Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/17/2014

Kurdish Peshmerga forces, with the help of American air strikes, retook the Mosul Dam today from the mujahideen of the Islamic State. ISIS had been in control of Iraq’s largest dam since wresting it from Kurdish forces on August 7.

In other news, the young “Australian” ISIS supporter who goes by the name of Abu Bakr (and stormed off the set of “Insight” a few days ago) has been arrested for assaulting a cleaner in a Sydney shopping center.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Eurozone Data Shows Italy Not ‘Crisis Case’ Says Renzi
» Italians Second-Largest Group With German Jobless Claims
» Italy’s Civil Service Will Make Eventual ‘Sacrifices’
 
USA
» ‘America is on Trial’: Al Sharpton on Ferguson Protests
» Autopsy Shows Michael Brown Was Struck at Least 6 Times
» Ferguson Riots Have Left a ‘Deep Wound’ Across America, Missouri Governor Says
» Guide Dogs and Guns: America’s Blind Gunmen
» Nixon’s Political Ear Challenged by Nightly Unrest in Missouri
» Police ‘Besmirched’ Michael Brown’s Name After Ferguson Shooting, Says Missouri Governor
 
Europe and the EU
» Church of England Attacks Government Response to Iraq Crisis
» Cops Search Home of British Singer Cliff Richard
» German Government Under Fire Over Spying Accusations
» Islamic State: “We Will Take Spain Back”
» Italy: Alfano Denies Racism in Using Slang Term for Street Vendors
» Sweet Job: England Seeks ‘Choc Doc’ To Study Candy
» Top UK Department Store to Sell Hijabs as School Uniforms
» UK: Four People Arrested as City Centre Protests Over Gaza Continue
» UK: Five People Arrested During City Centre Gaza Protest
» UK: Hindu Community Throws Huge Street Parade to Celebrate New Temple in North London
» UK: Kedem: Shop at Centre of Gaza Protests in Manchester Blasts Town Hall and Police Over ‘Inaction’
» UK: Mohammed Still Number One Choice for Baby Boys in West Midlands …
» UK: Sainsbury’s Strips Kosher Food From Its Shelves Over Fear of Attacks by Anti-Israeli Protesters Picketing as Gaza Demonstrators Run Amok in Tesco Branch
» UK: What Are David Cameron’s Plans for the Fight Against ISIS?
» Ukraine Army Pushes Into Rebel Stronghold of Luhansk
» Welsh Mosque at Centre of Extremism Row After Imam Claims He Was Forced Out After Objecting to a Speaker
 
North Africa
» Black Refugees Become Libyan Militia Slaves to Carry Arms
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» No Truce Deal Till Long-Term Security Needs Met
 
Middle East
» 13 Injured in Turmoil at Turkey Refugee Camp
» Dubai: Kuwaiti ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Win Court Case
» Iraq: If We Don’t Attack ISIS, They Will Attack US
» Iraqi Patriarch Urges ‘Armed Response’ Against Jihadists
» Italy: Dad of Aid Worker Kidnapped in Syria Pleads for Her Release
» Kurdish Forces ‘Retake Mosul Dam’ From IS Militants
» Kurdish Forces on Brink of Recapturing Iraq’s Biggest Dam From Islamic State
» ‘Save us From Iraq-Syria Caliphate’, Eastern Christians
» Syrian Jets Hammer Islamic State Stronghold
 
South Asia
» Indonesia: Aceh, The Operative Base for the Islamic Caliphate in Asia, Through Recruitment and Indoctrination
» Indonesia: Storm Breaks Out Over Minister’s Failure to Block Pro-ISIS Video
» Indonesia: Jailed Islamic Extremist Leader “Swears Allegiance” ISIS
» Malaysia — Indonesia: The Dream of the Caliphate Spreads to Asia, Raising Fears of Violence in Indonesia and Malaysia
 
Far East
» Abu Sayyaf, BIFF Links to Islamic State Unverified: Philippine Military
» Philippine Navy Joins Australian Maritime Exercise “Kakadu 2014”
 
Australia — Pacific
» Teenage Supporter of Islamic State Arrested
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Ebola Clinic Looted by Liberian Slum Residents
» Ebola Patients Flee as Armed Men Raid Liberia Clinic
» Patients Missing After Raid on Liberia Ebola Clinic
 
Latin America
» Cuba: A Country Where Toilet Paper is Rarer Than Partridge
 
Immigration
» Some 540 Human Traffickers Arrested Since 2013 Says Alfano
 
Culture Wars
» Hotel Chain in Britain Removes Bibles From Rooms
» Women Really Don’t Go for ‘Nice’ Guys, Study Indicates
 

Eurozone Data Shows Italy Not ‘Crisis Case’ Says Renzi

‘The whole eurozone is stagnant, we need growth’ says premier

(ANSA) — Naples, August 14 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Thursday that despite economic shocks, including Italy’s return to recession, his government will continue with its reform programs and economic strategies as planned.

“I have decided to go ahead with conviction and determination, with calm and serenity,” he said in Naples.

Pressure has been building on Renzi to hasten his program of economic and structural reforms, given the country’s economic problems.

Last week, statistics showed that Italy returned to recession in the second quarter — the country’s third in five years.

The country is also struggling with falling demand and consumer confidence amid rising unemployment. Renzi went on to say that Italy is not an economic problem country, saying its return to recession is part of broader trouble throughout the eurozone. “There is no crisis situation with respect to Italy,” he said. “The whole eurozone is experiencing stagnation”. National statistics agency Istat last week reported that Italy has slipped into its third recession since the start of the global economic crisis in 2008, with a 0.2% drop in GDP in the April-June period making for a second consecutive quarter of negative growth after a 0.1% decline in the first three months of the year. It was a big blow for Renzi. It means that the 0.8% GDP growth that the government had forecast this year — the basis for its various budget calculations — looks set to be some way off the mark. Indeed, Renzi has said Italy’s deficit-to-GDP ratio for 2014 will be 2.9%, above the government’s target of 2.6% but below the 3% threshold allowed by the EU.

But that data was put in context on Thursday by Eurostat, which said eurozone growth was flat in the second quarter. Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP) actually fell 0.2% in the second quarter compared with the first three months of the year, while France’s economy was stagnant.

