Reader’s links for Aug. 5 – 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.

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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

70 Replies to “Reader’s links for Aug. 5 – 2016”

  1. State Dept spokesman bursts into laughter after claiming transparency

    In a moment that perhaps best crystallizes the Obama administration’s attitude towards “transparency,” a State Department spokesman burst into laughter today after he began a press conference by calling it an “exercise in transparency and democracy.”

    Associated Press reporter Matt Lee offered the ultimate zinger, “Is that what it is? I thought it was an exercise in spin and obfuscation,” responding to spokesman Mark Toner.

    http://www.theamericanmirror.com/video-state-dept-spokesman-bursts-laughter-claiming-transparency/

    • Kerry says Iran payout saved US taxpayers ‘billions of dollars’

      Kerry flatly denies any connection between the cash — and an additional $1.3 billion interest payment — and the implementation of the nuclear deal and the prisoner swap that all occurred in rapid succession.

      “The United States does not pay ransom and does not negotiate ransoms,” Kerry tells reporters in Buenos Aires. “It is not our policy. This story is not a new story. This was announced by the president of the United States himself at the same time.”

      He says the settlement agreement with Iran ultimately saved US taxpayers what could have been billions of dollars in additional interest.

      “We believe this agreement … actually saved the American taxpayers potentially billions of dollars,” Kerry says. “There was no benefit to the United States of America to drag this out.”

      http://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/kerry-says-iran-payout-saved-us-taxpayers-billions-of-dollars/

  2. British Pirates of the Caribbean star RETURNS to Syria to fight ISIS despite death threats (express, Aug 5, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/696841/british-hollywood-pirates-of-the-caribbean-star-fight-isis-syria-raqqa

    “A BRITISH actor who quit his glamorous Hollywood career to fight the Islamic State has travelled back to Syria, despite being sent home because a fellow Western fighter said he wanted to kill him.

    Michael Enright, who starred in Pirates of the Caribbean as well as TV shows CSI and Law and Order, said the plight of those oppressed by the death-cult is the reason he wants to go back and fight.

    He said: “Somebody has to stand up. Somebody’s got to. I mean as we speak right now, you know, little girls are being raped. You know we should stand up to that.”

    The 52-year-old said he previously spent time fighting with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in 2015.

    Although he now accepts his acting career is over, he has managed to sneak back into Syria to take the fight to Daesh.

    The Manchester-born fighter is believed to have been booted out of his fighting units after other soldiers are said to have wanted to kill him because of his erratic behaviour…”

  3. PICTURED: Dramatic moment police TEAR GAS refugees to break up Paris migrant camp (express, Aug 5, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/696857/paris-refugees-eritrea-sudan-jungle-camp-photos-migrant-Avenue-de-Flandre-Natacha-Bouchart

    “THESE dramatic pictures capture the moment French police were forced to use tear gas to break up a growing migrant camp.

    The raid was part of a mass crackdown from French forces who are trying stop asylum seekers from reaching Britain.

    Officers armed with guns and batons moved in to disperse the migrants – many of which are from Eritrea and Sudan.

    Refugees tried to battle with officers in a bid to save their site – based in north Paris’s Avenue de Flandre – with some fainting during the skirmish.

    More than 31,000 men, 18,000 women and 9,000 children applied for asylum in France last year.

    Thousands of refugees live in temporary camps near rail stations in the city, while more than 7,000 live in the Calais Jungle camp alone…”

  4. Clinton’s ‘Super Hawkish’ Stance Will Only Extend Syrian War (sputniknews, audio, Aug 5, 2016)
    http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160805/1043957571/clinton-syria-stance-extend-war.html

    “Daniel McAdams, executive director for the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, joined Radio Sputnik to discuss a comment made by a Hillary Clinton foreign policy aide who suggested that Syria would be a “first key task,” and whether actions implied by that remark will lead to a further deterioration of conditions in the Middle East…”

    • Ron and Rand Paul don’t live in the same reality that we do or that the Libs do, they have their own reality that on superficially resembles ours.

  5. UK Troops Warned: Don’t Wear Uniforms Off-Base To Avoid Attacks (sputniknews, Aug 5, 2016)
    http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160805/1043956190/troops-warned-dont-wear-uniforms.html

    “On Wednesday, the British army ordered its troops on UK soil to not wear uniforms off-base, for fear of abduction or attack. The directive was given immediately after several people tried to kidnap a civilian employee at the Aldershot garrison in Hampshire, southern Britain.

    Senior defence analyst Major Charles Heyman said, “Wearing uniforms makes it easier for potential jihadists to carry out on-the-spot crimes. There are certain places in the UK where it would be foolish for serving soldiers to go in uniform.” …”

  6. IS Captures 3,000 Iraqi Villagers, Says UN (skynews, Aug 5, 2016)
    http://news.sky.com/story/is-captures-3000-iraqi-villagers-says-un-10523853?

    “Islamic State fighters have captured up to 3,000 Iraqi villagers trying to flee to the city of Kirkuk, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

    The UNHCR says they were from Hawiga District and 12 were killed by the jihadist group.

