Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/7/2014

President Obama has authorized air strikes against ISIS forces in northern Iraq to stop the jihad group’s deadly persecution of the Yezidis. Mr. Obama also ordered an air drop of supplies to refugees from Sinjar who fled to the barren mountains near the city.

In other news, British Education Secretary Nicky Morgan warned that toddlers are at risk of being taught extremism in Britain’s nurseries. She insisted that the government withhold funding from any nurseries that are found to have allowed extremist views to be taught to their tiny charges.

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

Thanks to Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Gaia, JP, Phyllis Chesler, RR, Steen, 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.

USA
» American Forces Said to Bomb ISIS Targets in Iraq
» Americans Give Up Passports as Asset-Disclosure Rules Start
» Ebola’s Spread to U.S. ‘Inevitable, ‘ Says CDC Chief
» Somali Candidate Eyes Milestone in US Race
» The Gaza War and the New US Jewish Consensus on Israel
 
Canada
» EU-Canada Trade Negotiators Reach Agreement
» If Mosque Was Dangerous, Government Should Have Acted: Trudeau’s Office
 
Europe and the EU
» Austria: 100 Jews and Muslims Meet in Vienna
» Austria: Pig’s Head Left on Islamic School Site
» Austria: Beekeeping is Booming in Vienna
» Austria: German Hiker Yodels for Help After Getting Trapped in Cattle Grid
» Breast Milk Ice Cream Available in Iceland
» Britain Aims to Become Global Center for Virtual Currencies
» Etihad Clinches Alitalia Deal
» French City Accused of ‘Balloon Pollution’
» Gaza Protest: Police Prepare for Riots in Oslo
» Germany: Israeli Karate Trainer Told He’s From a ‘Nation of Murderers’
» Germany North Rhine-Westphalia: Attack on Yazidis Police Major Operation in Herford
» Germany: Window of Jewish Woman Smashed
» Germany: Salafist Threatens US Nuclear Facility
» Germany’s Top Court Turns Down 9/11 Accomplice’s Bid for Early Release
» Greece: A Decade After Athens 2004 Olympics, Many Facilities in Ruins
» Iceland: Relgious Leader Suggests Shared House of Worship
» Iceland: Up to Three Thousand Protest U.S. Weapons Sales to Israel
» Iraq Conflict Resounds on German Streets
» Islamic Society Raises Awareness of Muslims’ Faith
» Islam ‘Does Not Belong in German Society’ — Poll
» Italy: Perugia Couple Arrested for Female Mutilation
» Italy’s Journalists Live in Fear of Mafia Threat
» Netherlands: Holocaust Monument Defaced, ‘Free Gaza’ Graffiti
» Spain: Catalonia to Muslims: Support Independence, Get Mega-Mosque
» Spain’s 14-Year-Old Jihadist Girl Locked Up
» Spain: Police Arrest Two Women Planning on Joining Jihad in Iraq and Syria
» Swedish Police Arrest 16-Year-Old for Murder
» UK: ‘Industrial-Scale Fraud’ In Mayor’s Victory
» UK: Anti-Semitic Double Standards: The Arts and the Jews
» UK: Boris is ‘Conventional’, Says Clegg
» UK: Calls for Harrow Central Mosque to ‘Modernise’ by Worshippers Dismissed by Elders
» UK: Galloway Under Investigation Over Israel Remarks
» UK: Monkey’s Selfie at Center of Copyright Brouhaha
» UK: Photographer ‘Lost £10,000’ In Wikipedia Monkey ‘Selfie’ Row
» UK: Toddlers at Risk of Extremism, Warns Education Secretary
» UKIP Need Not Fear Boris Johnson
» Why Norwegians Love Coffee
 
Balkans
» Signs of Organ Harvesting Found in Kosovo Conflict
 
North Africa
» Egyptian Mau, ‘Pharaohs’ Cat’, At Risk of Extinction
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Caroline Glick: Obama’s New Plan for Hamas
» Israel Accuses Hamas of Firing Rockets Into Israel Before End of Ceasefire
» Mediators Seek to Extend Truce in Cairo
» UK: Tricycle Theatre in Jewish Film Festival Row Over Israeli Funding
» West Bank Feminist Academics Condemn Israel (!) for Promoting Rape, Sexism, And Genocide.
 
Middle East
» 9 Refugees Killed in Car Bombing in Iraq’s Kirkuk
» Briton Says He Has Been Fighting Alongside Militants in Iraq
» Death of a Religion: ISIS and the Yezidi
» Displacement of Mosul’s Christians
» Eyewitness Describes Plight of Iraq’s Trapped Yazidis
» Iraq: Never Mind Gaza: What About the Yezidis?
» Iraq: ISIS’s Slaughter of the Yazidi is a New Rwanda Happening Before Our Eyes
» Iraq: 12 Killed in Suicide Car Bombing in Baghdad
» Iraqi Militants Seize Country’s Largest Dam
» Is This the End for the Yazidis of Iraq?
» ISIL Hits Out at Kuwait, US
» ISIS Militants Launch Assault on Iraq’s Largest Dam
» ISIS Militants Seize Parts of Syrian Army Base in Raqa
» Islamic State Extends Gains in North Iraq, Reach Kurdistan Border Area
» Islamic State Storm One of Last Syria Army Bases in Raqqa — Activists
» Islamic State Surges in N. Iraq, Near Kurdistan Border
» Islamic State Enslaves 400 Yazidi Women
» Italian Women Kidnapped in Syria: Report
» Kuwait: Lawyer Slams Fatwa Against ‘The 99’ Series
» Obama Mulls U.S. Airstrikes to Help Trapped Religious Minorities in Iraq: NYT
» Obama Authorizes Limited Airstrikes in Iraq if Needed
» Official: U.S. Humanitarian Airdrop Missions Start in Iraq
» Pope Calls for Protection, Humanitarian Aid for Christians Forced to Flee Northern Iraq
» Syria Army Kills 200 Rebels Near Damascus
» Syria’s Civil War is Threatening Lebanon
» The Dark Side of Turkey’s Construction Boom
» Thousands of Christians Flee From Iraq
» Turkey: 91,000 Under-Aged Girls Impregnated Within 7 Years
» Turkey Plans State-Run Islamic Banks, Minister Says
» Under Gaza’s Shadow, Islamic State Advances
» US Sanctions ‘Terror Financiers’ In Kuwait — Trio Accused of Supporting Islamic State, Nusra Front
» Yemeni Forces Kill 7 Suspected Al-Qaida Militants
 
Russia
» Clashes Erupt as Ukrainian Authorities Move to Clear Protest Site
» Fatalities as Ukraine Tightens Squeeze on Donetsk Rebels
» Lawyer for Edward Snowden Says Russia Letting NSA Leaker Stay for 3 More Years
» Russia Imposes Retaliatory Sanctions on EU
» Russia Curbs Imports of EU Goat Sperm
» UNHCR on ‘Huge Displacement’ of Ukrainians
 
South Asia
» India and China Vying for Energy Resources in Nepal
» Kerry in Afghanistan to Meet Feuding Candidates, After General’s Murder
» Power Shortages Hamper India’s Manufacturing
 
Far East
» China-Japan Row ‘Increasingly Difficult to Solve by Diplomacy’
» China’s Nuclear Boom Leaves Germany Isolated
» Japan Concerned Over China’s ‘Profoundly Dangerous’ Acts
» Threat From Drug-Resistant Malaria is ‘Immense’
» Top Khmer Rouge Leaders Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity
 
Australia — Pacific
» Kangaroos Caught in the Headlights
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Ebola Outbreak a Burden on West Africa’s Economy
» Ebola Crisis: Liberia and Sierra Leone Blockades Go Up
» EU Launches Africa-Wide Development Programme
 
Latin America
» Luis Fleischman: The Venezuelan Sanctions Bill Awaits Senate Action
 
Immigration
» British Journalism Student Gang-Raped in Calais
» Denmark: Syrian Refugees to Live in Old Military Barracks
» ‘Medical Refugees’ Target French Health Service Via Asylum Claims
 
Culture Wars
» Italy: Ex-MP Fined €10k for ‘I’D Never Hire Gays’ Claim
 
General
» Hackers Can Exploit USB to Steal Data
 

American Forces Said to Bomb ISIS Targets in Iraq

American military forces bombed at least two targets in northern Iraq on Thursday night to rout Islamist insurgents who have trapped tens of thousands of religious minorities in Kurdish areas, Kurdish officials said.

