Reader links for Nov. 13 – 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

60 Replies to “Reader links for Nov. 13 – 2015”

    • The argument goes like this:

      Musselman:’Ten words, 40 divine meanings… cannot be bettered by your Gurus… Allah is Greater innit!’
      Sikh: ‘there are meanings in meanings, infinite number…’
      Musselman:’Ten words, 40 divine meanings…’
      Sikh:’No one’s keeping score, bro’,’
      Musselman:’Now I’ve told you the “Word of Allah,” next time I’m commanded to kill you’
      Sikh: ‘So we both know it isn’t just some scant few crazy Muslims who murder after all’
      *Hug*

    • And the moral of the story?

      It is only that ‘the Creed, Color and Name doesn’t matter’ when a human is civilized…
      …and never that ‘the Creed, Color and Name of God’ doesn’t matter with faced with those who have identities on their sleeves.

      Waheguru (Punjabi: v?higur?) is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God, the Supreme Being or the creator of all. It means “Wonderful Teacher” in the Punjabi language, but in this case is used to refer to God. V?hi (a Middle Persian borrowing) means “wonderful” and guru (Sanskrit: guru) is a term denoting “teacher”. Waheguru is also described by some as an experience of ecstasy which is beyond all descriptions. The most common usage of the word “Waheguru” is in the greeting Sikhs use with each other:

      “Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh”

      Meeting a person with a “Wonderful Teacher” is more than fourty times preferable to one enslaved under a “Merciful Killer,” because soulless dhimmis can only beget lesser dhimmis, while teachers with only a mustard seed will make greater teachers.

    • Sobering up a drunken bum, shows that someone cares about him, and that he should care about his neighbors with his disrespect – by only getting intoxicated in his own home. Otherwise his own harm, or other’s harm, will affect those who try to rescue him and them.
      http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=99Y6TpXpFQQ

  1. ‘Jihadi John’: US air strike targets Islamic State militant in Syria (BBC, Nov 13, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34805924

    “US forces have carried out a drone strike in Syria against the Islamic State group militant “Jihadi John”.

    PM David Cameron said it was not yet certain whether the strike had been successful, but that targeting Mohammed Emwazi was “the right thing to do”.

    The Kuwaiti-born British militant appeared in videos of the beheadings of Western hostages.

    It is believed there was one other person in the vehicle targeted in the attack near Raqqa…”

    • ‘Jihadi John’ targeted by U.S. airstrike in Syria (CNN, Nov 13, 2015)
      http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/13/middleeast/jihadi-john-airstrike-target/index.html

      “British Prime Minister David Cameron described the airstrike that may have killed “Jihadi John” in Syria as an act of self-defense as he awaited confirmation that the jeering, sadistic ISIS mouthpiece is dead.

      If the raid killed the man seen in numerous ISIS beheading videos, “it will be a strike at the heart” of ISIS, Cameron said.

      “We always said we will do whatever is necessary to track down (Mohammed) Emwazi and stop him taking the lives of others,” he said.

      U.S. officials said “Jihadi John” may have been killed in a coalition airstrike in Raqqa, Syria. While the Pentagon, in announcing the strike Thursday night, wouldn’t definitely say he was dead, U.S. officials said authorities are confident he was.

      This was a mission of “persistent surveillance,” a senior U.S. official said, adding that authorities knew it was Emwazi when they took the shot.

      Emwazi was in a vehicle at the time of the strike, which was launched from a drone, another U.S. official said.

      Cameron said the airstrike was the result of the UK working with the United States…”

      • Jihadi John is ‘evaporated’ at ISIS’ ‘crucifixion’ clocktower: US drone strike takes out British executioner at site of fanatics’ worst crimes – but victims’ families say they wanted ‘coward to suffer’ (dailymail, Nov 13, 2015)
        http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3316497/Has-Jihadi-John-killed-drone-strike-Officials-claim-British-ISIS-fanatic-targeted-Raqqa.html

        “The world’s most wanted man, Jihadi John, is believed to have been killed in a U.S. drone strike at the very heart of the Islamic State’s Syrian capital where it stages horrific public executions.

        Pentagon officials say they are ’99 per cent’ sure they have wiped out the British ISIS executioner Mohammed Emwazi in the centre of the terror group’s stronghold of Raqqa.

        The 27-year-old from London, who appeared in sickening beheading videos of Western hostages including two British aid workers, was ‘evaporated’ by a missile as he climbed into a car.

