Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese woman who was imprisoned and sentenced to death for apostasy, was able to leave Sudan and landed in Rome with her children. She and her family then met with Pope Francis.
In other news, an Air Algérie jetliner bound from Burkina Faso to Algiers crashed in the Mali desert after taking off from Ouagadougou. All 116 passengers and crew are believed to have died in the crash.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, Steen, The Independent, 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.
Why Most Europeans See Poverty in Their Future
Struggling with low salaries, high unemployment and job insecurity, a majority of Europeans fear their troubles will only get worse, according to a recent report published by the Brussels-based Bruegel, a European think-tank specialising in economics.
The think-tank cited a Eurobarometer public opinion survey on the social impact of the crisis. A whopping 80% of Europeans believe poverty has increased over the past year, according to the findings of the survey which was conducted on behalf of the European Commission.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
After Cruz Warning to White House, FAA Lifts Israel Travel Ban
by Daniel Greenfield
After Senator Ted Cruz’s warning that he would hold all State Department nominees until questions were answered about the political motive behind the FAA’s travel ban on Israel… the FAA suddenly reversed itself.
On the same day that the FAA had announced a 24 hour extension of the ban, the FAA turned around and reversed itself.
These were the 5 questions that Senator Cruz wanted answered…
| — Hat tip: The Independent | [Return to headlines] |
British Muslims Must Confront the Truth of the ‘Trojan Horse’ Schools
By Douglas Murray
The Trojan Horse reports are in, and they make for damning reading. ‘An aggressive Islamist agenda… a coordinated, deliberate and sustained action to introduce an intolerant and aggressive Islamist ethos’. Teachers who claimed that the Boston marathon bombing and the murder of Lee Rigby were in fact hoaxes and an ‘Attack on Islam’. And so on. The grim details are out. But there is a story behind this story which has not been thought about, though it ought to be. That is the response of Britain’s Muslim communities to these awful revelations.
Ever since 9/11 a considerable appeal from the non-Muslim majority in the West has been ‘where are the moderates?…
[Reader comment by rogermurrayclark on 24 July 2014.]
Can we try and get this straight
The so called “extremist” views are the default views of the “community” — or to be more precise, the colony/colonies.
These views include particular contempt for white women and girls(which underlies the grooming epidemic the contemptible liberal left continues in complete denial about), hatred of jews and homosexuals(wishing the latter dead), primitive views of women which leads to their suppression via honour crime, loathing of apostates, obscurantist approaches to science, complete contempt for kaffirs.
East Brum is now an alien colony.
When Peter Clarke writes of the need to head off a “narrow and intolerant monoculture”, I doubt he believes that himself — because that is exactly what it is now; Alum Rock and Washwood Heath have a particularly alien feel about them.
given the high levels of inbreeding of course it’s going to be a narrow monoculture — what else was it ever going to be?
“make little Talibans of British children in Birmingham”
Thing is they are not British in any meaningful sense, they are Pakistanis born in a Pakistani colony
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Café in Belgium: Dogs Allowed, Jews Are Not
The Belgian League Against Antisemitism (LBCA) filed a complaint on Wednesday with the mayor of Saint-Nicolas, Jacques Heleven, against the proprietors of a cafe that hung up a sign banning Jews from entering the establishment, Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
France: Europe’s Clockwork Orange State
By Stephen Brown
French President Francois Hollande was probably correct when he told the Muslim inhabitants of one of France’s suburban ghettos (known as “banlieues”) they were “the future of France.”
This community’s high birthrate and his socialist government’s pro-immigration policies will see to that. But if last Saturday’s rioting in the center of Paris is anything to go by, that future will be a bleak and scary one of Clockwork Orange-type violence. And, contrary to the Hollande’s statement, this “new France” will not save the country from ruin, but rather lead to it.
Last weekend, for the second weekend in a row, the French public watched in exasperation while the city that represents the heart of their country and culture to the world was defiled yet again by several thousand rioters of mostly North African and Middle Eastern origin. Demonstrating, allegedly, against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, over several hours and often to shouts of “allahu akbar” the rioters smashed store windows, burned vehicles and subjected the forces of law and order to a hail of bottles and rocks, injuring a dozen police officials.