Word of the bombings, reported on Kurdish television from the city of Erbil, came as President Obama was preparing to make a statement in Washington.

[Return to headlines]
 

Americans Give Up Passports as Asset-Disclosure Rules Start

The number of Americans renouncing U.S. citizenship stayed near an all-time high in the first half of the year before rules that make it harder to hide assets from tax authorities came into force.

Some 1,577 people gave up their nationality at U.S. embassies in the six months through June, according to Federal Register data published yesterday. While that’s a 13 percent decline from the year-earlier period, it’s only the second time there’s been a reading of more than 1,500, according to Bloomberg News calculations based on records starting in 1998.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ebola’s Spread to U.S. ‘Inevitable, ‘ Says CDC Chief

(AFP) Ebola’s spread to the United States is “inevitable” due to the nature of global airline travel, but any outbreak is not likely to be large, US health authorities said Thursday.

Already one man with dual US-Liberian citizenship has died from Ebola, after becoming sick on a plane from Monrovia to Lagos and exposing as many as seven other people in Nigeria.

More cases of Ebola moving across borders via air travel are expected, as West Africa faces the largest outbreak of the hemorrhagic virus in history, said Tom Frieden, the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The virus spreads by close contact with bodily fluids and has killed 932 people and infected more than 1,700 since March in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria and Liberia.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Somali Candidate Eyes Milestone in US Race

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — In a neighborhood dubbed “Little Mogadishu,” Mohamud Noor can’t walk more than a block without being stopped by someone who wants to shake his hand.

Juggling two cell phones and a stack of campaign fliers, he chats them up on his bid for a seat in Minnesota’s House of Representatives. They already know. He’s one of theirs.

“You’re going to succeed, keep on going,” Noor said, translating the encouraging words of an elderly Somali woman.

Noor, 36, has been door-knocking, phone-banking and fundraising in a race that could make him the first Somali-born state lawmaker in the U.S. With the backing of many in the city’s growing Somali-American population, Noor is pressing the longtime incumbent Democrat in a hotly contested primary.

Minnesota has become home to an estimated 30,000 Somalis.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Gaza War and the New US Jewish Consensus on Israel

It’s hard to imagine any issue on which more than 90% of American Jews agree. Is anti-Semitism bad? Are latkes good? Are reruns of “Seinfeld” worth watching?…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

EU-Canada Trade Negotiators Reach Agreement

Negotiators on the EU free trade agreement with Canada ended talks after reaching an agreement. “The text is now being seen by EU member states and the Canadian provinces and territories and it will be formally concluded in September,” said a European Commission spokesperson on Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

If Mosque Was Dangerous, Government Should Have Acted: Trudeau’s Office

OTTAWA — If a Montreal mosque that Justin Trudeau visited in 2011 is truly dangerous, the government should have taken action against it by now, the Liberal leader’s office said Wednesday.

Trudeau has been under fire by the Tories for visiting the Al-Sunnah Al-Nabawiah mosque, which was named in Pentagon documents leaked to WikiLeaks as an al-Qaida recruitment centre…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Austria: 100 Jews and Muslims Meet in Vienna

Young Muslims and Jews from around the world are meeting in Vienna for the fifth Muslim Jewish Conference (MJC).

For six days, 100 people from 35 countries will discuss their similarities and differences, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. As well as young Palestinians and Israelis, Pakistani and British people are also joining the conference.

The main goal of its annual conference is to provide the next generation with a positive outlook for establishing intercultural relations and sustaining Muslim-Jewish partnerships.

Former US President Bill Clinton has been a consistent supporter of the MJC since its inception, and has sent a letter to the conference every year.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Austria: Pig’s Head Left on Islamic School Site

A pig’s head has been left on the construction site of a planned Turkish Islamic high school in Vienna, in what is believed to be an Islamophobic attack.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Austria: Beekeeping is Booming in Vienna

People living in Vienna have got a new hobby — beekeeping.

The idea really took off a few years ago after the city council started investing in beehives and placing them in prominent locations. The State Opera House, the Burgtheater and the Museum of Natural History all have bee populations on their roofs, and there are even hives on the terraces of the Vienna General Hospital (AKH).

From there however, with all the publicity, people living in Vienna also started buying rooftop beehives, and now the local beekeeping association estimates there are hundreds of tonnes of honey being harvested in Vienna. The meadows, trees, parks, gardens, roadside verges, balconies and green rooftops provide a constant, yet ever-changing palette of blossoming flowers for the insects to feed on. Temperatures also remain higher for longer in the city than in rural areas.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Austria: German Hiker Yodels for Help After Getting Trapped in Cattle Grid

A portly hiker dressed in traditional Lederhosen was rescued after he yodeled for help after getting stuck for three hours in a cattle grid.

German walker Martin Kaiser, 54, used to the traditional mountain form of communication after getting stuck in the cattle grid while he was wandering along a remote forest trail leading up the Hochkoenig mountain in the Austrian Pinzgau region.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Breast Milk Ice Cream Available in Iceland

Icelandic ice cream company Kjörís is set to produce ice cream made from breast milk. The new experimental product, dubbed Búbís, will be offered on Ísdagurinn (‘Ice Cream Day’) in the town of Hveragerði, where the company is based, on August 16.

“This is just normal ice cream except for instead of milk coming from a cow, it comes from a woman,” Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir, head of Kjörís explained to visir.is.

Several mothers in the town donated their milk for the project.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Britain Aims to Become Global Center for Virtual Currencies

Britain has expressed interest in profiting from the rapidly expanding use of virtual currencies — bitcoins in particular. The government said it commissioned a study looking at the benefits and risks involved.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Etihad Clinches Alitalia Deal

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad has finalized a deal to buy a 49 percent stake in Alitalia, a move that will save Italy’s national carrier from bankruptcy, Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said on Thursday.

Etihad will invest €560 million in the hugely indebted airline as part of a deal that will be formally signed on Friday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

French City Accused of ‘Balloon Pollution’

A French environment group has filed a complaint with police accusing the city of Reims of pollution after it released 2,000 balloons to mark the centenary of the start of World War I.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Gaza Protest: Police Prepare for Riots in Oslo

A street protest backing Israel will take place in Oslo on Sunday. Security forces are readying themselves for street riots, police said on Wednesday.

The organization “With Israel for Peace” (MIFF) will gather in front of the Norwegian parliament in support of the people of Israel and their country’s occupation of Gaza. A similar protest in 2009 lead to street fights in Oslo.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Israeli Karate Trainer Told He’s From a ‘Nation of Murderers’

It’s not antisemitism, it’s just ‘criticizing Israel’.

Israeli karate trainer Shai Hai was attacked by a group of Iranians and Germans in Frankfurt, Germany, at an international karate seminar last week…

A female attacker tried unsuccessfully to spill red paint on his clothes, Hai added. Another man tried to approach him physically. He responded with the self defense techniques he is trained in: “In a matter of seconds, he had flown halfway across the auditorium,” he said.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Germany North Rhine-Westphalia: Attack on Yazidis Police Major Operation in Herford

The police had to intervene with Hundreds: In Herford, Westphalia, Yazidis and sympathizers of the terror group “Islamic State” with wooden planks, bricks and bottles are gone off together.

In Herford, Westphalia, there has been conflict between Yazidis and followers of the Muslim faith. Both groups were on Wednesday night against: on the one hand, up to 300 Yazidis, on the other hand, several groups of Muslims, Salafis and supporters of the terrorist organization “Islamic State” (IS).

Both sides attack each other with stones, bottles and wood panels. According to police, individual participants were injured. In addition, there was property damage in the inner city where followers of different faiths participated. A larger group of masked men, who was armed with impact tools, have also embarked on passers-by, officials reported…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Window of Jewish Woman Smashed

A beer bottle was thrown through the window of a Jewish woman in Frankfurt. When she stepped outside, she was called a “Jewish pig” and other insults.