“They were saying that Italy was the problem of the eurozone until a few days ago, but that happened because we published our data early,” Renzi said.

“Now I’ve asked Istat for us to present the figures later too”.

The premier added said the European growth figures vindicated his campaign for the EU to focus more on promoting growth and job creation after years of painful austerity.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italians Second-Largest Group With German Jobless Claims

Poles, Italians, Greeks and Bulgarians file for benefits

(ANSA) — Berlin, August 12 — Jobless claims in Germany are on the rise, and Italians are the second-largest beneficiary group, German tabloid newspaper Bild reported Tuesday.

Claims for the so-called Hartz IV benefits — named after the commission chaired by Peter Hartz that introduced them in 2004 — have topped 300,000 for the first time, and most of the beneficiaries are from Eastern Europe and Italy, according to the tabloid. These break down into 80,403 unemployed workers from Poland, 66,458 Italians, 43,513 Greeks and 32,273 Bulgarians. April jobless claims rose 21.6% (+53.512) over the previous month, Bild said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy’s Civil Service Will Make Eventual ‘Sacrifices’

Delrio says tax increases not an option

(ANSA) — New York, August 13 — Cabinet Undersecretary Graziano Delrio has ruled out the possibility of Premier Matteo Renzi’s government increasing taxes, saying public-sector cuts would be used if Italy’s return to recession necessitates a budget adjustment.

“This government has chosen not to increase taxes and it will keep this commitment,” Delrio said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

“If other sacrifices are required, we’ll ask the civil service to make them”. Istat announced last week that Italy has slipped into its third recession since the start of the global economic crisis in 2008, with a 0.2% drop in GDP in the April-June period making for a second consecutive quarter of negative growth after a 0.1% decline in the first three months of the year. That means that the 0.8% GDP growth that the government had forecast this year — the basis for its various budget calculations — looks set to be some way off the mark.

Indeed, Renzi has said Italy’s deficit-to-GDP ratio for 2014 will be 2.9%, above the government’s target of 2.6% but below the 3% threshold allowed by the EU.

The return to recession is a big blow to Renzi’s administration, which embarked on an ambitious reform programme after being sworn in in February. But Delrio said the government just needs time for its efforts to deliver benefits.

“One by one we are tackling the causes of Italy’s lack of competitiveness,” Delrio told the WSJ, “the inefficiencies of the civil service, the long delays in the justice system and the oppressive tax regime.

“But many of our measures require time before they bear fruit”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

‘America is on Trial’: Al Sharpton on Ferguson Protests

Rev. Al Sharpton gave a passionate speech in St. Louis on Sunday morning, where he sharply criticized the release of video allegedly depicting Michael Brown, the black teen recently killed during a police encounter, robbing a convenience store before the fatal incident.

“Michael Brown is gone. You can run whatever video you want. He is not on trial. America is on trial!” Sharpton declared at the Greater St. Marks Family Church, according to video posted by Fox 2.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Autopsy Shows Michael Brown Was Struck at Least 6 Times

A private, family-requested autopsy shows that Michael Brown was shot at least six times — twice in the head — with all of the bullets striking him in the front.

The report was made available to The New York Times on Sunday.

One of the bullets entered the top of Mr. Brown’s skull, suggesting his head was bent forward when it struck him and caused a fatal injury, according to Dr. Michael M. Baden, the former chief medical examiner for the City of New York. Dr. Baden, who flew to Missouri on Sunday at the family’s request to conduct the autopsy, said it was probably the last of the bullets to hit him.

Mr. Brown was also shot four times in the right arm, Dr. Baden said.

The rounds did not appear to have been fired from very close range because no gunshot powder residue was present on his body. However, that determination could change if it turns out that there is gunshot residue on Mr. Brown’s clothing, to which Dr. Baden did not have access.

Local officials have completed an autopsy, but have not made the results public. The Justice Department said Sunday that it was also planning an autopsy in the case.

Mr. Brown, an 18-year-old African-American, was shot and killed Aug. 9 after a confrontation with a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., a St. Louis suburb.

[Return to headlines]
 

Ferguson Riots Have Left a ‘Deep Wound’ Across America, Missouri Governor Says

The police shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, and the week of riots which followed it have left “deep wounds” across America, the state’s governor has admitted.

Jay Nixon accused police investigating the death of Michael Brown, 18, at the hands of Officer Darren Wilson of seeking to “besmirch” his name, as a five-hour curfew aimed at curtailing the riots was lifted for the day.

He was speaking as the Justice Department announced that Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, had ordered a second autopsy on the body of the teenager at the request of his family, to be performed by a federal medical examiner rather than the state’s authorities.

Mr Holder said he was authorising the autopsy due to the “exceptional circumstances” of the case.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Guide Dogs and Guns: America’s Blind Gunmen

In the US, being blind is no bar to owning and carrying firearms. The blind people who do it say they are simply exercising their constitutional right, and present no danger to the public.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nixon’s Political Ear Challenged by Nightly Unrest in Missouri

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon is known as a politician with an ear to the ground, a nimble Democratic centrist who’s navigated his way through an increasingly Republican state during almost 30 years in elective office.

The sensitivity of Nixon’s ear has been challenged since the Aug. 9 shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a police officer, an event that’s provoked more than a week of violence, a federal investigation and a declaration of emergency in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson. The 58-year-old governor arrived on the scene five days after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, forgoing a scheduled appearance at the State Fair…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Police ‘Besmirched’ Michael Brown’s Name After Ferguson Shooting, Says Missouri Governor

Jay Nixon, Missouri state governor, says local police made a mistake in accusing Michael Brown of robbery as another night of violence sees seven arrests and one man shot and critically injured

The governor of Missouri has condemned police for inflaming anger over the shooting of Michael Brown by an officer, accusing them of “besmirching” the black teenager’s name as another night of violence saw seven arrests and one man shot and critically injured.

Tensions have boiled over nightly in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson ever since Brown was killed on August 9.

A week on and police used tear gas to clear a crowd of hard-core troublemakers in order to reach a male gun shot victim — apparently wounded by another protester — close to the burned-out QuikTrip convenience store that has become the focal point for anger…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Church of England Attacks Government Response to Iraq Crisis

Criticism, backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, says the Government lacks a ‘coherent or comprehensive approach to Islamist extremism’

The Church of England has accused the Government of appearing to have no ‘‘coherent or comprehensive approach’’ to tackling the rise of Islamic extremism.

