Reader’s links for May 24 – 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

60 Replies to “Reader’s links for May 24 – 2016”

  1. Fourth British ISIS ‘Beatle’ EXPOSED as refugee who was radicalised ‘in just 17 DAYS’ (express, May 24, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/673116/Fourth-British-ISIS-Beatle-EXPOSED-as-refugee-who-was-radicalised-in-just-17-DAYS

    “THE FOURTH member of Jihadi John’s depraved crew of British terrorists has been revealed as a Sudanese refugee who came to the UK when he was five years old.

    El Shafee Elsheikh worked as a softly spoken fairground mechanic before becoming a member of the notorious British ‘Beatles’ of the Islamic State – who together claimed the lives of 27 high profile victims including British, American and Japanese hostages.

    The group were known for their London accents and brutal methods of torture – including waterboarding, electrocution and mock executions.

    The 27-year-old Londoner grew up in White City, just a few miles from the infamous Mohammad Emwazi – also known as ‘Jihadi John – who was killed in a drone strike.

    Elsheikh, who went from “perfect son” to radicalised jihadi in just 17 days, also lived a few minutes from Alexanda Kotey who was exposed as a member of the same cell in February.

    He travelled to join the barbaric so-called caliphate in 2012 to fight for the regime and was later joined by his younger Brother Mahmoud who has since been killed in Iraq.

    His mother Maha Elgizouli reportedly sobbed when she was told her son was the fourth member.

    She said: “No, no, not Shafee.”

    “That boy now is not my son. That is not the son I raised.”…”

  2. Syrian Al-Qaeda-linked leader freely visited the US, but State Dept. says it ‘didn’t know’ (RT, May 24, 2016)
    https://www.rt.com/usa/344159-syrian-al-qaeda-linked-visited/?

    “A Syrian militant group chief shielded from the UN terror list by the US despite its links to ISIS and Al-Qaeda reportedly had no trouble entering Washington on a European passport. The State Department refused to speak on “visa records.”

    Labib al Nahhas, who calls himself “a chief of Foreign Political Relations at Ahrar al-Sham,” arrived in the US capital for a visit lasting a few days in December, according to McClatchy DC news. The report cites “four people with direct knowledge of the trip.”…”

  3. Showdown: Battle for Aleppo May Put End to ‘Erdogan’s Imperial Designs’ (sputniknews, May 24, 2016)
    http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160523/1040080491/aleppo-erdogan-imperial-plans.html

    “The future of Syria is now being decided not in Damascus or Geneva, but in Aleppo. If the Syrian Army and its allies win the battle for Aleppo it will not only end the war but also ruin plans of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is reportedly supporting radical groups in Syria, analyst Catherine Shakdam wrote…”

  4. Hard-Line Cleric Becomes Speaker of Assembly of Expert (abcnews, May 24, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/hard-line-cleric-speaker-assembly-expert-39326912

    “A hard-line Iranian cleric was chosen on Tuesday as speaker of the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body that is mainly tasked with selecting the country’s supreme leader.

    The official IRNA news agency said 89-year-old Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati won 51 votes in the 88-seat Assembly and would serve as speaker for the next two years.

    The appointment signaled that despite recent gains by Iranian moderates, hard-liners remain a prominent force within the Islamic Republic’s politics. Moderate candidates and supporters of President Hassan Rouhani secured majorities in February elections bot for the parliament and for the more conservative Assembly of Experts.

    Jannati is also secretary of Iran’s powerful constitutional watchdog, which is in charge of vetting candidates for the Assembly of Experts, as well as those running in parliamentary and presidential elections…”

  5. Indian Police Say They’ve Killed Key Kashmiri Rebel Leader (abcnews, May 24, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/indian-police-killed-key-kashmiri-rebel-leader-39326154

    “Indian police said Tuesday that they have killed the operations head of a major militant group in the Indian portion of Kashmir in a gunbattle.

    The Jaish-e-Mohammed group’s operations chief, Saifullah, and one of his associates were killed Monday night following intelligence information that they were at a house in Srinagar, the main city in the Indian portion of Kashmir, said police officer Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani. The identity of the second rebel killed was not immediately known.