The woman is an activist against antisemitism.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Salafist Threatens US Nuclear Facility

German security services said on Thursday the risks posed by Islamist terrorists in the country remained “high” after one extremist threatened to bomb an American nuclear facility in the west of Germany.

The Federal Criminal Office said they were aware of a threat made by German Salafist Silvio K., who is believed to be fighting in Syria for ISIS.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany’s Top Court Turns Down 9/11 Accomplice’s Bid for Early Release

Germany’s top court has rejected an application from a terror accomplice for early release from jail. Mounir el Motassadeq is serving a 15-year sentence after being convicted of aiding the September 11 hijackers.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: A Decade After Athens 2004 Olympics, Many Facilities in Ruins

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge once called the Athens 2004 Olympics ‘‘unforgettable, dream games’’. Held August 13-29, 2004, the Games were well organized, Greece’s welcome was impeccable, and the visitors more than satisfied. Ten years later, many of the places in which the Games were held, however, seem more of a nightmare than a ‘‘dream’’. As a ten-year anniversary of the beginning of Athens 2004 approaches, the British Daily Mirror has published a photo gallery showing the state of abandonment and degradation that many stadiums, pools, and other sports facilities built for the Games are now in: partially destroyed, flooded, covered in graffiti, and with every removable object taken away. The image bears witness to — ten years after Athens 2004 and behind the facade of success of those 15 days — the lack of planning for the future.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iceland: Relgious Leader Suggests Shared House of Worship

Salmann Tamimi, religious leader and former chairman of the Muslim Association of Iceland, has expressed his support for a shared house of worship, housing both a mosque and a church, much like the one currently planned in Nacka, Sweden.

Agnes M. Sigurðardóttir, the bishop of Iceland, thinks it more opportune to build a joint house of worship than for a mosque to become an addition to a current church.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iceland: Up to Three Thousand Protest U.S. Weapons Sales to Israel

Up to 3,000 people gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavík yesterday evening to protest U.S. exports of weapons to Israel.

According to a statement from the Iceland-Palestine Association, which organized the protest, the U.S. government sold roughly USD 775 million (EUR 580 million) worth of weapons and ammunition to Israel between 2009 and 2013, visir.is reports. The U.S. is by far the largest seller of weapons to Israel.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq Conflict Resounds on German Streets

The Iraq conflict spilled onto the streets of Herford in North Rhine-Westphalia on Wednesday evening as hundreds of members of the Yazidi faith clashed with supporters of Islamist terrorist group ISIS.

Around 300 Yazidi took to the streets in the early evening. They were demonstrating against the attacks on members of their faith in Syria and Iraq and a religiously-motivated attack against their community earlier that day, Herford police reported.

The police decided to intervene after a large group of hooded people started attacking passers-by in the town centre, with at least one person injured. The police used pepper spray to control the mob, confiscating tools and one firearm, and took the details of 86 people involved…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic Society Raises Awareness of Muslims’ Faith

Samina Malik travels about eight months out of the year, meeting with translators around the world in an effort to help publish the Quran, the sacred book of Islam, in 24 languages.

As vice president of the Dublin-based Lahore Ahmadiyya Islamic Society, Malik does the work for free, even paying her own travel expenses, in an effort to spread the word about the spiritual, peaceful aspects of her faith…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Islam ‘Does Not Belong in German Society’ — Poll

A majority of Germans have rejected former President Christian Wulff’s famous statement that “Islam is now also a part of Germany”, with 52 percent against the idea.

Just 44 percent of people surveyed by the Forsa opinion institute for Stern magazine agreed with the former head of state that Islam was part of Germany.

However, a second question asking how people thought Germany should deal with hostility to Muslims found that 53 percent of people believed that it should be treated as seriously as anti-Semitism.

Young people and supporters of the Green Party were most likely to look favourably on Islam, with 61 and 69 percent positive responses respectively. Fifty percent of centre-left Social Democrat (SPD) supporters agreed Islam belonged in German society, while the conservative CDU/CSU’s number was just 36 percent.

People in East Germany and the over-60s were among the least likely to agree. Only 31 percent of Easterners and 39 percent of seniors sided with Wulff.

The least welcoming to Islam were respondents close to the eurosceptic party Alternative für Deutschland, 82 percent of whom did not think Islam was a part of German society…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Perugia Couple Arrested for Female Mutilation

A couple in Perugia have been arrested for allegedly circumcising their daughters, a practice known as female genital mutilation which has affected tens of thousands of women in Italy.

The couple were arrested in the province of Perugia on Wednesday, La Nazione reported today.

Police stepped in after being told by local health authorities that the two girls had undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), a potentially fatal procedure in which a girl’s genitals are cut or otherwise damaged.

Their parents are from Nigeria and may have taken them abroad for the procedure, which is outlawed in much of Europe, La Nazione said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Italy’s Journalists Live in Fear of Mafia Threat

Journalists in parts of Italy are being forced to live in fear due to an increase in mafia intimidation of the press, with one journalist in Calabria telling The Local that he was recently given state protection due to “very violent threats” from the mafia.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Netherlands: Holocaust Monument Defaced, ‘Free Gaza’ Graffiti

A memorial to the Jews of Gorinchem who were murdered in the Holocaust was defaced and a “Free Gaza” graffiti sprayed next to it.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Spain: Catalonia to Muslims: Support Independence, Get Mega-Mosque

by Soeren Kern

Qatar to Fund Third-Largest Mosque in the World

Muslim leaders in the Spanish autonomous region of Catalonia say they have been promised a mega-mosque in Barcelona if they support independence from Spain in a referendum set for November 9.

Officials from the Catalonia’s ruling Convergence and Union Party (CiU) are seeking the ballots of all of the roughly 100,000 Muslims in the region who are eligible to vote. “If you support us in the referendum, there will be a mosque,” CiU officials are said to have promised Muslim leaders, according to Spanish media.

The mega-mosque in question is said to involve a 2.2 billion euro ($3 billion) project to convert a historic bullfighting stadium in Barcelona into the third-largest mosque in the world, after those in Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Spain’s 14-Year-Old Jihadist Girl Locked Up

The 14-year-old Spanish girl arrested recently because she planned to join the jihadist ISIL force in Iraq has been placed in a juvenile detention centre after admitting she was determined to be a member of the terrorist group.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spain: Police Arrest Two Women Planning on Joining Jihad in Iraq and Syria

The National Police have detained two young girls in the Spanish North African exclave of Melilla — one of whom is a minor — when they were preparing to travel to Morocco to meet with a network of recruiters from Al Qaeda. The pair would have been later taken to Iraq or to Syria to join the jihad.

One of the youngsters is from Spain’s other exclave in North Africa, Ceuta, and is aged around 14, while the other is over the age of 18.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swedish Police Arrest 16-Year-Old for Murder

Police in Malmö, southern Sweden, apprehended a 16-year-old boy on suspicion of murdering a 17-year-old boy on Wednesday night.

Police said a fight broke out at Linnéskolan in Malmö on Wednesday evening, involving a 17-year-old boy and at least four other people.

The boy died after having his throat slit, though police refused to comment on what type of weapon was used. A pile of bloody clothing was also found at the scene.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘Industrial-Scale Fraud’ In Mayor’s Victory

The extremist-linked mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, benefited from “considerable” postal ballot fraud and may also have been helped by “organised fraud in the counting of the votes”, according to his Labour Party rival.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Anti-Semitic Double Standards: The Arts and the Jews

By Nick Cohen

‘Would you force anyone else to behave like this?’ the promoters of the UK Jewish Film Festival asked the artistic director of London’s Tricycle Theatre.

Indhu Rubasingham and her colleagues dodged and hummed. They didn’t like the question and did not want to reply to it. The silence was an answer in itself. Of course the theatre would not hold others to the same standard: just Jews…

[Reader comment by MikeF on 6 August 2014.]