        Emwazi is believed to have been hit near a symbolic clock tower where the group has carried out barbaric killings, including crucifixions, since capturing the city two years ago, activists have said.

        Bethany Haines, 18, the daughter of one of his British victims, David Haines, today told how she felt ‘an instant sense of relief’ after hearing reports of his death having previously said she would only have closure ‘once there’s a bullet between his eyes’.

        But Stuart Henning, the nephew of British aid worker Alan Henning, who was also butchered by Emwazi, said he had mixed feelings because he had ‘wanted the coward behind the mask to suffer’…”

  2. Battle for Sinjar: Kurdish forces enter IS-held town in Iraq (BBC, Nov 13, 2015)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/34806556

    “Kurdish fighters have entered Sinjar in northern Iraq, a day after launching an offensive to retake it from Islamic State (IS) militants.

    Peshmerga fighters were filmed streaming into the town, walking through its rubble-strewn streets and putting Kurdish flags on buildings.

    The Kurdish offensive was supported by US-led coalition air strikes.

    Meanwhile, the Iraqi army says it has launched an operation to recapture the western city of Ramadi from IS.

    The army press office said the offensive was under way “along the northern, western and south-western axes, with air support”, the official al-Iraqiyah TV reports.

    However, Reuters news agency quotes a municipal official and a police officer from the area as saying the advance has not yet begun…”

    • “Peshmerga fighters were filmed streaming into the town, walking through its rubble-strewn streets and putting Kurdish flags on buildings.”
      I hear that it was YPG and PKK who played main role in retaking Sinjar and they are now angry that Peshmerga take all credit for the capture of town.

  3. Migrant crisis: Bulgaria accused of brutality by Oxfam (BBC, Nov 13, 2015?
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34805487

    “The Bulgarian authorities have been accused of brutality towards migrants in a new report sponsored by the British charity Oxfam.

    The report, based on the testimony of migrants walking through from Bulgaria into Serbia, cites numerous cases of alleged police beatings and extortion.

    Many migrants opt to travel through the Balkans, afraid of the sea-crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands.

    The Bulgarian government has not yet responded to the allegations…”

  4. ISIS threatens Russia in new video (CNN, Nov 13, 2015)
    http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/12/middleeast/isis-russia-threat/index.html

    “(CNN)ISIS on Thursday purportedly released a video and audio statement threatening to attack Russia “very soon.”

    In the nearly five-minute long video, a chant in Russian is heard over visual compilations of old ISIS propaganda and generic video of Russian cities and buildings.

    The video is entitled “Soon Very Soon the Blood Will Spill like an Ocean” and was posted two weeks after a Russian commercial jet crashed in Egypt, killing 224 people. An ISIS affiliate has claimed it brought down the plane.

    CNN has not independently verified the video is authentic, but it was posted on ISIS-affiliated social media accounts.

    Russian security services are working to verify the authenticity of the video, the country’s state news agency Sputnik reports…”

  5. Security beefed up in Islamabad as Lal Masjid cleric vows to restart ‘Sharia Law’ campaign (tribune, Nov 13, 2015)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/990764/security-deployed-as-lal-masjid-cleric-vows-to-restart-campaign-in-islamabad/

    “A heavy contingent of police and Rangers were deployed in the areas surrounding Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa in Islamabad on Friday following an announcement by cleric Abdul Aziz to restart his ‘Sharia Law’ campaign.

    Despite refusal from the district administration and the threat of house arrest, the firebrand Lal Masjid has vowed to give a sermon at the mosque on Friday (today) and restart his campaign to enforce Sharia Law…”

  6. Germany announces plan to increase troops deployed to Afghanistan (DW, Nov 12, 2015)
    http://www.dw.com/en/germany-announces-plan-to-increase-troops-deployed-to-afghanistan/a-18846189

    “The German government has announced it intends to send more troops to assist with the fight in Afghanistan. The move comes as instability in the region has led to increasing numbers of people seeking refuge in Europe.

    German politicians said on Thursday that the government wants to expand its troop deployment to Afghanistan from 850 to 980 personnel.

    The announcement comes as Taliban militants ramp up their fighting in the country and more Afghans seek refuge from the war by migrating to Europe, and in particular to Germany.

