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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.
testing http://www.israpundit.org/archives/63620468
replacement theology at work; (H/T elderofziyon.blogspot.com)
http://www.dailywire.com/news/11974/netanyahu-targets-obamas-anti-semitism-one-photo-hank-berrien
My links to the same site didn’t go through either. Strange, isn’t it?
The link is showing up on my computer using firefox as the browser.
http://aranews.net/2016/12/isis-jihadists-burn-four-men-to-death-on-charges-of-supporting-kurdish-ypg/
Deir Ezzor – The Islamic State (ISIS) burned four civilians to death on Tuesday, shocking the inhabitants of Deir ez-Zor city. The unfortunate men had been charged with supporting the “Kurdish atheists,” apostasy and treason.
“ISIS radicals burned them to death in public on Tuesday evening,” reported Ahmed Ramadan, a spokesman for Deir ez-Zor is Being Slaughtered Silently (DBSS). “The Sharia Court called for the most brutal punishment for those four men.”
The ISIS-led Islamic Police, also known as Diwan al-Hisba, had arrested the civilians three months ago. They were eventually charged with supporting the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and leaking information about the extremist group’s movements in Deir ez-Zor.
Berlin mayor supports German government’s call for increased video surveillance (DW, Dec 30, 2016)
http://www.dw.com/en/berlin-mayor-supports-german-governments-call-for-increased-video-surveillance/a-36949403
“Michael Müller, Berlin’s Social Democratic mayor, has spoken out in favor of more video surveillance in the German capital. His comments represent a U-turn from the previous mandate of his ruling left-wing coalition.
Following last week’s attack on a Berlin Christmas market, the city’s mayor, Michael Müller, on Thursday expressed his support for increased video surveillance.
The attack at Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz, which saw 12 people killed and nearly 50 wounded, has made video surveillance a key political topic of discussion, both at the federal and local level.
Speaking to Berlin broadcaster RBB, Müller said he hoped the federal government’s proposals for increasing authorities’ surveillance capabilities would be “put into motion.”
Müller also admitted that installing more cameras wouldn’t prevent future attacks, but it would “clearly get them resolved faster,” he said…”
Congress leaves Donald Trump with ‘UNLIMITED WAR POWERS’ to destroy ISIS (express, Dec 30, 2016)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/748371/Congress-Donald-Trump-president-unlimited-war-powers-ISIS-Adam-Schiff-Obama
“CONGRESS’ failure to limit the war powers of the US President means Donald Trump looks set to enjoy free rein to wage war on the barbaric Islamic State regime when he takes office in January…”
Gee, could it possibly that they want to win the war so freedom can survive?
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/nine-arrested-aiding-isis-had-blended-society-near-nations-capital
A recent report issued by the Northern Virginia Regional Intelligence Center aims to instruct federal and local law enforcement officers how to spot Islamic State operatives who have otherwise blended into society and become difficult to detect.
In the report are nine arrests since 2014 of Northern Virginia residents charged with aiding ISIS through distributing propaganda, communications, traveling to Syria, and preparing for jihad, as The Washington Times report.
As is noted, Minnesota is the typical focal point as the terrorist hotbed in the United States. Many Somalis living there have been arrested by the FBI for making travel plans to join ISIS in Syria. However, it’s the ISIS sympathizers living near Washington D.C., as it turns out, who are prone to carrying out attacks on American soil.
The intelligence report revealed that the threat is among us and will be barely noticeable because of how “normal” they will appear:
ISIS call on ‘Western sons’ to launch BRUTAL attacks on New Year’s revellers (express, Dec 30, 2016)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/748369/ISIS-call-Western-jihadis-lone-wolf-attack-New-Years-churches-Obama
“ISLAMIC State jihadis have urged their Western “sons of Islam” to launch brutal New Year’s attacks that will turn party venues into bloody battlefields.
ISIS-affiliated media group, Nashir Media Foundation, posted a series of terrifying images on an encrypted channel which encouraged their cowardly supporters to seize the momentum Anis Amri created following the Berlin Christmas attacks, in which the Tunisian hijacked a truck and brutally murdered 12 Christmas shoppers.
In one image, a knife-wielding militant chases a ‘Santa on the run’ under a threatening caption which read: “You disbelieving dogs which prepared for Christmas celebrations.
“Be ready for shedding the blood, scattering the shreds and funerals, for the eyes of caliphate lions are looking straight towards you and promise you with bitter deaths.”
The terror network is calling on militants in the West to take part in ‘lone wolf’ attacks in variety of public venues including cinemas, malls and hospitals…”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/12/bangladesh-christmas-jihad-suicide-bombing-in-catholic-church-foiled-security-heightened-around-62-dhaka-churches
The New Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh is an Islamic State group that also planned New Year’s jihad massacres. “Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties, for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah , so they kill and are killed.” (Qur’an 9:111)
Yet Christians in the West remained silent and indifferent to the Muslim persecution of Christians. Why? The Catholic Church’s supine and pollyannish stance in the face of the advancing jihad, and active campaign to mislead Catholics about the nature and magnitude of the jihad threat, is a moral failure the likes of which have seldom been seen in history, and poses a severe challenge to any claim it makes to moral authority.
“We have to understand that totalitarianism based on Islamic creed is the worst among all systems of government. Yes, my friends, the very survival of Christians in the cradle of Christianity is quite in danger.” So said the patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church of Antioch, Ignatius Joseph III Younan.
SUICIDE is the top killer of US troops fighting ISIS in Middle East (express, Dec 30, 2016)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/748365/SUICIDE-killer-US-troops-ISIS-battle-Middle-East-Syria-Iraq-9-11-Trump-Pentagon
“SOLDIERS battling Islamic State militants are committing suicide before they can be targeted by deadly air strikes, according to official statistics.
The United States Department of Defence released a horrifying report two days after Christmas which revealed nearly half of all soldier deaths were a result of suicide.
Although US military casualties in Operation Inherent Resolve – the fight against ISIS which began in 2014 – have been low, military experts are concerned that 11 out of 31 US troop deaths were the result of suicide.
Out of the remaining deaths, eight were a result of combat, seven from accidents and four were due to illness or injury.
