Reader’s links for July 21 – 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

139 Replies to “Reader’s links for July 21 – 2016”

  3. La. cop killer renounced ‘slave name,’ joined black anti-government group

    The former Marine sergeant who murdered three Louisiana police officers this week was part of a black anti-government movement called the Moorish Nation, according to a law enforcement intelligence report.

    Gavin Eugene Long shot six police officers, killing three and wounding the others in an attack Sunday in Baton Rouge. He was killed by a police sniper.

    According to a report by the Symbol Intelligence Group, a private intelligence contractor, Long was a “textbook spiritual seeker” who had joined several anti-government groups, including the Washitaw Nation, New Freedom Group, National of Islam, and Freedom from Covert Harassment and Surveillance.

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/20/gavin-long-cop-killer-linked-to-separatists/

    • Somewhat OT, I among many others predicted riots during the Republican convention, they haven’t happened.

      This may be a combination of good police work, a small amount of people willing to riot and a decision to shift to attacks on the police across the nation rather then get all of their provocateurs in one location where the police and identify and possibly arrest them on semi-serious to real serious charges.

      • Just now Trump said again: “An attack on a police officer is an attack on us all.”
        YES.
        Mad-dogs forfeit trial by jury. What Big Frank calls a “lead shower” others call “suicide by cop”.
        Those who incite to such murders are guilty of criminal conspiracy. They’re not cool-rapper dudes ducking under the 1st Ammendment.
        If that makes me a Nazi fascist, then Sieg Heil!

        • It makes you someone who believes in the rule of law, the election is one to determine if the law applies to everyone of if the political elite from the left are above the law.

  4. Is Kim sending code to spies in the South? Mystery as North Korean radio broadcasts string of random numbers

    North Korea’s state radio has recently broadcast strings of indecipherable numbers in a possible move echoing a Cold War-era method of sending coded messages to spies operating in South Korea.

    A female announcer at the radio station read numbers for two minutes on June 24 and 14 minutes on Friday, according to Seoul’s Unification Ministry and National Intelligence Service, including phrases such as ‘turn to page 459, question 35’ in what she described as a mathematics assignment.

    During the Cold War, Pyongyang sent such numbers via shortwave radio to give missions to agents dispatched to South Korea, according to captured North Korean spies.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3697192/Mystery-numbers-N-Korea-broadcasts-carry-Cold-War-echoes.html#ixzz4F2yEpp7b
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    • A common tactic is to broadcast phony messages in phony codes to continues the enemy, that is probably what this is.

      • that should be to confuse the enemy, that is what I get for typing while I am on the phone.

  5. Hungary’s Orban says ‘obvious connection’ between terrorism and migration

    WARSAW (Reuters) – Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday there was a clear link between illegal immigration to Europe and terrorist attacks on the continent.

    “It is clear as two and two makes four, it is plain as day. There is an obvious connection,” Orban told reporters after a meeting of the Visegrad Four group of central European leaders in Warsaw.

    “If somebody denies this connection then, in fact, this person harms the safety of European citizens,” he said through an interpreter.

    https://ca.news.yahoo.com/hungarys-orban-says-obvious-connection-between-terrorism-migration-112553251–business.html

  6. Footage Captures Man Accused Of Building Chemical Weapon Inside Walmart Store

    OXNARD (CBSLA.com) — Dramatic video has been released of a man who police say stands accused of building a chemical weapon inside a Walmart store in Oxnard.

    The man wearing all black is initially seen in the security footage from June 18 blending in like any other shopper.

    But, authorities say, he didn’t come to the store to shop, but to build a chemical weapon.

    “This is a very bizarre case,” said Eric Sonstegard, the Oxnard Assistant Police Chief.

    Detectives identified the suspect as Martin Reyes. They say he went to the store after conducting research online on how to build a deadly chemical weapon.

    http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2016/07/20/footage-captures-man-accused-of-building-chemical-weapon-inside-walmart-store/

  7. Hungry Venezuelans cry at the sight of food, as economic crisis deepens

    Venezuelans cried at the sight of fully-stocked supermarket shelves in Colombia.

    Pregnant women, children and even elderly Venezuelans crossed into Colombia on Sunday after the border was temporarily reopened, allowing them to buy basic foods and toiletries — rare commodities in their home country.

    Tearful Venezuelans had gone weeks without basic food items like milk, flour and toilet paper. It’s a sad but common part of daily life today in crisis-ridden Venezuela, a country that has the world’s largest proven reserves of oil. Colombian officials estimate that about 100,000 Venezuelans crossed the border.

    Venezuela is expected to dive deeper into the abyss this year, according to new projections published Wednesday by the International Monetary Fund.

    http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/20/news/economy/venezuela-world-worst-economy/index.html

  8. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/07/21/bomb-squad-checking-car-at-australian-police-parking-garage.html

    BREAKING NEWS: An Australian police bomb squad is examining a car that was driven into an underground parking garage at a western Sydney police station. Police have arrested the driver, who reportedly tried to set himself on fire.