“It was war, in the middle of Paris, in the city that receives the most tourists in the world,” said one upset storeowner, whose shop windows were broken, to the French newspaper Le Figaro the next day. “Why isn’t there a (government) minister here this morning to say that these guys who smashed everything are going to go to prison?”…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Imminent Terror Attack on Norway
UPDATED: “We are now in a situation where there is a specific terror threat against Norway,” said Justice and Public Security Minister Anders Anundsen as he opened an emergency press conference with the Police Security Service (Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste, PST) on Thursday morning. PST chief Benedicte Bjørnland said the service had received information from aboard, indicating that people affiliated with a group in Syria were planning a terrorist attack on Norway within a few days.
“Measures have been taken to meet this threat,” Anundsen said, reported Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK). It was believed the group posing the threat had taken part in fighting in the Syrian conflict. It was not clear whether any Norwegian citizens were connected to the group, or if any person living in Norway or on their way into the country was involved…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Meriam Lands in Rome, Welcomed by Renzi
Christian woman was sentenced to death in Sudan for apostasy
(ANSA) — Rome, July 24 — Meriam Ibrahim, a Christian woman who was sentenced to death in majority-Muslim Sudan for apostasy before being released in the face of international outrage, landed in Rome on Thursday. The 27-year-old was greeted by Italian Premier Matteo Renzi when she landed at Rome’s Ciampino airport to end an ordeal that lasted almost a year. “Today is a day of celebration,” Renzi said after meeting Meriam, her husband Daniel Wani — who also is from South Sudan and has US nationality — and her two small children, Martin and Maya. Renzi complimented Junior Foreign Minister Lapo Pistelli, who led the Italian government’s negotiations with Khartoum for the family to be allowed to leave Sudan and accompanied them to Italy.
“It’s a great joy,” said Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini after bordering the Italian Air Force jet that brought the family to Rome.
“We followed this case from the time the sentence was revealed and, thanks to the great work done by many people, we can welcome Meriam to Rome. “Now she needs the tranquility of her family”. Pistelli said Meriam rested on the flight and chatted about everyday affairs. “We left at three o’clock in the morning so Meriam and her family slept,” said the junior minister.
“We talked about milk and nappies and Martin basically dismantled the airplane”.
Pistelli said Meriam will stay in Rome for a few days and will probably have some “important” meetings before going to New York.
These meetings may include an audience with Pope Francis.
Meriam’s father is Muslim so according to Sudan’s version of Islamic law she is also Muslim and cannot convert.
She was raised by her Christian mother and says she has never been Muslim.
Meriam’s daughter Maya was born when she was in prison in May.
She was released in June after her conviction was quashed and she tried to fly to the United States last month, but was arrested again, accused of holding fake travel documents.
After the second arrest, Meriam sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Meriam Lands in Rome, Meets Pope Francis
Christian woman was sentenced to death in Sudan for apostasy
(ANSA) — Rome, July 24 — Meriam Ibrahim, a Christian woman who was sentenced to death in majority-Muslim Sudan for apostasy before being released in the face of international outrage, landed in Rome on Thursday. The 27-year-old was greeted by Italian Premier Matteo Renzi when she landed at Rome’s Ciampino airport to end an ordeal that lasted almost a year. She went to the Vatican for 30-minute meeting with Pope Francis soon after.
Francis thanked Meriam, who was accompanied by her husband and two small children, for her “testimony of faith” and “perseverance”, said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.
The pope met Meriam at the Santa Marta residence where he lives inside the Vatican after shunning the papal apartment. Lombardy said the pope wanted the meeting to be a “sign of closeness to all those who suffer due to their faith and practice of their faith”. The spokesman added: “It’s a gesture that goes beyond the meeting and becomes a symbol”.
Renzi complimented Junior Foreign Minister Lapo Pistelli, who led the Italian government’s negotiations with Khartoum for the family to be allowed to leave Sudan and accompanied them to Italy.
“Today is a day of celebration,” Renzi said after meeting Meriam, her husband Daniel Wani — who also is from South Sudan and has US nationality — and her children, Martin and Maya. Pistelli said Meriam will stay in Rome for a few days before going to New York.
Meriam’s father is Muslim so according to Sudan’s version of Islamic law she is also Muslim and cannot convert.
She was raised by her Christian mother and says she has never been Muslim.
Meriam’s daughter Maya was born when she was in prison in May.
