Reader’s supplied links for Nov. 8 – 2015

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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

40 Replies to “Reader’s supplied links for Nov. 8 – 2015”

  1. MB + IS, poor Egypt…
    Report: Israel worried Egypt’s Sisi might fall to jihadist insurgents

    A former US lawmaker co-authored a report in which he states that his team met with a number of Israeli defense and security analysts in recent weeks.

    Israeli officials are reportedly growing concerned over the long-term viability of the current Egyptian regime in light of gains made by Islamists in their insurgency.

    Bloomberg News quoted a former Republican lawmaker on Friday as saying that Israeli government figures are beginning to wonder whether Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, can successfully overcome the threats posed to his rule by Islamic State-inspired Salafist gunmen.

    Egypt’s tourism industry – a key source of revenue for the cash-strapped Arab giant – is expected to take an even bigger hit in the wake of Saturday’s crash of a Russian airline in the Sinai Peninsula.

    All 224 passengers on board were killed in what Western intelligence agencies say may have been a terrorist bomb.

    “We encountered a lot of people in Israel and elsewhere that don’t think that he is going to survive his term,” Vin Weber, a former Republican member of Congress, told Bloomberg.

    http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Report-Israel-worried-Egypts-Sisi-might-fall-to-jihadist-insurgents-432304

    • Caroline Glick:
      Sisi is not Mubarak
      The government must take every possible action, in economic and military spheres, to ensure that Sisi benefits

      The Egyptian court’s decision last Saturday to acquit former president Hosni Mubarak, his sons and associates of all remaining charges against them caused most commentators to proclaim that current Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi has turned back the clock. Under his leadership, they say, Egypt has restored Mubarak’s authoritarian regime under a new dictator.

      http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Column-one-Sisi-is-not-Mubarak-383483

      • Jonathan Spyer is not RT, just about as trustworthy on Syria and Lebanon as it gets.
        Behind the Lines: Assad’s autumn offensive

        With a little help from his friends – Russia, Iran, Hezbollah – the Syrian dictator looks set to end the immediate threat to the regime enclave in Latakia.

        Something major is brewing in northwest Syria.

        The Assad regime has been back on the attack in recent days. The fighting is focused on the area of Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city. Russian air strikes and regime artillery are backing up the troops of President Bashar Assad’s army as they push back the rebels in northeastern Aleppo province.

        http://www.jpost.com/International/Beyond-the-Lines-Assads-autumn-offensive-426108

        • Jonathan confirms what we know already:
          Analysis: The big Syrian bluff

          Despite attempts to create a different impression, the West has conceded the continued existence of both Assad and Islamic State.

          Talks in Vienna last Friday intended to relaunch the diplomatic process on Syria produced predictably little.

          Meanwhile, the latest announcement from the US of its intention to send a small number of special forces operatives to northeast Syria represents an undoubted improvement on the previous disastrous and now abandoned “train and equip” program.

          But the presence of the US “advisers” is unlikely to lead to major changes on the ground.

          Both the fruitless Vienna meeting and the limited dimensions of the latest US engagement in Syria indicate that whatever its stated policy, the West has effectively conceded both the continued incumbency of President Bashar Assad and the continued existence of Islamic State for the foreseeable future. What is being pursued today is a policy of containment. The attempt to create an impression that anything beyond this is being conducted is a bluff.

          http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Behind-the-Lines-Syrian-bluff-432210

  2. VOGUE MAG??
    How Orthodox Jewish Style Became an Unlikely Inspiration for Fall 2015’s Sexiest Trend

    The slip dress was put on this earth for the sole purpose of being sexy. The figure-clinging piece has a barely there late-night feel intrinsic to its translation from a flesh-revealing boudoir piece to risqué eveningwear—and it’s the last item you’d expect to be worn on the streets of the Hasidic community of Crown Heights, New York. But it’s there—and it’s anything but revealing. The slinky staple is most commonly used as a layering piece, whether on top of long sleeves or leggings, in order to abide by tznius, the modesty rules set forth by Orthodox Judaism, which decree that a woman’s shoulders, elbows, and knees must be covered.