    It followed a statement on Thursday from the Iraqi Observatory for Human rights, which claimed 1,900 civilians had been captured by more than 100 IS fighters.

    They were using the people as human shields against attacks by Iraqi Security Forces, the statement said, adding tens of civilians had been executed, and six burnt.

    The UNHCR said it had “received reports that ISIL captured on 4 August up to 3,000 IDPs (internally displaced people) from villages in Hawiga District in Kirkuk Governorate, trying to flee to Kirkuk city.

    “Reportedly, 12 of the IDPs have been killed in captivity.”…”

  7. Iraqi Army Seize15 Daesh Chemical Missiles in Ramadi, Capital of Al Anbar (alalam, Aug 5, 2016)
    http://en.alalam.ir/news/1847022?

    “Iraqi Army forces seized 15 missiles with chemical warheads equipped during clean up operations in captured Daesh military positions in the city of Ramadi in Anbar Province.

    “The Iraqi army and popular forces seized at least 15 missiles with chemical warheads comprising very strong poison substances, including mustard gas which belonged to the ISIL in Street 20, al-Tamim, al-Qatana and al-Sharka regions of Ramadi city,” Brigadier General Fauzi Farih al-Dailami said on Thursday…”

  8. Saudi royal family member robbed of €1million watch while walking in Paris (independent, Aug 5, 2016)
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/saudi-royal-family-member-robbed-of-1million-watch-while-walking-in-paris-a7173746.html

    “A member of the Saudi royal family has claimed she was robbed of over one million euros worth of property while walking in Paris, according to city police.

    The unnamed victim told officers she was violently assaulted by two attackers during a visit to the French capital’s second arrondissement on Thursday evening, and had an expensive watch snatched from her wrist.

    The men then reportedly fled the scene, before the victim went directly to the nearest police station…”

  9. Egypt pro-government cleric escapes shooting (middle-east-online, Aug 5, 2016)
    http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=78108

    “Gunmen opened fire at former Egyptian mufti Ali Gomaa in a Cairo suburb on Friday, missing the pro-government cleric but wounding a bodyguard, the interior ministry said.

    Gomaa was on his way to a mosque near his house in the October 6 suburb when the assailants hiding in a park started shooting fire, the ministry said.

    His guards exchanged fire with the gunmen and forced them to flee, it said, adding that one of the guards was lightly wounded.

    Gomaa later told Egyptian state television of how he had taken shelter behind a mosque wall when the shooting started…”

  10. Austria is capital of radical racism, says Turkish foreign minister (theguardian, Aug 5, 2016)
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/05/mevlut-cavusoglu-austria-capital-of-radical-racism-turkey?

    “The Turkish foreign minster, Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu, has called Austria the “capital of radical racism” after the country’s chancellor, Christian Kern, suggested ending EU accession talks with Ankara.

    In an interview with broadcaster TGRT Haber, Çavu?o?lu said Kern’s comments, spurred in part by a crackdown on suspected perpetrators of a failed coup last month, were ugly and that he rejected them all. “The Austrian chancellor should first take a look at his own country. One of the trends that is an enemy of human rights and values is racism and today Austria is the capital of radical racism,” he said.

    Kern said on Wednesday he would start a discussion among European heads of government to quit talks with Turkey citing democratic and economic deficits. Talks have made only slow progress since they began in 2005, with only one of 35 “chapters” concluded.

    Çavu?o?lu’s comments drew immediate reaction from Vienna. The Austrian foreign minister, Sebastian Kurz, called on Ankara to moderate its words and actions. Kern’s Social Democrats have come under pressure from both their conservative coalition partners and the far right Freedom party, which has in a recent opinion poll attracted 35% of votes on an anti-immigrant platform, critical of Islam.

    European leaders have voiced concern over Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an’s crackdown on suspected dissidents after the failed coup attempt, identifying his idea of reintroducing the death penalty in Turkey as a red line barring EU accession.

    Tensions between the two countries had been on the rise since last month. Austria had summoned Turkey’s ambassador on 21 July to explain Ankara’s links to demonstrations in the country in support of Erdo?an.

    Turkey has so far lived up to its side of the landmark deal with Brussels to stop illegal migration to Europe via its shores, in return for financial aid, the promise of visa-free travel to much of the bloc and accelerated talks on membership. But Ankara has complained Europe is not living up to its side of the accord, a stance reiterated by Çavu?o?lu on Friday. “If there is an agreement, either both sides would implement this or both would put it aside. There is no step back from this,” he said.”

  11. Rio 2016: Moroccan boxer Hassan Saada arrested over rape charges one day before Olympic fight

    Hassan Saada, 22, was arrested by police on Friday morning after allegations of sexual assault were made against him by two Brazilian women who work in the Olympic Village in Barra de Tijucaas as waitresses. The attacks were alleged to have taken place on Wednesday, according to information given by the two women in their statements.

    Police have confirmed that Saada will be jailed for 15 days while they conduct a rape investigation, although suspects can be held for longer under Brazilian law while a case is investigated.[…]

    http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/boxing/rio-2016-boxer-rape-arrested-hassan-saada-olympics-moroccan-latest-a7174191.html

  12. UK -Third human foot discovered in Bath

    Another human foot has been located in Bath.