She was released in June after her conviction was quashed and she tried to fly to the United States last month, but was arrested again, accused of holding fake travel documents.
After the second arrest, Meriam sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Michael Fallon Marks Century of Muslim Service in British Armed Forces
by Sunder Katwala
After nineteen hours without food, nor even a drop of water, the prospect of the single succulent date which breaks the fast looms ever larger in the mind as sunset nears.
A few minutes after nine o’clock last night, similar scenes were doubtless playing out in mosques and Muslim homes around Britain. But this event was a little different. As the imam’s prayer rang out across the high ceilinged courtyard, many of those kneeling to pray were in khaki uniforms while others wore headscarves. The Ministry of Defence had invited Muslim soldiers and civic Muslim groups to break their Ramadan fast with a celebratory feast in the Whitehall citadel of the British defence establishment.
New Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said he was proud that the occasion marked his first public speech in the job. ‘It has never been more important that our Armed Forces represent the breadth of the society we serve,’ he said, noting how few people know that 400,000 Muslims fought for Britain ‘with loyalty and pride’ in the first world war a century ago, and another 600,000 in the second world war.
The event launched a new Armed Forces Muslim Forum, committed to deepening relationships between the armed forces and Britain’s Muslim communities…
[Reader comment by English Majority on 24 July 2014.]
Erm, NEWS FLASH: More ‘British’ Muslims have joined ISIS than they have the British Army.
A conservative, genuine estimate is that around 1000 ‘British’ Muslims have joined ISIS. There’s only 400 in the British Army, and even they are a constant security risk.
I’m interested as to why Sunder is given a platform here. If you’ve read his daily lies, propaganda and activity, you’ll know that this Indian deeply, deeply hates the native British people.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Norway on High Alert Over ‘Imminent’ Terror Attack
Threat ‘unspecified’ but ‘credible’, intelligence says
(ANSA) — Oslo, July 24 — Norway was on maximum alert Thursday after intelligence services warned of an “imminent terrorist attack” by extremists who have returned to Europe after fighting in the ongoing Syrian civil war. Norwegian intelligence said the threat was not “specified” but that it was “credible”, and that an attack could come within “days”. Consequently Oslo introduced “extraordinary security measures” particularly at sensitive sites such as stations and airports.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Commonwealth Games 2014: Scottie Dogs Win the Show at Opening Ceremony
The Scottie dogs which took part in the athletes’ parade stole the show at last night’s Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. Fans flocked to Twitter to tell of their delight as the terriers trotted around Celtic Park sporting red tartan coats bearing the name of the national team they were leading out.
Around 40 Scotties took part in the celebrations in Glasgow, with many “recycled” to accompany more than one nation. But it all became too much for some weary animals and they had to be carried around the stadium…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Sudanese Christian Woman Meriam Ibrahim Arrives in Italy
Ms Ibrahim, who was spared a death sentence for apostasy in June for refusing to renounce Christianity, lands in Rome where she may meet Pope Francis before travelling to US
Meriam Ibrahim, the Christian woman who was spared a death sentence for apostasy and then barred from leaving Sudan, was welcomed by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Rome on Thursday after intense international efforts to free her…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Council ‘Gagged Teachers’ From Raising Trojan Horse Concerns
One former staff member at a school caught up in the Trojan Horse scandal says compromise agreements were being routinely used to silence teachers who were forced out of jobs
Teachers forced out of three schools at the centre of the Trojan Horse investigation were prevented from raising concerns because of gagging agreements.
One former staff member at a school caught up in the scandal told the BBC that compromise agreements were being routinely used to silence teachers who were being forced out of their jobs.
The unnamed teacher said: “It’s quite clear what the compromise agreement says. It’s clear that I should not speak out about it to anybody or show the agreement to anybody.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Jealous Wags: Dogs Show Envy is ‘Primordial’ Emotion
Jealousy is not just a human condition according to researchers, as it appears to be hard wired into the brains of dogs as well.
Scientists in California found that canines succumbed to the green eyed monster when their owners showed affection to a stuffed dog in tests. Some experts have argued that jealousy requires complex cognition and is unique to people. But the authors say their work shows it may also come in a more basic form…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Mosque Open Day Marks End of Muslim Festival
A SOUTH Tyneside mosque threw open its doors to celebrate an important event on the Muslim calendar.
