Reader’s links for Jan. 28 – 2016

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In order to preserve the flow of conversation about various posted items, and also in order to make it easier for visitors to find the list of related links being shared by other readers, regulars and interested parties in one place, each day a post is automatically created at a minute past midnight ET.

This way, under the various posts of the day, conversation can take place without as much ‘noise’ on the various links and articles and ideas in the main posts and all the news links being submitted can be seen under these auto-posts by clicking on the comments-link right below these ones.

Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

80 Replies to “Reader’s links for Jan. 28 – 2016”

  1. Anger As Christian Hymn Renamed ‘Allah’s Love Is Wonderful’ At School

    Austrian authorities are investigating after children were sent home from a kindergarten with homework to learn the words to a Christian hymn, which had the word ‘God’ replaced with ‘Allah’.

    The Austrian parent of one child at the Muslim majority school in Oberösterreich complained after he found the handout given to his daughter with the words and musical notation for the popular German children’s hymn ‘Gottes liebe ist so wunderbar’ (God’s love is so wonderful) had been edited and photocopied with new lyrics.

    The school claimed they made the change to ‘Allah’s liebe ist so wunderbar’ to satisfy the majority of 10 year old pupils in the class, who are Muslim, reports Kronen Zeitung. While ‘Allah’ translates literally as God from Arabic, the angry father protested that schools simply cannot go about re-writing Christian hymns.
    ……..
    While inspector Karin Lang has given an explanation for the homework, that she admits Christian and Muslim pupils at the school were given segregated homework as a matter of due course may cause even more concern in a country which is working to integrate, rather than ghettoise migrant youth. She said: “The teacher had distributed to the Christian and Muslim pupils different texts.

    “In the case, a child must have received the wrong copy into their folder”.

  2. Report: City Govt Turns A Blind Eye To Islamist Infiltration Of Schools, ‘Cooperates’ With Salafists

    The author of a new Austrian government report on radicalisation in schools has gone on record suggesting the government “cooperates with Salafist or Islamist organisations”, and the funding by foreign governments of projects in Europe is akin to colonisation.

    Commissioned by the Austrian integration ministry to investigate the state of Islam in the nations kindergartens, university of Vienna professor Ednan Aslan has spoken out about his disturbing findings in an interview with Der Standard. Painting a bleak picture of Salafist and Muslim Brotherhood religious extremists controlling schools and apparently doing so with the acquiescence of regional and national politicians, the Turkish born academic said the government should in future carefully scrutinise where exactly foreign money for projects in Austria was coming from.

    Refusing to give exact numbers on the numbers of concern schools falling under specific negative influences in Austria, professor Aslan told the paper a “conservative estimate” put the total number of so-called “problematic” Islamist schools at 150.

    Explaining how so many schools are able to have come under the influence of radical Islam without being detected or challenged in Austria, the professor first explains about “intellectual Salafism”. He remarks they go to great lengths to keep below the radar by fastidiously following the rules set by the Austrian state, while running their own programme of fundamentalist education. He said:

    “They are very legalistic, attaching great importance to education and avoiding conflicts with the legislation, but internally operate a conservative, very [doctrinaire] theology… in a Kindergarten the status of legislation in Islamic theology is valued higher than reason, the woman is depicted as inferior to the man”.

    Secondly he explains the “naive” approach of the city of Vienna working together with Salafist and Islamist organisations, which appears to be at least an unofficial policy of turning a blind eye. Remarking his research team had easily turned up flyers and publications containing evidence of extremism from problem schools, professor Aslan expressed it should be possible for the employees of the city to do the same.

    The fact the city government is unable to do this shows there is “no control”, an oversight he suggests which would not be permitted should a right wing group attempt to infiltrate schools in the same way as Islamists have.

      • Austria’s geographic position places it at the center of all wars that have even a partial component in the Mideast, combine this with the left trying to use Islam to take over the world as well as past history and Austria is in position to once again play a major role in either defending the west of betraying the west.

  3. Volunteer made up dead Berlin refugee, police say

    Police in Berlin said on Wednesday evening that there was “no dead refugee”, after news that a young Syrian man died after queuing for days outside a government office had spread on-line

    Berlin Interior Senator Frank Henkel said on Thursday that he wanted consequences for the volunteer.

    http://www.thelocal.de/20160128/no-dead-refugee-berlin-police

  4. Australia terror accused discussed ‘kangaroo bomb’ (BBC, Jan 28, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-35425665

    “An Australian teenager allegedly discussed packing a kangaroo with explosives, painting it with an Islamic State symbol and setting it on police, a Melbourne court has heard.

    Sevdet Ramadan Besim, 19, was committed to trial on Thursday after pleading not guilty to four terror charges.

    He is accused of plotting to run down and behead a police officer in Melbourne on Anzac Day.
    Mr Besim was one of five teens arrested in police raids in April last year.

    Prosecutors alleged on Thursday that he was communicating with a teenager overseas about a planned attack…”

  5. Iraq’s 1000km trench ‘to repel suicide bombers’ (BBC, video, Jan 28, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35426000

    “A new front line has been emerging in Iraq, separating the semi-autonomous Kurdish region not just from the militants of the so-called Islamic State but also from the rest of the country. The Kurds say the 1000km trench is designed to repel suicide bombers but there are fears in Baghdad that it is the first step in the break-up of the country. The BBC’s Ahmed Maher travelled to Rabiaa, a town in the north-west, to see the trench.”

  6. German cabinet seeks expulsion of convicted foreigners (DW, Jan 27, 2016)
    http://www.dw.com/en/german-cabinet-seeks-expulsion-of-convicted-foreigners/a-19008232

    “Foreigners convicted of serious crimes could be evicted from Germany under a draft bill adopted by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet. The move comes four weeks after New Year’s assaults in Cologne.

