Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/19/2014

A second man was shot dead today by police in St. Louis just a short distance from where an unarmed teenager was killed more than a week ago. The new casualty, however, was armed with a knife — he had been brandishing it at a policeman, and refused to drop it, telling the cop to “kill me now”. The policeman granted his wish.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian government urged the American authorities to show restraint in their response to the ongoing violence in Ferguson.

In other news, possible cases of Ebola have been reported at a job center in Berlin and in the Basque region of Spain.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to ESW, Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, JP, Nick, RR, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Financial Crisis
» Italy and France ‘Chronically Sick’ Economies, FT Editorial
 
USA
» Anger Grows as Police in St Louis Shoot Dead a Second Black Man
» As Missouri Violence Flares, Fingers Point to Outsiders
» Ferguson Unrest: Egypt Urges US to Show Restraint
 
Canada
» Quebec Radio Host Slammed for Hateful Comments on Jews
 
Europe and the EU
» Britain’s Anti-Semitic Whiff of Weimar
» Denmark: Scandinavia Gets 1st Islamic Theology School
» Germany: Ebola Suspected in Job Center in Berlin
» Spain: Protocols Activated in Basque Region for Possible Case of Ebola Virus
» Swedish Woman Viciously Beaten for Wearing Jewish Star Necklace
» Switzerland: Anti-Israel Protesters Target Synagogue in Geneva
» UK: Anti-Israel Shop Protests Risk Bringing Middle Eastern Violence to High Streets — Jewish Leaders
» UK: Calls to Reinstate Birmingham Trojan Horse Head Teachers
» UK: Father, 19, Chased ‘Like a Dog’ And Stabbed to Death in Hackney
» UK: Galloway Attacks Israel Ambassador’s Visit to ‘Israel-Free’ Zone
» UK: Lutfur Rahman ‘Secured Tower Hamlets Election Win With Curry House Threats and Bribes’
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» IDF Hits Gaza Targets After Rockets Strike Near Beersheba, Ending Cease Fire
» More Rockets Fired on Israel as Communities Open Bomb Shelters
 
Middle East
» Caliphate of Fear: The Curse of the Islamic State
» Christian Women Taken as War Booty, Handed Over to ISIS “Princes”
» ‘How is Democracy Treating You Guys?’ ISIS Militants Take to Social Media to Encourage Ferguson Protesters to Embrace Islamic Extremism
» Imam Quizzed Over Liquor in Dammam Airport in Saudi Arabia
» Iraq Crisis: Iraqi Troops Attempt to Retake Tikrit
» Iraq: ‘No’ From One Iraq Villager Triggered Islamic State Mass Killings
» Iraqi Christians From Mosul Arrive in Jordan
» ISIL Islam’s Enemy No.1, Saudi Grand Mufti Says
» ISIS Beheads American Photo Journalist, Threatens Another US Captive
» Islam’s Dilemma Over the Islamic State
» James Foley Reportedly Killed by Islamic Militants in Iraq; US Investigating
» Kuwait: Alleged Militant Financier Briefly Detained at Border — Shafi, Hajjaj to File Lawsuits Against US, UN
» Saudi Arabia Executes 14 People in 14 Days
» Thousands in Yemen Stage Mass Rally
» Turkey: 20 More Policemen Detained in Wiretapping Probe
» UNHCR to Give Aid to 1 Mn Iraqis
» Video Shows ISIS Beheading U.S. Journalist James Foley
 
Russia
» Battle for Ukraine: An Inside View of the Surreal Donetsk War Zone
» Ukraine Says it Makes Gains Against Rebels in Luhansk
 
South Asia
» Indian Military Kills Militant in Gunfight Near Kashmir Loc
» Taliban Storms District in E. Afghanistan
 
Far East
» China Arrests Thousand of Cult Members
 
Australia — Pacific
» All Book Stores Are Equal
» Facebook Removes ‘Stop the Mosque in Bendigo’ Page Over Hate Speech
» Lakembrance Day
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» African Pygmies Evolved Their Short Stature Twice
 
Immigration
» EU Must Do More on Migrants Says EC
» Sweden to Get 100,000 Refugees in 2014: Report
» UK: Dehydrated Stowaways Discovered in Lorry at Service Station, German Driver Arrested
 
Culture Wars
» UK: NHS Boss Suspended Over Anti-Gay Posts on Islamic Charity Website
 

Italy and France ‘Chronically Sick’ Economies, FT Editorial

ECB quantitative easing counter-productive, newspaper says

(ANSA)- Rome, August 19 -The European Central Bank cannot re-launch growth in Europe through so-called quantitative easing since the continent’s economic problems are rooted in “the chronic sickness of Italy and France and the European banking system,” former Swiss central bank governor Philipp Hildebrand said Tuesday.