    http://www.vogue.com/13367793/orthodox-jewish-slips-layering-trend/

  3. Mohammad was a brutal cruel dictator. Allah is a brutal cruel dictator. Mohammad must be emulated by all Muslims and Allah must be obeyed without question. Why do people keep squawking about the brutality of Hosni Mubarak or The Shah of Iran or Saddam Hussein or Bashar al Assad or Muammar Gaddafi or Abdel al Sisi when the very Gods these people worship are, in fact, brutal cruel dictators? Muslims obviously love brutal cruel dictators so who are we to argue when they choose to be led by one? Are Muslim Brotherhood conspirators and young ISIS recruits screaming their lungs out in the darkest torture chambers of Cairo? Well…yeah… But what else are you going to do? There isn’t any nice way to get through to a suicide bomber.

    It’s all very confusing, but the only thing we need to know is that regular cruel Muslim dictators are vastly preferable to theocratic cruel Muslim dictators. Better the Shah or Moammar or Saddam than the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Great, eh?

  4. Afghan Official: Rival Taliban Groups Battle Each Other (abcnews, Nov 8, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/afghan-official-rival-taliban-groups-battle-35054164

    “An Afghan official says Taliban insurgents loyal to rival leaders have been fighting in a southeastern province, with about 50 men killed in two days.

    Mohmand Nostrayar, governor of the Arghandab district of Zabul province, said on Sunday that fighters in a breakaway faction led by Mullah Mohammad Rasool have been joined by Islamic State militants.

    Rasool was last week elected “supreme leader” of the Taliban by a faction that does not support Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, who assumed power after the death of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar.

    The Afghan government announced in July that Mullah Omar had been dead for two years, precipitating a leadership crisis in the group that has waged a 14-year insurgency.”

  5. Bangladesh Sentences 6 to Death in Torture Deaths of 2 Boys (abcnews, Nov 8, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/bangladesh-sentences-death-torture-deaths-boys-35053960

    “Courts in Bangladesh sentenced six people to death Sunday for torturing and killing two young boys earlier this year.

    Samiul Islam Rajon, 13, died in July after he was brutally beaten. A 28-minute video of Rajon screaming for help as he was being beaten was posted online and went viral, shocking a nation long inured to violence against children.

    In the second incident, Rakib Hawlader, 12, died in August after his former employer at a car repair shop used a nozzle to pump air into his rectum and filled his body with air in retaliation for quitting his job.

    Judge Akbar Hossain Mridha found the main suspect in Rajon’s death, Kamrul Islam, and three others guilty of fatally torturing the boy and sentenced all four to death. Four others involved in the beating death were sentenced to prison terms ranging from a year to life.

    In the video of Rajon’s beating, recorded with a cellphone camera, the boy is heard screaming in pain and pleading with his attackers: “Don’t beat me, please, I will die, I will die.” The attackers laughed at the boy when he asked for water.

    Like many poor children in Bangladesh, Rajon was forced to leave school to work to help his family, in his case selling vegetables.

    The main suspect fled to Saudi Arabia but was detained there and deported last month through Interpol to face trial.

    Separately on Sunday, Judge Dilruba Sultana said that the owner of the car repair shop and an employee had tortured Hawlader, who later died in a hospital. Both were sentenced to death.”

  6. U.S. officials express growing confidence bomb downed Russian plane (CNN, Nov 8, 2015)
    http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/08/middleeast/russian-plane-crash-egypt-sinai/index.html

    “The U.S. appears to be increasingly confident that a terrorist bomb brought down the Russian passenger jet that broke apart over Egypt.

    The growing belief was indicated by several senior U.S. officials in the intelligence, military and national security community who spoke to CNN on Saturday.

    One official said it was “99.9% certain,” another said it was “likely.”