    The Australian newspaper reported that authorities found gas bottles packed inside the car. The bottles did not explode. The circumstances were still being investigated.

  9. Watch Black Lives Matter activist’s solution to ‘police violence’ in the inner city

    We need to abolish the police. Period. Demilitarize the police, disarm the police, and we need to come up with community solutions for transformative justice.

    An, transformative justice! Perfect solution. Let’s see how that might play out.

    An article in today’s Chicago Tribune — a major newspaper serving the city where Disu lives — that more than 2,200 people were shot in Chicago this year. Of that number, 21 were children 13 and under.

    Five shootings of children in that age range have occurred just in the month of July alone.

    Those are the numbers with an active police force. Can you imagine what the numbers might be like with no police force? Do you think Disu can?

    • She and her friends can get busy now, what’s stopping them? Street presence, they know exactly where their thugs hang – get to work – talk to their Mamas.
      Or do you want control of a protection racket that’ll serve as your alt-police?

  10. http://lci.tf1.fr/france/faits-divers/argenteuil-une-operation-antiterroriste-en-cours-8767929.html

    They say this anti-terrorist operation is not related to the one in Nice:

    Une opération antiterroriste est en cours à Argenteuil dans le Val d’Oise. Elle n’a pas de rapport avec l’attentat de Nice.
    Une opération antiterroriste est en cours à Argenteuil dans le Val d’Oise. Celle-ci n’a pas de rapport avec l’attentat de Nice. Selon iTélé, deux adresses différentes seraient visées.

    • This was an operation against Islamic library and mosque in Argentueil. According to @News Executive no weapons found, some people were arrested.

  11. Off topic (apologies) but too awesome to not mention:
    http://www.businessinsider.de/physicists-just-did-the-impossible-and-it-could-change-the-way-we-look-at-the-quantum-world-2016-7?r=US&IR=T

    Until recently, scientists didn’t think it could be done. They thought the fundamental laws of physics would forbid it. But a persistent group of scientists at the University of Warsaw have now accomplished the impossible: They created a hologram of a solitary particle of light.

    This accomplishment is ushering in a new era of quantum holography, which will give scientists a new way of looking at quantum phenomena.

  12. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-36853106

    RAF Marham: Serviceman threatened with knife treated as abduction

    A serviceman who was threatened with a knife near an RAF base was the victim of an attempted abduction, police said.
    Officers said he was approached by two men as he was out jogging near the married quarters at RAF Marham in Norfolk on Wednesday.
    He was threatened with a knife and attempts were made to grab him before both men fled in a car, Norfolk Police said.
    The force said it was “unable to discount terrorism” as a motive.

  14. According to many Western security agencies, anyone using Tor is a potential extremist and ought to be treated as such.

    And they are acting on this.

    This is important because the Amercans have ordered the arrest of a non-US national in Poland and are seeking his extradition for a crime that is less harmful than shoplifting. After all, in shoplifting, you are depriving the property owner of their property – stealing, while in file sharing, you are leaving their property intact, just making a copy of it. Since the property is not taken or harmed, this is not stealing – by definition.

    Yet, great effort and resources are being used to stop Tor file sharing: because it is a method of communication that is not under government control!!!

    https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/20/man-behind-webs-biggest-illegal-film-site-arrested-following-legal-itunes-purchase/

    Here’s a dose of irony for you this fine day: the internet just lost its most prolific source of illegal movies after its founder was nabbed after buying something legally, on iTunes.

    KickassTorrents (KAT), a torrent website that has surpassed The Pirate Bay as the place to go for unofficial copies of movies and TV shows, appears to be in jeopardy today. TorrentFreak reports that Artem Vaulin, a 30-year-old from Ukraine who allegedly runs the site, was arrested in Poland.

    The U.S. government has applied for his extradition after he was located after using the same IP address to make a purchase, presumably legally, on iTunes and then log into the KAT Facebook page.

    • When you download an illegal copy of a movie or TV show you are depriving the owners of the copyright of the royalty they would receive if you purchased the video. No single individual deprives the artists of much by themselves but collectively the lost royalties mount into the hundreds of millions of dollars. This is why they are going after the people putting the movies on line and (so far) leave the down loaders alone.

  16. Don’t you just love how they are using the word ‘temporarily’ – as if it had any meaning in this context?

    http://www.businessinsider.com/turkey-temporarily-suspends-european-convention-on-human-rights-2016-7?r=UK&IR=T

    Turkey will temporarily suspend the European Convention on Human rights as it implements a three-month state of emergency, the country’s deputy prime minister said.

    The emergency state was implemented following a failed coup last weekend during which over 250 were killed.

    • There is nothing more permanent then a temporary government program, I think this is close enough to a program to be permanent.

  17. Methinks China ought to compare the problems with its Muslim population to the problems it has with its Hindu population…unless, of course, China considers the Islamization of India as inevitable, in which case this makes perfect sense:

    http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/in-a-first-china-and-pakistan-hold-joint-border-patrols-in-pok/1/720491.html

    Provoking India: In a first, China and Pakistan hold joint border patrols in PoK
    The People’s Daily described the region as the “China-Pakistan border”, however Xinjiang borders only Pakistan-occupied Kashmir which is seen by India as an integral part of Indian territory.

