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Illegal pilgrims to be tried, sentenced within 24 hours (saudigazette, Sep 7, 2016)
http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/illegal-pilgrims-tried-sentenced-within-24-hours/
“People who are caught trying to enter Makkah or the Holy Sites without Haj permits will be tried and sentenced within 24 hours, according to a senior prison official.
“Verdicts of imprisonment and fines against illegal pilgrims will be issued within 24 hours,” said Maj. Gen. Muhammad Al-Anzi, director of the Department of Expatriates in the Directorate General of Prisons.
He said the ruling against illegal pilgrims and the drivers who transport them will be final.
Verdicts will be issued by special administrative committees stationed at checkpoints along the roads leading to Makkah and the Holy Sites, Anzi said.
Violators will be sent to the detention center near Al-Shumaisi checkpoint along the Jeddah-Makkah Expressway within 48 hours.
Anzi said that there are many exit routes before Makkah and Holy Site checkpoints to allow those without Haj permits to turn back. But if they try to cross the checkpoints without Haj permits they will be arrested and tried…”
Germans petition government to pressure Turkey on freedom of expression (DW, Sep 6, 2016)
http://www.dw.com/en/germans-petition-government-to-pressure-turkey-on-freedom-of-expression/a-19529968
“More than 100 journalists have been detained in Turkey since a failed coup attempt. Germany’s press freedom organizations have called on Berlin to take a clear stance against the crackdown.
Leading press freedom organizations in Germany launched a petition in August for the German government and European Commission to pressure Turkey on its abuse of freedom of expression after July’s coup attempt.
“We urge Germany’s federal government and the EU Commission to adopt a clear and resolute position on the current state of freedom of expression in Turkey,” the organizations said in a statement attached to the petition.
“When freedom of expression comes under attack and is subject to massive restrictions in Turkey and other countries throughout the world, the German federal government and the EU Commission are obliged to re-evaluate their policies with regard to the countries in question,” the statement added.
The petition, launched by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association and Reporters Without Borders’ Germany office, has garnered nearly 75,000 signatures in two weeks.
The organizations said Germany is obliged to provide aid to affected journalists and publishers, including issuing “non-bureaucratic” emergency visas.
Deutsche Welle has experienced first-hand the abuse of press freedom after Turkish authorities confiscated video footage of an interview with Akif Kilic, Turkey’s minister of youth and sports, that took place on September 5 for the talk show “Conflict Zone.”
“This incident is proof of a blatant violation of press freedom in Turkey. What we are experiencing constitutes an act of the Turkish regime’s coercion. It no longer follows the rule of law and has nothing to do with democracy,” said DW Director General Peter Limbourg…”
Prophet’s Wife Khadija Challenges Stereotypes About Muslim Women (moroccoworldnews, Sep 6, 2016)
http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/09/196238/prophets-wife-khadija-challenges-stereotypes-muslim-women/
“New York – We have come to live in a world were many people rather rely on assumptions than to actually seek the truth or see the truth for itself. Among these assumptions are those surrounding Muslim women. Commonly they are perceived as submissive, weak, and with less rights than men or no rights at all.
The fact is that these assumptions are way far from reality. Nowadays Muslim women have proven to be at the level of men in many fields. From education to work, without losing sight of their roles as wives and devoted mothers. This is not just now, strong Muslim women exist and existed since Islam came to existence. Take the example of the first Muslim woman, Khadija.
Khadija, an example of love, modesty, and strength. A hardworking and independent business woman, who was self-sufficient to raise her children well, if she had to. A caring and loving mother, and a devoted and loyal wife through all her marriage. Her love to Mohammed (PBUH) was pure and unconditional, through the good and the bad times in marriage and life.
Khadija chose him not for his looks, but for his virtues, morals, kindness, and caring soul. These attributes made her love him with all her heart and soul, and this kind of love was not only from her, it was from Mohammed (PBUH) to her as well. She believed in her husband and supported him even when others doubted him. She took care of him when he felt at his low, reassured him, and stood by his side during the thin and thick of life.
Their marriage was a union that proved to be unbreakable during life and even after death. Mohammed (PBUH) always remembered Khadija and spoke well of her even after she passed away. Both set a true example of what marriage should be. A union based on respect, support, honesty, love, loyalty, and commitment. But above all, a union that was guided by the word of God.
Khadija was also known to be a goodhearted and compassionate woman who spent her riches in helping, feeding, and clothing the ones in need. Mohammed (PBUH) thought of her as an amazing woman, who believed on the revelations that were given to him, and helped him spread Allah’s message, even if all her wealth was gone.
Khadija, a true example of not only a good Muslim woman, but a good woman overall.”
Not even funny…
Actually, the story of Khadija is very, very important.
We are told that Islam brought many rights to Arab women. that under Islam, they have more rights.
Khadija conclusively disproves this lie.
She was a widow – and owned considerable property, which she managed on her own, without any male guardian. She employed Mohammed’s uncle to as a trader for her caravans, and she employed the illiterate Mohammed to look after her camels.
She is the one who proposed marriage to Mohammed, and subsequently married him – without any male guardian or relative being involved.
Her story proves that Arab women had status and rights equal to those of men in their society – prior to Islam, that is.
Oh, and Khadija is also the one who recognized that Mohammed is The Prophet and became the very first Muslim.
And she ought to know – he’s not the first prophet she had discovered. Prior to meeting Mohammed, she believed a cousin of hers whom she had a crush on was The Prophet and messenger of God…
So, even a clearly insane woman had full rights in Arab society prior to Islam. Let’s not forget it!
Jonathan Spyer:
Behind the lines: Ankara’s next move
After its incursion into Syria, Turkey will have to decide whether to declare ‘Euphrates Shield’ a success or to continue seeking to destroy the Kurdish-led SDF in the face of US opposition.
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Behind-the-lines-Ankaras-next-move-466678
Moscow concerned with movement of Turkish troops inside Syrian territory
Moscow is worried by the Turkish troops’ movement inside Syrian territory, the actions are illegitimate, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Sept. 7.
“Russia’s Foreign Ministry expresses serious concern in connection with the movement of the Syrian troops and paramilitary formations of the Syrian opposition, supported by them, inside Syrian territory,” the statement said.
“We are paying attention to the fact that these actions are being conducted without coordination with the legitimate Syrian authorities and without approval on the part of the UN Security Council,” it said.
“This puts in question the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic,” the statement said.
http://rbth.com/news/2016/09/07/moscow-concerned-with-movement-of-turkish-troops-inside-syrian-territory_627923
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With Syria ‘safe zone’ plan, Turkey faces diplomatic balancing act
Turkey will have to strike a balance between the conflicting goals of Russia and the United States if it is to achieve its ambition of a “safe zone” in northern Syria and build on an incursion which gave it control of a thin strip of the border.
Turkey has for several years called for world powers to help create a zone to protect civilians in its war-torn southern neighbor, with the dual aim of clearing its border of Islamic State and Kurdish militia fighters and of stemming a wave of migration that has caused tensions with Europe.
Western allies have so far balked at the idea, saying it would require a significant ground force and planes to patrol a “no-fly zone”, a major commitment in such a crowded and messy battlefield. Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has meanwhile argued in the past that any foreign incursion would be illegal.
But Turkey’s offensive into northern Syria, launched with its Syrian rebel allies two weeks ago, has created what officials in Ankara are already calling a “de facto safe zone”, driving Islamic State militants from the last 90-km (55-mile) strip of border territory they still controlled.
Turkey now wants international support for a deeper operation to take control of a rectangle of territory stretching about 40 km into Syria, a buffer between two Kurdish-held cantons to the east and west and against Islamic State to the south.
“The first phase of the plan has been achieved. Turkey no longer has borders with Islamic State. But this area is still very thin and vulnerable to attacks from the other side,” said a senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity so as to discuss the strategy more freely.
“What will be done now will depend on coordination with coalition powers and the support they will provide,” he said, adding an improvement in relations with Russia had “eased Turkey’s hand” operationally.
The Turkish-backed rebels, mainly Syrian Arabs and Turkmen fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, took charge of the frontier between the towns of Azaz and Jarablus on Sunday after seizing 20 villages from the ultra-hardline Islamists.
Ahmed Osman, commander of the Sultan Murad rebel group, one of the Turkish-backed forces, told Reuters he would like to see a permanent “safe zone” but that this would require an agreement between Turkey, the United States and Russia.
CONFLICTING INTERESTS
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, his hand strengthened by Turkey’s incursion, said on Monday he had raised the issue of a “safe zone” again with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama at the G20 summit in China.
Neither commented directly on the Turkish proposal, though both said they wanted to build cooperation in fighting terrorism in Syria. Erdogan’s spokesman said there were neither objections nor clear signs of support in the meetings.
A second senior Turkish official acknowledged both Washington and Russia “had their hesitations” but that a “de facto safe zone” had now become a reality on the ground and that their support, particularly in establishing a no-fly zone, was crucial.
Metin Gurcan, a former major in the Turkish military and an analyst for the Al Monitor online journal, said Washington and Moscow’s divergent agendas in Syria raised serious questions about the viability of the Turkish plans.
“We are talking about two superpowers with great stakes in Syria. They have contradicting strategic interests about the end goal in Syria,” he said.
More than five years of civil war have cut Syria into a patchwork of territories held by the government and an often competing array of armed factions, including Kurdish militia fighters, a loose coalition of rebels groups, and Islamic State.
The priority for Washington, which backs rebel factions fighting Assad in the civil war, is destroying Islamic State and it has been at odds with Turkey over the role of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. The United States has backed the Kurdish fighters against the jihadists, but Turkey sees them as a hostile force linked to Kurdish militants on its own soil.
The two NATO allies have reached an uneasy agreement under which YPG fighters are meant to remain east of the Euphrates river, just outside Turkey’s proposed buffer zone, although Ankara has said it has yet to verify that they are doing so.
Turkey meanwhile appears to be navigating Russian concerns more smoothly since restoring relations with Moscow in August, nine months after ties were broken when it shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border.