    The government’s plan will need to be confirmed by German parliament before more troops can be deployed. According to the politicians, the Bundeswehr’s mission in Afghanistan will not change: The German army is there to provide military assistance to Afghan fighters not to fight directly against the Taliban…”

    • The Germans aren’t allowed to have bullets are they? Maybe after paying off the Holocaust guilt by flooding Germany with Islamic entrepreneurs, they will.

  7. Austrian police busts Serbian human trafficking gang (DW, Nov 12, 2015)
    http://www.dw.com/en/austrian-police-busts-serbian-human-trafficking-gang/a-18846141

    “Authorities have arrested members of a “highly organized” group that transported some 1,800 refugees from eastern Europe to Austria. The Serbian gang has made half a million euros since February, officials have said.

    A total of 12 suspects were arrested, 11 in Austria and one in Greece, with police issuing international arrest warrants for another five people, authorities in Vienna said Thursday.
    The police also seized six vans and 50,000 euros ($53,575) in a sting operation tied to the arrests.

    “This is most certainly one of our biggest successes,” Lower Austria police chief Franz Prucher told reporters.

    All of the people arrested were Serbs, some of whom lived in Austria for years, according to the police chief.

    “They were highly organized. They had rented flats in Vienna so they could get a rest between their trips,” Prucher added. “They were traveling in convoys with an advance party making sure there were no checks ahead.”

    The gang would charge between 250 euros and 300 euros to smuggle a person from the Serbian capital, Belgrade, through Hungary and into Austria…”

  8. Taslima Nasreen: ‘Wahhabism has invaded Bangladesh’ (DW, Nov 13, 2015)
    http://www.dw.com/en/taslima-nasreen-wahhabism-has-invaded-bangladesh/a-18847335

    “Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, known for her writings on oppression against women and her unwavering criticism of religion, tells DW that Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh has become stronger and more political.

    For the past 21 years, Nasreen has been living in exile in various countries, including India, Sweden, Germany and the United States.

    Due to her criticism of Islam, multiple fatwas have been issued against the author calling for her assassination. Still, 53-year-old Nasreen doesn’t mince her words when she talks about freedom of expression and the rise of religious fundamentalism in Bangladesh.

    The South Asian nation has been afflicted by rising Islamist violence in recent months.

    Extremists have been blamed for the killings of at least four atheist bloggers and a publisher since the start of this year.

    In an exclusive DW interview, Nasreen, who recently returned to India from the US, talks about the shrinking space for free thinkers in Bangladesh and said that Islam cannot be exempt from the critical scrutiny that other religions go through.

    Nasreen also believes Bangladesh will be headed for a complete disaster if the government fails to bring Islamic terrorists to justice…”

  9. ISIS uses medium range missiles for the first time: Terror group kill boy and his grandfather alongside two farmers after launching attack on grain silos (dailymail, Nov 13, 2015)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3316761/ISIS-uses-medium-range-missiles-time-Terror-group-kill-boy-grandfather-alongside-two-farmers-launching-attack-grain-silos.html

    “Islamic State militants have fired medium-range missiles for the first time killing four people, according to activists in Syria.

    The jihadis reportedly fired four missiles from Al Heisha village, about 30 miles south of Tel Abyad, north towards grain silos yesterday.

    The target is home to a training camp of rebel group Raqqa Revolutionaries Brigades, which has been fighting ISIS.

    According to Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently – a campaign run by anti-government and anti-ISIS activists – the first missile hit an empty village 25 miles south of Tel Abyad.

    The second landed on agricultural land 200 metres from the intended target, while the third hit just 50 metres from the silos.

    The fourth missile landed 700 metres south of the target, where a group of farmers were tending to their land.

    The activists claim three men – aged 37, 60 and 80 – were killed in the attack, and the 60-year-old’s grandchild also died.

    It is reportedly the first time ISIS has used medium range missiles…”

  10. Shocking moment man ‘pushes a Muslim woman wearing a hijab into an oncoming Tube train’ (dailymail, Nov 13, 2015)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3316787/Shocking-moment-man-push-Muslim-woman-wearing-hijab-oncoming-train-London-s-underground.html

    “A pensioner has been charged with attempted murder after a Muslim woman wearing a hijab was allegedly pushed into an oncoming train on the London underground.

    Police were called to Piccadilly Circus tube station just after 4pm on Tuesday after the alleged incident on one of the station’s Bakerloo line platforms.

    The female victim suffered minor injuries and was treated for grazes to her face at hospital.