    • Back in the early 1960s China moved in and took several hundred thousand square miles of land in the Himalayan mountains. India has been squaring off against them ever since and with the Chinese efforts to take control of the South China Sea they are putting pressure to force India to split its military and attention between the land border and the South China Sea. The Chinese invasion was why India developed nuclear weapons and why they should be working to increase their arsenal before the A– kicking starts.

      In the west we forget or ignore the fact that China is an aggressive expanding Empire that wants to control the entire far east to keep their population quiet. The one child policies has created a massive imbalance in the sexes and Marxism has created a mess similar to what is happening in Venezuela. The death by starving of a large percentage of the population during the cultural revolution prevented a massive upraising and once again the people are upset over the leaders living like Kings and most of the rest are slowly starving.

  20. Turkey Denies Its Warships Vanished

    Depending on who you believe, a powerful NATO ally just lost a big chunk of its navy—or everything is just totally hunky dory. Move along.

    In the aftermath of Friday’s failed military coup in Turkey, 14 Turkish navy warships allegedly crewed by rebel sympathizers, reportedly slipped from their moorings or departed their scheduled patrol zones and disappeared into the Aegean and Black Seas, effectively gutting one of Europe’s most powerful navies and initiating one of the most widespread naval mutinies in modern history.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/20/turkey-denies-its-warships-vanished.html

  21. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-airstrikes-idUSKCN1010PH?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

    The head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition called for a suspension of the U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State in Syria while reports of dozens of civilian deaths from air strikes around the northern city of Manbij are investigated.

    The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 56 civilians were killed in air strikes north of Manbij on Tuesday, a day after it said 21 civilians were killed in a northern district of the besieged Islamic State-held city.

    SNC president Anas al-Abdah said the strikes should be halted while the incidents were investigated, according to a statement issued late on Wednesday, and warned that the killing of civilians by the U.S.-led air campaign would “prove to be a recruitment tool for terrorist organizations”.

  22. This is the appropriate venue to take up unlicensed software/movie sharing: in a civil lawsuit, and NOT in criminal court, as US is increasing doing to powerless individuals who do not have millions of dollars to mount a defense.

    https://www.rt.com/usa/352443-us-navy-pirated-software/

    The US Navy has allegedly installed pirated copies of 3D virtual reality software on “hundreds of thousands” of its computers without permission, a German technology company claims. The firm is suing the military for $600 million in unpaid licenses.
    Washington has taken a tough stance on software piracy over the past few years, pressing to criminalize copyright infringement and restrict access to copyrighted material. Now, it is the US military facing a $600-million lawsuit over alleged use of pirated software in a massive scale.

    rUS Navy employs video games to prevent a robot apocalypse
    In a lawsuit filed in a US Federal Claims court last week, Bitmanagement, a German-based software provider, claimed the US Navy has been extensively using unlicensed copies of its virtual reality application called BS Contact Geo, TorrentFreak news outlet reported on Wednesday.

    • There was a case decades ago where the USMC was using someone’s patent to produce a battery. When the patent owner found out about this, they sued. The US Supreme Court ruled that the government could steal the patents of patent owners without paying them royalties. Compare that to when Krupp sued the British government for using their patents to produce munitions to kill German soldiers. The British government was forced to pay Krupp for the use of their patents, thus, Krupp made money off the death of German soldiers after the end of The Great War.

      • I can’t understand our Court’s failure to protect intellectual property rights. Who knows why some corrupt or morally bankrupt British court made such a ruling. Krupp should’ve been broken-up completely or broken-down by crippling reparations after the war.

    • If the defendants are in foreign nations you stand a better chance of getting them into a court with a criminal case.

  23. http://yournewswire.com/cia-agents-arrested-in-turkey-for-failed-erdogan-assassination-attempt/

    President Putin has been notified of the arrest of two CIA agents who Turkey say shot down a Russian plane last November, and attempted to assassinate President Erdogan.

    According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) for the Republic of Turkey, the two captured CIA pilots were not only responsible for shooting down the Russian Sukhoi Su-24m bomber over Syria last year, but also attempted to kill President Erdogan during the failed “coup” attempt a few days ago.

    Whatdoesitmean.com reports:

    The MoD further warned that the Obama regime was planning to kill President Erdogan in a coup and replace him the CIA’s “designated figurehead” Fethullah Gulen—and that Turkey’s MoFA confirmed just hours ago was behind this plot by stating that “the Fethullah Gülen Terrorist Organization is behind this coup attempt”.

    Still not being told the American people about this latest failed Obama regime-CIA “adventure”, and that we reported on in our 17 July report Turkish Leader Praises Putin For Saving His Live—But Vows “Revenge” On Obama, is that the life of President Erdogan was only able to be saved due elite Federation Spetsnaz forces President Putin had ordered to protect him.