While the economies of countries such as Spain and Portugal have started growing again and even Greece shows signs of recovery “Italy and France are in such a bad state that no quantitative easing (government bond purchasing) would succeed in making them grow,” Hildebrand, a Vice-President of BlackRock, wrote in an editorial comment for the Financial Times newspaper.

Rome and Paris “must reform the labour market, reduce taxes that weigh on firms, thin down the bureaucracy and continue to sanitize public accounts” and “not just talk about doing it,” he added.

Purchasing state bonds by the ECB is counter-productive in that it “would allow those countries to finance still lower interest rates and therefore to give those governments reluctant to carry out reforms an easy way out,” Hildebrand said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Anger Grows as Police in St Louis Shoot Dead a Second Black Man

Locals say the victim was well-known and had a history of mental illness as Ferguson prepares for another night of demonstrations over the death of Michael Brown 10 days ago.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

As Missouri Violence Flares, Fingers Point to Outsiders

(Reuters) — As darkness fell on Ferguson, Missouri, the crowd of several hundred people protesting the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teen quickly and radically changed.

The crowd shrunk as many of the older people slipped away. Protest hymns were replaced by the shouts of angry teens who marched against a cordon of heavily armed police blocking the street.

By the end of another night of violence, 31 people had been arrested, marking the latest outbreak of rancor in the St. Louis suburb where calls for peaceful protests have been overshadowed by episodes of looting, arson and clashes with police…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Ferguson Unrest: Egypt Urges US to Show Restraint

Egypt’s government has called on US authorities to show restraint against protesters in Ferguson, Missouri. It said it was “closely following the escalation of protests” after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman on 9 August. The statement echoes US President Barack Obama’s comments during Egypt’s crackdown on protesters in 2013.

Correspondents say the criticism is unusual since Egypt gets about $1.5bn ( £1m) in aid from the US every year.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Quebec Radio Host Slammed for Hateful Comments on Jews

MONTREAL (JTA) — A veteran prominent Quebec radio host has come under fire for making derisive comments about the Jewish community.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs condemned Gilles Proulx for comments he made in a recent newspaper column but said it was “disappointed and troubled” by the lack of public outrage.

Proulx, 74, wrote that the Jewish community can make any government “submit” to its will.

In a later television interview, he said Jews have historically fueled hate and persecution against them, including in Spain and during the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler. Proulx has previously made other allegedly hateful on-air comments about Jews, immigrants and other minority groups…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Britain’s Anti-Semitic Whiff of Weimar

By Douglas Murray

There is a whiff of Weimar in the air in Britain. Barely a week now passes without some further denigration caused by anti-Semitic, sorry, pro-Palestine demonstrators targeting businesses run by Jews/stores selling products produced by the Jewish state…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark: Scandinavia Gets 1st Islamic Theology School

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s renowned Islamic Imam Hatip schools, also referred to as Imam Khatib, hasve opened a new branch in the Danish city of Slagelse, offering Scandinavian countries the first-ever Islamic theology school.

The school will accept students from Denmark, Norway and Sweden, World Bulletin reported on Monday, August 18.

Students will be offered the national curriculum along with Turkish and Islamic lessons in the fields of Qur’an, Hadith and Islamic creed.

Boarding school head Ahmet Deniz told Anadolu Agency said that Mina Hindholm will be Denmark’s first official Islamic school for students aged 18 and up.

The school, which is Europe’s second Imam Khatib after the one in Belgium, already has 52 students.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Ebola Suspected in Job Center in Berlin

BERLIN, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) — A suspected case of Ebola has been reported in Berlin as a woman in a job center suffered a circulatory collapse, German local media reported on Tuesday.

As the “Berliner Morgenpost” reported, the job center is cordoned off by the police on Tuesday on suspicion of an Ebola case…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Spain: Protocols Activated in Basque Region for Possible Case of Ebola Virus

MADRID, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) — Regional health authorities in the Basque Region in northern Spain have activated protocols for a possible case of the Ebola virus, local media reported Tuesday.

The “precautionary measure” was taken in the case of a “middle-aged man who returned from Sierra Leone a few days ago after being in the country for non-health related work reasons.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Swedish Woman Viciously Beaten for Wearing Jewish Star Necklace

A Muslim mob in Uppsala, Sweden last week set upon and severely beat a Jewish mother of four, for wearing a Jewish Star of David necklace, Israel’s NRG News reported Sunday.