    There was no independent confirmation of the incident.

    Jaish-e-Mohammed has been active in Kashmir for more than 15 years. India blames the group for a series of attacks in the Himalayan region and Indian cities, including the attack on India’s Parliament in 2001 that brought nuclear rivals India and Pakistan to the brink of a war.

    Gillani said that both of the militants who were killed were residents of Pakistan, and that Saifullah, who used just one name, had operated in the region for the past four years…”

  6. Turkey is accused of sending ‘seriously sick’ Syrian migrants to Greece while ‘cherry-picking’ doctors and engineers for its own workforce
    Around three million Syrian refugees are currently living in Turkey
    Turkey has been accused of sending ‘serious medical cases’ to Greece
    Ankara is also said to have excluded doctors and engineers from EU deal
    A Turkish official told the Telegraph they had the right to ‘choose’

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3606168/Turkey-deliberately-selecting-uneducated-sick-Syrians-Europe-cherry-picking-wants-keep.html#ixzz49ZBUdll8
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

  7. EU should keep promises to Turkey, or Ankara will cancel agreements with bloc – Cavusoglu (reuters, May 24, 2016)
    http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKCN0YF16C?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FAFRICAWorldNews+%28News+%2F+AFRICA+%2F+World+News%29&rpc=401

    “ANKARA (Reuters) – The European Union should keep its promises or Turkey will cancel agreements with the bloc, including a deal to take back migrants, Turkey foreign minister said on Tuesday.

    “It’s not realistic to treat Turkey this way after it took such important steps. We can put aside all the agreements we signed, and this is no threat or bluff,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told state-run broadcaster TRT Haber.

    Cavusoglu added he would discuss visa-free travel for Turks to Europe with the deputy head of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, this weekend.”

  8. Massive punch up between Yazidis and Muslims blights German town (express, May 24, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/673250/Yazidis-Chechen-Muslims-fight-Germany-Bielefeld

    “A REFUGEE hostel was rocked after a mass brawl took place between Yazidis and Chechen Muslims.

    The skirmish, which took place in the German town of Bielefeld, saw five members of the Iraqi religion hospitalised.

    The incident started on Sunday when a gang of Chechens ambushed a group of Yazidis at about 6pm.

    Police believe the Chechens came prepared and attacked the Yazidis with knives and sticks…”

  9. Austria, defeated far-right call for calm amid ‘election fraud’ claim

    One supporter commenting on the Facebook page of the FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache called for the invalid votes to be examined again while others claim it was election fraud at “the highest level”. A petition calling for people not to accept van der Bellen as President had also garnered 20,000 signatures by midday Tuesday.

    The initial claim by Waidhofen/Ybbs on Monday that the region achieved an impressive – and impossible – 146.9 percent voter turnout had led to some raised eyebrows.

    http://www.thelocal.at/20160524/defeated-candidate-presidential-election-hofer-calls-for-calm-as-supporters-complain-of-election-fraud

    • Falsches Ergebnis für Waidhofen/Ybbs ausgewiesen

      Eine wesentliche Änderung des Gesamtergebnisses bedeute dies nicht.

      Das Innenministerium hat auf seiner Homepage ein falsches Wahlergebnis für die niederösterreichische Stadt Waidhofen an der Ybbs veröffentlicht. Die Tabelle weist eine Wahlbeteiligung von 146,9 Prozent aus (http://wahl16.bmi.gv.at/1605-303.html). Wie der Leiter der Wahlabteilung, Robert Stein, am Montagabend in der “ZiB 2” des ORF sagte, wird das Resultat korrigiert.

      Keine Hinweise auf ähnliche Fehler
      Eine wesentliche Änderung des Gesamtergebnisses bedeute das allerdings nicht und derzeit gebe es keine Hinweise auf ähnliche Fehler, die das Endergebnis beeinflussen könnten, sagte Stein.

      http://www.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/Falsches-Ergebnis-fuer-WaidhofenYbbs-ausgewiesen/236848231

    • Nächster Daten-Skandal: 146,9 % Wahlbeteiligung!