There is nothing liberal about the ‘liberal-left’ that runs the arts in this country. They are suffused with arrogant, intolerant authoritarian-narcissist dogma. That really is all there is to it

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Boris is ‘Conventional’, Says Clegg

Nick Clegg has mocked Boris Johnson as a “conventional” politician obsessed with his own hair and quest for power.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the London mayor liked to pretend he did not care about his appearance or career — but was actually “fixated” with them.

The comments, on Mr Clegg’s regular LBC radio phone-in, came after Mr Johnson ended years of speculation by confirming he will seek to return to Parliament at the general election…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Calls for Harrow Central Mosque to ‘Modernise’ by Worshippers Dismissed by Elders

A splinter group of worshippers are calling on those responsible for the day to day running of their mosque to modernise, however senior figures have labelled the campaign ‘disingenuous’.

The Friends of Harrow Central Mosque (FoHCM) group are calling for ‘free and fair’ elections after trustees decided to ban a prayer group for women, hiked membership fees from £5 to £20 despite a 500-strong petition, declined to have sermons done in English and are being accused of closing off the mosque to the non-Muslim community…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Galloway Under Investigation Over Israel Remarks

Calls by George Galloway for Bradford to be “declared an Israel-free zone” are being investigated by West Yorkshire Police.

Officers said two complaints had been made about a speech he made urging the city to reject all Israeli goods, services, academics and even tourists.

A spokesman for the Bradford West MP said he stood by his remarks. Conservative MP Robert Halfon dismissed them as an “ill-considered rant that will cause great offence to many”.

But David Ward, Lib Dem MP for neighbouring Bradford East, said “Israel-free zone” was a “nice sound bite” but any boycott had to be UK-wide…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Monkey’s Selfie at Center of Copyright Brouhaha

An English nature photographer is going ape over Wikipedia’s refusal to remove pictures of a monkey from the online encyclopedia that he says are being displayed without his permission.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Photographer ‘Lost £10,000’ In Wikipedia Monkey ‘Selfie’ Row

A photographer involved in a copyright row with Wikipedia over a monkey “selfie” says he has lost £10,000 in income over two years because of it. David Slater, from Coleford in the Forest of Dean, said the web-based encyclopaedia had repeatedly refused to remove the image from its site.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Toddlers at Risk of Extremism, Warns Education Secretary

Nicky Morgan will use her first major speech to highlight the danger of extremism in Britain’s nurseries after ‘Trojan Horse’ scandal

Nurseries are at risk of being taken over by religious extremists, the Education Secretary will warn as she announces that toddlers are to be taught “fundamental British values”.

In her first major policy announcement, Nicky Morgan will say that local authorities will be obliged to use new powers to strip nurseries of their funding if they are found to “promote extremist views”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UKIP Need Not Fear Boris Johnson

So Boris Johnson is standing for parliament next year, triggering speculation about what would happen if David Cameron lost the election. Could we have Ed Miliband as prime minister, followed by Boris Johnson?…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Why Norwegians Love Coffee

Many consider Italy to be the home of the espresso, but Norwegians are taking aim at teaching the world how to brew the best coffees in the world — putting them in the globe’s top three coffee consuming nations.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Signs of Organ Harvesting Found in Kosovo Conflict

An EU-led inquiry prompted by a 2011 report by a Swiss politician has found “compelling indications” that Kosovo Albanian guerrillas extracted body organs from Serb captives during the 1998-99 war and sold them.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Egyptian Mau, ‘Pharaohs’ Cat’, At Risk of Extinction

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, AUGUST 7 — A Cairo NGO is seeking to save from extinction the Egyptian Mau, the oldest known descendants of the cats existing in Egypt during the times of the pharaohs. The Egyptian Mau Rescue Organization (EMRO, www.emaurescue.org) underscores on its website that in Egypt the cats ‘‘are currently unrecognized, routinely poisoned, and often suffer from endemic feline diseases. Outside of Egypt, many Maus are also endangered due to interbreeding and lack of new bloodlines’’. The ancestors of the cats date back over 5,000 years.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Caroline Glick: Obama’s New Plan for Hamas

President Barack Obama has a plan.

He wants to use the ceasefire talks in Cairo to strengthen Fatah.

In remarks Wednesday, Obama said, “I have no sympathy for Hamas. I have great sympathy for some of the work that has been done in cooperation with Israel and the international community by the Palestinian Authority. And they’ve shown themselves to be responsible. They have recognized Israel. They are prepared to move forward to arrive at a two-state solution. I think [PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, aka] Abu Mazen is sincere in his desire for peace.”

Obama’s plans for the ceasefire were spelled out in detail the day before in a column by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. There Ignatius claimed that Secretary of State John Kerry has abandoned his previous position on the cease-fire. That position was harshly criticized by Israeli leaders and US media heavyweights, including Ignatius himself, for its clear bias in favor of Hamas.

In contrast to Kerry’s previous adoption of all of Hamas’s demands as official US positions, Ignatius wrote that “Over the past week, [Kerry] has been crafting a cease-fire plan that seeks to stabilize Gaza under the leadership of Abbas and the moderate Palestinian Authority….[The PA] (with the support of the international community) would have overall responsibility for the rehabilitation of Gaza.”…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Israel Accuses Hamas of Firing Rockets Into Israel Before End of Ceasefire

Army says ceasefire was violated when two rockets landed in Israel after Jewish State said it was prepared to extend truce

Rockets fired from the Gaza Strip crashed into Israel Friday, the army said, less than four hours from the scheduled expiry of a three-day truce.

“Just now, two rockets fired from Gaza hit southern Israel. No injuries reported,” the army said in a text message to journalists ahead of the 0500 GMT deadline for the truce to be renewed or collapse…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Mediators Seek to Extend Truce in Cairo

Palestinian and Israeli officials are continuing indirect talks in Cairo on a long-term truce in Gaza as the three-day ceasefire enters its last 24 hours.

Israeli officials say they are willing to extend the ceasefire before it expires on Friday morning.

But Hamas, which controls Gaza, says there is no agreement and there is a big gap between the sides’ positions…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Tricycle Theatre in Jewish Film Festival Row Over Israeli Funding

A north London theatre has refused to host the UK Jewish Film Festival while it is sponsored by the Israeli Embassy amid the ongoing crisis in Gaza.

           — Hat tip: Gaia [Return to headlines]
 

West Bank Feminist Academics Condemn Israel (!) for Promoting Rape, Sexism, And Genocide.

by Phyllis Chesler

On July 31, 2014, the Institute of Women’s Studies at Birzeit University put out “an urgent call” to condemn Israel, Israeli scholars, and the Israeli culture of “rape,” “misogyny,” “sexism,” “genocide,” and “ethnic cleansing.”

That’s not all. The Institute also condemned one unnamed member of the Israeli Parliament who has allegedly called for “the killing of all Palestinian women”; another Israeli academic who has allegedly called for the “raping of Palestinian women;” and a Rabbi who has “call(ed) for mass murder of Palestinians while taking their foreskins as trophies.”

Birzeit University is a Palestinian academic institution located in the West Bank— specifically, in the town of Bir Zeit. The message has made it far beyond Palestine, however. American and European listserv groups are circulating this filth, which is how it came into my possession last night.

The Birzeit women, intoxicated by their own rhetoric and on quite a metaphoric high horse— perhaps with a real as well as metaphoric Hamas gun to their heads, too— do not mention the Palestinian culture (in both Gaza and on the West Bank) of forced veiling, child marriage, child rape, polygamy, honor killing, and normalized daughter- and wife-beating. Nor do they mention Hamas’s culture of Jihad, human sacrifice, or Hamas’s use of their own civilian human shields for propaganda purposes…

           — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler [Return to headlines]
 

9 Refugees Killed in Car Bombing in Iraq’s Kirkuk

KIRKUK, Iraq, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) — At least nine refugees were killed and some 53 others wounded in a car bomb explosion in Iraq’ s northern city of Kirkuk, a local police source said.

A booby-trapped minibus went off around noon near a Shiite mosque in downtown Kirkuk, some 250 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Briton Says He Has Been Fighting Alongside Militants in Iraq

A Briton who claims he is fighting alongside militants in Syria has said he also recently went to Iraq to be at the “forefront” of the conflict there.