    The foot, which was found in the garden of a property on Cranwells Park at 2.30pm on Wednesday, has been sent for forensic analysis.

    At this stage we are keeping an open mind as to whether or not this is linked to the previous two similar incidents in the city.

    The first foot was found in Weston Park East in February while the second was discovered in a garden of a property on Weston Park in July. All three feet have been found within a few hundred yards of each other.

    Following a comprehensive investigation it was concluded that the first foot was more than likely to be an exhibit from a medical or educational establishment and was not the result of a crime. It is anticipated that the second foot, which is still undergoing tests, is likely to be linked to this.

    The same officers are looking into the latest discoveries and will look to confirm beyond all reasonable doubt that they are linked and if there are any new lines of inquiry which can be taken forward.

    https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/newsroom/second-human-foot-found-in-bath/third-human-foot-discovered-in-bath/

  13. USA: Protesters picket NBC after misreporting on Turkish coup

    Protesters gathered outside the headquarters of NBC News in New York on Friday to criticise the network’s coverage of the failed Turkish coup attempt which took place July 15.

    During the coup attempt NBC News erroneously shared a statement on social media, attributed to an unnamed US military official, which alleged Turkish President Recep Erdogan had fled the country and was en route to Germany to secure asylum. The statement went viral on social media, and was widely circulated in traditional media including within Turkey itself.

    “As Americans we are simply insulted and outraged when NBC News was reporting wrong, distorted, information about the attempted coup in the Republic of Turkey,” said protest organiser Ibrahim Kutluk.

  14. Syria: Over 200 residents flee fighting in Aleppo through humanitarian corridors

    Footage released on Friday shows the residents of Salah-ud-Din district, Aleppo, leaving territories besieged by militant group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (former al-Nusra Front) through the humanitarian corridors set up by the Russian army.

    SOT, Dmitri Bumarskov, Representative of Russian Centre for Reconciliation in Syria (Russian): “We are at the checkpoint for refugees in Salah-ud-Din district, city of Aleppo. Today we brought eight tons of humanitarian aid. More than 200 people went through the checkpoint. Now they are receiving humanitarian aid, which consists of grains, canned meat and fish and so on. After that they will receive medical and psychological assistance. After that they will be delivered to temporary accommodations.”

  15. UK: Black Lives Matter protest blocks motorway to Heathrow Airport

    Police arrested several protesters after dozens of ‘Black Lives Matter’ activists blocked the motorway route into London’s Heathrow Airport on Friday, by laying down in the middle of the motorway road.

    Protesters locked themselves arm-in-arm in the middle of the motorway road leading to Heathrow, blocking all traffic entering into the airport, while displaying a banner reading “This is a crisis.” A long tailback of vehicles built up at the scene, with cars being redirected.

    Earlier in the day a group of Black Lives Matter protesters blocked the main road leading to Birmingham Airport while in Nottingham, protesters lay in the middle of the road to block tram lines in the city.

    The Black Lives Matter demos are a part of the ‘BlackAugust’ national day of protests to raise awareness of racism and police brutality, five years after the police killing of Mark Duggan sparked an uprising of protests across the entire nation.

  16. Arrested ISIS Sympathizer Claims Fellow Militants Are In Mexico
    Photo of Alex Pfeiffer
    Alex Pfeiffer

    Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/04/arrested-isis-sympathizer-claims-fellow-militants-are-in-mexico/#ixzz4GTAYehWt

    Erick Jamal Hendricks of Charlotte, N.C., was arrested Thursday in Ohio for providing material support to ISIS.

    A Department of Justice press release stated that Hendricks tried to recruit and train people in the United States to commit terrorist acts. “Hendricks allegedly told another person that his goal was to create a sleeper cell to be trained and housed at a secure compound that would conduct attacks in the United States. He mentioned that potential targets included military members whose information had been released by ISIL and the woman who organized the Draw Prophet Mohammad contest,” the DOJ press release said.

    Conservative activist Pamela Geller was the organizer of the Muhammad drawing contest.

    In June 2015, another unnamed individual was arrested in Ohio after attempting to buy an AK-47 from an undercover law enforcement agent. This individual had pledged allegiance to ISIS over social media.

    Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/04/arrested-isis-sympathizer-claims-fellow-militants-are-in-mexico/#ixzz4GTAgSYmM

  17. reuters – Actress Vanessa Redgrave urges British government to take in Calais child refugees

  18. Freed Iranian Hostage: Iranians Told Me They Were Waiting For Another Plane To Arrive Before Letting Us Go

    On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “The Intelligence Report with Trish Regan,” Saeed Abedini, one of the four hostages released from Iran back in January, stated that on the night he was freed, his captors told him they were waiting on another plane to arrive before letting him go.

