Reader’s links on April 28 – 2016

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About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

110 Replies to “Reader’s links on April 28 – 2016”

  1. Silly, but illustrative:

    Man shot dead by friend ‘for paying restaurant bill’ in Istanbul

    A man has been shot dead by his friend because he paid the restaurant bill in Istanbul, according to Turkish media reports.

    Hasan Erdemir and ?dris Alaku? allegedly argued over who would pay the bill after the men had soup in the restaurant in the Turkish city’s Bakirkoy district on Sunday morning.

    Mr Alaku? had been in the restaurant when Mr Erdemir entered with two friends and was soon invited to join Mr Alaku? and his friend, Savc? Karabulut before the attack, it was reported.

    Wanting to leave the restaurant, Mr Alaku? allegedly asked for the bill but found out that Mr Erdemir had paid the bill. The two men then argued and Mr Alaku? left the restaurant infuriated, Milliyet newspaper reported.

    It was claimed Mr Alaku? returned to the restaurant with a gun and shot Mr Erdemir as well as the man’s two friends. The two friends were hurt but were in a non live-threatening condition, local media reported on Monday.

    http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/man-shot-dead-by-friend-for-paying-restaurant-bill-in-istanbul-34663810.html

  4. ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – Senior Kurdish and Shi’ite Muslim leaders agreed on Wednesday to withdraw their forces from a northern Iraqi town in a bid to end violence that has killed more than 10 people in recent days.

    The clashes in Tuz Khurmato, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, marked the latest violence in the town since Islamic State militants were driven back in 2014 by Kurdish peshmerga and Shi’ite militia, nominal allies against the Sunni militants.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/kurds-shiites-agree-withdraw-forces-north-iraq-town-184504462.html?nhp=1

  5. A PERFECTIONIST killer is on the loose in California, leaving a creepy note at the scene of the crime to apologise for a sloppy double homicide.
    “Sorry, my first kill was clumsy,” was written in ink on the hardwood floor near the bodies of Golam Rabbi, 59, and Shamima Rabbi, 57, who were found shot to death inside their San Jose home Sunday, law enforcement sources told KGO-TV and the San Jose Mercury News.
    Another note scrawled on a wall said, “I can’t be like you telling a lie. I can’t love someone without telling them,” according to KGO.
    Cops want to talk to the couple’s 20-something son, who hasn’t been accounted for since his parents were found.
    “At this time he is not considered a suspect but may have information regarding this incident,” according to a San Jose police statement.
    Investigators said Tuesday that the Rabbis’ slaying was “not a random act of violence and the suspect was someone familiar to the family.”

    http://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/killers-note-sorry-my-first-kill-was-clumsy/news-story/6e493b8b018aee677589f39c6dd8bfd0

  7. DhAKA: A court has jailed two Hindu teachers in southern Bangladesh for making derogatory comments about Islam, invoking a rare law from the colonial era that makes insulting any religion a crime.
    A court in southwestern Bagerhat sentenced the two teachers – Krishnapada Mouli and assistant teacher Ashok Kumar – of Hijla High School to jail for six months over remarks that sparked anger among people in the neighbourhood, reports and officials said. The incident came to light when students of Hijla High School complained that the assistant teacher of science on Sunday dismissed the Quran as the word of Allah and said there was no heaven, magistrate Anwar Parvez said.

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Bangladesh-jails-two-Hindu-teachers-for-insulting-Islam/articleshow/52018236.cms

  9. As the main Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam appeared in a French court for the first time since his extradition, his Belgian lawyer described his former client as a “little moron” and more of a follower than a leader, with the “intelligence of an ashtray.”

    Refusing to address charges formally brought against him by the French court on Wednesday, Abdeslam claimed to be tired from the “quite rough” extradition, when elite French military police flew him to France. The 26-year-old Abdeslam has been scheduled to appear in court on May 20.

    https://www.rt.com/news/341190-france-terror-abdeslam-moron/

  11. A suicide blast killed one person and injured several others at the entrance of a historic bazaar in Bursa in northwestern Turkey Wednesday, the regional governor’s office said.

    According to reports, the blast took place near the historic Ulu Mosque, which is close to the bazaar.

    Bursa Governor’s Office said a female suicide bomber was involved in the attack.