The man, who calls himself Abu Abdullah, said he had been involved in fighting in the Iraqi city of Ramadi.

It is the first evidence to emerge of British fighters travelling to take part in the conflict in Iraq. UK officials say up to 500 Britons may have travelled to the Middle East, but most are believed to be in Syria.

Abu Abdullah, a 20-year-old British Eritrean man who is a convert to Islam, told BBC Two’s Newsnight programme he was “one of the few” British fighters to have fought in Iraq…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Death of a Religion: ISIS and the Yezidi

By Sean Thomas

They are scared of lettuce. They abhor pumpkins. They practise maybe the oldest religion in the world. And now, after at least 6,000 years, they are finally being exterminated, even as I write this.

If you haven’t noticed this epochal crime — the raping and the slaughter — you’re not alone. Of late, the world has focused on the horrors of Gaza. When we’ve had time to acknowledge the Satanic cruelties of Isis, in Iraq, we’ve looked to the barbaric treatment of women, and Christians. Yet the genocide of the Yezidi, by Isis, is as evil as anything going on right now in the Middle East; it is also uniquely destructive of a remarkable cultural survival.

So who are the Yezidi? Some years ago I studied them when researching a thriller. I also traveled to meet their small diaspora community, in Celle, north Germany. And what I found was astonishing…

[Reader comment by durotrige on 7 August 2014.]

It’s only Muslims engaged in one of their habitual rounds of genocide, so of no interest to the Twitterati who are much more interested in sending pictures of dead babies to each other, victims of evil Israel.

No one wants to offend our Muslim brothers, afraid of incurring the wrath of the RoP.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Displacement of Mosul’s Christians

Head of Lebanon’s Chaldean community said recently that around 8,000 Iraqi Christians escaped to his country since the beginning of the crises in Mosul after the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) controlled the city last June. The large number of Christian refugees from Iraq in Lebanon is an alarming issue, especially since it happens after the country became host for thousands of refugees who fled violence in Christian cities in Syria.

The Iraqi refugees, much like their Syrian peers, are in need for food and medical aid, as well as security and education. Another alarming thing is that Mosul, after Syria’s Christian cities, could now have become left by Christians for the first time in its history. The Iraqi city is considered a historic center for Christianity in the region, containing dozens of churches including historical ones that were built over 1,500 years ago.

The ISIS, a radical group that falsely claims to be adopting the teachings of Islam, announced that Christians in Mosul must either convert to Islam, pay the jizya or leave the city without even having the chance to collect their belongings. The group also released a fatwa saying that Christians’ abandoned homes become the property of the ‘Islamic State’; a very reckless and irresponsible decision.

The Chaldean Catholic Church is headquartered in Baghdad, and has followers in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Turkey, in addition to immigrants around the world. Members of the church have lived peacefully in the Middle East for centuries; ever since they became one of the oldest people to convert to Christianity during the first century A. D. The church followers are Roman Catholics, and it maintains full communion with the Bishop of Rome.

It’s people are ethnic Assyrians, and it uses the Syriac language; a dialect of the Aramaic language that was spoken by Jesus Christ. After all that history, Christians’ fate, future and security became in the hands of a group of reckless and rushed young men, who were lured by some money, a free firearm and a brand new car that they never dreamt of driving during their unemployment days. We stand shocked and saddened as we see extremists continue their reckless behavior, so long as they do not find anyone to stop them.

           — Hat tip: RR [Return to headlines]
 

Eyewitness Describes Plight of Iraq’s Trapped Yazidis

A member of Iraq’s Yazidi religious minority, Khalil, trapped with thousands of others on a mountain as Islamist militants advance, described their plight for BBC News in an interview on Wednesday.

We’re hiding inside caves. We have nothing — no food and no water. We’ve been under siege for four days. We eat once a day — either in the morning or at night.

We’ve managed to get some basic food supplies from neighbouring areas, but three children died today because of starvation. Seven women and children have died since yesterday because of dehydration…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: Never Mind Gaza: What About the Yezidis?

by James Delingpole

There was one part of Baroness Warsi’s resignation letter I admired: that was when, just after she’d condemned the Coalition’s inaction over Gaza, she brought the full weight of her righteous indignation to bear on Britain’s abject failure to stop the Yezidis being massacred in Iraq…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: ISIS’s Slaughter of the Yazidi is a New Rwanda Happening Before Our Eyes

by Dan Hodges

The Yazidi wish to inform you that tomorrow they will be killed with their families. Actually, it may not be tomorrow. The 40,000 members of Iraq’s most ancient sect, who are currently huddling on the side of Mount Sinjar, might have a bit longer. If they stay there it will apparently take a few days, maybe a few weeks, before they die of thirst, malnutrition and sickness. If they don’t, their deaths at the hands of the butchers of Isis who have surrounded them will be quicker. Though not that quick.

Five hundred of their number have died in the last week alone, 40 of them children. Unfortunately the Yazidi don’t appear to have had access to iPhones, so you won’t have seen the harrowing images of their dead…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: 12 Killed in Suicide Car Bombing in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) — At least 12 people were killed and some 30 others wounded in a suicide car bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Thursday, an Interior Ministry source said.

The attack occurred in the afternoon when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a security checkpoint and blew it up on a main road in the predominantly Shiite district of Kadhmiyah in the northern part of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraqi Militants Seize Country’s Largest Dam

BAGHDAD (AP) — Sunni militants from the Islamic State group on Thursday seized Iraq’s largest dam, placing them in control of enormous power and water resources and access to the river that runs through the heart of Baghdad.

After a week of attempts, the radical Islamist gunmen successfully stormed the Mosul Dam and forced Kurdish forces to withdraw from the area, residents living near the dam told The Associated Press. They spoke anonymously for safety concerns.

There are also fears the militants could release the waters of the dam and devastate the country all the way down to the capital Baghdad, though maintaining the dam’s power and water supplies will be key to their attempts to build a state.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Is This the End for the Yazidis of Iraq?

In northern Iraq, followers of one of the world’s most colourful religions are in danger of being wiped out by Islamic State jihadists — and now the whole of Kurdistan is at risk, too

The followers of the Peacock Angel believe they are facing their 73rd genocide. Many are already scattered across the corners of the earth, more are fleeing for their lives from their latest persecutors, and some are dying of thirst on a scorching desert mountainside. The Yazidis have run out of places to call home.

It is not often you can record the moment when an ancient religion’s home is finally wiped out. It is like the death of the last speaker of some rare language. But this week might mark that moment for the Yazidis, one of the most colourful bands of worshippers in the Middle East, a region not lacking in colourful worshippers…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

ISIL Hits Out at Kuwait, US

A Twitter account allegedly operated by leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) posted a ‘tweet’ recently warning that it would target Kuwait as a possible battle ground for engaging the United States’ Army. “We have a score to settle with America,” the account which list the name Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in Arabic tweeted in Arabic to its 6,260-plus followers. “We cannot reach [America], but can lure it to Kuwait where we can set foot.” “After that, America will come to us there where we fight them and exact revenge,” read the message that was concluded by a hashtag for the ISIL’ acronym in Arabic, Da’ash.

The account which is found at the @KhalifatMuslims handle could not be verified. Kuwait serves as a regional hub for US Army and other US military forces. The US military reported 13,500 troops stationed in Kuwait in 2013, stationed at the the US military bases Camps Arfijan and Buehring and the Ali Al Salem Air Force.

           — Hat tip: RR [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Militants Launch Assault on Iraq’s Largest Dam

ISIS militants mounted a bloody bid to seize Iraq’s largest dam Thursday, clashing with Kurds for control of the Mosul’s primary source of fresh water and power.

Residents told The Associated Press that the jihadist group had taken control of the Tigris River facility — Iraq’s largest dam — but crack Kurdish troops guarding the site claim they repelled the attack, Agence France Press reported.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Militants Seize Parts of Syrian Army Base in Raqa

Jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS or ISIL) have seized parts of a military base in Syria’s Raqa province in an assault that left dozens dead, a rights group said Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the extremist group, which calls itself the Islamic State, was engaged in heavy fighting with troops at Brigade 93 in Raqa, where it already controls the regional capital and significant amounts of territory.