Rajeev Ramchand, a senior behavioural scientist at the Rand Corp said the government must explore all possible reasons why troops may resort to suicide…”
She was sitting there quietly in the middle of the classroom — a Swedish Muslim all dressed in black with a white powdered face. I was lecturing on John Stuart Mill at Sweden’s University West. What did I say? I said that while religion may not be true, it still gives people a sense of belonging and trust, and liberal society cannot give you that. The liberal soup is thin, and most of us want something richer, some kind of political main-course goulash. When people say that liberal society is empty, they actually mean this: I cannot give my life any purpose, so can someone kindly do it for me? Please hand me some grandiose message to live by because I cannot figure out anything on my own. Emptiness? Well, that could be another word for limitless opportunities.
Two days later, the Muslim student sent me an email. She accused me of not being “neutral”. She wrote that I had called religious people “pathetic”. I had not. She accused me of defaming Islam, herself as a woman and as an individual student.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9600/sweden-education
http://ipolitics.ca/2016/12/29/trudeau-more-troubled-by-princess-leias-death-than-berlin-terror-victims-blaney/
“When Princess Leia passed away, the prime minister only took four hours to react, whereas for a terrorist attack where a truck caused 12 deaths in a Berlin Christmas market, it took him three days to have a decent response,” he said in French at a press conference in Quebec City, according to Le Soleil.
Trudeau put out a statement on December 19 about the terrorist attack in the city of Karak, Jordan that killed a Canadian citizen, and retweeted, the same day, Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion’s condolences following the murder of the Russian ambassador to Turkey.
“At this point, what difference does it make?!?!?”
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/12/29/new-years-eve-attacks-guards-hired-protect-public-new-arrivals-hired-direct-migrant-camps/
As Germany’s fourth city prepares to field a massive police deployment over the New Year’s weekend following the migrant rape crisis of 2015, it is revealed many of those hired to assist the police were newly arrived migrants themselves.
While just 80 on-duty police were struggling to deal with hundreds of violent migrants terrorising party-goers in central Cologne, they found themselves being backed up by untrained migrants hired as security officers. A new report states those migrant helpers had been directly recruited from immigration camps and their only qualifications were owning warm clothes and having a “mediocre” command of the German language.
Germany’s Welt reports 59 new arrivals were hired to work security for the city to supplement the small number of police. The guards were tasked with mundane public protection roles like controlling the flow of revelers celebrating New Year’s Eve across the city bridges, but many disappeared during their shifts and one was found too drunk to work.
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/12/29/france-new-years-eve-terror-plot-foiled-radical-islamists-arrested/
Three radical Islamists have been arrested in two separate counter-terrorism raids in southwestern France, one on suspicion of plotting a New Year’s Eve terror attack.
The counter-terrorism raids were conducted on Monday and Tuesday night in the department of Haute-Garonne, south-west France, a region where several hundred radical Islamists are being monitored. The two operations are indicative of the level of eminent threat anticipated by French security agencies, reports La Dépêche.
The first raid in Toulouse resulted in the arrests of two men, aged 42, on suspicion of plotting attacks against police officers. Both were identified as radical Islamists and one profiled as a potential suicide bomber. Small arms and light weapons were also seized. Le Figaro reports the men were illegal migrants.
https://www.thelocal.de/20161229/german-anti-terror-services-ranked-amri-a-low-threat
German anti-terrorism experts believed Berlin truck attack suspect Anis Amri was unlikely to commit an assault, even though he was a known Islamist who had volunteered for a suicide attack, a report said Thursday.
Officials also knew Amri was tightly linked to Germany’s radical Islamist network and had looked up instructions online to build pipe bombs, the Süddeutsche Zeitung daily reported.
The latest version of their file on Amri, which included information on his eight different identities, was updated on December 14th – just five days before he rammed a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin.
Düsseldorf police deemed him a Salafist and radical fundamentalist, while Dortmund police had rated him a sympathiser of the Islamic State group.
Amri had been a regular guest at a religious school in a Dortmund apartment run by a notorious radical known as Boban S. that was believed to be a recruitment ground for jihadists.
https://translate.google.com/translate?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&sl=sv&u=http://www.friatider.se/tyska-medier-m-rkar-intervju-med-f-r-ldrar-till-berlin-offer
BLODBAD BERLIN
© TV2 Denmark / Sunday Express
British Express writes of the interview distributed hundreds of thousands of times.
German media blinds interview with the parents of the Berlin-victims
Published December 26, 2016 at 11:27
FOREIGN. In contrast, after the terrorist attack in Nice German media shows total indifference to depict what victims and their families have to say after the terrorist attack in Berlin on 19 December. A government-critical interview with the father of one of the victims has now mörkats in all German newspapers and TV stations.
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Blodbad Berlin
Tunisians arrested after Berlin The deed
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“Thank you, Mrs. Merkel. I will never vote for you again, and I do not think any of my relatives will do it either,” said an angry father of one of the people who were seriously injured during the terrorist attack in Berlin, in an interview Danish TV2.
While the touching video has been hundreds of thousands of times on Facebook and Twitter throughout the world and also attracted the attention of British newspapers Sunday Express blinded video, which is political dynamite in Germany, the whole of the country’s own established media.
Not a single newspaper or TV channel in Germany find it worth mentioning what the families of the victims have to say about the terrorist attack.
Madonna as burqa-babe:
Church makes nativity scene with Mary wearing BURKA to promote Islam
AN Italian priest has caused outrage over his controversial nativity scene which portrays an Islamic interpretation of the traditional Christian nativity scene.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/747992/Nativity-scene-church-Italy-Mary-burka-Islam
ISIS crackdown: Turkey arrests 30 with suspected links to Islamic State (express, Dec 30, 2016)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/748481/isis-turkey-30-arrested-suspected-links-to-islamic-state
“TURKISH police detained 30 people suspected of links to Islamic State in the southern province of Adana.
The arrests were reported today by the Dogan news agency, as clashes between Turkish soldiers and the jihadist group intensified in northern Syria.
In an operation backed by helicopters, counter-terror squad police carried out simultaneous raids on 40 addresses in the area, using battering rams to break open doors, the agency said…”
Horror as Christian woman stabbed for reading the BIBLE in migrant centre (express, Dec 30, 2016)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/748477/Austria-christian-woman-attacked-bible-stabbed-migrant-Voecklamarkt
“A CHRISTIAN woman was stabbed by an asylum seeker after he heard her reading from the bible.
The 50-year-old woman was only saved by her winter coat when she was attacked with a knife in the accommodation in Timelkam in Voecklamarkt in Upper Austria.
