Reader’s links for November 20 – 2016

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

This way, under the various posts of the day, conversation can take place without as much ‘noise’ on the various links and articles and ideas in the main posts and all the news links being submitted can be seen under these auto-posts by clicking on the comments-link right below these ones.

Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

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

78 Replies to “Reader’s links for November 20 – 2016”

  1. Why The Mega-Rich Are Getting Bodyguards
    Prince Harry wants girlfriend Meghan Markle to have one, and wealthy visitors to Paris are asking for extra levels of protection.

    The affluent centers of the capital cities of Western Europe always used to be considered among the safest places in the world. There used to be a quiet confidence among the 1% that they could walk down a street in Mayfair or the Boulevard Saint-Germain reasonably safe in the knowledge that they weren’t going to get mugged, gassed, beaten or robbed in broad daylight.

    It’s an attitude that still persists in London, as the solo outing by Meghan Markle to her new boyfriend Prince Harry’s Kensington branch of Wholefoods last week showed.

    The little shopping trip, made just days after Harry issued an unprecedented statement condemning media intrusion into her life, was a clear sign that despite Harry’s concerns for her safety, Markle ultimately found enough comfort in the old ideas of London’s innate safety to venture out alone.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/11/18/why-the-mega-rich-are-getting-bodyguards.html

    Richard: The Mega Rich are more or less demanding special police protection which will in turn take protection away from the ordinary people. If they want specail protection they should pay for it.

    • That bubble within which the ultra-rich reside is encountering a lot more sharp edges these days. Could it be at all related to how they’ve flooded Western cities with Iron-age barbarians who’re meant to entangle us in horizontal class warfare so that we fail to notice how the time has come for vertical class warfare?!?

  2. French conservatives rally voters in tightening primaries race

    PARIS (Reuters) – The race for France’s conservative presidential nomination looked tighter than ever on Saturday, with voting due to begin within 24 hours and polls suggesting whoever emerges on top will make it all the way to the Elysee Palace.

    Ahead of Sunday’s vote, which will select two candidates for the decisive Nov. 27 second round, centrist Alain Juppe had lost most or all of his early polling lead as his fellow former prime minister Francois Fillon enjoyed a late surge.

    After Britain’s shock “Brexit” vote in June and last week’s election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, the French election next spring will be the next test of strength between weakened mainstream political forces and rising populist insurgents.

    Opinion polls have for months suggested that far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen will make it to the decisive run-off in May, but that Juppe would beat her if he won the conservative Les Republicains nomination.

    His lead, however, has been eroded by two party rivals to his right – ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy and Fillon, who served as Sarkozy’s prime minister from 2007-2012.

    “I can sense a surprise coming,” Fillon told supporters at a rally on Friday in Paris. He urged them to “shake up” the primaries, winning wide applause and shouts of “Fillon for president” from a crowd of over 3,000.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/french-conservatives-rally-voters-tightening-primaries-race-123704569.html

  3. Poll Finds Disunity in EU Ranks, ‘Things Are Going in the Wrong Direction’

    Read more: https://sputniknews.com/europe/201611181047586844-eu-disunity-parlemeter-poll/

    The number of people who believe being an EU member is good for their country has fallen to 53%, according to the latest “Parlemeter” poll, commissioned by the European Parliament. And the future looks bleak: 54% of respondents said they think “things are going in the wrong direction,” an increase of 13% from 2015.

    2016 has marked an extraordinary turning point in global politics. The status quo is well and truly under attack. In June, came the shock decision by the UK to vote to abandon its EU membership. With no precedent, and willing to take a leap into the unknown, Brits still chose to repatriate powers back from the EU.

    Read more: https://sputniknews.com/europe/201611181047586844-eu-disunity-parlemeter-poll/

  4. UK Researchers: Tax Food to Reduce Climate Change

    A group of researchers in Oxford University, England have suggested that imposing a massive tax on carbon intensive foods – specifically protein rich foods like meat and dairy – could help combat climate change.

    Pricing food according to its climate impacts could save half a million lives and one billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions

    Taxing greenhouse gas emissions from food production could save more emissions than are currently generated by global aviation, and lead to half a million fewer deaths from chronic diseases, according to a new study published in Nature Climate Change.

    The study, conducted by a team of researchers from the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food at the University of Oxford and the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington DC, is the first global analysis to estimate the impacts that levying emissions prices on food could have on greenhouse gas emissions and human health.

    The findings show that about one billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions could be avoided in the year 2020 if emissions pricing of foods were to be implemented, more than the total current emissions from global aviation. However, the authors stress that due consideration would need to be given to ensuring such policies did not impact negatively on low income populations.

    “Emissions pricing of foods would generate a much needed contribution of the food system to reducing the impacts of global climate change,” said Dr Marco Springmann of the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food, who led the study. “We hope that’s something policymakers gathering this week at the Marrakech climate conference will take note of.”…..

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/11/19/uk-researchers-tax-food-to-reduce-climate-change/

    Richard: The left has long dreamed of having the ability to force us to eat what they want and nothing else, now the left in Britian has found a way to do that.

