Al-Qaeda Cell Planned Suicide Attack on Vatican

On Friday, Italian state police arrested 18 suspected extremists in an Al-Qaeda-linked terror cell based out of the Italian island of Sardinia.
USA TODAY: ROME — Italian police busted an al-Qaeda-linked terror ring that planned, but never carried out, an attack on the Vatican five years ago and is believed to have been involved in a bombing in Pakistan that killed more than 100 people, authorities said Friday.

Raids were carried out simultaneously in seven different Italian provinces with arrest warrants for 18 suspected Islamic extremists following a lengthy investigation in Cagliari, capital of the Italian island Sardinia.

Authorities uncovered plans for a suicide bomber plot against the Vatican in 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI was pontiff. Evidence includes a "martyr's vow" from a would-be suicide bomber threatening to strike against the Vatican, the spiritual focal point for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

Mario Carta, an official from the counter-terror police force that carried out the raids, called it "one of the most important operations ever carried out in Italy." Police said the operation targeted an "extremely well-structured terror network" based in Sardinia since at least 2005 that was made up of Pakistani and Afghan nationals.

Nine people have been arrested, and two are still at large in Italy. Seven of the suspects are believed to be in Pakistan, Carta said. » | Eric J. Lyman, Special for USA TODAY | Friday, April 24, 2015

The Guardian View on Turkey and the Armenians: History Matters

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: The battle over the word genocide is all but won, but the official Turkish state remains in denial

It is a hard thing to admit that the state to which you belong was founded on a crime and that the history taught in your schools is full of lies. Yet there is no redemption without repentance and, on the centenary of the beginning of the genocidal campaign against the Armenians, it is sad to record that Turkey has still not faced the facts about what happened in 1915. The answer is quite simple in outline, if complex in its dreadful detail. The Armenians, who had lived in Anatolia since long before Turks arrived from central Asia, were killed, deported, or forcibly converted to Islam. Estimates suggest that at least 600,000 perished, while hundreds of thousands were expelled from or fled the Turkish lands, never to return. » | Editorial | Thursday, April 23, 2015

Politicians Warn Salafists Want to Establish an Islamic State in Germany

SPUTNIK INTERNATIONAL: A report from an influential group of politicians has warned that a huge rise in the Islamist scene in Germany has led to reports that radical Islamists want to establish their own state in Germany.

The President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Hans-Georg Maassen, said he fears that radical Islamists want to establish their own state in Germany.

Maassen told the Frankfurter Allgemeine that the growth of the Islamist scene in Germany is "unrestrained". He said:

"The breeding ground for jihad is growing too. Salafists [a movement within Sunni Islam that references the doctrine known as Salafism] want to establish an Islamic state in Germany."

He said the strongholds of radical Islamism remain in North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin and Hesse. Around 680 Islamists are believed to have travelled from Germany to Syria or Iraq. One in three of them had now returned. "The exit stream to the combat zones continues unabated," Maassen said. » | Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Türkei droht Wien mit Sanktionen

DIE PRESSE: Ankara erwägt wirtschaftliche Strafmaßnahmen als Reaktion auf Nationalratserklärung. Außenamt versucht, die Wogen zu glätten. Minister Kurz telefonierte mit türkischem Amtskollegen.

Ankara/Wien. Der Streit zwischen der Türkei und Österreich über die Anerkennung des Genozids an den Armeniern eskaliert weiter. Wie „Die Presse“ erfahren hat, sondiert die türkische Regierung wirtschaftliche und andere Strafmaßnahmen. Das Außenministerium in Wien stellt sich bereits auf Sanktionen ein. 650 österreichische Unternehmen sind derzeit in der Türkei aktiv. Betroffen sein könnten auch Ausgrabungen in der antiken Stadt Ephesos im Westen des Landes, die durch die türkische Antikenverwaltung jedes Jahr neu genehmigt werden müssen.