    Merkel’s cabinet on Wednesday reacted to lingering outrage over mass thefts and sexual assaults against women by forwarding to parliament a bill seeking to provide German authorities more scope to expel foreigners, including asylum-seekers, for serious offences.

    Senior opposition Greens parliamentarian Volker Beck described the cabinet’s move as a knee-jerk “pseudo solution” amounting to only the “politics of symbolism” amid Europe’s crisis on refugee arrivals.

    Germany’s Central Register of Foreigners, based in Cologne, lists some 8.2 million foreign residents of which 4.5 million are non-EU nationals, according to the Federal Statistics Office.

    The cabinet’s move precedes a series of crisis talks in Berlin Thursday that will involve the premiers of Germany’s 16 regional states (or Länder) whose municipalities face the task of accommodating asylum seekers….”

  7. Top French court rejects suspending state of emergency (france24, Jan 28, 2016)
    http://www.france24.com/en/20160127-france-top-court-rejects-state-emergency-suspension

    “The Conseil d’État, France’s highest court on administrative justice, on Wednesday rejected an appeal to suspend a state of emergency imposed after the November 13 Paris attacks.

    The appeal, filed by the Paris-based Human Rights League (known by its French acronym, LDH) ) suggested that if the state of emergency could not be suspended, the Conseil d’État should at the very least suspend some of its measures, such as house searches and the ban on public gatherings.

    In its ruling delivered Wednesday, the Conseil d’État noted that, “the imminent peril justifying the state of emergency has not disappeared given the continuation of terror threats and the risk of attacks.”

    The Conseil d’État – France’s top court on administrative justice, which also serves as the legal advisor of the executive branch – also ruled that French President François Hollande’s decision “not to end the state of emergency does not carry a serious and manifestly illegal infringement of a fundamental freedom”….”

  8. Daesh launches Dari-language program on ‘Voice of the Caliphate’ in Nangarhar (khaama, Jan 28, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/daesh-launches-dari-language-program-on-voice-of-the-caliphate-in-nangarhar-4526

    “The loyalists of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) which is locally known by its Arabic name Daesh launched a radio in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan about three months before .

    They would broadcast Pashto language programs through the radio named ‘Khilafat Ghag Radio’ or ‘Voice of the Caliphate’.

    But the group has now begun its programs in Dari language as well.

    According to a report published by VOA news, ‘Voice of the Caliphate’ has two hours of broadcasting in Dari language on daily basis.

    The signal of the radio could be received in the provincial capital ‘Jalalabad city’ and a number of districts including Shinwar.

    Ataullah Khogyani, spokesperson for the governor of Nangarhar province says that Daesh radio is active in areas of Shinwar District which are on the border with Pakistan.

    According to Khogyani, the radio station does not have a permanent location and changes every hour across the border.

    However, Pakistan claims that ‘Voice of the Caliphate’ is being operated from Afghan soil and its signals go far into areas of tribal belt on the border with Afghanistan.

    Programs of the radio are propaganda-base trying to recruit fighters to stand with Daesh against the government.”

  9. Heinous ISIS making MILLIONS trafficking wartime drug that makes fighters feel INVINCIBLE (express, Jan 28, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/638725/Islamic-State-ISIS-Daesh-Drugs-Pills-Syria-Captagon-UN-United-Nations-Trafficking-War

    “THE depraved Islamic State (ISIS) is cashing in on millions of dollars by trafficking a banned amphetamine that makes fighters feel “invincible”.

    The drug, known as Captagon, is being increasingly trafficked from Syria to other areas of the Middle East, according to the UN.

    Captagon, which has been available since the 1960s and was used to treat attention deficit disorder, masks feelings of pain, fear and hunger, while keeping fatigue at bay.

    The evil Paris attackers were believed to have taken the drug before brutally slaghtering 130 people in November.

    It was put on a list of controlled substances by the World Health Organisation in 1986, however the drug is used recreationally throughout the Middle East.

    The UN office on drugs and crime (UNDOC) said former fighters have given anecdotal evidence to suggest Captagon is used by all sides of the Syrian conflict….”

  10. Cameron REFUSES to let 3,000 migrant children in Europe come to Britain (express, Jan 28, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/638759/Cameron-REFUSES-to-let-3-000-migrant-children-in-Europe-come-to-Britain

    “DAVID Cameron has rejected calls to allow 3,000 migrant children who are wandering Europe to come to Britain.

    The Prime Minister refused calls from charities and the Labour party to let the young people cross the border to the UK.

    Instead, UK authorities will accept refugee children who will be taken directly from the Middle East to Britain.

    The Government will ask the UN to identify children to send straight to the UK from countries like Turkey and Lebanon.

    Mr Cameron said the strategy would be more effective than taking children who have already made the dangerous trip to Europe – many unaccompanied….”

  11. Desperate Norwegians create ASYLUM GUARDS to protect school children from migrants (express, Jan 28, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/638622/Desperate-Norwegians-create-ASYLUM-GUARDS-to-protect-school-children-from-migrants

    “GUARDS have been positioned around a school in a bid to protect children from attacks by migrants.

    Extra security measure have been enforced by a city council in Norway after the announcement a transit centre for refugees in set to open nearby.

    Scared parents insisted on better measures to keep their children safe after horror stories of girls being raped and abused by migrants across Europe have emerged.

    The migrant centre will open just a few hundred meters from Lysaker School in Bærum.

    At a public meeting parents said their community was under threat and security ‘compromised’ by the decision to place the centre near the school.