“One of the attackers signaled me to ‘Shut up or we’ll kill you,’“ Anna Sjögren, in her 40s, said of the ordeal, which transpired on Thursday. So far, she said she’s too traumatized by the assault to file a police complaint…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Switzerland: Anti-Israel Protesters Target Synagogue in Geneva

(JTA) — Anti-Israel protesters demonstrated outside Geneva’s main synagogue.

A Swiss watchdog group said the weekend protests in front of the Beth Yaakov, or Grande, Synagogue were the first public displays of hostility in Switzerland toward Israel since the conflict with Gaza began in early July.

A veiled woman carried a sign reading “Every synagogue is an Israeli embassy” and waved a Palestinian flag on Saturday morning, according to the Intercommunity Coordination Against Anti-Semitism and Defamation watchdog organization, or CICAD. The same protester returned that night accompanied by three men, the group said.

A second woman wearing a Palestinian flag around her neck tried unsuccessfully to enter the synagogue, according to the watchdog. The protesters told police that they have a right to protest and threatened to return the following Saturday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Anti-Israel Shop Protests Risk Bringing Middle Eastern Violence to High Streets — Jewish Leaders

Supermarket protests in Britain stirring up tensions and intimidation while achieving nothing for Palestinians, say Jewish community leaders

Protest groups targeting supermarkets over the sale of Israeli products risk importing Middle Eastern violence to British high streets, Jewish have leaders insisted.

In a joint statement the leaders of Britain’s main Jewish community organisations condemned a series of incidents at shops selling Israeli goods and kosher food accusing the organisers of intimidation and stirring up tensions…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Calls to Reinstate Birmingham Trojan Horse Head Teachers

Three head teachers who left schools in Birmingham linked to the alleged Trojan Horse plot should be reinstated or compensated, the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said.

Ofsted investigated 21 schools in the city over claims some Muslims had sought to take control.

The NAHT said it was reviewing 28 “compromise agreements” signed by senior staff who had left schools. Birmingham City Council said it was reviewing key cases. The union said at least three compromise agreements had “all the hallmarks of Trojan Horse pressures”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Father, 19, Chased ‘Like a Dog’ And Stabbed to Death in Hackney

A young father was chased down “like a dog” and stabbed to death in a suspected gang attack yards away from a busy shopping street.

The 19-year-old, named locally as Charlie Burns, was ambushed and knifed repeatedly by a gang of around five young men in Hackney around 4pm yesterday.

Witnesses said the men chased the teenager on foot in Frampton Park Road, near Mare Street, before launching the attack. The men are thought to have attempted to escape in a blue hatchback car, which crashed into a lamppost as it reversed down the road at high speed.

Detectives from the Met’s Homicide and Major Crime Command today said they were keeping an “open mind” about any possible motive, though one line of inquiry is that the attack was gang-related…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Galloway Attacks Israel Ambassador’s Visit to ‘Israel-Free’ Zone

Anti-Israel British MP calls visit by Israeli Ambassador Daniel Taub a ‘provocation’, as ‘Israeli-free’ zone ‘breached’ yet again.

Anti-Israel British MP George Galloway expressed anger and frustration at the Israeli Ambassador’s decision to visit his “Israeli-free” city of Bradford. “[The ambassador’s visit] is a provocation to the 10s of 1,000s of people in Bradford who regard the Israeli ambassador as the plenipotentiary of a rogue and terrorist state,” Galloway told the BuzzFeed website on Monday night…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Lutfur Rahman ‘Secured Tower Hamlets Election Win With Curry House Threats and Bribes’

Campaigners for Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman threatened council staff and bribed religious groups to secure votes in knife-edge elections, an explosive High Court dossier claims.

The controversial mayor oversaw a “systematic campaign of intimidation” including widespread postal vote fraud in order to triumph in May’s election, documents seen by the Standard claim.

He, or those acting on his behalf, allegedly told activists for his party, Tower Hamlets First, to collect and fill out 250 postal vote application forms each at a meeting held in a Bangladeshi restaurant ahead of May’s election, which he won by 3000 votes.

Supporters of Mr Rahman, who is Britain’s first Muslim directly-elected mayor, told voters that backing Mr Rahman’s rivals would be “un-Islamic and sinful” and said a vote in his favour would be a “virtuous and Islamic act”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

IDF Hits Gaza Targets After Rockets Strike Near Beersheba, Ending Cease Fire

Israeli Air Force planes hit 10 Palestinian rocket sites and other targets in northern Gaza Tuesday afternoon, after terrorists fired three rockets at the Beersheba and Netivot areas.