    The remarks are stronger than those made by President Barack Obama on Thursday when he said there was “a possibility” a bomb was on Metrojet Flight 9268, which disintegrated over the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, killing all 224 people aboard.

    The view also contrasts with the cautious stance taken by Egyptian officials, who are in charge of the main investigation into the air crash and insist that no conclusion has been reached yet….”

    • I got the same video from some Arabic twitter.*** Only one comment, in French, was negative, all comments in Arabic** praised woman.

      ***https://twitter.com/adham922/status/663304054538428417
      **(I read in google translation)

      • For more insight on that, Kathy, don’t miss November’s Mosaic “Essay of the Month”. It’s a longitudinal analysis of Arab polls on violence with respect to Israel. It’s authoritative and just as depressing as death and taxes.

        This is the vaunted “Arab Street”. What the author calls Palestinian is just plain Arab-Muslim. The distinction is political fiction.

        but we all know that…

        The format for these classy “conversations” is a long essay on a specific topic, followed by 3 or 4 [short] comment/ -responses from experts in the field. At the end of the month there’s a brief “Last Word” from the original author.

        Browse the archives, the culture-vulture’s treasure trove. It’s worth it just for links within the articles. That’s where I find the just-right gift book for all sorts of people.

  7. Saudi Arabia bans 50 baby names

    List includes foreign names; those that ‘contradict culture and religion’

    Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry has banned 50 given names including “foreign” names, names related to royalty and those it considers to be blasphemous.

    Saudis will no longer be able to give their children names such as Amir (prince), Linda or Abdul Nabi (Slave of the Prophet) after the civil affairs department at the ministry issued the list, according to Saudi news sites.

    It justified the ban by saying that the names either contradicted the culture or religion of the kingdom, or were foreign, or “inappropriate”.

    The names fit into at least three categories: those that offend perceived religious sensibilities, those that are affiliated to royalty and those that are of non-Arabic or non-Islamic origin.

    A number of other names appear that do not necessarily fit into any category and it is therefore unclear as to why they would have been banned. Names such as Abdul Naser and Binyamin are not found to be particularly offensive to Muslims. Binyamin is believed in Islam to be the son of Prophet Jacob (Yaqoub) (PBUH) and the full brother of Prophet Joseph (PBUH), but it also happens to be the name of the Israeli prime minister. Abdul Naser, similarly, is the name of the famous Arab nationalist ruler of Egypt, who was at odds with Saudi Arabia.

    Names such as Abdul Nabi and Abdul Hussain, common among Shiites and some Sunni Arabs, are controversial because of the multiple ways in which they can be interpreted. Abdul in Arabic means “worshipper of” or “slave of”, while Nabi means “prophet” and Rasool means “messenger”. Those who oppose such names argue that Abdul means “worshipper of’ and is therefore forbidden as only God can be worshipped. Most Muslim names with Abdul carry one of God’s 99 Islamic names. Abdul Rahman, for example, comes from the name Al Rahman.

    Another set of names that is banned includes those that have to do with royalty, especially titles such as Sumuw (highness), Malek (king) and Malika (Queen) and other royal terms such as Al Mamlaka (the kingdom).

    Some of the names on the list are not uncommon among Arabs, including Malak (angel), Amir (prince), Abdul Naser and Jibreel (Gabriel).

    http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/saudi-arabia-bans-50-baby-names-1.1303898
    Is your name now ‘banned’ in Saudi Arabia?
    —————————————————————————————————————-
    Kingdom releases 50 names parents are forbidden from calling their children, such as Linda, Alice and Elaine

    Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry has banned 50 names they argue contradict the culture or religion of the Kingdom, according to reports by local media.

    Parents in the Kingdom will reportedly no longer be able to call their children by names such as Linda, Alice, Elaine or Binyamin (Arabic for Benjamin) after the civil affairs department at the ministry issued a list of the prohibited names.