      • This is Erdogan trying to provide an alternative villain for Putin to get mad at and leave Turkey alone. I mean can you see Obama ordering an assassination attempt on Erdogan? As far as shooting down the Russian plane Erdogan already took credit for this and is now crawfishing because Putin is maneuvering to get all of the pieces in p[lace so he can seize large chunks of Turkey for Russia.

      • Another thought: Erdogan knows about Obama never really carrying out any threat so he probably figures that making claims like these will force Obama to pull our people out of Turkey and stop attacking ISIS from Turkey. This will give Erdogan a free hand to help ISIS. And will buy Turkey some brownie points with Putin by removing US assests from Russias Middle East.

  24. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki announced on Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority and Sudan are coordinating to “restrain Israeli movements” in the African continent.

    “President Mahmoud Abbas and his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir discussed developing a strategy for the African continent and coordinating to restrain Israeli attempts to make a breakthrough in Africa,” the Palestinian foreign minister told a group of journalists in Khartoum.

    http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Palestinians-Sudan-working-to-restrain-Israeli-breakthrough-in-Africa-462034

  25. http://www.jpost.com/In-Jerusalem/Spanish-city-loses-Tel-Aviv-flight-over-BDS-motion-against-Israel-461995#article=6030MUI4REU3QjlCQjI4MTQyRkM0QjdBQjE5QzZFMjJDODU=

    A Spanish city trying to increase tourism lost a direct flight connection with Israel over its symbolic support for boycotting the Jewish state, a Spanish newspaper reported.

    The Spain branch of El Al for months had negotiated with tourist officials from the autonomous region of Galicia, in northern Spain, over opening a direct line between its capital, Santiago de Compostella, and Tel Aviv, but the talks failed following the passage in November of a nonbinding City Council motion in favor of boycotting Israel, La Voz de Galicica reported Wednesday.

  26. http://www.dailywire.com/news/7648/massive-french-security-failing-authorities-michael-qazvini

    The families of the victims in the horrific Bastille Day terror attack in Nice, France are preparing to sue government authorities after discovering that French authorities failed to properly check the terrorist’s truck-turned-weapon. According to the Daily Mail, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel’s 19-ton freight truck was five times over the legal limit set by France, an infraction authorities appeared to miss during security screenings before the attack.

    Specifically, police are accused of lying and obscuring evidence of their initial encounter with the Nice terrorist on that fateful day. Before mowing down hundreds of people on a beach promenade by the French Riviera, Lahouaiej Bouhlel reportedly told police that he was carrying ice cream in his truck. There was only one problem. The truck clearly had no refrigerating system. It was an everyday delivery truck. Blind to the obvious, officers failed to question the terrorist further or search the contents within the truck.

  29. While I cannot, at first glance, see why this is significant, the very fact that it happened at all is definitely a datapoint worth noting:

    http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/217426/

    PanARMENIAN.Net – Austria has summoned Turkey’s ambassador to explain Ankara’s links to demonstrations in Austria in support of Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is leading a crackdown after a failed coup, Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz on Thursday, July 21, according to Reuters.
    Kurz told ORF radio that the ambassador would be asked whether Turkish officials encouraged thousands of people in Austria to take to the streets over recent days in support of Erdogan after the attempt to unseat him.

    • The demonstrations blocked streets for hours in some areas of the city, Austria is starting to crack down of things like that.

      • Make sure Erdoff recognizes Austrian sovereignty on Austrian soil. He gets confused. So do Dutch- and German- Turks. Or, more accurately, Turkish-Dutch and Turkish-Germans.

  30. OK – this one seems to be lighthearted at first look, but the impact of it may be significant on our cultures.

    Last night, as a family, we took a trip to a local park reputed to be loaded with Pokemon stations, gyms and, of course, Pokemon. What we saw was awesome: young and old, families with kids, young couples on dates, people of all backgrounds (including Muslim families with kids) walking about, having fun, chatting with strangers and cheerfully exchanging greetings – as everyone was walking around, hunting for Pokemon. The park was full, the parking lot filled.

    Now, that the fatwa against Pokemon has been renewed, it is likely that many observant Muslim families will forbid their children from playing the game. But it is not just a game – it is a cultural phenomenon which helps kids and people from all backgrounds ‘speak a common language’ and have a shared cultural experience.

    Forbidding Muslims to participate will go a long way to alienate Muslim kids from all the other kids, hampering integration and building resentment… Not good, not good at all!

    http://gizmodo.com/saudi-clerics-renew-fatwa-against-pokemon-go-1784021678

    Some people playing Pokémon Go today are probably too young to remember that Saudi clerics declared a fatwa, or Islamic religious ban, on Pokémon back in 2001. Unluckily for them, the resurgence of the augmented-reality version of the game has clerics renewing the ban to remind everyone that the pious do not wander around seeking imaginary animals.

    The original fatwa claimed that Pokémon encouraged blasphemy and gambling. Since card symbols allegedly include the star of David, triangles, and crosses, the cards are promoting Zionism, freemasonry, and Christianity, respectively. The edict also said that the game promoted gambling because people bought and sold cards (there may be a point here, given that loaded Pokémon Go accounts are being auctioned for thousands) and the storyline itself promotes the natural theory of evolution.

