Reader’s links for June 22 – 2016

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In order to preserve the flow of conversation about various posted items, and also in order to make it easier for visitors to find the list of related links being shared by other readers, regulars and interested parties in one place, each day a post is automatically created at a minute past midnight ET.

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

106 Replies to “Reader’s links for June 22 – 2016”

  3. FBI: Indiana 18-Year-Old Tried to Join Islamic State (abcnews, June 21, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/fbi-indianapolis-area-teen-join-islamic-state-40030548

    “FBI agents arrested an 18-year-old from suburban Indianapolis as he tried to board a bus to New York and join the Islamic State terror group overseas, federal authorities said Tuesday.

    Akram Musleh of Brownsburg was arrested without incident, FBI spokeswoman Special Agent Wendy Osborne said.

    Musleh was in the custody of federal marshals at an undisclosed location, spokesman Tim Horty of the U.S. Attorney’s office said…”

  4. Two California men convicted of plotting to support IS (BBC, June 21, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36592643

    “Two men from California have been found guilty of plotting to provide material support to the so-called Islamic State (IS) militant group.

    A federal court convicted Nader Elhuzayel and Muhanad Badawi, both 25, after a two-week trial.

    The pair were arrested last year after Elhuzayel attempted to board a Los Angeles plane headed to Turkey with the intent of joining IS.

    Badawi had bought Elhuzayel a one-way ticket to Israel via Istanbul.

    The two Anaheim, California, residents had “expressed a desire to die as martyrs” on social media, according to a statement from the US attorney’s office.

    Prosecutors also said a Facebook account appearing to belong to Badawi featured posts showing he intended to join IS.

    Elhuzayel had a Facebook account displaying the IS flag as his profile picture.

    The pair also made a video in which Elhuzayel swore allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of IS, and vowed to travel to Syria to join the group, according to court documents…”

  5. Counter-terror reports soar – with ‘more than five’ school pupils flagged up EVERY DAY (express, June 22, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/682105/prevent-channel-counter-terrorism-deradicalisation-schools-nhs-universities-theresa-may

    “MORE THAN five schoolchildren are being reported for deradicalisation every day under Government counter-terrorism legislation, new figures have revealed.

    Last year 1,041 youngsters were flagged up as at risk of being drawn into terrorism and were subsequently referred to counter-extremism programme Channel.

    The total – the equivalent of more than five per school day – represents a huge increase from Channel’s first year of nationwide operation in 2012, when just nine children were reported.

    Since last July, teachers and other public sector employees have been legally obliged to report any suspected extremist behaviour to police.

    Figures obtained from the National Police Chiefs Council under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that the NHS had referred 228 vulnerable cases to law enforcement, with local authorities reporting 284.

    The scheme – which has also seen 76 university students referred – is part of Prevent, the Government’s flagship anti-terrorism drive.

    It focuses on so-called “early intervention” to prevent children and vulnerable adults from being exploited by violent and non-violent extremists…”

  6. Jordan declares Syria and Iraq borders closed military zones (BBC, June 22, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36593579

    “Jordan has declared its border regions with Syria and Iraq to be closed military zones after a suicide bombing on Tuesday that killed six soldiers.

    It is not clear who was behind the attack, which was launched from Syrian territory, close to a refugee camp.

    The Jordanian government said no new refugee camps would be built and none would be expanded…”

  7. Idaho town torn by alleged rape, fear of refugees

    An alleged sexual assault on a five-year-old special needs girl has put a small Idaho city at the center of the debate over the Obama administration’s move to take in hundreds of thousands of refugees.

    Much of what occurred in the June 2 incident is unclear, clouded by emotion and rumor and sealed from public record due to the suspects’ ages. At a raucous public meeting Monday, dozens of residents of the city of 44,000 voiced their concerns after word had spread that young Syrian refugees had gang-raped a little girl at knifepoint, defiling her in unspeakable ways.

    Some of what they had heard was true, some was not and still more remains unconfirmed speculation. But authorities believe something terrible occurred. Two young boys were arrested Friday and remain in custody.

    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/06/22/idaho-town-torn-by-alleged-rape-fear-refugees.html

  8. Judge orders terrorist-affiliated CAIR to stand trial for fraud

    The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today unanimously reversed a trial court’s ruling dismissing a fraud case brought against the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The result of the appellate court’s ruling is that CAIR National, operating out of the District of Columbia, must stand trial and allow a jury to hear all of the evidence of the massive fraud and attempted cover up carried out by CAIR and perpetrated against hundreds of CAIR fraud victims.