    Bærum Council has promised to place asylum guards along a dark passage used by children to get to and from school, and they will be in place shortly.

    School leader Susanne Kaaløy said: “I wouldn’t really call it security.

    “It’s more like grownups being present to provide security for the children and parents.

    “Basically [the project was launched] after parents raised their concerns.

    “This is an initiative to show that we listened to the parents.”

    The request for the guards comes as tensions are growing in Scandinavia between the locals and migrants…..”

  12. German police were ordered not to prosecute migrants two months before New Year sex attacks: Documents show officials thought it was pointless as so few arrivals had any ID

    Officers in Kiel were ordered not to prosecute migrants for certain crimes

    They were told there was little chance of success because of ID issues

    Guidelines issued in northern German town in October, documents show

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3420623/German-police-ordered-not-prosecute-migrants-two-months-New-Year-sex-attacks-Documents-officials-thought-pointless-arrivals-ID.html

  13. Austria RAPE COVER UP

    Asylum seeker found guilty of rape will not be deported. A 17-year-old asylum seeker who raped a 72-year-old pensioner has been jailed for 20 months.

    The pensioner, whose daughter Sylvia was a helper working with refugees, had been walking her dog alongside the canal in Traiskirchen, where Austria’s largest refugee centre is located.

    She was attacked last autumn, but police admitted it was not reported at the time to local media because of the sensitivity of the subject.

    http://www.thelocal.at/20160128/asylum-seeker-found-guilty-of-rape-will-not-be-deported

    • The signs/intelligence says that the Moslems have and still are infiltrating large numbers of fighters into the west and are smuggling in weapons for the coordinated attack on all of the European nations. The coming attacks are meant to overwhelm the local police and military forces and compel the European nations to surrender.

      I doubt if they expect the attacks in the US and Canada to cause a surrender but they are expected to do enough damage that the Moslems will have time to consolidate their control of Europe before North America can act. Given the extent of damage that Obama has done to the US military if a crash rebuilding of the US military is ordered it will take a minimum of one year before our military forces are strong enough to begin the liberation of Europe.

  14. NATO Considering US Request for AWACS to Fight Islamic State (abcnews, Jan 28, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/nato-us-request-awacs-fight-islamic-state-36567745

    “The NATO chief said the alliance is considering a U.S. request to provide AWACS surveillance planes to help in the fight against the Islamic State extremist organization.

    NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Thursday that “we are now looking into that request. And this is a decision that will be taken by 28 allies” unanimously.

    The Transatlantic alliance is not directly involved in the fight against Islamic State, though the United States and all other NATO member states also belong to the coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria.

    Stoltenberg said the AWACS question will be considered at a February meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, but declined to predict when a decision might be taken.”

  15. VIDEO: ‘It’s not clear if the Holocaust is a reality or not,’ Iran’s supreme leader says

    http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran/VIDEO-Its-not-clear-if-the-Holocaust-is-a-reality-or-not-Irans-supreme-leader-says-443006

    Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday once again repeated provocative assertions about the Holocaust, defying the world on a day that it paused to remember the victims of the Nazi genocide in Europe.

    Ayatollah Ali Khamenei released a video in which he said America “assists the fake Zionist regime” and that when “they say in their slogans that they are opposed to terrorism and ISIS they are lying,” according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

    Of the Holocaust, Khamenei remarked: “It is not clear whether the core of this matter is a reality or not. Even if it is a reality, it is not clear how it happened…This is the ignorance that exists in today’s world. We should be awake. [Muslims] should know that we can stand up against the ignorance.” “Who assists the fake Zionist regime,” Khamenei says in the video. “Who supports them, who clears the road for them, who stands behind them.”

    “It is Western powers headed by America that are doing so. This is while they say in their slogans that they are opposed to terrorism and ISIS.”

  16. Zika virus could become ‘explosive pandemic’

    US scientists have urged the World Health Organisation to take urgent action over the Zika virus, which they say has “explosive pandemic potential”.

    Writing in a US medical journal, they called on the WHO to heed lessons from the Ebola outbreak and convene an emergency committee of disease experts.

    They said a vaccine might be ready for testing in two years but it could be a decade before it is publicly available.

    Zika, linked to shrunken brains in children, has caused panic in Brazil.

    Thousands of people have been infected there and it has spread to some 20 countries.

    Would it be wrong to eradicate mosquitoes?

    The Brazilian President, Dilma Roussef, has urged Latin America to unite in combating the virus.

    She told a summit in Ecuador that sharing knowledge about the disease was the only way that it would be beaten. A meeting of regional health ministers has been called for next week.

    Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Daniel R Lucey and Lawrence O Gostin say the WHO’s failure to act early in the recent Ebola crisis probably cost thousands of lives.

    They warn that a similar catastrophe could unfold if swift action is not taken over the Zika virus.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35425731

  17. Germany urges doubling of funds in Syrian crisis (thelocal, Jan 28, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.de/20160128/germany-urged-to-double-funds-in-syrian-refugee-crisis

    “A Syria donors’ conference in London next week co-hosted by Germany will urge participating countries to double the amount of money they are giving to tackle the humanitarian crisis, Downing Street said on Wednesday.

    On a call between the leaders of Britain, Germany and Norway, they agreed “that all countries in attendance should look to at least double their 2015 financial contribution to the crisis,” Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said in a statement….”

  18. Car bomb at Yemeni presidential palace in Aden kills seven: officials (reuters, Jan 28, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-idUSKCN0V61N8

    “A suicide car bomb killed seven people outside Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Rabbu Hadi’s residence in the southern city of Aden on Thursday, local officials and eyewitnesses said.