  5. Brilliant: The ‘fake news’ theme is itself fake news
    By J.E. Dyer

    By the very criteria used to proclaim that something is “fake news,” it turns out that the news about “fake news” is…fake news.

    That’s the take-away from an investigation of the supposed “fake news” phenomenon – at least as it is being presented in the two canonical posts referenced by every MSM or left-wing outlet that has reported on “fake news” in the last week.

    The two posts are from BuzzFeed, and both were penned and/or supervised by Craig Silverman, founder of BuzzFeed Canada, who since July 2016 has been leading a new BuzzFeed initiative to combat “fake news.”

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/11/20/brilliant-fake-news-theme-fake-news/

  6. Epic fail: McDonald’s reacts to ‘Fight for $15’ by placing automated ordering stations at all U.S. locations
    By LU Staff November 20, 2016

    From the “best-laid schemes” file comes word that McDonald’s has announced plans to roll out automated kiosks and mobile pay options at all of its U.S. locations, raising questions about the future of its 1.5 million employees in the country and around the globe.

    Roughly 500 restaurants in Florida, New York. and California now have the automated ordering stations, and restaurant in Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., will be outfitted in 2017, according to CNNMoney.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/11/20/epic-fail-mcdonalds-reacts-fight-15-placing-automated-ordering-stations-u-s-locations/

    Richard: Once again the left’s claimed goal of protecting the workers and ensuring a living wage on what are starter positions for teenagers has reduced the number of jobs available for the teens. This reduction will be permanent and with the growth of technological capabilities will grow to the point that in the relativity near future will there will be one or two people in each fast food restaurant supervising the robots.

  7. More Hillary State Dept.-Clinton Foundation shenanigans in Haiti uncovered
    By Jeff Dunetz November 19, 2016

    The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch received 508 pages of documents in response to a FOIA lawsuit, most of which were too redacted to have meaning. But the 60+ pages remaining revealed brand spanking new conflicts of interest between the Hillary Clinton-led State Department and the Clinton Foundation in Haiti. These new revelations are in addition to previous evidence of Haitian “funny business” between the Clinton Foundation and Hillary’s State Department.

    The documents were released as a of a federal court order in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the State Department three and a half years ago (on May 28, 2013) (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:13-cv-00772)). It’s incredible that the federal government wasted taxpayer time and money to protect Clinton, but that was typical of the soon-to-be-history Obama years.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/11/19/hillary-state-dept-clinton-foundation-shenanigans-haiti-uncovered/

  8. Today Harmanli (a town of~10K that has accommodated over 3K and possibly ~5K migrants) protested once again.
    “My daughter cannot even go to the store alone anymore. We keep our children indoors because of them.”
    “They bring diseases”; “We have to keep our windows closed because they enter into our homes” says another local man.
    Protester chanted “Aliens out”.
    https://youtu.be/ZFlczxg_fgo?t=1m51s

  9. This is a case of a very unfortunate monkey who playfully pulled off a girl’s head scarf which caused the local savages to start a minor civil war that killed the monkey and three people. These are the same people that Hussein and Merkel want to fast track into our countries to destroy Western Civilization before Trump takes office. God have mercy on us.

    *************************************************************************************************

    TRIPOLI (Reuters) – At least 16 people died and 50 were wounded in Libya in four days of clashes between rival factions in the southern city of Sabha, a health official said on Sunday.

    According to residents and local reports, the latest bout of violence erupted between two tribes after an incident in which a monkey that belonged to a shopkeeper from the Gaddadfa tribe attacked a group of schoolgirls who were passing by.

    The monkey pulled off one of the girls’ head scarf, leading men from the Awlad Suleiman tribe to retaliate by killing three people from the Gaddadfa tribe as well as the monkey, according to a resident who spoke to Reuters.

    https://ca.news.yahoo.com/monkey-incident-sparks-clashes-southern-libyan-city-sabha-141307972.html

    • LIBYA – Monkey incident sparks clashes in southern Libyan city of Sabha, 16 dead

      Sunday, Sabha Medical Centre had received the bodies of 16 people killed in the clashes and some 50 wounded, said a spokesman for the center.

      At least 16 people died and 50 were wounded in Libya in four days of clashes between rival factions in the southern city of Sabha, a health official said on Sunday.

      According to residents and local reports, the latest bout of violence erupted between two tribes after an incident in which a monkey that belonged to a shopkeeper from the Gaddadfa tribe attacked a group of schoolgirls who were passing by.

      The monkey pulled off one of the girls’ head scarf, leading men from the Awlad Suleiman tribe to retaliate by killing three people from the Gaddadfa tribe as well as the monkey, according to a resident who spoke to Reuters.

      City officials could not be reached to confirm the accounts.

      “There was an escalation on the second and third days with the use of tanks, mortars and other heavy weapons,” the resident told Reuters by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the denigrating security situation.

      “There are still sporadic clashes and life is completely shut down in the areas where there has been fighting.”

      Like other parts of Libya, Sabha has been periodically plagued by conflict since the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi five years ago splintered the country into warring factions.

      In the Sabha region, a hub for migrant and arms smuggling in Libya’s often neglected south, militia abuses and the deterioration of living conditions have been especially acute.