Practising Muslims in the borough are nearing the end of Ramadan — during which they fast from sunrise to sunset.
To mark the end of the month-long event on Sunday, the Al-Azhar Masjid Mosque, in Laygate, held an open day where visitors were invited to come together to enjoy a meal and prayers.
The evening event was attended by the Mayor and Mayoress of South Tyneside, Coun Fay Cunningham and Stella Matthewson, Coun Pat Hay, representatives from the police and fire service and the local community — many of whom were non-Muslims.
Coun Cunningham, said: “I was absolutely honoured to have been invited to the mosque to take part in what is a very special occasion.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Warning: Norway Faces ‘Imminent’ Terror Attack
Norway’s security police have warned that people with connections to an extremist group in Syria intend to carry out a terror attack in Norway imminently.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia Defies Terrorists Through Music
Najjar in Tunis — Tunisia ended its three-day mourning period for the soldiers slain at Jebel Chaambi, allowing the Carthage International Festival to resume on Monday (July 21st).
The show kicked off with the Tunisian national anthem.
The large audience gathered to see Greek musician Yanni was a reflection of Tunisia, “which rebels against terrorism, loves life and defeats darkness”, journalist Samir El Wafi wrote on his Facebook page…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Arab Rioting in Judea, Samaria Continues; Nine Arrested
Unrest still snowballing behind 1949 Armistice lines, as police rush to apprehend violent Arab rioting.
Rioting and unrest continue in Judea and Samaria for a fourth week on Thursday, as Operation Protective Edge in Gaza embarks on its seventeenth day.
Hundreds of Arabs rioted overnight in five locations throughout the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Judea-Samaria: Beit Ummar, Abu Dis, Rachel’s Tomb (Bethlehem), Husan, and Clock Square in Binyamin.
The rioters threw rocks, Molotov cocktails, and burning tires at security forces, who were dispatched to disperse the crowd with riot control measures.
An incident also broke out near Kfar Tel, a village near Shavei Shomron, on Wednesday night. Palestinian Arab rioters attacked a reserve soldier there overnight; he suffered head injuries and was treated in local medical facilities…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
As an Israeli envoy says it’s like the dark days of 1938, a chilling dispatch from Paris
Travelling by tram through Paris, a boy heads back from school with his sister when a group of teenagers spots that he is wearing a Star of David pendant. They surround the pair and start shouting: ‘Dirty Jews — you have too much money, too much power, you should get out of France.’
Terrified and shaken, by the time Eden, 16, and his sister Elie, 12, get back home they are still in tears. For Doctor David Tibi, their father, the incident was the final straw.
And so it is that in the next few days, he and his family will pack their bags, leave France for good and move to Israel.
‘I have spent all my life in France and it is has been a wonderful life,’ said Dr Tibi, a 44-year-old dentist whose wife, Melanie, is a medical doctor, and with whom he has five children in all. ‘We have done well professionally and have the kids at good schools, but the truth is we have had enough.
‘This is about survival. When your kids have to go to schools with armed guards at the gates and when they are abused in public, the situation is out of control.’
Events have taken a turn for the worse after violent clashes between pro-Palestinian Arabs and Jews in Paris. Tensions have been inflamed by the military action in the Middle East, where the Israeli shelling of Gaza — in response to the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers — is being answered with rockets fired by the Arab group Hamas.
An anti-Israel demonstration at the French capital’s Bastille Square turned violent after protesters attacked a synagogue, trapping scores of people inside as police fought to protect them.
In response, 150 Jewish men were seen marching through Paris armed with iron bars seeking to confront pro-Palestinian groups. Then, a mob of Muslim youths reportedly shouting ‘Death to Jews’ and ‘Slit Jews’ throats’ ransacked and burned down a chemist owned by a Jewish family, as well as a kosher supermarket…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza Conflict: Hamas Chooses to Let Children Die for Its Own Crazy Ends
by Yair Lapid
COMMENTARY: Hamas forbids civilians to leave their homes, puts them in harms way on the roofs of rocket factories and forces children to remain in combat zones
The main argument presented by Israel’s critics can be summarised in a single sentence: Not enough of your children are dying. I refuse to apologise for that, but I urge you to remember that while our children may not be dying, it is not for Hamas’s lack of trying…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza Conflict: Every Single Palestinian Has Become a Target of Israel
by Saeb Erekat
COMMENTARY: The international community must intervene to stop the bloodshed in Gaza, says the Palestinian chief negotiator
An aggressor has no right to self-defence against an occupied people. What Israel is doing is defending its own occupation and the systematic denial of Palestinian national rights. They are exercising every possible means to dissolve Palestinian national unity and weaken Palestinian institutions…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas Refuses International Cease-Fire Efforts — Again
Hamas refuses to initiate any cease-fire until Israel fully capitulates to its demands, Khaled Meshaal states in public speech.