In a strongly-worded attack on David Cameron’s handling of the crisis in Iraq — backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury — the Bishop of Leeds said ‘‘many’’ senior clergy were seriously concerned.

The Right Rev Nicholas Baines has written to the Prime Minister questioning whether there is any long-term strategy and criticising a ‘‘growing silence’’ over the fate of the plight of persecuted Christians…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Cops Search Home of British Singer Cliff Richard

Allegedly molested a 16-year-old boy in the 1980s

(ANSA) — London, August 14 — Police on Thursday searched the home of British singer Cliff Richard after allegations surfaced that he sexually assaulted a minor in the 1980s.

The singer was reportedly on holiday in Portugal when eight plain-clothes police officers swooped on his Sunningdale, Berkshire home in five unmarked cars.

The allegations were made by a man who was 16 at the time that he says he was molested by the pop star, a police spokesman said.

Richard, born Harry Webb, is one of the most successful British musicians of all time. He has sold 21.5 million singles — more than any other male British artist — and is the only performer to have had at least one UK top-five album in each of the last seven decades. He was knighted in 1995.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

German Government Under Fire Over Spying Accusations

Following revelations that Germany’s intelligence agency spies on Turkey and “accidentally” intercepted Hillary Clinton’s and John Kerry’s phone calls, pressure is growing on the German government to clarify its stance.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State: “We Will Take Spain Back”

by Soeren Kern

Calls to reconquer al-Andalus are becoming more frequent and more strident.

Radical Muslims in Spain have launched a social media campaign aimed at generating support for the jihadist group Islamic State [IS].

The campaign involves posters that include images of famous Spanish landmarks and monuments emblazoned with Arabic slogans such as, “We are all the Islamic State” and “Long Live the Islamic State.”

One poster includes an image of the medieval Islamic Aljafería Palace in the Spanish city of Zaragoza and the black flag associated with the IS. Another uses an image of the famous La Concha beach in the Basque city of San Sebastián. Yet another includes an image of the statue of Jesus Christ on Monte Urgull in San Sebastián, with the Arabic words “Al-Andalus Country” instead of “Basque Country.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Alfano Denies Racism in Using Slang Term for Street Vendors

‘Tempest in a hypocritical teacup’ says interior minister

(ANSA) — Lampedusa, August 14 — Interior Minister Angelino Alfano on Thursday defended his use recently of what many say is a derogatory term to describe street vendors in Italy, many of whom are Indian and African.

The minister sparked controversy on Monday when he called for a crackdown on street vendors, using the slang term “vuccumpra’“ to describe them.

“There was no racist connotation. It was a tempest in a teacup of hypocrisy,” Alfano said on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, where he is on hand to thank Italian servicemen and women deployed in the ongoing Mare Nostrum migrant search-and-rescue mission. The term is Neapolitan dialect for “Do you want to buy this?”, and was originally used in a derogatory way to describe impoverished Neapolitan, or generally southern, street vendors.

Southern Italians have since been replaced on Italy’s streets and beaches by more recent arrivals from Africa and Asia, who inherited the term.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Sweet Job: England Seeks ‘Choc Doc’ To Study Candy

LONDON — Is there a doctor of chocolate in the house?

Cambridge University in England is seeking a doctoral student to pursue what sounds like the sweetest job in the world: studying the fundamentals of chocolate.

The research goal, according to the job description, is to identify ways of keeping chocolate-based food from melting in warm climates. That’s a challenge given that even the best-quality chocolate starts going soft around 34 degrees Celsius (93 Fahrenheit), below human body temperature.

A solution could fatten the profits of the world’s top 10 chocolate companies, which last year posted confectionary sales exceeding $85 billion.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Top UK Department Store to Sell Hijabs as School Uniforms

John Lewis, one of Britain’s favourite department stores, is to sell hijabs as school uniforms for girls following a deal with schools in London and Liverpool.

The move will raise concerns that the department store is profiteering off a misogynistic garb that is often forced on young Muslim girls…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Four People Arrested as City Centre Protests Over Gaza Continue

Hundreds of protesters have been taking to the streets in Manchester for a number of weeks as fighting in the troubled region continues

Police are reporting ‘minor disruption’ in Manchester city centre today due to a demonstration over Gaza. Hundreds of protesters have been taking to the streets for a number of weeks as fighting in the troubled region continues.

Today a protest gathered on Market Street before heading to Piccadilly Gardens for a rally.

From there, protesters were expected to gather on King Street, which has been at the centre of the recent demonstrations. There are reports of a strong police presence along the route.

Four arrests have been made so far. A man and a woman have both been arrested on Market Street on suspicion of assaulting a police officer…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Five People Arrested During City Centre Gaza Protest

All those arrested were held on King Street in Manchester city centre for refusing to comply with set conditions of the protest

Police made five arrests today at a protest over Gaza.

All those arrested were held on King Street in Manchester city centre for refusing to comply with set conditions of the protest. Police said the sanctions were necessary due to ‘recent disruption to city centre’. All five were being questioned today.

The latest arrests follow a minor disturbance on Market Street yesterday as the city centre protests continued. Hundreds of protesters have been taking to the streets for a number of weeks as fighting in the troubled region continues…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Hindu Community Throws Huge Street Parade to Celebrate New Temple in North London

A huge religious procession filled with chariots, drums and costumed dancers took place through central London to celebrate the opening of a new Hindu temple.

Members of the Swaminarayan Hindu community took to the streets wearing an array of vibrant colours in celebration of the Shree Swaminarayan Mandir, which is opening in Kingsbury, north London…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Kedem: Shop at Centre of Gaza Protests in Manchester Blasts Town Hall and Police Over ‘Inaction’

Bosses at Kedem say they felt ‘let down’ by Manchester council and Greater Manchester Police for failing to move the protesters on

The shop at the centre of Gaza protests in Manchester has blasted the town hall and police for ‘failing to protect’ its business.

Beauty shop Kedem say demonstrators are deliberately causing loss to the King Street beauty store in an attempt to financially ruin it.

