Reader’s links for June 23 – 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

72 Replies to “Reader’s links for June 23 – 2016”

  1. Nearly 200 refugees fleeing Boko Haram militants have starved to death over the past month in Bama, Nigeria, the medical charity MSF says.

    A “catastrophic humanitarian emergency” is unfolding at a camp it visited where 24,000 people have taken refuge.

    Many inhabitants are traumatised and one in five children is suffering from acute malnutrition, MSF says.

    The Islamist group’s seven-year rebellion has left 20,000 people dead and more than two million displaced.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36603419

  2. Perhaps tangential, but might be an important datapoint:

    Indonesian police and military troops arrested hundreds of Papuan would-be protestors on Monday to prevent them rallying for the release of political prisoners and for the support of Asian, Caribbean and Pacific states for self-determination in West Papua.

    “More than 300 Papuan people were arrested while we prepared to rally for self-determination for the Papuan nation,” National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) chairman Victor Yeimo told The Jakarta Post.

    Victor said a total of 336 demonstrators were arrested across several cities, including 60 people in the highland town of Wamena and 76 others in the Northern Sulawesi city of Manado. Police also arrested 200 protesters in Sentani near the Papuan capital of Jayapura.

    The arrested activists were among thousands of demonstrators who have attended a series rallies under the banner of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, he said.

    http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/31/hundreds-of-papuans-arrested-over-self-determination-rally-plan.html

  3. No corruption or fascism here – keep moving on!!!

    A former top Clinton administration official has been quietly—and simultaneously—working for Boeing while vocally supporting the Iran nuclear deal.

    Boeing is grabbing headlines for its first-of-its-kind, $25 billion deal with Iran Air, Tehran’s state-owned airline.

    But the American aerospace giant isn’t exactly publicizing the fact that it paid a lobbying firm to “monitor” the nuclear agreement that made its $25 billion sale to Tehran possible. Or that Boeing has on its payroll a former top Clinton administration official who used his clout to garner support in the corridors of powers for the Iran deal.

    Thomas Pickering, one of the country’s most respected diplomats and a and former ambassador to Israel and the United Nations, has been quietly taking money from Boeing while vocally supporting the Iran nuclear deal—testifying before Congress, writing letters to high-level officials, and penning op-eds for outlets like The Washington Post.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/22/boeing-s-man-pushed-for-the-iran-nuclear-deal-and-now-the-company-is-selling-25-billion-worth-of-planes-to-tehran.html

  4. Why can’t he just ride around the Jewish parts of Montreal in a Nazi uniform, like his daddy used to do, and leave the rest of us alone?!?!?

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is signaling that Canadians shouldn’t expect him to tell off Russian President Vladimir Putin at next month’s NATO summit.

    Trudeau spoke to reporters in Ottawa Wednesday and was twice asked about the Russian president who now says he wants strained relations with Canada to improve.

    The prime minister ducked a question on whether or not Russia is becoming more of a threat to world peace, and didn’t take the bait when asked to share his personal thoughts about Putin.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/06/22/trudeau-putin-nato-summit-2016_n_10617234.html

  5. Muslim NYPD officer sues after being suspended without pay for refusing to shave his beard for religious reasons (dailymail, June 22, 2016)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3654957/Judge-NYC-police-Pay-officer-sued-beard-length.html

    “A Muslim New York Police Department officer was suspended without pay and escorted out of police headquarters for refusing to shave his beard which he said he grew for religious reasons.

    Officer Masood Syed, who said he has maintained about half-to-one-inch beard (13-25mm) for most of his 10-year career, has sued the department saying its no-beard policy is unconstitutional.

    The department says it bans beards as a safety measure so gas masks fit tightly across faces, but allows beards for religious reasons up to one millimeter in length…”

  6. ‘European Union faces African migrant crisis’ Under-fire Merkel issues stark warning (express, June 22, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/682439/Angela-Merkel-migrant-crisis-Syria-Africa-European-Union-EU-referendum-Brexit

    “ANGELA Merkel has warned the European Union (EU) faces a mass influx of African migrants – but insisted it can deal with refugees fleeing Syria.