    “A suicide car bomb targeted a security checkpoint about 500 meters (yards) from the Maashiq palace,” the official told Reuters by telephone.

    “Seven people were killed and 10 were wounded. The majority of the casualties are civilians,” the official said of the latest in a series of deadly attacks by militants on government and security targets.

    The officials said President Hadi was inside the building at the time of the attack and was unharmed…”

  19. Six out of 10 migrants to Europe come for ‘economic reasons’ and are not refugees, EU Vice President Frans Timmermans says (independent, Jan 27, 2016)
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/six-out-of-10-migrants-to-europe-come-for-economic-reasons-and-are-not-refugees-eu-vice-president-a6836306.html

    “More than half of all migrants to Europe are motivated by “economic reasons” and are not fleeing war or persecution, the vice-president of the European Commission has said.

    Dutch politician Frans Timmermans said the majority of migrants to Europe are from North African countries such as Morocco or Tunisia, where there is no conflict.

    “More than half of the people now coming to Europe come from countries where you can assume they have no reason whatsoever to ask for refugee status… more than half, 60 per cent,” he told Dutch broadcaster NOS.

    He said his statement came after viewing new figures from EU border agency Frontex which have not yet been officially published.

    Mr Timmermans also said that to ensure the support for genuine asylum seekers and refugees was available, economic migrants should be “returned as quickly as possible,” according to DutchNews.nl….”

    • Rights group: fearing refugees, West curtails human rights

      ISTANBUL (AP) — Western governments fearful of terror attacks and the potential threat posed by refugees are adopting counterproductive policies in the name of security, Human Rights Watch said in its world report Wednesday.

      HRW executive director Kenneth Roth said “fear of being killed or starved” drove millions of people to flee Syria and other conflict zones in 2015, while fear of “what that influx of asylum-seekers would mean, particularly in Europe, led many governments to try to raise the gates” to block refugees.

      He chided Europe and the United States for allowing fear of terrorism — particularly since November’s Paris attacks — to give rise to “blatant Islamophobia and shameless demonizing of refugees” which alienates the very communities that could help in counterterrorism efforts.

      “As a counterterrorism measure, Islamophobia is the last thing you would want,” he said.

      The organization unveiled its annual report reviewing human rights practices around the world in Istanbul. Turkey is home to 2.2 million Syrian refugees and the main departure point for migrants headed to Europe.

      Roth urged Turkey, which has been promised $3 billion by the European Union in aid to prevent the outflow of migrants, to avoid measures such as turning refugees back to Syria or becoming party to any EU effort “to deny the basic rights of people to flee persecution.”

      The estimated 1 million asylum seekers who reached Europe by sea in 2015 would represent only 0.20 percent of the European Union population if member countries shared in resettlement, he said.

      “‘Creating a safe and orderly way for refugees to make their way to Europe would reduce lives lost at sea while helping immigration officials to screen out security risks,” Roth said.

      Policy makers in the U.S. and Europe, the report said, are using the terrorist threat as an opportunity to expand law-enforcement powers, including mass surveillance.

      Meanwhile, Russia and China have embarked on the largest crackdown on civil society in decades, according to the 659-page report reviewing more than 90 countries. It noted similar trends in Turkey, Kenya, Sudan, South Africa and Israel.

      Roth said the group is deeply concerned that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) are “trying to undermine any institution that is capable of holding it into account.”

      Senior HRW Turkey researcher Emma Sinclair-Webb said Turkey is witnessing the “most serious deterioration of human rights” since the AKP came to power in 2002.

      Sinclair-Webb also raised concerns over civilian casualties amid escalating violence following the collapse of the peace process between Ankara and the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK.

      “Many people have died in circumstances which are extremely difficult to scrutinize because of the curfews” and restrictions on media access,” she said.

      Thousands of Kurds fled the historic Sur district in southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Wednesday after authorities there expanded a 24-hour curfew to include five more neighborhoods. Three soldiers were reportedly killed in a PKK-attack there.

      http://bigstory.ap.org/article/09ef3b20ce6d47d48e47b9ab4abf2438/rights-group-fearing-refugees-west-curtails-human-rights#

      • Nothing would promote HRW’s objectives more effectively than a sudden, devastating ISIS attack that claimed the lives of entire management team of the humanitarian NGO.

  20. Mystery illness spread through plane mid-flight hitting ‘7 crew members and passengers’

    Up to seven of 13 crew members and “many passengers” were struck down with the strange disease – but at this stage no one knows what it is

    Mystery surrounds an unknown illness which has spread though a passenger jet and forced it to turn round.

    Up to seven of 13 crew members and “many passengers” were struck down with the strange disease – but at this stage no one knows what it is.

    A British passenger has described panic on board the American Airlines flight from London Heathrow to LAX a when crew asked if there was a doctor on board.

    A spokesman for the airline said there was “medical emergency” and people on the flight were “ill” but had no other information.

    Flight AA109 was close to Keflavik, a town in southwest Iceland, when crew declared a medical emergency and decided to head back to London.

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/american-airlines-flight-aa109-london-7258343

  21. US sees possible N.Korea space launch in near future -US official
    Source: Reuters – Thu, 28 Jan 2016 14:01 GMT

    WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) – The United States has seen increased activity around a North Korea site suggesting movement of components and propellant to be able to conduct a space launch in the near future, a U.S. official told Reuters on Thursday.

    “Our concern though is that they do a space-launch but really it’s the same technology to develop ICBMs,” the official said, referring to inter-continental ballistic missiles.