    Binyamin is believed in Islam to be the son of Prophet Jacob, but is also the name of the current Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    Some names on the list are allegedly banned by the interior ministry because they are considered “blasphemous,” non-Arabic or non-Islamic, or contradictory to the kingdom’s culture or religion, Gulf News has reported.

    The ban was also allegedly justified by the ministry because some of the names were deemed foreign or “inappropriate”.

    Other sets of forbidden names include those with royal connotations, such as Sumuw (highness), Malek (king) and Malika (queen).

    Some on the list do not fit into any of these categories however, leaving the reason for banning them open to speculation.

    The full list of forbidden names as reported in Gulf News is listed below:

    Malaak (angel)
    Abdul Aati
    Abdul Naser
    Abdul Musleh
    Binyamin (Arabic for Benjamin)
    Naris
    Yara
    Sitav
    Loland
    Tilaj
    Barrah
    Abdul Nabi
    Abdul Rasool
    Sumuw (highness)
    Al Mamlaka (the kingdom)
    Malika (queen)
    Mamlaka (kingdom)
    Tabarak (blessed)
    Nardeen
    Sandy
    Rama (Hindu god)
    Maline
    Elaine
    Inar
    Maliktina
    Maya
    Linda
    Randa
    Basmala (utterance of the name of God)
    Jibreel (angel Gabriel)
    Abdul Mu’een
    Abrar
    Iman
    Bayan
    Baseel
    Wireelam
    Nabi (prophet)
    Nabiyya (female prophet)
    Amir (prince)
    Taline
    Aram
    Nareej
    Rital
    Alice
    Lareen
    Kibrial
    Lauren

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/is-your-name-now-banned-in-saudi-arabia-9192298.html

  8. National Post + WaPO – ‘Muslims are dangerous’: Myanmar Buddhist monks threaten democracy with support for anti-Muslim laws

    YANGON, Myanmar – More than 10,000 Buddhist monks and nuns rallied recently to celebrate Myanmar’s restrictive new race and religion laws, packing themselves into an indoor soccer stadium to cheer and chant nationalist slogans.

    The event, held last month in Myanmar’s commercial capital, was a dramatic display of a rising force in Myanmar’s political landscape — a group of ultra-nationalist Buddhists called the Ma Ba Tha, whom analysts say could pose a threat to the country’s shaky hopes for democracy.[…]

    http://news.nationalpost.com/news/muslims-are-dangerous-myanmar-buddhist-monks-threaten-democracy-with-support-for-anti-muslim-laws

  9. Bangladesh judge sentences 6 people to death for torturing boys

    DHAKA, BANGLADESH—Courts in Bangladesh sentenced six people to death Sunday for torturing and killing two young boys earlier this year.

    Samiul Islam Rajon, 13, died in July after he was brutally beaten. A 28-minute video of Rajon screaming for help as he was being beaten was posted online and went viral, shocking a nation long inured to violence against children.

    In the second incident, Rakib Hawlader, 12, died in August after his former employer at a car repair shop used a nozzle to pump air into his rectum and filled his body with air in retaliation for quitting his job.

    Judge Akbar Hossain Mridha found the main suspect in Rajon’s death, Kamrul Islam, and three others guilty of fatally torturing the boy and sentenced all four to death. Four others involved in the beating death were sentenced to prison terms ranging from a year to life.

    In the video of Rajon’s beating, recorded with a cellphone camera, the boy is heard screaming in pain and pleading with his attackers: “Don’t beat me, please, I will die, I will die.” The attackers laughed at the boy when he asked for water.

    Like many poor children in Bangladesh, Rajon was forced to leave school to work to help his family, in his case selling vegetables.

    The main suspect fled to Saudi Arabia but was detained there and deported last month through Interpol to face trial.