The IDF Spokesman confirmed the rocket attacks to The Algemeiner, shortly before 16:00 pm.

“Following renewed rocket attacks at Israel earlier this evening, amidst the ceasefire, the IDF is currently targeting terror sites across the Gaza Strip,” the army said in a statement…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

More Rockets Fired on Israel as Communities Open Bomb Shelters

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A barrage of rockets was fired from Gaza at southern Israel after a cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian groups was broken.

The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted two of the rockets fired Tuesday evening. Earlier in the day, rockets were fired at Beersheba in violation of the 24-hour extension of a five-day cease-fire. The Israeli military retaliated with strikes on Gaza…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Caliphate of Fear: The Curse of the Islamic State

Images of Yazidis fleeing parts of Iraq and Syria have shocked the world and the battle against the jihadists with the Islamic State has united Americans, Europeans, Kurds and Iranians. Can the Islamists be stopped?

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Christian Women Taken as War Booty, Handed Over to ISIS “Princes”

As ISIS continues to take over more towns in Iraq, at least 500 women believed to be Christians were allegedly kidnapped from Mosul to be sold as “sex slaves.” Reports said the Islamic militants have overrun Qaraqosh, Iraq’s largest Christian city. Believers have reportedly flocked to the city to escape the militants.

A spokesman from the Kurdish forces said ISIS has kidnapped Yazidi and Christian women to be turned as “Sabaya” or “war booty slaves.” He added that ISIS also plans to sell the women. According to accounts of witnesses, the most beautiful of the kidnapped women were handed to “ISIS princes.”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

‘How is Democracy Treating You Guys?’ ISIS Militants Take to Social Media to Encourage Ferguson Protesters to Embrace Islamic Extremism

ISIS militants and their supporters are using social media to encourage protesters in Ferguson to embrace radical Islam and fight against the U.S. government.

Jihadists in Syria and Iraq and their sympathisers in the West have taken to Twitter to send messages of support to hundreds of demonstrators taking part in a ninth night of angry protests in the U.S. city following the shooting by police of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Imam Quizzed Over Liquor in Dammam Airport in Saudi Arabia

Saudi customs find hotel bottles after searching bags at Dammam airport; maid admits hiding them

Manama: A mosque imam in Saudi Arabia had the shock of his life when he was quizzed at a local airport over bottles of hard liquor found in his bags.

Hassan Abu Wessam was coming home with his family and their domestic help from a vacation in Malaysia when they had a one-night stopover in a Gulf country. When they arrived at Dammam airport in the Eastern Province, the customs officers checked their bags and found several small bottles of hard liquor…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq Crisis: Iraqi Troops Attempt to Retake Tikrit

Iraqi forces are meeting stiff resistance after launching an attack to retake the city of Tikrit.

The city, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, has been in the hands of Islamic State (IS) militants since June…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: ‘No’ From One Iraq Villager Triggered Islamic State Mass Killings

(Reuters) — When Islamic State militants stormed into a northern Iraqi village and ordered everyone to convert to Islam or die only one person refused. But that did not satisfy the Sunni insurgents who are even more hardline than al Qaeda.

The militants, who have seized much of northern Iraq since arriving from Syria in June, wasted no time after the village’s leader, or sheikh, stood up for his ancient Yazidi faith.

Khalof Khodede, an unemployed father of three who escaped with his life, recalled how 80 men in the village of Kocho were killed and all the women and girls were kidnapped.

His account, one of the first eyewitness reports of last Friday’s killings, could not be independently verified but other Yazidis and Iraqi officials have given details of Islamic State’s attack on the village…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraqi Christians From Mosul Arrive in Jordan

800 women and children are expected to reach the Kingdom

(ANSAmed) — AMMAN — More than 200 Iraqi Christians refugees from Mosul, who were driven out of their homes at gun point, arrived in Jordan this week, said Christian community leaders on Tuesday.

An additional 800 women and children are expected to reach the kingdom in the coming days. A total of 1000 Christians from Mosul and governorate of Neinawa, north Iraq, will be arriving gradually to shelters set up by the Catholic church in Jordan, in coordination with Caritas association, said Wail Suleiman, general manager of Caritas Jordan.

“The association will provide refugees with their needs, including housing, food, medical care and counseling,” he said.

The refugees will be located in special social centres run by the association in different parts of the kingdom, he added.

Official sources said most of the refugees would be registered at the UN agency for refugees, UNHCR to claim asylum in a third country.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians have used Jordan over the past decade as transit point to immigrate to European countries, the US, Canada, Australia and other destinations.

