News items and other links for Aug. 9 – 2015

Daily Links Post graphic

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

63 Replies to “News items and other links for Aug. 9 – 2015”

  1. British jihadi’s VJ Day plot to bomb the Queen in Central London:
    Police and MI5 in race against time to foil Boston Marathon-style IED ‘spectacular’ next Saturday

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3190706/Jihadis-VJ-plot-bomb-Queen-Police-MI5-race-against-time-foil-Boston-style-IED-spectacular-Saturday.html

    Elite troops moved to Chunnel as fears grow over terror threat:
    100 Royal marines secretly deployed to Kent barracks to act as a Quick Reaction force should terrorists take advantage of migrant crisis

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3190741/Elite-troops-moved-Chunnel-fears-grow-terror-threat-100-Royal-marines-secretly-deployed-Kent-barracks-act-Quick-Reaction-force-terrorists-advantage-migrant-crisis.html

    Ring of steel for Saturday’s ceremony as Met probes terror plot:
    Veterans say they’ve been told to clear new security 24 hours before London VJ Day parade

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3190737/Ring-steel-Saturday-s-ceremony-Met-probes-terror-plot-Veterans-say-ve-told-clear-new-security-24-hours-London-VJ-Day-parade.html

    Terrorist’s sick propaganda for British Muslims:
    ISIS make a series of boasts about attack on UK soil

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3190685/Terrorist-s-sick-propaganda-British-Muslims-ISIS-make-series-boasts-attack-UK-soil.html

    We can defeat terror with a quiet resolve The discovery of a plan to unleash death, maiming and terror amid VJ Day commemorations demonstrates beyond all doubt that the direct risk to this country from Islamist fanatics is real and urgent.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3190817/MAIL-SUNDAY-COMMENT-defeat-terror-quiet-resolve.html

    • Should we praise Quebec for having a fun and vibrant culture? Or admonish them for playing with their food?

    • Way back, when my boys were very little we went to the Blue Hill Fair in Maine. They had a pig scramble for youngsters and one of my sons entered it. They used little pigs for the scramble, they were greased but it took place in a dirt arena not in mud.
      My son caught one! The prize was either to keep the pig or get a small amount of money. My son chose to keep the pig! So, they put a collar and leash on it and over came my son to the grandstand with the pig. Well, my mother said that it was ridiculous to keep the pig and a whole lot of begging went on… My Mom said no and took the leash of the pig to bring him back for the money where upon the pig bit her on the leg!
      That was one crazy experience!
      Thanks for posting the video. It brought back very happy memories.

      • Pigs will bite like that, and it depends on the breed of pig on how dangerous they are, the red ones are the most dangerous of the domesticated pigs but all are dangerous to one degree or another.

        Yes when I was younger I had them chase me out of the hog lot.

  2. Aug 0 2015 – Afghanistan: Taliban attack in Kunduz kills 29

    At least 29 members of a pro-government militia have been killed in an attack in northern Afghanistan, officials say.

    Four commanders are said to be among those killed on Saturday when a Taliban suicide bomber targeted a gathering in the province of Kunduz.

    The interior ministry described them as civilians but local officials and the Taliban said they were militiamen.

    There has been a sharp increase in Taliban attacks in Afghanistan – more than 50 people died on Friday alone.

    The UN said the attacks were likely to be the product of a Taliban power struggle following the death of its leader Mullah Omar about two weeks ago.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33841724

  3. Officials Says Saudi-Led Friendly Fire in Yemen Kills 20 (abcnews, Aug 9, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/uae-soldiers-killed-yemen-campaign-32973083

    “A Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Yemen hit allied fighters in a friendly fire incident, killing at least 20, Yemeni security officials and pro-government fighters said Sunday.

    The officials said the strike late Saturday hit the fighters on a coastal road as they headed toward the embattled city of Zinjibar in southern Yemen.

    The Saudi-led, American-supported coalition began launching airstrikes in March against Shiite Houthi rebels and their allies, who control the capital and much of the country’s north.

    The fighting in Yemen pits the Houthis and troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants and loyalists of exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

    The United Arab Emirates said Saturday three of its soldiers were killed while taking part in a Saudi-led campaign. A statement carried by the official news agency WAM did not say how the soldiers were killed or whether they died in Yemen.