  32. Underage Migrant Marriages On The Rise As Just One Local Area Sees 188 Child Brides
    The German region of North Rhine-Westphalia has seen 188 marriages of migrants who are underage, some as young as 14, as calls grow for the government to stop the practice.

    The migrant crisis has brought to Germany practices that have long been outlawed or at the very least considered taboo. One of these practices is the marriage of girls under the age of consent.

    One region in Germany has so far seen the recognition of 188 cases of underage girls that have been married overseas, at least three of which are only 14 years old, reports Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.

    The region of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is now faced with having to deal with the cultural practice of child brides due to the influx of migrants from parts of the world where it is accepted. The state government, after being questioned by German media, was forced to admit that the child marriages do not violate German law because they were conducted overseas, rather than in Germany.

    The vast majority of the underage brides are from Syria where, according to NGO Girls not Brides, 13 per cent of all girls under 18 are married and three per cent by the age of 15. The effect of the civil war has seen a dramatic increase in child marriages among Syrians.
    …..
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/07/20/german-region-sees-188-underage-migrant-marriages/

    • Should have also included:

      The Supreme Council of radio and television of Turkey (RTUK) has cancelled the licenses of over 20 radio and television broadcasters as well ham radio operators.

    • That’s interesting; in the USA it’s called the “Amateur Radio Service” and is considered an integral part of our communication infrastructure as it is recognized as useful in emergencies as well as national defense and community activities.

      • Despite Obama’s best efforts we aren’t a dictatorship, Turkey is that means the government has to have total control over what goes out over the airwaves. all communist countries ban ham radios.

        • No, I believe that they licensed amateur radio club stations even in the USSR. I sort of recall some individual amateur radio stations in some of the East Bloc countries.

  35. http://www.lbc.co.uk/spain-demands-answers-over-uk-sub-collision-134123

    Spain has called for “urgent” answers after a Royal Navy nuclear submarine collided with a vessel off the coast of Gibraltar.

    HMS Ambush, an Astute-class submarine, was “submerged and conducting a training exercise” when it was involved in what the Ministry of Defence described as a “glancing collision” on Wednesday afternoon.

    The incident caused the submarine to dock in Gibraltar, which has long been the subject of a sovereignty row between Spain and Britain.

    • The Captains career is over, as is that of the sonor operators who missed the ship.

  38. http://motherboard.vice.com/read/phineas-fisher-turkish-government-hack

    A notorious hacker has claimed responsibility for hacking Turkey’s ruling party, the AKP, and stealing more than 300,000 internal emails and other files.

    The hacker, who’s known as Phineas Fisher and has gained international attention for his previous attacks on the surveillance tech companies FinFisher and Hacking Team, took credit for breaching the servers of Turkey’s ruling party, the Justice and Development Party or AKP.

    “I hacked AKP,” Phineas Fisher, who also goes by the nickname Hack Back, said in a message he spread through his Twitter account on Wednesday evening.

  40. http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160720/1043367388/danish-id-numbers-accidentally-leaked.html

    On Wednesday, the Danish Data Protection Agency, reported that the identification numbers of over 5 million Danish citizens were accidentally delivered to a Chinese visa firm. The “CPR” numbers were delivered to the Copenhagen-based Chinese Visa Application Centre.

    In 2015, the Danish State Serum Institute (SSI) sent a package to Statistics Denmark containing two CDs with the ID numbers and health information of 5,282,616 people who lived in Denmark between 2010-2012. According to Datatilsynet, the package was sent by registered mail and was mistakenly “delivered to the Chinese Visa Application Centre.”

  41. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-36842731

    A school in Sydney has banned clapping in favour of “silent cheering”, “excited faces” and “punching the air”.
    The school says the rule was introduced to respect students who are “sensitive to noise” but says the practice also “reduces fidgeting”.
    It is the latest in the series of school regulations to have faced criticism in the Australian media.
    Hugs and Australia Day celebrations have faced bans at different schools around the country.
    Earlier this week, an all-girls school rejected a newspaper report that said its teachers were asked to stop addressing students as girls, ladies and women in favour of gender-neutral language.

  43. Brazil Olympics: Ten arrested for ‘plotting ‘terror’ (BBC, July 21, 2016)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36858806

    “Federal police in Brazil have arrested 10 members of a group alleged to be preparing acts of terrorism during the Olympic Games.

    The authorities said they were not members of so-called Islamic State but had tried to make contact with the group.

    The arrests were made in the southern state of Parana.

    They come just over two weeks before the Olympic Games get under way in Rio de Janeiro.

    Justice Minister Alexandre Moraes told a news conference that all those arrested were Brazilian. Two more suspects were being sought..”

  44. France: Truck Attacker Had Accomplices, Planned for Months (abcnews, July 21, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/french-minister-criticized-nice-attack-police-claims-40762397

    “The truck driver who killed 84 people on a Nice beachfront had accomplices and appears to have been plotting his attack for months, the Paris prosecutor said Thursday.