    Abedini said, “I just remember the night that we’d been in a[n] airport, just take hours and hours there. And I asked one of the…police that was with us, that, why are you not letting us to go to the…plane? And he told me we are waiting for another plane, and if that plane take off, then we’re going to let you go.”

    http://www.breitbart.com/video/2016/08/04/freed-iranian-hostage-iranians-told-me-they-were-waiting-for-another-plane-to-arrive-before-letting-us-go/http://www.breitbart.com/video/2016/08/04/freed-iranian-hostage-iranians-told-me-they-were-waiting-for-another-plane-to-arrive-before-letting-us-go/

  19. Indonesia arrests six suspected of plotting Singapore ‘rocket attack’

    Indonesian police arrested six suspected militants on Friday who they believed to be linked to the Islamic State group and plotting a rocket attack on Singapore, authorities in Indonesia and Singapore said.

    Singapore said it was stepping up security in response to the plan to attack it that was being hatched on Indonesia’s Batam island, which is only about 15 km (10 miles) to the south of the wealthy city-state.

    Members of an elite Singapore police unit patrolled the glittering downtown waterfront in vehicles and on foot on Friday afternoon. One officer said they were on routine patrol.

    Indonesian police spokesman Agus Rianto told reporters the six suspects had been plotting with a member of the Islamic State militant group in Syria to attack Singapore, a major commercial, banking and travel hub that is home to many Western expatriates.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-security-singapore-idUSKCN10G0NT

  20. Support for Germany’s Merkel plunges after attacks

    Popular support for Chancellor Angela Merkel has plunged according to a poll conducted after attacks in Germany, with almost two-thirds of Germans unhappy with her refugee policy.

    The survey for public broadcaster ARD showed support for Merkel down 12 points from her July rating to 47 percent. This marked her second-lowest score since she was re-elected in 2013. In April last year, before the migrant crisis erupted she enjoyed backing of 75 percent.

    Merkel’s open-door refugee policy has come under attack from critics after five attacks in Germany since July 18 have left 15 people dead, including four assailants, and dozens injured.

    Two of the attackers had links to Islamist militancy, officials say.

    Support for one of Merkel’s fiercest critics, Bavarian Premier Horst Seehofer, who has called for restrictions on immigration to increase security, jumped 11 points to 44 percent.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-merkel-poll-idUSKCN10G0PK

  21. How Angela Merkel imperiled Europe’s future

    n a world filled with political bunglers, German Chancellor Angela Merkel deserves special mention for outstanding achievement in recklessness. Her refugee policy puts all of Europe at risk, though continental elites may be too zealous in their devotion to humanitarian ideals to recognize it.

    As French political philosopher Pierre Manent explains in an important interview translated in First Things, European elite culture is committed to a view of the world that abstracts from particular attachments — national attachments, ethnic attachments, religious attachments — and treats individuals as perfectly equal and interchangeable exemplars of capital-H Humanity. A Catholic Frenchman is just a human being. A secular German is just a human being. A devout Muslim refugee from the Syrian civil war is just a human being. Place of origin is politically irrelevant. So is religious affiliation. And age. And gender. The only form of belonging that matters is to the placeless human species.

    http://theweek.com/articles/640943/how-angela-merkel-imperiled-europes-future

  22. 05 August 2016 – 10H45
    ‘Jihadist’ headed Italy trafficking gang

    ROME (AFP) –

    Italian authorities said Friday they had broken up a people trafficking gang based near Naples headed by a Tunisian national they suspect of jihadist links.

    The alleged gang leader’s suspected backing for radical Islamism was uncovered during an investigation into the group’s provision of false job contracts from local textile factories to enable illegal immigrants from North Africa to obtain work permits, a statement from the ROS police special operations unit said.

    Arrest warrants have been issued for eight suspects. They included the Tunisian, who was said to have become radicalised in the last year and to have praised the recent terror attacks on Paris on social media.

    Further details of the operation were to be released at a press conference later Friday.

    It came against a backdrop of mounting concern about the possibility of Italy being hit by “lone wolf” terror attacks of the kind seen in neighbouring France, Belgium and Britain.

    Recent weeks have seen a string of suspected Islamists expelled from the country on the order of Interior Minister Angelino Alfano.

    http://www.france24.com/en/20160805-jihadist-headed-italy-trafficking-gang

  23. U.S. Poised to Hit Goal of Welcoming 10,000 Syrian Refugees

    WASHINGTON — After a slow start, it appears increasingly likely that the Obama administration will hit its goal of admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States before the end of September.

    State Department figures show that 2,340 Syrian refugees arrived last month in the United States.

    That’s more than what occurred during the entire seven months after President Barack Obama directed his team to prepare for 10,000 admissions from the war-torn country. Total admissions for the current budget year, which ends Sept. 30, now come to about 7,900, and the vast majority of them are Sunni Muslims, records show.

    If the pace from June and July continues this month, the target should be reached with a couple weeks to spare before Obama heads to the United Nations to urge world leaders to admit more refugees and to increase funding for relief organizations. The U.N. General Assembly is holding a summit to address the large movements of refugees and migrants that stems primarily from conflicts in the Middle East and Africa.

    Obama would have been hard-pressed to make the case for other countries to do more with the U.S. failing to reach a goal that amounts to only about 2 percent of the 480,000 Syrian refugees in need of resettlement.