    Five Emirati soldiers have been killed in battle since March.

    Yemeni security officials have said that Saudi, Emirati, Egyptian and Jordanian military advisers are training hundreds of fighters at a military base near the port city of Aden.

    All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists….”

  4. Reports: 6 US F-16 Jets Arrive in Turkey to Fight IS (abcnews, Aug 9, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/reports-us-16-jets-arrive-turkey-fight-32975643

    “Reports say six U.S. F-16 fighter jets have arrived at Turkey’s southern air base to join the U.S.-led coalition fight against Islamic State militants.

    The U.S. Mission to NATO said on Twitter on Sunday that the F-16s have been deployed at Incirlik Air Base. It didn’t provide further details.

    Turkey’s private Dogan news agency reported that about 300 airmen from the 31st Fighter Wing had also arrived at the air base on Sunday.

    Turkey agreed to allow the U.S. to use the strategically located base last month, ending months of reluctance. Armed drones struck Islamic State positions last week and Turkey said an “extensive” fight against the extremists would soon begin.

    Turkish military and government officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.”

  5. Prominent Hard-Line Islamist Dies in Egyptian Prison (abcnews, Aug 9, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/prominent-hard-line-islamist-dies-egyptian-prison-32973423

    “A leading member of Egypt’s hard-line Islamist group Gamaa Islamiya, which waged an armed insurgency against the government in the 1990s, has died in prison, an official said Sunday.

    Interior Ministry official Maj. Gen. Hassan el-Sohagi said that Essam Derbala, 58, died of natural causes. A statement from Gamaa Islamiya’s political party accused Egyptian authorities of “assassination,” saying authorities intentionally deprived Derbala of medicine and subjected him to psychological torture.

    A prison official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorized to speak to journalists, denied the group’s accusations.

    Derbala was arrested earlier this year and accused of inciting violence….”

  6. U.S. Legacy in Afghanistan: ‘Culture of Guns,’ Arbaki Police Drive Up Violence (nbcnews, Aug 8, 2015)
    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-legacy-afghanistan-culture-guns-arbaki-police-drive-violence-n405736

    “… Part of a solution to these sorts of local threats that Kabul and its American backers are proposing are local police forces, or Afghan Local Police (ALP) — commonly referred to as “Arbaki.” The idea is that the groups are chosen by local villagers and vetted, trained and equipped by the government in Kabul. The program, paid for by the U.S., began with 10,000 conscripts in 2010 and has now grown to about 30,000 ALPs in 16 provinces.

    It has not worked as well as some envisioned.

    “The Arbaki forces could be useful in some areas as they are from those places, and know them very well,” a commander with a police unit in northern Kunduz province told NBC News on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

    The problem is that they are not regular forces and while they are supposed to answer to the national police, they usually operate independently. This makes them a “very unreliable partner,” he said.

    And although some are seasoned and brave fighters, they often abandon their posts, the commander added. Making matters much worse, many of the groups have resorted to settling old scores and fallen into criminality, the source said.

    “They extort people’s belongings and even destroy people’s homes on charges of sympathizing with the Taliban, but in reality it is just local rivalries,” he said. “In some areas [national police forces] lose the support of locals because they see us siding with these militias.

    “Wherever they see an opportunity, the act outside the law and there is not a good mechanism to keep them under control,” he added.

    The International Crisis Group, which carries out research on conflict and promotes polices to prevent or resolve conflict, also raised the alarm on the local Arbaki militias earlier this year.

    “The ALP and pro-government militias are cheap but dangerous, and Kabul should resist calls for their expansion,” it said in a report published June 4.

    Not only do the groups tend to circumvent the central government, they also resemble “militias that had contributed to the civil wars of the 1990s,” the report added….”

  7. Isis’s war on democracy: Militants execute 300 civil servants from Iraqi electoral commission (independent, Aug 9, 2015)
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isiss-war-on-democracy-militants-execute-300-civil-servants-from-iraqi-electoral-commission-10447519.html

    “The Isis militant group has reportedly executed more than 300 civil servants from the Iraqi electoral commission, as part of a crackdown on those accused of promoting democracy and “ideas that distorted Islam”.