    The under-fire German Chancellor yesterday said migration from Africa is the “central problem” the crumbling 28-member bloc faces.

    She added that the EU “has to focus on Africa”, pointing to a relatively slow rate of economic development in some African countries.

    And she bizarrely claimed Brussels bureaucrats will…”

    • Earth to Madame Obvious Ms. Merkel….you sent out the invitation!

      65 million refugees can not wait to arrive in Good ´Ol GERMONEY and get their newly built houses, 2,000 euros cash a month and of course a brand spanking new German made automobile.

      • As Peter Brimelow at Vdare.com points out, “Hitler’s Revenge” is the cripple yourself so as to prevent you from even thinking “self-preservation.” In the past, Germany has even constructed 2,000 volt electric fences fed by dedicated power plants to prevent migration. Hell, why isn’t the German Navy repelling and towing back invader boats back from which they came? They better start thinking about revolution NOW; the hangman’s noose is quite appropriate for their leaders, I think.

        http://www.greatwar.nl/frames/default-fence.html

  7. Cambridge University academic is kicked out of France after throwing missiles and damaging a police van during violence that shut down Calais (dailymail, June 22, 2016)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3655339/Cambridge-University-academic-kicked-France-throwing-missiles-damaging-police-van-violence-shut-Calais.html

    “A Cambridge University academic was kicked out of France yesterday after being accused of throwing missiles and breaking the window of a police van during the Calais riots.

    Steven Martin, 31, was also accused of orchestrating the violence that shut down the French port on Monday, but was not subsequently charged.

    Martin appeared in court alongside fellow Briton Richard Jones, 19, after police claimed they were members of the Left-wing No Borders movement that calls for the abolition of borders across Europe…”

  8. Cabinet minister pays THOUSANDS in damages after accusing Muslim cleric of supporting ISIS (express, June 23, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/682566/michael-fallon-suliman-gani-sadiq-khan-zac-goldsmith-david-cameron-muslim-cleric-isis

    “THE Defence Secretary has been forced to pay thousands of pounds to a Muslim cleric after accusing him of supporting the Islamic State.

    Michael Fallon was ordered pay the compensation to Suliman Gani after making the claim, which he admitted was “entirely untrue”.

    His extraordinary remarks were made during the Mayor of London campaign, in which Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith repeatedly criticised Labour rival Sadiq Khan of sharing a platform with extremists.

    The allegation, which revolved around eventual winner Mr Khan sharing a stage with Mr Gani nine times, was originally made by David Cameron in the House of Commons.

    But due to Parliamentary privilege, the Prime Minister cannot be sued for defamation, despite the attack being false…”

  9. Death of ambition in poor white boys: Consumerism replacing aspiration to overcome their background, warns expert (dailymail, June 23, 2016)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3655493/Death-ambition-poor-white-boys-Consumerism-replacing-aspiration-overcome-background-warns-expert.html

    “White working-class boys are ‘obsessed with consumerism’ and no longer see it as ‘heroic’ to overcome their backgrounds, an education expert has claimed.

    Dr Tony Sewell believes a ‘collapse of aspiration’ has meant that poor but bright white children are not aiming for places at top universities.

    He warned that a culture where people are ‘happy to be victims’ means that many among the white working-classes are reluctant to better themselves through education – unlike previous generations…”

  10. Norway’s parliament approves sending troops to Syria (alaraby, June 23, 2016)
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2016/6/23/norways-parliament-approves-sending-troops-to-syria?

    “Lawmakers in Oslo on Wednesday consented to sending troops to join coalition forces in Syria fighting against the Islamic State group.