Hamas continues to be uncompromising in its position regarding an international cease-fire, AFP reports Wednesday.
“We reject today and will reject in the future,” Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal insisted, in a public speech in Qatar.
Meshaal insisted that Israel must accept his list of unprecedented conditions for a cease-fire — which included lifting several security measures, such as the naval blockade and border control, designed to prevent terrorists entering into Israel, as well as re-releasing terrorists arrested earlier this month — and only then will Hamas deliberate with Israel on a date for a cease-fire…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
IDF Says Bombing, Deaths at Gaza UNRWA School May be From Hamas Rocket Falling Short
One or more munitions that slammed into a UNRWA school in southern Gaza on Thursday killing at least 15 and wounding dozens of others may have been fired by Hamas, and not the IDF, as Palestinians are claiming…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
I’ve Always Loved Israel But This Brutality Breaks My Heart
By Max Hastings
Were the world’s attention not overwhelmingly fixed on the fate of Flight MH17, it would have more to say about that of the Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza. Bombed and battered by Israeli air and firepower, they are dying in scores, victims alike of their own leadership and Israeli ruthlessness…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Netanyahu: Gaza Operation to Continue ‘At Full Strength’
Prime Minister says IDF has struck a ‘significant blow’ to Hamas; more than 30 ‘terror tunnels’ located since ground op. began.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened a special cabinet meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem Thursday by vowing that the IDF’s defensive operation in Gaza would continue “at full strength”.
“The IDF has struck a significant blow to Hamas,” the prime minister said, adding that “we will continue at full strength in both the air campaign and land campaign.”
Netanyahu said that the main emphasis of the IDF operation was to locate and destroy the vast network of “terror tunnels” dug by Hamas from Gaza into Israel in order to facilitate attacks against Israeli security forces and civilians…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
US Ban on Flights to Israel Lifted
The US Federal Aviation Administration lifted its ban on flights in and out of Israel, which the agency had imposed out of concern for the risk of planes being hit by Hamas rockets.
“Before making this decision, the FAA worked with its US government counterparts to assess the security situation in Israel and carefully reviewed both significant new information and measures the government of Israel is taking to mitigate potential risks to civil aviation,” the FAA said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
As Islamic Militants Destroy Iraq Heritage, A Stunning Find in Kurdistan
BARCELONA, Spain — While the history of civilization is being demolished by war and religious zealots in the rest of Iraq, in the Kurdistan Region archeologists are marveling at a stunning discovery: the remains of a long-lost temple from the biblical kingdom of Urartu, dating back to the 9th century BC.
Kurdish archaeologist Dlshad Marf Zamua, who has studied the columns and other artifacts at the find, told Rudaw these were unearthed piecemeal over the past four decades by villagers going about their lives, digging for cultivation or construction.
But only recently, after the discovery of life-size human statues and the unearthed columns, Zamua realized that the villagers had stumbled upon the temple of Haldi. That was one of the most important gods of Urartu, an Iron-Age kingdom around Lake Van in the Armenian highlands.
The temple was found in the village of Mdjeser, in the district of Bradost-Sidekan, the most northeastern corner of Iraq and bordering Iran and Turkey.
“The temple was recorded very well in the Assyrian and Urartian inscriptions,” explained Zamua, a doctoral student at Leiden University in the Netherlands who also teaches at Salahaddin University in Erbil. One of the reliefs depicts the plunder of the temple by the Assyrian King Sargon II in 714 BC,” said the researcher, who spent from 2005 to 2012 working on the site.