      […]Wie das Innenministerium mitteilte, wird das Ergebnis nun “bis zum 1. Juni eingefroren” und dann geprüft, bis das offizielle Endergebnis verkündet wird. Laut Ministerium wird sich aber, auch wenn noch zahlreiche Stimmen für Van der Bellen im Bezirk wegfallen könnten, nichts an Van der Bellens Wahlsieg ändern.

      http://www.heute.at/bpw16/Naechster-Daten-Skandal-146-9-Wahlbeteiligung;art83655,1291864

  10. Ethics lesson: Will Obama pervert further the posture of U.S. DOJ? Will courts help?
    By J.E. Dyer May 23, 2016

    A Justice Department already known for participating in the Fast & Furious gun-walker travesty, intervening in bad faith – and against the public interest – in local law enforcement, and slow-ww-www-rolling the investigation of Hillary Clinton, will soon demonstrate how much further it’s willing to go.

    Last week, Judge Andrew S. Hanen, on the federal bench in Brownsville, Texas, issued a remarkable order to the Justice Department: certify that your lawyers have had new ethics training if you want them to plead in a federal court. Hanen’s order bars them from appearing in federal court until they’ve had the remedial training.

    The order was provoked by his finding of something Justice has already admitted: it repeatedly misrepresented the facts about Obama’s amnesty order in court appearances on behalf of the federal government in 2014 and 2015 (see here and here). Another word for what the DOJ lawyers did in court is “lie.”

    Their lies were material – central – to the transparency and good faith the people should be able to expect from the process (emphasis added):

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/05/23/ethics-lesson-will-obama-pervert-posture-u-s-doj-will-courts-help/

    • Pay close attention to this mess, the end result is as important as the election, this will determine if the Courts have any authority over the Department of Justice, or in this case injustice. This is another front in the war to see if we are to once again become a nation of laws or if we are a dictatorship of people with special laws for special people.

      Another front in this war is the impeachment proceedings for the head of the IRS, the kindest interpretation is that he is either crooked or incompetent. Either is grounds for removing him from office. He is showing his contempt for these proceedings and for Congress by not attending the hearings. Once again are we a nation of laws or a nation with special laws for special people. If the Dems have their way the US will become a dictatorship where the President can do what he wants and there is no legal way to stop him.

  11. SHOWDOWN: EU Vows To Use New Powers To Block All Elected ‘Far Right’ Populists From Power

    The President of the unelected executive arm of the European Union (EU) has vowed to block all right wing populists from power across the continent, shortly after acquiring the power to exert “far-reaching sanctions” on elected governments.
    Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, promised to exclude Norbert Hofer, the leader of Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ), from all EU decision-making if elected ahead of yesterday’s presidential vote.

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/05/24/eu-vows-use-new-powers-block-elected-far-right-populists-power/

    • Proving once again that the “Bullet Vote” will be the only thing of any consequence to the powers-that-be. Whatever resistance is going on now should be superceded by the organized mayhem of spontaneously self-organizing militias. This needs to be done outside of cellular phone networks because it sure seems to me that ALL cell phones in Europe appear to have a direct link to the police & intelligence agencies of the government. In the US we have local police “Red Squads” monitoring political activity and the use of “Stingray” & DRT boxes to monitor cell phone transmissions. The difference is that if you actually have a direct fiberoptic link into the telco switching fabric, you can have orders of magnitude greater access to data; I believe European governments have that access as compared to the US telco private infrastructure. (Turn off your cell phones during civil unrest to avoid pinging the cell phone towers to record your presence. Smartphone users need to put their phones in a shielded enclosure because you can’t remove the battery easily.)