    Prosecutor Francois Molins said five suspects currently in custody are facing preliminary terrorism charges for their alleged roles in helping 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel in the July 14 attack in the southern French city. Molins’ office, which oversees terrorism investigations, opened a judicial inquiry Thursday into a battery of charges for the suspects, including complicity to murder and possessing weapons tied to a terrorist enterprise.

    The suspects are four men — two Franco-Tunisians, a Tunisian and an Albanian — and one woman of dual French-Albanian nationality, Molins said. The driver was a Tunisian man who had been living in Nice for several years.

    People close to Bouhlel said he had shown no signs of radicalization until very recently. But Molins said information from Bouhlel’s phone showed searches and photos that suggested he could have been preparing an attack as far back as 2015.

    The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack, though authorities have said they had not found signs that the extremist group directed it…”

  45. US-Backed Syria Fighters Give IS 48 Hours to Leave Town (abcnews, July 21, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/condemns-killings-children-northern-syria-40762188

    “U.S.-backed Syrian fighters on Thursday gave Islamic State militants 48 hours to leave an encircled town near the Turkish border without a fight, a last-ditch effort to protect civilian lives, according to a statement issued by the group.

    The Manbij Military Council, which is part of the U.S.-supported Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said the initiative represents the “only and last” opportunity for IS militants to “leave the town alive.”

    Backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, SDF fighters have encircled Manbij and seized western parts of the IS-held town but have so far avoided an all-out assault to minimize civilian casualties. However, airstrikes in the Manbij countryside blamed on the coalition have killed scores of civilians in the past few days, including children…”

  46. Turkish Lawmakers Give Leader Erdogan Sweeping New Powers (abcnews, July 21, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/germany-expresses-concern-turkeys-state-emergency-40761242

    “Turkish lawmakers declared a three-month state of emergency Thursday, overwhelmingly approving President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s request for sweeping new powers to expand a government crackdown after last week’s attempt military coup.

    Parliament voted 346-115 to approve the national state of emergency, which will give Erdogan the authority to extend detention times for suspects and issue decrees that have the force of law without parliamentary approval, among other powers.

    Erdogan, who had been accused of autocratic conduct even before this week’s crackdown on alleged opponents, says the state of emergency will counter threats to Turkish democracy.

    Even without the emergency measures, his government has already imposed a crackdown that has included mass arrests, mass firings and the closure of hundreds of schools. Erdogan said the new powers would allow the government to rid the military of the “virus” of subversion, blaming the coup attempt on a U.S.-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen. The cleric has strong denied any knowledge of the attempted coup.

    “This is a state of emergency imposed not on the people, but on (the state) itself,” declared Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. “We will, one by one, cleanse the state of (Gulen’s followers) and eliminate those who are trying to harm the country.”

    Turkey immediately said it was partially suspending the European Convention on Human Rights, allowing it more leeway to deal with individual cases, by invoking an article most recently used by France and Ukraine. The Council of Europe said it had been informed of Turkey’s decision, and that the convention will still apply, but that individual exceptions will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

    Since the July 15 coup attempt, the government has arrested nearly 10,000 people. In addition, over 58,880 civil service employees — including teachers, university deans and police — have been dismissed, suspended, forced to resign or had their licenses revoked, accused of being Gulen followers.

    Turkish state media said Thursday that a further 32 judges and two military officers had been detained by authorities.

    The main opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP, slammed the state of emergency move as going too far.

    Speaking ahead of the vote, CHP lawmaker Ozgur Ozel said the decision would amount to a “civilian coup” against Parliament and was a display of “ingratitude” to all the legislators who had gathered in the assembly Saturday to oppose the coup attempt.

    Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek defended the move, saying he hoped the state of emergency would be short-lived. He said it would be used to go after “rogue” elements within the state and that there would have been “carnage in the streets” had the military coup succeeded…”

  47. French Right Rises, Hollande Flails After Nice Attack (abcnews, July 21, 2016)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/french-rises-hollande-flails-nice-attack-40771074

    “Grieving together? Forget it. Unlike past violence in France, the Bastille Day attack on Nice didn’t inspire political solidarity — instead it sharpened the anger of government critics, fortified the hard right and made it even less plausible that Socialist President Francois Hollande will win re-election next year.

    The attack is stirring up fear of immigrants, Muslims and today’s world order, echoing the anxieties that are driving many voters in the U.S. and Britain, and threatening to dig a deep and potentially explosive social divide.

    “The wall of national unity is totally collapsed. French society is stripped naked, with no guide. There’s a risk of hardening of society,” said Emmanuel Riviere of the TNS-Sofres polling agency.

    Much depends on the country’s leaders, and many French have lost hope in the current lot. About 230 people have been killed in attacks by Islamic radicals in France over the past 18 months, and the prime minister is telling his compatriots to get used to it, that this is the new normal.

    Conservative and far right voices stand to gain the most from the disarray, pollsters predict.