      The Gaddadfa and the Awlad Suleiman represent the most powerful armed factions in the region.

      During the latest clashes, which took place in the city center, initial attempts by tribal leaders to calm the fighting and arrange a ceasefire so that bodies could be recovered had failed, residents said.

      By Sunday, Sabha Medical Centre had received the bodies of 16 people killed in the clashes and some 50 wounded, said a spokesman for the center.

      “There are women and children among the wounded and some foreigners from sub-Saharan African countries among those killed due to indiscriminate shelling,” he said.

      The city lies about 660km (410 miles) south of Tripoli.

      http://www.theglobeandmail.com/feeds/thomson-reuters/canada-top/monkey-incident-sparks-clashes-in-southern-libyan-city-of-sabha-16-dead/article32946988/
      =========================================================
      Tribal clashes sparked by monkey kills 21, injures dozens in Libya

      At least 21 people died and 50 were wounded in Libya in four days of clashes between rival factions in the southern city of Sabha, a health official said on Sunday.

      According to residents and local reports, the latest bout of violence erupted between two tribes after an incident in which a monkey that belonged to a shopkeeper from the toppled dictator Moamer Gadhafi’s Gaddadfa tribe attacked a group of schoolgirls who were passing by.

      The monkey pulled off one of the girls’ head scarf, leading men from the Awlad Suleiman tribe to retaliate by killing three people from the Gaddadfa tribe as well as the monkey, according to a resident who spoke to Reuters.

      City officials could not be reached to confirm the accounts.

      Nasser al-Jehimi of the medical center in Sabha told AFP that 21 people were killed and around 100 others injured in clashes since Tuesday.

      “There was an escalation on the second and third days with the use of tanks, mortars and other heavy weapons,” a resident told Reuters by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the denigrating security situation.

      “There are still sporadic clashes and life is completely shut down in the areas where there has been fighting.”

      Like other parts of Libya, Sabha has been periodically plagued by conflict since the uprising that toppled Muammar Gadhafi five years ago splintered the country into warring factions.

      In the Sabha region, a hub for migrant and arms smuggling in Libya’s often neglected south, militia abuses and the deterioration of living conditions have been especially acute.

      The Gaddadfa and the Awlad Suleiman represent the most powerful armed factions in the region.

      Salah Badr, a member of Sabha city council, declined to give specifics but noted that relations between the two tribes had been strained for many years.

      “A minor incident sparked the fire,” he told AFP.

      During the latest clashes, which took place in the city center, initial attempts by tribal leaders to calm the fighting and arrange a ceasefire so that bodies could be recovered had failed, residents said.

      “There are women and children among the wounded and some foreigners from sub-Saharan African countries among those killed due to indiscriminate shelling,” a spokesman for the Sabha Medical Center said.

      The city lies about 660km (410 miles) south of Tripoli. Regular inter-tribal clashes in Sebha have left several dozen people dead

      http://www.dailysabah.com/africa/2016/11/20/tribal-clashes-sparked-by-monkey-kills-21-injures-dozens-in-libya

    • Thank you so much for the link, Buck. This chap’s thoroughly saline commentary is as hilarious as it is spot-effing-on!!!

  10. PARIS – Nov 20 2016 – ”Curse the Terror, Invite Democracy” rally against PKK terrorist organization at Republique Square in Paris

  11. http://guardian.ng/news/three-handmade-bombs-explode-in-yangon-supermarket/

    Three suspected handmade bombs exploded in a supermarket in southern Yangon on Sunday, authorities said, although no casualties were reported.

    Security forces locked down the area with sniffer dogs after the blasts went off around 5:30 pm in Thakeyta township.

    “No one was injured in three small explosions this evening,” Yangon regional social minister Naing Ngan Linn told AFP from the scene.

    “According to initial inspections by security forces, they are handmade bombs. Soldiers and police are still inspecting the area now.”
    The explosions came hours after two civilians were killed in clashes in a northern town on Myanmar’s border with China.

    Fighting broke out between the military and four ethnic armed groups, including the powerful Kachin Independence Army, reigniting a years-long conflict that has displaced 100,000 people.

  12. Remember that right after being elected, Donald Trump phoned Nigel Farage and asked him to arrange for the bust of Churchill to be returned to the Trump White House…

    https://www.rt.com/uk/367552-trump-visit-queen-relations/

    An invitation to Donald Trump to stay at Windsor Castle and meet with the Queen is reportedly seen by Whitehall as a “secret weapon” to boost London and Washington’s ‘special relationship’, as well as disrupt UKIP’s ties with the new president.
    Preparations are underway to give the US President-elect the red-carpet treatment during his visit to London in summer of next year, the Sunday Times reported, citing ministerial and cabinet sources.

    In arranging the much-anticipated visit, much focus has been put on utilizing Donald Trump’s sympathies towards the British monarchy, the newspaper said.