Da der Nationalrat die Massenmorde von 1915 als Völkermord eingestuft hatte, berief Ankara am Mittwoch seinen Botschafter in Wien, Mehmet Hasan Gögüs, zu Gesprächen ein. In einer Stellungnahme der türkischen Regierung hieß es zudem, die Erklärung des Parlaments werde die Beziehungen „dauerhaft beschädigen“. Die Ereignisse so zu verdrehen sei „nichts weniger als ein Massaker des Rechts“. » | DiePresse | Donnerstag, 23. April 2015

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Streit über Völkermord an Armeniern: Türkei beruft Botschafter aus Österreich zurück: Österreichs Parlament hat die Massaker an den Armeniern als Völkermord bezeichnet. Die harsche Reaktion der türkischen Regierung ließ nicht lange auf sich warten. » | syd/dpa | Donnerstag, 23. April 2015

Gauck spricht klar von Völkermord an den Armeniern

DIE WELT: Der Bundespräsident wird deutlicher als Regierung und Bundestag: Gauck benennt das Massaker an Armeniern im Osmanischen Reich ohne Umschweife als Völkermord – und erinnert an die deutsche Mitschuld.

Bundespräsident Joachim Gauck benennt die Massaker an den Armeniern im Osmanischen Reich vor 100 Jahren klar als Völkermord. In seiner Rede auf der zentralen deutschen Gedenkveranstaltung im Berliner Dom verwendet er in der entscheidenden Passage wortgleich die Formulierung, auf die sich zuvor auch die Bundesregierung und die schwarz-rote Koalition verständigt hatten: "Das Schicksal der Armenier steht beispielhaft für die Geschichte der Massenvernichtungen, der ethnischen Säuberungen, der Vertreibungen, ja der Völkermorde, von der das 20. Jahrhundert auf so schreckliche Weise gezeichnet ist."

Im späteren Verlauf der Rede, als Gauck die Mitschuld des damaligen Deutschen Reichs an den Gräueltaten anspricht, wird er deutlicher und stuft die Geschehnisse gänzlich ohne Umschweife als Völkermord ein: "In diesem Fall müssen auch wir Deutsche insgesamt uns noch der Aufarbeitung stellen, wenn es nämlich um eine Mitverantwortung, unter Umständen sogar Mitschuld, am Völkermord an den Armeniern geht." Im Ersten Weltkrieg waren Armenier im Osmanischen Reich als vermeintliche Kollaborateure mit dem Feind systematisch vertrieben und umgebracht worden. Zwischen 200.000 und 1,5 Millionen Menschen kamen nach Schätzungen ums Leben. Die Türkei als Nachfolgestaat des Osmanischen Reichs lehnt die Bezeichnung "Völkermord" vehement ab. » | Von Claudia Kade, Redakteurin Innenpolitik | Donnerstag, 23. April 2015

Islamic State Recruiter Neil Prakash Calls for Attacks in Australia in Propaganda Video

THE AGE: Australia's most senior Islamic State recruiter in Syria has urged young Muslim men to "rise up" and launch attacks on home soil in a new alarming propaganda video.

Neil Prakash, who goes by the jihadist name Abu Khaled al-Cambodi, is understood to have fled to Syria from Melbourne in early 2013. Mr Prakash is of Fijian and Cambodian descent, a fact reflected in his nom de guerre.

In the 12-minute video, Mr Prakash issues a call to arms to his "beloved brothers in Australia".

"I also send a message to my brothers, my beloved brothers in Islam in Australia," he says.

"Now is the time to rise, now is the time to wake up … You must start attacking before they attack you."

The video has emerged online only days after five Melbourne teenagers were arrested in pre-dawn raids over an alleged Anzac Day terror plot. Three teenagers have been charged, two with terrorism-related offences.

Mr Prakash encourages his "brothers at home" to reprise attacks on their "sisters". » | Marissa Calligeros | Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Ex-Muslim Warns of Radical Islam in Idaho

CBN NEWS: Concerns over radical Islam are emerging in Idaho.

This week, a former Muslim turned Christian pastor warned a crowd at a Republican event about the threat of Muslims moving to the state.

