The news feed is light tonight — there must have been a dearth of news today.

The big story today is that Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for Donald Trump, has been indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller for his dealings with Russia. Two other former Trump campaign officials were also indicted.

In other news, Israeli Defense Forces blew up a tunnel that Palestinian terrorists were digging under the border between the Gaza Strip and southern Israel. The tunnel was targeted by the IDF on the Israeli side, but it was packed with explosives, and detonations occurred all the way down the tunnel at the Gaza end. Seven Palestinian activists were killed (or six or eight, depending on which story you read), including a commander for Islamic Jihad and at least two Hamas operatives.

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

Thanks to Charles Low, Dean, Dora, LP, Reader from Chicago, SS, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

	USA
»	Minnesota: Rioters Sentenced for Attacks on “March Against Sharia” Protesters
»	Soros Connection in Halperin Scandal?
»	The Latest: Benghazi Suspect to Face Federal Court Trial
»	Three Former Trump Campaign Officials Charged by Special Counsel
	Canada
»	Dalhousie University is “Swimming in a Sea of White Supremacy”
»	Prosecutor Says Canadian Who Pleaded Guilty to Terrorism Motivated by Prejudice and Hate
	Europe and the EU
»	Catalonia Minister Cheered After Showing Up to Work — Defying Madrid’s Orders
»	Catalonia News: Army ‘Ready to Intervene’ Amid Fears of Civil War
»	Eurozone is Not Strong Enough — Poland Issues Brutal Snub to EU Finance Chiefs
»	EU’s Longest Serving Foreign Minister: “This Could Destroy Europe”
»	Ireland: ‘No Motive’ In Stabbing of Stag Party City Tourists
»	Oxford University Suspends Staffer With Alleged Link With Islamic Terrorism
»	Puigdemont Taunts Madrid With Photo as Spain Reveals Catalonia Leaders to be Charged
»	Rape Claims Hit Islam Scholar Tariq Ramadan in France
	Israel and the Palestinians
»	Gaza Terror Tunnel Explosion — What We Know So Far
	Australia — Pacific
»	Muslim Extremist, 20, Pleads Guilty to Planning a Terrorist Attack in Sydney After Being Arrested ‘Trying to Buy a Gun and a Suicide Vest’
	Immigration
»	Sweden’s Housing Asylum Seekers Deprive Other Vulnerable Groups — Report
	Culture Wars
»	Bisexual Student Reprimanded for Criticizing Islam’s Record on Gay Rights

Minnesota: Rioters Sentenced for Attacks on “March Against Sharia” Protesters

Sentences were handed down this month against four of six protesters who fought with police and other demonstrators during a June 10 clash at the Capitol. two others await pretrial hearings scheduled in the coming weeks.

— Hat tip: Charles Low

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Soros Connection in Halperin Scandal?

The sexual harassment scandal that destroyed Mark Halperin’s career calls attention to his family’s connections to George Soros. Halperin’s father, Morton Halperin, is a “a senior advisor to the Open Society Foundations, which was founded by George Soros,” and has “served in a number of roles with think tanks, including the Center for American Progress.” His father’s influence may explain not only why Halperin believed he could get away with harassing women, but may also explain Halperin’s meteoric rise at ABC News, where he became political director in 1997 at age 35. Mark Halperin was not a neutral, objective journalist:

In October 2004, the Drudge Report published a memo Halperin sent to ABC News staff about coverage of the U.S. presidential election directing them not to “reflexively and artificially hold both sides ‘equally’ accountable” and that both John Kerry and George W. Bush used “distortion” in their campaign, but that Kerry’s distortions were not “central to his efforts to win.”

This justification of deliberate pro-Democrat bias, coming from someone who served as political director at a major broadcast network, ought to have been adequate warning that Mark Halperin was untrustworthy. Yet he maintained his position at ABC, and from there went on to positions at Time magazine and MSNBC, which is . . . remarkable…

— Hat tip: Dora

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The Latest: Benghazi Suspect to Face Federal Court Trial

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the capture of a militant who the U.S. says was instrumental in the 2012 Benghazi attack (all times local):

4:50 p.m.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions says a militant accused of involvement in the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, will face justice in federal court.