Erdogan’s spokesman said on Tuesday that Russia had voiced full support for Turkey’s operation to clear the border of Islamic State. For its part, Turkey has been less insistent on Assad’s immediate exit.
“They appear to be lessening their demands for the ouster of Assad in deference to their new relationship with Russia,” said James Stavridis, former NATO supreme commander and dean at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
‘ARMAGEDDON’
Aside from the diplomatic challenges, a push deeper into Syria by the Turkish-backed Arab and Turkmen rebels poses significant military risks.
The Turkish-backed forces have been advancing toward Manbij, a city around 30 km south of Jarablus that was captured last month from Islamic State by a U.S.-backed coalition that includes the YPG. The Kurdish fighters are since supposed to have pulled back east of the Euphrates.
“We know there are de facto YPG factions still there. If they don’t retreat, Turkey will be determined and return Manbij to its owners,” said Yasin Aktay, a spokesman for Turkey’s ruling AK Party, referring to Arab and Turkmen communities who lived there before civil war broke out in 2011.
The Islamic State-held town of Al-Bab, west of Manbij, is another a key strategic target for both Turkish-backed and Kurdish forces where Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, one of Islamic State’s most prominent leaders, is thought to have been killed in a U.S. air strike last week.
To its northwest is the village of Dabiq – the site, according to Islamic prophecy, of a final battle between Muslims and infidels, an event in Islamic State propaganda that will herald the apocalypse.
“The fight for the Turkish-backed rebels is going to get tougher as they proceed south,” said a former Turkish soldier and security analyst Abdullah Agar. “According to Islamic State’s beliefs, they will face Armageddon here.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-rebel-idUSKCN11C1FJ
Putin is well aware of Erdogan’s ambitions he knows that Erdogan will not willingly leave Assad in power or willingly leave Russia in Syria. Erdogan has to balance rebuilding the Ottoman Empire with keeping Russia from crushing him before he gets big enough to make Russia think twice before hitting him.
Putin has to balance keeping Assad in power, keeping his warm water port in the Med and keeping both Erdogan and Iran from rebulding the ancient Empires. While doing this he has to keep Iran from guilding nuclear weapons (they may already have some) ICBM missiles (they are working on them under the cover of launching satellites.) While keeping the the tensions and fighting between Iran and Saudi from boiling over into a major shooting war.
Hezbollah’s Qassem: No Syria solution until after US elections
The deputy chief of the party also said that Turkey, Iran and Russia all share “common convictions” regarding the “Kurdish issue.”
BEIRUT – The deputy leader of Hezbollah has voiced his doubts over a near-term solution to the conflict in Syria, saying diplomatic efforts prior to the US presidential elections would be “partial and limited.”
“There is no solution in the foreseeable future in Syria until after the US elections” in November, Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem told a gathering of Muslim scholars on Tuesday, according to a report by Al-Akhbar.
He added that all current diplomatic steps were “partial and limited because they do not even [lead] to an introductory stage for a political solution” to the conflict raging in Syria.
Qassem tackled the faltering efforts between Washington and Moscow to reach an accord for a ceasefire in Syria as well as joint military action against ISIS and Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, asking “how can this be achieved?”
“What are the methods [for implementing such an agreement]? This is what [the US and Russia] are discussing,” he asked, without commenting on whether he supported or opposed a proposed Moscow-Washington framework for joint action.
“Some partial security agreements might be built upon for a future political agreement, and maybe not,” Qassem said.
The Hezbollah deputy chief also spoke about ties between Russia and Turkey, denying that the two countries had reached an under-the-table deal regarding Syria that paved the way for Ankara’s military incursion into the country.
“Talk about Russian-Turkish agreements is overstated,” he claimed, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin “said it will take time for [ties] to return to what they used to be.”
However, Qassem said that Iran, Turkey and Russia all share “similar conviction” on some points, including “the Kurdish issue,” without elaborating what stance the three countries have taken.
“There are common convictions and partial agreements on topics, but they do not [constitute] a comprehensive political agreement.”
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/567338-hezbollahs-qassem-no-syria-solution-until-after-us-elections
Syrian President Assad Likely to Visit China Soon
TEHRAN (FNA)- Arab media outlets reported that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accepted China’s invitation to visit Beijing in the next few weeks.
According to al-Safir newspaper, China has demanded Syria to allow the country’s fighter jets use Tartus airbase, a port city in the Mediterranean coasts, and sent Director of the Office for International Military Cooperation of China’s Central Military Commission, Guan Youfei to Syria on August 16 to discuss the issue with the Syrian officials.
During the first three years of war in Syria, the Chinese showed conservatism in signing arms deals with Damascus but in the past one and a half years, they have shown more willingness to implements their military agreements with Syria.
The report came after media sources disclosed last month that a Chinese military delegation in a visit to Damascus explored avenues for the dispatch of a number of warplanes to Syria to intensify war on terrorism in the Middle-Eastern country.
“In a surprising visit, a Chinese military delegation conferred with Syrian Defense Minister Fahad Jassim al-Freij over engagement of Chinese fighter jets in the bombardment of terrorist groups’ positions in Syria, mainly in Aleppo,” Debka file quoted a military analyst as saying.
“Chinese jets may launch bombing of positions of Jeish al-Islami al-Turkistani with over 3,000 Uighur fighter,” the analyst quoted senior spy officers of the US intelligence as saying.
Also in August, Beijing and Damascus agreed that the Chinese military to provide humanitarian aid to Syria, a high-ranking People’s Liberation Army officer said, adding that the training of Syrian personnel by Chinese instructors was also been discussed.
Guan arrived in Damascus for talks with al-Freij.
During the negotiation, Guan noted China’s consistent diplomatic efforts to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis, adding that Beijing is now seeking closer military ties with Damascus.
“The Chinese and Syrian militaries traditionally have a friendly relationship, and the Chinese military is willing to keep strengthening exchanges and cooperation with the Syrian military,” he said.
Guan and al-Freij discussed the enhancement of training and “reached a consensus” on the Chinese military providing humanitarian aid to Syria. Guam also met with a Russian general during his visit to the Syrian capital.
Despite being a permanent UN Security Council member and relying on the Middle East for oil, China was previously reluctant to become involved in the Syrian conflict.
Beijing preferred to concentrate on domestic affairs and the territorial dispute with its neighbors in the South China Sea.
It praised Moscow’s anti-terrorism efforts in Syria as Russia staged a bombing campaign there in September 2015 to March 2016. Russia still has some of its forces in the country to provide humanitarian and military assistance to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.
Last year, there were reports that China was sending dozens of military advisers to Syria to help the country fight terrorists.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950617001213
Another player enters the Game of Thrones. This adds a complication for Erdogan and the next US President, China will be projecting force beyond the South China Sea and the Pacific. This is troubling by itself but add this to what Putin is doing in the Middle East and the fact that the Med is no longer a European and US Pond but has just become a semi-hostile place for commerce to be carried through.
The Middle East appears to be shaping up as “The Balkans” of the 21st century. Getting involved in the ME from the US standpoint under Bush, Obama (and Clinton) seems to have set in motion a “New World Order” where the European nations appear to be absorbing the effluent of the sorry mess for NO reason at all other than some sort of White Man’s Guilt foisted on them by the lefties.
First the war actually started in 1979 when the Iranians occupied the US Embassy and Carter did nothing. They backed off while Reagan and Bush I were in office but Bill Clinton and his refusal to fight back when attacked gave the Moslems the idea we could be beaten. Bush II fought back and they pulled back, then Obama pulled our troops out and started apologizing for everything that ever happened and the Brotherhood and Erdogan decided the Caliphate (The Ottoman Empire) could be rebuild. The Iranians had already decided that if the Mahdi doesn’t return the Persian Empire will.
You are right about Europe but the motivation is to destroy Western Civilization so the left can create a one world socialist utopia. The fact that the socialist dictatorship would be anything but a utopia is lost on the left just as the fact that the current situation in Venezuela is the end result of all socialist governments. Don’t bother to bring up Sweden, they Swedes claim to be Capitalists and not socialist and there is a lot of evidence that that is what they are.
RT-Turkey ready to join US in assault on ISIS’ Syrian capital Raqqa – Erdogan
On the sidelines of the G20 summit in China, Turkish President Erdogan told the press it “would not be a problem” to join the United States in its campaign to eradicate Islamic State terrorists firmly established in Raqqa, their Syrian stronghold.
The collaboration was first suggested by outgoing US President Barack Obama, and President Tayyip Erdogan agreed. “Obama wants to do some things together concerning Raqqa in particular,” he was quoted by the Hurriyet newspaper as saying. “We stated that would not be a problem from our perspective. We said, ‘Let our soldiers come together, whatever is necessary will be done,’” he said.
The discussion took place on the heels of the G20 talks in China, which included leaders from China and Russia, with whom the Turkish president also held meetings.
Ankara sees the opportunity for cooperation with the US as a chance to kill two birds with one stone that will both hit Islamic State (IS formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Kurdish fighters, who they also consider terrorists. Turkey has recently launched an incursion 40 kilometers into Syria in order to create a buffer zone between the Kurdish-held areas to the east and west of Islamic State’s) base in Raqqa.
Concrete proposals for action will have to be worked out separately, Erdogan added. “But at this stage we have to show our presence in the region,” he said. “We do not have the chance to take a backward step. If we take a backward step terror groups like Daesh, PKK, PYD and YPG will settle there,” stressed the Turkish leader, who considers the Kurdish forces fighting IS in Syria to also be terrorists.
Washington does not share Ankara’s view, however, and has carried out joint operations with Kurdish YPG fighters, making considerable gains in Syria, including the recent seizure of the Syrian city of Manbij.
The Pentagon also expects the Kurds to get onboard with the Raqqa operation, according to Reuters.