They added they felt ‘let down’ by Manchester council and Greater Manchester Police for failing to move the protesters on — and called for the force ‘return King Street to the city’…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Mohammed Still Number One Choice for Baby Boys in West Midlands …

Princes names George and Harry still high in region, while names of Game Of Thrones characters feature prominently for girls

Royalty, religion and Dr Who are behind the rise of some of the most popular names in Birmingham.

Mohammed is the most popular boy’s name for a second year running, according to new statistics.

Latest figures released by the National Office for Statistics show that 676 babies born in the region last year were named Mohammed — 38 more than the 638 born in 2012.

And the fourth most popular name on the West Midlands list was the alternative spelling of Muhammad…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Sainsbury’s Strips Kosher Food From Its Shelves Over Fear of Attacks by Anti-Israeli Protesters Picketing as Gaza Demonstrators Run Amok in Tesco Branch

A Sainsbury’s branch emptied its kosher food shelf after the manager feared anti-Israeli protesters outside would attack it. The goods were removed from a Sainsbury’s Local branch in Holborn, central London, as it was picketed by protesters who were calling on the supermarket giant to boycott Israeli goods.

The incident yesterday afternoon happened on the same day as anti-Israeli protesters ‘wreaked havoc’ at a Birmingham branch of Tesco. Theatre actor Colin Appleby took a photo of the empty shelf, prompting uproar online as he said a staff member defended the decision by stating: ‘We support Free Gaza’…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: What Are David Cameron’s Plans for the Fight Against ISIS?

by Isabel Hardman

[…]

[Reader comment by Barry Obongo on 17 August 2014.]

Allow me to translate:

‘Britain — our economy, our security, our future — must come first.

Me, my clique and personal enrichment must come first.

After a deep and damaging recession

After a prolonged bout of banker-land hoarder-induced economic contraction, house prices are again becoming inaccessible (1:7, av. incme:hse prce) for all but the most deserving.

and our involvement in long and difficult conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan

And the humiliating retreat and defeat of our once-proud armed forces in Ayatollah-controlled southern Iraq and the Pakistani client state of Afghanistan

it is hardly surprising that so many people say to me when seeing the tragedies unfolding on their television screens: “Yes, let’s help with aid, but let’s not get any more involved.”

It is hardly surprising that so many people don’t even know my name when continuing to ignore the cause celebre du jour micturated over the unsuspecting few who continue to imbibe MSM cant. Why, just last year, I caught sight of some plebs complaining about bribes for corrupt anti-British people whose compatriots are colonising SE England.

‘I agree that we should avoid sending armies to fight or occupy.

I agree that inviting the Deobandi movement and its analogues the not-quite-so-evil Barelvi movement, Tabligh-e Jamaat, Jamaat-e Islami, Ahl-e Hadith, Muslim Brotherhood and its subsidiaries etc. to build mosques, Islamic centres and run schools is akin to resurrecting the German volkisch movement and holding a Nazi-Factor competition for a new Adolf Hitler.

But we need to recognise that the brighter future we long for requires a long-term plan for our security as well as for our economy.

But the plebs need to realise that the socially cohesive and mostly racially homogeneous Britain of the past is over and that, for a brighter future for me and my uber-sophisticated pals, the process of electing a new people must continue.

True security will only be achieved if we use all our resources — aid, diplomacy, our military prowess — to help bring about a more stable world.

Absolute power for corporations and oligarchs can only be achieved if me and my chums muster all our resources — wads of cash for chums overseas, further layers of bureaucracy, a surveillance state — to help bring about the sort of world where me and my homies can continue to prosper at the expense of everyone else.

Today, when every nation is so immediately interconnected, we cannot turn a blind eye and assume that there will not be a cost for us if we do.’

Today, when people have little or no power to decide their own futures, Nick, Ed, Nigel and I must continue to maintain the facade of democracy and the theatrics of party squabbling until the nation state is effectively dead and only the correct sort of people, together with enormous bank accounts and sense of self-importance, shorn of the expensive welfare state and the inconvenient trappings of a democracy, can rule over Europe as neo-Platonic philosopher-corporatists beholden to no pleb. We cannot allow this process to be slowed or halted by the worthless untermenschen we must continue to indulge until it’s too late.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Ukraine Army Pushes Into Rebel Stronghold of Luhansk

Government says state flag raised over police station in separatist-held city, as foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany meet in Berlin to discuss crisis

The Ukrainian army pushed into a key city controlled by Russia-backed separatists on Sunday, the government said, as the two countries’ foreign ministers met in Berlin for crisis talks.

Kiev also admitted the rebels had shot down one if its fighter aircraft, while accusing the separatists of bringing three missile launchers onto Ukrainian territory from Russia…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Welsh Mosque at Centre of Extremism Row After Imam Claims He Was Forced Out After Objecting to a Speaker

The Jalalia Islamic centre’s chairman denies all the allegations made against the institution in Cardiff

Wales’ high profile Jalalia mosque is at the centre of an extremism row after the Imam resigned.

In a letter leaked to Wales Online, the Cardiff mosque’s religious leader, or Imam, Mohammad Bashir Uddin claimed his position became untenable after he objected to a Muslim speaker he regarded as extremist, and a follower of the Salafi strand of the religion…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Black Refugees Become Libyan Militia Slaves to Carry Arms

Habeshia director calls for intervention from Italy, EU, UN

(ANSAmed) — ROME — Sub-Saharan refugees are increasingly being taken hostage by militias involved in fighting in the country and are forced to carry weapons, munitions, and supplies to the front line, Habeshia director of Eritrean origins Don Mussie Zerai said on Wednesday. The organization has for years been working with refugees, migrants, and the victims of human trafficking that reach the Mediterranean coast after a journey across Africa. According to a statement released by Don Zerai, those potentially vulnerable include “all black Africans trapped in the war that is tearing the country apart: Eritreans, Somalis, Ethiopians, Sudanese, Malians…anyone from the Horn of Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.” Habeshia underscored that it had denounced the trend to the international community in late July and early August, requesting urgent intervention from the UN, the EU and the US, but to no avail. It has now also called directly on Italy, the only European country that still has an embassy in Tripoli and signatory of numerous agreements on immigration control under the Gaddafi regime and the rulers that followed.