    An Iraqi security official told Spain’s EFE news agency that the executions were carried out by firing squad on Saturday in the militant group’s stronghold of Mosul.

    Mahmoud al-Sauaryih, a spokesman for the National Multitude militia in Nineveh province, said that those killed included 50 women.

    In a statement, the national office of the Iraqi Supreme Electoral Commission reportedly said that a separate group of its employees were murdered with knives in Mosul. It called on the international community to “intervene immediately to stop the massacre and crimes against the Iraqi people”.

    The apparently targeted assault on the electoral commission came as Isis released a list naming 2,070 people it claimed to have killed in Mosul since it took over the city on 10 June last year….”

  8. Egypt Rejects Qatar Offer to Mediate With Muslim Brotherhood (abcnews, Aug 9, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/egypt-rejects-qatar-offer-mediate-muslim-brotherhood-32975907?

    “Egypt has rejected an offer by Qatar to mediate with the banned Muslim Brotherhood group, focus of a government crackdown since the ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president in 2013.

    Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu-Zeid said Sunday that Egypt does not accept any external interference in its internal affairs, underlining that authorities have declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

    Speaking by telephone, he says that “any third-party intervention or mediation is not acceptable.”

    Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah told Al-Araby al-Youm TV last week that Qatar is ready to act as a mediator “to bring viewpoints closer.” He added that Doha does not consider the Brotherhood to be terrorists and sees their status with the government as “a political dispute” that will delay the country’s path forward.”

  9. Islamic State kills 37 rival insurgents in Syria’s Aleppo province – monitor (trust/reuters, Aug 9, 2015)
    http://www.trust.org/item/20150809160425-4diu2/?

    “Islamic State fighters killed at least 37 rival insurgents in an overnight attack in Syria’s Aleppo province and 20 fighters remain missing, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.

    Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Observatory, said that late on Saturday a suicide bomber from the hardline group blew himself up in a military post held by a group of rival insurgents in the Umm Housh village in northern Aleppo countryside.

    Islamic State fighters then seized the village after heavy clashes with rival groups.”

  10. Pakistan Police Arrest 7 Men in Child Sex Abuse Scandal (abcnews, Aug 9, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistan-police-arrest-men-child-sex-abuse-scandal-32975950?

    “Police in eastern Pakistan say they’ve arrested seven men accused of sexually abusing children and distributing videos of the abuse.

    Kasur district regional police chief Shahzad Sultan says investigators are sifting through evidence Sunday, including 18 or 19 videos seized so far. It was not yet known how many children were abused or if there were other videos.

    Officer Babar Saeed says it’s not clear how long the suspects were allegedly sexually abusing the children. He says police are investigating claims the suspects were blackmailing the victims’ families, demanding money in exchange for not making the videos public.

    The allegations became public after victims’ families clashed with police last Tuesday, complaining authorities were ignoring their cases.

    Child Protection Bureau chief Saba Sadiq has demanded a high-level judicial probe.”

    • The push by the left to destroy all of western culture and history is in full cry, things are going to get a lot more tense in the near future.

    • Comments on Iran Has Built an Army of Cyber-Proxies

      I should have done this when I started reading the article.

      1) In the short term Islam and Iran are the most dangerous threat, in the long run China and Russia are the most dangerous threats with Russia edging out China to a small degree. The reaction of both to the coming economic crash will determine which is going to be the major threat.

      2) But while the U.S. and the rest of the world have concentrated on the illicit cyber-activities of expansionist regimes like China and rogue states like Iran and North Korea, there is a small but growing list of private cyber-actors—often supported by the aforementioned regimes—that has been largely ignored. The politicians in the US and to a lesser degree the other Western Nations have an inability to understand that there is more then one threat at a time, I am not sure if this is something the left has deliberatly pushed to make it easier to destroy the west of if it is because they are incapable of worrying about more then one thing.

      3) Think of Renaissance Italy or Germany during the religious wars there, there were many mercenary forces that were running around selling their services. At times these groups were hired to make a third party look bad so the original employer would look like a man on a white horse that would save the city state. You can read the “Prince” for a simplified version of how this works. Machiavelli’s other works go into more detail and so does honest histories of that time and place.