When asked if ongoing US cooperation with the Kurds would be a stumbling block, Erdogan said he didn’t consider it to be a problem, pointing to Turkey’s latest operation (Euphrates Shield), which has gone smoothly so far. “We worked very comfortably in al-Rai. We did so in Jarablus, and are still doing so,” the Turkish leader said, adding that a joint plan of action with the US had been worked out last year on the sidelines of the last G20 summit, which was held in Antalya, Turkey. That plan allegedly involved an incursion zone in Syria of 40-95 kilometers.
The volatile Turkish-Syrian border was cleared of IS forces on September 4.
Erdogan indicated that Iraq is also of interest to Ankara, particularly as “the PKK wants to find a place for itself there.”
Whatever happens in the triangle of US-Kurdish-Turkish relations, the Kurds have recently vowed to defend their lands in northeast Syria against the Turks by whatever means necessary, while reportedly expressing concern that US support for their cause has been on the wane lately. Nonetheless, in an exclusive interview to The Independent on September 3, a senior Kurdish official said they are ready to fight “to the death.”
The Kurds are still considered by the Pentagon to be the US’ most effective ally in fighting IS, but they now believe they’ve fallen prey to international double standards, according to the interview.
https://www.rt.com/news/358534-turkey-us-syria-isis/
5 explosive secret intelligence memos on Syria everyone must read
1) British and American special forces were already on the ground advising anti-Assad militants in the first year of the Syrian conflict (2011)
2) Saudi Arabia was committed to overthrowing the Syrian government “by all means available”
3) US military intelligence warned the White House in 2012 that the West’s covert war in Syria would produce “an Islamic State” (precisely what Daesh (Isis/Isil) claimed to be creating two years later in 2014)
4) A leaked US diplomatic cable marked ‘Secret’ and revealed by Wikileaks shows that the US Embassy in Damascus had discussed plans to destabilise the Assad government long prior to the beginning of the current conflict
5) Google secretly teamed up with the US government to create online tools that would encourage and aid regime change in Syria
details on the page –
The video below shows rare US mainstream media coverage of the 2012 Pentagon memo (#3 above), aired on CBS Atlanta:
Russian SU-27 Jet Intercepts US Navy Spy Plane Over Black Sea
A Russian fighter jet carried out an intercept of US spy plane flying over the Black Sea, according to US Defense officials, cited by the Reuters news agency.
A Russian fighter jet intercepted a US spy plane flying over the Black Sea, according to US Defense officials cited by the Reuters news agency.
The officials said that there were multiple interactions between two aircraft and called the intercept by the Russian jet “unsafe and unprofessional.”
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the incident lasted about 19 minutes and the Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter came within 10 feet of the US Navy P-8 surveillance plane.
Officials are now reviewing the incident with the pilot to determine whether it should be included in the annual meeting of US and Russian officials about more serious intercepts, the official added.
https://sputniknews.com/world/20160907/1045068086/russian-jet–intecept.html
http://www.kormany.hu/en/ministry-for-national-economy/news/government-to-provide-3-million-euros-in-support-to-christian-communities-that-have-suffered-attacks
Ferguson Protest Leader Darren Seals Found Dead in Vehicle
The body of an activist from St. Louis who led protests about the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014 was found with a gunshot wound in the charred remains of a vehicle on Tuesday morning, according to the police and news accounts.
The activist, Darren Seals, 29, was found inside the vehicle on Diamond Drive in Riverview in St. Louis County around 1:50 a.m., the St. Louis County Police Department said in a statement. The vehicle had been on fire and he was found after the flames were extinguished.
The police said Mr. Seals had lived at an address on Millburn Drive in St. Louis, about 12 miles from where his body was found. The case is being investigated as a homicide by the department’s Bureau of Crimes Against Persons. The motive for the killing was unknown.
The police identified Mr. Seals as Daren Seals, although other records listed the spelling of his first name as Darren, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
On his Twitter account, Mr. Seals described himself as a businessman, revolutionary, activist and “Unapologetically BLACK, Afrikan in AmeriKKKa, Fighter, Leader.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/07/us/ferguson-protest-leader-darren-seals-found-dead-in-vehicle.html?_r=0
New ISIS Military Commander Was Trained by State Department as Recently as 2014
Gulmurod Khalimov, the new ISIS military commander whom the U.S. just days ago announced a $3 million bounty for, was trained by the State Department in an anti-terror program as recently as 2014 while serving in the security service of Tajikistan.
He replaces former ISIS commander Tarkhan Batirashvili, aka Umar al-Shishani, who was also trained by the United States as part of the Georgian army and who ISIS claimed was killed fighting in Iraq this past July.
The State Department confirmed Khalimov’s U.S.-provided training to CNN in May 2015:
https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/2016/09/06/new-isis-military-commander-was-trained-by-state-department-as-recently-as-2014/
BREAKING NEWS: Car packed with explosive gas cylinders is found outside Paris’s Notre Dame cathedral as police arrest ‘radicalised’ vehicle owner
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3777632/Car-gas-cylinders-near-Paris-cathedral-Saturday-police.html#ixzz4JZivjrcv
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
The ‘radicalised’ owner of a car found packed with gas cylinders close to Notre Dame cathedral has been arrested, police have revealed.
The vehicle, a Peugeot 607 without a licence plate, was found with its hazard lights flashing close to the landmark building in the heart of the French capital.
Documents with writing in Arabic were also found in the car.
Police say the car’s owner, who is now in custody, is on an intelligence services watchlist of people suspected of religious radicalisation.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3777632/Car-gas-cylinders-near-Paris-cathedral-Saturday-police.html#ixzz4JZj9Byv8
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Terror plot fears after gas cylinders found in car parked near Notre Dame cathedral in Paris
Police arrest man and woman ‘known to security services’
An abandoned car containing gas cylinders has been found near Notre Dame cathedral, sparking an investigation into a possible new terror plot in Paris.
Police arrested two men after making the discovery on Saturday night, with officials saying the car had no registration plates.
Officers found six gas cylinders and well as a book with Arabic writing, according to local reports.
“The car had no one in it, as if it were abandoned,” a source told Le Figaro newspaper, adding that the cylinders “were not connected to any kind of detonator”.
Gas cylinders can be used in attempts to make car bombs, such as those discovered and disabled in London in 2007.
The vehicle was cordoned off in Rue du Petit-Pont early on Sunday morning, in Paris’ fifth arrondissement.
Counter-terror police have opened an investigation and have arrested two suspects, a 34-year-old man and 29-year-old woman believed to be a couple.
BFMTV reported that they were “known to security services” but it was unclear whether the couple were on France’s “Fiche S” list of terror suspects.
The country remains under a continuing state of emergency that started after Isis’ Paris attacks in November, and has been extended in the wake of a series of other massacres.
Supporters of the so-called Islamic State were also behind the Nice attack, that killed more than 80 people, murder of a Catholic priest and attacks on police.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/terror-plot-fears-after-gas-cylinders-found-in-car-parked-near-notre-dame-cathedral-in-paris-a7229706.html
Car containing gas cylinders found parked near Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral, police say
An abandoned car filled with gas cylinders that was found parked near Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral on Saturday may have been left at the landmark as part of a terror attack “test run,” officials said Wednesday.
The car’s owner, who is on a French intelligence service watch list of people suspected of religious radicalization, was in custody, Sky News reported. At least one other person had also been detained in the investigation.
“We think he may have been trying to carry out a test-run,” a police official told AFP.
One of the car’s hazard lights was flashing when it was found Saturday night, Reuters reported. There were seven gas cylinders inside the car, with one empty cylinder in the front passenger seat and six others in the car’s trunk, authorities said. No detonating device was present.
Documents with Arabic writing were found inside the car, the BBC reported.
France is on alert after a string of Islamic State attacks and threats against landmarks.
Gas canisters filled with nails were used in attacks on Paris in the 1990s by Algeria-linked extremists.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/09/07/car-containing-gas-cylinders-found-parked-near-paris-notre-dame-cathedral-police-say.html
Updated: Iranian Boats Harass Another U.S. Navy Patrol Coastal Ship In Persian Gulf
A U.S. Navy patrol coastal ship was harassed by seven Iranian vessels on Sunday and narrowly avoided colliding with one, in the latest in a string of incidents in the Persian Gulf.
Seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) fast in-shore attack craft (FIAC) approached USS Firebolt (PC-10) while it was operating in international waters in the central Persian Gulf on Sept. 4, a defense official told USNI News.
Three of the FIACs maneuvered close to Firebolt, mirroring the ship’s course and speed at a distance of about 500 yards for about eight minutes before leaving. Another FIAC then sped towards Firebolt and stopped directly in front of the ship, causing the Firebolt crew to maneuver to avoid a collision. The U.S. ship and Iranian FIAC came within 100 yards of one another, the defense official said.
https://news.usni.org/2016/09/06/iranian-boats-harass-another-u-s-navy-patrol-coastal-ship-persian-gulf
Tensions over South China Sea belie summit cordiality
VIENTIANE (Reuters) – The Philippines said on Wednesday it was “gravely concerned” that Chinese boats were preparing to build structures at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, shattering an appearance of cordiality at an Asian summit in Laos.
Officials said talks between Southeast Asian leaders and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang went smoothly. There was no reference during the talks to a recent ruling by an arbitration court in The Hague that invalidated China’s claims to the waterway and has incensed Beijing.
But, hours before the meeting, the Philippines’ defense ministry released photographs and a map showing what it said was an increased number of Chinese vessels near Scarborough Shoal, which China seized after a standoff in 2012.
The ministry’s spokesman told reporters in Manila the pictures were made public because China’s ambassador to the Philippines had denied there was any new activity there.
http://www.oann.com/ahead-of-summit-philippines-shows-images-of-chinese-boats-at-disputed-shoal/
Austria threatens to sue Hungary over migrants
VIENNA (Reuters) – Austria’s interior minister threatened on Wednesday to sue Hungary if it refused to take back migrants who had crossed their shared border, as political tensions mounted over immigration before presidential elections.
Austria’s government, facing a challenge from the far-right Freedom Party, has repeatedly accused Hungary of letting migrants enter its territory in the face of EU rules that asylum seekers must stay in the first country they enter in the bloc.