During the fighting underway in the Libyan capital, dozens of youths have been taken from their homes or stopped in the street to be used as “auxiliary forces” by the militias, and the practice seems to have become systematic. For migrants, this situation “is even worse than what we saw after the revolution against Gaddafi, when every ‘black’ African was considered a mercenary at the service of the regime, persecuted, and imprisoned.” The worst case, Habeshia reports, is in the Kalelarim school in the Bilkaria zone, where hundreds of men, women, and children are imprisoned (almost all of whom Eritreans) and “forced to live in extreme conditions” in a “lager under the control of the fighters, who have made them into an inexhaustible reserve of carrier slaves for arms and munitions.” According to the statement, partial responsibility lies with “the countries that have trapped thousands and thousands of youths in a situation like that of Libya”, with its policy of ‘outsourcing’ management of refugees and migrants, and of “shifting European borders to the southern Mediterranean, or even further”, turning some African states into “gendarmes for refugee and migrant control”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

No Truce Deal Till Long-Term Security Needs Met

Israel warned on Sunday it would not accept any long-term truce deal that did not meet its security needs as Gaza cease-fire talks resumed in Cairo.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking before Israel’s weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday, said that Hamas had suffered a huge setback in the four-week war and that would be reflected at the Cairo talks.

“If Hamas thinks that by continuing the sporadic shootings (of rockets at Israel) it will make us agree to concessions, it is mistaken,” Netanyahu said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

13 Injured in Turmoil at Turkey Refugee Camp

ANKARA, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) — Thirteen people including seven gendarmerie officers were injured in a fight at a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey’s southeast province of Mrdin, local Dogan News Agency reported on Sunday.

The fight broke out among the residents of the camp in the Nusaybin district of Mardin on Saturday night, which hosts about over 300 Syrian refugees.

The gendarmerie fired in the air and used tear gas to disperse the fighting, which lasted three hours. Those injured in the fight, including two women and two children, were taken to a state hospital in Nusaybin, said the report, adding that those refugees involved in the fight would be transferred to other camps by buses…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Dubai: Kuwaiti ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Win Court Case

Middle-class woman and Pakistani immigrant to wed

(ANSAmed) — DUBAI -a A Kuwait woman has won the right in court to marry a Pakistani immigrant. The 29-year-old university-educated woman with an important government position was not allowed by her family to wed a Pakistani immigrant working as an electrician, and had decided therefore to take the case to court. In an interview with Gulf News, the lawyer said that he had initially been skeptical about the woman’s intentions, but following a series of conversation with the couple and their friends was convinced and decided to accept “the strangest case of his career”. Love had blossomed between the two at least ten years ago and had stood up to both pressure from and rejection by the woman’s family, and threats and physical attacks from her brothers against the electrician. The ‘Kuwaiti Juliet’ told the details of the couple’s relationship in court and the numerous marriage proposals she had since rejected. The judges agreed to the marriage and ruled that her family’s approval was thus not legally necessary.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: If We Don’t Attack ISIS, They Will Attack US

by Sean Thomas

So that’s all right then. We can all relax, and go back to playing boules. The Yazidi are apparently off the mountain, there’s a nice new Iraqi prime minister in office, Isis have been stalled outside Irbil, and Hitler has agreed to watch the fifth Test match with an eye to mastering the rules of LBW…

In many ways Isis are the Khmer Rouge with prayer mats…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraqi Patriarch Urges ‘Armed Response’ Against Jihadists

As France, Germany prepare to send military aid to north Iraq

(ANSA) — Beirut, August 14 — Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako, who presides the Iraqi Episcopal conference, on Thursday called for an armed response from the United States, the European Union, and the Arab League to repel Islamic jihadist forces that are sweeping across northern Iraq, where they are driving hundreds of thousands of Christians and Yazidi from their cities and carrying out what the patriarch called “a slow genocide” of members of minority faiths.

The Chaldean Catholic Church is made up of an estimated 500,000 people who are ethnic Assyrians indigenous to northern Iraq, southeast Turkey, northeast Syria and northwest Iran.

The US, the EU and the Arab League have a duty to “clear the Nineveh plain of all jihadist militia” and help Christians, Yazidi and Shiites “return to their villages of origin and rebuild their lives,” the religious leader wrote in an appeal sent to AsiaNews agency.

The appeal was written “with the unanimous consent” of the bishops of Mosul as well as various churches and Christian denominations, according to AsiaNews.

As the patriarch made his appeal, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced France is about to supply Iraqi Kurds fighting the jihadists with weapons “in the next few hours”. “They are sophisticated weapons fulfilling urgent Kurdish needs, and they will be delivered in the next few hours,” the minister tweeted.

As well, Germany will begin military aid beginning on Friday, German news agency DPA reported.

It will also send four Transall military cargo planes with food and medical equipment to aid refugees in the northern city of Erbil, DPA said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Dad of Aid Worker Kidnapped in Syria Pleads for Her Release

Says he tried to convince his daughter to remain in Italy

(ANSA) — Milan, August 12 — The father of an Italian woman kidnapped while volunteering in Syria issued a plea for her release Tuesday, reminding her captors that she went to their country to help. Salvatore Marzullo issued his plea through the weekly Oggi magazine on newsstands Wednesday. Vanessa Marzullo 21, and Greta Ramelli, 20, were kidnapped in the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo. The two women had only been in Syria since July 28 and were working on health and water-related humanitarian aid projects, Italy’s foreign ministry has said.

“Those who made Vanessa and Greta prisoners should remember what they were there to do,” Salvatore Marzullo told the magazine. “They wanted to do good and it would be a tragedy if someone responded with evil,” he added.

The foreign ministry said last week that its crisis unit was active on the ground trying to secure the release of the two women.

Salvatore Marzullo said he was also hurt by cruel remarks made by some who have questioned why the young women went to such a dangerous spot and risked getting into trouble.

“It made me sick these days to read and listen to comments from people who describe them as careless,” he said.

“Vanessa is just the opposite. She is a girl who is deep and who identifies with the suffering of others and cannot stand by wringing her hands”.

Salvatore Marzullo said he tried to convince his daughter not to go into a war zone, but rather to help by creating a refugee aid foundation near their home in Brembate, a town of just over 8,000 residents about 35 kilometers northeast of Milan.

