Reader’s links, Oct. 17, 2017

Daily Links Post graphic

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

118 Replies to “Reader’s links, Oct. 17, 2017”

  1. Met Say Charging Shoplifters, Vandals ‘Not Practical’ as Arrests for ‘Offensive’ Comments Rise 53 Per Cent (breitbart, Oct 17, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/10/17/met-say-charging-shoplifters-vandals-not-practical-as-arrests-for-offensive-comments-rise-53-per-cent/

    “London’s Metropolitan Police Force has said it will give up on investigating many instances of “low-level” crime such as shoplifting and vandalism, saying it is “not practical” to fight them in a time of cutbacks…”

  2. Alleged Islamic State Female Recruiter Arrested in Spain with FBI Help (breitbart, Oct 17, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/10/17/alleged-islamic-state-female-recruiter-arrested-spain-fbi-help/

    “Spain’s Interior Ministry says the civil guard has arrested a 21-year-old Spanish woman who allegedly recruited other women to join the Islamic State group in conflict areas.

    It said the woman is also accused of self-radicalization by consuming IS propaganda and establishing online networks with other jihadi activists, mostly women…”

  3. Britain facing most ‘intense’ terror threat ever, MI5 boss warns (express, Oct 17, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/867668/uk-terror-threat-most-intense-ever-M15-London-Bridge-Manchester-Arena-Parsons-Green

    “THE head of MI5 has warned that Britain is facing an unprecedented terror threat, with security services at risk of being overwhelmed by “more terrorist activity coming at us, more quickly”.

    Andrew Parker said he had never seen counter terrorism operations working at such speeds in his 34 years at the UK intelligence agency.

    He added that 20 planned attacks on British soil had been foiled in the past four years, seven of them in the past seven months.

    All of them had been masterminded by Islamic extremists, he said.

    The prolifacy of the plots meant it was becoming “harder to detect” every attack being planned.

    MI5 staff were also “deeply affected” whenever an attack is carried out, Mr Parker told an audience in London.

    “They get up and come to work every single day to make terrorist attacks less likely and to keep the country safe,” he said of his staff.

    “They are constantly making tough professional judgements based on fragments of intelligence; pinpricks of light against a dark and shifting canvas.

    There have been five terror attacks on the UK this year so far, killing 36 people in total.

    In his first substantial remarks since those attacks, Mr Parker detailed the “acute and enduring” challenge posed by Islamist terrorism…”

  4. Ten Suspects Allegedly ‘Plotting to Kill’ Politicians Arrested in France (sputniknews, Oct 17, 2017)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201710171058318083-france-plot-kill-politicians-reports/

    “Le Monde newspaper reported about an alleged “plot to kill politicians” in France. The suspects are believed to be connected with far-right groups.

    Ten people suspected of allegedly preparing the murder of politicians in France have been arrested, Le Monde reported citing a source close to the probe.

    The suspects are allegedly linked to far-right groups in France. Nine were reportedly arrested in the morning and the tenth was apprehended in the early afternoon as part of an investigation conducted by the Anti-Terrorist Branch of the Judicial Police and the Directorate General Intelligence. The suspects were placed in custody, the judicial source said.

    According to the television channel M6, 10 men aged from 17 to 25 were arrested in Seine-Saint-Denis and in the vicinity of Marseille. According to the channel, they are suspected of having taken part in a plot to attack Muslim politicians and places of worship.

    The alleged group’s mastermind, Logan Alexandre Nisin, 21, arrested on June 28 in Tarascon has been placed under an investigation for association with criminals connected to a terror cell.

    France has been in a state of emergency since November 2015 following terror attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis that had left 130 people killed. Despite the additional costly security measures, the country has been targeted by 20 terror attacks — the deadliest one claiming over 80 lives in Nice in 2016 — and numerous attacks on members of police and the military. The latter have prompted severe criticism over the state of emergency’ numerous extensions from politicians and general public.

    Earlier this month, a knife-wielding man of Tunisian origin attacked two women in Marseille before being shot by police on October 1. Over a week later, police detained an attacker armed with a knife in the city of Nice. The state of emergency is set to expire on November 1.”