    As detailed in the government’s approved plans, a contingent of some 60 Norweigan soldiers will assist with training, advice and operational support for Syrian factions in their struggle against the self proclaimed caliphate. Prior to this, Norway had only pledged to help anti-IS forces outside of Syria…”

  11. The ghosts of massacres past haunt the Syrian war. First the Islamists scattered the bones of the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide of one and a half million Christians by the Ottoman Turks outside their memorial church in Deir Ezzour. Then last weekend, a suicide killer arrived at the Syriac Orthodox Church in Qamishli, a small Syrian town isolated on the northern border with Turkey but still held by regime troops, and tried to attack Christians at a church service commemorating the Assyrians’ own genocide of 250,000 – again at the hands of Turkish Ottomans – during the First World War.

    His target was clearly the patriarch of the Syrian Orthodox Church but the clergyman’s bodyguards, members of the Assyrian Christians’ own 200-strong ‘Sotoro’ (Protect) militia, took the full force of the explosion, protecting their church leader with the loss of three of his bodyguards who were blown apart. Five others were wounded.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/syria-war-robert-fisk-patriarch-orthodox-church-ignatius-aphrem-assassination-attempt-isis-al-nusrah-a7093501.html

  12. Mwanza — Mary Joseph, 25, has literally been to hell and back. She is one of the many young Tanzanian girls lured into foreign countries, especially in the gulf, with promises of a good job and a dream income but which for her and many silent others, ended up in torture, torment and even death.

    Mary’s tale is that of a young innocent woman whose search for survival took her thousands of kilometers away, to Saudi Arabia, only to face a harrowing experience that continues to haunt her to date.

    The young woman from Misungwi suburb, in Mwanza region, agreed to share her story with the public through in a courageous move to sensitize others on the reality of an underground human trafficking network operating in the country and prying on the vulnerable.

    She says she wanted to speak out and publicly share her personal experience so that the society and those in authority can take action to stop further exploitation of uninformed girls. Her story, she said, is to save young women and their parents or guardians from falling into the trap of the dangerous sex-slave network.

    http://allafrica.com/stories/201606200576.html

  13. BANGKOK, June 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Supot Kalasong was driving home one afternoon in April when he heard a bang and assumed he had blown his newly-patched tyre.

    Then he heard more bangs and realised gunfire was piercing his pickup truck door, hitting him six times on his right leg and twice on his right arm.

    He was lucky, suffering only minor wounds. Since 2010, four people have been killed in Klong Sai Pattana, a small community in southern Surat Thani province, that has been locked in a bloody battle for the right to use government land.

    “It is the worst case for land rights defenders – each place has people who are killed, but it’s never this bad. And the state is never able to catch the perpetrator and prosecute them,” said human rights lawyer Sor.Rattanamanee Polkla, of the Community Resource Centre Foundation.

    A court had granted the government legal ownership of the land after a lawsuit over a palm oil company’s expired concession. Villagers, who have occupied the land for at least eight years, say they helped the state win its case.

    Now, however, the villagers face eviction as officials seek to redistribute the land in a convoluted dispute showing what little power small-scale farmers wield over land, as well as the bloodshed they suffer in defending land rights.

    http://news.trust.org/item/20160623041423-wgn2a/

  14. EXCLUSIVE: Mob violence in lawless Paris: Terrifying video shows ‘woman tourist’ viciously attacked by marauding youths in city deserted by police despite ‘state of emergency’ and Euros rampage

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3654246/Mob-violence-lawless-Paris-Terrifying-video-shows-woman-tourist-viciously-attacked-marauding-youths-city-deserted-police-despite-state-emergency-Euros-rampage.html#ixzz4CPLKF0SC
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    A young woman screamed helplessly as she was set upon by a violent gang in the centre of tourist Paris today.

    She was repeatedly punched and kicked in the head and upper body as around 15 mainly men surrounded her, knocking her to the ground.

    The terrifying attack, which was captured on video, took place within sight of Notre Dame Cathedral, and less than half-a-mile from the Louvre museum.