    Yoshiyuki Shinohara, 81, of no fixed abode, was arrested and charged on suspicion of attempted murder.

    He appeared before Westminster Magistrates Court yesterday.

    He has been remanded in custody until November 25 when he will appear before Blackfriars Crown Court.”

      • Daily Mail notice : “Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article”
        Aha. I wonder what the comments would be on that article.

    • As the leftard caused madness increases, there will be Yoshis and Breviks popping out of the woodwork everywhere.

    • Getting into the Socialist System to survive is only because the independent poor can’t affort the bubble of inflated market prices of subsidized food, housing, and employment. A homeless 70 year old won’t be able compete for shopping against the benefit-dependent Single Mom, or for accommodation, or be allowed to obtain cash in hand casual work with a mixture of perks. The sinking to the lowest station to turn yourself around is not permitted. Either dead, or Red.

      And now may get into the parasitical life of dependency and skimming politicians, but he won’t save his mind.

      Wherever a Private Sector funds a much cushier Public Sector, crime does pay.

  11. Are Europe’s open borders on the brink of collapse? EU leaders warn of ‘race against time’ to save passport free travel zone as migration crisis spirals out of control (dailymail, Nov 13, 2015)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3315796/Migration-crisis-triggers-race-against-time-rescue-Europe-s-border-free-travel-zone-collapse.html

    “The European Union is in a ‘race against time’ to stop the impending collapse of its border-free travel zone as its leaders admitted they had lost control.
    Countries across Europe are poised to bring back checkpoints as one of the most senior EU officials admitted the ‘clock was ticking’ on the end of the Schengen Agreement.
    Sweden slammed shut its borders warning it could no longer continue its tradition of welcoming migrants as it cannot cope with the vast numbers coming in.

    A major migration summit last night descended into an acrimonious farce as African leaders angrily rejected a deal to take back tens of thousands of failed asylum seekers and accused Europe of causing their problems.

    It came on a day of chaos as:

    European Council president Donald Tusk said it was a ‘race against time’ to save the EU’s Schengen travel zone.

    Denmark said it stood ready to follow Sweden and bring back checkpoints on its border.

    Slovenia began work erecting a razor-wire fence along its border with Croatia

    Angela Merkel’s finance minister and close ally compared her managing of the migrant crisis to a ‘careless skier’ who triggers an ‘avalanche’

    It emerged European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker had told Britain to stump up £275million to help refugees in Turkey.

    Sweden’s prime minister Stefan Lofven yesterday defended his decision to reintroduce passport checks, saying it was no longer possible to properly control the country’s borders.

    The Swedish move was seen as particularly significant as the Scandinavian country has been one of the most hospitable to migrants with the highest number per capita in any of Europe, but its officials said it is now over-stretched.

    ‘When our authorities tell us we cannot guarantee the security and control of our borders, we need to listen,’ Mr Lofven said.

    ‘We need to make sure that we have control… We have to make sure we know who is coming to Sweden.’

    He called for an overhaul of the Schengen Agreement, saying the EU needed ‘to discuss what the rules should look like. We need another system. That is obvious.’

    Europe’s external border as he became the most senior EU leader to give such a pessimistic diagnosis.”

    • ” but its officials said it is now over-stretched.”

      Like a lot of native female* orifices are about to be.

      *men and boys too, Muslims aren’t picky when the need strikes them. I don’t imagine the worlds first rape clinic for men (another “first” that Sweden may boast about) goes idle and empty does it?

  12. Putin rolls out the big guns: Russia deploys advanced ‘Growler’ anti-aircraft missile system in Syria able to hit jets at an altitude of up to 90,000 feet as far away as Tel Aviv (dailymail, Nov 13, 2015)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3316195/Vladimir-Putin-deploys-advanced-Growler-anti-aircraft-missile-Syria-able-hit-jets-altitude-90-000-feet-far-away-Tel-Aviv.html

    “Vladimir Putin has deployed an advanced anti-aircraft missile defense system to Syria with a range capable of taking down jets as far away as Tel Aviv.

    The Russian military released photographs of the S-400 Air Defense System, known to NATO as SA-21 ‘Growler’, at the Latakia Airbase on the Syrian coast.

    The advanced missile system, which is understood to have a maximum range of 250 miles is capable of bringing down an aircraft at a maximum altitude of 90,000 feet – which is more than twice the height of a cruising passenger airliner.