  5. European dream becomes nightmare mirage for Bangladeshis

    Tortured, sold as a slave three times and haunted with guilt after watching his cousin drown, Bangladeshi teenager Khaled Hossain fears he will never recover from the trauma of his failed attempt to reach Europe.

  6. Suit: U.S. Firms’ Bribes Funded Iraq Militia Attacks on Americans (nbcnews, Oct 17, 2017)
    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/mideast/suit-u-s-firms-bribes-funded-iraq-militia-attacks-americans-n811441

    “A group of American veterans filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against U.S. and European drug companies and medical device makers, accusing them of supporting an Iran-backed Iraqi militia that killed and wounded hundreds of Americans.

    The suit is filed under a law that allows Americans injured by terrorism overseas to seek civil damages. The more than 100 plaintiffs include injured U.S. Iraq war veterans and their families. The defendants are either parent companies or subsidiaries of AstraZeneca plc (AZN); Johnson & Johnson (JNJ); Pfizer Inc. (PFE); Roche Holding AG (RHHBY); and the General Electric Company (GE).

    The 203-page lawsuit accuses the companies of paying bribes to officials of Iraq’s health ministry that benefited the Mahdi Army, an Iranian-backed militia that the suit says worked closely with Hezbollah, a Lebanese group that has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government…”

    • ITALY – SICILY -Palermo –

      Leoluca Orlando – mayor of Palermo :

      »… let’s bring them fro Turkey by plane… «

    • Pope visits FAO: Stop treating hunger like an incurable disease

      ….. benediction of the statue of Alan Kurdi …

    • PICS :

      http://oi63.tinypic.com/295sen6.jpg

      https://www.ncronline.org/sites/default/files/POPE-FAO-HUNGER-MIGRATION.jpg

      Pope Francis is pictured next to a statue of Alan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Syrian boy who drowned in September 2015 while crossing the Mediterranean Sea. During a visit to the Rome headquarters of the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization Oct. 16, the pope presented the marble statue as a gift to the organization.
      ========================
      Pope: To fight hunger and forced migration, address the root causes

      VATICAN CITY — It makes no sense to lament the problems of hunger and forced migration if one is unwilling to address their root causes, which are conflict and climate change, Pope Francis said.

      “War and climate change lead to hunger; therefore, let’s avoid presenting it as if it were an incurable disease,” and instead implement laws, economic policies, lifestyle changes and attitudes that prevent the problems in the first place, he told world leaders at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.

      […]Food insecurity is linked to forced migration, the pope said, and the two can be addressed only “if we go to the root of the problem” — conflict and climate change.

      […]As for climate change, he said, scientists know what needs to be done and the international instruments — like the Paris Agreement — are already available.

      […]the pope said, unfortunately “some are backing away” from the agreement. U.S. President Donald Trump announced in June that the United States would withdraw from the accord as a way to help the U.S. economy.

      http://catholicherald.com/News/National___International/Pope_Francis/Pope__To_fight_hunger_and_forced_migration,_go_to_the_root_causes/

      =============================================
      Pope Francis: Address the root causes of migration

  7. Iraqi forces recapture contentious Kirkuk in overnight offensive

    The Iraqi government quickly capitalized on its victory against the Islamic State in the adjacent city of Hawija and turned its energy on the secessionist Kurds in Kirkuk. The rapid offensive exposes deep fault lines in the anti-Islamic State coalition and within Kurdish politics.

    https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2017/10/iraqi-forces-recapture-contentious-kirkuk-in-overnight-offensive.php
    …….
    video at site

  8. Poland: Protesters condemn Erdogan’s visit to Warsaw

    Protesters gathered in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Tuesday, to demonstrate against the visit to Poland of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

    “We do not want it to be like this, that every right-wing populist can come to Poland, because here he will know that nothing bad will happen to him, that he will not hear a bad word here,” said protest organiser Maciej Konieczny, of the ‘Together’ party.

    • Poland: Erdogan demands ‘clear declaration’ that Turkey cannot join EU

      Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda in Warsaw on Tuesday in a bid to boost trade between the two countries and to propel EU accession talks.