A total of 200,000 Christians are believed to have fled Mosul in the past weeks after being attacked by Islamist extremist elements, while Iraqi rebel tribes that fought government forces have distanced themselves from these groups.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

ISIL Islam’s Enemy No.1, Saudi Grand Mufti Says

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Shaikh Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh, the highest religious authority in the country, said on Tuesday that the militant groups Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Al Qaida were “enemy number one of Islam” and not in any way part of the faith.

Although Al Shaikh and other senior Saudi clerics have condemned Isil, Al Qaida and other militant groups before, the timing of Al Shaikh’s statement is significant given the gains made by militants in Iraq.

“Extremist and militant ideas and terrorism which spread decay on Earth, destroying human civilisation, are not in any way part of Islam, but are enemy number one of Islam, and Muslims are their first victims,” he said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

He later compared them to the Kharijite movement in early Islam, which assassinated the Prophet Mohammad’s (PBUH) son-in-law Ali for making compromises to a rival Muslim faction, and has been seen as heretical by most Muslim sects.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Beheads American Photo Journalist, Threatens Another US Captive

The Islamic State, formerly ISIS, in retribution for US air strikes in Northern Iraq, released a video of the purported beheading of intrepid American Photo Journalist James Wright Foley attired in an orange jump suit. Foley was captured in Northern Syria in November 2012. Foley was previously held captive by Gaddafi forces in Libya in 2011 for 44 days. Foley, a native of Rochester, New Hampshire was working for the on-line Boston publication, Global Post that had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to find and release him. The video of his beheading was promptly taken down from YouTube under rules that Google has established as being too violent. At the conclusion of the video there is a shot of another captive American Journalist, Steven Joel Sotloff. Sotloff according to a report in the International Business Times (IBT) was captured near Aleppo on August 4, 2013.. Sotloff, the IBT noted was,” a freelance journalist who had reported on Egypt, Syria, and Libya for TIME, the Christian Science Monitor, the National Interest and Foreign Policy magazine. There is also rumored to be another American aid worker captured by ISIS in the Syrian civil conflict.

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Islam’s Dilemma Over the Islamic State

The jihadist forces of the Islamic State are strewing a path of atrocities, destruction and conquest across the heartland of the Middle East. They thrust down into Iraq from Syrian battlefields in June 2014, sweeping all before them, including thousands of Iraqi army troops who abandoned uniforms and top-of-the-line U.S. weaponry as they fled south to Baghdad.

           — Hat tip: ESW [Return to headlines]
 

James Foley Reportedly Killed by Islamic Militants in Iraq; US Investigating

The Obama administration said Tuesday that it was working to confirm the authenticity of a newly-released video that claims to show the killing of American freelance journalist James Foley by Islamic State militants.

White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the administration has seen the video. She said that if it’s deemed genuine by the intelligence community, the U.S. would be “appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist.”

Sources told Fox News that the video is being taken seriously by U.S. officials.

Foley went missing in Syria nearly two years ago.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Kuwait: Alleged Militant Financier Briefly Detained at Border — Shafi, Hajjaj to File Lawsuits Against US, UN

Kuwait briefly detained a prominent cleric less than two weeks after the United States included him on a sanctions list on suspicion he was funnelling money to militants in Iraq and Syria, his lawyer said yesterday. Shafi Al-Ajmi, who was detained on Sunday on the border with Saudi Arabia while returning home from a pilgrimage, was released after four hours of questioning, his lawyer said. “He was released without any charges,” the lawyer, Mohammed Al-Jumia, told Reuters. “He is now at home.”

Jumia said he planned to file a lawsuit against the US Treasury to lift his client’s name from its blacklist, but gave no further details. An Interior Ministry spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. Kuwait has been one of the biggest humanitarian donors to Syrian refugees through the United Nations, but it has also struggled to control unofficial fundraising for opposition groups in Syria by private individuals.

Kuwait has stepped up its monitoring of individuals and charities suspected of collecting donations for militants linked to Al-Qaeda in Syria and in Iraq. On Aug 6, the United States imposed sanctions on Shafi and two other men suspected of funnelling money from Kuwait to Islamic State, the Al-Qaeda splinter group that has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria. Washington also said the men had helped smuggle fighters to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Last year, Kuwait banned a television show that Shafi appeared on, saying it incited hatred. As well as calling for armed opposition to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Shafi has called on supporters to torture and kill fighters in Syria linked to the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, evidence of how the Syria conflict has aggravated Sunni-Shiite tensions across the Middle East. Information Minister Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud Al-Sabah said at the time that authorities would investigate how a show featuring the cleric was allowed to be broadcast on state television.