    The Russian Ministry of Defence invited a group of 50 foreign journalists to the airbase where the air-defence radar system could be clearly seen.

    From the heavily-defended airbase, the missile system can cover an area covering most of Syria, southern Turkey, Cyprus, the eastern Mediterranean as well as much of Israel.

    The missile system comes in three sections, with a central control point, a radar complex capable of tracking 300 targets and controlling six anti-aircraft missile launchers….”

  13. Turkey: Authorities and militants killed in clashes in Istanbul’s Gazi

    Clashes erupted on Thursday evening as hundreds of people protested against the ‘counter-terror’ activities carried out by the Turkish authorities in the Gazi district of Istanbul. One soldier and one police officer were reportedly killed, with several others injured. As the result of the operation, at least five militants of the pro-Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and several members of the Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement (YDG-H), the youth wing of PKK, were reportedly killed, according to Turkish authorities

    • Turkey: Activists clash with police over abandoned body of Kurdish fighter Aziz Guler

      Minor clashes broke out in front of Istanbul’s Caglayan Justice Palace, Friday, after police forcibly removed a group of activists protesting against the Turkish government’s decision to block the return of a Kurdish fighter’s body from Syria. Aziz Guler was killed in September whilst fighting against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) forces in Rojava, Syria.

  14. VATICAN – Pope Francis donates 12-foot crucifix given to him by Cuban leader Raúl Castro to Italian island of Lampedusa in tribute to migrants

    Pope Francis is donating to the parish church of Lampedusa a crucifix that President Raul Castro gave him during his visit to Cuba.

    Measuring over three metres high, the crucifix is crafted from wooden oars tied with ropes to symbolise the reality of migrants who have crossed the Mediterranean by boat.

    http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/11/13/pope-francis-donates-castro-crucifix-to-lampedusa/

  15. ‘Why can’t I see your face?’: Mother-of-four was abused in front of her children while she shopped in Tesco for wearing a veil (dailymail, Nov 13, 2015)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3317281/Why-t-face-Mother-four-abused-children-shopped-Tesco-wearing-veil.html

    “A mother-of-four was abused while she shopped in Tesco because she was wearing a niqab.

    Rahela Chowdhury, 32, from Burnley, was in her local store with all four children when the man approached her and shouted ‘why can’t I see your face?’

    She was left frozen to the spot and has been so scared she has hardly left the house since the incident on October 3.

    Her youngest child, who is only four, also started crying uncontrollably.

    Her abuser, John McDougall, 50, from Earby in Lancashire, has now been ordered to pay victim compensation and carry out 200 hours community service.

    Recalling the terrifying ordeal, Mrs Chowdhury said: ‘He started abusing me, asking me why I was wearing the full veil.

    ‘It was the first time anyone had shouted at me in this way. I was frozen and I didn’t know what to do.’

    Mrs Chowdhury said she was most fearful for her children, two of whom are 12, one aged 11, and the youngest at four.

    The incident only ended when a staff member at the Tesco Extra in Centenary Way in Burnley intervened.

    Security officers then removed the offender.”

    • BOTH parents of 4 young children were MURDERED in front of their children recently in Israel. And the baby was injured too.
      So take the rag off your head and stuff it down your throat.

  16. FSA Rebels Kill Syrian Soldier Phone his Mother

    FSA Rebels Kill Syrian Soldier then Cheerfully Phone his Mother to tell her and call her an “Alawite Dog”

  17. The Danish government on Friday announced a package of 34 initiatives designed to bring down the number of refugees.

    In announcing the new measures, Integration Minister Inger Støjberg said that the number of refugees in Denmark “challenges our immigration authorities, our municipalities and our society in general”.

    “Denmark should not be a magnet for asylum seekers,” she said.

    http://www.thelocal.dk/20151113/denmark-to-erect-tents-shorten-permits-for-refugees

  18. Austria to build fence on Slovenia border in new blow to Schengen pact

    Vienna (AFP) – Austria announced Friday it would erect a metal fence along its border with Slovenia, in a new blow to the’s cherished open-border accord.

    The 3.7-kilometre (2.3-mile) barrier, due to be completed in less than six weeks, will be the first fence between two members of the passport-free zone, as Europe grapples with a record influx of migrants.

    Barbed wire would be stored in nearby containers ready to be rolled out along the frontier if the situation escalated, officials said.

    Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner insisted the “fence conforms to the Schengen accord”, adding it was part of temporary measures aimed at “channelling” the human flow.

    The move came a day after European Union President Donald Tusk warned that Schengen — one of the bloc’s most important achievements — was on the brink of collapse because of fallout from the migration crisis.

    Austria’s decision is the latest in a series of tough measures taken by countries to tackle the continent’s worst refugee crisis since World War II.

    Germany, which expects up to one million arrivals this year, said on Friday it would extend temporary border controls implemented in September until mid-February.

    http://news.yahoo.com/austria-build-3-7-km-metal-fence-slovenia-105614296.html

    Austria to build fence on Slovenia border

    Austria has announced plans to erect a 3.7-kilometer (2.3-mile) metal fence along its border with Slovenia. Vienna has said the measure aims to better manage the influx of migrants and refugees.

    The announcement on Friday came just two days after Slovenia began similar measures on its border with Croatia.

    Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann’s chief of staff, Josef Ostermayer, said barbed wire would also be stored nearby, ready to install if necessary.

    “We are talking here about an ordered inflow and not a barrier,” Ostermayer told reporters.

    Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said the fence would be 2.2 meters high.

    Transit pressures

    Austria has become a major transit route for hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees in recent months. Despite most of the migrants continuing their journey onto northern Europe, Austria still expects a record 95,000 asylum claims this year, making it one of the highest recipients on a per capita basis.

    Amid growing support for the far-right Freedom Party – which is currently leading in Austria’s opinion polls – Faymann’s government has come under growing pressure to stem the flow.

    Earlier this month, the Freedom Party sued three top Austrian officials – namely Faymann, Mikl-Leitner and Defense Minister Gerald Klug – for “failing to protect the country’s borders” against the influx of migrants. The right-wing party also filed a lawsuit against rail officials on the charge of “human trafficking” for helping refugees travel from Austria’s eastern border to Germany.

    http://www.dw.com/en/austria-to-build-fence-on-slovenia-border/a-18847582

  19. LUXEMBURG – Mosque knifing victim recounts terrifying ordeal

    The victim of Saturday’s knife attack in a Luxembourg mosque has spoken about the terrifying ordeal of being attacked while praying.

    In an exclusive interview with the Luxemburger Wort, Said (whose name has been changed), a teacher in Islamic culture, said that he and his attacker were the only two people praying in the men’s worship at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Mamer at around 5:30pm.

    “During the prostration part of prayer, I heard my neighbour’s agitated praying. Suddenly, I felt an enormous pain in my face: it was the first cut of the knife, which cut my cheek and part of my tongue,” he said.

    “I fell onto my back and had to fight him off. He was on top of me and was trying to get the knife back, but I held the blade in my left hand. I couldn’t work out how we had ended up like this, or how I had found the strength to get his weapon off of him. We fought for several seconds before I managed to push him off me and get up.”

    The two men found themselves face to face and the attacker began to beat Said, who dropped the knife. His attacker then picked up the knife.

    “When I saw he had the knife again, I tried to run but he was faster than me and struck me several times near the heart with the knife before I could get out of the prayer room.”

    In a complete daze following the attack

    Said said he shouted to alert others (women were praying in the room next door) and it was only when he had managed to get out of the building and shut his attacker inside that he realised what had happened to him.

    “The women called the police and emergency services. I was seated on the ground, in a complete daze,” he said.

    The victim, of Moroccan origin, lives in France and is well known at the Mamer mosque, where he teachers Islamic culture each Saturday and often stands in for the imam for evening prayer.

    “From 3pm to 5pm, I give lessons to the women,” he said. “After the lessons, we go to the ground floor and go to separate rooms for prayer. When I entered the room, it was dark and I only saw there was someone inside when I switched the light on.

    “On seeing him, I thought that he was there well before the sun set to pray, so I spoke to him in Arabic. But, when it seemed he did not understand, I switched to English. I asked if he would like to pray together.”

    The man seemed distracted and fidgeted

    During the first phase of prayer, worshippers stand side by side looking ahead. Afterwards, Said said the other man seemed distracted and fidgeted nervously.

    “I thought perhaps he did not know how to proceed or that he was tired. At no point did I imagine what happened next and, above all, that he would cut me with a knife!” the teacher said.

    Earlier this week Luxembourg Police arrested a suspect in connection with the stabbing.