    Organizations that help relocate Syrian refugees said the White House and other administration officials have grown increasingly confident of hitting the target.

    “They put more resources on it, which is allowing more individual’s to be processed and therefore able to travel,” said Stacie Blake, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, one of nine groups that help resettle Syrian refugees.

    Obama’s call for 10,000 entries this year was criticized by most Republican governors and the GOP presidential candidates, who argued that the government lacked an adequate screening system to prevent suspected terrorists from slipping into the U.S.

    […] “We are very comfortable that we are bringing people in who will be a great plus to our country.” Kerry said.

    Kerry said that “not one event in the United States, of terror” has been committed by a refugee allowed to resettle in the U.S. […]

    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-poised-hit-goal-welcoming-10-000-syrian-refugees-n623596

  24. ANOTHER MYSTERIOUS DEATH=> Activist and Sanders Supporter Who Served Papers to DNC on Fraud Case Found Dead

    On July 3, 2016, Shawn Lucas and filmmaker Ricardo Villaba served the DNC Services Corp. and Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz at DNC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., in the fraud class action suit against the Democrat Party on behalf of Bernie Sanders supporters.

    ANOTHER MYSTERIOUS DEATH=> Activist and Sanders Supporter Who Served Papers to DNC on Fraud Case Found Dead

    Jim Hoft Aug 4th, 2016 10:26 pm 487 Comments

    On July 3, 2016, Shawn Lucas and filmmaker Ricardo Villaba served the DNC Services Corp. and Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz at DNC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., in the fraud class action suit against the Democrat Party on behalf of Bernie Sanders supporters.

    Shawn Lucas was thrilled about serving the papers to the DNC before Independence Day.

    ** This was before Wikileaks released documents proving the DNC was working against the Sanders campaign during the 2016 primary.

    According to Snopes Lucas was found dead on his bathroom floor.

    We contacted Lucas’ employer on 4 August 2016 to ask whether there was any truth to the rumor. According to an individual with whom we spoke at that company, Shawn Lucas died on 2 August 2016. The audibly and understandably shaken employee stated that interest in the circumstances of Lucas’ death had prompted a number of phone calls and other queries, but the company had not yet ascertained any details about Lucas’ cause of death and were unable to confirm anything more than the fact he had passed away.

    An unconfirmed report holds that Lucas was found lying on the bathroom floor by his girlfriend when she returned home on the evening of 2 August 2016. Paramedics responding to her 911 call found no signs of life.

    This follows the death of 27 year-old Democratic staffer Seth Conrad Rich who was murdered in Washington DC on July 8. The killer or killers appear to have taken nothing from their victim, leaving behind his wallet, watch and phone. Shortly after the killing, Redditors and social media users were pursuing a “lead” saying that Rich was en route to the FBI the morning of his murder, apparently intending to speak to special agents about an “ongoing court case” possibly involving the Clinton family.

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/08/breaking-lead-attorney-dnc-fraud-case-found-dead-1-week-serving-dnc-papers/

  25. Japan protests after Chinese ships sail near disputed islets

    TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan protested to China on Friday after Chinese coastguard ships and fishing vessels entered what Tokyo considers its territorial waters around a group of disputed islets, the Japanese foreign ministry said.

    Beijing claims the uninhabited, Tokyo-controlled East China Sea islands, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, and occasionally sends its coastguard vessels near them.

    But this is the first time Chinese coastguard ships and fishing vessels have sailed together in the area, in what appeared to be increased assertion of jurisdiction over the islets, a foreign ministry official said.

    Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama summoned China’s ambassador to Japan, Cheng Yonghua, to lodge a strong protest, the ministry said.

    China on Friday also accused Japan’s new defense minister, Tomomi Inada, of recklessly misrepresenting history after she declined to say whether Japanese troops massacred civilians in China during World War Two.

    Ties between China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-largest economies, have been plagued by the territorial row, the legacy of Japans’ wartime occupation of parts of China and regional rivalry.

    http://www.oann.com/japan-protests-after-chinese-ships-sail-near-disputed-islets/

  26. Egypt’s former mufti Ali Gomaa survives assassination attempt in Cairo

    Egypt’s former leading Muslim cleric, Ali Gomaa, has escaped unharmed from an apparent assassination attempt in Cairo, he told state television on Friday morning.

    Gomaa told the television channel that four men had shot at him while he was approaching a mosque in 6 October city on the outskirts of Cairo on Friday afternoon, where he was scheduled to lead Friday prayers.

    The four gunmen were hiding in a garden and opened fire on the cleric while he was about to enter the mosque.

    “I took shelter behind the mosque’s wall,” he said.

    The interior ministry said in a statement that the force guarding the Muslim cleric exchanged fire with the assailants, who subsequently fled the scene.

    Gomaa said he insisted on delivering his Friday sermon and led the prayers despite the attack.

    “This is a message to (the terrorists) that I will never waver in my war against them,” he said.

    Gomaa said later on Friday that the attack came in response to the army’s killing on Thursday of the chief of the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State group, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis.