      SOT, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish President (Turkish): “I would like to raise the issue of our accession to the European Union. We have full support of Poland on this issue. No- The European Union does not open its borders to us, this process has continued since 1963.”

      SOT, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish President (Turkish): “They said that Turkey cannot, that its accession (to the EU) is not possible. I would like to hear a clear declaration and statement. Just do not give us the run-around.”

      SOT, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish President, (Turkish): “Turks do not need visas for Latin America. At the same time, Turkey is negotiating accession to the European Union and visas to the EU are required. This is a rather strange situation, so I would expect my friends who are members of the European Union, to discuss this topic. Especially since the issue of visa liberalisation has already been included in the declaration.”

  9. the gateway pundit – FBI Finds 2,800 Huma Govt Docs on Weiner Laptop – Most Likely Contains Classified Info

    Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch revealed Tuesday that the State Department admitted it received 2,800 Huma Abedin government documents from the FBI that were found on her husband Anthony Weiner’s laptop.

    Judicial Watch’s president Tom Fitton says in his experience dealing with Abedin emails on Weiner’s laptop, docs will include classified information.

    https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-state-department-reveals-2800-huma-abedin-government-documents-weiners-laptop/

    Judicial Watch revealed today that the U.S. Department of State admits it received 2,800 Huma Abedin work-related documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that were found on her estranged husband Anthony Weiner’s personal laptop. Abedin was former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s deputy chief of staff. Weiner is a disgraced former congressman and New York mayoral candidate who recently plead guilty to transferring obscene material to a minor. Abedin kept a non-State.gov email account that she used repeatedly for government business on Hillary Clinton’s notorious email server(s).

    The revelation was produced in a May 5, 2015, lawsuit Judicial Watch filed against the State Department (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00684)). Judicial Watch sued after the State Department failed to respond to a March 18, 2015, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking: “All emails of official State Department business received or sent by former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin from January 1, 2009 through February 1, 2013 using a non-‘state.gov’ email address.”

    In accordance with a court ordered production of documents, the State Department’s court filing states: “The State Department has identified approximately 2,800 work-related documents among the documents provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” By December 31, 2017, the State Department expects to complete its review and production of the FBI records. The government suggests some of the material may be “duplicative” of other records.

    President of Judicial Watch Tom Fitton had this to say about the new development:

    “This is a disturbing development. Our experience with Abedin’s emails suggest these Weiner laptop documents will include classified and other sensitive materials. When will the Justice Department do a serious investigation of Hillary Clinton’s and Huma Abedin’s obvious violations of law?”

    Fitton also tweeted that the FBI will release the material by the end of the year.

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/10/breaking-fbi-finds-2800-huma-govt-docs-weiner-laptop-likely-contains-classified-info/

  10. A judge just blocked Trump’s latest travel ban

    A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from implementing the latest version of the controversial travel ban. The latest ban was set to go into effect on October 18, stopping travelers from Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Chad, Somalia, North Korea and Venezuela from entering the US. But this decision from Judge Derrick K. Watson in Hawaii means that the administration cannot restrict the entry of travelers from all of these countries, except North Korea and Venezuela.

    Watson wrote that President Trump’s ban ‘plainly discriminates based on nationality’. Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin said in a statement that Tuesday’s ruling ‘is another victory for the rule of law,’ adding: ‘We stand ready to defend it.’ Watson previously blocked enforcement of Trump’s second travel ban and he wrote that this latest ban ‘suffers from precisely the same maladies as its predecessor: it lacks sufficient findings that the entry of more than 150 million nationals from six specified countries would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States”‘.

    The Immigration and Nationality Act gives the president authority to make decisions about who can enter the United States, but, according to Watson: ‘These provisions do not afford the President unbridled discretion to do as he pleases.’ Watson’s order was issued in response to a lawsuit filed by the state of Hawaii, a Honolulu-based mosque, its imam and two state residents who have relatives in the affected countries. They claimed that the ban would hurt the state’s university system, which includes students and teachers from the blocked countries, negatively impact the Hawaii tourism industry and prevent relatives from visiting them in the US.