    Later, Turkish Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said in a statement that around 20 injured people were sent to hospitals in Bursa.

    http://aa.com.tr/en/turkey/suicide-blast-in-northwest-turkey-kills-one-injures-20/562654

  12. Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has warned of gender segregation among teachers in Muslim independent schools.
    Inspectors had found male and female staff and governors were being divided in Luton’s Rabia Boys and Girls School, the education watchdog’s head said.
    Last year, Sir Michael wrote to the education secretary with “serious concerns” about staff segregation.
    He has now written to her again, warning it continues to “actively undermine” equality in schools.
    In Wednesday’s letter, Sir Michael told Education Secretary Nicky Morgan that inspectors “expressed their concern when, at the initial meeting with inspectors, the school insisted on segregating men and women through the use of a dividing screen across the middle of the room”.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/education-36150082

  13. Russia asks UN to blacklist Syria rebel groups
    Negotiator for the Syrian opposition Mohammed Alloush rejects Russian move against Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham.
    Russia has asked the United Nations to blacklist two major Syrian rebel groups, one of which is playing a key role in talks to end the conflict.

    Vitaly Churkin, the country’s ambassador to the UN, on Tuesday asked the world body to list Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham, on a blacklist that includes the al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/russia-asks-blacklist-syria-rebel-groups-160427193426074.html

  14. Barely two months after the United States and Russia joined together to forge a partial cease-fire in Syria, cooperation between them, including on a long-term political solution to that country’s civil war, is rapidly eroding.

    Russia this week accused the administration of “appeasing” its regional partners by ignoring the presence of terrorists among opposition forces it backs in the fight against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Noting President Obama’s decision to send an additional 250 Special Operations troops to the separate war against the Islamic State in Syria, despite pledges of no U.S. “boots on the ground,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman asked sarcastically whether they were deploying barefoot.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-russia-cooperation-frays-as-syria-truce-falls-apart/2016/04/27/c97eab8e-0b03-11e6-bfa1-4efa856caf2a_story.html

  15. SSince 1990, a total of 1,081 white commercial farmers have reportedly been murdered in South Africa, the Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa (TAU SA) has told Anadolu Agency.

    Chris Van Zyl, assistant general manager of TAU SA, said the major reason for the attacks was basic criminality, but in some cases, racist comments were reportedly uttered at their victims.

    “The [fact that the] majority of farmers murdered were white whilst the criminals were black, poses the question whether a racist bias was present or not,” he told Anadolu Agency in an interview.

    According to TAU SA, 60 black farmers were murdered on their farms in the same time period.

    http://www.dailysabah.com/africa/2016/04/27/more-than-1000-white-farmers-killed-in-south-africa-since-1990

  16. Iraqi authorities have revoked the operating licence of the pan-Arab satellite network Al Jazeera and closed its offices in Baghdad, accusing it of violating government guidelines issued in 2014 to regulate media “during the war on terror.”

    Al Jazeera, based in Qatar, said it was dismayed by the action.

    “We remain committed to broadcasting news on Iraq to Iraqi people, our viewers in the Arab world and across the world,” the channel said in an emailed statement.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-qatar-aljazeera-iraq-idUSKCN0XO2O8

  17. A synagogue in Marseille, a city in southern France city with a large Muslim population, was reportedly bought for nearly 400,000 euros by a Muslim association and will be transformed into mosque, local media report.

    Mosque of Poitiers, west-central France (AFP Photo / Guillaume Souvant)Turn empty Catholic churches into mosques, French Muslim leader says
    Thora synagogue on Saint Dominique Street was allegedly sold to the Al Badr Association a few months ago, Marseille-based Le province newspaper reported.

    The association has already one mosque on this street. However, this mosque is reportedly always packed and the worshipers sometimes pray near-by, on the pavement. The synagogue, which has a capacity of about 250 believers, on the contrary, hosts less than 10 worshipers per service.