Hungary, itself preparing for a referendum on whether to accept a Europe-wide asylum quota, has insisted that most refugees enter its territory from other EU states, notably Italy and Greece, in a growing blame game.
“States or groups of states that permanently break the law have to expect legal consequences,” Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka told ORF radio, responding to a question on Hungary’s refusal to give ground.
“In that case, the (Austrian) republic must sue. The republic must see that the European Union acts according to the law, full stop,” he added, without specifying what legal process he was considering.
Budapest built a fence along its border with non-EU member Serbia to stem the flow of hundreds of thousands of people, many of them fleeing violence in the Middle East and North Africa. Both Hungary and Austria had said this month the situation was now broadly under control.
A Hungarian government spokesman dismissed Sobotka’s call in an emailed statement, saying the vast majority of migrants had arrived in other EU states first.
http://www.oann.com/austria-to-go-to-court-if-hungary-refuses-to-take-migrants-back/
The cloak-and-dagger US payments to Iran: planes, cash and Swiss banks
The Obama administration disclosed to Congress on Tuesday that it transferred a total of $1.7 billion in cash through Swiss banks to Iran around the time American hostages were released this year, about four times the amount originally disclosed to the public, sources told Circa.
The news was delivered by the State, Defense and Treasury Departments in a private briefing to congressional staff who went into the meeting thinking they were learning more detail about the $400 million in payments originally reported in the news media.
http://circa.com/politics/us-gave-17-billion-to-iran-as-hostages-were-released-four-times-original-amount
US Deputy Secretary of State discuses Iran payments
Col. Peters: Cash payment to Iran was a ‘massive bribe’
Did cash payments to Iran violate federal regulations?
Yes but since no one has managed to get any of Obama’s people arrested and tried don’t expect anything to happen over this crime.
Even the Islamic State Has Banned the Burqa for Security Reasons
Although facing defeat in Iraq, the group continues to implement gruesome killings and new rules for everything from soccer to divorce. A round-up.
In an ironic twist of fate, the (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)Islamic State has banned the wearing of burqas (that they had made obligatory on every woman) for security reasons. The ban comes after a fully veiled woman in Mosul killed five Islamic State jihadis with a pistol fitted with a silencer. The woman disappeared and has yet to be found.
The Islamic State has banned soccer referees in Deir Ezzor, an eastern province of Syria, on the ground (Photo: Flickr/Julian Carvajal)(Photo: Flickr/Julian Carvajal)that the referees are “in violation of the command of Allah and the Sunnah” because they “do not judge according to what Allah has revealed.”
Soccer will now be planned under new sharia rules, where by an injured player will receive compensation from the player who caused the damage. In addition, according to Salafi scholars, whether or not referees should even be present at games and whether or not games should be played at all is questionable.
https://www.clarionproject.org/news/even-islamic-state-has-banned-burqa-security-reasons
Iranian Fast Boats Cause US Navy Patrol Boat to Change Course
U.S. Defense Department officials report it was the fourth incident of its kind in a month and one of 31 similar incidents this year.
An Iranian fast attack boat caused a U.S. Navy patrol ship in the Persian Gulf to change its course after the Iranian craft came with 100 yards (91 meters) of the vessel, as reported by Yahoo News. (See video of the incident below.)
The report by U.S. Defense Department officials said it was the fourth incident of its kind in a month and one of 31 similar incidents this year. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a Defense Department official said that the move was “unsafe and unprofessional due to lack of communications and the close-range harassing maneuvering.”
He added that manned weapons could be seen openly on the Iranian boat.
“We don’t see this type of unsafe and unprofessional activity from any other nation,” the official added.
Pentagon Spokesperson Captain Jeff Davis described the incident, saying seven Iranian boats “harassed” the U.S. patrol ship, which was located at the time in the center of the gulf. The maneuver caused the USS Firebolt, which measures 174-feet (53 meters) long, to change its course.
https://www.clarionproject.org/news/iranian-fast-boats-cause-us-navy-patrol-boat-change-course
French Author, Son Attacked by Salafis Over Novel: Report
Ghislaim Gilberti and his 12-year-old son were brutally beaten in Belfort, France over objections to his thriller novel that features a jihadi group.
https://www.clarionproject.org/news/french-author-son-attacked-salafis-over-novel-report
https://www.clarionproject.org/news/french-author-son-attacked-salafis-over-novel-report
Assange says bombshell could drop as early as next week.
National Post – How Snowden escaped
The never-been-told story of those two pivotal weeks when the most wanted man in the world was hidden in the depths of a Hong Kong slum.
http://news.nationalpost.com/features/how-edward-snowden-escaped-hong-kong
Germany: Refugee crisis ‘much better today than a year ago’ – Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to defend her policies on handling the refugee crisis in Berlin’s Bundestag, Wednesday. She asserted that the situation was “much better today than a year ago,” but admitted much “remains to be done.”
In particular Merkel promised to “take further measures” to strengthen public security in Germany “because not every refugee comes with good intentions,” in addition to focusing on the “return to origin [of refugees].” The chancellor also defended the EU-Turkey refugee deal, saying “when Turkey violates human rights, we talk about it in appropriate terms,” but that “if you don’t want people to drown” then “there is no other way than talking to your neighbours.”
SOT, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): “Terrorism is not a new problem that only started with refugees. But because not every refugee comes with good intentions, we will take further measures in order to strengthen the public security in Germany. People can expect from us that we will do all that’s possible to ensure their security.”
SOT, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): “The situation is much better today than a year ago, for everybody, but of course much still remains to be done. One big problem is return to origin: the attempts to oblige those who cannot stay here with us to leave the country. And it is justifiable that the citizens expect us to help those who need help and to tell those without the right to stay to leave the country, because if not, we cannot accomplish the mission.”
SOT, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): “Yes it is true, the solidarity inside Europe leaves much to be desired, we have to continue working in this.”
EU watchdog demands clarification over Barroso’s Goldman Sachs job
EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has demanded that the European Commission (EC) clarify its position over the recent appointment of former EC president Jose Manuel Barroso as chairman and adviser to Goldman Sachs.
Barroso, who headed the commission at the height of the eurozone crisis, has been appointed to the investment bank’s Brexit unit, sparking criticism over potential undue influence.
2 officers targeted in knife attack in Molenbeek, Belgium; 1 stabbed 7 times in abdomen, police say
nothing to do with terrorism
Il n’existe aucun indice liant cela à un acte terroriste, a-t-il précisé
nothing to do with islam no allahuakbar – he remained silent during the attack:
….. Sans un mot ….
illegal migrant
L’homme se trouve vraisemblablement en séjour illégal sur le territoire belge et son identité doit encore être établie.
http://www.lesoir.be/1311383/article/actualite/regions/bruxelles/2016-09-07/des-policiers-attaques-au-couteau-molenbeek
Two police officers stabbed in Brussels, unhurt: police
A man attacked two police officers with a knife in a Brussels park on Wednesday but neither officer was hurt and there was no immediate indication that the assailant had a political motive, Belgian officials said.
A spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutors office said the assailant had said nothing and the case had not been transferred to federal counter-terrorism specialists.
A police spokeswoman said protective vests saved the officers from injury.
The incident happened in mid-afternoon in the Belgian capital’s western borough of Molenbeek, which has been a focus of attention since several young men from the area were involved in last year’s Islamic State attack on Paris.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-belgium-stabbing-idUSKCN11D1PR?il=0
Belgium: Man attacks two policemen with a knife in Molenbeek
the guardian -UK immigration minister confirms work to start on £1.9m Calais wall
Robert Goodwill says four-metre high wall to stop refugees boarding lorries is part of £17m Anglo-French security package
Work is about to begin on “a big, new wall” in Calais as the latest attempt to prevent refugees and migrants jumping aboard lorries heading for the Channel port, the UK’s immigration minister has confirmed.
Robert Goodwill told MPs on Tuesday that the four-metre high wall was part of a £17m package of joint Anglo-French security measures to tighten precautions at the port.
“People are still getting through,” he said. “We have done the fences. Now we are doing the wall,” the new immigration minister told the Commons home affairs committee.
Building on the 1km-long wall along the ferry port’s main dual-carriageway approach road, known as the Rocade, is due to start this month. The £1.9m wall will be built in two sections on either side of the road to protect lorries and other vehicles from migrants who have used rocks, shopping trolleys and even tree trunks to try to stop vehicles before climbing aboard.
It will be made of smooth concrete in an attempt to make it more difficult to scale, with plants and flowers on one side to reduce its visual impact on the local area. It is due to be completed by the end of the year.
The plan has already attracted criticism from local residents who have started calling it “the great wall of Calais”.
François Guennoc of Auberge des Migrants, a French aid group working in Calais, said: “This wall is the latest extension to kilometres of fencing and security surveillance already in place. It will just result in people going further to get round it.
“When you put walls up anywhere in the world, people find ways to go round them. It’s a waste of money. It could make it more dangerous for people, it will push up tariffs for people smugglers and people will end up taking more risks.”
The Road Haulage Association has said it will be a poor use of taxpayers’ money, arguing that security levels need to be improved in the surrounding approach roads to Calais. “It is imperative that the money to pay for a wall would be much better spent on increasing security along approach roads,” a spokesman said.
But Goodwill, a former shipping minister, said the new wall was part of a package of measures to step up security at the Channel ports. “We are going to start building this big, new wall as part of the £17m package we are doing with the French. There is still more to do. We have also invested in space for 200 lorries at Calais so that they have somewhere safe to wait.”
Goodwill, who took over the job of immigration minister on 16 July, said he had yet to visit Calais to see for himself the conditions in the refugee camp known as the “Jungle”. He said he would go as soon as he could but refused to be pinned down by MPs on when exactly that might be.