    The group is spearheading an Islamist insurgency in the northern part of the Sinai peninsula.

    The privately-owned CBC Extra channel later aired footage showing armed guards escorting Gomaa out of the mosque following the shooting.

    Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the traditional seat of Sunni Islamic learning, commented on the incident on Friday afternoon, describing it as a “villainous, terrorist” attack that will not succeed in intimidating the “devoted” Muslim scholars.

    Gomaa served as the country’s grand mufti, the authority responsible for giving Islamic edicts, for almost a decade until 2013.
    Gomaa is known for his controversial Islamic edicts, which he has continued to issue after leaving office through a TV show, on air several times a week, during which he answers religious questions.

    He has said that obeying President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is part of obediance to the Prophet Muhammed.

    Gomaa, an outspoken critic of the Islamist opposition, has also suggested that the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group are non-Muslims and said the country’s police and army should carry arms against them.

    One of his personal bodyguards was slightly injured in the foot during the attack, state TV reported.

    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/236985/Egypt/Politics-/UPDATE–Egypts-former-mufti-Ali-Gomaa-survives-ass.aspx

  27. AUG 05 2016 – ITALY – Muslim migrants leave their refugee camp in Ventimiglia to invade France

    video 1 :

      • Appears to be an invading army, men of military age few if any women or children. They should be met at the borders with heavy artillery/live rounds and STOPPED. If that means killing every single one of them so be it. It is an invasion anyone who thinks differently does not understand history or how the muslims operate.
        Islamic Migration known as Hijira and the imposition of Sharia
        There is a mass migration from Islamic lands to Kafir lands. It is the mission of Islam to bring the Sharia into power, everywhere. There is an ethical divide between Islam and the hated Kafir civilization. It is the purpose of Sharia to dominate the Kafir civilization.
        As Muslims immigrate, they immediately make Sharia demands. These demands are endless in details, but the process can take generations. We can see the centuries long transformation in the Middle East and Turkey which used to be Christian.
        This does not mean that every Muslim takes part in the politics of Sharia, since only a few Islamic leaders are needed. The reason that Islam can win every attempt to advance Sharia is that Kafirs are tolerant of all demands and do not push back. So if our attitudes do not change, Kafir nations will become Sharia nations.
        Bill Warner, Center for the Study of Political Islam
        http://www.politicalislam.com
        (c) copyright 2016

  28. via Irish Times…regarding illegal immigrant rights…

    “Unborn child’ has significant legal rights, judge rules
    High Court justice finds the rights of the ‘unborn’ extend beyond the right to life

    A High Court judge has said the word “unborn” in the Constitution means an “unborn child” with rights beyond the right to life, which “must be taken seriously” by the State.
    ===>The unborn child, including the unborn child of a parent facing deportation, enjoys “significant” rights and legal position at common law, by statute, and under the Constitution, “going well beyond the right to life alone”, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys said.”<===

  29. UK: A Tale of Two Inquiries

    During the course of a hot summer Britain’s Labour party is in meltdown on a range of issues. But among the worst parts of its meltdown are those to do with its continuing effort to cover up the party’s serious anti-Semitism problem.

    As we have pointed out here before, the party’s leader — Jeremy Corbyn — has such a long history of association and sympathy with some of the world’s most extreme anti-Semites that it is hard to see how the party’s problems could not trickle down as well as up. Now two developments suggest that the Labour body politic has become so wracked by this problem that it is unlikely to recover.

    The first demonstration was the confirmation that one of this year’s two “inquiries” into anti-Semitism in the party had been hobbled before it even began. Anyone closely observing this review (ordered by Jeremy Corbyn, after a string of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel comments by Labour MPs, Councillors and members of the party’s National Executive Committee were exposed) knew that it was unlikely to be anything other than a whitewash. The person in charge of this review — veteran left-wing campaigner Shami Chakrabarti — had already demonstrated it was unlikely that her review would seriously probe the party’s problem; she talked of the problem of anti-Semitism only by also highlighting “Islamophobia and other forms of racism’. This circumlocution — beloved of Jeremy Corbyn himself — avoids tackling the specific problem of anti-Semitism and clearly aspires to dilute the problem in a sea of other challenges.

    That the launch of Chakrabarti’s thin and shallow report itself included two anti-Semitic incidents made it look as though Labour’s low could get no worse. But since then, Chakrabarti was interviewed on a new television station in the UK (JTV) and was probed on precisely what she was offered in order to come up with the bland and unremarkable whitewash she had. Chakrabarti had already received criticism for becoming a signed-up member of the Labour party on the day that she was asked to write her “inquiry” into the party. But during her interview she was specifically asked about whether she had been offered the upgrade of a seat in the House of Lords (a peerage) before writing her report, Chakrabarti looked unusually uncomfortable and shuffled around before saying, “I don’t think I want to talk about my future ambitions at this point’. Pressed on the question, she played around with a glass of water before saying “You can ask the question, and I’m going to evade it at this point.”