  13. You gotta love Ron Paul!

    https://www.rt.com/usa/367557-ron-paul-fake-news/

    Former congressman Ron Paul revealed a list of “fake news” journalists he claims are responsible for “bogus wars” and lies about Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the election. Journalists from CNN, the New York Times, and the Guardian are included.
    “This list contains the culprits who told us that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and lied us into multiple bogus wars,” according to a report on his website, Ron Paul Liberty Report. Paul claims the list is sourced and “holds a lot more water” than a list previously released by Melissa Zimdars, who is described on Paul’s website as “a leftist feminist professor.”

  14. http://www.thelocal.at/20161118/kurz-calls-for-austria-to-ban-koran-distribution

    Austria’s foreign minister Sebastian Kurz has called for an immediate ban on Islamic fundamentalists who distribute copies of the Koran, saying that the law needs to be changed to crack down on “Salafist campaigns – an expression of political Islam which we can no longer tolerate”.

    Koran street giveaway banned again (06 Oct 16)
    Cardinal Schönborn defends ‘Islamic conquest’ warning (16 Sep 16)
    Expert warns Islam in Austria is anti-Western (30 Jun 16)
    Earlier this week the German authorities launched massive coordinated raids by anti-terror cops on over 200 apartments belonging to members of a German Salafist group calling itself ‘The True Religion’.

    After years trying to find a solution to disband the project amidst legal and practical difficulties, the German government finally announced that the group was banned for good.

  15. https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2016/11/19/lebanon-begins-building-security-wall-around-palestinian-refugee-camp

    The first blocks of an isolation wall were erected around the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon this week, as a plan to build ‘security’ cordons and watchtowers around Ain al-Hilweh came into effect.
    The security wall forms part of an agreement between Palestinian factions and the authorities in Lebanon in attempt to contain recent confrontations between Palestinians inside the camp and the Lebanese army, Lebanese and Palestinian officials claim.

  16. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3954650/Retired-Army-officer-child-porn-Iraqi-insurgent-s-phone-investigated-sex-offences-taxpayer-funded-witch-hunt-against-British-troops.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

    Retired Army officer who found child porn on an Iraqi insurgent’s phone is investigated for sex offences by a taxpayer-funded ‘witch hunt’ against British troops
    Ex-interrogator accused of being at the ‘heart of a paedophile conspiracy’
    Intelligence officer found child porn on mobile phone of an Iraqi prisoner
    Lawyers acting on behalf of Iraqis allege he distributed indecent images of children by showing them to three team members
    The officer, a married father-of-two, was interviewed under caution by private investigators working for the Iraq Historical Allegations Team
    If found guilty, the 39-year-old would be placed on the sex offenders’ register and could be jailed

  17. http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/11/18/pak_islamic_parties_preventing_school_curricula_revision/1273272

    Pakistan’s Islamic parties are preventing the revision of school curricula and are spreading hatred and stereotypes against religious minorities, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, this according to a study carried out by the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan.
    The research, which covers the last five years, found that Islamic religious parties have become a pressure group strong enough to prevent education authorities from revising school programmes for fear of retaliation and protests.
    The study notes that Urdu-language history, social studies and Islamic studies are full of biased ideas about minorities.

  18. https://www.geo.tv/latest/121128-14-Pakistanis-reach-Syria-Afghanistan-to-join-Daesh-say-sources

    LAHORE: 14 Pakistani nationals have reached Afghanistan and Syria to join Daesh and fight along with it, sources said on Sunday.

    According to the documents received by Geo News, the 14 Pakistani nationals reached Syria and Afghanistan two weeks ago.

    It was revealed that the major recruitments were done from Islamabad and Punjab’s big cities, sources said.

    The Pakistani nationals also include females who volunteered, sources added.

    According to sources, Qari Abid in Syria would lure citizens into the proscribed organisation through social media and later made them contact his nephew Nabeel Ahmed.

  19. http://tribune.com.pk/story/1237447/merkel-says-wants-run-4th-term-german-chancellor/

    Germany’s Angela Merkel told leading members of her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) on Sunday that she wants to run for a fourth term as chancellor in next year’s election, senior party sources told Reuters on Sunday.

    The 62-year-old conservative is widely seen as a stabilising force in Europe amid uncertainty after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and as a bastion of Western liberal values after the election of Donald Trump as the next US president.

  20. https://www.yahoo.com/news/sisi-praises-trump-expects-more-us-engagement-region-140047019.html

    Cairo (AFP) – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi praised US President-elect Donald Trump and said he expected greater engagement in the Middle East from his administration, in an interview with Portuguese media.

    The former Egyptian army chief had strained relations with outgoing President Barack Obama’s administration, which had temporarily suspended military aid after Sisi toppled his elected predecessor in 2013.

    “Personally I respect and appreciate” Trump, Sisi said according to an English translation of his remarks to Portuguese news agency LUSA published on Saturday.

    “I believe that President-elect Trump will be more rigorously engaged with the issues of the region,” he said.

  21. http://www.atimes.com/erdogans-global-anti-gulen-drive-hits-pakistan/

    Turkish President Recap Erdogan has incarcerated thousands as part of his continued push plan to reconstitute Turkey as a presidential system. The plan would create a centralized system that enables him to better tackle Turkey’s internal and external threats. One of the main hurdles allegedly standing in his way is Fethullah Gulen’s movement, which has a strong base in and out of Turkey that interferes with Erdogan’s political objectives.