    The man is Croatian, of Bosnian origin. Said said that the suspect was not part of the Luxembourg Muslim community and arrived in the country weeks ago.

    “For about a month he has been going from mosque to mosque trying to find shelter. Some families would let him stay for one or two nights. He was also looking for work and gave us (the mosque) his name in case we could help,” Said said.

    “I did not know him personally, but when I gave a description, people in the community, who had met him, thought it might be this person and contacted police”.

    Said is currently on sick leave and said he was reassured that police had arrested a suspect. The investigation is ongoing, and police are still unable to say why the attack occurred.

    http://www.wort.lu/en/luxembourg/mamer-mosque-attack-mosque-knifing-victim-recounts-terrifying-ordeal-5645d58f0da165c55dc4d196

  20. strong>UK press watchdog urged to act against media slurs on Muslims

    The UK press watchdog must start considering cases of discrimination against groups of people, after some “grossly irresponsible” coverage of Muslim issues by some media, influential lawyers and community groups say.

    Britain’s Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) does not currently have the power to pursue complaints of discrimination against groups of people, such as those of Muslim faith, if no individual is specified in an offending article.

    But the Muslim Council of Britain and the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation have both called for that to change, amid what some claim is slanted press coverage of Islamic issues.

    David Anderson QC, the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said some mainstream media have been “grossly irresponsible” in their coverage of Muslim issues.

    And while IPSO can pursue complaints of discrimination against an individual, it cannot act when an entire religious group is attacked, he told a conference in London.

    “It’s more difficult if there is a derogatory comment about Islam. And it seems to me that this is one thing that the press standards authority ought to think about,” he said

    ‘Misreporting stories’

    Speaking to Al Arabiya News, Anderson said some media headlines about Muslims were “inflammatory”.

    “It is profoundly damaging to cohesion when journalists misreport stories by attaching the label ‘Muslim’. And I can’t see why Muslims should not be able to complain about that in the name of their faith,” he said.

    The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has previously criticized media coverage of scandals such as the so-called ‘Muslim grooming gangs’, in which groups of men in areas such as Rotherham, Derby, Bristol and Oxfordshire were accused of raping thousands of children. Representatives of the MCB have said that linking the story to the Muslim faith was not fair.

    Miqdaad Versi, Assistant Secretary General of the MCB, said that there is currently “no recourse” under the press standards code when a particular group is attacked by the media.

    “There’s been many examples in the media, where we’ve tried to go to the code but we’ve not been able to,” he said. “If there is a way that a representative group can launch a complaint on that issue, that would be valuable.”
    ‘Cockroaches’

    One of the most high-profile cases in which IPSO rejected a claim of discrimination came last spring, and involved a column in the Sun newspaper about the migration crisis.

    Controversial columnist Katie Hopkins suggested that Europe should use gunboats to stop migrants crossing the Mediterranean, and compared those fleeing their home countries to “cockroaches.” But IPSO rejected complaints over her column, because it did not refer to specific individuals.

    A spokesperson for IPSO confirmed to Al Arabiya News that the body would not consider complaints of discrimination against an entire group of people.

    But they said that IPSO is able to consider complaints of discrimination against an individual brought by groups, where the individual in question has not complained personally. And groups may make a complaint over a press article under clause one of the IPSO code on the grounds of accuracy, the spokesperson said.

    Blasphemy law debate

    A MCB conference held in London on Wednesday, entitled ‘Terrorism and Extremism – how should British Muslims respond’, also heard debate over potential blasphemy laws in the United Kingdom.

    Britain’s ancient laws of blasphemy were abolished in 2008, although had largely fallen into disuse by then, given that the last successful prosecution was in 1977.

    But the issue has resurfaced in the wake of the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris, and the magazine’s depictions of the Prophet Mohammed, which many Muslims deem offensive.

    Keith Vaz MP, the chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, told Al Arabiya News that he would have “no problem” with blasphemy laws being reintroduced, under certain conditions.

    “It should apply to all religions. If we have laws, they should apply to everybody. Religions are very special to people. And therefore I have no objection to them… but it must apply equally to everybody.”

    Asked whether he thought there should be a blasphemy laws he said “no”, but added: “If somebody brings it forward in parliament I’ll vote for it… Obviously it depends what’s in the bill. But I have no objection to it being brought before parliament and having a debate about it.”