    Separately on Sunday, Judge Dilruba Sultana said that the owner of the car repair shop and an employee had tortured Hawlader, who later died in a hospital. Both were sentenced to death.

    http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/11/08/bangladesh-judge-sentences-6-people-to-death-for-torturing-boys.html

  10. Germany: PEGIDA make human-wall to ‘stop migrants’ at Czech border

    Hundreds of PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West) supporters, as well as right-wing Czech activists, gathered at Schirnding municipality at the German-Czech border to form a ‘human wall’ in protest against a record influx of refugees and migrants coming to both EU countries.

  11. Al Qaeda boss who served seven years for terror offences ‘smuggled himself into Europe by posing as a refugee’

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3309265/Al-Qaeda-boss-served-seven-years-terror-offences-smuggled-Europe-posing-refugee.html#ixzz3qwBRB2oK
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3309265/Al-Qaeda-boss-served-seven-years-terror-offences-smuggled-Europe-posing-refugee.html

  12. ISIS Fashioned Public Beheading in Saudi Arabia

    A 50-second video was uploaded to YouTube by A Saudi activist Ali Dubaisy, who says Middle East Eye he had obtained it from sources inside the kingdom. He said a tourist in the Red Sea city of Jeddah filmed the footage on a mobile phone, adding that it is rare to obtain such footage as it is illegal to film executions.

    A man was arrested in January after filming the public beheading of a woman in Mecca.

    Dubaisy said he is not aware when the execution of the three men took place but he said it was “recently”. The men’s identity and the reason for their execution is not known.

    The executioner is then seen to wipe blood from his sword with what appears to be a cloth, which he drops on the decapitated body as he walks past over to the second man.

    People can be heard screaming in the background.

    http://www.islamicinvitationturkey.com/2015/11/08/isis-fashioned-public-beheading-in-saudi-america/

  13. ‘Riot’ at Christmas Island migrant camp as detainee dies (BBC, Nov 8, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-34762988

    “Australian immigration officials say a “disturbance” is taking place at a detention centre for immigrants on Christmas Island.

    The trouble was reported early on Monday, a day after the body of a man who escaped from the centre was found near cliffs.

    One man being held at the centre told New Zealand’s TVNZ that guards had abandoned the centre after “riots”.

    Australia’s Department of Immigration said there were reports of damage.

    But it said in a statement that the perimeter of the centre remained secure and there were no reports of injuries.

    Australia sends asylum seekers to Christmas Island, a remote outpost 2,650km (1,650 miles) north-west of Perth and 380km south of Java in Indonesia…”

    • Christmas Island: Buildings torched in riot following detainee’s death; claims guards have left detention centre; Immigration confirms ‘disturbance’

      The Immigration Department says it is working to contain a “major disturbance” at the Christmas Island Detention Centre following the death of an escapee over the weekend.

      However, the department denies there is a large-scale riot taking place at the centre following the death of Iranian Kurdish refugee Fazal Chegeni, whose body was found at the base of a cliff yesterday.

      Mr Chegeni’s death is being investigated by Australian Federal Police.

      A man being held inside the centre said detainees had set fire to parts of the complex.

      There are also reports guards have abandoned the centre and fences have been torn down.

      Twenty-five year-old detainee Matej Cuperka told the ABC ex-convicts who had their Australian visas cancelled after serving time in jail started the riot.

      “The death [of the Iranian man] is very, very suspicious,” he said.

      “They [the inmates who are rioting] believe Serco officers did something to him.

      “I clearly heard him in the morning screaming for help, and the next thing I see they be bringing him in a body bag, and after that the whole place went into lockdown.

      “About 30 people started a fight with the emergency response team in front of the medical [clinic] where officers left their stations and put the place in lockdown.”

      “They are setting fires everywhere,” Mr Cuperka added.

      “They started last night. They have broken into the canteen, into the property area, they started fires over there and now they starting in the compound.

      “There are cars full of officers driving around the complex. They are just having a look through the window, but nobody is helping us.

      “I want to get out of here. Get me somewhere safe please.”