For now, he is waiting for news from Italy’s foreign ministry as is the family of Greta Ramelli in Gavirate, 60 kilometers northwest of Milan.

In recent days, Lapo Pistelli, junior foreign affairs minister, said that the Italian government is “on the trail of the kidnappers”.

Ramelli and Marzullo were kidnapped in the Eli Ismo area west of Aleppo while they were guests in the house of the local “head of the revolutionary council,” Jordanian newspaper Assabeel has reported.

The two were allegedly abducted along with Daniele Rainieri, a reporter for Italian daily Il Foglio, by a group that has kidnapped several foreign journalists and volunteers, Assabeel said.

The reporter managed to escape, however, and raised the alarm.

Marzullo and Ramelli founded the Horryaty Project, bringing medical assistance to Syria, and have volunteered in Africa and India in the past.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Kurdish Forces ‘Retake Mosul Dam’ From IS Militants

Kurdish forces in northern Iraq have taken control of Iraq’s largest dam after its capture by Islamic State (IS) militants, Kurdish officials say.

Kurdish ground forces supported by US air strikes launched the operation to take Mosul dam on Sunday morning.

The strategically important dam, which supplies water and electricity to northern Iraq, was seized by IS militants on 7 August.

IS has seized a swathe of territory in recent months in Iraq and Syria.

The US said it destroyed or damaged 19 vehicles belonging to IS militants as well as a checkpoint in strikes round the dam on Sunday.

Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd who until last month was Iraq’s foreign minister, told the BBC that Peshmerga troops encountered “fierce resistance” in the battle for the dam.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Kurdish Forces on Brink of Recapturing Iraq’s Biggest Dam From Islamic State

Mosul Dam, which Islamic State fighters seized a week ago, target of attack by Kurds with US air support in what would represent biggest victory against jihadists since they launched their sweeping offensive through Iraq in early June

Standing by their machine guns on mounted pick-ups, Kurdish peshmerga fighters watched through binoculars as the jihadists from the Islamic State drove to rescue their dying colleagues from the aftermath of an American airstrike.

Supported by US drones and F-18 fighters, their men had pushed forward, battling the militants from the Islamic State until their target was in sight.

Peshmerga fighters were on the brink of capturing the of Mosul dam on Sunday night, a strategically vital position in the fight to end the jihadist’s advance in Iraq…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

‘Save us From Iraq-Syria Caliphate’, Eastern Christians

Why was IS allowed to be created?

(ANSAmed) — ROME — In a letter sent to all Arab embassies in Italy and the Vatican, the Rome representative of the Christian Melkite Church on Wednesday demanded that Muslim political, military, and religious authorities and international bodies stop Islamic extremism and the “brutal religious-ethnic cleansing” underway by the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq. Father Mtanious Hadad called the silence of national and international religious and secular institutions “disturbing”, as nothing had been done to stop the “gestation, rise and cruel practices — medieval or even pre-historic — used within an illegitimate caliphate” allowed to be created in Syria and Iraq. It is an “offense to the human race, to the Muslim religion, and to its intelligence,” the letter from the Melkite Church reads. “It is no longer tolerable that churches be desecrated, that people are executed for being Christians, that they are crucified and that their corpses are desecrated”.

“We call on governments around the world and especially those in the Middle East,” added Hadad, “to stop the unacceptable and shameful extortion of money that goes by the name of ‘jizya’.” “What other limits,” he said, “have to be passed before international diplomacy takes action to restore respect for human beings and civil order, in this world where it is a crime to abandon an animal but it does not seem to be one to establish a caliphate between two sovereign states or practice anachronistic religious-ethnic cleansing?”. Melkites, Byzantine Rite Christians, are one of the most widespread churches in Syria and Iraq.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Syrian Jets Hammer Islamic State Stronghold

Islamic State-controlled city of Raqqa comes under intense air bombardment, ending an undeclared truce between sides.

Syrian regime forces have hammered Raqqa with more than two dozen air strikes, a monitoring group said, ending an undeclared truce between the government and Islamic State group which controls the city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least 31 fighters from the Islamic State were killed and dozens wounded in the attacks on Sunday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Indonesia: Aceh, The Operative Base for the Islamic Caliphate in Asia, Through Recruitment and Indoctrination

Fringes of the jihadist movement already active in 16 provinces in the Indonesian archipelago. Thousands of people have sworn allegiance to the fundamentalist leader Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi. Most are veterans of the jihad with extensive experience in Afghanistan or, on the domestic front of the Moluccas. Jakarta: some areas are “fertile ground” for enrollment.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) — It has yet to make any startling conquests in the Asian nation, but the Indonesian section of the Islamic State (formerly ISIS, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) has already started mass recruitment — as recently reported- in over 16 provinces of the archipelago. In particular, Aceh, the westernmost and majority Muslim area, is turning into a sort of haven for Sunni extremists, with the active brainwashing and indoctrination, especially of young people. According to a survey published in the local Serambi newspaper, in at least 21 districts of Aceh there is a massive infiltration of militants, as thousands took the oath of allegiance to the head of the Caliphate, the fundamentalist leader Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi.

Last week, a man identified as Abu Jundullah said to be the head of the Islamist movement in Aceh; the foundation of the group dates back to the 1st January 2014, as the leader says “we are not the Indonesian branch of IS, but act directly under the leadership of Al-Baghdadi and we are all inhabitants of Aceh”.

For the Indonesian Islamic leader Jundullah the presence of an Islamic State is explained by the “great work” done in Syria and Iraq; most affiliates in Aceh are jihadist veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and violent inter-religious conflict in Ambon and Moro, the Moluccas, 1999-2002.

He adds that the goal is to transform all districts of Aceh into “chapters” of the Islamic state “before 2015” and work has already begun with propaganda campaigns in the countryside.

At the same time the number of Muslim religious leaders in Aceh, who condemn the presence of affiliates of IS in the province is growing; dozens of ulema and experts in Islamic law preach against the seizure of power by the Islamists. Jakarta is also stepping up its warnings with the head of counter-terrorism — Gen. Ansyaad Mbai — confirming the “fertile ground” found by the international jihadist movement in some provinces of the country, with particular attention to recruiting.