    “It was an emblematic synagogue. But in this city, the Jews have moved… It’s a sign of the times,” Michele Teboul, president of Crif Marseille-Provence, told the paper. “Marseille doesn’t lack synagogues.”

    https://www.rt.com/news/341175-marseille-synagogue-turned-mosque/

  18. The Igbo Women Assembly, IWA, has kicked against any plan to reserve grazing lands or ranches for Fulani herdsmen in the South-east geopolitical zone, stressing that doing so, would be a tacit approval to the herdsmen to continue killing Igbo men and rape their wives and daughters.
    They said that the only one sensible route to the country’s development was for Nigeria to be restructured now, adding that, “intimidation will not work” as the people of the zone “cannot be islamised”.
    The women, who spoke in reaction to the latest killing of farmers at Nimbo in Uzo Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State Monday, decried the audacity the herdsmen have in killing innocent Nigerians since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office about 10 months ago.
    IWA made its stand known in a statement signed by its National President, Chief (Mrs) Marie Nwanyiwunwa Okwo, who also decried the extra –judicial killing of members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, by security agents among other injustices meted out to the zone.

    http://www.nigeriatoday.ng/2016/04/igbo-women-protest-ndigbo-cannot-islamised/

    • Nigeria’s Buhari orders crackdown on Fulani cattle raiders (BBC, Apr 28, 2016)
      http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36159583

      “Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the security forces to crack down on cattle raiders accused of killing hundreds of people this year.

      Soldiers and police would “go after the groups terrorising innocent people all over the country”, he said.

      The raids are seen as the biggest security threat facing Nigeria after the Islamist-led insurgency.

      Nomadic herders from the Fulani ethnic group and farming communities often clash for control of land and water.

      The announcement comes after national outrage over the killing of at least 20 people on Monday in a raid on the Ukpabi Nimbo community in south-eastern Enugu State…”

  19. Several computer viruses have been detected in a German nuclear power plant in Bavaria, the station operator said. The malware can steal login credentials and allow a remote attacker to access the cracked computer.
    The incident took place at Gundremmingen plant about 100km from Munich.

    “In Gundremmingen nuclear power plant so-called office-malware has been found during … testing work in Unit B,” a statement released by the power plant said.

    Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) was immediately informed.

    The statement initially didn’t mention what kind of malware was involved, only saying this software has been “known for a few years” and is designed to make “an unwanted connection to the internet.”

    https://www.rt.com/news/341083-germany-gundremmingen-plant-virus/

  20. NeW DELHI: Afghanistan plans to take Pakistan to the UN security council over its continuing support to the Taliban, which Kabul says is destabilizing their country. Hekmat Khalil Karzai, deputy foreign minister told TOI in an exclusive chat, that after the deadly Taliban attack in Kabul last week, the Ghani government is exploring the UNSC option.

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Afghanistan-may-take-Pakistan-to-UN-for-supporting-Taliban/articleshow/52014028.cms

  22. Iran’s Supreme Leader accused the United States on Wednesday of scaring businesses away from Tehran and undermining a deal to lift international sanctions.

    Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told hundreds of workers that a global deal, signed between Iran and world powers, had lifted financial sanctions, but U.S. obstruction was stopping Iran getting the full economic fruits of the agreement.

    “On paper the United States allows foreign banks to deal with Iran, but in practice they create Iranophobia so no one does business with Iran,” he said in quotes from the speech posted on his website.

    Iran has repeatedly urged Washington to do more to remove obstacles to the banking sector, in the spirit of the July deal with the United States, the European Union, Russia and China to lift most sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-economy-khamenei-idUSKCN0XO0RK

  23. War criminals and bloggers’ murders
    On February 15, 2013, blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider was hacked to death in front of his house in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka. Soon after his murder, an Islamist group claimed that Haider was an atheist who had made “blasphemous” comments about Prophet Muhammad and Islam on social media.
    Haider was killed at a time when thousands of people had taken to the streets demanding capital punishment for a number of top Islamist leaders accused of war crimes during the country’s War of Independence in 1971. The unprecedented protest was organized by a group of secular bloggers and activists, who mobilized the people through Facebook. It was also the first of its kind demonstration representing the power of social media in the South Asian country.

    http://www.dw.com/en/increasing-attacks-on-bangladeshi-activists-some-facts/a-19217814

  25. Munich Oktoberfest to get first-ever entrance checks

    People hoping to enter the Theresienwiese – the large open space where Oktoberfest is held each year – will have to pass through security checks, including bag checks, at all the entrances, the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reported on Thursday.

    Munich authorities believe they must boost security after the sexual assaults in Cologne on New Year’s Eve, as well as the danger of terrorist attacks like those which hit Paris and Brussels in November and March.

    http://www.thelocal.de/20160428/munich-oktoberfest-to-get-first-ever-entrance-checks

  27. A Green Party politician in Malmö has taken a break from politics after it emerged that he had invited a notorious Islamist to speak in Malmö.