    Far right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who campaigns against perceived “Islamization,” is increasingly certain to make it into the runoff of presidential elections nine months away. Conservative former President Nicolas Sarkozy, eyeing a new presidential bid, boosted his profile this week with a blistering attack on Hollande’s security record.

    Hollande is likely to seek a second term, but was already on shaky ground before the attack. The most unpopular leader in modern French history, Hollande saw his parliamentary majority fall apart this year over efforts to modernize the workforce. Hours before the Nice attack, Hollande boasted about successful security at a monthlong soccer tournament and said France no longer needs a state of emergency.

    This summer’s vacation season feels especially dark, and stands in sharp contrast to the national mood in January 2015, after Paris was hit with the first of what would become a wave of deadly extremist attacks.

    In a spontaneous outpouring, a million people gathered in Paris to defy those who attacked satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, a kosher supermarket and police.

    Parisian demonstrators cheered police officers for risking their lives to protect. Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls rallied their nation together, enjoying a boost in popularity as a rattled population looked to their leaders for comfort.

    Then more attacks hit in November. And then the Nice beachfront erupted in indiscriminate violence on July 14 when a man drove a truck through crowds of revelers, killing 84, proving that extremism can strike anyone, anywhere, anytime.

    And the national unity splintered. This week, demonstrators booed Valls as he paid homage to those killed in Nice.

    The conservative regional leader assailed the government for ignoring his request for greater security at the 14 holiday gathering. The government retorted that Sarkozy’s administration slashed police jobs and left France unprepared for the attacks.

    “Instead of real political response, we have politicians ripping each other apart,” Riviere said. “The consequences will be much sadder and harder for French society, because no one is bringing responses.”

    It could also deepen long-standing suspicion between France’s millions of Muslims and many non-Muslims, and between police and young minorities. Vandals scrawled “get out or die” on a mosque in Lyon this week. And tensions resurfaced in a suburban Paris housing project after a youth died in police custody.

    “We are not starting from zero. These issues were already very present, and the attacks reinforced that,” said Jerome Fourquet of Ifop.

    While France was hit by terrorist attacks in the 1980s and 1990s, the scale of the current violence is larger. “The French know that there is no miracle solution,” but they want tougher anti-terrorist action, Fourquet said.

    The prime minister is warning against a backlash against Muslims, and pleading for solidarity.

    “This will be a long and difficult fight, but we will win this fight,” he told lawmakers, “because we’re France, because we are the country of human rights … because we have millions of Muslim citizens and these terrorist attacks in our society aim to divide us. We will win because we will be united.”

    Compassion hasn’t been entirely crushed. Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders and politicians from left and right joined thousands for a memorial on the Nice shore. A flier posted around the Riviera city, signed only with hearts, pleads for blood donations and stuffed animals for the wounded, who include those of various religions and nationalities.

    “Come and help our innocent brothers,” it reads. “Let’s unite against the crazy ones!””

  48. Greece: Alleged Turkish coup plotters face trial over illegal entry into Greece

    Eight members of the Turkish military who fled to Greece after their alleged involvement in the Turkish coup attempt arrived to face trial at a court in the northern city of Alexandroupoli, Thursday. The men are being charged with illegal entry into Greek territory. The defendants arrived to court handcuffed, covering their faces with towels or clothing.

    The soldiers made an emergency landing in a Turkish Black Hawk helicopter at Alexandroupoli Airport on July 16.

    The eight men have applied for asylum in Greece in order to avoid deportation. Athens has said it would consider the request, an would take into consideration their alleged involvement in the failed coup.

  49. Australia: Man arrested after ramming into police station with car full of gas cylinders

    A man has been arrested in Sydney, Thursday, after he rammed his car, which contained gas cylinders, into a police station underground car park.

    The incident sparked a major police operation in the Merrylands area, just west of Sydney. A police cordon was set up and officers from the Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit were examining the vehicle before the wreckage could be cleared.

    • George Christensen walks back claim ‘radical Islam’ to blame for Merrylands attack

      Coalition MP George Christensen has been forced to walk back an angry statement blaming “radical Islam” for the attack on Merrylands Police Station on Thursday night, but appeared to defend his comments by saying it was “surprising” it wasn’t a terror attack given it took place in the western Sydney suburb.

      A man set himself on fire and rammed a police station with a car in Sydney’s west in an attack police say appears unrelated to terrorism.

      Sydney police ruled out terrorism as a motive for the attack involving a man in his 60s, who is understood to have a history of mental health issues, who set himself on fire and rammed into the roller door of the Merrylands police station. Early reporting on a range of news media websites, including the ABC, Fairfax and News Corp reported the attack may have been a possible terrorism incident. Officers from the Police Rescue and Bomb Disposal unit attended the scene.

      Mr Christensen, a conservative MP for the Queensland seat of Dawson, who has made a range of anti-Islam comments in the past, took to Facebook in the immediate aftermath of the incident to declare it a “failed terror attack”, while also appearing to condemning Islam itself as well as Australia’s response to terrorism.