  15. French riot police out in force ahead of protest against jobs reform

    PARIS (Reuters) – France steeled itself for more clashes between demonstrators and riot police in Paris on Thursday after the government reversed course and authorized a union-led street protest against its labor reform plans.

    As more than 2,000 police deployed around the capital’s Place de la Bastille square to control the march, President Francois Hollande said his government would not back down in pushing for legislation that will make hiring and firing easier.

    “We will take this bill through to the finish line,” Hollande told reporters.

    The march tested police already stretched under a state of emergency imposed after deadly attacks by Islamist militants in November and by fan violence at the Euro 2016 soccer tournament France is hosting.

    Following violence and vandalism on the fringes of protests in recent weeks, workers removed glass panes from bus stops and erected steel barriers along the route, while the Bastille underground train station was closed.

    The protests against a bill that would loosen stringent laws protecting workers’ rights pit Hollande’s unpopular government against the hardline CGT which is fighting for its place as France’s most powerful union.

    https://ca.news.yahoo.com/french-riot-police-deploy-ahead-protest-against-jobs-102422702–business.html

  16. Why Is the U.S. Embracing Iran – AGAIN

    Senior leaders from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are in Washington, meeting with top U.S. diplomatic and defense officials, and are deeply concerned America has significantly worsened the situation in the Middle East by creating a “strategic partnership” with Iran.

    Thirty-seven years ago, U.S. President Jimmy Carter paved the way for Iran’s Islamic theocratic dictatorship to come to power, according to newly declassified secret documents, reports the BBC Persian News Service. The documents show that Carter pledged to “hold back” the Iranian military from attempting a coup, which would have prevented the return of the exiled Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini from France.

    The documents also reveal that the Carter administration believed — erroneously — that bringing Ayatollah Khomeini into power in Iran, and in the process abandoning the Shah, would preserve American interests, keep the Soviets out of the region, protect U.S. allies, and ensure the flow of oil to the world’s industrial nations.

    In one of his many messages to President Carter, Khomeini played into that belief. “You will see we are not in any particular animosity with the Americans,” Khomeini said, and promised that Iran would be a “tolerant democracy.”

    Unfortunately, the mullahs did not stop their terrorist ways; and the U.S. government, through successive administrations, did not stop them, either.

    The Reagan administration, for example, deployed “peacekeepers” to Lebanon under Congressionally-mandated rules of engagement that, tragically, only facilitated the Iranian- and Syrian-directed bombings of the U.S. Marine barracks and embassy in Beirut.

    Then, the Clinton administration refused to lift an arms embargo and provide weapons to Muslims in the former Yugoslavia, ensuring that Iranian weapons and influence would fill the void.

    http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8319/us-embracing-iran

  17. escalated handshake dispute at Berlin Private School

    At a Berlin school a parent-teacher interview has gone out of control. The fundamentalist father did not want to shake hands with the teacher. They ended the meeting. The mullah (the father of the child who is shiite from Turkey and studied in Qom in Iran) filed criminal complaint against teacher accusing her of insults, discrimination and xenophobia.

    http://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article156481298/Handschlag-Streit-an-Berliner-Privatschule-eskaliert.html

  18. BREAKING NEWS: Polling station closed after man is found with stab wounds
    DETECTIVES were forced to close a polling station to voters today after a man was found collapsed in the street with stab wounds.

    Police cordoned off the polling station in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, after horrified voters found the bloodied man who had suffered a stab wound.

    Passers-by then rushed to his aid in the street, before ambulances arrived and rushed him to hospital.

    Officers were called to reports of a stabbing in Waverley Road at around 5.15pm this evening and found a man who had suffered what are believed to be serious but not life threatening injuries.

    Detectives said it is thought the man was stabbed in nearby Greenhead Park and had stumbled along the road towards the polling station looking for help.

    They added that they do not believe the incident is related to today’s historic EU referendum.

    A 19-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident and is now set to be quizzed by officers.