    The Green Party finds itself in the midst of an existential crisis, with its leaders coming under increasing pressure to get the ship in order or step down.

    Their recent troubles began when it emerged in mid-April that the then housing minister, Mehmet Kaplan, had kept company with Turkish extremists.

    http://www.thelocal.se/20160428/green-party-politician-invited-bin-ladens-mentor-to-malm

  28. Italy to start fingerprinting migrants at sea (thelocal, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.it/20160428/italy-to-start-fingerprinting-migrants-at-sea

    “Italy is to introduce the fingerprinting of migrants crossing the Mediterranean as soon as they are picked up by rescue boats, officials say.

    The move could help to reduce mounting tensions between Italy and its EU partners over the large numbers of migrants who arrive in Italy but are not registered here and then travel on to northern Europe.

    If they are not registered in Italy, neighbouring countries like Austria and France and popular destination states like Germany and Sweden do not have the option of sending them back to Italy.

    In theory they should be able to do this under the EU’s Dublin convention rules governing asylum claims.

    The Italian move follows talks on Wednesday between Interior Minister Angelo Alfano and EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos in Sicily, where most migrants arrive and are processed at “hotspot” reception centres.

    “With this we will now have hotspots at sea,” Alfano said.

    It was not clear if the policy will be applied systematically – migrants picked up at sea are often in a traumatized state and asylum seekers from Eritrea notably generally refuse to have their prints taken because they want to make their applications elsewhere….”

  29. EU Criticizes Turkey Rights, Media Abuses (abcnews, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/eu-criticizes-turkey-rights-media-abuses-38728877

    “A senior European Union official says Turkey’s crackdown on the media and reported human rights abuses are pushing the country further away from Europe even as it hopes to join the EU.

    European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans told EU lawmakers Thursday that “the distance between us and Turkey is not decreasing, it is increasing.”

    He said “if they want to come closer to Europe — that is what they state — they should improve the situation of the media, of human rights, of civil society.”

    Timmermans is a key negotiator of the widely criticized EU-Turkey agreement to stem the flow of migrants to Greece.

    Human rights and media freedom groups have repeatedly sounded the alarm over the limited tolerance of dissent shown by authorities in Turkey.”

  30. Tough standards for Turks’ visa-free travel: EU’s Timmermans (reuters, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-timmermans-idUSKCN0XP0NV

    “The deputy head of the European Commission insisted on Thursday that the EU executive would not lower its standards to offer visa-free travel to Turks in the coming weeks as part of a deal to stem migration.

    “We will not play around with those benchmarks,” First Vice President Frans Timmermans told the European Parliament, referring to 72 criteria Turkey must meet if its citizens are to be allowed to travel to the EU without obtaining a visa first.

    “The onus is on Turkey,” he said. “They say they can do it.”

    The Commission is due to decide on Wednesday whether to recommend to member states to grant by the end of June the visa waiver scheme which the bloc offered Ankara as part of a deal in March by which Turkey is now taking back refugees and migrants who reach Greek islands from its shores….”

  31. Germany, France want ‘brake’ on visa-free travel from Turkey (thelocal, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.de/20160428/germany-france-want-emergency-brake-on-turkish-migrants

    “Berlin and Paris have crafted a plan that would allow them to put an ’emergency brake’ on visa-free travel from Turkey as the EU negotiates a deal for Turkish citizens.

    A proposal for a “mechanism to suspend visa-free travel” was written by France and Germany and dated Wednesday, Politico reported after seeing a copy of the document.

    “Current migration and refugee trends make it necessary to have an efficient mechanism in place to suspend visa liberalization,” the authors argue.

    Visa liberalization was one of the carrots dangled by Europe to get Turkey to accept a controversial refugee swap deal.

    Under the March agreement, Ankara said it would take back migrants who enter the EU illegally, while in exchange European countries will accept Syrian refugees from camps in Turkey.

    The visa deal has yet to be approved by the European Parliament in Brussels.

    But the plan for the deal has met with resistance from the public in Germany and other EU nations including France, the Netherlands and Austria – meaning Paris and Berlin are hunting for opportunities to limit its impact….”