      4) The cyber weapons are two edged swords but the one thing that can’t be done is make public all that you know about your enemies cyber weapons. Remember that anything you make public you are also telling the enemy. Never let the enemy know all that you know about them and their weapons. The article talks about Stuxnet showing the Iranians the potential of cyber weapons. Just like bio weapons the cyber weapons are much cheaper to produce then nuclear weapons, and truth be told are more dangerous. A major plague will kill more people then a nuclear strike and the right type of cyber attack can do as much economic damage as a nuclear attack. The wanna be Tyrants of the world are going to take advantage of these facts and use them against the free nations, the free nations on the other hand are hampered by what will happen internally if the facts of their attacks and the damage they do to civilians are ever made public. Until the vast majority of the public realize we are fighting a war of survival we are forbidden by our own laws from playing tit for tat in using any weapon.

      5) At the time that Iran was investing one billion dollars into developing cyber tech capabilities the US under Obama was reducing our military spending in the middle of a war. There is an old question from economics, Guns or Butter, do you buy men and weapons to defend the nation or food to feed the people. In a free market economy the people are expected by feed themselves but given the amount of time the left has controlled so much We aren’t as bad off as Greece but we are in bad enough shape to make the question one that needs to be in the forefront of the 16 Presidential Election.

      6) Iran’s cyber-force draws much less attention and cannot be monitored as easily as a nuclear program. Off the top of my head I can’t see how they can be monitored in any significant way, most of the work can be done in a living room on a micro.

      7) “In 10 years’ time, Iran’s cyber capabilities will be more troubling than its nuclear program.” In ten years time the cyber weapons will be well known to the public because the major fighting will be occurring world wide. Hopefully the various hacker groups in the west will come in on our side.

      8) Our enemies will all collaborate to damage us but will refrain from telling their allies everything because they know they will be fighting each other in the future.

      9) Given the way the Islamic Charities all contribute money to jihad groups the hacking of UNICIEF was probably to find out which anti-Jihad groups they are giving money to.

      10) The use of proxies also gives our internal traitors a way to resist any counter strike, the orchestration by the Soviets during the Cold War gave the far left in the US a talking point to stop any strike against the Soviets or even the intermediaries they used.

      11) But as actors like the SEA and the YCA grow stronger and more sophisticated, they lose the need to rely on Iran. As a result, the orchestration-like relationship may dissolve over time while the danger remains. Given the intensity of religious debate in the Islamic world we can take it as a given that anyone Iran is training will in the future be fighting them, and that anyone Iran is fighting will become a ally sometime in the future

      12) private cyber-actors could prove impossible to contain or suppress by conventional means. Remember what I said about our internal opposition/traitors preventing us fighting this as a war of survival. The logical way to control these groups is to assassinate the members of the groups when they are identified. I say logical but look at how the various useful idiots that aren’t leftist but don’t recognize the problem scream when it comes out that we are using our Spec Ops forces to kidnap leaders of terrorist groups. They even screamed that we should have brought bin Laden back for trial. The meme that terror attacks are crimes and not acts of war has been buried deep in the genetics of our society and it will require major terror attacks to change that meme.

      13) For the most part, the United States and its allies do not see these private cyber-actors as a real threat, certainly not on the level of nation-states like Iran, China, Russia, and North Korea Not while we have leftist controlling our nations, however the true experts probably recognize the danger, look at how many of the “retired” intelligence types have started private foundations or blogs to fight against the conquest of the west.

      14) The comment about Obama seeing the cyber attacks as a nuisance and not a threat is true, but he (at least publicly) refuses to see anything except the conservatives as a threat.

      15) Illicit cyber-activity in the Middle East causes instability, which harms U.S. interests Given the amount of time Obama has spent damaging US interest he probably welcomes the help.

      16) nations like China also use their cyber-capabilities to quell internal dissent. Yet China uses the same capabilities to strike the U.S. The two are not mutually exclusive. No they aren’t if anything the threat is being understated in this article.