Speaking to the Bonner County Republican Women on Tuesday, Shahram Hadian said Muslims who support Sharia law and aim to kill anyone who doesn't agree with their interpretation of Islam are trying to move to the United States, and to Idaho. » | CBNNews.com | Thursday, April 23, 2015

A Hug from the Executioner... Then Two Gay Men Are Stoned to Death: ISIS Murderers Stage Show of Kindness for the Cameras before Brutal Killing

Strange: The group of executioners made a display
of hugging the blindfolded couple and telling them
they were forgiven for their 'sins', before pummeling
them to death with hundreds of fist-sized rocks

DAILY MAIL: Shocking images show men being savagely executed in Homs province / Executioners embraced the two victims before stoning them to death / Bloodthirsty crowds are seen in the desert clearing to watch the atrocity / Men were executed after ISIS militants accused them of being a gay couple

Depraved militants fighting for the Islamic State in Syria have brutally stoned two gay men to death only seconds after they were photographed embracing and 'forgiving' them.

The shocking images were taken in ISIS-held territory in the province of Homs and show the two accused men being savagely executed by up to four jihadis.

Huge, bloodthirsty crowds are seen in the desert clearing where the group of executioners made a display of hugging the blindfolded couple and telling them they were forgiven of their 'sins', before pummeling them to death with hundreds of fist-sized rocks.

Images of the horrific murder emerged on social media this afternoon and were hurriedly shared online by ISIS sympathisers who claim the photographs reveal the terrorists' compassionate side. Read on and comment » | John Hall for MailOnline | Thursday, April 23, 2015

American Jihadist Killed in Drone Strike Was Former Little Leaguer Who Grew Up to Become Osama Bin Laden's Spokesman

DAILY MAIL: Adam Gadahan [sic] was born in Oregon in 1978 as Adam Pearlman / Was first American to be charged with treason since Second World War / Converted to Islam at the age of 17 while living in Orange County, California / A few years later he moved to Pakistan and became an Al Qaeda propagandist

Adam Gadahn, a former Little Leaguer who grew up to become a spokesman for Osama bin Laden, was born in 1978 in Oregon as Adam Pearlman.

Gadahn, who had treason charges pending against him, was killed in a drone strike in January, the White House acknowledged on Thursday. Another January drone strike killed Ahmed Farouq, the operations leader for Al-Qaida in Pakistan, as well as an American hostage and an Italian hostage.

Gadahn's father, a musician in California, changed his name from Pearlman to Gadahn in the 1970s. Gadahn, who was raised as a Protestant Christian, grew up and was home-schooled on a goat farm in Riverside County, California. Read on and comment » | Wills Robinson for DailyMail.com and Associated Press | Thurday, April 23, 2015

Saudi Prince Criticised for Offering Bentleys to Pilots Bombing Yemen

Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal and his wife Princess Amira
of Saudi Arabia

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Saudi prince offers Bentleys to pilots who bomb Yemen as Saudi-led coalition launch new air strikes

A member of Saudi Arabia's royal family has offered luxury cars to fighter pilots taking part in the country's bombing campaign in Yemen.

"In appreciation of their role in this operation, I'm honoured to offer 100 Bentley cars to the 100 Saudi [fighter] pilots," Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal announced to his three million Twitter followers on Tuesday evening.

The prince, once described by Time magazine as the "Arabian Warren Buffett", later deleted the tweet, but not before it had been re-posted more than 5,000 times.

A Saudi-led campaign of coalition air strikes has pounded rebel positions across Yemen since March 25. » | Louisa Loveluck | Thursday, April 23, 2015

Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman Guilty of Corrupt and Illegal Practices over Election

Lutfur Rahman, the mayor of Tower Hamlets

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Election Commissioner declares east mayoral election result 'void' after Britain's first elected Muslim mayor found guilty of corrupt and illegal practices over 2014 vote

The election of controversial Tower Hamlets mayor has been declared void after he was found guilty of corruption and illegal practices by an Election Court judge.