    The Department of Justice, which has argued that the ban is needed to protect Americans from the threat of potential terrorism, is expected to challenge this latest ruling.

    metro.co.uk/2017/10/17/a-judge-just-blocked-trumps-latest-travel-ban-7007758/

    ==================================================
    Hawaii judge blocks Trump’s new travel ban

    A Federal judge in Hawaii on Tuesday issued an order blocking major parts of President Trump’s newest travel ban, suggesting it violated immigration law.

    The decision from U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu stops the administration’s travel restrictions nationwide before they were scheduled to take full effect Wednesday.

    The newest travel rules, issued on Sept. 24, indefinitely ban entry to the U.S. by most nationals of Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea. They also restrict travel by certain Venezuelan government officials and their families.

    Watson’s order, issued in response to a lawsuit filed by the state of Hawaii, a Honolulu-based mosque, its imam and two state residents who have relatives in the affected countries, stops the government from enforcing the new restrictions on travel from all of the nations except North Korea and Venezuela.

    Challengers to the ban said it would hurt Hawaii’s state university system, which has students, professors and visitors from the blocked countries, as well as the Hawaii tourism industry. Individuals who sued said the ban would prevent their relatives from immigrating to the U.S. and visiting.

    Government lawyers said in court filings that Trump’s travel order falls within his power as president and was written after a review of security vetting procedures for nations around the world.

    The judge’s decision is a temporary measure while a lawsuit over the legality of the travel ban proceeds.

    The Department of Justice, which has argued that the ban is needed to protect Americans from potential terrorism, is expected to challenge the ruling.

    In March, Watson issued an order blocking a previous version of the ban in a case that, coupled with a similar one in a federal court in Maryland, was set for arguments in the Supreme Court. This month, justices canceled Oct. 10 arguments and dropped the case because the prior ban — which was temporary — had expired and was replaced by the new one.

    http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-travel-ban-hawaii-20171017-story.html

    • This analyst says Sunnis will be the biggest losers in Iraq. Jonathan Spyer,[*] more pessimistic, figures the Sunnis are pretty much washed up in both Syria and Iraq.

      Right now they’re mostly displaced: the people who would’ve been the backbone have hightailed it out of there. Hijra-bound.

      One of President [Czech.] Zeman’s arguments the other day against the invasion of Europe is that it’s consigning the source regions to permanent backwardness. However inferior by Western standards, this exodus of young men constitutes a “brain-drain” for points of origin. (Also a brawn-drain – who’s gonna grow food? drive trucks?)
      …….
      [*] Spyer actually goes to these hellholes, talks to these people. I wish he wouldn’t. He’s not an ordinary journalist, he’s a super-ultra scholar-analyst with a distinguished pedigree.

      • The Sunni’s are so close to finished in Syria and Iraq that those nations are now Shia territory. This is causing massive problems for Erdogan, the US and Israel. Erdogan is making a big mistake by not keeping the young Sunni men in Turkey and forming them into an Army to fight against the various Shiite militias that Iran is turning loose. If there is any way for the US to get military equipment into the Kurds we need to do this but we are faced with having to find a route into their territory that doesn’t run through Turkey or regions that either Iran or Russia control.

    • Staying Together is Hard — But Splitting is Harder

      [Ambassador James Jeffrey] : …I think… [Administration] policy towards Syria and Iraq is now run by people in State and DoD who think that the only issue is fighting jihadis, because it’s easy and fun and we’re winning. Iran is too hard, but we can rely on the Russians to deal with Iran in Syria, and we can rely on [Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al] Abadi to deal with the Iranians in Iraq. This is a recipe for absolute disaster.

      The U.S. Administration will go through the knee jerk reactions to try to deal with this specific problem, which is typically “everybody talk, stop shooting.” But putting together even my very limited Diplomacy 101 policy action plan that I mentioned above: to leverage the Fed to bring both sides to the table, use our relations with Turkey to bring them into the negotiations, and reassure the local actors of our commitment to a unified Iraq, at least implicitly with a troop presence.…

      https://www.thecipherbrief.com/article/middle-east/staying-together-hard-splitting-harder

  11. Some of the Conservatives Salon Missed

    Writers very much worth following, even if you’d rather be blinded by the left.