      17) The threat of private cyber actors is even more pressing because, if not handled properly, they could set off a major war with little effort. Anyone with knowledge knows that WWI was set off by a Islamic separatist assassinating a Grand Duke. The cyber groups would be more subtle but could do something that will start a major war. One that most thinking people see rapidly approaching.

      18) With the pro-Houthi YCA attacking Saudi Arabia with impunity and the increasing likelihood that Israel and Hezbollah will go to war very soon, it wouldn’t take much to set off a conflagration. I have been paying more attention to what Obama is doing to the US and the internal tensions that are creating an ideal environment for a civil war then to what Hezbollah has been doing. I do know they have been stockpiling weapons and ammo. I also know that their best chance of doing major damage to Israel will be to attack while Obama is in office, probably shortly after the 16 election. This will give them time to carry out a lot of fighting while a friend is in the Oval Office. And attacking at this point gives their allies in the US an excuse for massive rioting if/when Congress forces through a bill to send aid to Israel.

      19) The Department of Defense’s new policy is significant, he said, “because it shows that the U.S. defense establishment is plainly of the opinion that actual violence in no longer … necessarily required to constitute a legally-sufficient rationale for self-defense, cyber or otherwise.” This change in attitude must be driving the left crazy.

      20) There is also the possibility of a proxy taking action against the military capabilities of the United States in order to aid its sponsor. And they could act without the knowledge of the sponsor at a time the sponsor wants them to remain quiet for propaganda purposes.

      21) Yet it is often the danger we don’t monitor that ends up causing the most damage Think Pearl Harbor, most of the professional officers saw the war coming but their political masters refused to see Japan as a danger.

      Summing up, the article spells out a very real danger one that the left will refuse to admit exists and will fight to prevent our working to protect ourselves from. The only bright spot is that so much of our cyber capabilities are classified that we may have programs in place protecting us from these dangers but the government can’t tell us about them without telling the cyber attackers of what they will be facing. This is a fact that way too many people will reject because they think that if we pull back withing our borders and stop supporting Israel the Moslems will leave us alone.

      • This is excellent, Richard.

        It’s helpful to have such an outline to organize elements of the disparate incidents we read about in random sequence. File systems get wild, grow hairy appendages. [Mine do, anyway.]

        POS knows nothing, but I bet our intel community is more than adequate in cyberwar capabilities. That’s an area less subject to sabotage by PC training deficiencies or starvation of resources. Also less likely to be infiltrated by enemy agents.

        My guess is that cyberwar will prove the great leveler – as asymmetric as war will ever get. One can only hope: Survival of the smartest?

        Your #18 – My focus is just the opposite: I’m looking at the Mideast all the time. I can’t go to sleep until I’ve read the Israeli morning papers – just in case – what? If I lived there, it would be the other way around.

        My ear is also close to the ground, though I hear only scary rumbling. Bibi hasn’t a defeatist bone in his body; Israelis are less worried than their family and friends are here.

        That’s partly self-selection. More than a few Jews from the U.S. or Canada who make aliyah come back because life’s too tough there. (And some Israelis emigrate, but we don’t talk about them. At least most go back to serve with their units in wartime.)

  11. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh held bilateral talks with Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Daishiro Yamagiwa in Tehran, Sunday.

      • There is a lot of money to me made from a new market, this is why once the sanctions are removed they will never be reimposed until the major shooting war starts.

  12. This article is Mosaic’s ‘Essay of the Month’. The best responses to these long-form essays appear all month. Very classy writing that’s rare these days.

    The Decline—and Fall?—of Religious Freedom in America
    America’s “first freedom” is under attack from an ascendant cultural secularism. Christians are its first target, but Jews and Judaism may not be far behind.

    http://mosaicmagazine.com/essay/2015/08/the-decline-and-fall-of-religious-freedom-in-america/

    • Christianity has always been a bulwark against Marxism/communism, this is still true even when we have a Pope that is preaching liberation theology rather then the Bible. One of the things the Soviet Union knew was that Christianity had to be destroyed before the Marxists could take over the US. They have managed to get to the point where some of the Mainstream Protestant Sects are willing to ignore the Old and New Testaments orders against homosexuality. To the people who are very weak Christians this is no problem but to the Sects that are trying to follow all of the instructions this is a major problem. One of the new ways that the left is attacking religion is the idea that you have the right (freedom) to worship the way you want but you don’t have the right (freedom) to follow Biblical instructions outside of the Church building. From all observable evidence the left intends to enforce this idea against the Christians and Jews and no other religion. At least not until Judaism and Christianity have been destroyed. Welcome to another reason a civil war is all but inevitable.