He defended the government’s record on helping child refugees with links to Britain in the Calais camp, saying they were trying to speed up the process. But he conceded that he had only had one lengthy conversation with Lord Dubs, the leading parliamentary campaigner on the issue, since taking over the job.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/06/uk-immigration-minister-confirms-work-will-begin-on-big-new-wall-in-calais
sky news – Hauliers Slam Calais Wall To Stop Migrants As A ‘Poor Use Of Taxpayer Money’
Work on the 13ft high barrier could start as early as this month and comes after a surge in migrant incursions around the port.
http://news.sky.com/story/uk-to-build-13ft-high-wall-to-contain-migrants-at-calais-10568369
DAILY MAIL – Muslim woman caught driving while using her phone claims she was using it to listen to the Koran to cure her toothache
Woman was pulled over by police on the A27 motorway in the Netherlands
As well as being caught on her phone, she was also not wearing a seatbelt
‘Koran is the best cure for toothache’ excuse didn’t wash and she was fined
Police officer Patrick Vermeulen suggested she tries aspirin next time
She refused to shake hands with the police officer, citing religious reasons
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3777474/Muslim-woman-caught-driving-using-phone-A27-motorway-Netherlands-claims-using-listen-Koran-cure-toothache.html
http://bnr.bg/en/post/100733349/ba
Recently yet another Turkish party was established that lays claims on European countries’ territories that the Ottomans had conquered. It calls them “the land of our ancestors”.
“Those who partitioned our territories and broke us up will see a re-born land of our ancestors which will be named Turkish Islamic Union. Everything will be done in the name and for the benefit of the Islamic world”, the leader of the new party Ibrahim Uniye said.”
France to OUTLAW Niqab Zorro who is paying off burka and burkini fines (express, Sep 7, 2016)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/708203/France-outlaw-Niqab-Zorro-paying-off-burka-burkini-fines
“THE French government has vowed to take action against an Algerian businessman who is paying off fines imposed on Muslim women for wearing the burka, niqab, or burkini in public spaces.
Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve has called for a bill dealing with equality and civic rights to be amended in order to give local authorities the power to incriminate third parties who publicly pledge to pay the fines.
The interior minister is openly targeting Rachid Nekkaz, a wealthy Algerian businessman, former Socialist politician, and self-proclaimed ‘secular Muslim’.
Mr Cazeneuve’s proposal is due to be examined by the Senate this week.
achid Nekkaz claims he is personally “against the niqab, but for Muslim women’s right to wear it in public spaces”.
The Algerian set up a one million euro ‘fine fund’ shortly after France introduced the full-face Islamic veil ban in 2010.
Since then, he has spent more than 200,000 euros paying off more than one thousand burka and burkini fines: 1,167 in France, 268 in Belgium, two in Holland, and one in Switzerland.
Right-wing politician Valérie Pécresse was the first person to try and put a stop to Mr Nekkaz’s “charitable” actions, after filing a new bill to help step up the fight against the full-face veil back in 2014.
The politician said paying the full-face veil fines should be punishable by up to three years in prison and a 100,000 euro fine, but her bill was finally rejected.
According to Ms Pécresse, Mr Nekkaz is “provocative” and his “fine fund” should be considered an act of “civil disobedience”.
France banned the wearing of the burka in public spaces in September 2010, saying facial coverings were a security risk.
Currently there are also legal battles over the legality of the beachwear clothing the burkini after it was banned at a series of resorts.
French courts have since overturned a number of these bans.”
CANADA – Peel police encouraging Muslim recruits, with custom-made hijab available for uniform
Peel Regional Police have a specially-made hijab ready and waiting for any female officer who chooses to wear one.
No current Peel officers have asked to wear a hijab on duty, but with a recruitment forum scheduled for next month aimed at encouraging Muslim men and women to consider a career in policing, it might not be long before the hijab is issued to a new recruit.
“We have a hijab in our stock waiting,” Peel Chief Jennifer Evans confirmed this week. “It’s in the uniform. We see so many in the community wearing (a hijab), so it just makes sense.”
She said over the past year Peel police have been researching and looking for the right material and design. The police-issue hijab is “break-away,” for the safety of the officer, just as police-issue ties are clip-on.
Now, all that’s needed is the first recruit who chooses to wear one.
Evans said consultation was also done with the department’s Muslim Advisory Committee.
And as part of an ongoing series of recruitment forums aimed at further diversifying the police departments’ ranks, a Muslim recruitment forum is set for Oct. 5.
Past forums have been organized to look for recruits in the South Asian, Asian and black communities.
Peel police incorporated the turban into the uniform almost 20 years ago, with the first officer to wear a police-issue turban in 1997.
The Muslim Recruit Forum is scheduled for Oct. 5, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Sayeda Khadija Centre, 7150 Edwards Blvd. in Mississauga.
The RCMP recently announced its female members can wear a hijab on duty if they so choose, and a similar policy exists in Toronto.
http://www.mississauga.com/news-story/6842412-peel-police-encouraging-muslim-recruits-with-custom-made-hijab-available-for-uniform/#.V8-Pz8nAWTc.blogger
End of Human Rights Act: Liz Truss confirms plans to replace with BRITISH Bill of Rights (express, Sep 7, 2016)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/708055/Human-rights-act-repeal-Britain-Government-Lizz-Truss
“Justice Secretary Liz Truss has told MPs the Government plans to repeal the Human Rights Act but will not withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.
Ms Truss said existing laws would be replaced with a British Bill of Rights which would “protect our rights in a better way” than the Human Rights Act.
She told members of the cross-party Commons Justice Select Committee she would be looking at the parameters of a new British Bill of Rights and said thorough consultation would be needed.
Ms Truss said: “There are changes that could be made but that is really a matter that we need to develop in the proposals that we will be putting forward in due course.”
The Human Rights Act came into force in 2000 and effectively enshrines the protections in the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights into UK law.
But many Conservatives have long been bitterly opposed to the Act, particularly since the Strasbourg Court protected prisoners’ rights to vote and refused several deportation orders.
The move to scrap it formed part of David Cameron’s 2015 election manifesto, a pledge seen by critics as a sop to his party’s Euro-sceptic MPs.
Alex Chalk, Tory MP for Cheltenham, questioned why the Government wanted to scrap the Human Rights Act but stay signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights.
He asked: “What is the point of repealing the Human Rights Act if we are staying within the convention?”
Ms Truss replied: “We were members of the convention long before the Human Rights Act. The Human Rights Act is a fairly recent phenomenon.
“And what the British Bill of Rights will do is protect our rights but in a better way.”
She continued: “That is fundamentally what we are saying: that there are big problems with the Human Rights Act that are nothing to do with the convention – problems that have only emerged since the Human Rights Act came in.
“We are still working on it and I don’t have details about the proposal.”
Prime Minister Theresa May has previously signalled strong support for replacing the Act with a British Bill of Rights
In a speech delivered when she was still Home Secretary she said: “This is Great Britain, the country of Magna Carta, parliamentary democracy and the fairest courts in the world.
“And we can protect human rights ourselves in a way that doesn’t jeopardise national security or bind the hands of parliament.
“A true British Bill of Rights, decided by parliament and amended by parliament, would protect not only the rights set out in the convention, but could include traditional British rights not protected by the ECHR such as the right to trial by jury.””
Denmark PM says he will defy EU rules and REJECT asylum seekers in times of crisis (express, Sep 7, 2016)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/708148/Denmark-PM-defy-EU-rules-reject-asylum-seekers-in-crisis
“THE prime minister of Denmark said his minority government is willing to risk breaching European Union rules by pushing ahead with a bill to reject asylum seekers in times of crisis.
Lars Lokke Rasmussen said he wanted to guard against a situation like last year when 21,300 asylum seekers entered the country and the rules that say people must stay and claim asylum in the first EU country they reach were discarded.
He said: “The proposal is aimed at a situation like the one last year, when it was very obvious that Dublin rules had been de facto sidelined.”
He said the proposal was inspired by a similar law adopted in June by neighbouring Norway, which is not a member of the EU but adheres to the Dublin rules, and acknowledged that the change could be “problematic in relation to the Dublin rules”.
“Like Norway sent a signal to us, we would like to send a signal to others that we must find a solution in Europe where we take care of our external borders,” Rasmussen said…”
Egypt: Outrage as MP opposes tougher FGM laws because of ‘impotent men’ (BBC, Sep 7, 2016)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37294030
“An Egyptian MP has stirred controversy after rejecting tougher penalties for those who force women into genital mutilation (FGM), saying half of the country’s men “are impotent”.
Parliament last week approved longer jail terms for those carrying out FGM, following the death of a teenage girl.
MP Ilhami Agina responded by saying FGM was needed in order to reduce women’s sexual appetite, to match Egypt’s men.
The procedure is still widespread in Egypt despite being illegal since 2008.
It involves the partial or full removal of the external sex organs, ostensibly to control women’s sexuality.
“This is a scientific fact based on research. Fifty per cent of Egyptian men are sexually impotent. This is a disease,” Mr Agina said in a TV interview.
“One proof is the spread of imported and local sexual stimulants in the market. Egypt is one of the largest importing countries.”
He was quoted by other Egyptian media as saying the procedure was needed so women would “reduce their sexual desires” to match that of Egypt’s “sexually weak” men.
“If we stop FGM, we will need strong men and we don’t have men of that sort.”…”
Gaza
Soviet docs show Mahmoud Abbas was KGB agent, report says
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was a KGB agent in 1983, according to Soviet-era documents examined by Israel’s Channel 1.
The Abbas revelation stems from documents in the archive of Vasili Mitrokhin, Channel 1’s Oren Nahari tweeted. Mitrokhin, a former Soviet intelligence archivist, defected to Britain after the fall of the Soviet Union. He brought with him a treasure trove of valuable info.
Mitrokhin’s edited notes were released in 2014, but the unedited material remains classified by MI5, The Times of Israel, reported. Mitrokhin died in 2004.
The Abbas news comes just a month before the first Palestinian elections in 10 years. Hamas is likely to take some ground in the municipal vote from Abbas’ Fatah party.
Nahari said it was not immediately known if Abbas served as a Soviet agent at any time after 1983.