The two-day assault on Division 17 saw more than 50 troops summarily executed, including some who were beheaded, with the jihadists later putting their severed heads on display.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Extends Gains in North Iraq, Reach Kurdistan Border Area

(Reuters) — Islamist militants surged across northern Iraq towards the capital of the Kurdish region on Thursday, sending tens of thousands of Christians fleeing for their lives, in an offensive that has alarmed the Baghdad government and world powers.

Reuters photographs showed Islamic State fighters controlling a checkpoint at the border area of the Kurdish semi-autonomous region, little over 30 minutes’ drive from Arbil, a city of 1.5 million that is headquarters to the Kurdish regional government and of many businesses.

Sunni militants earlier captured Iraq’s biggest Christian town, Qaraqosh, prompting many residents to flee, fearing they would be subjected to the same demands the Sunni militants made in other captured areas — leave, convert to Islam or face death.

The Islamic State, considered more extreme than al-Qaeda, sees Iraq’s majority Shi’ites and minorities such as Christians and Yazidis, a Kurdish ethno-religious community, as infidels…

[Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Storm One of Last Syria Army Bases in Raqqa — Activists

(Reuters) — Islamic State militants stormed one of the Syrian government’s last outposts in the northern province of Raqqa in an overnight attack and battled troops holed up in the area on Thursday, killing dozens of soldiers, activists said.

A monitoring group said over 40 people were killed in multiple suicide car bombings carried out by Islamic State fighters and in ensuing clashes…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Surges in N. Iraq, Near Kurdistan Border

ARBIL, Iraq, Aug 7 (Reuters) — Islamist militants surged across northern Iraq towards the capital of the Kurdish region on Thursday, sending tens of thousands of Christians fleeing for their lives, in an offensive that sparked talk of Western military action.

Reuters photographs showed what appeared to be Islamic State fighters controlling a checkpoint at the border area of the Kurdish semi-autonomous region, little over 30 minutes’ drive from Arbil, a city of 1.5 million that is headquarters to the Kurdish regional government and of many businesses.

The fighters had raised the movement’s black flag over the guard post. However a Kurdish security official denied that the militants were in control of the Khazer checkpoint, and the regional government said its forces were advancing and would “defeat the terrorists”, urging people to stay calm…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Enslaves 400 Yazidi Women

There are several Qur’an verses that Muslims who believe in sex slavery — like those of the Islamic State — point to in order to justify kidnapping young girls and pressing them into sexual slavery.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Women Kidnapped in Syria: Report

Two Italian aid workers have been kidnapped in Syria, according to reports on Wednesday. The Italian foreign ministry has confirmed that two of its citizens are missing.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Kuwait: Lawyer Slams Fatwa Against ‘The 99’ Series

By Nawara Fattahova

The lawyer of Dr Naif Al-Mutawa — whose comic series ‘The 99’ was banned by a Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs fatwa — yesterday said the edict was wrong and motivated by personal conflicts. Kuwaiti lawyer Duwaim Al-Muwaizri had filed a case against the ‘The 99’ to stop broadcasting on an Arabic satellite channel, and to support his case, demanded a fatwa from the Awqaf Ministry. The ministry issued a fatwa banning the broadcast and distribution of the animated series for disrespecting Almighty Allah.

“Muwaizri claimed that the main characters of the cartoon were given Allah’s names, which is disrespectful and should be stopped. And it seems that the sheikh giving the fatwa didn’t watch the series, as their names are without the prefix ‘Al-’. Such names are common in most Arab countries, so there is no insult,” Mutawa’s attorney Mohammed Dashti told Kuwait Times yesterday.

According to Dashti, the reason behind filing the case and demanding a fatwa was to fight the satellite channel that is broadcasting the series. “There was a conflict between the Saudi extremist Mohammed Al-Arifi and the channel. Then his followers and fans on social media started a war against this channel and its programs including ‘The 99’ series,” he explained.

‘The 99’ cartoon has been approved by the Ministry of Information in Kuwait. “If this cartoon was blasphemous, then it wouldn’t have passed the censorship of the ministry. Furthermore, it was also approved by the Saudi ministry of information. This cartoon is a message to the West that the Islamic culture is forgiving and peaceful, but these extremists don’t want these values to reach the world. Also, this is an international series broadcast even in China, and such a fatwa will definitely not stop its showing,” vowed Dashti.

           — Hat tip: RR [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Mulls U.S. Airstrikes to Help Trapped Religious Minorities in Iraq: NYT

(Reuters) — U.S. President Barack Obama is considering airstrikes and emergency relief airdrops to help 40,000 religious minorities in Iraq who are trapped on a mountaintop after threats by Islamic militants, the New York Times reported on Thursday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Authorizes Limited Airstrikes in Iraq if Needed

President Obama said he had directed United States military forces to conduct targeted airstrikes on Islamic militants if they move to take Erbil, in northern Iraq, threatening the American citizens and military personnel there.

And he said that, at the request of the Iraqi government, he has authorized the military to help provide humanitarian assistance to Iraqi citizens, many of them religious minorities, who are trapped on a mountain.

[Return to headlines]
 

Official: U.S. Humanitarian Airdrop Missions Start in Iraq

(CNN) — U.S. humanitarian airdrop missions have started in Iraq, a senior U.S. official told CNN Thursday.

“An effort has begun,” the official said. Planes are in the air, the official said, but they have not yet started dropping aid. There are fighter jets for protection, the source said.

The planned aid drops come amid an emerging humanitarian crisis in northern Iraq, with minority groups facing possible slaughter by Sunni Muslim extremists.

Earlier Thursday an official said U.S. President Barack Obama is also considering airstrikes.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pope Calls for Protection, Humanitarian Aid for Christians Forced to Flee Northern Iraq

Pope Francis is calling for world governments to take measures to protect Christians driven from their villages in northern Iraq and provide them with humanitarian aid.

The pope’s second appeal in as many weeks came Thursday as Iraqi militants from the Islamic State group overran a cluster of predominantly Christian villages alongside the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, sending tens of thousands of civilians and Kurdish fighters fleeing.

Now-emptied Christian communities in the region date from the first centuries of Christianity.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Syria Army Kills 200 Rebels Near Damascus

DAMASCUS, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) — The Syrian troops on Thursday killed some 200 rebels, during the operations against the rebels’ gatherings in the countryside of the capital Damascus, according to the state news agency SANA.

The Syrian government forces targeted the rebels’ positions at the hills overlooking the towns of Buhairan, Saber, Bala’a and other towns in Damascus’ countryside, SANA reported.

Clashes in the countryside of Damascus have been incessant lately as the sound of shelling has become common…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Syria’s Civil War is Threatening Lebanon

The Lebanese military is fighting jihadists from Syria. It wants to prevent Syria’s war from spilling over into Lebanon for good. But complicated confessional loyalties in the country make this a difficult task.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Dark Side of Turkey’s Construction Boom

Turkey’s construction boom is the engine of its growth spurt, but its cost is high for the people living in historic Istanbul neighborhoods and the country’s economic stability

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Thousands of Christians Flee From Iraq

Thousands of Christians are reported to be fleeing after Islamic militants seized the biggest town with a majority Christian population in Iraq.

The Islamic State group captured Qaraqosh in Nineveh province overnight after the withdrawal of Kurdish forces.

An international Christian organisation said at least a quarter of Iraq’s Christians are leaving Qaraqosh and other surrounding towns…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey: 91,000 Under-Aged Girls Impregnated Within 7 Years

Some 91,208 Turkish girls under the age of 18 have been impregnated in the last seven years, daily Hurriyet online reports quoting figures provided by the Health Ministry that highlight the deep problem of child marriage the country faces. “Istanbul topped the list with 6,586 cases followed by Izmir, which had 5,714 cases,” Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said in a response to a parliamentary question by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Plans State-Run Islamic Banks, Minister Says

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, AUGUST 7 — The Turkish government plans to establish three state-owned Islamic banks as a subsidiary of the current state-run conventional banks by the end of 2015, Anadolu Agency reported quoting Ali Babacan, deputy prime minister responsible for the economy, as saying Wednesday.