      • Thank-G-d for Christians!
        The real old-fashioned kind, who read the Bible and haven’t become socialist social workers and interfaith whores. They’re better friends to Israel – by far – than secular Jews who’re more into tikkun olam than Jewish law.

      • Hi Richard,

        “Christianity has always been a bulwark against Marxism/communism,”

        “…this is still true even when we have a Pope that is preaching liberation theology rather then the Bible.”

        I am unable to reconcile these two statements. How did Christianity defend itself from this destruction of the individual and enter into submission and the joyous participation of the collective: to love your neighbor more than yourself?

        As for zionists, the desire to return to a homeland sort of like it was in the Torahville has nagged for thousands of years, and an opportunity arose, with the bonus of new upcoming Christians informed by prophetic prosperity endtime preachers their inheritance comes first for the jew and then for the gentile and hell for everyone else.

        It is like having an annoying kid around, but good to get the support, but useless in the real maturity of politics.

  13. Pakistan child sex abuse scandal: Hundreds of children filmed being sexually abused in the Punjab

    Officials in the Pakistani state of Punjab have called for a judicial inquiry to be launched, after 400 video recordings were found showing more than 280 children being sexually abused.

    In what may be the worst child sexual abuse scandal in the country’s history, thousands of copies of the videos are believed to have been sold from Hussain Khanwala village in Kasur district, for as little as 50 Rupees (£0.31).

    In some cases, the tapes were used to blackmail victims’ parents, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported.

    In many of the videos the victims were forced to abuse each other, with most of them under 14, and one boy six years old, police chief Rai Babar Saeed, district police chief of Kasur told reporters.

    He said that one recording showed a 14-year-old boy sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl, and one victim was injected in the spine with a drug before being assaulted.

    “Those involved in the case will be severely punished. They will not be able to escape their fate. The affected families will be provided with justice at any cost,” Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif said.

    “Abusers filmed young children, blackmailed them and their parents. Many children tried to hide from the camera.” pic.twitter.com/cKtiPwKTQ5
    — Rameeza Majid Nizami (@RameezaNizami) August 9, 2015

    The case came to national attention last week, when hundreds of parents protesting against the police’s failure to arrest the gang responsible for the abuse clashed with police officers in Kasur.

    Initially, officials refused to investigate the accusations, with Punjab’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah claiming that the the source of the claims was land disputes.

    Six people allegedly behind the abuse have been arrested, while federal authorities have ordered the re-arrest of five people released on bail.

    Child rights activist and lawyer Rana Asif Habib told Deutsche Welle the numbers were simply “the tip of the iceberg”. The actual number of victims could be much higher, given that Kasur was very close to Lahore, where slum children attract abusers in large numbers, she said.

    The case has raised memories of serial killer Javed Iqbal Mughal, who sexually abused and murdered more than 100 children in Lahore in the 1990s before handing himself in to police.

    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/pakistan-child-sex-abuse-scandal-hundreds-children-filmed-being-sexually-abused-punjab-1514741
    ————————————————————————————-
    Numbers could increase

    Speaking to Deutsche Welle, Pakistan’s prominent child rights activist and lawyer Rana Asif Habib said the numbers were simply “the tip of the iceberg.” The actual number of victims could be much higher, considering that Kasur was very close to Lahore, where slum children attract abusers in large numbers.

    “Pakistan is not a signatory to the UN Child Rights Convention,” Habib says, adding that children can therefore not complain to any authority in the event that they are sexually exploited. He recalls a 1999 case when child abuser Javed Iqbal surrendered himself to the police, admitting that he had sexually abused over 100 children and drowned them in acid afterwards.