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8639/uk-labour-inquiries

  30. Was ‘devout Muslim’ Russell Square knifeman radicalised? Police to trawl ‘impressionable’ attacker’s PC for links to ISIS as neighbour claims mental illness is a ‘scapegoat’. Anti-terror police are studying computers belonging to London murder suspect Zakaria Bulhan, 19.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3725136/Russell-Square-knifeman-stabbed-American-tourist-death-devastated-husband-tried-kill-THREE-times-year.html

    Police have said the suspect has a history of mental illness and that there was nothing to suggest he had been radicalised. But Mr Bhamra questioned the suggestion of mental illness, saying: “We have never heard of any type of mental illness, depression or that he had any mental conditions. “I have lived here 30 years – I have never seen an ambulance here or him being rushed to hospital.”

    http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/britain/ive-never-seen-any-sign-of-anything-that-suggest-he-has-problems-neighbours-of-man-accused-of-going-on-stabbing-rampage-in-london-34941300.html

    • When will the govts & media stop talking about this fantasy of radicalization or self radicalization. There are no radical or moderate muslims. There are muslims who do the wet work and those who stand on the sidelines singing their praises and donating money to the cause. The only other muslims that may be what the fantasy envisions as moderate are those who are not practicing muslims but muslims in name only and have little or nothing to do with practicing muslims. They make themselves irrelevant because they will not disavow the quasi religion and still proclaim themselves to be muslims.

  31. Kuwait Says It Arrests Filipina Who Planned an IS Attack (abcnews, Aug 5, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kuwait-arrests-filipina-planned-attack-41147201

    “Kuwait said Friday it arrested a Filipina it accused of joining the Islamic State group through its affiliate in Libya and who planned to launch an attack.

    The Interior Ministry said the woman, born in 1984, entered Kuwait last June as a house maid. Security forces monitoring the woman’s email found messages by the woman to the Islamic State group’s Libyan affiliate, pledging allegiance to the group.

    “She confessed she was ready to carry out any terrorist attack once circumstances and means were ripe in order to undermine security and stability in Kuwait, as well as ignite sedition,” the state-run Kuwait News Agency reported.

    KUNA also published a photograph of the woman in a black abaya, a loose black dress…”

  32. Turkey coup bid: Fethullah Gulen’s lawyers fear attack on his life (BBC, Aug 5, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36988726

    “Lawyers for US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen say they fear an attack on his life, in the wake of the failed coup attempt on 15 July in Turkey. Turkey has issued an arrest warrant for Mr Gulen, accusing him of orchestrating the coup attempt. It has called on the US to extradite him. Mr Gulen denies any involvement…”

  33. Dems Want To Investigate Trump, But Clinton Has the Real Unseemly Russia Connections
    New report highlights Clinton’s “pay for play” role in the transfer of sensitive American technology to the Russian military.

    Russia, if you’re listening I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” That comment, made in jest last week by GOP candidate Donald Trump has raised the ire of some congressional Democrats who are seeking to have Trump investigated for possible violations of federal cyber and espionage laws.

    Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware (D-DE) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have asked former Trump rival Ted Cruz (R-TX), to investigate Trump’s comment to determine if laws were broken. Cruz chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee oversight subpanel, the body tasked with investigating such claims.

    Trump’s comment came against the backdrop of Hillary Clinton’s gross mishandling of classified data while secretary of state through the use of an unsecured, home-brewed bathroom server. Despite her efforts to delete the emails, some of which constituted government property, the FBI was able to retrieve all but 30,000 of them.

    Given the reckless manner in which she mishandled classified data, it is very possible, indeed probable, that the irretrievable emails are currently in possession of an unknown third party. If, as Clinton alleges, the emails were all of a personal nature, the United States should not be overly concerned. However, thanks to the investigative efforts of the FBI, we are now cognizant of the fact that many of the emails sent and received were of a classified nature and some were so top secret, FBI agents needed special clearance to view them.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/263749/dems-want-investigate-trump-clinton-has-real-ari-lieberman

  34. Bradly Cooper developing mini series for HBO based on Black Flag the Rise of ISIS

  35. German attackers were ‘advised by Isis’: report (thelocal, Aug 5, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.de/20160805/perpetrators-of-german-attacks-advised-by-isis-report

    “The perpetrators of two attacks in Germany claimed by the Isis terror group were given advice on the separate assaults by members of the jihadist organisation, German media reports.

    Without citing its sources, German weekly Der Spiegel said the two men exchanged messages with individuals using different phone numbers, including some that were registered in Saudi Arabia.

    The Afghan teenager who in July went on an axe rampage on a train, wounding four tourists from Hong Kong and a German passer-by, had reportedly discussed how he would carry out the attack with his Isis contacts.

    In one of the exchanges, an Isis contact suggested that the teen, named by German media as Riaz Khan Ahmadzai, could drive a car into a crowd, but the Afghan rejected the idea as he did not have a driver’s licence, the report said.

    The teen said he would instead get on a train and carry out his attack onboard.

    In a separate attack that happened six days later on July 24th, a Syrian asylum seeker aged 27 named by German media as Mohamed Daleel set off an explosive device near an open-air music festival that killed him and wounded a dozen others.