  32. Migrants: UN Secretary General Critical of European Curbs (abcnews, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/migrants-secretary-general-critical-european-curbs-38728706

    “Warning of “growing xenophobia,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon on Thursday criticized increasing restrictions on safe haven for refugees in Europe, saying they tarnish commitments to international law.

    Ban did not name any country in his speech to Austria’s lower house of parliament. But considering the venue, his comments appeared to allude at least in part to ongoing Austrian moves to tighten and reduce the entry of migrants.

    The upper house is scheduled later in the day to vote into effect a law that would allow authorities to stop accepting asylum requests at borders if they decide such a move is necessary to “maintain public order and … protect internal security.” Asylum-seekers would instead be turned back.

    The draft law also mandates “temporary asylum” for all migrants who have applied for such status since Nov.15. They would have to leave Austria after three years if authorities determine that their home country is once again safe. If not, their status would be indefinitely extended.

    The proposed legislation also makes it more difficult for family members to join those granted asylum.

    Expressing concern “that European countries are now adopting increasingly restrictive immigration and refugee policies,” Ban said these “negatively affect” their human rights commitments under international and European laws….”

    • The proposed legislation also makes it more difficult for family members to join those granted asylum.

      This is critical.

      • This is a sign of sanity, now if they will follow up and make it orders of magnitude harder to get accepted.

    • CNN – Austria passes tough new asylum laws as attitudes to migrants harden

      Austria has passed controversial new laws restricting the right of asylum that would allow authorities to turn away most migrants at the border if a state of emergency is invoked.
      The laws, among the toughest European responses to the migrant crisis, come as the country prepares to build further fences along its borders, and amid public anger over a shocking child rape case involving an Iraqi migrant.

      The legislation, passed Wednesday, allows Austria’s government to declare a state of emergency over migration if it deems the country lacks the capacity to receive, house and integrate the number of people who want to enter, said Austrian Interior Ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck.

      He said it would give authorities sweeping powers to block migrants from entering if they deem the country from which they are directly entering — not their homeland — is safe.

      Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Europe and Central Asia, said the laws were “a glaring attempt to keep people out of Austria and its asylum system.”

      The measures would breach its obligations under international law by preventing access to protection for thousands of refugees, Amnesty said.

      Addressing Austria’s Parliament on Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “concerned that European countries are now adopting increasingly restrictive immigration and refugee policies.”

      “Such policies and measures negatively affect the obligations of member states under international humanitarian law and European law,” he said.

      “I welcome the open discussions in Europe — including in Austria — on integration. But I am alarmed again about growing xenophobia here and beyond. All of Europe’s leaders should live up to the principles that have guided this continent.”

      But Grundboeck, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said Austria’s measures were necessary as vast numbers of refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa continue to make their way along the so-called Balkan route through southeastern European countries to prosperous “destination countries” in the north.

      “What we cannot accept is that migrants just transit through countries without being registered and accommodated,” he said.

      http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/28/europe/austria-tough-migrant-laws/index.html

  33. Deadly Airstrikes Hit MSF-Supported Hospital in Syrian City (abcnews, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/syria-activists-airstrikes-rebel-held-aleppo-kill-20-38726871

    “A wave of nighttime airstrikes hit a hospital in Syria supported by Doctors Without Borders and nearby buildings in the rebel-held part of the contested city of Aleppo, killing at least 27 people as the U.N. envoy for Syria appealed early Thursday on the U.S. and Russia to help revive the peace talks and a cease-fire, which he said “hangs by a thread.”

    Six hospital staff and three children were also among the casualties. The strikes, shortly before midnight Wednesday, hit the well-known al-Quds field hospital in the rebel-held district of Sukkari in Aleppo, according to opposition activists and rescue workers…”

  34. US returns stolen ancient Buddhist sculpture to Pakistan (BBC, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36156977

    “The US has returned an ancient Buddhist stone sculpture to Pakistan, from where it was stolen in the 1980s.

    The 2nd Century piece, depicting Buddha’s footprints alongside religious symbols, was taken from the Swat Valley and eventually smuggled into the US.

    A Japanese antiques dealer who brought it to the US from Tokyo pleaded guilty to possessing stolen property in April.

    The sculpture was expected to reach $1m (£700,000) at auction, but the sale was intercepted by New York authorities.