    And as far as the Kasur child abuse case is concerned, Habib is cynical. Officials will probably make a show of an investigation as long as the media focuses on them. “After that there is usually no follow-up and then it is brushed under the carpet,” Habib says.

    http://www.dw.com/en/massive-child-abuse-scandal-unveiled-in-pakistan/a-18636820

    • PAKISTAN – Clashes between police and protesters in a village in eastern Pakistan have left one person dead and 25 others injured.

      The rally was organized after it was revealed that a criminal gang sexually assaulted more than 200 local children in order to blackmail them. The protesters, including the family members of the abused children, blame the police for dealing with the gang inadequately.

  14. Pakistan police arrest 7 men in child sex abuse scandal

    ISLAMABAD (AP) — Police in eastern Pakistan arrested seven men accused of sexually abusing children and distributing videos of the abuse, authorities said Sunday. More arrests were expected.

    Investigators were sifting through evidence, including 18 or 19 videos seized so far, said Kasur district regional police chief Shahzad Sultan.

    It was not yet known how many children were abused or if there were other videos, police officer Babar Saeed said.

    Police were investigating claims the suspects were blackmailing the victims’ families, demanding money in exchange for not making the videos public. Copies of the abuse videos were allegedly sold in local markets.

    Punjabi provincial home minister Shuja Khanzada said authorities were rigorously investigating the men in custody and that about 10 other suspects would be arrested soon.

    The story gained momentum Sunday as Pakistani media publicized a variety of sordid allegations over the case, which police declined to discuss.

    The case became public after victims’ families clashed with police last Tuesday, accusing authorities of ignoring their complaints.

    Child Protection Bureau chief Saba Sadiq has demanded a high-level judicial probe, while provincial chief minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered investigators to make all the facts public.

    http://bigstory.ap.org/article/36865c3da17a4d568642d7f4c473be4e/pakistan-police-arrest-7-men-child-sex-abuse-scandal

  15. TURKEY – ISTANBUL – 7 hurt in bomb attack at Istanbul police station: report

    ANKARA, Turkey — A bomb attack at a police station in Istanbul injured five police officers and two civilians, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

    The attack targeted the police station in Istanbul’s Sultanbeyli neighbourhood and caused a fire that collapsed part of the three-story building, the agency reported. The explosion also damaged neighbouring buildings and around 20 cars parked nearby, the private Dogan news agency reported.

    There was no immediate claim for the attack, which comes at a time of a sharp spike in violence between Turkey’s security forces and rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

    The attack also comes at a time when Turkey is taking a more active role against Islamic State militants. Last month it conducted aerial strikes against IS positions in Syria and agreed to let the U.S.-led coalition use its bases for its fight against IS. The move followed a suicide bombing blamed on IS which killed 32 people and after IS militants fired at Turkish soldiers from across the border in Syria, killing one soldier.

    Police cordoned off the area but people gathered outside the police station shouted slogans against the PKK, Hurriyet newspaper reported.

    http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/7-hurt-in-bomb-attack-at-istanbul-police-station-report-1.2509225

  16. CANADA – Two Somalian refugees reach Winnipeg after swimming down the Red River

    Their escape to Canada spans three continents

    […]Samatar said he and his family scraped together US$12,000 to pay smugglers to get him to Ethiopia, then Brazil, and help him make his way by land through Central America to the U.S. border at Matamoros, Mexico. “I took buses and walked in the jungle for one month,” he said.

    In the U.S., he was apprehended as an illegal alien and spent six months in a detention centre in Texas and another 10 weeks in a centre in Louisiana. After his refugee claim was formally rejected, he was released to await deportation back to Somalia. Desperate to set down roots in some place safe, he headed north. A contact in Minneapolis’s huge Somali community rented a car and drove Samatar and his companion close to the border crossing at Pembina, N.D., he said.

    In Canada, the kindness of strangers has been a shock to his system, he said. He feels welcome and hopes to make this his home.

    “I want to upgrade my education and get a job to support my family,” said Samatar, who is married to a journalist who also fled Somalia. She is in Kenya with their baby and their three older children are with Samatar’s mother.

    “Hopefully, my asylum is accepted, and I can sponsor them.”

    http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/long-perilous-journey-to-safety-321124011.html