Lutfur Rahman played "race" and "religious" cards and was guilty of "corrupt practice", Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey, who sat as a judge in the High Court, said.

He described an “alarming state of affairs in Tower Hamlets” driven by the “ruthless ambition of one man”.

Mr Mawrey said Rahman had "driven a coach and horses" through local authority law and had been an “evasive winess [sic]”..

The May 2014 mayoral election will now be re-run and Rahman is barred from standing, the judge said.

Rahman, Britain’s first elected Muslim mayor, was also ordered to pay £250,000 costs. » | Tom Whitehead, Security Editor | Thursday, April 23, 2015

Flüchtlingsproblematik: Australien empfiehlt Europa striktes Aufnahmeverbot

STERN: Laut der australischen Außenministerin hat ein striktes Aufnahmeverbot den örtlichen Markt für Schlepper ausgetrocknet. Doch ob sich solche Maßnahmen auf Europa übertragen lassen, bleibt fraglich.

Ein striktes Aufnahmeverbot für Flüchtlinge aus Schlepperbooten hat nach Ansicht der australischen Außenministerin Julie Bishop zu einem Ende der Bootsdramen vor der australischen Küste geführt. "2013 gab es 300 Boote, die mit 20.000 Menschen an Bord die gefährliche Reise nach Australien unternommen haben. Wir wissen von 1200 Menschen - Männer, Frauen und Kinder - die im Meer gestorben sind", sagte Bishop am Mittwoch in Berlin nach einem Treffen mit Außenminister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. "Seit Januar 2014 gab es kein Boot mehr, keine Toten auf dem Meer." » | amt/Reuters | Mittwoch, 22. April 2015

"Der Westen ist feige"

Unbeugsam: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Islamkritikerin mit somalischen
Wurzeln

DIE WELT: Ayaan Hirsi Ali wurde in Somalia geboren und floh später vor einer Zwangsehe. Heute ist sie eine der bekanntesten Islamkritikerinnen der Welt. Sie fordert weniger Nachsicht mit radikalen Muslimen.

Für eine Frau, die die islamische Welt mit ihren provokanten Thesen herausfordert, ist ihre Stimme erstaunlich sanft. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, 45, hat einen durchdringenden Blick, den sie auf die meisten ihrer Mitmenschen senken muss. Hirsi Ali ist groß, schön, sie fällt auf. Im somalischen Mogadischu geboren, folgte sie ihren gläubigen Eltern nach Saudi-Arabien, Äthiopien und Kenia. International bekannt wurde Hirsi Ali, nachdem sie vor einer Zwangsehe in die Niederlande floh und gemeinsam mit dem Regisseur Theo van Gogh einen Film über die Unterdrückung muslimischer Frauen drehte. Van Gogh wurde später von einem radikalen Islamisten getötet, der auch eine Morddrohung an Hirsi Ali hinterließ. Die Diskrepanz zwischen Moderne und Islam ist zu ihrem Lebensthema geworden. Soeben ist ihr Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. erschienen: "Reformiert Euch! Warum der Islam sich ändern muss" (Knaus Verlag, 20,60 Euro). » | Von Silke Mülherr , Berlin | Mittwoch, 22. April 2015

Auschwitz Survivor: 'We Had No Rights But a Fierce Determination to Survive'

Auschwitz death camp survivor, Eva Mozes Kor, in the
courtroom in Lüneburg, Germany.

THE GUARDIAN: Eva Mozes Kor takes the stand at the trial of former SS guard Oskar Gröning to describe her ordeal at the death camp where he worked

A survivor of Auschwitz who lost 119 members of her family in the Holocaust, has confronted the former SS guard who is on trial for complicity in the murder of 300,000 Jews, appealing to him to take responsibility for his actions.

Ninety-three year old Oskar Gröning sat impassively in the courtroom as Eva Mozes Kor, from Terre Haute, Indiana, greeted him by name before launching into a dramatic account of her internment at Auschwitz extermination camp where the former SS officer worked for two years.