    The official added such a launch could happen within a couple of weeks.

    http://news.trust.org/item/20160128140345-tgyvq

  22. Scientists open the ‘black box’ of schizophrenia with dramatic genetic discovery

    This post has been updated.

    For the first time, scientists have pinned down a molecular process in the brain that helps to trigger schizophrenia. The researchers involved in the landmark study, which was published Wednesday in the journal Nature, say the discovery of this new genetic pathway probably reveals what goes wrong neurologically in a young person diagnosed with the devastating disorder.

    The study marks a watershed moment, with the potential for early detection and new treatments that were unthinkable just a year ago, according to Steven Hyman, director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute at MIT. Hyman, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, calls it “the most significant mechanistic study about schizophrenia ever.”

    “I’m a crusty, old, curmudgeonly skeptic,” he said. “But I’m almost giddy about these findings.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/01/27/scientists-open-the-black-box-of-schizophrenia-with-dramatic-genetic-finding/

  23. Hundreds of DHS badges, guns, cell phones lost or stolen since 2012

    Hundreds of badges, credentials, cell phones and guns belonging to Department of Homeland Security employees have been lost or stolen in recent years — raising serious security concerns about the potential damage these missing items could do in the wrong hands.

    Inventory reports, obtained by the news site Complete Colorado and shared with FoxNews.com, show that over 1,300 badges, 165 firearms and 589 cell phones were lost or stolen over the span of 31 months between 2012 and 2015.

    The majority of the credentials belonged to employees of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), while others belonged to Immigration and Customs

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/01/27/hundreds-dhs-badges-guns-cell-phones-lost-or-stolen-since-2012.html

  24. When Robots Commit War Crimes

    Existing laws hold neither the military nor computer companies and programmers accountable for the sins of robots.

    The use of robots in war present a variety of problems, such as who has authority over them and who is accountable for them. As they’re programmed to act of their own volition, those issues are only accentuated. In April 2015, at the Independent, Chris Green writes about a report issued by Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic.

    Under current laws, computer programmers, manufacturers and military personnel would all escape liability for unlawful deaths and injuries caused by fully autonomous weapons, or “killer robots.”

    … Professor Noel Sharkey, a leading roboticist at Sheffield University and co-founder of the International Committee on Robot Arms Control, said that if a machine committed a war crime its commander would have “lots of places to hide” to evade justice, such as blaming the software or the manufacturing process.

    … The researchers added that although victims or their families could pursue civil lawsuits against the deadly machine’s manufacturers or operators, this would only entitle them to compensation and would be “no substitute for criminal accountability … ‘punishing’ the robot after the fact would not make sense.”

    Which means, said Bonnie Docherty, the main author of the report, “No accountability means no deterrence of future crimes, no retribution for victims, no social condemnation of the responsible party.”

    The report added that even if a robot’s commander kne

    http://fpif.org/robots-commit-war-crimes/

    • Note how the left automatically goes into the US military is guilty of war crimes mode, they are sure that any person or thing the US uses will commit war crimes.

      If they had acted like this in WWII we would be speaking German or Japanese.

  25. WHO says extremely alarmed by Zika, could reach 4 million cases

    GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) expects the Zika virus, which is spreading through the Americas, to affect between three million and four million people, a disease expert said on Thursday.

    The WHO’s director-general said the spread of the mosquito-borne disease had gone from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions.

    Marcos Espinal, an infectious disease expert at the WHO’s Americas regional office, said: “We can expect 3 to 4 million cases of Zika virus disease”. He gave no time frame.

    There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes. An estimated 80 percent of people infected have no symptoms, making it difficult for pregnant women to know whether they have been infected.

    WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the organization’s will convene an emergency committee on Monday to help determine the level of the international response to an outbreak of the virus spreading from Brazil that is believed to be linked to severe birth defects.

    http://www.oann.com/who-sees-3-4-million-cases-of-zika-virus-role-in-birth-defects/

      • This won’t happen until the left is crushed, I remember how in my youth and teens there was routine spraying for mosquitoes and how nice it was to set out and watch the stars. Now you have to put on insect repellent and pray no nasty illness is floating around.

  26. The Fix is in.

    No new grand jury for two indicted in Planned Parenthood videos: prosecutor

    AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Two people indicted by a Texas grand jury for presenting fake driver’s licenses as part of a plan to secretly video tape Planned Parenthood will not have their cases presented again to a new grand jury, the prosecutor in the case said on Wednesday.

    In a twist for the Texas Republican leaders who ordered an investigation and accused the women’s health group of illegally trading in aborted fetal tissue, a grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood and indicted video makers David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt on Monday for tampering with a governmental record.

    “The inconvenient truth of a criminal investigation is that it doesn’t always lead where you want to go,” Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson said in a video message.

    Planned Parenthood said on Tuesday that Daleiden and Merritt presented fake IDs in April 2015 and posed as research executives from a fictitious company to secretly film conversations at a health and administrative center in Houston.

    The videos released last summer purported to show Planned Parenthood officials trying to negotiate prices for aborted fetal tissue. Under federal law, donated human fetal tissue may be used for research, but profiting from its sale is prohibited.

    http://www.oann.com/no-new-grand-jury-for-two-indicted-in-planned-parenthood-videos-prosecutor/

  27. Rivalries, squabbles hinder Libya’s unity government

    UNIS (Reuters) – A month after it was agreed in Morocco, a U.N.-backed plan for a united Libyan government is struggling to take off.

    Efforts to push the hard-fought compromise through show the enduring regional rivalries and power struggles that have bedevilled Libya since the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.

    While foreign pressure builds to tackle a threat from Islamic State militants, Libya’s internationally recognized parliament, based in the east, has rejected a main article in the U.N. accord as well as a proposed list of ministers.