In recent days, special units carried out a series of raids in the district of Ngawi, in the province of East Java, detaining two suspects; they also seized guns, ISIS flags and a book praising the jihad.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, is increasingly the scene of attacks or episodes of intolerance towards minorities, whether they are Christians, Ahmadi Muslims or other faiths. In the province of Aceh — the only one in the Archipelago to apply Islamic law (sharia) — following a peace agreement between the central government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), and in many other areas (such as Bekasi and Bogor in West Java) the version of Islam practiced by citizens is becoming more radical and extreme.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Indonesia: Storm Breaks Out Over Minister’s Failure to Block Pro-ISIS Video

Pro-Islamist Communications and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring finds himself in hot water. President Yudhoyono and the country’s security chief call for drastic measures to stop extremist propaganda. Indonesian fundamentalists continue to recruit candidates for jihad in the Middle East.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Indonesia is caught up in a political storm after Communications and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring failed to respond to requests to block a video in support of the Islamic State (formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS) that has been online for weeks.

After the outcry from moderate Muslim groups and members of civil society, government officials, senior military officers and even outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono addressed the issue in the past few hours.

Most Indonesians are outraged by the minister who in the past promoted a ‘holy war’ against online pornography. Many believed that his failure and reluctance to act are not so veiled signs of support for Sunni extremist militias.

The video on YouTube shows an Indonesian Islamic fighter (who calls himself Abu Muhammad al-Indonesi) calling on “the brothers and sisters of the Muslim country” to join ISIS to create an Islamic Caliphate in the Middle East. Then, he says in Indonesian, “we will have a Caliphate even here.”

The video is a source of great concern in the Asian nation. According to the latest information, it seems that its author is a local terrorist, long sought for acts of violence in Poso (scene of sectarian clashes and targeted attacks against Christians, including the barbaric killing of three female students in October 2005).

Minister Tifatul Sembiring has been in politics for a long time. He is the former head of the pro-Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), known for its “inconsistent” and “contradictory” policies in the fields of public morals and behaviour.

In fact, while supporting the values of honesty and good governance, its members (including Lufti Hassan) have been guilty of corruption and malfeasance.

Compared to the total war against pornography and scantily clad women that offend Islamic morals, the fight against international Islamic terrorism has been unimpressive.

Last night, President Yudhoyono personally addressed the issue during a cabinet meeting where he openly criticised Sembiring for doing nothing in two weeks to stop the online video.

In recent days, a spokesman for the minister stated that, in order to stop the video, a public outcry was needed as well as a demand for action by the judiciary and police.

This is why security head Djoio Suyanto and Justice Minister Amir Syamsuddin intervened yesterday with an “official request” to ban the pro-ISIS video.

The president himself sought the same thing when he ordered the minister of Communications and Information to follow up the information provided by the government and the judiciary.

This became necessary by the fact that a growing number of Indonesian extremists — mostly in their 20s and 30s and from Solo (Central Java), as well as East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, Bengkulu and Lampung — seem willing to leave the country to join the jihad in the Middle East.

They start with a student visa or for humanitarian reasons, said chief of police General Sutarman, and when they return to their homeland, they “could set up new terrorist cells.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Indonesia: Jailed Islamic Extremist Leader “Swears Allegiance” ISIS

A picture taken in a maximum security prison of Nusakambangan witness the oath and confirms the growing linkage between Indonesian extremists and the Islamist movement. Abu Bakar Baasyir “favorable” to the project of the global Caliphate. But the majority of moderate Muslims are opposed.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) — The controversial Indonesian Muslim leader Abu Bakar Baasyir, former head of the Mujahideen Council (MMI), and godfather and ideologue of the extremist Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), supports the worldwide Caliphate and has sworn an oath of allegiance to ‘Isis. The “ceremony” took place in recent days in the maximum security prison of Nusakambangan, as confirmed by a picture (photo) circulated on line. Taking advantage of the feast of Eid al-Fitr — marking the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and prayer, — and laxer security measures, people close to the Islamist leader immortalized the “ritual” that binds the leader of the Indonesian fanatical fringe to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis), to the “Sheik” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his project of the global Caliphate.

The Nusakambangan prison is the Indonesian “version” of Guantanamo, built by the United States in the homonymous base on Cuban territory to intern terrorists and members of Islamic extremist movements. It is located off the island of Java, in the district of Cilacap, in the south-west of Central Java, and is regulated by strict security protocols.

It also holds the leader of the now dissolved JI movement which was held responsible for the Bali bombings of October 2002 which killed over 200 people and the attack on churches on Christmas Eve of 2000. However not even the rigid security has prevented Islamist propaganda and the publication of such “sensitive” images.

The shot depicts Abu Bakar Baasyir — Founder amongst other things of Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) and sentenced to 15 years in prison-at the center of a group of 13 people, some with their faces covered, holding an ISIS banner. Local sources speak of growing support of the so-called Forum of Activists for Sharia (Faksi) — who regularly visit the prison to meet Baasyir — for ISIS fighters, who have won increasingly large portions of territory in Iraq and Syria.

The growing bond between local Islamist movements and ISIS is an increasingly debated and “sensitive” issue among Indonesian citizens, most of who are opposed to the Caliphate and ISIS. In mid-July 2014, more than a thousand people gathered at a mosque in Solo Baru (Sukoharjo regency) to attend a prayer meeting hosted by the Islamic Daulah Support Forum. After having recited prayers, those present publically declared their support for ISIS, claiming to be ready to go to Iraq and Syria. In the following days a similar “baptism” was also celebrated in Malang (East Java). The commonality of purpose between JAT and ISIS is a source of further concern for Jakarta: the Islamist movement has over three thousand loyalists in the provinces of West Java, Central Java, Greater Jakarta, Sumatra, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and Banten.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Malaysia — Indonesia: The Dream of the Caliphate Spreads to Asia, Raising Fears of Violence in Indonesia and Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta warn that followers of the Islamic State are ready to strike their countries of origin. Governments, public places and other sensitive spots are their main targets. The goal is to erase secular and pluralist constitutions in order to introduce Sharia-inspired rules. At least 20 Malaysian nationals are in Syria to fight the jihad. The first recruits from the Philippines are reported.