Kor described how within 30 minutes of her family’s arrival from Romania in May 1944 at the selection platform in Auschwitz-Birkenau – where Gröning’s task was to take prisoners’ suitcases – her family was “ripped apart forever” after her parents were sent to their deaths, and she and her 10-year-old twin sister Miriam were picked out by the notorious doctor Josef Mengele to take part in his infamous experimentation programme on twins.

“Of our family, only Miriam and I survived because we were used in Dr Mengele’s experiments,” the 81-year-old told the court. » | Kate Connolly in Lüneburg | Wednesday, April22, 2015

Ex-President: Germans Right to Fear Islam

THE LOCAL (GERMANY): Germany's former President Christian Wulff said on Tuesday that Germans were "right to be afraid of a series of developments among Muslims" - but his comments were immediately shot down by Muslim scholars.

Wulff, who once famously stated that Islam is now also a part of German life, said that the Islamic world was gravely destabilized, with fundamentalism stretching from north Africa across the Middle East, the Frankfurter Rundschau reported on Wednesday.

He claimed that Muslims feared living through a "global military confrontation" between Sunnis and Shiites that could parallel the 30 Years' War between Protestants and Catholics that devastated Europe. » | Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Anjem Choudary Claims All Muslim MPs and Voters Are 'Apostates' Sinning against Islam

THE INDEPENDENT: The radical preacher told followers that Allah is the 'only legislator'

Radical preacher Anjem Choudary has claimed that all Muslim MPs and voters are “apostates” as the general election approaches.

Writing on Twitter that voting is a “sin” against Islam, he argued that Parliament violated religious law because Allah is “the only legislator”.

Mr Choudary wrote: “The only excuse is for a new Muslim or someone totally ignorant about voting and also what's known from Islam by necessity.”

In a stream of messages using the #StayMuslimDontVote hashtag, the cleric called Muslims who vote or run as an MP are “apostates”, meaning they have abandoned their beliefs.

Anyone doing so does not believe that Allah is the “only, exclusive legislator and commander” and is therefore a “kaafir” (disbeliever), he claimed. » | Lizzie Dearden | Wednesday, April 22, 2015


My comment:

Our politicians have ruined England, Great Britain! By allowing into the UK successive waves of immigrants who have absolutely no intention of integrating, no intention of taking part in our democracy, and having every intention of spreading an alien faith and political ideology in our country. By doing so, they have sown the seeds of our own destruction. Fie on the LibLabCon traitors! These immigrants do not belong in the UK any more than I belong in Pakistan. Shame on our legislators! Shame on them! – ©Mark

What Happens When The EU Breaks? – Trailer

The Great European Disaster Movie: Exploring the present crisis facing Europe and a post-EU dystopian future

The Great European Disaster Movie »

Sunnis in Iran (How Sunni Muslims Live in a Shiite Country?)

At the time of the Egyptian crisis, Ahmad Mustafa, an economic and political analyst from Egypt, finds an opportunity to travel to Iran to meet and talk Sunni people; an 11000 kilometer journey; a memorable visit, from the country’s most important decision-making centers to its most outlying border areas, from the green strands of the Caspian Sea forests to the Khorasan and Baluchistan desert areas and the high mountains of Kurdistan. On this journey he hopes he will know the real Iran, a country frequently misrepresented by Western and Arab media. How Sunni Muslims live in a Shiite country? That’s the question that’s brought Ahmad Mustafa to Iran.

Dutch anti-Islam Lawmaker Geert Wilders to Migrants: 'You Will Not Make The Netherlands Home'

FOX NEWS: THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders is copying part of Australia's approach to stopping boat migrants by making a video telling would-be asylum seekers considering making the treacherous boat crossing from North Africa to Europe: "You will not make the Netherlands home." » | Associated Press | Wednesday, April 22, 2015

South Africa's History Of Burning Hatred

Fear and Foreigners in South Africa (2008) - Xenophobia erupts into violence