    A rival parliament in Tripoli has yet to make clear whether it will participate and its chief has touted separate negotiations without U.N. involvement.

    A new government would need to move to Tripoli in order to exercise power effectively but armed groups hold sway there and brigades of former anti-Gaddafi fighters still settle feuds in the streets with anti-aircraft cannon.

    The conflict between the armed groups who loosely back both political sides has left room for Islamic State to take control over Sirte, Gaddafi’s home city, and parts of the coast

    http://www.oann.com/rivalries-squabbles-hinder-libyas-unity-government/

  28. Fearful of Russia, Europe’s defense cuts slow: NATO data

    BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO defense cuts slowed sharply in 2015, alliance data showed on Thursday, also revealing a split between big-spending eastern European nations fearful of Russia and others such as Italy that are still reducing their budgets.

    Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, failing states on NATO’s borders, and the spread of Islamic militancy have refocused governments on the need to defend home territory after more than a decade of NATO-led operations in Afghanistan.

    NATO’s defense spending as a share of economic output fell 1.5 percent in 2015, the sixth straight year of cuts, dragged down by a 12 percent decrease in Italy, the U.S.-led alliance said in its annual report.

    The 2008/09 financial crisis and the ensuing euro zone crisis forced many NATO allies into drastic measures to reduce their budget deficits, leading to sometimes sharp cuts in defense spending.

    But NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the data showing total defense budget reductions outside the United States, which accounts for almost three-quarters of NATO military spending, fell just 0.3 percent last year. Overall, the alliance’s total cuts were the mildest in four years.

    http://www.oann.com/fearful-of-russia-europes-defense-cuts-slow-nato-data/

  29. EU border agency says fewer Syrians arriving in Greece but rise in Iraqis

    BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union border agency said on Thursday the number of Syrians arriving on Greek islands in the hope of claiming asylum in Europe had declined in recent months, while Iraqi arrivals had risen.

    The shifting numbers partly reflect how registration and identification of migrants has improved in Greece over the last quarter, meaning fewer people pass under false nationality.

    The 28-nation bloc has failed to curb or control the influx of refugees and migrants, with more than one million arriving in Europe last year, heading mainly toward the EU’s biggest economy, Germany.

    While the number is low compared to some 500 million people living in the EU, the uneven distribution of arrivals among member states has put major pressure on public and security services in some, as well as fuelling support for anti-migrant nationalists and populists across the bloc.

    Much of the EU debate on how to handle the influx has focused on distinguishing people fleeing war and thus eligible for international protection from labor migrants seeking better lives without being under immediate threat.

    http://www.oann.com/eu-border-agency-says-fewer-syrians-arriving-in-greece-but-rise-in-iraqis/

  30. Finland expects to expel 20,000 of last year’s asylum seekers

    http://www.oann.com/finland-expects-to-expel-20000-of-last-years-asylum-seekers/

    HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland expects to expel nearly 20,000 migrants out of the 32,000 who sought asylum last year, a senior official from interior ministry said on Thursday, around the normal percentage but many more people.

    “20,000 is the estimate we are working with at the moment, but the number of asylum seekers who decide to return voluntarily could change it”, Permanent Secretary Paivi Nerg told Reuters.

    That would be roughly 62 percent expelled. It compared with 56 percent in 2014, when there were only 3,651 applications.

    Nerg said that the ministry is planning to set up separate transit centers for those to be deported from those wanting to leave the country voluntarily.

    About 4,000 asylum seekers had already withdrawn their applications, she said.

  31. Germany: Fire at asylum seeker shelter in Munich

    A fire broke out at an asylum seeker shelter in Munich, Wednesday afternoon. It is so far unknown as to what caused the blaze.

    According to Roman Leido, a spokesperson for the local fire brigade, the 75 residents of the shelter were evacuated safely but there was significant damage done to all 32 residential units.

    A security officer is reportedly suffering from light gas poisoning and was transferred to a nearby hospital.

  32. Germany: Pro-refugee activists rally against evictions in Baden-Wuerttemberg

    Around 130 activists took part in the protest against the impending deportation of refugees in Tubingen, on Wednesday evening.

    Protesters rallied holding placards reading ‘against racism, against sexism’, ‘no borders’ and ‘refugees welcome.’

    The country manager of the Refugee Council of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Andreas Lindner, said that it is cruel to send people back to their country of origin “when people had hope in Germany.”

    Germany has experienced a wave of Islamophobic and anti-migrant violence in recent months, as the country emerges as the main destination for refugees fleeing conflict zones in Syria and elsewhere.

  33. Life in Europe not as expected: hundreds of Iraqis return home

    A growing number of Iraqis are returning home from Germany, citing a lengthy asylum process, bland food and poor shelters as reasons for leaving.

    “My husband liked the idea of going there. He saw others and he wanted to imitate them,” said one Kurdish returnee. “The situation there was much worse than here. We spent around three months there. We got nothing. The food was bad and there was little of it. They used to give us a piece of cold bread and cheese and a piece of a cucumber.

  34. – Disneyland Paris: Man arrested carrying two guns [ and a koran ]

    A man has been arrested with two guns at an entrance to a hotel at Disneyland Paris, French police said.

    The 28-year-old is not known to security services and gave no resistance when he was detained, according to French media reports.

    Police said the man was also found with a copy of the Koran. He was stopped during a security check.

    France remains in a state of emergency following the deadly Islamist attacks in Paris in November last year.

    Police said they were searching for a companion travelling with the man.