According to historical evidence and the recently uncovered sites, the ancient city of Musasir, located where Mdjeser is today, was home to Haldi’s temple…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Up to 62 Killed in Attack on Prisoner Convoy Near Baghdad
BAGHDAD, July 24 (Xinhua) — At least 52 prisoners and 10 policemen were killed in a bomb and gunfire attack on a convoy transferring prison inmates near the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Thursday morning, a police source said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Oil Smuggling Finances Islamic State’s New Caliphate
(Reuters) — Islamic State militants seized four small oilfields when they swept through north Iraq last month and are now selling crude oil and gasoline from them to finance their newly declared “caliphate”.
Near the northern city of Mosul, the Islamic State has taken over the Najma and Qayara fields, while further south near Tikrit it overran the Himreen and Ajil fields during its two-day sweep through northern Iraq in mid-June…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: ISIS Orders All Women and Girls in Mosul to Undergo FGM, Says UN
UN says ‘fatwa’ issued by militant group in and around Iraqi city could affect 4 million
The militant group Islamic State (Isis) has ordered all girls and women in and around Iraq’s northern city of Mosul to undergo female genital mutilation, the United Nations says.
The “fatwa” issued by the Sunni Muslim fighters would potentially affect 4 million women and girls, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, Jacqueline Badcock, told reporters in Geneva by videolink from Irbil…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UAE: Six Days to Make Chocolate Version of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
A hundred hours spread over six days. That is how much time it took chef Praveen Kumar and his assistants to whip up an enormous white chocolate replica of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, to mark Ramadan and Eid Al Fitr festivities.
The chocolate structure, allegedly the largest replica ever made of the mosque, weighs 130 kilograms and is 90 centimetres tall…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UAE: Praying in Your Favourite Mosque
GN Focus talks to people and asks them what draws them to their favourite mosques in the UAE
Few images remain as vividly etched in the mind of a young boy as that of going to a musalla (an open-air mosque) on Eid day with his father and older male members of the family.
Intrinsically linked to prayer, the second pillar of Islam, mosques play a central role in the religion. Over the years, these places of worship may have grown larger and grander — the Islamic world’s first eco-friendly mosque was even opened in Dubai last week — but the echoing sentiment behind them has remained unwavering…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Yemeni Army Officer Killed by Unknown Gunmen
ADEN, Yemen, July 24 (Xinhua) — An officer of the Yemeni armed forces was shot dead by unidentified gunmen early on Thursday in the troubled southern province of Lahj, a security source told Xinhua.
Major Belal Karo, commander of an army unit in Lahj province, was gunned down as he left his residential building, the local security source said on condition of anonymity…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine: Fighting Taking Place in Donetsk Suburb — City Council
The situation is not quiet in Donetsk on Thursday afternoon, July 24, with residents of the Kyivsky, Kirovsky and Petrivsky districts reporting sounds of artillery fire, the Donetsk city council said on its website on Thursday, July 24…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Beijing’s Censorship and Macau Universities
Lecturers are fired because they express pro-democracy views or mention the horror of Mao’s reign. The politburo and the principle of “one country, two systems” are off-limits on university campuses.
Macau (AsiaNews) — The firing of a university professor and the suspension of another are further confirmation for students and academics that censorship is winning in the former Portuguese colony.
The most striking cases are those of Prof Eric Sautede, fired by Saint Joseph’s University on 11 July, and that Prof Bill Chou Kwok-ping, suspended for 24 days at the University of Macau.
Sautede, a French national, is known for his political comments on the Macau Daily Times in defence of democracy and universal suffrage.
In his view, events last 4 June (Tiananmen anniversary) in the former Portuguese colony were a “landmark,” if not a “turning point.”
Last January, on Macau Business, he also criticised current Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai-on, who is waiting to be re-elected next month, calling him incompetent.
Last April, he taught a university seminar on the Chinese revolution, which highlighted all of Mao’s mistakes and the consequences of his choices on the people.
Despite the warning to cancel the activity, he went ahead, inviting Frank Dikötter, an internationally renowned academic, and author of the book The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution, 1945-1957.
The rector of Saint Joseph University, Peter Stilwell, who fired Sautede, told the Portuguese-language newspaper Ponto Final that the situation had been becoming “increasingly delicate” for the university.
Even Bill Chou, a professor of political science at the University of Macau, is a strong supporter of universal suffrage for the territory, a right not even considered when the Portuguese colony was transferred to China.