    While thousands remain imprisoned in Turkey, citizens outside Turkey are also stated to feel the pinch. Whether it’s the Turkish military personnel serving at NATO bases seeking asylum or the staff of the Pak-Turk foundation’s schools in Pakistan being forced out of Pakistan due to their linkages with Gulen, numerous people fear political persecution.

  22. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38043157

    A UN proposal to end heavy fighting in the city of Aleppo has been rejected by the Syrian government.
    Under the plan, rebel-held eastern Aleppo would remain under opposition control if rebel fighters withdrew.
    Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem, who met the UN envoy to Syria on Sunday, called the idea a violation of “national sovereignty”.

  23. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3954546/Putin-ask-Trump-s-permission-bomb-Syria-Russian-ambassador-London-says-airstrikes-diplomacy-backed-force.html

    Putin to ask Trump’s permission to bomb Syria: Russian ambassador to London says airstrikes are ‘diplomacy backed by force’
    The Russian President sent Trump congratulations following his election
    Trump repeatedly expressed admiration for Putin during the campaign
    Relations between Russia and the US are at lowest point since early 1990s
    Russia supports Assad in Syria and both countries share an enemy in ISIS

  24. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-idUSKBN13F0SE?il=0

    Yemen’s dominant Houthi movement launched Katyusha rockets into Saudi Arabia on Sunday and residents reported Saudi-led air strikes in a Yemeni border province in exchanges that threatened to derail a 48-hour truce.

    The Houthis said the rocket salvo targeting a military base in the kingdom’s southern Najran province was launched in response to Saudi shelling on Yemeni border villages.

    There was no immediate response from the coalition to the Houthi assertion.

    The coalition, which has been fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis to restore ousted Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power, announced the truce on Friday night as a step to end a 20-month old war that has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced more than three million.

    Just three days earlier, Hadi’s government had rejected an announcement by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the warring parties had agreed to an open-ended truce and to work toward the formation of a unity government.

  25. http://aina.org/news/20161116081327.htm

    The European Commission has recently issued its 2016 Turkey Progress Report, which contains serious criticism of the country’s increasingly grave human rights record.
    One of the issues that the report has brought to light is the problem that Assyrians (or Syriacs) in Turkey face as a religious minority, such as property rights for the oldest surviving Syriac Orthodox monastery in the world: Mor Gabriel (the monastery of St. Gabriel), located in Mardin province, in southeastern Turkey.

    Related: The Case of the St. Gabriel Assyrian Monastery in Midyat, Turkey
    One would expect Turkey, a NATO member and a candidate for EU membership, to preserve both the monastery and the tiny Assyrian community in the country. Nonetheless, the Turkish government has been involved in a dispute with the historic monastery and has threatened its existence.

    “The lawsuits against the monastery were filed in 2008,” said Tuma Celik, the Turkey representative of the European Syriac Union (ESU) and the editor-in-chief of the Assyrian monthly newspaper, Sabro.

    One lawsuit demands that the monastery tear down the wall built around it to protect it 30 years ago; the lawsuit is claiming that the wall was built without permission. It is also demanding the imprisonment of those responsible for its construction.

  26. http://ahtribune.com/world/north-africa-south-west-asia/1347-isis-egypt-sufi.html

    Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis – ISIS-affiliated extremist group in Egypt – has released images purporting to show the execution of a 100-year-old man.

    The group, who rebranded as ISIS-Sinai when they pledged allegiance to the extremist group holding swathes of Iraq and Syria, killed Sheikh Sulaiman Abu Haraz after kidnapping him earlier.

    The ISIS-affiliate in Egypt mistakenly described in a statement as priests, but were later identified by locals as leading religious figures from among Sinai’s Bedouins.

    Pictures were posted on the Twitter accounts of the group’s supporters. They showed one of the men, elderly with a white beard and kneeling in an orange jumpsuit with his neck pressed against a steel stand. Masked ISIS executioners dressed in black raised long swords over his head.

    Locals identified the man as the blind Sufi sheikh Suleiman Abu Heraz, who was abducted two weeks ago from his farm south of the peninsula’s town of el-Arish. The second man was identified as sheikh Said Abdel-Fattah, a top Religious Endowment cleric abducted a month ago.

  27. http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/130561-161119-palestinian-official-says-french-peace-summit-to-go-on-with-or-without-israeli-consent

    A Palestinian official on Saturday said that an international conference led by France that aims to jump start stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks would take place “whether the Israeli government consents or not.”

    Ahmad Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee and associate of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, made the remarks in an interview with Palestinian newspaper Donia Al-Watan.

    Majdalani added that French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault would soon visit the region in preparation for the summit, set to be held in Paris in December.

    Israeli officials on Monday reiterated to France that Israel would not participate in such a conference on the grounds that it enables the Palestinians to avoid direct negotiations without preconditions. A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office called on France not to promote such an initiative.