    Disneyland Paris is among Europe’s most popular tourist destinations.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35431086
    ===========================================
    Disneyland Paris: Man arrested after two guns and Koran ‘found in suitcase’

    The 28-year-old has not been identified and is in custody
    A man has been arrested at Disneyland Paris after two guns and a Koran were reportedly found in his suitcase.

    He had entered the resort’s Hotel New York with the intention of reserving a room when the weapons were detected on Thursday, a spokesperson for the judicial police in Meaux told The Independent.

    A compulsory X-ray search of his luggage revealed the firearms and the man was detained by Disney security staff before being handed over to police, who have started an investigation.

    The man’s car, parked on the premises, was also being searched this afternoon as inquiries continued.

    The suspect is not believed to be known to the police or French intelligence services.

    Police have not released any further information or confirmed speculation about a possible terror plot.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/man-arrested-at-disneyland-paris-hotel-after-two-guns-found-in-suitcase-a6839381.html

    • Man arrested with two handguns near Disneyland Paris

      French police confirm man held with two firearms while trying to enter a hotel near the theme park to the east of Paris

      A 28-year-old man has been arrested after he was stopped trying to enter a hotel near Disneyland Paris with two handguns in his bag.

      The hotel’s security team stopped the man when his bag went through the X-ray machine at the front door, French radio station France Info reported. Police then took him into custody.

      RTL radio reported that the man was carrying two low-calibre weapons, a box of cartridges and a Qur’an – details which had not yet been confirmed by police or prosecutors.

      French media reported that as a precaution the man’s car had been located in the car-park and a security cordon placed around it.

      Local police are currently handling the inquiry, which has not been passed to anti-terrorism investigators.

      The man was said to be trying to enter the hotel near Disneyland outside Paris to make a reservation. French media reported that he did not appear to be known to the security services, while police said the man was European.

      There are several hotels around Disneyland Paris, which is east of the French capital and is among Europe’s most-visited tourist attractions.

      France remains under a state of emergency since Islamist extremist attacks around Paris killed 130 people in November.

      http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/28/man-arrested-with-two-handguns-at-disneyland-paris

  35. A refugee will be a torch bearer in 2016, Olympic committee says

    The flame for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will pass through a refugee camp in Athens and one refugee will be among the torch bearers, the head of the International Olympic Committee said on Thursday.

    The torch will be lit in Greece’s ancient Olympia on April 21 before leaving for the South American country 12 days later. It will arrive in Brazil on May 3 to start its 100-day relay across the country.

    Greece became the main gateway for more than a million refugees who began arriving in Europe last year, most fleeing war and persecution in countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

    “The Olympic flame will pass through this camp here and will be shown to the refugees,” IOC head Thomas Bach said during a visit to the Eleonas camp for refugees and migrants in Athens, which houses mostly Afghans and Iranians. “One of the refugees will be invited to carry the torch.”

    The IOC has already said top athletes who are refugees with no home country to represent will be allowed to compete at the Rio Games under the Olympic flag.

    “We want to draw the attention of the world to the problems of the refugees,” Bach said. How many refugees might take part was difficult to estimate, he said, “but it would not be a big number … between five to 10.”

    Refugees at the Games will march behind the Olympic committees flag and will be hosted at the Olympic Village, he said.

    “These athletes we are talking about have no national committee, they have no home and they have no flag to March behind,” Bach said.

    The torch for both summer and winter Olympics is traditionally lit using a parabolic mirror and the sun’s rays at a ceremony in Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympics, with the first torchbearer starting out from the stadium.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-greece-olympics-idUSKCN0V61SW
    =====================================

    DAILY MAIL : IOC’s Bach: Refugees will be honored at Rio Olympics

    ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A group of refugee athletes will march together in the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in a symbol of hope for the world’s migrants, IOC President Thomas Bach said Thursday.

    On a three-day visit to Greece, Bach also said a refugee would carry the torch during the Greek leg of the flame relay and that the route would include a stop at an Athens refugee camp. The flame lighting ceremony at Ancient Olympia will take place on April 21.

    “We want to turn the attention of the world to the fate and the problems of the 60 million refugees in our world and their suffering,” Bach said.[…]

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3420860/IOCs-Bach-Refugees-honored-Rio-Olympics.html

    • Refugee team to compete at Rio Games: IOC

      A cross-nation team of refugees will participate in this year’s Rio Olympics to send a “message of hope”, International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach says.

  36. DAILY MAIL – First picture of 6ft tall ’15-year-old Somali boy’ who ‘stabbed to death’ Swedish social worker in child migrant centre as he appears in court charged with her murder

    Six-foot tall, the ‘child’ accused of murdering a Swedish aid worker appeared in court today.

    Somali-born Youssaf Khaliif Nuur, ?charged with murdering Alexandra Mezher, 22, towered over his translator as he walked into the courtroom in Gothenburg.

    She was knifed to death as she tried to break up a fight at the shelter for unaccompanied child refugees where she worked alone in charge of ten youths.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3421150/First-picture-Six-foot-tall-15-year-old-Somali-boy-killer-Swedish-asylum-worker-appears-court-charged-murder.html

  37. DAILY MAIL – Death Row Iran: Inside the women’s prison where inmates await execution, bring up their babies and struggle to survive against the odds

    Sadegh Souri shot the collection of powerful images, which are titled ‘Waiting for Capital Punishment’
    In Iran, girls are held accountable by law from the age of nine and can be sentenced to death
    Photographs show the harsh conditions of the juvenile detention centres in which the young women are held

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3420620/Iranian-women-jail-await-execution.html

  38. Mother of accused Milwaukee massacre plotter says FBI led son astray

    […]On Wednesday, his mother, Khawla Hamzeh, cried as she sat in the two-bedroom apartment north of downtown where Samy Hamzeh lived with his parents and teenage sister.

