Iran Nuclear Deal with US Sees Thousands Protest in Times Square

Protesters rally against the US nuclear deal with Iran
in New York's Times Square on 22 July.

THE GUARDIAN: An estimated 10,000 people, consisting mainly of pro-Israel supporters, chant ‘kill the deal’ and demand Congress vote down proposed nuclear agreement

Thousands of protesters packed into Times Square on Wednesday evening to demand that Congress vote down the proposed US deal with Iran.

As the crowd loomed behind police barricades, chants of “Kill the deal!” could be heard for blocks. The event, billed as the “Stop Iran rally” consisted mainly of pro-Israel supporters, though organizers said it represents Americans of all faiths and political convictions.

The group is asking Congress to reject the deal under which the US would agree to lift economic sanctions against Iran in return for measures to prevent the country from building nuclear weapons. » | Associated Press | Wednesday, July 22, 2015

‘World’s Oldest Qur’an’ Fragments Found at University of Birmingham

The discovery of one of the oldest fragments of the Qur'an at the University of Birmingham is hailed as a historic find of 'global significance'. Radiocarbon analysis has dated the parchment between AD568 and 645. David Thomas, professor of Christianity and Islam at the University of Birmingham, says the results suggest the manuscript was written less than 20 years after the death of the prophet Muhammad


JIHAD WATCH: Oldest Qur’an fragments in the world discovered in the UK? Maybe, maybe not » | Robert Spencer | Wednesday, July 22, 2015

BBC AMERICA: » | Sean Coughlan, Education correspondent | Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Conservative TV Host Tomi Lahren Spells It Out for Obama, the Worst President in History

Israeli Envoy 'Spoils the Party' at UN Following Iran Deal Vote

ARUTZ SHEVA: Israel's ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, slams international community's 'poor track record' after it empowers Iranian terror regime.

Israel's ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor took on the United Nations Security Council on Monday, just after it unanimously approved a draft resolution implementing the Iranian nuclear deal with the West.


"You have awarded a great prize to the most dangerous country in the world," Prosor began. "I hate to be the one to spoil the party, but someone has to say the emperor has no clothes."

"Today is a very sad day," he continued, "not only for the State of Israel, but for the entire world. Even at this moment, the international community refuses to see the tragedy."

Without checking first to see that Iran is already taking steps to comply with the agreement, passing the draft resolution is "like allowing a criminal to sit on the jury to decide his own fate," Prosor said.

"It's not only that you have not cured the symptoms, you have strengthened the source of the problem," he added. "You have given the source of the problem - Iran - money, stability at home, and the time to carry out its destructive ideology." » | Nitsan Keidar | Monday, July 20, 2015

Isil Bans Private Internet Access in Syria's Raqqa

THE TELEGRAPH: Islamic State group bans private Wi-Fi access in Raqqa in latest communications diktat

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) has banned private Internet use inside the Syrian city of Raqqa, forcing fighters to use public Internet cafés which can be monitored.

The extremist group distributed a leaflet in the city last week warning Internet providers that they had four days to cut off private Wi-Fi connections.

The document was published online on Sunday by a group of media activists known as Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS). Its authenticity was later confirmed by a source with contacts inside the city.

"The following is obligatory on all Internet providers: the removal of Wi-Fi connections distributed outside of Internet cafés and private connections, including for Islamic State soldiers," the leaflet read. » | Louisa Loveluck | Monday, July 20, 2015

Suruc Massacre: At Least 30 Killed in Turkey Border Blast

BBC AMERICA: A bomb attack in the Turkish town of Suruc has killed at least 30 people during a meeting of young activists to discuss the reconstruction of the neighbouring Syrian town of Kobane.

Around 100 others were wounded in the explosion, which may have been caused by a female suicide attacker from the Islamic State group, officials say.

Kobane has seen heavy fighting between IS militants and Kurdish fighters.

It was retaken by the Kurds from IS forces earlier this year.

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said initial findings suggested the attack was the work of IS.

"Turkey has taken and will continue to take all necessary measures against Islamic State," Mr Davutoglu told a news conference in Ankara, according to Reuters.