  12. Turkey’s Erdogan vows no more steps on migrants unless EU visa deal progresses

    Turkey will not take further steps on implementing a migrant readmission agreement with the European Union unless progress is made on visa liberalisation for Turkish citizens, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

    Speaking at a U.N. humanitarian summit in Istanbul, Erdogan also said funds promised by the EU under the terms of the migration deal had not yet been released

    http://news.trust.org/item/20160524154130-5wr9x

  13. ‘Whoever Loves Austria Is Sh*t’ – Austria’s New President Hates His Own Country

    They called it an “election gimmick” and a “campaign gag”, but the new president-elect of Austria once presided over his party’s campaign that declared: “Anyone who loves Austria must be shit”.

    Alexander Van der Bellen – who appears to have defeated the Freedom Party’s Norbert Hofer by around just 30,000 of nearly five million votes – has a track record of opposing the nation state as a concept, and his own as a reality.

    In 2007, while he was leader of the Austrian Greens, the party published a picture of a dog with the Austrian flag in its mouth. The poster read: “Take your flag for your gag”, followed by the declaration that anyone who loves the country “must be sh*t”.

    The flag “joke” was a play on a campaign urging dog owners to place their dog’s excrement in bags and trash cans. The Austrian greens replaced the bag with a flag of Austria in the image (right).

    And while, of course, efforts were made to distance Van der Bellen from this 2007 Green Party initiative, the issue re-emerged on the run up to this weekend’s final round of presidential election voting. Far be it from a “gag” or one-off incident, critics say, this attitude against borders and nations runs deep through the Austrian Green Party which is now in charge of the presidency of the country.

    Newspapers drew attention to another more recent incident, whereby a leading Green activist declared: “Austria [is a] lousy piece of shit!” when discussing the country’s recent border controls to deal with Europe’s migrant crisis. “These are facts, not subjective opinion,” Georg H. posted to his Facebook page.

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/05/23/whoever-loves-austria-sht-president-elect-beat-nationalist-hofer-used-anti-patriotic-slogans/

  14. Russia killed 28,000 militants in Syria, third of all ISIS forces – Russian deputy security chief (RT, May 24, 2016)
    https://www.rt.com/news/344214-russia-killed-isis-militants/

    “Since Moscow started its air operation in Syria on September 30 last year, the Russian Air Force has eliminated over a third of Islamic State fighters in the country, the deputy head of Russia’s top security body revealed.

    “We estimate that at the beginning of our operation Al-Nusra Front and Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL] possessed about 80,000 fighters, of whom 28,000 (35 percent) have already been eliminated. This is [the result of] our actions together with the Syrian Army,” Evgeny Lukyanov said at the VII international security summit being held in Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechen Republic.

    “Well, the [US-led anti-terrorist] coalition eliminated an additional 5,000 in two years,” Lukyanov added.

    “There were people predicting that it [Russia’s anti-terrorist operation in Syria] would result in another Afghanistan or something like that. That would never be. There are only limited military plans,” Lukyanov said, stressing that Syrians “must solve their issues for themselves.”

    The principle task of the Russian operation in Syria has been to force the sides to start a political dialogue, the Russian Security Council’s top official stressed…”

    • Fighting rational enemies this would be enough to defeat the enemy, fighting jihadists it isn’t near enough.

  15. Egypt’s forensics authority denies reports human remains from EgyptAir MS804 suggest blast

    AP and Reuters have quoted anonymous Egyptian forensic experts who claimed remains of victims suggest explosion on board the ill-fated flight

    Egypt’s forensics authority denied on Tuesday news reports that the bodily remains of EgyptAir flight MS804 passengers suggest a blast inside the plane, state news agency MENA reported.

    “Everything published on that matter is unfounded and is a mere assumption that has not been issued by the forensics authority or any forensic experts working for it,” the statement read.

    Earlier on Tuesday, both Reuters and AP quoted an Egyptian forensic expert, speaking on condition of anonymity, saying that recovered human remains from the crashed EgyptAir flight suggest a blast took place inside the plane.

    However, the reports added that the blast is not necessarily caused by a bomb, as authorities have yet to find any trace of explosives on recovered wreckage.

    The forensics authority has not issued a statement on its investigation after examining the remains of some of the passengers.

    The AP source said 80 pieces of the victims have been brought to Cairo so far, adding that all are small. Another unnamed Egyptian forensics official told Reuters that “only a tiny number of remains had arrived so far, and it is too early to specify whether there had been an explosion on board.”