    In January of last year, Judge Paul Friedman, the federal judge presiding over a five-year old lawsuit alleging that CAIR defrauded hundreds of Muslim and non-Muslim clients, issued a shocking ruling when he summarily dismissed the lawsuit, which was brought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

    The legal action started in Nov. 2008, when four clients of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed a federal civil complaint alleging criminal fraud and racketeering against CAIR, which along with claiming to be a “human rights group,” also works as a civil rights law firm. The lawsuit also named CAIR’s national leadership as individual defendants (a second suit making similar claims was added later).

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/06/22/judge-orders-terrorist-affiliated-cair-stand-trial-fraud/

    (Looks like some Judges are paying attention)

  9. Loretta Lynch: ‘Most effective response to terror is compassion’ (plus unity and love)
    By J.E. Dyer June 22, 2016

    One of the chief reasons Americans from every corner of society have been arming up in record numbers under the Obama administration is that Obama’s top officials are forever going out and saying things like this:

    Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that love and compassion are the best responses to terrorism during remarks to the media in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday.

    Lynch said the Department of Justice stood in solidarity with the LGBT community “in the light” following a Muslim terrorist’s massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub last week.

    “We stand with you to say that the good in this world far outweighs the evil, that our common humanity transcends our differences, and that our most effective response to terror and to hatred is compassion, it’s unity, and it’s love,” Lynch said. “We stand with you today as we grieve together, and long after the cameras are gone, we will continue to stand with you as we grow together in commitment, in solidarity, and in equality.”

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/06/22/loretta-lynch-effective-response-terror-compassion-plus-unity-love/

  10. If she really believes this BS she needs to be put in a mental hospital, if she doesn’t she needs to be impeached.

  12. JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome amid growing international pressure for the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.

    Netanyahu’s office said Wednesday that the prime minister will meet Kerry early next week, without providing further details.

    Israeli media has reported that the two will discuss resuming talks with the Palestinians that collapsed two years ago.

    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/06/22/world/middleeast/ap-ml-israel-palestinians-.html?ref=world&_r=0

  13. TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libyan forces fighting Islamic State in its stronghold of Sirte said on Wednesday that 36 of their men had been killed and nearly 150 wounded in the previous day’s clashes, one of the heaviest tolls in their month-long campaign.

    Islamic State militants had been fighting hard to defend the shrinking territory they still control in the residential centre of Sirte, said Abdalla Binrasali, a spokesman at the forces’ media centre in Misrata.

    “The resistance was fierce and they were firing with everything they’ve got, mortars, rockets and rifles,” he said. “They fear that if they lose more ground they will be defeated.”

    Brigades largely composed of fighters from Misrata launched a campaign to retake Sirte from Islamic State last month. They rapidly recaptured ground west of Sirte at the end of May, but their advance slowed as they closed in on the centre of the coastal city.

    http://www.euronews.com/newswires/3210068-libyan-forces-advance-against-islamic-state-in-sirte-spokesman/

    • Dozens of pro-government fighters killed in Libya clash

      Fighting in Sirte results in one of the heaviest tolls in the month-long campaign to retake the city from ISIL fighters.

      Fierce clashes between Libyan forces and the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant in Sirte, ISIL’s only stronghold in the country, have left at least 36 dead and almost 150 wounded.

      Tuesday’s fighting resulted in one of the heaviest tolls in the month-long campaign by the pro-government coalition of armed groups that is trying to retake the city from ISIL fighters.

      ISIL had been fighting hard to defend the shrinking territory it still controls in the residential centre of Sirte, said Abdalla Binrasali, a spokesman at the forces’ media centre in Misrata.

      “The resistance was fierce and they were firing with everything they’ve got, mortars, rockets and rifles,” he said. “They fear that if they lose more ground they will be defeated.”

      Brigades largely composed of fighters from Misrata launched an offensive to take back Sirte from ISIL last month.

      They rapidly recaptured ground west of Sirte at the end of May, but their advance slowed as they closed in on the centre of the coastal city.

      On Tuesday, fighting escalated and the brigades said they had taken control of parts of the “700” neighbourhood, the broadcasting and electricity company headquarters and a mosque.

      The “700” neighbourhood is strategically important because ISIL snipers have been positioning themselves on the district’s taller buildings.

      The brigades based in Misrata are aligned with a UN-backed unity government that arrived in Tripoli in March.

      It is seeking to replace two other rival governments that were set up in Tripoli and the east in 2014, and to unite Libya’s many political and armed factions.