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/682840/EU-referendum-polling-station-Huddersfield-West-Yorkshire-closed-stabbing

  19. A Turkish court on Thursday acquitted a British scholar who had been accused of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.”

    Chris Stephenson, a computer science lecturer at Bilgi University, was deported from Turkey in March after being found with invitations for Kurdish New Year celebrations. He was later allowed to return to the country, where he rejoined his Turkish wife and daughter.

    Stephenson was among 1,000 scholars who signed a declaration denouncing military operations against Kurdish rebels in southeast Turkey. The declaration had angered Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and led to legal proceedings against some.

    Stephenson declared during his trial that, “Wanting peace is not a crime.”

    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-acquits-briton-accused-making-terror-propaganda-40078907

  20. Iranian authorities detained six members of an Azeri separatist group on espionage charges in the country’s northwest, state-owned IRAN newspaper reported on Thursday

    The report said the suspects gathered “classified military and economic documents” and handed them over to “enemies.” It says they were members of the “Gamo” separatist group in East Azerbaijan province.

    The paper didn’t elaborate how the suspects obtained access to classified information.

    Iran occasionally announces arrest of suspected spies without any further report on their fates.

    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iran-detains-suspects-espionage-charges-northwest-40078928

  21. Two men have been arrested in connection with a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation into historical child sexual exploitation and abuse in Rotherham.

    One man was arrested in Rotherham on suspicion of indecently assaulting a girl aged under the age of 16.

    A second man was arrested in Sheffield on suspicion of sexual assault against a different girl, also under 16.

    The men are currently being questioned by South Yorkshire Police.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-36610273

  22. Imagine if the nationalities had been reversed…

    Israeli shooter Sergey Richter claimed a bronze medal in the 10-meter air rifle competition at the World Cup event in Baku, Azerbaijan on Thursday, but the medal ceremony would overshadow his success.

    Iranian Hossein Bagheri, who won the silver medal, didn’t show up for the ceremony to ensure he wouldn’t be photographed alongside the Israeli.

    http://www.albawaba.com/sport/iranian-boycotts-medal-ceremony-israeli-shooter-855514

  23. I thought this was a blood libel that sparked one of the European (Spanish?) pogroms against Jews! Oh well, it worked then, why not now?

    Abbas says some Israeli rabbis called for poisoning Palestinian water

    BRUSSELS/JERUSALEM, June 23 (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israeli rabbis on Thursday of calling for the poisoning of Palestinian water, in what appeared to be an invocation of a widely debunked media report that recalled a medieval anti-Semitic libel.

    The remarks drew strong condemnation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who termed them a “blood libel”, in a statement issued by his office.

    http://news.trust.org/item/20160623174927-90zed/

  24. The Bulgarians still remember having to pay taxes in children: gils to be sex slaves, boys to be castrated and trained in the eunuch army…

    The preaching of radical Islam in Bulgaria will be punishable by imprisonment of up to three years or a fine up to BGN 5,000 (EUR 2,500) under draft changes to the Penal Code.

    The proposal submitted by nationalist Patriotic Front (PF) coalition was passed on first reading in a 106-3 vote with 10 abstentions on Thursday, according to dnevnik.bg. It needs to be adopted on second reading to become law.

    The MPs from the predominantly ethnic Turk Movemement for Rights and Feedoms (DPS), the second largest party in the current Parliament, did not vote. The PF supports in Parliament the minority coalition government composed of GERB and the Reformist Bloc but has no cabinet ministers.

    The change to the Penal Code comes a week after the lawmakers tentatively approved a ban on wearing face-covering veils in public places.
    – See more at: http://www.novinite.com/articles/175091/Bulgaria+Moves+to+Punish+Preaching+of+Radical+Islam+by+Imprisonment#sthash.noqDZald.dpuf

    http://www.novinite.com/articles/175091/Bulgaria+Moves+to+Punish+Preaching+of+Radical+Islam+by+Imprisonment

  25. British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn wrote his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog Thursday, turning down his invitation to come to Israel following a spate of anti-Semitic incidents involving officials in his party.