Babacan said that they want three state-owned banks — Ziraat Bank, Halkbank and Vakifbank — to each have an Islamic, interest-free bank under their roof. “We made our decision politically on the issue and wish the public sector to take part in the Islamic banking sector,” Babacan added. He noted Ziraat Bank has already started negotiations with the private Islamic-style “participation” bank. He stressed his government wishes success in the negotiations. “I believe at the end of 2015, three state-owned Islamic banks will be established,” Babacan said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Under Gaza’s Shadow, Islamic State Advances

by Jonathan Spyer

In recent weeks, far from the attention of the world’s media, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (IS, formerly ISIS) has been fighting its enemies and expanding its borders.

There is mounting evidence that IS has obtained a chemical weapons capacity of some kind, and has utilized it on at least one occasion during intense combat against the Kurdish YPG militia in northern Syria.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

US Sanctions ‘Terror Financiers’ In Kuwait — Trio Accused of Supporting Islamic State, Nusra Front

WASHINGTON: The United States imposed sanctions on three men, two of them Kuwaiti, yesterday, accusing them of providing money, fighters and weapons to extremists in Iraq and Syria. Under the order, issued by the US Treasury, any assets the men hold in the United States are frozen and American citizens and residents are “generally prohibited” from doing business with them. The order accused Shafi Sultan Mohammed Al-Ajmi, 41, and Hajjaj Fahd Hajjaj Muhammad Shabib Al-Ajmi, 26, of raising money for the Al-Nusra Front, a jihadist group fighting in Syria. Both men are said to be Kuwaiti, and the elder Ajmi’s street address in Kuwait was given.

A third man, Abdulrahman Khalaf Al-Anizi, whose nationality was not disclosed and who is thought to be around 40 years old, is accused of supporting the so-called Islamic State, formerly Al-Qaeda in Iraq. All three have been named a “specially designated global terrorist” by the United States government, which accuses them of soliciting donations for militants from wealthy donors in the Gulf region. “We and our international partners, including the Kuwaiti government, need to act more urgently and effectively to disrupt these terrorist financing efforts,” said Treasury Undersecretary David Cohen.

The Treasury statement alleged that Anizi had worked in the past with Al-Qaeda facilitators based in Iran, and that the younger Ajmi had tried to get fellow Kuwaitis into leadership positions in Al-Nusra. The latest US terrorism report on the country noted “increased reports of Kuwait-based private individuals funneling charitable donations and other funds to violent extremist groups outside the country.”

Some religious figures in the Gulf have also publicly accused Shafi and Hajjaj of supporting violent extremists in Syria and Iraq. Sheik Waseem Yousef from the United Arab Emirates dedicated a recent episode of his television show to outing the two as alleged Islamic State supporters in the Gulf. Separately, Saudi-based Syrian Sheikh Adnan Al-Aroor, who became one of the most inspirational anti-Syrian government figures, accused Hajjaj on his television program of “corruption in jihad”. He accused Hajjaj of using people’s humanitarian charitable donations to fund the Islamic State.

Hajjaj denies that his money flows to Islamic State fighters and told reporters in June there is a “financial siege” on the Syrian uprising that has curbed charity for people under the guise of the “war on terror”. He said Western-allied Gulf countries are working to channel any aid to Syria for groups that support their policies there. Anyone who steps outside those boundaries is exposed to “media slandering”, he said.

However, Hajjaj has openly admitted in videos online to sitting with members of the Islamic State group and Nusra Front in attempted reconciliation meetings to try and end their clashes against one another for control of parts of Syria. Shafi was quoted in Kuwait’s Al-Rai newspaper in June describing the takeover of Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul as a revolution and Sunni uprising. He said the Shiite-led Iraqi government is trying to frame it as being led by the Islamic State in order to crush it. Last year, government officials in Kuwait pulled Shafi off television a day after his show premiered on state television. The show was canceled over previous comments of his that authorities said stoked tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and promoted the Nusra Front in Syria.

On Tuesday, Kuwait’s Social Affairs and Labor Minister Hind Al-Subaih announced tighter transparency rules to “correct the course” of charities gathering and distributing private donations. The Islamic Affairs Ministry announced on the same day it had suspended all types of cash fundraising inside the country’s mosques, including collections “for the Syrian people”.

Unlike some other Gulf states, US ally Kuwait is against arming rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. But it has tolerated fundraising in private houses, mosques and on social media. Earlier this year, the US Treasury’s Cohen accused Kuwait’s former justice minister of promoting terrorism funding and calling for jihad. The minister subsequently quit. In a speech in Washington in March, Cohen said Kuwait and Qatar in particular needed to do more to prevent humanitarian donations from getting channeled to militant groups. — Agencies

           — Hat tip: RR [Return to headlines]
 

Yemeni Forces Kill 7 Suspected Al-Qaida Militants

ADEN, Yemen, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) — Seven suspected al-Qaida militants were killed in clashes with army troops in Yemen’s southeastern province of Hadramout on Thursday morning, the Defense Ministry said.

“Army soldiers have killed seven gunmen belonging to al-Qaida elements in a checkpoint near the headquarters of the 1st Regional Military Command in Hadramout province after an exchange of gunfire with several attackers,” the Defense Ministry said in a short text message obtained by Xinhua…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Clashes Erupt as Ukrainian Authorities Move to Clear Protest Site

KIEV, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) — Clashes between Ukrainian police and activists erupted in downtown Kiev on Thursday morning, as authorities moved to clean up the Independence Square, the main site of anti-government protests that led to the ouster of the previous authorities.

During the confrontation, municipal service workers and the forces from the special police unit “Kiev-1” tried to dismantle barricades at the Independence Square, where they met strong resistance from activists.

Protesters set tires on fire and attacked police with Molotov cocktails…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Fatalities as Ukraine Tightens Squeeze on Donetsk Rebels

Fighting in the pro-Russian stronghold of Donetsk has led to several deaths, including one in the shelling of a hospital. NATO’s secretary general has arrived in Ukraine amid growing fears over a Russian troop build-up.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Lawyer for Edward Snowden Says Russia Letting NSA Leaker Stay for 3 More Years

National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden will be allowed to stay in Russia through the end of July 2017 after receiving a three-year residence permit, his lawyer said Thursday. Analtoly Kucherena was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that Snowden had received the permit, but that he had not been granted political asylum.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Russia Imposes Retaliatory Sanctions on EU

BRUSSELS — Moscow is slapping a ban on EU-imported fruit and vegetables and food from the US in retaliation for western economic sanctions.

A Russian decree published Wednesday (6 August) called upon government officials to put forward a list of agricultural products and raw materials to be banned for up to one year.

The measures are seen as a tit-for-tat response to broad economic sanctions recently imposed on Russia by the European Union.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Russia Curbs Imports of EU Goat Sperm

Further boosting Russia’s agricultural isolation from Europe, a state watchdog banned imports of bull, goat and ram sperm from certain regions of Italy, Greece and Bulgaria.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UNHCR on ‘Huge Displacement’ of Ukrainians

There has been a massive movement of people within Ukraine and from eastern Ukraine to Russia over the past weeks as the crisis continues. The UNHCR’s Dan McNorton spoke to DW about the refugee situation.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

India and China Vying for Energy Resources in Nepal

With his two-day trip to Nepal, Narendra Modi became the first Indian PM to visit the neighboring country in 17 years. But was the trip, aimed at boosting ties, enough to counter China’s growing influence? DW examines.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Kerry in Afghanistan to Meet Feuding Candidates, After General’s Murder

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Afghanistan late Thursday on an unannounced visit to press the country’s two feuding presidential candidates on the urgency of ending a bitter dispute over June elections and forming a new government by early September.

At that summit, NATO leaders are hoping to make decisions about their nations’ role in Afghanistan after the end of the year, when most combat troops will be withdrawn.