In view of his ties with pro-democracy groups, he was accused in anonymous letters of trying to influence his students. The university gave him a 24-day suspension without salary and did not renew his contract, which ends in August.
According to some teachers, the pressure on universities and students has grown since last May, when massive demonstrations tried to block a bill that would have granted generous retirement packages to the outgoing chief executive and other top officials.
Many students who are demonstrating in favour of freedom of expression and calling for the rehiring of the two lecturers, remember that Wikileaks released a cable, dated 18 March 2008, from the US Consulate in Hong Kong that suggested the university has had to follow certain rules since its conception.
It cited the vice-rector of the Macau Inter-University Institute (the former name of the University of Saint Joseph) at the time, Ivo Carneiro, saying that when the institution was established, just prior to the handover, the “central government liaison office officials in Macau told the university administrators that only two subjects were ‘not to be criticised’ in university research and programmes: the ‘one country, two systems’ principle; and the Politburo of the Communist Party of China”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Philippines: Mindanao’s Only Christian Municipality Does Not Want to be Part of Islamic Region
The peace agreement between the government and Muslim guerrillas provides for the creation of an autonomous region, to be governed under Islamic rules. Wao, the only municipality with Christian majority, wants out. “We respect their culture and desire for freedom lived, but want to stay out. The government should list to us.”
Manila (AsiaNews/CBCP) — The only Christian municipality in the province with a Muslim majority in Mindanao “wants a local government under the direct control of the central government,” said Elvino Balicao Jr., a Christian and mayor of Wao, a town of some 50,000 people in Lanao del Sur. “We prefer to stay out of Bangsamoro, although we support the right to self-determination of local Muslims. I hope Manila will listen to us before there are problems.”
The area is close to Islamic provinces that — after the recent peace agreements — set up a local government based on Muslim principles.
Bangsamoro is a historical region within the Philippines with a predominantly Muslim population, that has been affected by decades of civil war between the central government and Moro guerrillas (a Muslim ethnic group that inspired the first guerrilla war for independence) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which first sought independence and later settled for broad autonomy.
The 2012 peace agreement provided for the region to become an autonomous entity within the Philippines. Wao is the only Christian predominantly municipality where Muslims constitute only 17 per cent of the population.
“We respect their culture and we lived with them in peace, side by side, since time immemorial,” Mayor Balicao said, “but my people would prefer to live and practice their faith, pursuing their own culture, outside of an Islamic government autonomous”.
He was referring to the restrictions Islam imposes on its believers, which far too often are enforced on non-Muslims.
“Let me be clear,” the mayor said. “We are not opposed to their will. However, like on 27 March 2014 [when the agreement establishing Bangsamoro was signed], we have demonstrated peacefully and call on Manila to listen to our voice.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Air Algerie Plane ‘Crashes’ With 116 on Board After Going Missing Over Mali: Live
Air Algerie plane with 110 passengers and six crew reportedly crashes after losing contact with air traffic control over Mali after taking off from Burkina Faso to Algeria
Latest
15.21 No further details have been reported of the cause or location of the apparent crash of AH5017.
However, a source in Niger has told The Telegraph that forces on both sides of the Mali-Niger border are currently searching for wreckage of the plane, without any success so far. “They are seeking the flight in the east of Mali and in Niger,” he said, citing a conversation with a Niger army colonel.
14.56 Though we do not know the cause of AH5017’s disappearance and reported crash, the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington had explicity warned civil aircraft to avoid flying over Mali because of insurgent activity…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Ebola Vengeance — Man Sets Liberia’s Health Ministry Ablaze
Monrovia — What seemed an unprecedented form of protest against the Liberian government’s handling of the deadly Ebola virus erupted on Wednesday when a Liberian man identified as Edward Wellington Dellay set the conference room at the ministry of health and social welfare in Congo Town on fire in the early afternoon.
It took Maintenance workers who found it difficult to reach the area of the blaze, as the Liberia Fire Service was nowhere in sight to put out the blaze in the health ministry building to curb the fire…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Mali: Algerian Plane Carrying 116 People Missing
The plane is believed to have gone down somewhere in Mali
Algerian authorities said they have lost contact with one of their planes that flew from Burkina Faso with 110 passengers and six crew on board. The country’s national airline, Air Algerie’s flight was from Ouagadougou to Algiers…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Trinidad and Tobago: Lifesport Coordinator, Others Held as Cops Raid Carapo Mosque
More than 75 law enforcement officers attached to various units within the T&T Police Service and Defence Force descended upon the Carapo mosque last night.