      Another detainee, who stressed that he had not been involved in the riots, said “most of the compounds have actually been broken into, including the medical [compound]”.

      “The canteen, I can see from where I’m standing now, has been completely ransacked and is burning as I speak to you,” he said.

      “It’s a complete disaster zone.

      “The compound that I’m in … there’s a lot of spot fires in there, all the cameras have been smashed up, all the kitchen has been smashed up, the offices have been breached and all the computers and everything has been broken up.”

      The Immigration Department said the camp’s perimeter had not been breached and “the department and its service providers are working together to resolve the situation”.

      NZ MP says detainees are in charge

      The Christmas Island camp houses New Zealand citizens being deported from Australia, as well as asylum seekers.

      New Zealand Labour MP Kelvin Davis said he had been told detainees had “taken over the detention centre” and the riot squad were about to enter.

      “I’m hearing that the guards have exited the detention centre, that fences have been torn down and that detainees in the segregated area are mixing with the mainstream detainees,” he told the ABC.

      “Some of them have been on that island for four, five years and, quite frankly, everyone’s sick of being treated like animals and right now they’re turning around and biting.”

      Mr Davis said he had been at least one detainee had overdosed and the Emergency Response Team had taken 20 minutes to reach him.

      “He told me about an asylum seeker who had taken an overdose of drugs. They were trying to get medical help for this guy, 20 minutes, and finally the Emergency Response Team managed to drag this guy out.

      “I would like to think the authorities would take a step back and look to negotiate because I don’t think these guys really want to riot… they would like a peaceful resolution of the situation, they certainly don’t want to end up getting beaten up by the riot squad.

      “A number of people have gone back to their individual cells and they are barricading themselves in.”

      Mr Davis said detainees on the island had told him they were angry about what they believed was a “cover-up” of the truth about how the man died.

      He said he hoped authorities negotiated with the detainees to restore order, rather than responding violently.

      “They [the detainees] are really worried for their lives,” he said.

      “Right now the lights have been switched off, there’s about 60 detainees on the sports field, there’s about another 60 wandering around the site.

      “One detainee said he fears that the authorities will come in not just with batons but with guns.”
      Riot ‘started after guards asked about man’s death’

      New Zealand detainee Lester Hohua told ABC NewsRadio the riot was sparked when a guard started arguing with an asylum seeker, who was asking about Mr Chegeni’s death.

      “When we saw the officer try to fight with the refugee, that’s when [some other detainees] stood up, and we didn’t give it back or anything, didn’t throw any punches, but we said ‘you can’t do that’,” he said.

      “And then we came back to our compound and it just all went haywire.”

      Another New Zealand detainee, who did not wish to be named, told Auckland’s TVNZ the centre was in chaos.

      “The canteen’s been smashed to pieces, there’s no security, there’s no emergency response team, there’s no border patrol, there’s no guards, there’s nothing,” he said.

      “They’re not here. They’ve gone. They freaked out and left, I think.”

      The Refugee Action Coalition’s Ian Rintoul said he had been in contact with detainees throughout the night.

      “The fences are down, [centre management contractor] Serco has abandoned the detention centre, there have been many fires set,” Mr Rintoul told 702 ABC Sydney.

      “I don’t think the accommodation blocks have been burned — a lot of people have not been involved — but there is certainly considerable property damage and breaching of the fences.

      “[The man’s] death has triggered the tensions inside Christmas Island [detention centre] that have been building for many, many months.

      “It is the most systematically brutal of the detention centres run in Australia now.”

      Escaped detainee had ‘history of attempting suicide’

      Refugee advocate Pamela Curr said Mr Chegeni had a history of attempting suicide, having previously tried to take his life by jumping from the roof of another detention centre before being sent to Christmas Island.

      “He showed me his legal file at one stage, and I am really sorry I ever read it, because that man was most brutally tortured in Iran,” she told the ABC.

      “And our Government knew, because they accepted that evidence and they gave him a positive refugee decision.