Her alleged attacker is a 22-year-old man from Afghanistan who had taken offence to the fact that the woman had been invited by Christian residents of the property to discuss the bible…”
22k of Korans was captured in raids – will likely be buried in the desert in order not to upset Muslims:
http://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/entsorgung-beschlagnahmte-korane-100.html
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/12/turkey-muslims-hold-santa-claus-at-gunpoint-to-protest-christmas-celebrations
Turkey: Muslims hold Santa Claus at gunpoint to protest Christmas celebrations
DECEMBER 30, 2016 7:38 AM BY ROBERT SPENCER 11 COMMENTS
“Our purpose is for people to go back to their roots. We are Muslim Turks and have been banner-bearers of Islam for a thousand years. We cannot see why there is such sensitivity for Christian traditions and not for our traditions like H?drellez, Nevruz and other religious and national holidays.”
One wonders if these Muslims were holding Santa at gunpoint for Islam while Guinean President Alpha Conde was in Ankara assuring the Turks that he knew that Islam was a religion of peace.
Kellyanne Conway on how Trump will address Russia and Israel
Dr. Gorka ‘very glad’ Trump vowed to keep Gitmo open
Obama’s ugly bid to snub voters and tie Trump’s hands
In his waning days in the White House, President Obama is desperately trying to make his policies as permanent as possible by tying the hands of his successor — and far more than other presidents have done on their way out.
From his dramatic and disastrous change of US policy on Israel to his executive order restricting 1.65 million acres of land from development despite local objections, Obama is trying to make it impossible for Donald Trump and a GOP-controlled Congress to govern.
Even Thursday’s announcement of wide-ranging sanctions against Russia presents Trump with a foreign-policy crisis immediately upon taking office.
By contrast, many of Obama’s predecessors have stood back in their final days in office and refrained from any dramatic shifts, in deference to the agenda of the man voters sent to succeed them.
http://nypost.com/2016/12/29/obamas-ugly-bid-to-snub-voters-and-tie-trumps-hands/
White House releases annual year-in-photos featuring Barack Obama –
https://medium.com/@WhiteHouse/behind-the-lens-2016-year-in-photographs-9e2c8733bbb3#.m7r0xuh8x
Russia will not expel anyone in response to U.S. sanctions, Putin says
MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would not expel anyone in response to Washington’s decision to throw out 35 suspected Russian spies and sanction intelligence agencies it believes were involved in computer hacking in the 2016 presidential election.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier proposed expelling 35 U.S. diplomats after outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the expulsions and sanctions on Thursday.
But Putin said he would wait for the actions of President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office on Jan. 20, before deciding on any further steps in relations with the United States.
“We will not expel anyone,” Putin said in a statement on Friday. “While keeping the right for retaliatory measures, we will not descend to the level of ‘kitchen’, irresponsible diplomacy.”
He even invited the children of U.S. diplomats to a party in the Kremlin.
It was not clear whether Trump, who has repeatedly praised Putin and nominated people seen as friendly toward Moscow to senior administration posts, would seek to roll back the measures which mark a new post-Cold War low in U.S.-Russian ties.
http://www.oann.com/u-s-expels-35-russian-diplomats-closes-two-compounds-official/
Richard: Putin is still playing Obama like a violin and has left Donald Trump and opening to look tough and ease the way for Tillersons approval as Sec of State. By not expelling diplomats this is the first thing for Trump when he starts negotiating with Putin to ease sanction. The people who are worried that Russia is going to roll Trump are ignoring that he has made himself a multi billionaire by negotiating deals. This is going to be to deal makers working to get the best deal and both will come away from the table with things they want.
Taiwan announces U.S. itinerary for president, upsetting China
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will transit through Houston and San Francisco during a January visit to allies in Latin America, her office said Friday, prompting China to repeat a call for the United States to block any such stopover.
Tsai’s office declined to comment on whether she would be meeting members of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s team, but the U.S. mission in Taiwan, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), said the visit would be “private and unofficial”.
Trump angered China when he spoke to Tsai this month in a break with decades of precedent and cast doubt on his incoming administration’s commitment to Beijing’s “one China” policy.
China is deeply suspicious of Tsai, who it thinks wants to push for the formal independence of Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing regards as a renegade province, ineligible for state-to-state relations.
China’s Foreign Ministry repeated a previous call for the United States not to allow the transit and not send any “wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces”.
http://www.oann.com/taiwan-says-president-to-transit-houston-san-francisco-next-month/
ROC needs to develop a Swiss-style militia where the civilian population is already equipped with smallarms and munitions stores are available within a short distance for belt-fed MGs and explosive ordinance. They need to develop lots of cheap guided missiles to cope with large invasion fleets; for example, maybe they could develop lots of rocket launched Small Diameter Bombs with integral AI guidance systems with IR/millimeter wave sensors that could be launched from cargo trucks enmasse. This is doable and all it takes is the will power; they are after all an island and you can’t just walk in.
They should and they should do this soon.
A must read article about what is happening in the middle east and how are the moment our ability to project force is controlled by other nations.
Middle East crisis building…without a U.S. aircraft carrier
By J.E. Dyer December 29, 2016
This is an interesting factor in the eruption of potentially crisis-creating maneuvers at the end of Barack Obama’s term. There will be no aircraft carrier in the Middle East, either in CENTCOM (east of the Suez Canal) or EUCOM (the Eastern Mediterranean).
I will have time for only the most general notes on this today. But the timing of all the “major muscle movement” factors seems remarkable enough to highlight briefly.
To summarize where we are right now, there is credible evidence that the Obama administration coordinated with the Palestinian Arabs the UN resolution, UNSCR 2334, on which a vote was forced on 23 December. The resolution’s official sponsor, Egypt, pulled back from the earlier-scheduled Security Council vote at the last minute, on 21 December. But a group of four other Security Council members – New Zealand, Senegal, Venezuela, and Malaysia – pushed to hold the vote anyway, and it took place on Friday, 23 December. The U.S. abstained from the vote, and the measure passed 14-0.
Yesterday (Wednesday 28 December), John Kerry gave a major Middle East policy speech in which he departed rhetorically in multiple, significant ways from longstanding U.S. policy. As Omri Ceren outlines at Politico, Kerry also departed significantly from sheer reality. (Omri hopes to downplay the impact of Kerry’s speech, I think, a praiseworthy goal whose effectiveness I don’t want to prejudge.)
http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/12/29/middle-east-crisis-buildingwithout-u-s-aircraft-carrier/
Early Implications of the UN Settlements Resolution
David Makovsky
Also available in ???????