Police sources say among those held in the raid around 7 p.m. was Rajaee Ali, son of the north-west leader of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen, Imam Hassan Ali.
Sources told the Express that Ali and several other men were praying in the mosque when officers announced their presence.
Sources say the officers said they were in possession of a warrant to search the compound. A search was conducted and sources say the men along with Ali were taken to the Arima Police Station for questioning. They remained in custody up to press time last night…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Rescues 620 Migrants Off Lampedusa
Police arrest two alleged human traffickers in Taranto
(ANSA) — Rome, July 24 — The Italian Navy on Thursday rescued 620 migrants, including 167 women and 37 children, from a boat in distress in waters south of the Sicilian island of Lampedusa.
Separately on Thursday, police arrested two alleged human traffickers who arrived in the southern Puglia port town of Taranto on Wednesday in a group of 1,164 rescued migrants.
They are Sise Malik, 25, from Gambia, and Baijou Mamamoud, 20, from Senegal. They were identified by fellow migrants, who told police the presumed traffickers ordered them to remain motionless on pain of being beaten.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Angry residents this week accused TV producers of inciting racial hatred as they met to discuss filming of a documentary on immigration in their road.
Residents of the Derby Road area in Southampton came face to face with the Love Productions crew and vented their anger about the show called Immigration Street.
The programme is billed as a follow on from Channel 4’s controversial Benefits Street which aired earlier this year and sparked a nationwide debate about welfare in Britain.
Last night, furious residents with banners and placards heckled creative director Kieran Smith, telling him: ‘We don’t want you here’…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Gay Marriage Cake’ Row Could Cost Taxpayers £30,000
Lawyers acting for the Christian Institute have estimated that the Equality Commission’s case against Ashers Baking Company could cost taxpayers over £30,000.
The Newtownabbey-based bakery, which has been running for 22 years, refused to bake a cake featuring Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie with the slogan ‘Support Gay Marriage’ as it conflicted with their Christian beliefs about marriage being between a man and a woman.
The £30,000 estimate by the Christian Institute, which is supporting Ashers, only covers the cost of a county court case…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Netanyahu, ‘Gaza operation to continue at full strength….’
Good!
Dr Saeb Erekat is a PLO Executive Committee Member and head of the Negotiations Affairs Department, so why is the Telegraph giving this arab militant space to propagate his poison? He trots out the usual catch phrases like “occupation” and calls Israelis aggressors yet he deliberately ignores the missiles and the fact that Hamas started firing them long before the latest violence flared up. Indeed he fails to give Hamas a mention, preferring instead to chunter on about the privations of the “Palestinian people,” whoever they are. What does he mean by “the Occupation” anyway? Isn’t it about time that commentators put the arabs and their commie camp followers and groupies on the spot and asked them to be specific about this? No chance there I think.
Khalid Meshaal: Isn’t he the guy who lives in a luxurious villa in Qatar with millions of misappropriated funds in the bank while using the people of Gaza as human shields?
Do those talking heads know that Muslims occupy part of the planet from Morocco to Indonesia. And over the last 50 years they occupy the planet including the North Pole.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/mosque-in-the-works-for-iqaluit-s-muslim-community-1.2644835
And Canada, the compassionate (only to Muslims) is proud of that.
Murad-
I find the Iqaluit story tremendously depressing because it demonstrates that even remote areas will not be given respite from the ideological virus.
I grew up in a part of the US that was, and thankfully still is, free from the virus. I am sure the day is coming when that will no longer be true, and I do not know what I will feel at that point.
Hallo GoV,
We would like to let you know about the NSU PINK PANTHER FALSE FLAG TERRORISM accusement, and that we started an ENGLISH secction on the whistleblower blog using and showing (!!!) the official police documents .
Please have a look to
http://wer-nicht-fragt-bleibt-dumm.blogspot.com/
Greetings from Germany
fatalist
Tried to read the English version. Maybe it loses something in translation, as they say, or maybe it was incoherent in the first place.