    On Thursday, the Cairo-bound flight from Paris crashed over the Mediterranean, with all 66 people on board believed to be dead.

    On Friday, the Egyptian military located debris, personal belongings, plane seats and human remains north of Alexandria near the spot where the plane vanished from radar.

    The aircraft’s black boxes, which could help investigators discover the cause of the crash, have yet to be located.

    Egypt is leading an investigation intio the cause of the crash with the help of a French team.

    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/217505/Egypt/Politics-/Egypts-forensics-authority-denies-reports-human-re.aspx

  16. Syria conflict: IS ‘destroyed helicopters’ at Russian base (BBC, video, May 24, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36368346

    “New satellite imagery appears to reveal extensive damage to a strategically significant airbase in central Syria used by Russian forces after an attack by so-called Islamic State (IS).

    Four helicopters and 20 lorries were destroyed in a series of fires inside the T4 base last week, the images from intelligence company Stratfor suggest.

    The cause of the fires is unconfirmed.

    The Russian military has denied that it lost helicopters at the base as a result of an IS attack…”

  17. Syrian military chief linked to Al-Quaeda & ISIS freely visits US, State Dept says it ‘didn’t know’

    A Syrian militant group chief shielded from the UN terror list by the US despite its links to ISIS and Al-Qaeda reportedly had no trouble entering Washington on a European passport. The State Department refused to speak on “visa records.”

    • This administration is part of the problem, a major part of the problem and the LSM refuses to admit we even have a problem.

  18. European Commissioner Flies to Poland Over ‘Democratic Standards’

    The European Commissioner who said no European Union (EU) country could escape having “diversity” imposed on them has flown to Poland in the wake of a leaked document claiming the country “does not adhere to democratic standards.”
    Frans Timmermans is expected to negotiate with the Polish government over a dispute concerning constitutional reforms that the right wing Law and Justice (PiS) party are in the process of making.

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/05/24/european-commission-poland-democracy/

  19. Syrian children refugees are put to work en masse in Turkish factories

    In Turkey, Syrian children refugees are put to work en masse to help supplement their family’s income. In all seven factories in the textile and shoe industry visited by de Volkskrant in the east Turkish city of Gaziantep last week, children were at work.

    Human Rights Watch reports that child labour is ‘rampant’ among Syrian refugees, but there are no exact figures. ‘The lack of reliable data is part of the problem’, says Stephanie Gee. She investigated the situation of children refugees in Turkey for Human Rights Watch. ‘But almost all Syrians that I spoke to either had their own children working or knew of underage family members doing the same.’

    According to the most recent data of the United Nations refugee organisation UNHCR, 325,000 Syrian children currently attend school in Turkey. That is roughly one third of the Syrian population in Turkey of that age group. The hundreds of thousands of children who do not attend school are often unable to do so because they have to work.

    Families in Gaziantep say that they need the extra income from their children, if only because the rents in the city keep rising with the influx of refugees: this city, with a population of 1.5 million, has seen half a million Syrians arrive over the past few years.

    One of the families that struggles to make a living, is that of seven-year-old Mohannad Jomjami, who is sorting strips of leather in a shoe factory owned by a Syrian businessman. Mohannad’s father then sews them onto the insoles of shoes. Mohannad’s older brother produces a photograph of their little sister (9) whose arm got caught in a machine last week. She suffered serious injuries to her wrist.

    In the factories the children usually work twelve hours a day, six days a week. Their salary, depending on their age, varies between 50 and 200 euros a month. The legal minimum wage in Turkey is €550 a month for a 45-hour working week.

    According to UNICEF, before the war 99 per cent of Syrian children finished primary education and 80 per cent of them received some form of secondary education. Child labour was not at all common in Syria.

    ‘We very occasionally would have an underage worker in Syria’, says Ibrahim Ghello, who ran a shoe factory with a hundred employees in his home town of Aleppo. ‘But in those cases it was the father’s choice, who was too lazy to go to work himself. Now most families cannot survive without the income of the children.’ Ghello fled to Gaziantep because of the war, three years ago. There he opened a new, smaller shoe factory. Of his twenty employees, half are underage.