      ISIL took advantage of Libya’s political turmoil to establish a presence in several of the country’s towns and cities from 2014.

      It took full control of Sirte, the hometown of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, last year, creating its most significant base outside Syria and Iraq. However, the armed group has struggled to retain territory elsewhere in Libya.

      Meanwhile, the state LANA news agency said an explosion at a depot on Tuesday in the town of Garabuli, near Tripoli, followed clashes with militias and killed 29 civilians.

      According to a statement on the Facebook page of the Qarabouli municipal council, the clashes took place between militiamen in charge of the town security and armed local protesters. When the protesters stormed the militia’s barracks, the depot exploded, the statement said. It said that the depot housed firecrackers, not ammunition.

      http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/06/dozens-pro-government-fighters-killed-libya-clash-160622130408024.html

      CNN – U.S. general: No strategy against ISIS in Libya

  15. the blaze – Man Claiming to Be Orlando Shooter’s Former Gay Lover Reveals Possible Motivation Behind Attack

    A man claiming to be the ex-lover of the Orlando attacker Omar Mateen came forward Tuesday in an exclusive interview with Univision, saying he engaged in a sexual relationship the shooter.

    “I’ve cried like you have no idea,” the man, identified only as “Miguel,” told Univision News. “But the thing that makes me want to tell the truth is that he didn’t do it for terrorism.”

    Instead, the heavily disguised man believes Mateen “did it for revenge.”

    Miguel claimed to have met Mateen via Grindr, a popular gay dating app. He told Univision host Maria Elena Salinas that he met the radicalized Muslim between 15 and 20 times during the span of their relationship, which ended in December of last year, when Miguel moved away from Orlando.

    Mateen’s alleged lover said the two engaged in a “friends with benefits”-style relationship, adding that the Orlando shooter, who killed 49 people in his violent raid, was “100 percent” gay. When news of the shooting first broke, Miguel said he was surprised because he always felt his supposed ex-lover was “affectionate” and “sweet.”

    Mateen even enjoyed being cuddled, the man said.

    Miguel also suggested Mateen’s rage against gay Puerto Rican men might have been rooted in the fact that the terrorist had sex with two Puerto Rican men, one of whom was later revealed to be HIV positive.

    “He adored Latinos, gay Latinos, with brown skin — but he felt rejected,” the man said. “He felt used by them — there were moments in the Pulse nightclub that made him feel really bad. Guys used him. That really affected him.”

    Mateen, according to Miguel, was “terrified” he, too, was HIV positive.

    “When I asked him what he was going to do now, his answer was, ‘I’m going to make them pay for what they did to me,’” Miguel recalled.

    The FBI confirmed to Univision that they have interviewed the alleged lover.

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/06/21/man-claiming-to-be-orlando-shooters-former-gay-lover-reveals-possible-motivation-behind-attack/

    video – In Spanish :

  17. Trump, in speech, attacks Clinton as ‘world-class liar’

    The billionaire also invited Bernie Sanders’ supporters to join his effort against her.

    In his speech ripping into Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, Donald Trump accused the former secretary of state and presumptive Democratic nominee of being a “world-class liar” who “may be the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency.”

    In an address where he rarely strayed from his prepared remarks, Trump positioned himself as a populist fighting against an opponent with global interests disinterested in fighting for the American people first.

    Pointing to her past debunked claims about landing under sniper fire in Bosnia in the 1990s and her “pathetic email and server statements,” Trump invited Bernie Sanders’ supporters to join his effort against Clinton, who he says has corrupted America’s economy, foreign policy and national security.

    “When I see the crumbling roads and bridges, or the dilapidated airports, or the factories moving overseas to Mexico, or to other countries, I know these problems can all be fixed, but not by Hillary Clinton – only by me,” Trump said from his Trump SoHo in New York City, according to his prepared remarks. (Mexico is connected by land to the United States.)

    The career of Brian Williams was “destroyed for saying less,” Trump said, alluding to the NBC News anchor who last year admitted to fabricating past accounts of personal reporting experience, but is now back at MSNBC.

    Clinton, Trump said, “has perfected the politics of personal profit and even theft.”

    “She ran the State Department like her own personal hedge fund — doing favors for oppressive regimes, and really, many, many others, in exchange for cash,” Trump said — allegation Clinton’s campaign has repeatedly denied. “Pure and simple, folks, Pure and simple. Then, when she left, she made $21.6 million giving speeches to Wall Street banks and other special interests — and in less than 2 years — secret speeches that she does not want to reveal under any circumstances to the public. I wonder why.”