    Over the weekend, Salon published a list of “The 25 conservatives actually worth following on Twitter,” which turned out to be fairly revealing.

    The prompt for the article was an acknowledgment that leftists had completely failed to anticipate the election of Donald Trump as president. “Their steady diet of MSNBC and left-wing op-eds only reinforced biases and preconceived beliefs,” Taylor Link wrote. “The country’s actual, collective tilt wholly evaded them.

    “One recommended solution: Search out opposing points of view.” So Link sets out to accomplish that task by compiling a list of Twitter personalities. The twist: they all hate Trump. And that’s how they mean to understand the mind of the Trump voter.

    Maybe we should call this metaliberalism — a self-negating, performative broadmindedness that is always and ever closed to any actual contrary opinion.

    Or can we call them the neo-Dothraki? One does not inquire after the truth. It is known.

    https://spectator.org/some-of-the-conservatives-salon-missed/?utm_source=American+Spectator+Emails&utm_campaign=870a088b38-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_10_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_797a38d487-870a088b38-104523669

    • In the comments section:
      “But if you actually want to read something by people who predicted Trump or at least weren’t vehemently opposed to his election and understood the motivations of the people who voted for Trump then you should read Saleno Zito, Byron York, Instapundit, Vox Day, Ace of Spades, Roger Simon, Roger Kimball, Don Surber, Scott Adams (Dilbert Blog), The Last Refuge, The Z Man, Kurt Schlichter, Conrad Black and of course Breitbart. If you’re a liberal you’ll hate every single one of these writers. But you will at least learn where the pissed off right is coming from.”

  12. OK… I’ve just seen Blade Runner: Quest to find my Daughter.

    The first film asked what was it like to be Human? – The shared meaning-of-life in us all – to seek our Maker.

    The second film: Exploring the meaning of what is it like to be Gay – following My Little Pony from the very start – an imprint of the memories of a little girl. Where everyone in the drama… male, female and alternative-other… will at some point cry… and be empathetically unbelievable. Virtue-Signalling. Finding our common Pussy Hats. Only those born from a female and go back to a female, are part of the human rainbow.

    Our villain, who doesn’t cry, can’t cry with steely eyes, literally can’t see through them and relies on external flying camera-sensors, wants to create transgender-slaves to become his new improved bio-hybrid Worker-Ants – who will be ruined if he does not capture the Baby-Girl Jesus. Born “it’s a miracle” from a sex-doll to lead the replicants to be equal to cis-genders. This is the liberating message, I kid you not. If we get to reproduce like you, we are the same. Another SJW Movie! I want my baby.

    With a cardboard backdrop and every actor a walk-on part; only the dog shows any real emotion, being unsure as to what movie ze was in.
    0/10
    (1/10 if a teenager and you want to see naked breasts, ala Harvey Weinstein, alongside Sony product placements).

    Over 2 and a half hours long, with a thin dumb plot, waiting for over an hour for Hans Solo to appear – and still then nothing happens – reminding us that every Elvis movie was better than this.

      • While I was at the store yesterday I saw a new release of “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”. This was the book that Blade Runner was based on, like almost all of Phillip K. Dicks stories it was about what is reality.

    • Where is the “nothing to do with Islam” rhetoric?Mi5 informing the public that these are merely ‘relentless Islamicist attacks’ (as in racist – and will not be identified by what they really are – Islamic attacks).

      British Intelligence Emergency Levels:

      DeafDumb 5 – Nothing to see here
      DeafDumb 4 – Lone Wolves
      DeafDumb 3 – Run Tell Hide
      DeafDumb 2 – See Say Sorted
      DeafDumb 1 – It’s Islam

    • “And it is important that we recognise an uncomfortable truth: terrorist attacks we have seen against the UK are not simply random plots by disparate and fragmented groups. The majority of these attacks, successful or otherwise, have taken place because Al Qaida has a clear determination to mount terrorist attacks against the United Kingdom. This remains the case today, and there is no sign of it reducing. So although MI5 and the police are investigating plots, and thwarting them, on a continuing basis, we do not view them in isolation. Al Qaida is conducting a deliberate campaign against us. It is the expression of a hostility towards the UK which existed long before September 11, 2001.”
      https://www.mi5.gov.uk/news/intelligence-counter-terrorism-and-trust#sthash.kGDcDOLr.dpuf

      DeafDumb 2

  13. Fox News -Trey Gowdy on Comey, Lynch, and Samantha Power.

    Trey Gowdy tells Bret Baier that Samantha Power testified that she didn’t make all those unmasking request documents attribute to her.