      “And despite the fact that he was so brutally tortured, they kept him in detention for years.

      “We are heartbroken. He was a lovely, gentle man who should never have died.”

      Christmas Island Shire president Gordon Thompson said locals were confused by “rumours”.

      “I’m very sad to hear that someone’s died,” he said.

      “I’m very, very disappointed that the department has allowed rumour to spread through the community over the last three days, two-and-a-half days, without providing any information.”

      In 2011, Australian Federal Police fired bean bag bullets at rioters who had set fire to buildings at the centre.

      Extra police were flown to the island in a bid to quell the riot, which ran over multiple nights.

      http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-09/guards-abandon-christmas-island-detention-centre/6922866

  14. Gunmen in Libya Abduct 2 Serbian Embassy Employees (abcnews, Nov 8, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/gunmen-libya-abduct-serbian-embassy-employees-35057152

    “Gunmen in Libya crashed into a convoy of vehicles taking Serbia’s ambassador to neighboring Tunisia and then kidnapped two other embassy employees, officials said.

    The embassy’s communications officer, Sladjana Stankovic, and driver Jovica Stepic, were kidnapped in the northwest coastal town of Sabratha, Serbia’s Foreign Ministry said.

    The ministry is “doing all it can to get more information and secure the return of our citizens in a very complicated situation on the ground,” a statement said.

    Ambassador Oliver Potezica, who escaped unharmed and was traveling in the three-vehicle convoy with his wife and two sons aged 8 and 14, later recounted the attack.

    “It happened like in a movie,” Potezica told Tanjug news agency from Tunisia. “The attack happened when one of the embassy cars was hit from behind. When the driver came out to check what happened, he was dragged into one of the attackers’ cars.”

    One of the Libyan security officers traveling with the convoy was wounded when hit by a spray of gunfire during the attack and taken to a hospital, the ambassador said.

    The kidnapping “looked more like a criminal than a political act,” Potezica said.

    In Libya, a member of Sabratha’s council said that the convoy had stopped at a motel on their way to Tunisia and then resumed their journey.

    “They were ambushed by an armed group, and the vehicle carrying the ambassador and his wife managed to escape the ambush, but the group managed to stop the vehicle behind it, which had two embassy staff,” council member Abdulghassim Krair said.

    Military forces safely escorted the rest of the convoy to the Tunisian border, Krair said.

    “We assured them that we will do our best to find the perpetrators and rescue the employees,” he said.

    Krair added that the embassy hadn’t notified local authorities in advance about the trip, saying “it’s not safe to travel through the area unguarded.”

    The motel was on the main road leading to Tunisia and close to the Mediterranean Sea in an area beset by smugglers and rouge militias. A number of kidnappings have been reported on the road recently.”

  15. 2 Blasts in Chad Kill 3, Injure 14, Officials Say (abcnews, Nov 8, 2015)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/blasts-chad-kill-injure-14-officials-35056215

    “Two suicide bombings in Ngouboua village near Lake Chad have killed at least three people and injured 14, Chad officials said Sunday.

    The first explosion went off near a public water tap and the second near a mill, both public gathering spots in the village near Lake Chad toward the border with Nigeria, Chad police spokesman Paul Manga said.

    “Among the dead were a girl and a boy. There were 14 injured, of which four are in serious condition and have been transported by helicopter to Ndjamena,” the capital, Lake Chad local official Dimouya Souapebe said. According to witnesses, the two suicide bombers were women, he said.

    State television reported that two civilians were killed and nine injured. The reason for the discrepancy in the casualty toll wasn’t immediately available.

    No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it is similar to others in the area by Nigerian Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.

    Five coordinated suicide bombings in October killed at least 36 people and wounded some 50 others in the western village of Baga Sola near Lake Chad that is home to thousands of Nigerians who have fled the extremists’ violence. A man, two women and two children carried out those attacks, the government said.”