    “Together, she and Bill made $153 million giving speeches to lobbyists, CEOs, and foreign governments in the years since 2001,” Trump said. “They totally own her, and that will never change including if she ever became president, God help us.”

    Clinton does not have the temperament, “or, as Bernie Sanders said, the judgment, to be president. She believes she is entitled to the office,” Trump said.

    “Her campaign slogan is ‘I’m with her.’ You know what my response to that is? I’m with you: the American people,” Trump said to applause. “She thinks it’s all about her. I know it’s all about you — I know it’s all about making America Great Again for All Americans.”

    Trump used details from “Clinton Cash,” the 2015 book by conservative operative Peter Schweizer, to hammer home his points. (The Clinton campaign has trashed the book as “false, right-wing attacks” funded by the Koch brothers.)

    “To cover up her corrupt dealings, Hillary Clinton illegally stashed her State Department emails on a private server,” Trump alleged — though the department has said only that the server setup violated its records-keeping policies, while the FBI has yet to determine if there was any crime involved.

    “Her server was easily hacked by foreign governments — perhaps even by her financial backers in Communist China — putting all of America in danger,” Trump continued. “Then there are the 33,000 emails she deleted. While we may not know what is in those deleted emails, our enemies probably do. So they probably now have a blackmail file over someone who wants to be president of the United States. This fact alone disqualifies her from the presidency. We can’t hand over our government to someone whose deepest, darkest secrets may be in the hands of our enemies.”

    http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/trump-clinton-is-a-world-class-liar-224653

    Full transcript: Donald Trump NYC speech on stakes of the election

    http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/transcript-trump-speech-on-the-stakes-of-the-election-224654

  19. Letters reveal that French cement firm paid taxes to ISIS to protect its business in Syria… that has now become a base for Western special forces

    Lafarge bought cement plant 95 miles northeast of Aleppo in Syria in 2007
    Civil war started in 2011 but firm kept up production at the site until 2013
    ‘Worrying deals’ made with ISIS to protect business in Syria, it is claimed
    Reports suggest abandoned site is now a base for Western special forces

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3653896/Letters-reveal-French-cement-firm-paid-taxes-ISIS-protect-business-Syria-base-Western-special-forces.html#ixzz4CKJmRbZl
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3653896/Letters-reveal-French-cement-firm-paid-taxes-ISIS-protect-business-Syria-base-Western-special-forces.html

  20. From the Pay-Not-so-Pal files:

    Germany’s Seafile says it was forced to stop using PayPal.

    A German Dropbox rival claims PayPal PYPL 0.39% dropped it as a customer because it refused the payment company’s demands to spy on its users’ data.

    Seafile GmbH informed its customers on Saturday that they would no longer be able to pay for the service using PayPal—the only payment method that the company had in place.

    http://fortune.com/2016/06/21/paypal-cloud-seafile/

  21. A Chinese observation ship shadowed the US aircraft carrier John C. Stennis in the Western Pacific on Wednesday, the carrier’s commander said, as it joined warships from Japan and India for drills close to waters Beijing considers its backyard.

    The show of US naval power comes as Japan and the United States worry China is extending its influence into the Western Pacific with submarines and surface vessels as it pushes territorial claims in the neighbouring South China Sea, expanding and building on islands.

    https://news.vice.com/article/china-spy-ship-creeps-on-us-aircraft-carrier-in-south-china-sea

  22. In case you have not been following this, a number of Muslims are flooding from Bangladesh into Buddhist Myanmar, then claiming to be members of the ‘Rohingya’ tribe, which is native to both Bangladesh and Myanmar and is Muslim. However, the Rohingya are a small tribe, while the number of Muslims flooding in and claiming to be Rohingya is very, very large.

    Myanmar Information Ministry issued a ban on government officials forbidding them to call Muslim minority “Rohingya” (as they call themselves) but to use the term “people who believe in Islam” instead.

    https://www.armedpolitics.com/2172/myanmar-officials-banned-using-term-rohingya/

  23. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s sprawling desert mansion complete with swimming pool and ZOO is found abandoned amid claims the ISIS leader is on the run after U.S. airstrikes

    Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s compound in Manbij, Syria seized by YPG fighters
    Picture shows property featured a swimming pool and animal enclosures
    Reports suggest the ISIS leader may be holed up in city of Mosul in Iraq

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3654150/Abu-Bakr-al-Baghdadi-s-sprawling-desert-mansion-complete-swimming-pool-ZOO-abandoned-amid-claims-ISIS-leader-run-airstrike.html#ixzz4CKMeo2hu
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3654150/Abu-Bakr-al-Baghdadi-s-sprawling-desert-mansion-complete-swimming-pool-ZOO-abandoned-amid-claims-ISIS-leader-run-airstrike.html

  24. AhlulBayt News Agency – Al-Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani has been captured by Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement, unconfirmed reports said Tuesday.