    In a letter Herzog wrote Corbyn April 30, he invited him to Jerusalem to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum “to better understand the scourge of anti-semitism” after incidents that Herzog said “sicken all those of moral conscience to the core” and “must act as a red alert and prompt immediate action.”

    http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Corbyn-rejects-Herzog-invitation-to-visit-Israel-457566

  26. LONDON – The parents of a British Muslim convert who is believed to have joined the Islamic State group are set to stand trial in January for terrorism-related charges.

    John Letts and Sally Lane are charged with funding terrorism for allegedly sending money to their 20-year-old son Jack Letts.

    Jack Letts left his home in Oxford and travelled to Syria in 2014. He has been dubbed “Jihadi Jack” by some British media.

    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/06/23/parents-suspected-terrorist-to-face-trial-in-2017.html

  27. A man has been jailed for life for plotting a street beheading around the time of Remembrance Sunday in 2014.

    Nadir Syed, 23, of west London, was convicted last year of preparing to carry out a so-called Islamic State-inspired attack in London, which could have targeted a poppy seller.

    The judge said Syed must serve at least 15 years but he may never be released.

    His cousin Yousaf Syed, 20, of High Wycombe, and Haseeb Hamayoon, 29, of west London, were cleared at a retrial.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36609694

  28. Iyad el-Baghdadi shares a surname with ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and hence, ISIS supporters often send him emails asking for instructions to join the terror group

    Yes, you read that right, Baghdadi is helping security agencies track down Islamic State (ISIS) supporters. Well, it is not ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but an Arab Spring activist Iyad El-Baghadi.

    In past several months Iyad el-Baghdadi has been contacted by several people who wanted to join the Islamic State terrorist group as they confused his name with the ISIS leader.

    http://newsable.asianetnews.tv/home-page/iyad-al-baghdadi-isis-leader

  29. OK – just interesting:

    Is it possible to “reprogram” an organism that is found higher in the food chain, which consumes sugar and releases carbon dioxide, so that it will consume carbon dioxide from the environment and produce the sugars it needs to build its body mass? Scientists now report that they have engineered bacteria to create sugar from the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160623122953.htm

  30. Interpol has appealed for public help to locate 123 suspected human traffickers who are wanted worldwide.

    The international crime agency says it is especially keen to trace 11 suspects who smuggled people into Europe.

    Operation Hydra involves 44 countries and has made 26 arrests in addition to locating 31 other suspects, Interpol says

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36605791

  31. Turkey guilty verdict for depicting Erdogan as Gollum (BBC, June 23, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36610000

    “A Turkish man has been found guilty of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for depicting him as the Gollum character from the Lord of the Rings.

    A court in the south-western Antalya province gave Rifat Cetin a suspended one-year jail sentence and stripped him of parental custody rights.

    He has insisted his images, comparing Mr Erdogan with the grotesque-looking Gollum in 2014, were harmless.

    Gollum appears in JRR Tolkien’s trilogy as “a small, slimy creature”.

    His longing for the ring has distorted his body and mind.

    ‘Intolerant of criticism’

    In 2014, Cetin published on Facebook three photos of Mr Erdogan, then a prime minister, beside three pictures of Gollum with similar facial expressions.

    The defendant later described the post as “harmless”.

    But on Thursday, the court in Antalya sentenced Cetin to a year in prison, suspended for five years.

    Article 299 of the Turkish penal code states that anybody who insults Turkey’s president can face a prison term of up to four years.

    However, Cetin said he would appeal because Mr Erdogan was not president at the time the pictures were published, Turkish media report.

    Turkey’s record on freedom of speech and treatment of journalists has come in for criticism in recent years, with Mr Erdogan’s administration seen as being increasingly intolerant of criticism.

    Almost 2,000 cases for insulting Mr Erdogan have been opened in recent years. They include a former Miss Turkey and a 12-year-boy.