"Measures on our border with Syria... will be increased," he added. (+BBC video) » | Monday, July 20, 2015

Melanie Phillips: Jihadists, EU, Sexism & Refugees (Question Time, June 18, 2015)

François Hollande Urged to Intervene in Bitter Row between Saudi Royalty and French Nudists

The house of King Fahd of Saudi in Golfe Juan, France

THE TELEGRAPH: King Salman of Saudi Arabia has ordered the closure of an entire public beach on the French Riviera, which includes a special area for nudists

Furious French bathers have urged Francois [sic] Hollande, the French president, to step in after a Saudi Arabian king blocked access to a public beach that runs alongside his luxury villa on the Riviera.

Plans for an elevator allowing Saudi royals easier access to the sand have already been approved by the French authorities, while a huge lump of concrete was recently installed on the beach.

Not even fishermen and swimmers are allowed in the area during the king's visit, with the coastguard instructed to move on anyone who dares to swim within three hundred yards of the villa.

Under French law the picturesque Mirandole beach, situated between Antibes and Cannes, is supposed to be open for all to enjoy.

But King Salman has announced plans to block its only entrance with wire fencing ahead of an impending visit.

Now residents have hit back at the royal arrangements with a petition claiming the beach's closure is an affront to France's "most precious democratic values." » | James Rothwell | Monday, July 20, 2015

Related »

It Is Muslims Who Must Reach Out to Britain

David Cameron is right to identify the resentment that young Muslims can feel, but the antidote can only come from within Muslim communities themselves

Read the Telegraph article here | Philip Johnson | Monday, July 20, 2015
David Cameron tells teenage jihadists they are 'cannon fodder' »

David Cameron Launches Five-year Plan to Tackle Islamic Extremism in Britain

THE INDEPENDENT: 'It is an extreme doctrine subscribing to intolerant ideas'

Young Muslims are drawn to fundamentalist Islam in the same way young Germans were attracted to fascism in the 20th century, David Cameron will suggest today, as he sets out a five-year strategy to combat Isis-inspired radicalisation.

In a speech in Birmingham, Mr Cameron will say Islamic extremist ideology is based on the same intolerant ideas of “discrimination, sectarianism and segregation” that led to the rise of Hitler and that still exist in the far right.

He will also reject suggestions that Western foreign policy has contributed to the rise of Isis and its popularity among Muslim populations in the West, arguing that such extremism existed long before the Iraq war.

The Prime Minister will also announce details of a new drive to promote integration led by the Government’s “tsar” for troubled families, Louise Casey. This will include addressing issues around integration, language and employment and learning from “past mistakes” where government funding was “simply handed” over to “self-appointed ‘community leaders’” who “sometimes used it in a divisive way”.

Downing Street said Mr Cameron was determined to make tackling Islamic extremism in Britain a central priority over the next five years with a comprehensive strategy that involved not just the police and the criminal justice system but also “softer interventions” to tackle the root causes of radicalisation. » | Oliver Wright | Monday, July 20, 2015

Texans Threaten to Cover Land with Pigs’ Blood to Block Muslim Cemetery

THE TELEGRAPH: Outrage among residents of Farmersville at proposals for a cemetery 35 miles north-east of Dallas

Angry residents of a small Texan town have threatened to put pigs’ heads on poles and pour the blood onto land which has been earmarked for a Muslim cemetery.

The latest manifestation of anti-Islamic sentiment in America surrounds a small plot of undeveloped land 35 miles north-east of Dallas.

It is a row which predates the killing of five people at a US Marines recruiting centre in Chattanooga, Tennessee by Kuwaiti-born Youssuf Abdulazeez last week.

Some residents of the Farmersville, which has a population of 3,000 said that their main concern was the way in which they believed Muslims inter their dead.

“When somebody dies they bury them at that time. They don’t know whether they were shot, diseased or anything else. All they do is wrap them in a sheet from the grave and bury them,” Troy Gosnell told the local CBS station. » | David Millward, US Correspondent | Monday, July 20, 2015

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Newcastle University Academic Says Britain Has Become a Less Free, Less Private State Since 7/7

CHRONICLE LIVE: Response to London bombings has seen individual freedom sacrificed for security according to Newcastle University professor Dr Martin Farr

Since July 7 it can be argued that the streets of England are safer but at what cost?