    New York prosecutors returned the sculpture to Pakistan’s Deputy Chief of Mission Rizwan Saeed Sheikh at a ceremony on Wednesday….”

  35. Syria conflict: UN envoy calls on US and Russia to save talks (BBC, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36156865

    “The UN envoy to Syria has urged the US and Russia to intervene “at the highest level” to save struggling peace talks.

    Speaking after briefing the Security Council on the peace process, Staffan de Mistura said a partial truce agreed in February was “barely alive”.

    Violence in Syria has intensified in recent days, despite the ceasefire…”

  36. Migrant Crisis: Changing attitudes of a German city (BBC, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36148418

    “…. Svenja Beyer has been teaching at an integration school, set up especially to explain the German language and way of life.

    Since the BBC’s last visit to Oberhausen, her class has grown from 10 to 34 pupils from nine different countries. It’s made controlling the classroom a lot harder.

    “We have problems with aggressive behaviour and fights between different ethnic groups,” says Ms Beyer.

    “We have situations that Muslim boys don’t want to sit on one table with Christian girls. Integration is difficult for some pupils. But there are really good children where integration is [going] well. They come here and after three weeks they speak German fluently.”….”

    • Impressive. The Burgtheater is one of the, if not THE, most renowned theatres of the German-speaking world.
      The Austrian press mention this campaign (standard, kurier, oe24), but complete silence in the German press.

    • Burgtheater [Wiki, ]Pix

      The Burgtheater (en: (Imperial) Court Theatre), originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world. The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as “die Burg” by the Viennese population; its theatre company of more or less regular members has created a traditional style and speech typical of Burgtheater performances.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgtheater

  40. Sweden Democrat steps down over church-burning posts (thelocal, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.se/20160428/sweden-democrat-politician-steps-down-over-church-burning-posts

    “A politician for the far-right Sweden Democrats has taken a temporary break from politics after allegedly threatening to carry out a suicide bombing against a mosque, Swedish media report.

    According to an anti-racist site called ‘Not racist but…’, Lennart Karlsson, a municipal councillor from the southern town of Habo, wrote virulently Islamophobic comments under a pseudonym on various websites.

    “I’m going to go to a mosque myself with a fully-loaded vest,” he is alleged to have written under the pseudonym UNObserver.

    Karlsson has admitted that the pseudonym was his, but claimed his account was hacked….”

  42. Lebanese army kills Islamic State leader at Syrian border: security source (reuters, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-criris-lebanon-islamic-state-idUSKCN0XP0NL

    “Lebanese forces killed an Islamic State leader on Thursday in an army operation in the mountainous border region with Syria, Lebanon’s National News Agency and a security source said.

    The man was named as Nayif al-Shaalaan, and identified as Islamic State’s leader in the area by the security source. State media said he also went by the name Abu Fawz.

    The operation took place in the area of Arsal in north Lebanon…”

  43. Fifteen people held over suicide bomb in Turkey: interior minister (reuters, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-blast-arrests-idUSKCN0XP0KZ

    “Turkish police have detained 15 people over a suicide bombing in the northwestern city of Bursa where a woman injured eight bystanders as she blew herself up near the city’s main mosque, Turkish media said on Thursday.

    The TRT and CNN Turk television stations quoted Interior Minister Efkan Ala as giving the total and saying evidence pointed to a link with a militant group, but gave no details.

    The attack on Wednesday was the fifth suicide bombing in a major urban center in Turkey this year.

    “Fifteen people have been detained in connection with the Bursa attack. There are strong indications that it is related to a group,” the broadcasters quoted Ala as saying…”

  44. Brawls in Turkish parliament delay legislation on EU migrant deal (reuters, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-turkey-politics-idUSKCN0XP116

    “Brawls between lawmakers from Turkey’s ruling AK Party and the pro-Kurdish opposition have delayed efforts to pass legislation on a migration deal with the European Union and parliament has been adjourned until Monday.

    Deputies threw punches, pushed and tried to restrain each other in the assembly late on Wednesday in a row over military operations targeting Kurdish militants in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast.

    The acting speaker announced at the end of Wednesday’s session that, following these scuffles, the parliament would now not meet again in full session until Monday.

    Lawmakers had been expected to work on Friday and Saturday on legislation needed for Turks to secure visa-free travel to Europe, a key part of Ankara’s deal with the European Union on stopping uncontrolled migration to Europe….”