    These young factory workers are mostly boys. In the predominantly conservative Syrian community in Gaziantep it is less of a taboo for an 11-year-old son going to work then for an adult mother. The improvised Syrian primary school in a suburb of Gaziantep reflects this. ‘In the higher grades we have almost exclusively girls’, says headmaster Sakir, himself a refugee. ‘The boys can’t come to school, as they have to earn money for their families.’

    http://www.volkskrant.nl/economie/syrian-children-refugees-are-put-to-work-en-masse-in-turkish-factories~a4304700/
    ===========================================================
    TURKEY – Syrian children refugees working in Turkish textile factories

    in Italian :

    http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/mondo/orrendo-segreto-turchia-bimbi-schiavi-nelle-fabbriche-1263283.html

    18 min documentary ( in Italian )

  20. Islamic State group recruited practising NHS doctor (BBC, May 24, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36362957

    “An NHS doctor left his family in the UK and joined the Islamic State militant group in Syria, the BBC has learned from leaked IS recruitment papers.

    Issam Abuanza, 37 – who gained a licence to practise medicine in the UK in 2009 – left his Sheffield home, his wife and two children in 2014.

    His sister Najla has told the BBC his parents will never forgive him…”

  21. Migrants: Erdogan, EU aid never arrived in Turkey (ansamed, May 24, 2016)
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/turkey/2016/05/24/migrants-erdogan-eu-aid-never-arrived-in-turkey_06199747-29d7-4700-a488-1dfcd3a50978.html

    “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said that “aid promised by the EU for the migrant accord hasn’t ever arrived in Turkey”, speaking at the closing press conference of the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul….”

  22. Only 30 percent of refugees outside Turkish camps go to school: Report (hurriyetdailynews, May 24, 2016)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/only-30-percent-of-refugees-outside-turkish-camps-go-to-school-report–.aspx?pageID=238&nID=99584&NewsCatID=339

    “Some 700,000 Syrian refugee children aged between 6 and 17 require access to education in Turkey with few of them residing outside designated camps receiving any education, according to a policy paper prepared jointly by the Global Education Monitoring Report of UNESCO and the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

    The report titled “No more excuses: Provide education for all forcibly displaced people” outlines data on education trends among displaced people around the world and demands countries hosting these people include them in their national education programs and gather more information to monitor their situation.

    The report shows that while the rate of participation in education among refugee children living in Turkish camps is 85 percent, this rate decreases sharply to 30 percent for those who live outside the camps…”

  23. Texas teen sentenced to 38 years for murdering Iraqi immigrant (reuters, May 24, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-texas-crime-immigration-idUSKCN0YF2JH

    “A Dallas jury sentenced a teenager to 38 years in prison on Tuesday for murdering an Iraqi immigrant as he took family pictures while experiencing snow for the first time.

    Nykerion Nealon, 19, was convicted on Monday of fatally shooting Ahmed al-Jumaili, 36, in March 2015 in the parking lot of his apartment complex.

    Al-Jumaili had only been in the United States for about three weeks and authorities had thought the case might have been a hate crime. They later determined Nealon did not know al-Jumaili’s ethnicity and said he may have been trying to retaliate for a shooting at his girlfriend’s apartment….”

  24. Danish family reunification laws discriminate: court (thelocal, May 24, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.dk/20160524/denmarks-family-reunification-laws-discriminate-eu-court

    “Denmark’s family reunification laws are discriminatory, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday.

    The court said that Denmark’s rules discriminate against people who are born outside of Denmark and obtain Danish citizenship later in life.

    The decision centred around the case of Ousmane Biao, a Togo native with Danish citizenship. In 2003, he applied for residency for his Ghanaian wife under family reunification rules. The couple was denied by the Danish Immigration Service, which argued that Biao had stronger connections to Ghana, where he had lived for 15 years, than Denmark.

    The couple appealed against the decision but lost their case all the way up through the Supreme Court.