  28. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/marine-le-pen-poll-election-odds-latest-french-presidential-lead-sarkozy-a7428126.html

    Front National leader Marine Le Pen has taken a sizeable lead over Nicolas Sarkozy in a new French presidential election poll.

    The far-right leader had 29 per cent of the vote when pitted against Les Républicains’ former president, who was eight points behind, and held a 15-point lead over the Parti de Gauche’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the poll released by Ipsos.

    It was one of five scenarios for the first round of France’s 2017 presidential elections on 23 April, although one that did not include Les Républicains’ Alain Juppé – who remains strong favourite to succeed Francois Hollande as leader.

  29. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/220545

    BDS activists vandalized a Portuguese restaurant after its head chef traveled to Israel to participate in a food festival. The event, Round Tables, was attended by at least eleven other chefs from around the world.

    Several other of the chefs who attended Round Tables have also suffered BDS threats. Electronic Intifada leaders claim a Bolivian restaurant canceled its participation in the festival “due to pressure.”

    The activists wrote “Free Palestine,” “[Jose] Avillez collaborates with Zionist occupation,” and “Entree: A dose of white phosphorous” in red paint on the restaurant’s exterior.

  30. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38024374

    Spain’s economy may be recovering, but the recent deaths of a 12-year-old girl and an 81-year-old woman in house fires are reminders of the hardship that millions of households still face in the country’s deep-rooted crisis.
    “Rosa PV” (as she is described in the media) died alone, choking on fumes from a fire started by one of the candles she used for light in her flat in the city of Reus, south of Barcelona, early last Monday.
    It emerged that her electricity had been cut off for non-payment of bills. Rosa’s solitary plight caused protesters’ voices to be raised in unison against energy poverty as winter approaches.

  31. Caution: this ‘protest against EU’s tolerance if terrorism’ is not what it seems from the title…

    http://www.dailysabah.com/war-on-terror/2016/11/20/thousands-in-belgium-protest-eus-tolerance-to-terror

    Turkey’s outrage over the European Union countries’ supportive stance toward members and supporters of the terrorist group the PKK, blamed for killing thousands, and the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), blamed for the July 15 coup, was reflected in rallies over the weekend. Thousands of Turks living in the continent took to the streets to denounce terrorism and EU support for perpetrators under the guise of the defense of human rights.
    In Belgium and Germany, demonstrators waving Turkish flags and banners with slogans reading “PKK=DAESH=FETÖ=Terror” marched at Teröre Lanet, Demokrasiye Davet (Curse The Terror, Invite Democracy) rallies. The rallies come amid Ankara’s spat with the EU over reluctance to capture terror suspects or their extradition and defense of people wanted for terror charges.

  32. http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/11/19/migrant-drownings-record-high-europe-refuses-turn-boats-back/

    The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that 340 migrants have drowned in four major shipwrecks over the course of the week, bringing the reported total for November so far to 546. This compares with 141 for the entire month in 2015 and 22 in 2014.
    All in all, the IOM puts the death toll for 2016 at over 4,600 so far, making it the deadliest year on record already, with several bitter winter weeks still ahead.

    These unprecedented numbers have been realised despite an expensive and controversial deal between Turkey and the EU on stemming the flow of illegal immigration, which looks set to unravel now that a crackdown on political opponents by the Turkish premier has (seemingly) killed plans for Turkish citizens to be given visa-free access to the Schengen Area.

  33. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-asylum-idUSKBN13F0AK?il=0

    A man suspected of starting a fire in an Australian bank on Friday that injured 27 people has been identified as an asylum seeker, angering far-right groups and adding to an increasingly heated national debate over immigration.

    Six people were taken to hospital in critical condition after the 21-year-old suspect walked into a Melbourne branch of Commonwealth Bank of Australia and lit an accelerant, setting himself and the office on fire, Victoria Police said, adding the man was also in serious condition.

    Far-right anti-Muslim groups have seized on the arson attack to call for a ban on refugees entering the country. They rallied in the city on Sunday to celebrate Republic Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential election victory.

  34. We should be afraid – very afraid:
    https://theintercept.com/2016/11/18/troubling-study-says-artificial-intelligence-can-predict-who-will-be-criminals-based-on-facial-features/?comments=1#comments

    THE FIELDS OF artificial intelligence and machine learning are moving so quickly that any notion of ethics is lagging decades behind, or left to works of science fiction. This might explain a new study out of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which says computers can tell whether you will be a criminal based on nothing more than your facial features.

    The bankrupt attempt to infer moral qualities from physiology was a popular pursuit for millennia, particularly among those who wanted to justify the supremacy of one racial group over another. But phrenology, which involved studying the cranium to determine someone’s character and intelligence, was debunked around the time of the Industrial Revolution, and few outside of the pseudo-scientific fringe would still claim that the shape of your mouth or size of your eyelids might predict whether you’ll become a rapist or thief.

  35. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-idUSKBN13F04E

    Former prime ministers Francois Fillon and Alain Juppe were seen qualifying for a second round runoff of France’s conservative primaries on Sunday, first partial results of the vote showed, in what would be a major upset for ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy.

    According to results based on 2,912 polling stations out of a total 10,228, Fillon was seen gathering 42.8 percent of the votes, Juppe 26 percent and Sarkozy 24.4 percent.