A Palestinian official denied there was any truth to the Channel 1 report.
“There’s a clear trend of attempting to damage [Abbas] by various elements, including Israel,” Fatah central committee member Mohammed al-Madani told Haaretz. “This is another attempt to slander him.”
The Mitrokhin documents allegedly show that Abbas was codenamed “Krotov,” meaning “mole,” and reported to Mikhail Bodganov, The Times of Israel reported. At the time, Bogdanov was stationed in Damascus. Abbas studied law at the University of Damascus.
Now a Russian diplomat in the Middle East, Bodganov attempted to broker a meeting between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week.
Abbas is known to have studied in Moscow in the early 1980s and visited the Soviet capital in the early 1980s to defend his doctoral thesis at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported in 2005.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/09/07/soviet-docs-show-mahmoud-abbas-was-kgb-agent-report-says.html
Thumb-suckers and bed-wetters.
All of the troublemakers back then were working for the KGB at one point or another, usually for a long time since the KGB would lavishly fund their efforts.
H A L A L – Saudi arabia
Saudi Cost-Cutting Drive May Cancel $20 Billion of Projects
Saudi Arabia is weighing plans to cancel more than $20 billion of projects and slash ministry budgets by a quarter to repair finances squeezed by low oil prices, people familiar with the matter said, efforts that analysts expect to slow economic growth.
The government is reviewing thousands of projects valued at about 260 billion riyals ($69 billion) and may cancel a third of them, three people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private. The measures would impact the budget for several years and may include transport, housing and healthcare projects, according to two of the people. The government plans to carry out the review within six months, they said.
A separate plan includes merging some government ministries and eliminating others, two people said, also speaking on condition of anonymity. The benchmark stock index dropped the most among Middle East markets monitored by Bloomberg.
Under deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the world’s biggest oil exporter has taken steps to rein in a budget shortfall that ballooned to 16 percent of gross domestic product last year, the highest among the world’s biggest 20 economies. The government has delayed payments owed to contractors and started cutting fuel subsidies. The prince also plans to sell a stake in oil giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Aramco, and create the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund.
The International Monetary Fund expects the shortfall to drop to below 10 percent of GDP in 2017.
[…]In interviews with Bloomberg News this year, Prince Mohammed said that the government was developing a mechanism to provide cash to low- and middle-income Saudis who rely on subsidies. Past rulers of Saudi Arabia have largely avoided seeking additional revenue from the public, which has grown accustomed to government largess in exchange for political loyalty.
“Saudi Arabia’s growth model and its engine are being fundamentally reevaluated, arguably on sounder foundations,” said Philippe Dauba-Pantanacce, a senior economist and global political analyst at Standard Chartered Plc in London. “While economically speaking this all makes sense, the question is: is there a plan to address the potential social fallout from these spending cuts?”
more :
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-06/saudi-arabia-said-to-weigh-canceling-20-billion-of-projects
USA – House plans to vote to allow 9/11 lawsuits against Saudi Arabia
The House will vote this week on a controversial bill allowing the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia in U.S. courts, a Republican leadership source said Wednesday. The bill, which was already approved unanimously by the Senate, is expected to clear the House and head to President Barack Obama’s desk just days before the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Obama is expected to veto the bill, which opponents say would undermine international sovereignty and hurt the country’s relationship with Saudi Arabia.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/house-plans-to-vote-to-allow-9-11-lawsuits-against-saudi-arabia-227836#ixzz4JaZbpN7d
Obama links US Olympic success to genetic diversity
LIBYA – The battle for Sirte continues
At least seven terrorists have died in the last 24 hours while the Bunyan Marsous operations room has not reported any casualties among its fighters. The bodies of the dead IS men were discovered near the Wahda Bank, a sniper position overrun by BM yesterday.
Today the civil court was among positions taken from the terrorists.
As buildings are cleared of any booby traps, they have been searched. Among the finds has been a cache of documents detailing payments to fighters, most of them apparently non-Libyans, including Egyptians, Sudanese, Senegalese and Tunisian. Within them is a receipt for LD 300 paid by a Sudanese man, apparently for an abducted woman.
Besides caches of explosives, shells and light ammunition, some of the terrorists’ personal effects are also coming to light. These included family photographs and letters of Abu-Malek Al-Masry who was killed last week in the fighting that took the town’s Second District.
BM fighters, all now displaying a bright red identification flash on their clothing, have continued laying down fusillades of fire, shelling the remaining IS positions with tanks, anti-aircraft guns and RPGs. While some fighters persist in using daredevil tactics in open spaces, experienced BM snipers are seeking to suppress terrorist snipers who have claimed a regular toll among their attackers.
Bomb-disposal teams are meanwhile continuing to deal with booby-traps and mines, another major source of BM casualties. Over ten tonnes of collected explosives were detonated outside the town on Sunday in a huge blast that produced a plume of debris around .
https://www.libyaherald.com/2016/09/06/the-battle-for-sirte-continues/
With Eid approaching, situation in Tripoli is only deteriorating. Long queues at both banks & fuel stations -Libya
https://twitter.com/NadiaR_LY/status/773527945696665600
NYT – Egypt’s Christians Say They Are at a ‘Breaking Point’
MINYA, Egypt — The Egyptian government has appointed Imam Mahmoud Gomaa, a Muslim cleric, to keep the peace between Christians and Muslims in this corner of upper Egypt. “Everything is good,” he insisted in an interview, citing Christian participation in his official peace-building initiative.
But just a few hours later, the local bishop, Makarios, offered a very different view. “I have nothing to do with Mahmoud Gomaa,” he said.
Once again, Egyptian Christians are feeling under siege, at least in Minya, a city on the banks of the Nile where about 40 percent of the population is Christian. And once again, Christian leaders are divided over how to respond.
At the highest levels of the Coptic Orthodox Church, there is an effort to not make waves and to work with the central government to present an image of unity and calm. After a series of attacks on Copts this summer, the Coptic pope, Tawadros II, pleaded with his followers in the United States not to go ahead with planned demonstrations outside the White House intended to bring international attention to the violence.
“Please, for Christ’s sake, avoid this behavior,” he said.
But in Minya, where violence against Christians often flares, local Coptic leaders are reluctant to go along.
“We are at a breaking point,” Bishop Makarios said. “People can’t put up with any more of this.”
Egypt’s Christian community, an estimated 10 percent of the population, has long had a symbiotic relationship with the state. The government provided security in an increasingly hostile environment, and the Christian leadership helped present a face of tolerance and religious freedom to the West.
That compact frayed badly in the waning years of Hosni Mubarak’s presidency and seemed to come undone altogether after he was toppled from power and an Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, was elected. Attacks on churches, led by Islamist youths, surged.
So when Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the general turned president, ousted Mr. Morsi in 2013, the Coptic Church was among his staunchest supporters. When Mr. Sisi attended Coptic Christmas services in January 2015, he was cheered enthusiastically as the first Egyptian leader to do so.
Yet the limits of that support have became evident in Minya, where Christians continue to suffer violence and humiliation. Houses have been burned, Copts attacked on the streets and hate graffiti written on the walls of some churches. In all, Coptic officials have counted 37 attacks in the past three years, not including some 300 others right after Mr. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood were ousted from power in 2013.
The turning point for local Copts came in May when an older Christian woman was stripped naked by a mob, which had been incited by reports that the woman’s son was having an affair with a Muslim.
“After that woman was stripped, we couldn’t be quiet, not after that,” Bishop Makarios said. What especially angered Copts, he added, “is that officials came out denying the incident.”
“Had they apologized or said they would follow it up, it would be different, but this was an insult to Egypt and the women of Egypt,” he said.
Not only was the Muslim woman not having an affair with the son, the bishop said, but she is suing her husband for libel for having started a false rumor.
The violence created tensions both inside and outside the Coptic Church. In public, Pope Tawadros II took what, to many of his followers, looked like a timid approach. In Minya, Bishop Makarios decided to speak out. And Imam Gomaa, the government official, accused him of overreacting. The violent attacks were just minor disputes that happened to take place between Muslims and Christians, he said.
“No one has been killed,” Imam Gomaa said. “No one has even been wounded. There’s no conflict. The problem is really with the journalists writing about it.”
Actually, the bishop said, there have been killings. In July in the Minya village of Tahna El-Jabal, a Christian was stabbed to death by a mob, he said. A month earlier, in Sinai, a Christian priest was killed by Islamic State extremists, making him the Islamic State’s ninth victim among Copts in the northern Sinai.
While someone was jailed in the stabbing, the bishop said that if the pattern after other attacks on Christians was repeated, the perpetrator would be freed.
“In such attacks, every one of them is released, not a single one has been punished, and that’s what really upsets the Copts,” he said. “So long as no one is punished, this is just going to get worse.”
Bishop Makarios sees organizations like the Family House as a big part of the problem. Formed to reconcile communal differences, the group has instead acted to deflect criminal prosecutions. It resorts to tribal negotiations that the church feels end up intimidating Coptic minorities into accepting nonjudicial settlements with their more numerous neighbors, instead of the government’s stepping in to carry out legal prosecutions.
Copts are also concerned that they have been unable to get permission to open new churches, which is often refused by the police on security grounds. In the Minya bishopric alone, which has 100 churches, 150 villages have no church, but few new ones have opened.
In Ismailia, for instance, the Copts have built two new churches in recent years, but have yet to start using them, denied permission to do so on security grounds. Instead, they received permission to pray in a tent outside one of the churches, but the tent recently burned down.
Two young men accused of setting the fire were immediately released, returning to a hero’s welcome in the community, Christians from the village said in interviews here.
“The police say they can’t open because of security concerns?” said Abram Samir, a lay church official. “It’s their responsibility to protect me and let me have my rights.”
Imam Gomaa said that many churches were being built, but that building too many might inflame antagonisms. “If they don’t have a church in their village, why can’t they go to another village and pray?” he said.
