a masked fighter from Hamas’s Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/108819/World/Region/Hamas-fighters-show-defiance-in-Gaza-tunnel-tour-w.aspx
#2 If the Saudi Royal Family is having their tame cleric make statements like this they are starting to worry about IS and thinking it has a real chance of being a major threat to Saudi.
#5 A Moslem male being a normal Moslem male.
4/ The Israeli kids here for summer camp are on their way back to Boston from New Hampshire – via Niagara Falls! (They really, really wanted to go there. Why?)
They were originally scheduled to fly back on Tuesday, but now it’s up in the air. All of them come from the most affected communities, and most have at least one parent serving in the IDF. The older kids settled in well, but the last couple of weeks have been kind of ragged.
Some of them just have to go home, they’re too worried. Whatever they decide with their parents is fine with us. The rest will be enrolled in a combination of public & private schools here, mostly staying with families of kids they already know from camp.
As for kids aged 4 to 8, you’d have to rip them away from us. They’ve been absorbed into huge Orthodox families, but they really belong to the entire community.
* * *
Despite Ongoing Rockets, School Year to Start on Schedule
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184273#.U_Xav0uPXY0
Israeli schools to focus on Gaza war ordeal
The Israeli Ministry of Education announced Monday that the first two weeks of the school year, set to start on September 1, will be devoted to the country’s warfare against Gazan militants that raged during the summer.
All students throughout Israel, especially those in communities close to the Gaza Strip, will take part in a number of activities focusing on their feelings after 40-day flaring of hostilities between Israel and Hamas.
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/society/40818-140819-israeli-schools-to-focus-on-gaza-war-ordeal
Update: Most of the kids are staying. Six insist on going back to help with siblings. Lastest news from home has been fraught.
Death of Israeli toddler triggers large-scale evacuation
“I take comfort in knowing that you were loved until the very last moment,” says mother at funeral • Lapid: “No reason why we should continue bearing such pain” • Overwhelming majority of Nahal Oz residents leave as a result of ongoing rocket fire.
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=19643