    The news reports on al-Julani’s captivity by Hezbollah comes while no authority in Lebanon or Syria has confirmed the report yet.

    There is a very heavy traffic on the Twitter pages of tens of supporters of Hezbollah on the capture of al-Julani by Hezbollah.

    http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2016/06/22/761677/story.html

  25. PESHAWAR / PESHAWAR:
    An Afghan national team player, Shafiqullah Shafaq, was beaten by spectators after a Ramazan tournament at University of Peshawar Monday night.

    “Shafiqullah raised the flag of Afghanistan during the match and said harsh words against Pakistan as a retaliation to comments supporting Pakistan during the match,” an eyewitness told The Express Tribune. “Subsequently, the spectators beat the player on the ground.”

    An Afghan students activist in Pakistan, Khalid Amiri, said on social media the incident reflects the growing intolerance in Pakistan. He said Shafiqullah went to Peshawar to play the tournament without permission from Afghan Cricket Board.

    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1127587/scuffle-ground-afghan-cricket-player-beaten-spectators-uop/

  26. Russia’s own data on near-Earth objects – including military satellites not covered by the open catalog of the North-American warning system NORAD – could soon be made publicly available as a comprehensive database, Russian media report.

    Russia is planning to set up a free database on thousands of near-Earth objects, including those not publicly listed in open catalogs of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), Izvestia newspaper reported on Tuesday.

    NORAD doesn’t only track Santa at Christmas – its database also provides details on thousands of satellites launched, destroyed or still functioning. While the catalog does not disclose data on America’s own military or dual-use satellites (or those of allies – Japan, France, Germany and Israel among them), as Izvestia says, it does feature Russia’s defense satellites.

    https://www.rt.com/news/347744-russia-satellites-database-norad/

  27. Sounds to me like they were truly doing their job:

    SZEGED, Hungary (Reuters) – Hungarian prosecutors have opened an investigation into whether police can be held criminally responsible for abuse over the death of a Syrian migrant who drowned in the Tisza river as he was trying to cross into Hungary from Serbia this month.

    Farhan al-Hwaish, 22, drowned in a branch of the river on June 1 when a group of migrants tried to cross into Hungary with the help of human traffickers. Police found his body two days later.

    His brother, who crossed with him, says he drowned after Hungarian police guarding the border on the river bank threw objects at them, sprayed them with gas and unleashed attack dogs to prevent them from climbing out of the water.

    The police deny any such mistreatment.

    http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKCN0Z72DU

  28. KABUL, June 22 (Reuters) – Afghanistan faces the risk of a new spiral in violence following a series of attacks on civilians in the last few months but on the battlefield, security forces have been holding their ground, the top U.N. official in the country said.

    The assessment by Nicholas Haysom, the U.N. Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, painted a mixed picture of the security situation some 18 months after international forces ended their main combat operations.

    While the bomb attacks that killed at least 22 people in Kabul and the northern province of Badakhshan on Monday underlined how dangerous Afghanistan remains, fears that the Taliban would overwhelm security forces have not been realised.

    However Haysom said he was deeply concerned about violence against civilians, with attacks continuing during Ramadan, Islam’s holy month.

    http://news.trust.org/item/20160622091711-r0px4/

  29. This is just….words fail me!

    MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) – Europe’s growing army of robot workers could be classed as “electronic persons” and their owners liable to paying social security for them if the European Union adopts a draft plan to address the realities of a new industrial revolution.

    Robots are being deployed in ever-greater numbers in factories and also taking on tasks such as personal care or surgery, raising fears over unemployment, wealth inequality and alienation.

    Their growing intelligence, pervasiveness and autonomy requires rethinking everything from taxation to legal liability, a draft European Parliament motion, dated May 31, suggests.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/europes-robots-become-electronic-persons-under-draft-plan-170708335–sector.html?ref=gs

    • The left is showing their intelligence level, the companies are moving to robot labor to stay in business, taxing the robots is just going to cause the companies to go out of business.

  30. The chief of counterterrorism forces in an ongoing operation to Liberate Iraqi city of Fallujah, Lt. General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, told the local al-Sumaria TV late on Monday that he expects a more advanced version of the terrorist group to emerge in future.