On Friday, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on six people suspected of financing Islamist militants, including two Kuwaitis, in a move aimed at weakening Islamic State and Al-Qaeda’s Syrian wing, Nusra Front. One of the sanctioned Kuwaitis was identified as Hajjaj Al-Ajmi, another prominent cleric who belongs to the same extended tribe as Shafi Al-Ajmi’s.

Hajjaj has urged the foreign ministry to reject the UN resolution and not to take it into consideration. “Listing my name on the international terrorism list is groundless and there is no substantial evidence to prove the accusation,” he stressed. He also promised to take legal measures in collaboration with the foreign ministry in order to undo the injustice on him by putting his name on the terrorism list. He added that he would hire a lawyer soon to follow up the case.

Hajjaj stressed that he was not a terrorist and that all he did was send aid to the oppressed Syrian people who have been experiencing the worst forms of crimes committed by the Assad regime. He also stressed that he is not affiliated to any of the organizations fighting in Syria and that everybody around him knows this. “The UN should have listed Bashar Al-Assad and his regime on that list for all the crimes they committed against the Syrian people,” he added, pointing out that he would return home on Wednesday to file his grievance against the UN resolution. — Agencies

           — Hat tip: RR [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia Executes 14 People in 14 Days

Capital punishment charges included murders, trafficking in drugs

Manama: Saudi Arabia has executed 14 people in 14 days for murder and drug trafficking.

On August 4, the interior ministry said that it put to death a man who had killed his wife in the western city of Madina. The man reportedly stabbed the woman several times as she was sleeping.

Another man, a Nepalese national, was also executed on the same day in the north-east city of Arar for killing a young Saudi boy, Osama Bin Muaidh, by slitting his throat, local news site Sabq reported on Tuesday.

On August 5, the ministry said that it executed a man in the northern area of Jouf for practicing sorcery and witchcraft…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Thousands in Yemen Stage Mass Rally

SANAA, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) — Tens of thousands of Yemenis staged a rally in the capital of Sanaa on Monday, protesting against the government’s decision to rise fuel prices last month and demanding the resignation of the government.

The protesters, most of whom are supporters of the Shiite Houthi group, joined the rally in response to a call by Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the group, who vowed to set up a sit-in camp inside the capital until the people’s demands are met by the government…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey: 20 More Policemen Detained in Wiretapping Probe

(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, AUGUST 19 — Twenty police officers were detained in Turkey early on Tuesday as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged wiretapping which has seen hundreds of police officers detained or removed from their posts in the last few months as Anadolu Agency reports. The lastest round was initiated by the chief public prosecutor’s office in Izmir after they reportedly received 50 appeals from people claiming to have been wiretapped. The police carried out concurrent operations after the office in Izmir issued arrest warrants for 32 suspects in 13 Turkish provinces, mainly western port city of Izmir and Istanbul. The operations follow a December 2013 probe which led to the arrest of several high-profile figures, including the sons of three former government ministers and leading business people. All those detained in December have been released pending trial. Prime Minister and President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has called the December probe a “coup attempt” by a “parallel structure”. He claims the Gulen movement, led by US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, has infiltrated the Turkish state and attempted to overthrow the government.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

UNHCR to Give Aid to 1 Mn Iraqis

Thousands displaced by ISIS

(ANSA) — Rome, August 19 — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on Tuesday launched a mutli-million-dollar aid project for Iraqis displaced by the Islamist ISIS group.

ISIS has driven tens of thousands from their homes in an atrocity-filled campaign in northern Iraq recent months.

Kurdish pesh merga fighters took back Iraq’s biggest dam near Mosul from them early Monday.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Video Shows ISIS Beheading U.S. Journalist James Foley

(CNN) — A video released by ISIS shows the beheading of American journalist James Foley, who disappeared in November 2012 in Syria. The video posted on YouTube contained a message to the United States to end its military operations in Iraq.

The video also shows another American journalist. His life is said by the militants in the video to hang in the balance, depending on President Barack Obama does next.

The journalist is believed to be Steven Sotloff, who was kidnapped at the Syria-Turkey border in 2013. Sotloff is a contributor to Time and Foreign Policy magazines.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Battle for Ukraine: An Inside View of the Surreal Donetsk War Zone

As the Ukrainian army closes in on Donetsk, shelling in the metropolis has become much more frequent — and deadly. Many residents have left, but those who remain seem unsure what to make of the conflict. Resignation is widespread.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ukraine Says it Makes Gains Against Rebels in Luhansk

The Ukrainian government said its forces took control of one of four districts in the pro-Russian separatist stronghold of Luhansk and are fighting in the city center as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict intensified.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit Kiev on Aug. 23 for talks with President Petro Poroshenko. Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in an Aug. 26 Customs Union meeting in Minsk attended by Poroshenko, the Kremlin said in a statement today. Poroshenko is due to join an Aug. 30 European Union summit in Brussels and a Sept. 4 NATO summit in the U.K.