December 27, 2016
The legal consequences of UNSCR 2334 may be significant, while the impact on U.S.-Israeli relations and future peacemaking efforts could be profound.
On December 23, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2334 to condemn Israel’s settlement projects in the West Bank and its construction efforts in East Jerusalem, stating that such activity has “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.” The United States abstained on the 14-0 vote, spurring Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu to blast Washington during a December 25 cabinet meeting. According to his official website, he told ministers, “From the information we have, we have no doubt that the Obama administration initiated it, stood behind it, coordinated on the wording, and demanded that it be passed.” He also called the resolution “unbalanced,” “shameful,” and “very hostile to Israel,” noting that he told Secretary of State John Kerry last week that “friends don’t take friends to the Security Council.”
Yet White House official Ben Rhodes publicly disputed the notion that Washington led the resolution. U.S. officials say the abstention is in line with previous Democratic and Republican administrations who have opposed settlement activity. They also note that the Obama administration has been very consistent in this opposition, that Israel has only itself to blame given its recent actions, and that they have defended Israel in the past against one-sided measures, including a veto on a settlements resolution in 2011.
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/early-implications-of-the-un-settlements-resolution?utm_term=Read%20this%20item%20on%20our%20website.&utm_campaign=Early%20Implications%20of%20the%20UN%20Settlements%20Resolution%20%28Makovsky%20%7C%20PolicyWatch%202739%29&utm_content=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_medium=email&cm_mmc=Act-On%20Software-_-email-_-Early%20Implications%20of%20the%20UN%20Settlements%20Resolution%20%28Makovsky%20%7C%20PolicyWatch%202739%29-_-Read%20this%20item%20on%20our%20website
J.E. Dyer points out that the various status quo Sunni aren’t in any position to take advantage of the two month gap; where there is no US carrier force in the Med. I can’t help but wonder how Hezbollah is positioned and is Putin ready to use air strikes against his (at the moment anyway) ally? Things are getting tense all around the world and we are in a very weakened position with a crash rebuild of the military requiring a minimum of 1 year. We can project strength and deploy forces before then but to an extent it would be committing forces to danger or combat in a piece meal fashion. You only want to do that as a last ditch measure to buy time.
Obama will be remembered as one of worst foreign policy presidents ever … say liberals
By Onan Coca December 30, 2016
Liberal Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz does not often agree with conservatives, but in a recent interview with Fox News he said that Barack Obama just “stabbed Israel in the back” and will go down in history “as one of the worst foreign policy presidents ever.” While I completely agree with Dershowitz’s assessment, it comes as quite a shock to hear a liberal utter such strident criticism of Obama.
Dershowitz also explained that while the situation looked bleak, there was a glimmer of hope to hang on to as President-elect Trump would no doubt work hard to deliver a peace deal in the Middle East.
http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/12/30/obama-will-remembered-one-worst-foreign-policy-presidents-ever-say-liberals/
The Election Was Not Hacked
Profile photo of Jon Gabriel, Ed. Chief
Jon Gabriel, Ed.
December 29, 2016
Between jeremiads decrying “fake news,” the mainstream media has created and advanced the biggest fake news story of 2016: That the presidential election was hacked.
Despite the histrionic claims of the press, the election was not hacked. The Democratic National Committee’s lousy IT security allowed someone to access their emails which were then leaked. Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta fell for an age-old phishing scam that was as believable as getting millions of dollars from a Nigerian prince. Using the spotty media understanding of cybersecurity, they can claim that the DNC and Hillary’s campaign were “hacked,” but the election decisively was not. And the press knows it.
In order to “hack” an election, a nefarious group would have to infiltrate the voting systems of 50 states, plus DC and territories. All of these systems are unique, with completely different architecture, ballot formats, tabulation processes, etc., etc. This did not happen. In fact, some hackers tried breaking into a few different states’ systems weeks before the election, were quickly identified, and prevented from doing so. Likewise, someone attempted to gain illegal access to the Republican National Committee, but since they had a competent IT staff, this too was thwarted.
But even without delving into the technical details, it’s obvious that the election wasn’t hacked. If, say, Russia wanted to elect Trump, they would have given him the popular vote victory along with his electoral victory. They also wouldn’t have left him to squeak out meager wins across the upper midwest and rust belt.
The media is intentionally lying to the public because they want a better excuse for Election Day than the reality. They would rather focus on hacking, the popular vote, FBI Director James Comey, or the minuscule alt-right, instead of accepting that American voters slightly preferred Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton, at least in the states where it counted. People wanted change over the ineptness, cronyism, and stagnation of the Obama era. They didn’t trust the utterly untrustable Clinton and liked her even less.
The harsh reality is this: Hillary Clinton is the worst presidential nominee in American history. And if the media is actually concerned about fake news, they will drop the election hacking lie and just admit that their candidate was a disaster.
https://ricochet.com/399685/election-not-hacked/
Saudi Arabia Arrests Partygoers Over ‘Mixed’ Gathering After Video Surfaces
Saudi authorities have used a viral video of young men and women drinking and partying in the coastal city of Jeddah to make several arrests, according to regional media reports.
The 49-second-long clip, uploaded to YouTube, shows the party taking place on the terrace of a building with Shisha pipes and glasses dotting the scene, Arabic music playing in the background and women dressed in Western clothing.
Saudi Arabia has strict laws against the consumption of alcohol and social gatherings of women and men who are not related to one another. The country’s “morality police” ensures that the conduct of society is upheld in line with these laws.
The footage has now amassed more than 500,000 views on the video-sharing site and will likely incur severe punishments for those found guilty of organizing or participating in the party. Regional news site Khaleej Times reported that police arrested the organizer of the gathering and several others, without providing specific numbers.
It cited a police spokesman as saying that authorities had determined the location of the party and subsequently the identity of the partygoers. Police said a flagpole seen in the background of video is the Jeddah Flagpole, one of the tallest in the world.
http://www.newsweek.com/saudi-arrests-partygoers-over-mixed-party-after-video-surfaces-536887
MEMRI TV – Iranian Minister of Defense Hossein Dehghan: We Do Not Coordinate with USA in Syria
Turkey Must Withdraw from Syrian Soil. We do Not Recognize Netanyahu to Even Listen to What He Has to Say”
Iranian Minister of Defense Hossein Dehghan said that Iran “did not and will not, coordinate with the Americans” in Syria and by no means will it cooperate with the U.S. in the future.
He also stated that Turkey must withdraw from Syrian soil and if it does not, it would be considered an aggressor.