  16. Will retaliate strongly against Indian aggression: Raza Rabbani (tribune, Oct 8, 2015)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/987493/will-retaliate-strongly-against-indian-aggression-raza-rabbani/

    “Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said on Sunday the country will retaliate strongly against Indian aggression towards Pakistan, Express News reported.

    “India should not hold any misunderstanding as it will be responded to if it cast an evil eye on Pakistan,” Rabbani said while speaking to media in Sargodha.

    West’s silence over the oppression of minorities in India is deplorable, he added…”

  17. Burqa-clad Turkish ‘suicide bomber’ turns out to be lover in disguise (tribune, Nov 8, 2015)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/987415/burqa-clad-turkish-suicide-bomber-turns-out-to-be-lover-in-disguise/

    “A Turkish man detained as a suspected would-be suicide bomber in northern Turkey was actually wearing a burqa to disguise himself to meet a secret lover from a dating site, local media reported Sunday.

    Locals in the Black Sea province of Ordu alerted police of a “would-be suicide bomber” on Saturday after noticing that a burqa-clad “woman” talking on the phone at a bus stop was wearing men’s shoes, Dogan news agency said.

    A police team arrived at the scene and “unmasked” the man, who was dressed in a full-length, Islamic-style black robe with a niqab — the head covering worn by many Muslim women — covering his face. Authorities detained him for “inflicting fear and panic in the public,” Dogan reported.

    The 33-year-old man, who is married with two children, told police that he had resorted to the burqa disguise in order to secretly meet a woman he had met on an online dating site for the first time…”

  18. Turkish firm fined over ad “insulting” national yoghurt drink

    Tea production company fined for commercial where Turkish rap star sings ‘I’ve tried ayran,it makes me sleepy’

    Turkey’s state-owned tea production company has been fined over a TV commercial deemed insulting “ayran”, the country’s yoghurt-based “national drink”, by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

    In the commercial for “Didi”, a popular iced tea product made by state-owned Caykur, Turkish rap star Ceza sings: “I’ve tried ayran, it makes me sleepy.”

    Turkey’s trade ministry ordered Caykur to pay 220,000 Turkish liras ($75,000, 70,250 euros) for “insulting ayran without a reason and giving consumers a wrong message aimed at decreasing the consumption of ayran”.

    The company was also ordered to stop airing the ad, which the ministry said constituted “unfair competition against companies that sell ayran,” Hurriyet newspaper reported on Sunday.

    Erdogan, a devout Muslim who does not smoke or drink, has urged people to imbibe the frothy, salted beverage and declared it in 2013 the “national drink” of Turkey rather than raki, a strong aniseed-flavored liquor.

    The authorities are accused of setting up a cult of personality around Erdogan, who became president last year after over a decade as prime minister.

    The number of prosecutions for “insulting” the head of state have risen since he became the president. Artists, journalists and schoolchildren have all been targeted.

    http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/91853-151108-turkish-firm-fined-over-ad-insulting-national-yoghurt-drink

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    State-owned tea firm fined 220,000 liras for ‘insulting ayran’ in ads

    Turkey’s Customs and Trade Ministry has fined a state-owned firm 220,000 Turkish Liras for “insulting ayran” in an advertisement for iced tea.

    In addition to the fine, the ministry also decided to halt advertisements of Didi, an iced tea product produced by the state-owned Çaykur.

    Turkish rapper “Ceza” appeared in the controversial Didi advertisement, rapping “I’ve tried Ayran, it makes me sleepy.”

    The ministry said ayran has been “insulted without reason and consumers were given a wrong message aimed at decreasing the consumption of ayran.” It also said that the advertisement marked “unfair competition against companies that sell ayran.”

    Ayran is a popular yoghurt-based chilled refreshment, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared was Turkey’s “national drink” when he was prime minister back in 2013.

    http://www.infobalkans.com/2015/11/08/state-owned-tea-firm-fined-220000-liras-insulting-ayran-ads