  14. Company behind Trump dossier has questionable track record

    Venezuelan journalist Alek Boyd says he was target by Fusion GPS and had his evidence stolen; Catherine Herridge goes in-depth for ‘Special Report’

  15. FBI finds links to Russian bribery ahead of controversial nuclear deal: report

    Fox News judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano reacts to news that the FBI found connections to Russian bribery ahead of the Obama administration’s Iran nuclear deal.

  16. Moroccan Ministry of Education Bans Niqab in Schools (moroccoworldnews, Oct 17, 2017)
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/10/231353/moroccan-ministry-of-education-bans-niqab-in-schools/

    “The Moroccan Ministry of Education has banned the niqab from schools. For Mohamed Hassad, the minister of Education, this garment hinders communication with the students and the achievement of educational objectives.

    A ministerial note was sent to all educational establishments in Morocco, notifying principles and directors on the new ban on full-faced veils in schools, reported news daily Al Ahdath Al Maghribia on October 17.

    Citing sources close to the minister, the newspaper wrote that this decision stems from Hassad’s desire to “preserve the independency” of schools and its “pedagogic and intrinsic function.” The minister believes that, as the niqab hides the face of the person who wears it, it interferes with the pedagogic and communicative objectives with the students.

    The news daily also cited the story of a high school teacher who was forced to remove her niqab after receiving many warnings from the ministry, as well as that of another teacher who chose to retire rather than remove her full-face veil.

    Morocco will not be the first North African country to enforce such dress code in its school. Back in September, Algeria also banned the niqab and any other kind of full-faced veils in its educational institutions.

    The Algerian ministry of education in fact issued a decree banning any kind of cloth that would hide an individual’s face, stating that the reason behind the decision was to fight cheating during exams.

    Extending to teachers and other educational workers, the ban sparked great controversy in the country, especially among conservative Islamic groups who denounced it as a violation against the freedom of hijabi women in schools.”

  17. Al-Azhar grand imam slams ‘calls to allow homosexuality as a human right’ (ahram, Oct 17, 2017)
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/278941/Egypt/Politics-/AlAzhar-grand-imam-slams-calls-to-allow-homosexual.aspx

    “The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb slammed on Tuesday what he described as calls for allowing homosexuality as a human right, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

    “The calls to allow homosexuality as a human right are blatant and are completely strange to eastern men… who are naturally disgusted with such deviance,” El-Tayeb said…”

  18. President Erdo?an has turned Turkey into a tribal state: CHP head (hurriyetdailynews, Oct 17, 2017)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/president-erdogan-has-turned-turkey-into-a-tribal-state-chp-head-120996

    “Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu has accused President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an of turning Turkey into “a tribal state” through foreign policy missteps and his overarching influence on all executive and legislative process in the country.

    “He keeps on saying that the Turkish Republic is not a tribal state … But you are trying to turn the Turkish Republic into a tribal state. We are struggling to prevent this from happening,” K?l?çdaro?lu said on Oct. 17, addressing his party group at parliament…”

  19. King Salman Complex for Prophet’s Tradition to be set up in Madinah (saudigazette, Oct 17, 2017)
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/519675/SAUDI-ARABIA/King-Salman-Complex-for-Prophets-Tradition-to-be-set-up-in-Madinah

    “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman issued on Tuesday an order to set up a complex named after him for the Tradition of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

    The King Salman Complex for the Prophet’s Tradition will be based in Madinah, the Saudi Press Agency reported quoting the royal decree.