    Organizers of the contest for the Les Republicains party and its center-right allies had warned ahead of the vote that partial results may not be representative of final results, with votes in rural areas being counted first.

  36. http://www.climatedepot.com/2016/11/19/skeptical-scientists-crash-un-climate-summit-praise-trump-for-bringing-science-back-again/

    Skeptical scientists crash UN climate summit, praise Trump for ‘bringing science back again’

    Skeptical scientists at UN climate summit hope Trump will Make Science Great Again
    Norwegian Astrophysicist Prof. Jan-Erik Solheim of University of Tromso: ‘Trump’s victory is very promising. We can get real science back in the field.’

  37. Trump’s National Security Picks Want to Air Obama’s Iran Secrets

    For years, many Republicans and conservatives have charged that President Barack Obama was shielding embarrassing intelligence and policy details about Iran in order to support the nuclear deal reached last year.

    With Donald Trump’s upset victory, the party of Lincoln will have an opportunity to declassify and disclose this information. While no decisions have been made, two early picks to Trump’s cabinet suggest this is going to happen.

    Let’s start with retired general Michael Flynn, the next president’s choice to be national security adviser. Flynn served for two years as Obama’s director of the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2012 to 2014. Just as relevant, however, is that in 2011 he ran a team at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that reviewed the troves of material captured in the 2011 Osama bin Laden raid.

    Under Obama, the intelligence community has declassified a small fraction of those documents and released them in drips and drabs. This prompted Flynn, after he retired in 2014, to charge that the disclosures were selective. Flynn has said in interviews and writings that some documents captured in the bin Laden raid showed a much tighter relationship between Iran and al-Qaeda than previously disclosed.

    The book he wrote this year with historian Michael Ledeen, “Field of Flight,” says, “One letter to bin Laden reveals that al-Qaeda was working on chemical and biological weapons in Iran.”

    The next revealing pick in this regard is Representative Mike Pompeo, Trump’s choice to be the CIA director. As a lawmaker and member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Pompeo mastered the details of the Iran agreement and became one of the most potent foes of the nuclear bargain in Congress. He traveled to Europe to warn businesses, banks and governments against foreign investment in Iran in light of remaining U.S. sanctions that would likely be enforced if a Republican won the 2016 election.

    Pompeo also launched his own campaign to get to the bottom of the cash payments the U.S. delivered to Iran as it released the Americans the regime had detained. On Oct. 7, for example, Pompeo wrote to Attorney General Loretta Lynch asking for answers on how the cash payments were approved by the Justice Department. She replied later that month that she wasn’t obliged to answer his questions.

    Pompeo and Flynn are now occupying top positions in Trump’s national security cabinet. After the inauguration, they will no longer have to ask to get answers to their questions about Obama’s Iran policy.

    There is some precedent for this. Obama himself in 2008 campaigned against the sitting president’s policies on waterboarding and enhanced interrogation. One of the first things his government did when he took office was to declassify and release the legal memos that justified and revoked these practices. It looks like the Republicans are about to return the favor.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-11-18/trump-s-national-security-picks-want-to-air-obama-s-iran-secrets

  38. Negative Rates Are Failing to Halt Savings Obsession in Europe (bloomberg, Nov 20, 2016)
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-20/negative-rates-are-failing-to-halt-savings-obsession-in-europe

    “After years of turbo-driven central bank stimulus, most Europeans still want to leave their spare cash in savings accounts, even if those accounts pay zero interest.

    That’s the finding of a survey by Europe’s biggest debt collector, Stockholm-based Intrum Justitia AB.
    “After the financial crisis, people have felt a need — even if they have small means — to create some kind of security,” Chief Executive Officer Mikael Ericson said in an interview in Stockholm on Nov. 16. “It can’t be that people save in a bank account because of the fantastic returns, so it must be about a sense of security, having money in the bank.”

    Some 69 percent of Europeans put their savings into bank accounts, according to Intrum Justitia’s European Consumer Payment Report. The survey is based on feedback gathered in September and covers about 21,000 people in 21 countries…”

  39. Turkish–German ties at historic low, says scholar Faruk ?en (hurriyetdailynews, Nov 20, 2016)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkishgerman-ties-at-historic-low-says-scholar-faruk-sen.aspx?pageID=238&nID=106324&NewsCatID=510

    “Entangled in a “love-hate” relationship, the German and Turkish governments are currently seeing a historic low in their ties, according to Professor Faruk ?en, a long-time observer of the two countries.

    President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an is seen as an “enemy figure” in Germany, but Turkey “mismanages” its justified frustration with the German government, says ?en, the president of the board of directors of the Turkish European Foundation for Education and Scientific Studies….”

  40. President Erdo?an: EU not everything, Turkey may join Shanghai Five (hurriyetdailynews, Nov 20, 2016)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/president-erdogan-eu-not-everything-turkey-may-join-shanghai-five.aspx?pageID=238&nID=106321&NewsCatID=338

    “Turkey should not be “fixated” on the idea of joining the European Union and should look at other opportunities, such as the Russia-led Shanghai Pact, President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has said.