In reference to Israeli PM Netanyahu’s recent visit to Azerbaijan he said: “We do not recognize Netanyahu to even listen to what he has to say.
With regard to the Syrian crisis, the Iranian minister said that a comprehensive ceasefire would require all parties to draw a distinction between the terrorists and the opposition that is willing to negotiate with the Syrian regime.
He added that Iran does not insist on Al-Assad being the president in the future, but on his right to present his candidacy in the elections.
The interview was broadcast on the Arabic-language Russia Today TV on December 27, 2016.
Iran has been at war with the US since November 4, 1979 and I don’t see them giving up the fight unless forced to do so by military action. Iran is going to do all that they can to force the US out of the Middle East and until WWIII goes kinetic in a major way Russia will let them as long as the Iranian actions don’t bring the US and Russia into a shooting war.
TURKEY – Parliamentary constitutional committee passes draft law on constitutional amendments
parliamentary committee early Friday approved a bill proposing a set of constitutional changes, including a switch to a presidential system of governance in Turkey.
The bill, backed by the ruling Justice and Development (AK Party) Party’s 316 lawmakers, is now expected to be put to vote in the parliament after the committee’s approval came following nine days of talks.
The proposed law gives executive powers to the president and vice presidents while abolishing the post of prime minister, lowering the age of candidacy for parliament from 25 to 18, and increasing the number of parliamentarians from 550 to 600 in accordance with the country’s growing population.
It also proposes to hold general elections every 5 years, instead of the current every four years, and the presidential election will also take place on the same days.
The draft bill also proposes the Turkish president should be at least 40-years old; gets directly elected by the people every five years and will be limited to two terms.
The president would also not be required to leave his or her political party once elected unlike in the previous constitution.
The president will also be able to appoint presidential aides and the ministers on his or her own, and will also have the right to unseat them.
Also, there will be no “Council of Ministers” but there will be ministers. Moreover, the president will have both the executive power and authority within the limits of the law.
The number of the Constitutional Court members will also be decreased from 17 to 15.
According to the draft, the next parliamentarian and presidential elections will take place on Nov. 3, 2019.
The AK Party and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) had struck an agreement over the changes to the constitution.
Constitutional change — in particular, the call for a presidential system — has been on the political agenda since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the former prime minister and AK Party chairman, was elected Turkey’s president in August 2014.
That election was the first time a Turkish president was directly chosen by popular vote.
In the current parliamentary model, Turkish people vote for 550 members of parliament. The government is formed by a minimum number of 276 lawmakers.
In the proposed presidential system, the electorate would vote for a person to form a government independently of parliament, with no need of a vote of confidence.
According to the head of the parliament’s Constitution Commission Mustafa Sentop, those who oppose the draft bill will have the right to object until Jan. 2, 2017.
http://www.dailysabah.com/legislation/2016/12/30/parliamentary-constitutional-committee-passes-draft-law-on-constitutional-amendments
https://theintercept.com/2016/12/29/the-guardians-summary-of-julian-assanges-interview-went-viral-and-was-completely-false/
The Guardian’s Summary of Julian Assange’s Interview Went Viral and Was Completely False
…
But one’s views of Assange are completely irrelevant to this article, which is not about Assange. This article, instead, is about a report published this week by The Guardian that recklessly attributed to Assange comments that he did not make. This article is about how those false claims — fabrications, really — were spread all over the internet by journalists, causing hundreds of thousands of people (if not millions) to consume false news. The purpose of this article is to underscore, yet again, that those who most flamboyantly denounce Fake News, and want Facebook and other tech giants to suppress content in the name of combating it, are often the most aggressive and self-serving perpetrators of it.
One’s views of Assange are completely irrelevant to this article because, presumably, everyone agrees that publication of false claims by a media outlet is very bad, even when it’s designed to malign someone you hate. Journalistic recklessness does not become noble or tolerable if it serves the right agenda or cause. The only way one’s views of Assange are relevant to this article is if one finds journalistic falsehoods and Fake News objectionable only when deployed against figures one likes.
“Parents in France no longer have the right to smack their children after new law comes into force – and Britain is under mounting pressure to follow suit ”
“The move leaves Britain as one of only four countries in Europe where smacking remains a legal way of disciplining children.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4075942/Parents-France-no-longer-right-smack-children-new-law-comes-force-Britain-mounting-pressure-follow-suit.html
I have never smacked my children or shouted for their attention.
Or rubbed soap as an ablution when doubting their retention.
I never raised or switched my gaze or surrendered to affection,
And so each child had found respect for love from no direction.
Love cannot be yearned, cannot be learned or legislated within a Section.
Or even earned from God’s Holy Book concerned with Man’s erection.
This love that springs from truth and sings a child knows from inflection,
Where dictators’ cups are so corrupt for fear of their rejection.
Will make nations’ hearts and minds depressed in absence of correction
So nothing left but ‘snakes in bed’ and their governments’ defection.
Merkel tells Germans their country is stronger than terror
Chancellor Angela Merkel is telling Germans in her New Year message that their country is stronger than terrorism and the government will do everything to ensure “security in freedom.”
Merkel said in her annual televised address being broadcast Saturday that 2016 had been “a year of severe tests,” the toughest of them Islamic extremist terror. She added, however, that she is “confident for Germany.”
[…]Germany’s democracy and values are the opposite of “the hate-filled world of terrorism, and they will be stronger than terrorism,” she said. “We are stronger together. Our state is stronger. Our state is doing everything to guarantee its citizens security in freedom.”
http://wtop.com/europe/2016/12/merkel-tells-germans-their-country-is-stronger-than-terror/
Poland: Katowice’s far-right march against ‘Islamic terror’ after Berlin attack
Far-right nationalists aligned to the extremist National Radical Camp (ONR) political party took to the streets of Katowice, Friday, to protest perceived “Islamic terror” in Europe, as well as government funding for the country’s Muslim League.
The demonstration comes in light of the death of Polish truck driver Lukasz Urban, who is believed to be the first victim of the Berlin Christmas market attack.
Secularism: Everyone Wants to Get Rid of It
by Yves Mamou
December 30, 2016 at 5:30 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9589/secularism-france
Can a French municipality erect a statue of the Virgin Mary in a public park? The answer is No. France’s Administrative Court has given the mayor of Publier, in eastern France (population 6500), three months to comply with the ban on religious symbols in public spaces and to remove the statue. If the municipality fails to do so, it will be fined €100 ($105) a day. Mayor Gaston Lacroix said he will try to relocate the marble statue on private land.