    But Spiegel said messages from his phone suggest that the assault in the southern city of Ansbach was not meant to have been a suicide bombing.

    Rather, his contact had reportedly asked him to detonate the bomb and film the subsequent chaos before sending the footage to the Isis.

    The messages also suggested that Daleel was due to carry out other attacks.

    The assaults – which happened over a span of a week when another asylum seeker killed a woman in a knife attack and a German national shot nine dead in a gun rampage – have put pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel to reverse her welcoming stance to refugees.

    But Merkel has rebuffed the calls, saying the assailants sought to “undermine our sense of community, our openness and our willingness to help people in need,” but “we firmly reject this”.”

  36. 14,000 People Arrested in Less than a Week in Tangier (moroccoworldnews, Aug 5, 2016)
    http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/08/193233/14000-people-arrested-in-less-than-a-week-in-tangier/

    “1,400 people were arrested in Tangier between July 27 and August 3 for their alleged involvement in a host of criminal cases, according to the Moroccan authorities.

    A majority of the defendants were prosecuted for crimes that included theft, drug trafficking, fraud, assault, stabbing and robbery. In one day, Tangier police arrested over 100 people, including 58 for drug trafficking, theft and fraud charges, and 68 people for inciting corruption.

    These arrests coincided with the visit of several personalities, including the Salman of Saudi Arabia, former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and King Mohammed VI, who also visited the city for the launch of several components of the “Tangier-Metropolis” program.”

  37. Tunisian suspect ‘ready to strike in Italy’ says ROS unit (ansamed, Aug 5, 2016)
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/regions/campania/2016/08/05/suspected-jihadist-arrested-in-human-trafficking-operation_364d978b-5f6c-4d13-a1d1-31d4768349fc.html

    “A Tunisian suspect arrested earlier in the day was “ready to strike in Italy”, Carabinieri anti-terror police from the Special Operations Unit (ROS) said Friday.

    Khemiri Mohamed Kamel Edine, 41, is one of eight foreign nationals arrested on suspicion of abetting illegal immigration in the Campania town of San Marcellino. Edine is also suspected of racketeering with intent to commit terrorist acts and of spreading Internet propaganda for the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) terror group, including a manual with rules for the “solitary jihadist”.

    “He’s a highly dangerous individual, because he’s smart and knows how to make people listen to him,” said ROS General Giuseppe Governale. “He did not carry out concrete actions, but our investigations have found evidence he could strike”.

    The suspect, whom some had nicknamed ‘Bin Laden’, lives in an apartment above the local mosque where he works as a factotum. Police say he is the ringleader of a group that provided newly arrived migrants with fake labour contracts and pay slips from compliant textile companies so they could get residency permits in Italy, charging them 600 euros a pop. He is known to enthusiastically hail Islamist terrorist attacks such as a bloody January 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris with comments such as “justice has been served”. He also wrote on his Facebook profile that “I’ll be an ISIS man as long as I live, and if I die I exhort you to join”, with a picture of the French flag being trampled, and shared a so-called manual for lone wolf jihadists, which contains tips on how to avoid security cameras at chosen attack sites.”

  38. France sees more anti-Muslim acts after terror attacks (thelocal, Aug 5, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.fr/20160805/france-sees-more-anti-muslim-acts-after-terror-attacks

    “While the government and religious leaders are preaching unity between communities the country is still witnessing several acts of Islamophobia with mosques targeted.

    The most serious incident since the jihadist killing of a priest during mass was an attack on an elderly Muslim man near the city of Rouen in front of his family.

    The unprovoked beating occurred the day after the murder of the priest at Saint-Etienne-de-Rouvray.

    The French Muslim of Senegalese origin who was dressed in a traditional Djellaba was attacked outside his apartment early in the morning, after an apparent dispute over a parking place.

    His attacker allegedly called him a “dirty black” and threatened to cut his throat “like you did to us”, referring to how the priest was killed.

    He was hit on the head and left semi-conscious until he was later found by his family.

    Other incidents of Islamophobia have been less violent but have occurred on a regular basis.

    This week racist graffiti was scrawled across the walls of a mosque in the town of Ghisonaccia in Corsica, where tensions have been high between immigrant and local communities.

    The words “Arabs out” were just some of the Islamophobic messages tagged on the mosque.

    According to BFM TV other mosques around the country have also been targeted by racist graffiti.

    A mosque in eastern France was hit by a different kind of anti-Muslim act.

    Last week a box of pork lardons was emptied into the letter box of the mosque near Nancy and on Thursday the same place of worship was sent an envelope containing white powder.

    Police set up a perimeter cordon but later confirmed that the powder did not contain any dangerous substances.

    Nevertheless the rector of the mosque was left highly concerned.

    “Given the serious context we are facing we call upon the Muslim community to have the utmost vigilance with to attacks and threats which it is subject,” he said in a statement…”

  39. France: Halal store told to sell alcohol and pork or face closure

    A Halal store in the Paris commune of Colombes has been told is must stock alcohol and pork or face being shut down. The residential authority from which the Good Price store rents its premises, has said members of the local community are not being adequately served by the business.