    The complex will have a scientific council comprising world-renowned scholars of Hadith. The council’s president and members will be appointed through a royal decree…”

  20. Inability to Saudize gold shops blamed on tasattur (saudigazette, Oct 17, 2017)
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/519652/SAUDI-ARABIA/Inability-to-Saudize-gold-shops-blamed-on-tasattur

    “Members of the Precious Mineral Committee at the Council of Saudi Chambers said the reason why gold shops have not been completely Saudized, although the decision was issued 16 years ago, is tasattur, which refers to the illegal understanding whereby Saudis permit foreigners to manage businesses in their names in return for a stake in the profits, Al-Madina daily reported.

    Another reason is the fierce competition between expatriate workers to work for jewelry shops and lack of interest on the part of Saudis to work in such jobs which pay low salary and require long working hours…”

  21. At least 29 killed in central Nigeria violence (gulfnews, Oct 17, 2017)
    http://gulfnews.com/news/africa/nigeria/at-least-29-killed-in-central-nigeria-violence-1.2107562

    “At least 29 people were killed in a new flare-up of violence in central Nigeria targeting people sheltered in a primary school, prompting President Muhammadu Buhari to issue an appeal to “stop the madness”.

    The attack happened on Monday in Plateau state, which has been dogged for years by ethnic, sectarian and religious unrest.

    Sunday Audu, the head of the Irigwe Community Development Association, said armed men stormed the school in the village of Nkyie Doghwro, in the Bassa area of the state.

    Hundreds of local residents had sought refuge there for fear of reprisal attacks, after unidentified assailants killed six cattle herders on Sunday.

    “Our people were attacked … with 29 dead, three injured at a school used as a camp and protected by security,” Audu told reporters in the Plateau state capital, Jos, on Monday.

    Plateau police spokesman Tyopev Terna confirmed the attack but declined to give a death toll.
    Audu blamed the killings on the mostly nomadic Fulani herdsmen, accusing them of being “in denial of sponsoring these attacks”…”

  22. Bahrain hits military mart hard with possible US and Russian arms deals (alaraby, Oct 17, 2017)
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/10/17/bahrain-hits-military-mart-looking-at-us-russia-hardware

    “Bahrain announced a $3.8 billion with US military aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin on Tuesday, but it might also be close to striking a deal with another rival military power – Russia.

    Manama said it would purchase 16 upgraded F16 fighter jets, during a major defence exhibition on the Gulf island state.

    Russian media have also claimed that Bahrain might be close to purchasing Moscow’s latest anti-aircraft system the S-400.

    Once almost exclusively the preserve of US and West European arms manufacturers, Gulf states have also started to turn their eyes to Russia for military hardware.

    Russia and Gulf superpower Saudi Arabia announced a major deal for the S-400 surface-to-air missiles during a visit by King Salman to al-Saud to Moscow earlier this month.

    Bahrain could be close to following its regional ally’s lead, as defence officials hold talks with S-400 manufacturer.

    “We are currently in the stage of negotiations, but with God’s help we will finish this process,” said Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa, commander of Bahrain’s Royal Guards on Monday, according to Russia’s Sputnik news outlet.

    “Bahrain and Russia have established broad cooperation in the military sector. Meetings are being held, negotiations are taking place, relations have also been established between the leadership of two countries.”

    Russia has already found buyers for its S-400 in the region, with Saudi Arabia and Turkey set to buy the systems.

    Regional rival Iran has purchased the earlier S-300 model and is looking to obtain what defence analysts believe to be the far superior newer model.

    Egypt and Qatar are also reportedly trying to purchase the S-400.

    Bahrain has long and warm military relations with Washington, hosting the US Fifth Fleet.

    It was dismayed by US arms sales restrictions to Bahrain following the violent suppression of anti-government protests on the island, but these have been eased by President Donald Trump.

    Despite Russia’s recent entry to the Gulf market, its ambitions are dwarfed by recent US arms deals.

    During Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia in May, Washington revealed a historic $350 billion arms deal with Riyadh.

    Saudi Arabia has been alarmed by the growing strength of Iran in the region and influence in neighbouring Iraq and Yemen.”