European leaders are pushing to halt the conflict that’s killed more than 2,000 people and fractured Ukraine since Russia annexed Crimea in March. The war, which Ukraine and its allies say is being fueled by Putin’s support for the insurgents, has led to sanctions that have hurt trade and threatened to send Russia’s $2 trillion economy into a recession.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Indian Military Kills Militant in Gunfight Near Kashmir Loc

SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) — A militant was killed during a gunfight with Indian military Tuesday near the line-of-control (LoC) in restive Kashmir, India’s official broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) said.

The gunfight broke out in Dhanni forest in Karnah sector of frontier Kupwara district, about 155 km northwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Taliban Storms District in E. Afghanistan

KABUL,Aug. 19 (Xinhua) — Taliban militants in their latest offensives against government facilities launched a massive attack involving hundreds of fighters on security checkpoints in Charkh district of eastern Afghanistan’s Logar province on Tuesday, a local official said.

“About 600 or 700 militants armed with heavy and light weapons stormed Charkh District center at around midday today, triggering gunfight and security forces are battling the Taliban militants in surrounding areas of the district headquarters,” the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity, saying authorized officials would brief the media after investigation.

The attack on Charkh district took place while the government was celebrating the 95th Independence Day of Afghanistan, marking the nation’s freedom from Britain’s colonial rule on August 19, 1919…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

China Arrests Thousand of Cult Members

BEIJING, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) — Chinese police have arrested “nearly a thousand” suspected members of the illegal Quannengshen (almighty god) cult, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The supects, all seized since June, are allegedly involved in more than 500 cases. Among them are nearly a hundred “high-level organizers and backbone members”, a ministry statement said on Tuesday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

All Book Stores Are Equal

by Tim Blair

Labor member for Lakemba Robert Furolo takes issue with yesterday’s column:

Last time I checked, nearly every suburb in Sydney has bookstores, yet we don’t define the residents of those suburbs by what the authors of those books say or think. That would be just absurd.

Mate, a store in your electorate sells books that praise Hitler and condemn women to hell. Have you ever visited that store? Are you proud that this is happening under your watch?

UPDATE. The ABC’s Jonathan Green is another bookstore supporter.

UPDATE II. Canterbury mayor Brian Robson:

[Blair’s] obsession with the contents of the local Arabic bookshop (which is just down the road from Domino’s Pizza) borders on the bizarre and to try to paint the whole of Lakemba as being typified by the contents of an obscure bookshop really stretches the imagination.

“Obscure”? It’s a big place in the main street. Been open for 16 years…

[JP note: For ‘yesterday’s column’ see item below: Lakembrance Day.]

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Facebook Removes ‘Stop the Mosque in Bendigo’ Page Over Hate Speech

AN offensive anti-Muslim Facebook page has been shut down after it was reported for hate speech.

The ‘Stop the Mosque in Bendigo’ page, which had more than 9,000 likes, was taken down by Facebook early this morning.

A message from Facebook advising those who reported the page said it had been removed for violating community standards…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Lakembrance Day

by Tim Blair

The Lakemba Hotel is one of the last Anglo holdouts in Sydney’s otherwise Middle Eastern south-western suburb. Frankly, the old joint — it opened in 1928 — isn’t putting up much resistance. Most nights the bar is closed by 8.30pm or so, because by then what few customers it attracts are insufficient to cover running costs.

Still, it’s friendly and hospitable. Staffer Poppy helpfully showed me to my $50 per night room, which is the only option in Lakemba for anyone seeking short-term rented accommodation. There are no other hotels or motels. In fact, there are no other rooms besides number 15, in the hotel’s residential wing. All the others are taken by boarders, one of whom has been here for 20 years.

It isn’t exactly luxurious. The room has a sink, which is nice, but nothing else by way of amenities. There isn’t even a Gideon’s Bible. Instead, reflecting certain demographic changes in the area, there is a Ramadan eating schedule…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

African Pygmies Evolved Their Short Stature Twice

In the rainforests of Africa, being small is so helpful that it evolved twice in separate groups.