Three years ago, the situation was much worse, after the military violently put down Muslim Brotherhood protests against its taking power, killing hundreds and possibly thousands of protesters. Islamic extremists responded by burning down an estimated 76 churches around the country, including four in this city.
Imam Gomaa does not dispute that that was a bad time, but said it was much better now.
“Everything is good. Just the media makes it look like we have a problem,” he said. “We have always been living together. There is no conflict. All the reported incidents have been individual, isolated cases.”
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/09/05/world/middleeast/egypt-middleeast-copts-christians.html
ISIS Proudly Presents Its Child Soldiers In New Video
The young boys study religion and say their ambition is to become martyrs, in the latest propaganda release from the terror group
A new video released by ISIS shows what the terror group is calling its newest generation of fighters and suicide bombers. Thirteen minutes long, the video shows dozens of young boys declaring their ambition to become ‘martyrs’ for their religion, and going through training exercises.
It was released late Tuesday by ISIS’ Deir e-Zour province in Syria and has since circulated hundreds of times on ISIS social media channels, Vocativ has found. In the short film, boys are shown studying in an ISIS-approved religious institute. One young boy tells the camera he wants to “become a martyr to terrorize the enemies and kill them,” and to follow in the path of his brother who was also killed fighting for ISIS.
The video mocks secular education systems and ridicules other Middle Eastern countries where children “dream about becoming a minister, a member of parliament, a judge or a pilot.” It criticizes parents who, the group argues, play a role in corrupting their children” by sending them to international schools or encouraging them to take part in reality talents show. Scenes from the popular Arabs Got Talent show feature in the video.
In another segment, children are seen volunteering for the notorious religious police known as Hisbah. One child is shown chiding other boys, telling them to put their clothes on before going swimming. In another scene, a young boy is trying to tell an elderly man to grow his beard.
The most chilling part of the video is the end, in which the boys are shown undergoing training with automatic rifles, fighting in battles, and standing beside dead bodies.
“They will be the generation to conquer Damascus, Baghdad, Jerusalem, Mecca, Medina, Dabiq, Rome and Andalusia,” the narrator says at the end.
http://www.vocativ.com/356932/isis-proudly-presents-its-child-soldiers-in-new-video/
on youtube :
PORTUGAL Moita ( near Lisbon )
Muslim from Guinea attacked 2 police agents with axe and knife –
– is killed after having wounded both the policemen
===============================================
Agentes da PSP agredidos no Vale da Amoreira estavam à civil
[…]O homem, de 51 anos, natural da Guiné, acabou por morrer no local
http://sicnoticias.sapo.pt/pais/2016-09-07-Agentes-da-PSP-agredidos-no-Vale-da-Amoreira-estavam-a-civil
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Britain bankrolling Syrian opposition’s lobbying efforts in US – report (RT, Sep 7, 2016)
https://www.rt.com/uk/358547-syrian-opposition-lobbyists-fund/
“Britain has spent more than £1 million ($1.4 million) funding the Syrian opposition’s lobbying efforts in Washington DC and at the United Nations in a bid to influence American policy, US Department of Justice records reveal.
The British government has used a fund known as the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund to bankroll lobbyists in the US – some of whom are former British diplomats – on behalf of Syrian rebels.
The revelation comes as Syrian opposition leaders meet in London on Wednesday to discuss a possible peace deal which would see President Bashar Assad step down.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson hinted on Wednesday the UK is prepared to give stronger backing to ‘moderate’ Syrian rebels opposing Assad.
Lobbying documents obtained by Al-Monitor show the UK has been using ‘soft power’ to influence US policy on Syria for years.
The Conflict Pool was created in 2009 to “reduce the impact of conflict and instability around the world,” according to the British government.
The fund, which is jointly managed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DfID), was renamed to become the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund in April 2015.
In the last 18 months, it paid out $1.4 million to advisory group Independent Diplomat to lobby the US State Department on behalfof the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces.
At least two of the lobbyists are former British diplomats – Independent Diplomat founder and Executive Director Carne Ross and Policy Director Reza Afshar are both registered on the account.
The fund came to national attention earlier this year for spending £2.4 million ($3.2 million) to run a shadow press office for the Western-backed Syrian opposition aimed at publicising ‘moderate’ rebels to military backers such as the Department of Defence…”
‘Man of the Year’: Anti-immigrant Hungary PM Orban honored in Poland for policy impact (RT, Sep 7, 2016)
https://www.rt.com/news/358563-orban-poland-forum-award/
“Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, known for his tough stance on the refugee crisis, has been awarded the ‘Man of the Year’ award at an economic forum in Poland for his impact on shaping Central European policy.
The ‘Man of the Year’ award, considered to be the most prestigious accolade presented during the Economic Forum in the Polish southern resort town of Krynica-Zdroj, was handed to Orban by Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo.
The Hungarian PM said that the Visegard Group – which consists of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – could become a driving force behind EU reform following the UK’s decision to leave the bloc.
“I am of the opinion that the Visegard Group is a very good forum in which to germinate ideas and to then take them to a European level,” Orban said at the event.
Earlier, the Hungarian PM also vowed to start a “cultural counter-revolution” within the union and to pursue a radically different vision of the EU, as he spoke during a panel discussion he hosted together with the leader of the ruling Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
“Brexit is a fantastic opportunity for us. We are at a historic cultural moment,” Orban said, adding that “there is a possibility of a cultural counter-revolution right now.”
No European identity could replace national ones
Speaking at the forum, Orban again criticized the EU’s handling of the refugee crisis. He said that the unending influx of refugees and migrants leads to the “elimination” of “historical identities.”
Those who come to Europe have much stronger identities than Europeans and increasingly create isolated cultural “islands” in European societies, Orban said, as reported by Hungary’s MTI news agency.
The Hungarian PM also emphasized that EU members should separately preserve their traditional national and religious identities, adding that no broad European identity could effectively replace national ones…”
Government backs Deutsche Welle in Turkey dispute (DW, Sep 7, 2016)
http://www.dw.com/en/government-backs-deutsche-welle-in-turkey-dispute/a-19532889
“German diplomats have spoken out after Turkey’s Youth and Sports Ministry confiscated a DW interview. Media and Culture Commissioner Monika Grütters has also made a strong public statement…”
Refugee advocates: The problem is perception and policy (DW, Sep 7, 2016)
http://www.dw.com/en/refugee-advocates-the-problem-is-perception-and-policy/a-19532378
Nothing really new here. Just rehashing radical leftist propaganda.
Danish school under fire for ‘ethnic quota’ classes (thelocal, Sep 7, 2016)
http://www.thelocal.dk/20160907/danish-school-under-fire-for-ethnic-quota-classes
“A Danish school was criticised on Wednesday for limiting the number of students from ethnic minorities in some of its classes, in a bid to prevent students from a Danish background from leaving it.
The Langkær upper secondary school outside the city of Aarhus said its first-year students had been divided into seven different classes, out of which three classes had a 50 percent limit on the number of ethnic minority students.
The remaining four classes consisted only of students from an immigrant background.
The school’s headmaster, Yago Bundgaard, denied allegations that the practice amounted to discrimination and said that the aim was to encourage integration by preventing a dwindling number of ethnic Danes from leaving the school.
“For real integration to take place in a class there has to be sufficient numbers from both groups for it to happen,” he told public broadcaster DR.
The school had seen the number of ethnic minority students rise from 25 percent in 2007 to 80 percent of this year’s first-year students.
Describing it as “the least bad solution”, Bundgaard said that the ethnic minority students had been picked based on whether they had “a Danish-sounding name”, but admitted that it was a “fluid” distinction.
Turkish-born commentator and former lawmaker Özlem Cekic said she would report the school to Denmark’s Board of Equal Treatment (Ligebehandlingsnævnet).
“When a headmaster isolates the brown children from the white in an upper secondary school, he is part of sending a signal that the whites must be protected from the brown,” she wrote on Facebook.
Human rights lawyer Nanna Krusaa also told broadcaster TV 2 that “placing students solely based on race or ethnicity is in my clear view illegal”.
Danish Education Minister Ellen Trane Nørby said that she had requested a report from the school to ensure that the law was being upheld, but that she was also looking at introducing legislation to make upper secondary schools in Denmark more ethnically mixed.
“The fundamental problem is that we in Denmark have… schools with a too high ratio of students with a different ethnic background than Danish,” she wrote on Facebook.”
UN says Austria risks breaking ‘taboo’ on refugees (thelocal, Sep 7, 2016)
http://www.thelocal.at/20160907/un-says-austria-risks-breaking-taboo-on-refugees
“The UN refugee agency has warned that Austria is in danger of breaking a decades-old tradition of helping those in need, after Vienna moved a step closer to potentially shutting its borders to migrants.
“Since World War II, Austria has always adhered to the tradition of protecting refugees. Access to the asylum process has always been a matter of course,” said Christoph Pinter, head of UNHCR in Austria.
But the new plans “would represent the breaking of a taboo and a retreat from the protection of refugees,” Pinter said in a statement.
On Tuesday, the governing coalition agreed on a draft emergency decree that, once it enters into force, would allow Austria to block the entry of migrants directly at its borders.
Chancellor Christian Kern said that the decree would be applied once the government’s upper limit of 37,500 asylum applications for this year is reached.
The draft decree remains at least several weeks from being ready to come into force and could face legal challenges, including at EU level. How the border closures would work in practice also remain unclear.
Austria received a record 90,000 asylum applications in 2015, when hundreds of thousands of migrants, many fleeing conflict in the Middle East, entered Europe.
Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), echoing populist parties elsewhere, has stoked concerns about the new arrivals to boost support, putting Kern under pressure to act.
On October 2, the FPÖ’s Norbert Hofer stands a good chance of being elected as Europe’s first far-right president since 1945, although in Austria the job is largely ceremonial.”
23.7 percent of Egyptians above 15 are illiterate: CAPMAS (ahram, Sep 7, 2016)
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/243589/Egypt/Politics-/-percent-of-Egyptians-above–are-illiterate-CAPMAS.aspx
“More than 14 million Egyptians above the age of 10 cannot ?read or write, said Egypt’s official statistics agency in a statement ?Wednesday. ?