      “The same police station had received terror threats by radical Islamists last year,” Mr Christensen began.

      “I wonder how quickly some idiot is going to inanely say this has nothing to do with Islam or talk about a religion of peace or blame those who oppose radical Islam or even Australia as a whole for marginalising some ‘disaffected youth’.”

      “How about for once we talk about the problem at hand: the ideology of radical Islamism and its adherents and what we, as a nation, are going to do about it,” he said.
      When it emerged not long after that the incident was not terrorism-related, Mr Christensen staged a partial backdown, while suggesting the news was surprising given the incident took place in Merrylands. He also used this second statement on the incident to attack the “political and media elite”.

      “New reports in state that surprisingly for Merrylands, this incident may not have been a terrorist attack as the ABC originally reported it to be,” he said.
      “News is still rolling in, so we will see.”

      “But the point I make in this post is not lost: why is it every time there is a terror attack (here or overseas) we get the same platitudes from the Left and the political & media elite. I say again: we need to discuss the rise of radical Islam within Australia and the threat it poses to national security. More so, we need to work out what we do about it.”
      Queensland Labor MP Graham Perrett accused Mr Christensen of mimicking the One Nation anti-immigration leader Pauline Hanson, who is set to re-enter parliament after 18 years in the political wilderness.

      Mr Christensen is an outspoken critic of Islam. He wants the burqa banned from being worn in public in Australian and is advocating stopping all immigration from countries with “high levels of radicalism and violent extremism”.
      Ms Hanson wants zero net immigration and supports Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s policy of banning all Muslim migration.

      The 2011 census said Muslims made up just 2.2 per cent of the Australian population.

      http://sportytell.com/george-christensen-walks-back-claim-radical-islam-to-blame-for-merrylands-attack/

  50. Hezbollah’s Massive Missile Build-Up Could Cause Thousands Of Israeli Deaths
    Why Israel may be forced to strike first.

    One day perhaps not far off, there will be another war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist proxy in Lebanon. One might assume that any future clash will be similar to past ones –– Israel struck by disruptive and occasionally lethal rocket attacks, and intense, but limited, hostilities over days or weeks, leading to a new, uneasy ceasefire. But this is unlikely. The next Lebanon war might well be like none that preceded it.

    The reason is that Hezbollah, in the decade since the last Lebanon war, has amassed an astonishing arsenal of 130,000 rockets, missiles and mortars, largely provided by Iran, aimed at virtually every square inch of Israel.

    As Willy Stern in the Weekly Standard reminds us, “This is a bigger arsenal than all NATO countries (except the United States) combined.” And it is the hands of a movement whose veteran leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has spoken of Israel as a “cancerous tumor” to be eliminated and of Jews to be globally murdered, saying, “if they all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.”

    Worse, these are not the katyushas rockets or mortars of old, which terrify and disrupt, but kill and maim only in small numbers, mainly in Israel’s border areas.

    Hizbollah’s arsenal includes over 700 long-range Fateh-10 and Scud-D missiles, sophisticated munitions which carry heavy payloads and can hit any part of Israel, killing hundreds or even thousands. Add to that new Russian anti-tank and anti-ship missiles, and future Israeli operations against Hezbollah will be scarcely a cakewalk.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/263559/hezbollahs-massive-missile-build-could-cause-morton-klein

    • The last time Israel had to attack Hezbollah was different from all other times. Hezbollah stood their ground and knocked with Israel, they gave up positions only when they ran out of ammo to defend them. While the article talks about missiles and missiles only they have increased their supply of small and heavy infantry weapons by the same percentage. The fight won’t be easy and it won’t be a short fight, pray that it occurs after Obama is out of office so the US can resupply the small arms ammo that is used in the fight.

      • As I recall, when we invaded Iraq back in 2003, we had to get small arms ammo FROM Israel. That we would replenish their stocks as we could get around to it. I wonder what our current war reserves of small arms ammo is? I’m pretty sure the US civilian has a lot more 5.56mm than the US Army.

        • Without a doubt, however the US use to maintain a preposition ammo dumb in Israel which Israel could draw on when fighting and we flew in a resupply of small arms and artillery ammo on a 24/7 basis. Obama moved the dump to the Diego Garcia and still hasn’t replaced the ammo that was used in the last fight with Hezbollah.

          When fighting a war ammo supplies are always short and you are always looking for a resupply. But what I am referring to is the seize/number of ammo manufacturing plants in Israel, during a major fight the number of rounds that needs replacing is greater then their ability to manufacture on a timely basis. The US on the other hand can if necessary purchase on the open market.

          Yes the civilians in the US have more ammo then the military, we also have more civilian manufactures of ammo then the one arsenal that the Military uses.

        • Question was it Israeli ammo or ammo from our prepositioned supply? If it was the latter it was US ammo that was stored there so we would have a close resupply without having to wait until more was flown in from the states?

          • I recall that it was actually Israeli ammo. I wasn’t aware that we had pre-positioned ammo dumps in Israel, as that might be considered incendiary vis-a-vis Arab countries.