France’s 1905 Law on the Separation of the Churches and the State (Article 2) states that “The Republic does not recognize, pay or subsidize any religious sect”; article 28 prohibits any religious symbol on public monuments.
The Virgin May statue in Publier, on the bottom of which is inscribed “Our Lady of Geneva Lake watch over your children”, has a long story. It was installed in the town park in August 2011, without debate. The statue was acquired with taxpayer money: €23,700 (USD $26,000). Acknowledging at the time that he had “joked a little with the 1905 law” on the separation of church and the state, the mayor had to sell the statue to a local religious association.
Now, the mayor has to remove the statue from the public park. He tried to privatize the piece of land where the statue is erected, but the land-sale project was rejected by the court.
This story of a statue of the Virgin Mary illustrates the difficulties of secularism, the defense of French identity, the fight against Islamism, and the contradictory interests of different political parties in France.
Originally, secularism in France was established to push religion out of the public sphere. An authentic war was conducted at the end of 19th century and beginning of 20th to push a very obscurantist Catholic Church out of all public spaces. According to historian Jacques Julliard:
Ask President-elect Trump to Meet With Muslim Reformists
During the Obama years, Muslim Brotherhood groups had ample access to the White House while anti-Islamist Muslim reformers were shut ou
Sign this petition to ask President-elect Donald Trump to meet with members of the Muslim Reform Movement to discuss ways of fighting Islamism.
During the years of the Obama administration, Muslim Brotherhood members and Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups had ample access to the White House while anti-Islamist Muslim reformers were virtually shut out.
We expect that to change in the Trump administration.
We urge you to make your voice be known to President-elect Trump to meet with Muslim reformers.
SIGN THE PETITION
Background
The Muslim Reform Movement, founded one year ago, is an organization dedicated to reform in Islam based on values of peace, human rights and secular governance. Founding members include many of Clarion’s partners: Asra Nomani, Tahir Aslam Gora, Tawfik Hamid, Usama Hasan, Arif Humayun, Farahnaz Ispahani, Zuhdi Jasser, Naser Khader, Courtney Lonergan, Hasan Mahmud, Raheel Raza, Sohail Raza and Salma Siddiqui.
After announcing the creation of the organization at the National Press Club in Washngton, D.C. in December of 2015, the Muslim Reform Movement’s first move was to go to the Saudi-affiliated Islamic Center of Washington and post their “Declaration of Reform” on the doors of the mosque “denouncing violent jihad, rejecting Islamic statism and opposing the ‘ideology of violent Islamic extremism.'”
Announcing the founding of the Muslim Reform Movement on NBC’s Meet the Press on December 6, 2015, Asra Nomani said, “We are opposing a very real interpretation of Islam that espouses violence, social injustice and political Islam…
“The problem is sitting in the birthplace of Islam, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where this interpretation of Islam has gone out into the world over the last four decades, creating militancy groups from Indonesia, to now, the San Bernardino, California, vicious attack. We have to take back the faith.
“And we have to take it back with the principles of peace, social justice and human rights, women’s rights and secularized governance… we’ve had enough.”
https://www.clarionproject.org/news/ask-president-elect-trump-meet-muslim-reformists
The US citizens should sign this, it can’t hurt and it might help.
“1. We stand for universal peace, love and compassion. We reject violent jihad. We believe we must target the ideology of violent Islamist extremism in order to liberate individuals from the scourge of oppression and terrorism both in Muslim-majority societies and the West.
2. We stand for the protection of all people of all faiths and non-faith who seek freedom from dictatorships, theocracies and Islamist extremists.
3. We reject bigotry, oppression and violence against all people based on any prejudice, including ethnicity, gender, language, belief, religion, sexual orientation and gender expression.”
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7009/muslim-reform-movement
For Christians, the New Testament was a revelation after being replaced by the Catholic Church for ‘ChurchTradition’ where translating it from Latin was punished by stake-burning. For Islam there is no Reformation. If you want to be a fundamental Muslim you must kill like a fundamental Muslim.
The G_ds of the past clearly were not up to standard on humanity.
https://youtu.be/TDL0FttPX-4
VIDEO: Arrested for Diving
Saudi police officers arrested a woman in her thirties for taking a diving lesson from men. They say more arrests will follow.
https://www.clarionproject.org/news/video-arrested-diving
Texas Man Charged; Wanted to Kill Obama as ‘Martyr for Allah’
the 21-year old is also charged with making threats to plant bombs to destroy the FBI Field Office in Houston and the White House.
A young Texas man was charged with threatening to kill President Barack Obama. He also made threats to attack the FBI Field Office in Houston as well as the White House.
Gavin Friedman, 21, planned the attack so that he could be “martyred in the name of Allah,” according to the indictment. Friedman said the assassination was for the reason that “Obama is a puppet for (ZOG) Zionist Organized Government.”
Friedman is charged with making threats to plant bombs to destroy the Federal Bureau of Investigation Field Office in Houston and the White House. He is also accused of threatening “to kill the United States Attorney and kidnap and kill the United States Attorney’s family.”
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/texas-man-charged-wanted-kill-obama-%E2%80%98martyr-allah%E2%80%99
The Canonization of an Islamist Killer
When an assassin is hailed as a hero while the reformist governor he murdered is reviled, there is a very long way to go to defeat Islamist extremism.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Pakistan to mourn the death of Mumtaz Qadri, who was executed for killed a former governor over anti-blasphemy legislation.
Now, a shrine is being built to idolize the killer.
“It has hardly been a year since his execution yet the process of his canonisation is utterly complete,” writes Adil Pasha, a journalist for Dawn that visited the site.
“Despite being under-construction, it is occupied even at 9 AM on a Saturday by at least a dozen men. The attendees appear relaxed, perched next to his rose petal-covered grave. There is a shop outside the shrine that sells flowers and flaunts a meek collection of photographs of the assassin.”
Pasha notes that on the first day after his funeral, 80 million rupees ($760,000) were donated to build the shrine – an enormous sum for a country known for its abject poverty.
In the words of one vigilant graveside by-stander, “To pray at his grave is a guaranteed way to have it answered, for Qadri has earned a place at the side of the Prophet (PBUH) through his sacrifice.”