    He also noted that the people of Fallujah had to accept the extremist group because it was imposed on them, as reported by Al Alam News Network and translated by IFP.

    The Iraqi commander further referred to the recent battles in Iraq, saying about 2,500 ISIS militants were killed during a month-long offensive to recapture the city of Fallujah.

    http://ifpnews.com/news/world/middle-east/2016/06/advanced-version-isis-will-emerge-future-iraqi-commander/

  32. A Copenhagen court found a Danish pizzeria owner guilty on Wednesday of joining Islamic State (IS) to fight in Syria, the first such case in the Nordic country.

    The verdict comes amid concerns of increased radicalization among Muslims in Europe and deadly attacks claimed by Islamic State militants in Paris and Brussels.

    The court found the 24-year-old defendant, who holds both Danish and Turkish passports, guilty of allowing himself to be recruited in 2013 by IS in order to commit terrorist acts in Syria.

    The man, who was arrested in March 2015, had denied fighting for IS, but admitted to having worked as a baker for the group in Syria.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-denmark-islamicstate-idUSKCN0Z814Q

  34. ISTANBUL – Three suspected Islamic State militants were arrested in Istanbul late on Tuesday after a tip-off they had planned an attack on a transgender march, Dogan News Agency said.

    The suspects – one Turkish national and two from Russia’s volatile Dagestan – were ordered held in custody pending formal charges by an Istanbul court, the agency added. There was no immediate comment from authorities.

    http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/ISIS-suspects-held-in-Turkey-over-transgender-attack-plot-457439

  35. How Hillary and Obama Caused the Orlando ISIS Attack
    Obama ignored ISIS, Americans died.

    The media has desperately tried to blame anything and everything for the Orlando Muslim massacre. The bloodshed by a Muslim terrorist has been attributed to guns, homophobia, family problems and mental illness. By next week, the media may be blaming global warming and UFOs.

    But Omar Mateen told his Facebook friends and a 911 operator exactly why he was doing it. Omar killed 49 people as part of the Islamic State’s war against America.

    The motive is there in black and white. This was one of a number of ISIS attacks. The roots of the Orlando attack lie in Iraq forcing us to dig down into Obama’s disastrous mishandling of ISIS. Without understanding what went wrong in Iraq, we cannot understand what happened in Orlando.

    Under Bush, Al Qaeda in Iraq had been on the run. Under Obama, it began overrunning the region.

    In 2009, Obama vowed a “responsible” end to the Iraq War. He claimed that the “starting point for our policies must always be the safety of the American people”. But the safety of the American people was the first casualty of his foreign policy. In 2011, he hung up his own “Mission Accomplished” sign and boasted that “The long war in Iraq will come to an end by the end of this year.” It did not and would not.

    Obama claimed that his withdrawal from Iraq and his invasion of Libya were both examples of successful policies. Both countries are now ISIS playgrounds. The “sovereign, stable and self-reliant” Iraq he told the country we were leaving behind was a myth. The new Libya was an equally imaginary and unreal place. ISIS gained power and influence as a result of that chaos. And it used that influence to kill Americans.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/263244/how-hillary-and-obama-caused-orlando-isis-attack-daniel-greenfield

  36. REUTERS
    Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada
    TOPICS
    World
    Afghanistan
    India

    diplomacy
    United Nations

    unrest, conflicts and war
    act of terror
    Says it is “sheer folly” that the leader of a proscribed entity is not yet designated as a terrorist individual.

    India has demanded that the United Nations slap sanctions against the new Taliban leader, Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, in Afghanistan, saying it is “sheer folly” that the leader of a proscribed entity is not yet designated as a terrorist individual.

    “It is sheer folly that the leader of a proscribed entity is not yet designated as a terrorist individual,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said at a Security Council debate on the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) here on Tuesday. Supporting New Zealand’s position that the anomaly should be corrected, Mr. Akbaruddin said the new Taliban leader should be sanctioned.

    http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/india-seeks-sanctions-against-new-taliban-leader/article8759691.ece

  38. FBI: Orlando killer referred to Tsarnaev brothers as his ‘homeboys’ in 911 call

    Hank Shaw, head of the FBI’s field office in Boston, said in a statement to NBC News that “During one of the 911 calls between the operator and Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, Mateen made a reference to the Tsarnaev brothers by calling them his ‘homeboys.’ At this point in time, all evidence collected to date shows no connection between Mateen and the Tsarnaev brothers.”

    http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/13/fbi-director-on-orlando-investigation-we-will-leave-no-stone-unturned.html

  39. Muslim Mob Goes on Rampage Against Egyptian Christians
    After a rumor spread that a house under construction was really being built as a church, the house was destroyed and Christian homes were torched.