Sessions calls the capture of Mustafa al-Imam a major step forward in the investigation into the attack that resulted in the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.

Sessions says the government is working to identify others involved and hold them accountable for the “barbaric” crime.

The decision to bring al-Imam to the U.S. shows the Trump administration is continuing to prosecute terrorism suspects in civilian courts, even as Sessions and Trump have said such suspects should instead be held at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba…

— Hat tip: LP

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Three Former Trump Campaign Officials Charged by Special Counsel

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III on Monday revealed charges against three former Trump campaign officials — including onetime campaign chairman Paul Manafort — marking the first criminal allegations to come from probes into possible Russian influence in U.S. political affairs.

The charges are striking for their breadth, touching all levels of the Trump campaign and exploring possible personal financial wrongdoing by those involved, as well as what appeared to be a concerted effort by one campaign official to arrange a meeting with Russian officials.

One of the three charged, former Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, admitted to making a false statement to FBI investigators who asked about his contacts with foreigners claiming to have high-level Russian connections.

Manafort and longtime business partner Rick Gates, meanwhile, were charged in a 12-count indictment with conspiracy to launder money, making false statements and other charges in connection with their work advising a Russia-friendly political party in Ukraine…

— Hat tip: Dean

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Dalhousie University is “Swimming in a Sea of White Supremacy”

I know some easy going White Canadians may scoff at the idea that this university is a citadel of White Supremacy. “How can this possibly be,” they may ask in disbelief, “universities are totally committed to social justice, critical thinking, racial diversity, and Dalhousie is no different. Every professor is a cultural Marxist. Just take a look at the course offerings at Dalhousie, they are mostly about African Canadian Society, Genocide of Whites against Aboriginals, and Queer Culture.”

But itmust be a White Supremacist citadel! Because one Nigerian social justice warrior, Ifo Ikede, said so. He was a student at Dalhousie university where he said he experienced White Supremacist attacks first hand: “the only people who are free to speak are white men and women.”

Kati George-Jim, an Amerindian member of Dalhousie University’s board of governors, agrees with him; she too said she was subjected last summer to “institutionalized racism…

— Hat tip: TB

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Prosecutor Says Canadian Who Pleaded Guilty to Terrorism Motivated by Prejudice and Hate

An Ontario man acknowledged Monday he travelled to Syria with the intention of joining the local Al Qaeda faction and that after he returned, he posted on social media about terrorist attacks in the West.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago

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Catalonia Minister Cheered After Showing Up to Work — Defying Madrid’s Orders

A Catalonia politician was escorted outside the government’s headquarters in Barcelona amid clapping from pro-independence citizens.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago

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Catalonia News: Army ‘Ready to Intervene’ Amid Fears of Civil War

A LEADING Spanish journalist has claimed the army is ready to intervene in Catalonia if necessary.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago

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Eurozone is Not Strong Enough — Poland Issues Brutal Snub to EU Finance Chiefs

POLAND will not make a decision on whether to join the single currency until the Eurozone becomes stronger, the nation’s finance minister has blasted.

[Comment: Poland should not adopt the Euro. Poland’s sovereignty would be adversely affected if they adopt the Euro.]

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago

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EU’s Longest Serving Foreign Minister: “This Could Destroy Europe”

Jean Asselborn, who has represented Luxembourg at the Council of Ministers of the European Union since 2004, said the EU was grappling with three major challenges — Brexit, migration and “the community of values”.

But of those three, he said certain member states’ refusal to accept immigrants and relieve the pressure on the likes of Greece and Italy was the biggest problem facing Europe.

Mr Asselborn suggested only the European Courts of Justice could force Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to fulfil their migrant quota.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago

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Ireland: ‘No Motive’ In Stabbing of Stag Party City Tourists

Two British tourists in Dublin for a stag weekend were brutally stabbed in a vicious and unprovoked attack.