    “Turkey should first of all feel relaxed about the EU and not be fixated” about joining it, Erdo?an told reporters on the presidential plane returning from Uzbekistan, daily Hürriyet reported.

    “Some may criticize me but I express my opinion. For example, I have said ‘why shouldn’t Turkey be in the Shanghai 5?’” he said.

    The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), also known as the “Shanghai 5,” is a loose security and economic bloc led by Russia and China. The other formal members are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

    Erdo?an said he had already discussed the idea with Russian President Vladimir Putin and with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

    “[The SCO] was established by five members, but then countries such as Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India also got involved,” he said.

    “Iran wants to be involved and Mr. Putin said ‘we are evaluating the situation.’ Turkey being a part of the Shanghai 5 will allow it to act more freely [in its EU bid],” Erdo?an added.

    Erdo?an has several times floated plans for Turkey to join the SCO, a move that could scupper its long-standing EU membership bid.

    Turkey formally applied to become an EU member in 1987 and accession talks only began in 2005, even though Ankara’s aspirations to become part of the bloc date back to the 1960s.

    “The EU has been delaying us for 53 years. How can such a thing happen?” Erdo?an said.

    “I was invited to the leaders’ summits in my early years as prime minister. Then they stopped inviting us. Why? Because we told everything as it was. For example, they open up [accession] chapters, but they don’t close them. Why open the chapters if they will not be closed?”

    Relations between Turkey and the EU has been especially tense since the July 15 failed coup attempt. Ankara says it has not received enough support from its EU allies against the followers of Fethullah Gülen, the U.S.-based Islamic preacher widely believed to have masterminded the coup attempt, or other groups it deems terrorists.

    Brussels, meanwhile, has harshly criticized the Turkish government’s crackdown on alleged coup plotters, urging Ankara to comply with the EU’s rights and freedoms criteria.

    Speaking on his return from Uzbekistan, Erdo?an once again warned the EU to “decide by the end of the year” on Turkey’s membership bid and its pledge to grant visa-free travel to Turkish citizens as part of the refugee deal. He also again floated the idea of calling a referendum on the matter of Turkey’s EU accession bid.

    “Latin America countries enjoy visa-free travel [in the Schengen zone], but they delay Turkey. We discussed the issue the other day and said: ‘Let’s be patient until the end of the year. Some things have to happen, or we’ll shut down that file on the readmission [of migrants as part of the refugee deal],’” Erdo?an added.

    Turkey and the EU agreed to speed up membership talks in March as part of an accord on curbing migrant flows into Greece.

    The deal was clinched in return for several incentives for Ankara, including EU cash assistance for Syrian refugees in Turkey and visa-free travel to the Schengen area by Turks.

    But the process, which was already in difficulty, is on a sharp downward spiral following Ankara’s crackdown after the attempted coup. Some European parliamentarians have even backed calls for membership talks with Ankara to be halted.”

  41. Kenya police kill 4 suspected extremists at Somali border (gulfnews, Nov 20, 2016)
    http://gulfnews.com/news/africa/kenya/kenya-police-kill-4-suspected-extremists-at-somali-border-1.1932508

    “NAIROBI, Kenya: A Kenyan official says police officers killed four suspected extremists at the Somali border, a region hard-hit by recent attacks by the Somali extremist group Al Shabab.

    North Eastern Regional Coordinator Mohamud Saleh said Sunday that police killed the men while ambushing a group of about 20 suspected members of a cell of Al Shabab militants on Saturday.

    Saleh says the group allegedly was planning an attack on a police station. He says police recovered four rifles and Somali army military jackets.

    Al Shabab, the Al Qaida affiliate in East Africa, has vowed retribution on Kenya for its troop presence in Somalia.

    Kenya deployed troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight al-Shabab, which is waging an insurgency against Somalia’s weak UN-backed government threatening instability in the region.”

  42. Nearly 250,000 Pakistani migrants deported in 3 years (tribune, Nov 20, 2016)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1237016/irregular-migrations-nearly-250000-pakistani-migrants-deported-3-years/

    “ISLAMABAD: Nearly 250,000 Pakistanis have been deported, mostly from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over the past three years, the Federal Investigation Agency statistics revealed on Saturday.

    According to the Labour Migration from Pakistan: 2015 Status Report’ through Deportation Statistics, a total of 242,817 irregular Pakistani migrants have been deported between 2012 and 2015. The largest number of deportations, 73,064 to be precise, took place in 2014, while the year 2010 witnessed the smallest number of deportations (46,032).

    Majority of the irregular migrants — 131,643) – have been deported from Saudi Arabia followed by the United Arab Emirates (32,458), Iran (28,684, Oman (17,248), Greece (14,145), the United Kingdom (9,778), and Malaysia (8,861).

    Most of the deportees from Saudi Arabia and the UAE were job-seekers and businessmen, while those sent back from Iran were in transit to Greece. Deportations from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are attributed mainly to security-related issues, the report reveals.

    These statistics suggest that deportations are on the rise and the trend might be indicative of an increase in the trafficking of persons and smuggling of migrants…”