    A mob of extremist Muslims in a village in Egypt attacked Christians last week, looting and torching their property and leaving many injured.

    “On Friday afternoon, following Friday noon prayer, a great deal of fanatic Muslims gathered in front of the new house of my cousin, Naim Aziz, during its construction because of a rumor spread in the village that this building would be turned into a church,” explained Al-Beida village resident Mousa Zarif, as reported by International Christian Concern.

    The site in question was, in actuality, Aziz’ personal house which was under construction.

    Shouting slogans denouncing Christians and the building of any church in the village, the mob proceeded to destroy the building and all of the construction materials before they attacked Aziz and his brother, leaving both of them injured. According to the report, “the mob then turned their wrath on the Christian homes adjacent to the building, hurling rocks, looting houses and setting fire to any Christian property in their wake.”

    The mob also intercepted the car of Father Karas Naser, the priest of a Coptic church seven kilometers away where the Christians of the village are forced to pray. “They attacked him but some moderate Muslims intervened, rescuing him from their hands and getting him out of the car,” said Zarif.

    https://www.clarionproject.org/news/muslim-mob-goes-rampage-against-egyptian-christians

  40. Vatican – Bergoglio invites refugees to sit with him at the general audience

  41. IMF warns the US over high poverty (BBC, June 22, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36599316

    “The US has been warned about its high poverty rate in the International Monetary Fund’s annual assessment of the economy.

    The fund said about one in seven people were living in poverty and that it needed to be tackled urgently.

    It recommended raising the minimum wage and offering paid maternity leave to women to encourage them to work.

    The report also cut the country’s growth forecast for 2016 to 2.2% from a previous prediction of 2.4%.

    Slower global growth and weaker consumer spending were blamed.

    US economic growth slowed to an annual pace of 0.5% during the first three months of the year, down sharply from 1.4% in the last three months of 2015.

    ‘Social strains’

    But the stronger labour market meant that overall “the US economy is in good shape”, said the IMF’s managing director Christine Lagarde. May’s unemployment figures showed the rate at an eight-year low of 4.7%.

    However Ms Lagarde warned that “not only does poverty create significant social strains, it also eats into labour force participation, and undermines the ability to invest in education and improve health outcomes”.

    “Our assessment is that, if left unchecked, these four forces – participation, productivity, polarisation and poverty – will corrode the underpinnings of growth and hold back gains in US living standards,” she added.

    The report called on the US to invest more in education, as well as implement better social programmes such as childcare to help poorer Americans get jobs.

    The IMF has repeatedly said that Brexit would not be a good economic move for the UK…”

    • They would be better off reducing the minimum wage so prices would drop and more people could be hired.

  42. LAILA ALAWA

    Laila Alawa was born to Syrian parents in 1991. When she was ten years old, her family immigrated to the United States. Alawa went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in psychology and education studies from Wellesley College in 2012, and also studied leadership and social entrepreneurship at the University of Cambridge. She became a U.S. citizen on April 14, 2015. “But I will always be Syrian,” Alawa wrote seven months later. “I will always be from Syria. I will always be of Syria.”

    Since March 2011, Alawa has been as advisory board member with the humanitarian-aid organization NuDay Syria. She also serves as CEO of The Tempest (a.k.a. Coming of Faith), a Washington, DC-based media and tech company which she founded in December 2013 to address the needs and interests of “diverse millennial women.” Moreover, she heads Laila Alawa Consulting, a company she launched in March 2014 to “develop [marketing and sales] strategies for nonprofits, new technology businesses, and personalities.” For further details about Alawa’s work experience, click here.

    Alawa has long regarded the United States as a nation that oppresses and abuses Muslims, as she explained in a July 2014 piece she wrote for The Guardian. Therein, Alawa said that ever since her arrival in America, she had “learned to view” law-enforcement officials and “my new government” with “a certain level of suspicion.” “After 9/11,” Alawa elaborated, “I learned quite quickly to keep my head down because I thought that, if I could stay under most people’s radars, I could thrive in a world in which stories of warrantless deportations, faith-based workplace discrimination (and termination) and arrests that resulted in unending detention were common.” Citing “the reality of constant surveillance, government stings and wannabe informants” to which she believed Muslims were being subjected, Alawa lamented that “my long-held suspicions have been confirmed—the knowledge that my faith makes me suspicious in the eyes of the government to which I’ve pledged my allegiance…. We know that we’re often discriminated against by our government and our fellow Americans.”