The men, aged 36 and 38, were walking in Blessington Street, Dublin 7, at 1am yesterday when a man in his 30s struck up a conversation with them.

Moments later, he stabbed them in the stomach and fled.

The men were taken to nearby Mater Hospital, where they were treated for their wounds.

A Garda spokesman said the attack appears to be random and unprovoked.

He said the men were not robbed and there was no apparent motive for the assault.

Dublin Lord Mayor Micheal Mac Donncha said he was shocked to learn of the attack.

“It was an appalling attack and of grave concern that something like this could happen,” he said.

— Hat tip: Dean

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Oxford University Suspends Staffer With Alleged Link With Islamic Terrorism

Oxford University has suspended one of its workers following allegations that the man may have had ties to Islamist terror groups.

The Telegraph reported on Sunday that university administrators ordered the action after learning the “non-academic” employee, whose identity remains private, was arrested on terrorism charges and detained in Italy half a decade ago.

Per the publication, the man was arrested in Italy in March 2012 and detained in the Marche region of the country following an operation by Italian authorities and the Cagliari State Police into Islamic extremism.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago

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Puigdemont Taunts Madrid With Photo as Spain Reveals Catalonia Leaders to be Charged

CATALONIA leader Carles Puigdemont has taunted Madrid by posting a picture of the sky and roof of the presidential palace in Instagram with the cheeky comment “good morning”.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago

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Rape Claims Hit Islam Scholar Tariq Ramadan in France

French prosecutors are investigating allegations by two women who say they were raped by Tariq Ramadan, a renowned Islamic scholar and Oxford professor.

One of them, Henda Ayari, told a French TV interviewer that Mr Ramadan had assaulted her in a Paris hotel in 2012.

“He literally pounced on me like a wild animal,” she said.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago

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Gaza Terror Tunnel Explosion — What We Know So Far

The IDF found the tunnel using an unidentified new and advanced tunnel locating technology.

The IDF said they blew up the tunnel in a “controlled explosion” but did not indicate how they blew it up, or with what method.

The IDF only blew up the tunnel on the Israeli side of the border.

It appears the tunnel was full of explosives that created secondary explosions on the Gaza side.

There are 7 confirmed killed from the Islamic Jihad and Hamas terror groups, and there may be as many as 12 dead terrorists. Another 11 terrorists were wounded.

Senior Islamic Jihad and Hamas military commanders are among the dead.

Most of those killed were from the Islamic Jihad terrorist group who went into the tunnel after the initial explosion, to rescue the terrorists already inside the tunnel.

The tunnel was still under construction and didn’t yet have an opening on the Israel side.

— Hat tip: Dean

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Muslim Extremist, 20, Pleads Guilty to Planning a Terrorist Attack in Sydney After Being Arrested ‘Trying to Buy a Gun and a Suicide Vest’

Tamim Khaja pleaded guilty in the Parramatta Supreme Court to conducting reconnaissance of targets, attempting to obtain weapons and a flag of the Khilafah.

— Hat tip: SS

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Sweden’s Housing Asylum Seekers Deprive Other Vulnerable Groups — Report

Sweden is allocating housing to asylum seekers at the expense of other vulnerable groups, according to a report seen by the country’s national broadcaster SVT. The country’s government blames the municipalities, saying they are not building enough houses.

The report by Sweden’s county administrative boards said that around 60 percent of the country’s municipalities said they had experienced a ‘displacement effect,’ meaning other vulnerable groups were having a harder time finding housing because of the right to housing for asylum seekers.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago

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Bisexual Student Reprimanded for Criticizing Islam’s Record on Gay Rights

Remember when facts mattered at American universities? Our institutions of higher learning were supposed to be places where the truth reigned supreme, where facts trumped opinions, and where people were free to discuss their differences.

Those days are long over, unfortunately, and based on what we’re seeing, they’re not likely to return.

For example, when a bisexual student criticizes Islam over documented facts regarding the treatment of gays in the Middle East, you shouldn’t expect the student to get blasted by school officials. But apparently, that’s just what happened.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago

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