    Another man, Bilgin Ciftci, is accused of insulting the president for sharing images comparing Mr Erdogan and Gollum.

    Charges have also been filed against a comedian in Germany for reading an apparently insulting poem about the Turkish president.”

  32. German journalists protest press ban from AfD party (DW, June 23, 2016)
    http://www.dw.com/en/german-journalists-protest-press-ban-from-afd-party/a-19350085

    “The populist AfD party has said the press will not be allowed to attend an upcoming regional convention due to security concerns. Journalists have fired back that the party is encroaching on fundamental rights.

    Journalists were outraged on Thursday at a call by the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to ban the press from their upcoming regional convention in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

    In an open letter to Renate Zillessen, the spokeswoman for the AfD in the state, the head of the regional press society LPK-NRW, Tobias Blasius, wrote that his organization was “confounded to discover” the prohibition of journalists from such a political event.

    “As a union of more than 120 regional political correspondents, we would please request that you rethink what is in our opinion a severe encroachment on the freedom of the press,” read the letter.

    AfD: We have to ‘protect’ our delegates

    The populists wrote on the website of their North Rhine-Westphalian branch that the decision was the result of weighing “the not easy trade-off between the legitimate interests of the media in unrestricted access to party goings-on and the equally legitimate interests of our delegates, members, and supporters in protecting their personal rights.”

    Animosity between the press and the party has grown over the past year, with the AfD accusing journalists of bias and the press focusing on the party’s stance against immigration. According to the AfD, at their last federal party conference in Stuttgart at the end of April, political opponents applied for press accreditation in order to harass party members.

    The AfD has repeatedly found itself the target of far-left violence, so much so that it often opts to keep the location of some party meetings and members’ offices a secret.

    The party has said it will invite journalists to two one-hour press conferences later in the week to discuss the regional conference scheduled for July 2 and 3.

    The LPK-NRW was not convinced: “Full freedom of journalistic movement, the unhindered access to party documents and an unfiltered view of the discussion process are the basis of [political] reporting,” wrote Tobias Blasius, before appealing to the AfD to roll back the ban.

    Founded in 2013 as a Euroskeptic, financially neoliberal protest party, the AfD has grown rapidly in the past year after ousting its founder and adopting a more anti-immigration, nationalist stance. No stranger to domestic controversy, at its April convention it voted to adopt an official stance against Islam as “having no place in Germany” as part of its manifesto.”

    • The so-called journalists have abused their privileges. Keep ’em out. The police aren’t going to help AfD. A press conference by invitation and at the leaders’ convenience makes a lot more sense.

  33. Hamid Chabat Refuses to Discuss Homosexuality and Heritage Laws (moroccoworldnews, June 23, 2016)
    http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/06/189899/hamid-chabat-refuses-to-discuss-homosexuality-and-heritage-laws/

    “General Secretary of the Istiqlal Party (Independence Party) Hamid Chabat recently refused to discuss the issue of homosexuality or voice his opinion on heritage laws as he explained that the answers are “present in the Qur’an.”

    During a conference organized by the Machoura Foundation, Hamid Chabat explained to the audience that the Istiqlal Party is based on “Islamic denotations.” Chabat further conflated religion and politics within the Istiqlal Party by saying “Anyone who is opposing Islam is also opposing the Istiqlal Party.”

    When directly asked about his stance on sexual freedoms, homosexuality, or yet again the inequality of heritage laws, Chabat briefly answered, “I will not talk about the homosexual community because we are in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan.”

    Hamid Chabat also explained his growing ties with the Justice and Development party (PJD) and the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS), stating according to Telquel: “Today, we have to bring the Koutla (coalition between three different parties) back to life and we are currently attempting to make that happen.”

    According to Telquel, discussions around the Koutla agreement have already taken place and further decisions concerning it will take place during the upcoming Chamber of Counselors partial elections.”