    “I can’t believe this is my son. Everybody in Milwaukee loves Samy,” she said. “He never fights with anyone.”

    The Hamzehs are from Jordan, but Samy Hamzeh was born in New Jersey and is a U.S. citizen.

    While the criminal complaint describes Hamzeh as a Muslim extremist who was plotting a vicious attack at the Masonic center in downtown Milwaukee, Khawla Hamzeh said her son is not very religious and was likely just talking himself up to friends.

    “He’s not mature. You know guys, they want to show they are brave,” she said.

    She was constantly after him to pray and didn’t like that he played violent video games. But she said he was a loving son who hugged and kissed her daily.

    […]Despite damning recordings of her son — who said he was confident his attack would trigger more throughout the U.S. — Khawla Hamzeh said he was set up and led astray by the FBI.[…]

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/mother-of-accused-milwaukee-massacre-plotter-says-fbi-led-son-astray-b99659657z1-366797271.html

  39. BBC – Gaza: Hamas militants die in tunnel collapse

    Palestinian militant group Hamas says seven of its fighters have died after an attack tunnel they were working on in north-east Gaza collapsed.

    The tunnel near the Israeli border collapsed after heavy rain, it said.

    Palestinian militants have used tunnels on Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt to launch attacks on Israel, transport weapons or smuggle goods.

    Israel destroyed dozens of tunnels during the 2014 Gaza conflict, but Hamas has been rebuilding them.

    Meanwhile, tunnels on the Egyptian border have been used to smuggle weapons into Gaza, as well as civilian goods.

    The tunnels have played a vital role in the economy of Gaza, which has been under a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt in 2007.

    The Egyptian military began flooding tunnels on its borders late last year, and says it has eliminated about 90% of them.

    Israel occupied Gaza in the 1967 Middle East war and pulled its troops and settlers out in 2005.

    Israel considered this the end of the occupation, but it still exercises control over most of Gaza’s borders, waters and airspace. Egypt controls Gaza’s southern border.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35427572

  40. Planned Parenthood Board Member Works in Office of D.A. Investigating Sale of Aborted Babies

    Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson has promised a thorough investigation of the Planned Parenthood abortion business after one of the expose videos caught a Houston, Texas Planned Parenthood official arranging for the sales of aborted babies and dissecting babies it had aborted and planned to ship off for sale to a biotech firm. But a new report indicates a Planned Parenthood board member works as a prosecutor in the district attorney’s office.

    As LifeNews reported, the Houston, Texas Planned Parenthood abortion center was exposed in a new shocking video released today that catches a Planned Parenthood official discussing how the abortion business sells “fully intact” aborted babies.

    The video, which follows Senate Democrats defeating a bill to de-fund Planned Parenthood, makes it appear the Planned Parenthood abortion business may be selling the “fully intact” bodies of unborn babies purposefully born alive and left to die.

    Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson has announced that her office will start a criminal investigation into Planned Parenthood. The announcement came after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick asked for the DA’s office to open an immediate criminal investigation.

    “It is not clear at this time what, if any, crimes have been committed at the Gulf Coast facility. That is why I am initiating this investigation.” Anderson said. “As we begin this process, the first step will be to obtain the complete unedited version of the video that has prompted this investigation.”

    “I want to assure everyone in Houston that I will use every resource allocated to this office to conduct a thorough investigation and should we find that laws were broken, we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.” Anderson said.

    http://www.lifenews.com/2015/08/10/planned-parenthood-board-member-works-in-office-of-d-a-investing-sale-of-aborted-babies/

  41. 4 things the MSM won’t tell you about the Planned Parenthood videographer indictment

    Planned Parenthood supporters are doing a victory lap after news broke that a Texas investigation into the non-profit over fetal tissue dealings exposed by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) resulted in the indictment of the top CMP figures behind the videos.

    Here are four details regarding the indictment the mainstream media won’t bother to point out.

    One of the prosecutors sits on Planned Parenthood’s board of directors.

    One of the prosecutors for the Harris County District Attorney’s office that investigated Planned Parenthood revealed last year she sits on the board of directors of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. District Attorney Devon Anderson said at the time that her employee Lauren Reeder’s affiliation with Planned Parenthood would not affect their ability to conduct an “unbiased, fact-driven” investigation.

    David Daleiden is not being indicted for doctoring the videos.

    Daleiden was indicted on a felony charge of tampering with a governmental record because he allegedly used a fake California drivers license with the intent to defraud Planned Parenthood, and on a misdemeanor charge of attempting to purchase human organs. His fellow undercover reporter Sandra Merritt was also charge with tampering with a governmental record.

    The “highly edited” claim is bogus.

    The widespread claim that Daleiden doctored or edited the undercover videos is a Planned Parenthood talking point picked up and repeated without question by many media outlets.

    Planned Parenthood commissioned a forensic analysis of the videos in August, ostensibly to back up the claim, but the Democratic opposition-research firm it hired concluded the videos were not “substantively” edited. A second forensic analysis commissioned by the pro-life group National Right to Life in September also concluded the videos are not substantively edited.

    The content of the videos will stand no matter how the indictment plays out.

    Daleiden is being indicted for the way he obtained the footage, which has not been doctored, so the content of the footage will stand regardless of how the indictment plays out. Whether Daleiden used a fake drivers license to obtain the footage ultimately doesn’t change the reality of the disturbing conversations, which most people who have actually viewed the footage acknowledge.

    This report, by Rachel Stoltzfoos, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/01/27/four-things-the-liberal-media-wont-tell-you-about-the-planned-parenthood-videographer-indictment/