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Anti-terrorism experts from Malaysia and Indonesia have reported that several Malaysians and Indonesians have recently joined the Islamic State terror group (formerly known as ISIS), which is active in Iraq and Syria, and are apparently planning attacks and violence in their countries of origin.

The fascination exerted by former al Qaeda militants, who were able to seize more land in Iraq and carry out brutal violence against minorities, has spread to several countries in South-East Asia.

As AsiaNews reported recently, fundamentalist movements and local Muslim leaders have found inspiration in the exploits of the Sunni fighters and intend to support the struggle for the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate.

Anti-terrorism agencies in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta warn that Asian followers of the Islamic State want to overthrow local legitimate governments because the constitutions of the two states are secular in nature. They also want to impose Sharia, the Islamic law, and enforce a rigid and fundamentalist version of Islam.

According to local political analysts and experts, terrorist threats in Southeast Asia have increased. In Malaysia, the authorities have arrested at least 19 suspects for links with extremist groups in the past seven months.

Interrogations have revealed plans to attack government targets, nightclubs, bars and other entertainment venues. At the same time, at least 20 Malaysian nationals have travelled to Syria to fight in the ranks of the Islamic State, but the actual number could be much higher.

For its part, Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, has banned supporting the extremist movement, and made numerous arrests. However, dangers persist, the more so since some senior officials, including a minister, have shown little interest in prevention and repression.

After Malaysia and Indonesia, the first attempts to join the ranks of the Islamic state have been reported in the Philippines.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Abu Sayyaf, BIFF Links to Islamic State Unverified: Philippine Military

MANILA, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) — The Philippine military on Sunday described the supposed links of the Abu Sayyaf Group and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) with the Islamic State (IS), a group of jihadist in Syria and Iraq, as “unverified.”

Domingo Tutaan, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, asked the media to be circumspect in reporting the alleged linkages, saying this may cause undue alarm to the people…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Philippine Navy Joins Australian Maritime Exercise “Kakadu 2014”

MANILA, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) — About 180 Philippine Navy (PN) personnel and one of the navy’s two Hamilton-class cutters departed from Subic Bay on Sunday to attend a multination military exercise soon to be held in Australia, Philippine military announced Sunday.

The exercise, dubbed “Kakadu 2014,” will be held from Aug. 25 to Sept. 12 at Northern Australia Exercise Area…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Teenage Supporter of Islamic State Arrested

A teenage supporter of the terrorist group Islamic State, who gained notoriety after an appearance on television last week, has been arrested over a religious attack on a cleaner at a western Sydney shopping centre.

In an incident that will raise fears of growing violence in Australia, the 19-year-old, who goes by the Islamic alias Abu Bakr, allegedly verbally abused, threatened and intimidated a 43-year-old cleaner at the Bankstown Central shopping centre on August 10…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Ebola Clinic Looted by Liberian Slum Residents

Kenya bars entry to people travelling from or through Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia

Liberian officials fear Ebola could soon spread through the capital’s largest slum after residents raided a quarantine centre for suspected patients and took items including bloody sheets and mattresses.

The violence in the West Point slum occurred late Saturday and was led by residents angry that patients were brought to the holding centre from other parts of Monrovia, Tolbert Nyenswah, assistant health minister, said Sunday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Ebola Patients Flee as Armed Men Raid Liberia Clinic

Seventeen people infected with the deadly virus unaccounted for after men break into Monrovia quarantine centre claiming Ebola epidemic is a fiction

Seventeen patients infected with Ebola were unaccounted for on Sunday after they fled an armed raid on a quarantine centre in Monrovia by men who claimed the epidemic is a fiction. “They broke down the door and looted the place. The patients have all gone,” said Rebecca Wesseh, who witnessed the attack out the outskirts of the Liberian capital…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Patients Missing After Raid on Liberia Ebola Clinic

Authorities in Liberia’s capital city, Monrovia, have warned of the spread of Ebola after a local clinic was ransacked. The patients quarantined there left the site and their whereabouts remain unknown.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Cuba: A Country Where Toilet Paper is Rarer Than Partridge

Years after the collapse of the USSR, Cuba remains a bastion of communism, central planning… and shortages of basic goods. Anyone returning from a trip abroad therefore takes as many of these as they can carry — even if they are flying from Moscow.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Some 540 Human Traffickers Arrested Since 2013 Says Alfano

Interior minister on Lampedusa to thank Mare Nostrum forces

(ANSA) — Lampedusa, August 14 — Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Thursday that 539 human traffickers have been arrested since May 1 last year.

“This is a great result, demonstrating the effectiveness of our battle against the merchants of death,” said the minister, adding that most of those arrested on human trafficking charges were Egyptian and Tunisian. Alfano spoke on the island of Lampedusa, which lies in the Strait of Sicily close to the Tunisian coast and is often the first European landfall for thousands of people paying human traffickers exorbitant fees and boarding unseaworthy, overcrowded vessels in a desperate bid to flee war, poverty, and cruel dictatorships in their African and Middle Eastern homelands.

“I am here to thank all our forces, who are out there saving human lives,” said Alfano in reference to Italy’s Mare Nostrum migrant search-and-rescue operation involving the Navy, the Coast Guard, and the merchant marine.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Hotel Chain in Britain Removes Bibles From Rooms

The decision by one of Britain’s largest hotel chains to remove Bibles from its rooms has sparked complaints from Christians.

Travelodge, which operates 500 hotels, says the Bibles were removed for “diversity reasons,” citing the country’s increasing multicultural influences, the Daily Mail reported. The chain reportedly said that despite the recent uproar, the decision to remove the Bibles was made in 2007.

The company said in a statement that the move was designed so as “not to discriminate against any religion.” Now the Bibles, supplied by the Gideon Society, are available at the reception desks for guests to borrow.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Women Really Don’t Go for ‘Nice’ Guys, Study Indicates

Men like niceness, but women seem attracted to masculine behavior early in dating, Israeli psychologists say.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

One thought on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/17/2014

  1. @UK: What Are David Cameron’s Plans for the Fight Against ISIS?

    Cameron’s speech a sublime example of Caliphate Conservatism – multiculturalism beyond cultural diversity and nationhood with the uncivilised mohammedan regulating the civilised.

    Cameron’s enemy within the gates are the extremists that abuse islam – aka islamophobes.

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