  34. Over 4,000 migrants saved in 40 ops, one body found (ansamed, June 23, 2016)
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2016/06/23/over-4000-migrants-saved-in-40-ops-one-body-found_7ce5431d-f9b6-4ede-883b-a9d705207f51.html

    “More than 4,000 migrants were saved in some 40 rescue operations in the Sicilian Channel Thursday, the Italian Coast Guard said. The body of a woman was found on one of the dinghies.

    The Italian Navy – which confirmed a fresh and intense migrant flow is ongoing from the Libyan coast – said it rescued 1,800 men, women and children off 31 different inflatables. The remaining asylum seekers were rescued by EUNAVFOR MED ships, Italy’s Coast Guard, and four vessels manned by humanitarian groups: the Bourbon Argos chartered by Doctors Without Borders, the Sea Watch 2 belonging to the NGO of the same name founded by three German business partners to rescue asylum seekers at sea, the Topaz Responder, a ship run by the Malta-based humanitarian group Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), and the Acquarius, manned by SOS Mediterranée.”

  35. Egypt government seizes hospitals, companies owned by Muslim Brotherhood (ahram, June 23, 2016)
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/226670/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-government-seizes-hospitals,-companies-owned.aspx

    “An Egyptian committee tasked with appraising and freezing the funds of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group decided on Thursday to seize several hospitals, medical centres, and pharmaceutical companies owned by the group.
    The committee said in a statement that it decided to seize Ahmed Labban Surgical Hospital in Ismailia, owned by Ahmed Mohamed Hussieny, and the Osama Ebaid Radiology Centre, owned by Osama Mohamed Ebaid in Menoufeya.

    The committee also seized several pharmaceutical companies; Hygienic International Pharmaceuticals in Qalyoubya, El-Fatemia for Medical Supplies in Gharbeya, and Aman Hospital in Helwan.

    The seizures also included the Avano Pharma, Pixel Pharma, and Roventis Pharma companies, which the committee said were operated by Hossam Mohamed Tag El-Din El-Sayed, Ahmed Abdel-Aziz El-Sayed Ebaid and Mohamed Ramadan Abdel-Halim.

    The committee did not reveal the exact value of the confiscated assets.

    The committee has so far frozen the funds and taken control of over 1,000 NGOs and nearly 100 schools allegedly affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, and seized the assets of over 700 of the group’s leaders.

    In January 2016, the governmental committee said at a Cairo press conference that the seized funds belonging to members of the banned group included bank credits of 1,370 members worth EGP 154.7 million, $2 million, €435,000, 1.3 million Saudi riyals, £9,000 and 16,480 Swiss francs.”

  36. Negative statements by EU a reflection of Islamophobia, says Turkish FM (hurriyetdailynews, June 23, 2016)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/negative-statements-by-eu-a-reflection-of-islamophobia-says-turkish-fm.aspx?pageID=238&nID=100812&NewsCatID=510

    “Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu said on June 23 that negative statements by European Union officials and member state leaders were reflections of Islamophobia.

    “Negative statements by EU officials are the reflection of the rising Islamophobia and anti-Turkey [campaign] in Europe,” Çavu?o?lu said, while speaking at a joint press conference with his Maltese counterpart in the capital Ankara, adding that the EU leaders chose populism with regards to their remarks over Turkey.

    Çavu?o?lu said that the country could definitely go to a referendum if the EU accession process was stalled, toning in line with President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, who said the country could hold a referendum to join the union.

    He said the referendum did not mean blackmailing the EU but consulting the public.

    The minister also added that the country would not revise its terror law for the sake of visa-liberation.

    Çavu?o?lu said that Chapter 33 would be opened on June 30 in Brussels, adding that he would discuss with his EU counterparts what the sides could do in order to overcome the differences regarding the EU deal.

    Meanwhile, Çavu?o?lu called visits by non-military committees and politicians to Turkey’s ?ncirlik Air Base “inappropriate.”

    The minister also added that cooperation with the Syrian regime which caused the death of 500,000 people was out of the question.”