    Alawa regularly disseminates views like these in her work as an opinion writer. She contributes not only to The Guardian, but also to such publications as Salon, Glamour, The Atlantic, Mic News, The Huffington Post, The Toast, and The Islamic Monthly. Further, she hosts The Exposé, a weekly podcast “tackling tough topics with snark and wit.”

    http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2728

  43. Gang networks in Europe ‘forcing children to steal’ (BBC, June 22, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36595175

    “Dutch police say some 300 children are being exploited across Europe by gangs that force them to steal €1,000 (£770; $1,100) a day.

    Four networks were uncovered operating in the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Croatia and Bosnia, police said.

    Six missing children from the Netherlands were found in appalling conditions in Spain last week when a couple in their 40s were arrested.

    Prosecutors say the practice is a modern type of slavery.

    The operation began over a year ago when investigators at Amsterdam Central Station noticed that a group of children were being used repeatedly as pickpockets under the control of adults, said a police statement (in Dutch).

    Children were taken out of school to carry out shoplifting and pickpocketing, and authorities believe under-age girls were sexually abused and became pregnant.

    When police arrested the Eastern European couple in a raid on a flat in the Spanish city of Barcelona on 15 June, they found a baby and five other children under the age of 15.
    ‘Tip of the iceberg’

    The couple are thought to be part of a child exploitation network and are expected to be extradited to the Netherlands. They are suspected of people trafficking, using false identities and removing underage children from competent authorities.

    According to Dutch media, some of the children were under youth protection supervision and had previously been reported missing from an asylum seeker centre in Ter Apel in the north-eastern Netherlands.

    “These days we look at whether a child is a victim of people trafficking,” said prosecutor Warner ten Kate.

    “I feel that this is the tip of the iceberg, that there are more children in the Netherlands who are victims of this.”

    Police believe the children had come from poor families in Bosnia and other countries in the former Yugoslavia.”

  49. Danish People’s Party: Ban Arabic in schools (thelocal, June 22, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.dk/20160622/danish-peoples-party-wants-to-ban-arabic-in-schools

    “The anti-immigration Danish People’s Party (DF) wants to bar students from speaking Arabic in Denmark’s public schools.

    The proposed ban, which has very little chance of ever becoming reality, would apply to both class time and breaks.

    “If you live in Denmark, you should speak Danish,” DF spokesman Martin Henriksen told news agency Ritzau.

    Henriksen said that the proposed ban specifically targets Arabic because a recent PhD thesis documented how Arabic speaking students in two schools used the language to insult Danish-speaking students and teachers who couldn’t understand them.

    “We’re going after Arabic because that’s where the problem lies,” Henriksen said.

    He did, however, say that languages like Turkish could be next on his party’s hypothetical blacklist.

    “From what I hear, this is unfortunately a problem among students with Muslim backgrounds. There are certain languages belonging to certain cultures and that is what we are talking about,” Henriksen said.

    The head of the Danish Union of Teachers’ (Danmarks Lærerforening) said the idea was a clear violation of the freedom of speech.

    “I am of the basic opinion that there are some values that our society is built upon: freedom of speech, gender equality and democracy, and those are not up for discussion,” Anders Bondo Christens told Ritzau.

    It should be noted that DF has a keen knack for proposing ideas during the slow summer season in order to get press coverage and a long history of trying to stop the use of foreign languages in Denmark.

    Last June, the party was roundly mocked for proposing a tax on the use of English words in commercials. The party has also previously said that people living in Denmark should not speak their mother language while in public.”

  50. AFP Jun 22, 2016 15:38 IST

    #Byzantine #Erdogan #Hagia Sophia #Islam #Quran #TheNarrative #Turkey
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    Istanbul: Before dawn in Istanbul, in the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. A turbaned Turkish cleric kneels on a prayer carpet and prepares to recite verses from the Koran.

    “In the name of God, the compassionate and the merciful ”

    Nothing especially unusual – except the cleric is reading not in a mosque but what is officially a museum. And the museum is the Hagia Sophia, one of the single most emblematic edifices of human civilisation.

    A masterpiece of architecture, the Hagia Sophia was first built as a church in the sixth century in the Christian Byzantine Empire.

    http://www.firstpost.com/living/quran-readings-at-istanbuls-hagia-sophia-stoke-fears-in-greece-turkey-2849560.html