Kerry’s arrival in Kabul follows Tuesday’s killing of a U.S. general by an Afghan soldier at the national defense university, an incident that underscored the tensions that persist as the U.S. combat role winds down. The political uncertainty that Kerry is trying to address is another complicating factor in the transition.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Power Shortages Hamper India’s Manufacturing

India’s energy demand far outstrips its generation capacity leading to power outages. The government has to tackle this if it wants to achieve its aim of turning the country into a manufacturing powerhouse, say experts.

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China-Japan Row ‘Increasingly Difficult to Solve by Diplomacy’

Over the past months, the Sino-Japanese rivalry has gone beyond an island dispute, introducing multiple flashpoints to the bilateral ties and increasing the risk of armed conflict, analyst Yanmei Xie tells DW.

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China’s Nuclear Boom Leaves Germany Isolated

Germany’s decision to phase-out nuclear power leaves the country isolated worldwide. China has taken over as the global trendsetter regarding atomic energy, says DW’s columnist Frank Sieren.

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Japan Concerned Over China’s ‘Profoundly Dangerous’ Acts

China is ratcheting up tensions in the East China Sea, says the Japan’s Ministry of Defense in its annual defence white paper released on August 5. But Japan’s options for a response are limited, experts say.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Threat From Drug-Resistant Malaria is ‘Immense’

Drug-resistant malaria parasites are spreading across Southeast Asia, a new study found. Oxford University’s Elizabeth Ashley, who led the study, tells DW the mutation poses a major threat to advances in malaria control.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Top Khmer Rouge Leaders Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity

Two top Khmer Rouge leaders have been jailed for life after being convicted by Cambodia’s UN-backed tribunal of crimes against humanity.

Nuon Chea, 88, served as leader Pol Pot’s deputy and Khieu Samphan, 83, was the Maoist regime’s head of state.

They are the first top-level leaders to be held accountable for its crimes.

Up to two million people are thought to have died under the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime — of starvation and overwork or executed as enemies of the state.

Judge Nil Nonn said the men were guilty of “extermination encompassing murder, political persecution, and other inhumane acts comprising forced transfer, enforced disappearances and attacks against human dignity’’.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Kangaroos Caught in the Headlights

A staggering number of animals in Australia die getting hit by cars. Wildlife rescue groups end up taking care of survivors — and are trying to educate motorists in an effort to reduce those deaths and injuries.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ebola Outbreak a Burden on West Africa’s Economy

Canceled flights, closed borders — widespread anxiety over the Ebola epidemic is influencing the lives of people in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. And it’s also having an effect on the economies there.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ebola Crisis: Liberia and Sierra Leone Blockades Go Up

Liberian soldiers have set up a blockade stopping people from western regions affected by the Ebola outbreak from entering the capital, Monrovia.

It follows the president’s declaration of a state of emergency to tackle the outbreak that has killed more than 930 people in West Africa this year.

In Sierra Leone the security forces have now imposed a complete blockade of eastern areas hit by Ebola.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU Launches Africa-Wide Development Programme

The EU on Wednesday announced €415 million to finance projects — up until 2017 — in its new Pan-African Programme. The development and cooperation programme aims to “find solutions at regional and continental scale and support the process of African integration”. Another €430 million will follow up until 2020.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Luis Fleischman: The Venezuelan Sanctions Bill Awaits Senate Action

It has been two months since the House of Representatives version of the Venezuela sanctions bill was passed. Avery similar bill titled the ‘‘Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014” now awaits passage in the Senate, after having been voted out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The bill itself is limited in scope but would have a significant impact in Venezuela, especially on those individuals responsible for the brutal crackdown on peaceful protestors that took place last February. It imposes “targeted sanctions on persons responsible for violations of human rights of antigovernment protesters in Venezuela, to strengthen civil society in Venezuela and for other purposes”.’, calls “to support the people of Venezuela in their aspiration to live under conditions of peace”; “to work in concert with the other member states within the Organization of American States, as well as the countries of the European Union, to ensure the peaceful resolution of the current situation in Venezuela”; and “to hold accountable government and security officials in Venezuela responsible for or complicit in the use of force in relation to the antigovernment protests that began on February 12, 2014, and similar future acts of violence”; and” to continue to support the development of democratic political processes and independent civil society in Venezuela”.

One might ask why these sanctions are necessary and what impact they would really have on the situation in Venezuela.. The Venezuela of today is a place where citizens often live in fear and are under a cloud of intimidation. Freedom of the press has been severely curtailed. The courts are now controlled by the absolute power of the President. Attacks on unions, demonization of political dissidents, arbitrary disqualification of political candidates, and a general atmosphere of intolerance prevail.

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British Journalism Student Gang-Raped in Calais

Police are investigating claims a young journalism student from London has been gang raped in Calais.

The woman was reporting on illegal immigration from France to Britain and police believe the attack was carried by some of the men she intended to write about in the northern France port.

Detectives described the attack as being of a “particularly brutal nature”.

Some 100 would-be immigrants to Britain were rounded up by a force of French riot police and are being questioned as potential witnesses.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was described as “a London student who had travelled to France to highlight problems surrounding clandestine immigration.”

A local police spokesman added: “She appeared to be working alone, which was clearly a very dangerous thing to do.

“We fear that the men she was reporting on attacked her in the wood where they were staying.”

The woman is believed to have wanted to spend time with the immigrants in a notorious makeshift camp called “The Jungle” before the attack happened on Tuesday night.

Others in the town said she was in her late 20s or early 30s, and taking her own photographs rather than working with a colleague.

“The Jungle” is part of a disused an industrial zone called The Dunes, a short walk from the ferry port.

There would-be immigrants make tents out of plastic sheets and build fires.

They are supported by local charities, with the newly elected Right Wing council in Calais refusing to provide them with permanent accommodation…

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark: Syrian Refugees to Live in Old Military Barracks

Sønderborg’s former military barracks will be converted into a temporary home for 300 Syrian refugees. “One of the darkest days in the council’s history,” says a local politician who voted against the move.

The Danish People’s Party (DF) wanted them to house foreign criminals, but on Wednesday it was decided that the former military barracks in Sønderborg would be converted into an asylum centre for 300 Syrian refugees.

A majority of the Sønderborg Council voted to use the barracks, which were closed in 2013 as part of defence budget cuts, to help cope with the influx of Syrian refugees…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

‘Medical Refugees’ Target French Health Service Via Asylum Claims

A growing number of foreign nationals are using France’s asylum system to get free treatment for serious medical conditions, worried French doctors said this week.

According to a report in Le Monde, doctors in the southeastern French city of Lyon said immigrants from countries such as Albania, Kosovo and Georgia with serious kidney problems were coming to France to gain access to the French health service while applying for asylum.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Ex-MP Fined €10k for ‘I’D Never Hire Gays’ Claim

A former MP for Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia has been fined €10,000 for saying he would never hire a gay person, a sentence welcomed by rights groups as a legal first.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hackers Can Exploit USB to Steal Data

It’s an entirely new type of computer security risk: Not viruses, but manipulated firmware could allow USB devices to spy on computer users undetected. The new attacks are difficult to stop, warn IT experts.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

4 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/7/2014

  1. Now wouldn’t it be nice if we managed to get the Pesh Merga some supplies–like bullets before they have to start throwing rocks–and some equipment to deal with all the material they took forom the Iraqis.

  2. “We reject this illegal, barbarous, savage state that calls itself Israel – and you have to do the same.” Another ill-considered rant by the odious George Galloway. Why has he not been locked up before now for his persistant hate speech?

    Also, will Lutfur Rahman escape prosecution again for election fraud?

    Answers on a postcard….

    • Both will escape punishment because “democracies” dare not punish bad muslims and their bad supporters. They can punish only decent people. Now isn’t secularism and paganism worse that Inquisition?

      “In other news, British Education Secretary Nicky Morgan warned that toddlers are at risk of being taught extremism in Britain’s nurseries.”
      Shouldn’t Nicki Porgan be punished for understanding axioms 20 years later than normal people. Aren’t stupidity and cowardice crimes? I guess we can’t punish authorities if cowards and negligent?

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