Luis Barreiro of the University of Montreal in Quebec, Canada, and his colleagues identified 16 regions of the genome associated with short stature in the Batwa pygmies of Uganda. They then compared these regions in 169 Batwa and 74 Baka pygmies from West Africa.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU Must Do More on Migrants Says EC

Frontex ‘a weak agency’ says spokesman

(ANSA) — Brussels, August 19 — The whole European Union must do more to help Italy cope with a huge migrant influx, the European Commission said Tuesday after Interior Minister Angelino Alfano’s recent call for border agency Frontex to intervene and supersede Italy’s 20-month Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue operation. An EC spokesman stressed, however, that Frontex was “a small agency” with limited resources and therefore new measures from all 28 member States were needed.

“We’re in touch with Italy and we cannot fail to agree on the fact that the EU as a whole must do more,” the spokesman said.

“We have repeated continuously that the member States must do more, contributing with means and funding,” he added.

“We are doing all we can to help Italy and fully recognise what a magnificent job it has done,” he said, while noting that Rome had received “unprecedented” aid in the last seven years.

This amounted to 500 million euros between 2017 and 2013 and would total 315 million between 2014 and 2020 due to overall budgets cuts, he said.

Frontex, he said had a “small budget” and was lacking border guards, ships and planes, so badly needed a boost from the EU’s 28 members.

Alfano said last week that Mare Nostrum, launched after a migrant-boat disaster killed 366 last October, would soon have to be wound up.

Critics of the take-all-comers policy have said it has spurred an increase in the activities of people smugglers while others have stressed the desperate migrants would have left North Africa anyway.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden to Get 100,000 Refugees in 2014: Report

Sweden can expect a record-breaking 100,000 refugees to arrive this year, reported Swedish media on Tuesday. The Migration Board said the prognosis was officially 60,000 in July.

In October, Sweden’s Migration Board (Migrationsverket) is expected to raise the prognosis of refugees in Sweden to 100,000, reported the Sydsvenskan newspaper on Tuesday.

The total would mark an all-time record for Sweden.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Dehydrated Stowaways Discovered in Lorry at Service Station, German Driver Arrested

A lorry containing 15 people reportedly suffering from dehydration was stopped and searched near a motorway service station earlier today, according to Avon and Somerset Police.

Sky News reports that the people inside are currently receiving treatment, and immigration authorities are investigating their point of origin before they reach the UK.

The story comes shortly on the back of that of a metal container in Tillbury which contained 35 Afghans who were 20 minutes from death following an illegal attempt to get into Britain.

Avon and Somerset Police issued a statement claiming that the lorry was stopped at around 1pm just off the A303 near Taunton in Southwest England…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: NHS Boss Suspended Over Anti-Gay Posts on Islamic Charity Website

Shahid Sardar, a trustee of the Islamic Network, has been reported to police over the posts, which said that homosexuals should be “destroyed by fire” and “stoned to death”

A senior NHS boss has been suspended after it emerged he runs an Islamic charity whose website carried articles suggesting that gay people should be “destroyed by fire” and “stoned to death”.

Shahid Sardar, head of public engagement at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, has been reported to police by his employers over his trusteeship of the Islamic Network…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

4 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/19/2014

  1. “Meanwhile, the Egyptian government urged the American authorities to show restraint in their response to the ongoing violence in Ferguson.”

    The most logical and poignant, pungent, and piquant, remark that I have heard in a long time.
    Are they going to teach the west how to govern correctly and how democracy
    really” works and how to keep the axiom of protecting a country from invaders?

  2. Re : Ferguson.

    Nice picture here.

    So it seems that putting a black police chief in charge, hugging people and marching alongside protesters, is not enough to placate rioters. Maybe the white police chief had a point after all, with his SWAT teams and brutality ?

    Also this, published today.

    With the white police chief, we saw one sniper training his rifle on the crowd. With the black police chief, we see three officers pointing their shotguns at rioters. Are we supposed to infer that rifles are racist, while shotguns are cool and dandy ?

    Monday brought another tense stand-off and bouts of violence. Police tried a new tactic – their fourth in little more than a week – lifting a curfew and instead mounting a show of force with five armoured vehicles and riot squads in ranks.

    Armoured vehicles ? That’s so white and racist, isn’t it ?

    A small number of protesters confronted police. Organisers pleaded with them to turn away but could not prevent water bottles being hurled at the blockade. Officers responded with snatch squads, racing forward before pinning suspects to the ground at gunpoint. They retreated in seconds.

    That’s a French police tactic for dealing with violent demonstrators, by the way. Minus the guns, of course.

  3. Given the known lethality of a properly constructed and accurately thrown molotov cocktail, why are police marksmen being tasked with putting rounds into anybody who shows up with one?

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