  45. Preschool ‘values education’ stirs reaction (hurriyetdailynews, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/preschool-values-education-stirs-reaction.aspx?pageID=238&nID=98462&NewsCatID=341

    “A newly-launched practice whereby civil servants from mufti offices provide “values education” to children has stirred reaction after a mother complained her child had expressed the desire to die because “heaven is beautiful.”

    “Mother, I want to die. [They say] that one goes to heaven if they die before committing a sin and that heaven is really beautiful,” a five-year-old child enrolled at Gazi preschool in the southern Mersin province reportedly said.

    Appalled by the child’s remarks, the family immediately scheduled meetings with the class teacher and the school principal and was informed of a newly-signed protocol between the mufti office in Mersin’s Yeni?ehir district and the district national education directorate….”

  46. Saudi law approves marriage with foreigners (emirates247, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/saudi-law-approves-marriage-with-foreigners-2011-06-28-1.404884

    “Saudi Arabia approved a law regulating marriage between its citizens and foreigners after several years of haggling because of widening rifts among law makers on the landmark law, the official media reported on Tuesday.

    The law allowed Saudis to have foreign spouses but stipulated that they need prior approval by a new government committee which could take up to three months to decide whether to agree or reject the request.

    Under the law, the marriage must be in line with Islamic rules and the couple must be free of any serious diseases, should not be drug addicts and the age gap between them must not exceed 25 years….”

  47. ‘Laser walls’ activated along India, Pakistan border (tribune, Apr 28, 2016)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1093479/laser-walls-activated-along-india-pakistan-border/

    “India has activated a dozen ‘laser walls’ along the border with Pakistan in Punjab to check cross-border infiltration into its territory and plug the porous riverine and treacherous terrain.

    Eight infrared laser beam intrusion detection systems were made operational along the many vulnerable and sensitive areas of the international border, a senior official of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) said, according to the Times of India. The official claimed four more devices of the same kind will be set up in the upcoming days….”

  48. China won’t allow chaos or war on Korean peninsula

    BEIJING (Reuters) – China will not allow chaos and war to break out on the Korean peninsula, which would be to no one’s advantage, Chinese President Xi Jinping told a group of Asian foreign ministers on Thursday.

    North Korea’s drive to develop a nuclear weapons capability, in defiance of U.N. resolutions, has angered China and raised tension in the region.

    “As a close neighbor of the peninsula, we will absolutely not permit war or chaos on the peninsula. This situation would not benefit anyone,” Xi said in a speech to a Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

    On Thursday, South Korea’s defense ministry said North Korea had fired what appeared to have been an intermediate range ballistic missile that crashed within seconds of the test launch.

    It was the second such failure in the run-up to next week’s

    ruling party congress in Pyongyang, and follows the isolated state’s fourth nuclear test in January.

    North Korea is expected to conduct another nuclear test before the rare congress, set to begin on May 6, at which young leader Kim Jong Un is expected to try to cement his leadership.

    China is North Korea’s sole major ally but it disapproves of its development of nuclear weapons and backed harsh new U.N. sanctions imposed against North Korea last month.

    China has long called for the Korean peninsula to be free of nuclear weapons.

    http://www.oann.com/china-wont-allow-security-on-korean-peninsula-to-deteriorate-president-xi/

  49. Israel will Destroy ISIS Threat if Chemical Weapons Reach Israel’s Border

    The possession of chemical weapons by ISIS in close proximity to Israel would be perceived as crossing a “red line.” Israel would take immediate action to destroy the threat.

    Israel will take immediate action against ISIS if the terror organization achieves an operational capability with chemical weapons, a senior military official told Channel 10 Wednesday evening, the Jerusalem Post reported.

    Israel is currently investigating the possibility that the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, an Islamic State (ISIS)-affiliated group fighting in Syria’s civil war in the southern Golan Heights region, possesses chemical weapons.