    But the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) sided with Biao, arguing that Denmark discriminates against non natural-born citizens by giving a dispensation to the ‘connection requirement’ (tilknytningskravet) to those who have been Danish citizens for 28 years.

    This clause was known as the ’28-year-rule’ but has since been amended to 26 years. It is not to be confused with the ’24-year-rule’ in Danish immigration laws, which states that one must be above the age of 24 to achieve family reunification.

    The anti-immigration Danish People’s Party said the ECHR decision was “deeply problematic”.

    “It is an attack on Danish sovereignty. It is unheard of that the European Court of Human Rights would go so far in relation to a state’s right to define its own immigration policies,” party spokesman Martin Henriksen told Ritzau.

    The decision was the second time in as many months that a European court has ruled against Denmark’s immigration laws.

    The EU Court of Justice said in April that Danish immigration law illegally limits the rights of Turkish workers to bring their families to Denmark.”

  25. Here’s what drone attack survivor Shahbaz Taseer has to say about drones (tribune, May 24, 2016)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1108637/heres-drone-attack-survivor-shahbaz-taseer-say-drones/

    “Every time a drone strike kills someone in Pakistan, we are reminded (by the government) about how our sovereignty is being violated. A few days later everyone moves on and we forget that a foreign country routinely bombs us and we routinely publish the same statement….

    Taseer went on to add how drones were loud and never ‘randomly’ hit anything. “99.9% if not more is the accuracy of a drone. Always hits its intended target,” he added…

    They never hit a wrong target in my 5 years.. Never. Only high level ppl as confirmed by militants I was with …”

  26. Mullah Mansoor frequently used Karachi airport to travel to other countries (khaama, May 24, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/mullah-mansoor-frequently-used-karachi-airport-to-travel-to-other-countries-01053

    “The supreme leader of the Taliban group Mullah Akhtar Mansoor was frequently using Karachi airport to travel to other countries with reports suggesting he travelled abroad through Jinnah International airport for at least 18 times.

    However, a local news channel in Pakistan has reported that Mullah Mansoor travelled to Dubai 9 times using the airport and once to Bahrain.

    Citing the travel history of Mullah Mansoor, the local Geo.tv reported Mullah Mansoor travelled between the three countries from 2006 to 2012.

    Muallah Mansoor first landed in Karachi via a private airline flight on the 12th of March 2006 from Dubai and approximately five months later caught a flight with the same airline to Dubai on the 23 August 2006 only to return on the 4th of October the same year, according to his travel history.

    He was among the prominent commanders of the group when he was travelling to the other countries and his flights have been reported to be in September of 2007, 3rd of October 2007, 11th January 2008, 23rd November 2008, 5th December 2008, 2nd January 2010, 24th January 2010.

    His last travelled has been reported to take place in 2012 when he caught a flight to Dubai on the 26th of January.

    The records available show, pictures of Mullah Mansour aka Wali Muhammad taken at the immigration counter, as well as in the airport premises.

    Mullah Mansoor was killed in an airstrike carried out by the US forces in the vicinity of Balochistan province late on Saturday afternoon.”

    • Mullah Mansour or Muhammad Wali: Fake name but genuine ‘Pakistani’ credentials on CNIC.

      While Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor may have used a fake name to obtain a Pakistani identity card, his credentials with the authorities are all genuine, verifiable on specific helpline numbers.

      Mansoor was reportedly killed in Balochistan in a US drone strike on May 21. A Pakistani CNIC and passport found at the site identified the victim as Muhammad Wali, a resident of Karachi.

      The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), which issues computerised identities to Pakistani citizens, also facilitates verifying the basic credentials via short messaging services (SMS).
      When forwarded Wali’s identity card number 54400-0563462-9 at 7000 – a service to verify the CNIC holder’s name, the reply is: Muhammad Wali, son of Shah Muhammad.

      The voter registration details of any CNIC number can be obtained through a text message to 8300. Wali’s number shows he was a registered voter with the serial number 38, block code 454050104, ward number 31 in Chaman Municipal Corporation union council of Killa Abdullah district.