    David Anderson QC said he would not object to a public debate over the issue, although had doubts over whether such laws should be reintroduced.

    “Personally I’m not sure whether I would welcome a blasphemy law, because I think we have to be free to make fun of each other. We even have to be free to offend each other,” he said. “[But] I would have no problem with the idea of a democratic debate on whether there is room for some kind of blasphemy law.”

    Miqdaad Versi said it was difficult to determine where the “red line” should be when it comes to free speech.

    “Muslim communities need to be able to respond to accusations Muslims, or against the Prophet, in a more effective way,” he said. “Whether there should be legislation is something that really is a more complicated question.”

    http://english.alarabiya.net/en/media/print/2015/11/13/UK-watchdog-urged-to-act-amid-irresponsible-media-slurs-on-Muslims.html

  21. BREAKING NEWS: Several feared dead as Kalashnikov-wielding gunman goes on the rampage in central Paris in suspected terrorist attack not far from Charlie Hebdo shootings (dailymail, Nov 13, 2015)
    http://dailym.ai/1WX7oH7

    “There are reports that more than 10 people have been killed and at least seven wounded in central Paris after a machine wielding attacker went on a rampage.

    Machine gun fire and screams were heard from inside a restaurant on Rue Bichat, close to where the Charlie Hebdo shootings occurred in January, at around 9pm.

    French officials said there were two explosions near the Stade de France sports stadium in Paris as well as the shootout in the restaurant, but it is not known whether the attacks were linked.

    There have been unconfirmed reports that the attacker near the stadium, where the French football team is playing Germany in a friendly match tonight, was a suicide bomber.

    An eyewitness said the two explosions were loud enough to be heard over the sound of cheering fans. Sirens were heard immediately and a helicopter was seen circling overhead.

    As anti-terrorist police flooded the area, an officer on the scene warned ‘the gunman is suspected to be still on the loose. People should leave the area’.

    Police and other emergency services are at the scene, which is close to where the Charlie Hebdo attack happened in January.

    Several people were killed in the restaurant shooting in the 10th arrondissement, BFM Television said.

    Two police officials confirmed the shooting but did not give confirmation about casualties. One of the police officials said there was a separate explosion near the Stade de France…”

  22. Suicide bomber kills at least 19 in Baghdad funeral (alarabiya, Nov 13, 2015)
    http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/11/13/Suicide-bomb-in-Baghdad-kills-at-least-18.html

    “Attacks targeting Shiites in Baghdad, including a suicide bombing at a funeral in a mosque, killed at least 19 people Friday, security and medical officials said.

    The suicide bombing inside the Al-Ashara al-Mubashareen mosque in the Amil area of south Baghdad killed at least 17 people and wounded 33, the officials said.

    Two officials said the funeral was for a member of the volunteer paramilitary force known as the Popular Mobilisation units.

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but suicide bombings are a tactic used exclusively by Sunni extremists in Iraq, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) jihadist group, who consider Shiites to be heretics.

    The Popular Mobilisation units — which are dominated by Iranian-backed Shiite militias — are some of the most effective forces in the battle against ISIS, which overran large parts of the country last year.”

  23. Tunisian militants behead 16-year-old shepherd (alarabiya, Nov 14, 2015)
    http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2015/11/14/Tunisia-jihadists-behead-shepherd-16-.html

    “Tunisian militants have beheaded a 16-year-old boy after accosting him and his cousin, both shepherds, on a mountainside in the central province of Sidi Bouzid, authorities said on Friday.

    Walid al-Waqini of the interior ministry said the mayor of Sawar Soultaniya in the province reported the murder.

    “A terrorist group intercepted two shepherds on Mount Meghila and cut off the head of one and handed it to the other to return to his family,” Waqini quoted the mayor as saying.

    A security source told AFP the pair had been working when “three terrorists headed them off, one raised his gun and fired in the air, the second slaughtered the shepherd with a knife and the third filmed the attack.”

    There was no known motive for the killing, which was confirmed to AFP by a senior provincial official in Sidi Bouzid.

    Tunisia has faced an upsurge in militant violence since its 2011 revolution, but security forces are generally the target.

    Several dozen soldiers and police have lost their lives in attacks, most of which are claimed by Al-Qaeda’s North African branch.

    The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group claimed an attack that killed 38 foreign tourists at a seaside resort near Sousse in June, and another that killed 21 foreigners and a policeman in Tunis in March.”