    Several reports indicate that ISIS has used them in Syria on a number of occasions.

    http://unitedwithisrael.org/does-an-isis-affiliate-have-chemical-weapons-on-israels-syrian-border/?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Israel+will+Destroy+ISIS+Chemical+Threat%3B+Arab+Violence+Leads+to+Fireworks+Like+You%27ve+Never+Seen+Before!&utm_campaign=20160428_m131107831_Israel+will+Destroy+ISIS+Chemical+Threat%3B+Arab+Violence+Leads+to+Fireworks+Like+You%27ve+Never+Seen+Before!&utm_term=Israel+will+Destroy+ISIS+Threat+if+Chemical+Weapons+Reach+Israel_E2_80_99s+Border

  50. Setting the record straight on Great Britain, America and World War II
    Read more at http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0416/hanson042816.php3#EVIeeWyPZTXyCrrH.99

    While in London last week, President Obama waded into the upcoming British referendum about whether the United Kingdom should stay in the European Union.

    Controversy followed his lecture about the future of the Anglo-American relationship should Britain depart the EU. Obama also implied that without an EU, the United States might again be dragged into European squabbling, as it had been in the prior world wars.

    Americans might take this occasion to reflect on Britain’s role in World War II.

    Before the war, the League of Nations had done nothing to deter the future Axis powers from invading or annexing Albania, Austria, China, Czechoslovakia and Ethiopia.

    Britain’s alliance with France might have deterred Nazi Germany had Winston Churchill, not Neville Chamberlain, been prime minister in 1939. Or an isolationist United States might have helped had it been willing to conclude a defense pact with the Western European democracies.

    What ensured a war were the appeasement of Nazi Germany by Britain and France, the isolation of the United States from global responsibilities, and the collaboration of the Soviet Union with Adolf Hitler. All three developments combined to convince Hitler that he could bully or invade his neighbors without consequences.

    America entered the war on Britain’s side in late 1941, after more than two years of war that saw Hitler consolidate a continental empire larger than the present European Union. The United States declared war on Nazi Germany and fascist Italy on Dec. 11, 1941 — but only after the two Axis powers declared war on us first. Had Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini not declared war after Japan’s Dec. 7, 1941, surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, America may well have concentrated on defeating Imperial Japan and stayed neutral in the European theater.

    Great Britain was the only major power to fight for the entire duration of World War II, from its beginning after the invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, until the surrender of the Japanese in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945.

    In late June of 1940, after the fall Western Europe, Britain was the only major power in the world still resisting Nazi Germany. Otherwise, all of Europe was either occupied by Hitler, neutral, or supposedly neutral but surreptitiously aiding the Third Reich with shipments of supplies.

    Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union had become a de facto ally of Nazi Germany in August 1939 with the signing of a non-aggression pact. The Russians supplied Germany with key resources that helped the Luftwaffe bomb a solitary Britain during the Blitz of 1940-1941. Nearly 50,000 British civilians were killed by German bombers, cruise missiles and rockets — while America’s continental homeland remained all but untouched.

    Britain, along with soon-to-be-defeated France, was also the rare major combatant that entered the war on the principle of aiding a weaker ally. Germany, Italy and Japan all surprise-attacked neutral nations to instigate war.

    The Soviet Union flipped sides to the Allies, but only when Nazi Germany turned traitor and attacked its former partner on June 22, 1941. And the United States entered the war only after Japan hit Pearl Harbor.

    In terms of population and territory, Great Britain was the smallest of what became known as the “Grand Alliance” of America, Britain and Russia. Yet its military, research and leadership proved essential for the Allied victory.

    Britain mobilized its industries in astonishing fashion, similar to the U.S. wartime economic miracle. The British Empire built more warships, military and transport aircraft and vehicles, and artillery pieces than did Hitler’s Third Reich.

    Read more at http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0416/hanson042816.php3#EVIeeWyPZTXyCrrH.99

    Please click over and finish the article, it gives you information that is no longer taught in most schools. I keep saying that we (the US) need a free and independent Europe (meaning the independent European nations) as much as they need a free and independent US. The idea of having the separate nations is two fold, 1) Each nation has its own history and culture and 2) the competition between the nations spur economic, scientific and cultural growth. The left hates competition and tries to prevent it, probably because history says socialist nations can’t (in the long run) successfully compete with free nations that have free market capitalists economies.

    • Victor Davis Hanson is always good.
      ……….
      I’m not convinced that history will repeat this time. It may rhymne, but repetition isn’t inevitable.
      The “new Europe” may be the nations that resist Islam effectively – India, China, who knows?

      Maybe an altogether different paradigm.

      • You may be right, although I haven’t given up hope that the ordinary Europeans will wake up and save Europe.