Qadri murdered his boss, then governor of the Punjab, Salman Taseer, who opposed Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, in 2011. Qadri was serving as Taseer’s security guard at the time.
https://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/canonization-islamist-killer
Defector: North Korea Rushing Towards the Bomb
12/28/2016 / By shawn
40 17 12 Reddit0 5 74
A North Korean defector told CNN this week that his former country is moving ahead with their nuclear weapons program. Thae Young-ho, once a prominent ambassador for the Kim regime, said that North Korea hoped to take advantage of the uncertainties in the West to expand their destructive arsenal.
“Due to domestic political procedures, North Korea calculates that South Korea and the U.S. will not be able to take physical or military actions to deter North Korea’s nuclear development,” Thae said.
He surmised that Kim Jong-un would see this as “an apt time” to grow his nuclear arsenal with minimal interference from Western nations who are grappling with their political futures.
“Following the ruling party congress in May, Kim Jong-un made it a party policy to finish nuclear development within the earliest time possible,” he said.
The mad dictator may realize sooner than later that President Trump isn’t going to stand by and watch him grow more powerful the way President Obama has done. While Obama continually takes small-scale action to make it look like the U.S. is doing something, the Kim regime has been allowed to put all of their focus into building a system of mass destruction that endangers everyone in the region. And if Thae is correct, his efforts may soon result in a military establishment that can launch missiles directly onto U.S. soil.
Something must be done, and it starts with China. Trump knows full well that North Korea can only continue to exist as a nation under international sanctions as long as they are protected from doom by their Chinese allies. China doesn’t want a free North Korea. Nor do they want to see Kim get so desperate that he starts making good on his violent threats. But this dance where we “keep the status quo” simply isn’t working anymore. We can’t wait until we see a mushroom cloud over Los Angeles before we take action.
Action doesn’t need to mean war. Donald Trump has made it clear what he thinks about interventionist wars that aim to overthrow dangerous dictators. They often have unpredictable consequences and lead to situations worse than what they were. He is smart enough to know that it is through China that we can keep Kim Jong-un in check.
Hopefully, that’s exactly what he’ll do. The time has run out on Obama’s “strategic patience.” Kim Jong-un has rattled the saber for long enough. It’s time to neuter him before his talk turns into something much more dangerous.
http://totalconservative.com/defector-north-korea-rushing-towards-bomb/
Richard: One thing we can do is restart our missile defense program, and buy the airborne laser system that can be used as a theater defense system. Obama refused to buy it and stopped the research.
Britain, edging towards Trump, scolds Kerry over Israel
By Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton,Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain scolded U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for describing the Israeli government as the most right-wing in Israeli history, a move that aligns Prime Minister Theresa May more closely with President-elect Donald Trump.
After U.S. President Barack Obama enraged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by refusing to veto a UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, Kerry’s public rebuke of Israel has unsettled some allies such as Britain.
Amid one of the United States’ sharpest confrontations with Israel since the 1956 Suez crisis, Kerry said in a speech that Israel jeopardizeds hopes of peace in the Middle East by building settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
While Britain voted for the UN resolution that so angered Netanyahu and says that settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, a spokesman for May said that it was clear that the settlements were far from the only problem in the conflict.
In an unusually sharp public rebuke of Obama’s top diplomat, May’s spokesman said that Israel had coped for too long with the threat of terrorism and that focusing only on the settlements was not the best way to achieve peace between Jew and Arab.
London also took particular issue with Kerry’s description of Netanyahu’s coalition as “the most right-wing in Israeli history, with an agenda driven by its most extreme elements.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/britain-scolds-kerry-comments-israeli-government-081447109.html
National Front mayor renames French street ‘rue de Brexit’ (france24, Dec 27, 2016) http://www.france24.com/en/20161227-national-front-mayor-sanchez-renames-french-street-rue-brexit
“A French mayor who is a member of France’s right-wing eurosceptic National Front party has renamed a street in his town “rue de Brexit”, meant as a “homage” to Britain’s decision to leave the European Union in June.
Mayor Julien Sanchez called his decision to rename the street in the southern French town of Beaucaire a “homage to the sovereign British people’s decision” to reject the European Union in a June 23 referendum…”
France, Germany and the Netherlands: The elections that could derail the EU in 2017 (france24, Dec 30, 2016)
http://www.france24.com/en/20161230-eu-elections-2017-le-pen-fillon-wilders-immigration-france-germany-netherlands
“After Brexit rattled the European Union in 2016, a string of high-stakes elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands – along with possibly Italy – could bring even greater uncertainty to the bloc in the year to come.
Buoyed by a year of electoral revolts on both sides of the Atlantic, Eurosceptic parties will be more confident than ever as they bid to stage further upsets over the coming months. The Netherlands, France and Germany – all founding nations of the EU – head to the polls in 2017 with issues of security, migration and sovereignty looming large. They could well be joined by a fourth founding member, Italy, where the anti-establishment mood is fuelling calls for a snap election….”
Report: Germany needs more than 200,000 day care spots (DW, Dec 30, 2016)
http://www.dw.com/en/report-germany-needs-more-than-200000-day-care-spots/a-36956739
“Germany is scrambling to accommodate an ever-growing demand for day care. A new study shows there isn’t space for roughly one out of 10 children under the age of 3.
A report by the Cologne Institute of the German Economy (IW) says 10.4 percent of children under the age of 3 in Germany cannot be sent to day care by their parents. The German newspaper “Rheinische Post” noted the report on Friday.
The states with the highest percentage of children without a place in day care were mostly in the country’s western region, with North Rhine-Westphalia – the most populous German state – reporting a rate of 13.4 percent. Former East German states had the lowest rates, at under 5 percent.
The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) faction said the government will continue to improve funding for day care services. The faction says an additional 100,000 seats will sufficiently meet demand for day care. In mid-December, the cabinet adopted a draft bill to provide 1.126 billion euros ($1.188 billion) in funding to the states for day care assistance.
Parents in Germany have had the right to send children under the age of 3 to day care since 2013. However, parents have expressed concern at relying on a system that assigns them a day care, rather than allowing them to select one.
Germany experienced a sharp decline in birth rates per women after 1966, falling from 2.53 births per woman to 1.45 births in 1976, according to the World Bank. A parental assistance program, Elterngeld was put in place to boost Germany’s lagging birth rate. Since its implementation in 2007, the birth rate has climbed slowly from 1.37 in 2007 to 1.50 births per woman in 2015, still far below the suggested rate of 2.1 births per woman.
Neighboring EU nations have also reported similarly low rates, with none of them recording more than 2.1 births per woman in 2014.”