Marking International Literacy Day, the Central Agency for Public ?Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) said that of the 14.5 million ?illiterate Egyptians, 9.3 million are ?females and 5.2 million are males. ?
The statement, which comes one day before the world celebrates the ??50th anniversary of the start of International Literacy Day, ?added that 23.7 percent of Egyptians above the age of 15 years are ?illiterate; 30.9 percent female and 16.6 male….”
Turkey never declared US behind coup attempt: Deputy PM Kurtulmu? (hurriyetdailynews, Sep 7, 2016)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-never-declared-us-behind-coup-attempt-deputy-pm-kurtulmus.aspx?pageID=238&nID=103665&NewsCatID=338
“Turkey never declared that the United States was behind the July 15 failed coup attempt, believed to have been orchestrated by U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmu? has said.
“Turkey officially does not have, and has not declared, such an assumption that American authorities are behind this coup attempt. There is no evidence or clear indication to speak towards that,” Kurtulmu?, who was in New York to hold meetings regarding Gülen, told journalists on Sept. 6, as he has criticized the U.S. for “giving a slow reaction” to the coup attempt.
“The fact that [the] Americans displayed a slow reaction in the wake of the coup attempt caused difficulties for the Turkish people to reconcile this issue with the friendship [between Turkey and the U.S.] And we shared this without reservations [with American officials],” he said…”
Obama nominates first Muslim as Federal Judge (gulfnews, Sep 7, 2016)
http://gulfnews.com/news/americas/usa/obama-nominates-first-muslim-as-federal-judge-1.1893019
“US President Barack Obama made history on Tuesday by nominating, for the first time a Muslim, to serve as a federal judge.
Abid Riaz Qureshi, an American national of Pakistani origin, has been nominated to the US District Court in the District of Columbia, The Huffington Post reported.
“I am pleased to nominate Qureshi to serve on the United States District Court bench,” Obama said in a statement. “I am confident he will serve the American people with integrity and a steadfast commitment to justice.”
Qureshi, born in Pakistan, received a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and followed it up with a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1997. He has been partner at a Latham and Watkins, a law firm based in Washington DC since 2006, leading their pro bono efforts since 2012, reported The National Law Journal.
President Obama’s nomination has been hailed as a milestone by Muslim advocacy groups. “I commend President Obama for taking this important step in continuing to pick the best and brightest from every community to serve as part of our nation’s judiciary,” said Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates, a legal advocacy organisation.
“A judiciary that reflects the rich diversity of our nation helps ensure the fair and just administration of the law, and it is vital for American Muslims to be included. Mr Qureshi’s profound commitment to the rule of law and justice for people of all backgrounds makes him an exceptional nominee.”…”
United States rules out sanctions against Pakistan (tribune, Sep 7, 2016)
http://tribune.com.pk/story/1177930/united-states-rules-sanctions-pakistan/
“The United States on Wednesday ruled out sanctions against Pakistan saying that the country’s recent counter-terrorism operations were ‘encouraging’.
On being asked if the US would consider placing sanctions on Pakistan for not taking enough action against terrorist networks, the US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner said, “I don’t think we’re even at that point…We continue to have conversations with the highest level of the Government of Pakistan. And our basic point in all of these conversations is that Pakistan must target all militant groups, including those that target Pakistan’s neighbors, and eliminate all safe havens.”…”
Obama administration arms sales offers to Saudi top $115 billion: report (reuters, Sep 7, 2016)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-security-idUSKCN11D2JQ
“U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has offered Saudi Arabia more than $115 billion in weapons, other military equipment and training, the most of any U.S. administration in the 71-year U.S.-Saudi alliance, a report seen by Reuters has found.
The report, authored by William Hartung of the U.S.-based Center for International Policy, said the offers were made in 42 separate deals, and the majority of the equipment has yet to be delivered. Hartung told Reuters the report would be made available publicly on Sept. 8.
The report said U.S. arms offers to Saudi Arabia since Obama took office in January 2009 have included everything from small arms and ammunition to tanks, attack helicopters, air-to-ground missiles, missile defense ships, and warships. Washington also provides maintenance and training to Saudi security forces.
The Center’s report is based on data from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, a Department of Defense body that provides figures on arms sales offers and Foreign Military Sales agreements. Most of the offers, which are reported to Congress, become formal agreements though some are abandoned or amended. The report did not disclose how many of the offers to Saudi Arabia were agreed…”
How Reducing Immigration Will Boost GOP Latino Support
Less immigration means more integration.
The amnesty wing of the GOP has traditionally offered a false choice between legalizing millions of illegal aliens or losing the Hispanic vote. Their argument was that to be competitive with the growing numbers of Hispanic voters, Republicans had to get on board with amnesty.
The numbers for that argument never made any sense.
Even George W. Bush, as a wartime president who was supportive of amnesty, had only managed 40% of the Hispanic vote in his best election. And that was the strongest performance by a Republican since Reagan. Even assuming that every post-amnesty Republican candidate could get 40%, a ridiculously implausible political fantasy, that would only doom the GOP as a political party a good deal faster.
Republicans who were less enthusiastic about illegal alien amnesty still usually insisted on the need for more immigration. As if a country with high unemployment among unskilled laborers needs even more unskilled laborers whose only asset is a willingness to undercut American workers by working for less.
But the best way for Republicans to increase their share of Hispanic voters is by rejecting amnesty and reducing immigration.
The latest Gallup numbers show that among foreign-born Hispanics, Hillary Clinton enjoys an 87% percent approval rating while Donald Trump only has a 13% approval rating. However among Hispanics born in this country, Hillary Clinton only scores a 43% approval rating while Trump rises to 29%.
Those numbers are not significantly worse than Romney’s overall ratings among Hispanic voters.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/264084/how-reducing-immigration-will-boost-gop-latino-daniel-greenfield
Obama’s Most Flagrant Violation Of the Constitution Yet
How Obama is using the United Nations to force his radical environmentalist agenda on the American people.
President Obama has just committed his most flagrant violation of the U.S. Constitution to date. He purported to commit the United States to a legally binding treaty without first obtaining consent by two thirds of the Senators present, as required under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution. Obama is using the United Nations to end run the Senate with regard to the Paris Agreement on climate change negotiated last December.
Last week, Obama submitted an instrument to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, for deposit with the UN, which he claims signifies official “acceptance” of the Paris Agreement by the United States. Obama said he and China’s President Xi Jinping together decided to “commit formally to joining the agreement ahead of schedule.”
Obama was constitutionally entitled to sign the Paris Agreement as an executive act, which he did in April of this year. However, signing the Paris Agreement was only the first step. In order for the Paris Agreement to actually take effect and enter into legal force, at least 55 countries representing at least 55 percent of global emissions need to formally join the Paris Agreement. This requires the further step of member states’ “ratification, acceptance or approval” of the Paris Agreement before their emissions can be counted towards fulfilling the 55 percent of global emissions threshold.
The United States is the second highest emitter of emissions, after China. Together the U.S. and China account for around 40 percent of global emissions. If the United States and China were to formally join the Paris Agreement via ratification, acceptance or approval, the 55 percent threshold target would be well within reach.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/264097/obamas-most-flagrant-violation-constitution-yet-joseph-klein
Uruguay Searching for Country to Take Ex-Guantanamo Detainee
Uruguay’s government said Wednesday it is searching for another country to take a former Guantanamo detainee who is threatening to die on a hunger strike if he is not allowed to reunite with his family abroad.
Syrian native Abu Wa’el Dhiab has repeatedly said he is unhappy in Uruguay and is demanding to be allowed to leave the South American country, which took him in with five other former Guantanamo prisoners in 2014.
“For several days now, the Uruguayan government has been making arrangements with different states, especially in the Arab world, so they can take in Dhiab and he can fulfill his wish and reunite with his family,” Dhiab’s government liaison, Christian Mirza, told local radio Sarandi.
“The government is trying its best, but it’s not that simple,” he said.
There is nothing impeding Dhiab’s family from coming to Uruguay, but the former prisoner is against it, Mirza said.
“We’d have to ask ourselves why his family could not come to Uruguay when the families of other Guantanamo refugees came here when they wished,” Mizra said.
Dhiab was briefly hospitalized Monday night in Montevideo after he became weak from the hunger strike.
A few hours after he was released Tuesday, friends posted a YouTube video showing Dhiab lying on a mattress in his apartment. He speaks softly in Arabic pressing his demand to be sent to another country to be with his family.
“My decision to go on a hunger strike is my final decision. Either in Argentina or Afghanistan (or wherever) with my family or I die,” he says. “My daughter will marry in 10 days. I would have liked to be with you.”
He says he feels like a prisoner in Uruguay. “They tell me I’m free, but that is not true,” he says.
Dhiab insists he has been on a 25-day hunger strike and has not consumed any liquids for five days. But some of his friends and Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa have said he ate some food last week on a flight when he was deported from Venezuela back to Uruguay.
Dhiab was at the center of a legal battle at Guantanamo for years because of repeated hunger strikes to protest his indefinite detainment. He gets around on crutches and suffers from health problems related to the hunger strikes and forced feedings while in U.S. custody.
He had turned up in Venezuela in late July after going missing from Uruguay for several weeks, which had alarmed officials in neighboring countries and led U.S. lawmakers to scold the Obama administration for losing track of him.
The Uruguayan Foreign Ministry has said he tried to get help in Venezuela to reunite with his family in Turkey or another country.
Dhiab and the five other former Guantanamo prisoners came to Uruguay for resettlement at the invitation of then President Jose Mujica. They had been detained in 2002 for suspected ties to al-Qaida and were held without charge before U.S. officials cleared them for release.
Uruguay has provided social services and financial support, but the men have struggled to adjust and say they don’t get enough help. Dhiab has been the most vocally critical member of the group.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/uruguay-searching-country-guantanamo-detainee-41930216