Surveillance has been ramped up, individual privacy and liberties curtailed, controversial legislation proposed and in some cases followed through.

The depth of the scrutiny has been revealed by Wikileaks and CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

But while there is not been another 7/7 on British shores, the threat overseas is ever present as shown by the recent shootings in Tunisia when 30 British tourists were among 38 victims of gunman Seifeddine Rezgui.

Most legislation proposals are preceded by ominous warnings. » | Mike Kelly | Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Royals Told: Open Archives on Family Ties to Nazi Regime

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor meet with Adolf Hitler
in Munich in 1937.

THE GUARDIAN: Historian urges that secret correspondence be made public to reveal the truth after Queen’s Nazi salute footage released

Buckingham Palace has been urged to disclose documents that would finally reveal the truth about the relationship between the royal family and the Nazi regime of the 1930s.

The Sun’s decision to publish footage of the Queen at six or seven years old performing a Nazi salute, held in the royal archives and hitherto unavailable for public viewing, has triggered concerns that the palace has for years sought to suppress the release of damaging material confirming the links between leading royals and the Third Reich.

Unlike the National Archives, the royal archives, which are known to contain large volumes of correspondence between members of the royal family and Nazi politicians and aristocrats, are not compelled to release material on a regular basis. Now, as that relationship becomes the subject of global debate, historians and MPs have called for the archives to be opened up so that the correspondence can be put into context.

“The royal family can’t suppress their own history for ever,” said Karina Urbach of the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London. “This is censorship. Censorship is not a democratic value. They have to face their past. I’m coming from a country, Germany, where we all have to face our past.” » | Jamie Doward and Tracy McVeigh | Saturday, July 18, 2015



THE GUARDIAN: Salute the Sun for daring to go behind royals’ closed doors: We shouldn’t be questioning the decision to print the pictures of those Nazi salutes – we should ask why it wasn’t done years ago » | Peter Preston | Saturday, July 18, 2015

How We Got Gay | Discovery Channel HD Documentary 2015

Trail of Terror: Shooter’s Motive Stumps Obama, FBI, Media

Rush: 'Must avoid bigotry, racism, prejudice and, obviously, the truth'

Read the WND article here | Garth Kant | Friday, July 17, 2015

Anti-racism Protesters and Nationalists Clash in Demonstrations

Anti-Islamic group Reclaim Australia and the United Patriots Front clash today at demonstration held in Melbourne. Contains lots of capsicum spray, protesters and cops throwing punches.

THE TELEGRAPH: Australia police use capsicum spray on protestors at race rally »

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Criticises 'Arrogance' of the United States Following Nuclear Deal

Khamenei said US policies in the region
were "180 degrees" opposed to Iran's policies

THE TELEGRAPH: Iran's Supreme Leader has praised his country's negotiators for reaching a nuclear deal, but lashed out at the US for seeking Iran's "surrender"

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, has launched an attack on the United States and its Middle East policies, saying Washington sought Iran's "surrender".

Four days after the signing of a nuclear deal in Geneva – an agreement ten years in the making – Khamenei delivered a fiery speech at a Tehran mosque, punctuated by chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel". He said he wanted politicians to examine the agreement to ensure national interests were preserved, as Iran would not allow the disruption of its revolutionary principles or defensive abilities.

An arch conservative with the last word on high matters of state, Khamenei repeatedly used the phrase "whether this text is approved or not", implying the accord has yet to win definitive backing from Iran's factionalised political establishment.

"Whether the deal is approved or disapproved, we will never stop supporting our friends in the region and the people of Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon," he said.

"Even after this deal our policy towards the arrogant US will not change." Read on and comment » | Reuters | Saturday, July 18, 2015

IS Suspects Held over 'Plot' to Attack Saudi Mosques

BBC AMERICA: Saudi security forces have arrested 431 suspected members of the Islamic State militant group, officials say.

They are accused of plotting suicide attacks on security forces and mosques in various parts of the country.

Most of the suspects are Saudi citizens, but they also include people from six nationalities, including Yemen and Syria, the interior ministry said. » | Saturday, July 18, 2015