German authorities puzzled over Koran disposal (DW, Dec 30, 2016)
http://www.dw.com/en/german-authorities-puzzled-over-koran-disposal/a-36956283
“Police have confiscated tens of thousands of copies of a banned version of the Koran that came under fire for promoting religious hatred. Now the authorities must decide what to do with them.
Throughout 2016, German authorities carried out raids on hundreds of locations across 10 federal states in a crackdown on the “True Religion” Salafist group, confiscating tens of thousands of copies of a fundamentalist translation of the Koran. According to media reports on Friday, the government was grappling with how to dispose of the texts – and the only option may be to bury the whole lot in the desert.
In one warehouse alone in the Cologne suburb of Pulheim, wrote German broadcaster WDR, some 22,000 of these controversial Korans sit wrapped in plastic. Emblazoned with the word “Lies!” which translates to “Read!” or “Read It,” the books were removed from circulation for “spreading messages of hate and anti-constitutional ideologies,” in the words of Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere.
De Maiziere has further said that more than 100 young men traveled from Germany to Iraq and Syria to join the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) terrorists after being exposed to the book’s strict, draconian interpretation of Islam and Islamic law. Along with the book, the “True Religion” group that distributed it has also been banned for promoting hate.
But the ban does not solve the dilemma of how to properly get rid of thousands of books which contain Islam’s holy scripture. According to WDR, the government of North Rhine-Westphalia has been in contact with Muslim leaders and experts in Islamic studies for a method of disposal that does not involve burning, shredding, or recycling the paper.
The traditional way to dispose of an old or desecrated Koran is to wrap it in a cloth and bury it, preferably somewhere hallowed and nowhere a person may accidentally walk over it. While some scholars say dropping it into flowing water or burning it is acceptable when burial is impossible, the first option presents logistical and environmental dilemmas while the latter evokes unsavory historical connotations.
As per WDR, the authorities are truly considering burying all the “Read!” Korans in the desert as the best way to get rid of a book that incites religious hatred and pay the proper amount of respect to the sanctity of the text for Muslims. A spokeswoman for the federal interior ministry told the broadcaster that no decisions have yet been made regarding the books as they continue to gather dust in warehouses across Germany.”
So… Traditional Islam and environmentalism dont go much together. As well traditional Islam reminds them of some unsavory historical episodes… Come on… lol
Massive book pyres burning with Korans would finally send the message to all Muslims that they and are their “Holy Books” are not wanted. Do it and broadcast it throughout social media.
Berlin police angrily reject claim they assaulted terror suspect (thelocal, Dec 30, 2016)
https://www.thelocal.de/20161230/berlin-police-reject-claim-they-beat-terror-suspect
“After the Guardian published allegations that Berlin’s police physically assaulted a terror suspect, the police have accused the newspaper of making up quotes.
“The story is completely without basis and we were enraged as we read it,” Berlin’s police told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) on Friday.
The Guardian on Thursday published an interview with Naveed B., quoting him as remembering two officers “digging the heels of their shoes into my feet”, and one of the men “putting great pressure on my neck with his hand”.
Naveed B., an asylum seeker from Pakistan, was arrested shortly after a truck ploughed into a Berlin Christmas market on December 19th, killing 11 people.
A day later police released him, admitting that they had the wrong man. The main suspect is now Anis Amri, a Tunisian who was shot dead in Milan last Friday after shooting a police officer.
Amri’s ID was found in the truck and terror group Isis has since released a video of him swearing them his allegiance.
Police also tweeted on Friday that they had spoken to B. and he had told them: “I was neither beaten nor badly treated.”
A police spokesperson told FAZ that B. told them that a professional translator was not present at the interview with the Guardian, only an acquaintance who could speak a bit of his language.
He accused the British newspaper of putting words into his mouth, police claim.
In reality, B. was thankful to the police for how they had looked after him after his wrongful arrest, the spokesperson said.”
Drug raid on Nigerian gang sees 50 arrests (thelocal, Dec 30, 2016)
http://www.thelocal.at/20161230/drug-raid-on-nigerian-gang-sees-50-arrests
“Police in Vienna have arrested 50 people in connection with a Nigerian drug ring which operated in the Austrian capital.
Investigators said they had been on the trail of the gang for the past three years, and that in that time it has netted a profit of over €6 million.
21 kilos of illegal drugs, mainly cocaine and heroin, were seized during raids on Thursday. However, police told a press conference on Friday that the gang would probably cut the drugs with other substances to increase the amount that could be sold on the street to around 100 kilos.
The drugs were mainly sold in Vienna by Nigerian dealers. Detective Georg Rabensteiner said that 100 kilos of drugs would “cover” demand in Vienna for a few months…”
Pakistan gave national ID card to slain Taliban leader: Minister (gulfnews, Dec 30, 2016)
http://gulfnews.com/news/asia/pakistan/pakistan-gave-national-id-card-to-slain-taliban-leader-minister-1.1954170
“Islamabad: Slain Afghan Taliban supremo Mullah Mansour, who was killed in a US drone strike inside Pakistan, was issued a Pakistani national identity card in 2005, Interior Minister Chaurdhy Nisar admitted on Friday.
Khan, however, blamed the past government of overtly issuing ID cards and passports to foreigners…”
China blocks India’s request for UN to blacklist Masood Azhar (tribune, Dec 30, 2016)
http://tribune.com.pk/story/1279677/china-blocks-indias-request-un-blacklist-masood-azhar/
“China has blocked India’s request to add the head of the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) to a UN Security Council blacklist of groups linked to al Qaeda.
India has accused JeM and its top leader, Maulana Masood Azhar, of masterminding several attacks, including a deadly assault on an Indian air base in January. Security officials interrogated Azhar and his associates after the attack, and said they found no evidence linking him to it…”
China to build $1.5 billion power line across Pakistan (tribune, Dec 30, 2016)
http://tribune.com.pk/story/1279636/china-fund-4000-mw-power-transmission-line-pakistan/
“ISLAMABAD: State Grid of China will help build a 4,000 MW power transmission line in Pakistan in a project valued at $1.5 billion, a statement issued by the PM House said on Friday, the latest in a series of Chinese investments in the country.
The high-capacity transmission line will be the first of its kind in Pakistan and will link Matiari town, near a new power station, to Lahore city, a key link in transmission infrastructure.
An agreement on the project was signed on Thursday in Beijing between Mohammad Younus Dagha, secretary of water and power, and Shu Yinbiao, chairman of State Grid Corporation of China, the statement added…”