      While getting an identity card is a struggle for many Pakistani citizens, especially those living in districts other than their permanent address, the fact that Mullah Mansoor was able to get a Pakistani CNIC as well as a passport raises quite a few questions.

      According to the “current address” mentioned on the CNIC, Wali lived in Flat Number B-016 of Bismillah Terrace, Plot Number FL-03, Karachi. Interestingly, the address does not include the area of this residential building, which is actually located in Gulzar-e-Hijri, Karachi.

      A raid at the address in Karachi provided clues to the slain militant’s past as well.

      A suspected militant associated with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was among three people arrested in a raid by intelligence personnel at Bismillah Terrace near Sohrab Goth, a police source told The Express Tribune. The men were identified as Jabbar alias Charya, Haji Yousuf and Shaiq. Hmmm……Just like Osama Bin Laden ‘Home sweet home’ is Pakistan’.Read the full story here:

      http://tribune.com.pk/story/1109001/mullah-mansoor-muhammad-wali-fake-name-genuine-credentials-cnic/

      http://www.mfs-theothernews.com/2016/05/mullah-mansour-or-muhammad-wali-fake.html

  27. CBC – OTTAWA – Northwestern United Church bought by Muslim community that once prayed in its basement

    United church and Ottawa’s Muslim community continue deep ties that began 55 years ago

    The Muslim community went on to build its own mosque — Ottawa’s first — right next door to the little church.

    Now, in a deal worth $1.5 million, they’re poised to move back in to the church, but this time as the new owners.

    The head of the United Church committee selling the property, Scott MacCrimmon, says despite offers from other Christian organizations and housing developers, they signed with the mosque in part because of the historic relationship between the two groups.

    “We looked at what was the greater good for the larger Ottawa community,” explained MacCrimmon.

    […]Some of the original parishioners at the church remember the Muslims who rolled out their carpets to pray after church services on Sunday. On a few occasions, Marion Reid said the Imam spoke at the pulpit to the United congregation.

    “His sermon was about the things in our bible that were ALMOST like what was written in the Qur’an and that amazed me, because I had lived a sheltered life until then,” said Reid.

    […]The purchase of the church involved mostly cash donated by members of the mosque and gifts from a number of embassies. A portion of the purchase involves a no-interest loan from the church, because paying or charging interest is forbidden in Muslim law.[…]

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/united-church-sold-ottawa-mosque-1.3591054

  28. A massive, migrant crime wave is surging across Germany according to figures buried in a new report released by the country’s Interior Ministry. The data reveals that without migrants considered, crime rates in Germany would have remained roughly static since 2014. But, in fact, the country recorded an extra 402,741 crimes committed by migrants.

    While much of this criminality concerned illegal border crossings, German authorities instead talked up a “record surge” in crimes by “right wing radicals”.

    Concerning statistics from the 135-page report reveal that 70 per cent of pickpocketing, one of the crime types on the rise, was committed by non-Germans. Of this figure, 34 per cent was committed by recent asylum seekers, with the rest committed by “non-Germans”.

    Foreign nationals are thought to account for around 11 or 12 per cent of the total population of Germany, but were over-represented in every area of crime.

    Illegal immigrants and asylum seekers account for around 2.5 per cent of Germany’s population, but were also massively overrepresented.

    Amongst total offences, non-Germans accounted for 27.6 percent while illegal immigrants and asylum seekers accounted for 5.7 percent. Of homicides, the figures are 29.3%/8.2%, and of sexual assaults, the figures were 20.5%/4.8%.

    In all of these cases as well as those indicated in the chart below, non-Germans and illegal migrants outstripped their proportions of crime to their representation in German society.
    Non-Germans accounted for 38 per cent of all robberies, 38 per cent of thefts, and 43 per cent of thefts that involved a level of aggravation such as assault or force.

    They accounted for 40.2 per cent of burglaries, 43.5 per cent of shoplifting, and a whopping 75.7 of pick pocketing or purse snatching…….

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/05/23/germany-registers-surge-crimes-right-wing-radicals/