At Least 65 Killed as Crane Crashes into Mecca's Grand Mosque

THE TELEGRAPH: Incident comes as hundreds of thousands of Muslims begin to gather in Saudi Arabia's holy city for the annual hajj pilgrimage

At least 65 people were killed and 80 injured when a construction crane crashed into the Grand Mosque of Saudi Arabia's holy Muslim city of Mecca Friday, the civil defence said on Twitter. Pictures circulating on social media showed bloodied bodies strewn across a courtyard where the top part of the crane, which appeared to have collapse or snapped, had crashed into it. It was raining heavily at the time. The incident occurred as hundreds of thousands of Muslims gather from all over the world for the annual hajj pilgrimage set to begin later this month. » | AFP | Friday, September 11, 2015




THE GUARDIAN: Mecca crane crash: 65 dead at Grand Mosque – live: Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence authority says 154 people also injured in preparations for annual hajj pilgrimage » | Jessica Elgot | Friday, September 11, 2015

Aylan Kurdi's Father Is a People Smuggler, Woman Claims

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: A woman who was on the boat carrying drowned Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi has accused his father of being a people smuggler.

Channel Ten reported Zainab Abbas, who lost two children in the tragedy, claims Abdullah Kurdi was at the helm of the boat when it sunk off the Turkish coast.

"He was a smuggler, yes. He was the one that was driving the boat," the woman told Ten over Skype from Iraq through a translator.

Ms Abbas claims Mr Kurdi was speeding before the boat capsized and pleaded with her while they were still both in the water, "please don't dob me in [Aus. E: betray me, inform on me]". » | Chloe Booker with Kate Aubusson | Friday, September 11, 2015

Obama the Super-salesman Pours Fuel on a Middle East In Flames

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Washington: In the coming days, they'll be putting the finishing touches to the pavilions and adding up the orders at the massive Defence & Security Equipment International arms fair which opens in London's Docklands on September 15.

At the front of the queue, writing cheques worth billions of dollars, will be the Sunni Arab regimes of the Gulf monarchies, making the latest payments in an arms-buying splurge set to surge through the coming decade – in a region already coming apart at the seams.

Touring the Middle East to tamp down anxiety about Iranian expansionism after the signing of the long-awaited nuclear deal, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Washington "had agreed to expedite certain arms sales that are needed and that have taken too long in the past". » | Paul McGeough | Chief foreign correspondent | Friday, September 11, 2015

So leben die Iraner im Reich der Mullahs

KRONEN ZEITUNG: Es ist weit nach Mitternacht: Die Mädchen sind aufgebrezelt wie Christbäume, geschminkt, enge Hosen, das lange Haar hochgesteckt. Sie trinken Daiquiris oder Mojitos, amerikanische Hits dröhnen aus den Autolautsprechern auf der Straße. Auffällig ist nur: Die Frauen haben ihr Haar - lasziv, aber doch - mit bunten Tüchern teilweise bedeckt, die Blusen sind lang und die Drinks alkoholfreie Abwandlungen von Cuba Libre & Co. Wir sind nicht in New York, sondern in Teheran, der Hauptstadt der Islamischen Republik Iran, eines Landes, in dem zwei Parallelwelten existieren - die der Mullahs und die der Straße. » | Christian Hauenstein, Kronen Zeitung | Freitag, 11. September 2015

Illegale Einwanderer werden "sofort verhaftet"

KRONEN ZEITUNG: Sollte Ungarn in der kommenden Woche den Krisenfall ausrufen, soll jeder illegale Einwanderer "sofort verhaftet" werden. Das erklärte Ministerpräsident Viktor Orban am Freitag nach einem Treffen mit dem deutschen EVP- Fraktionsvorsitzenden Manfred Weber in Budapest. "Wir werden sie nicht mehr höflich begleiten wie bisher." Orban und Weber betonten, dass die EU ihre Außengrenze schützen müsse.

Am kommenden Dienstag will Ungarns Kabinett entscheiden, ob der Krisenfall ausgerufen wird. Das würde unter anderem bedeuten, dass das Militär die Grenzschützer unterstützen darf. Separat soll das Parlament am 21. September entscheiden, ob die Armee auch dann zum Grenzschutz herangezogen werden darf, wenn kein Krisenfall oder Notstand ausgerufen wurde. » | AG/red | Freitag, 11. September 2015

"Menscheninvasion überfordert Nickelsdorf restlos"

KRONEN ZEITUNG: Nickelsdorfs Bürgermeister Gerhard Zapfl (SPÖ) [E] hat am Freitag in einem offenen Brief an Bundeskanzler Werner Faymann und Innenministerin Johanna Mikl- Leitner Alarm geschlagen und von einer "Eskalation" der Flüchtlingssituation in seinem Ort gesprochen. Eine "wahre Völkerwanderung" führe zu "großer Sorge und Angst" unter den Einwohnern. "Diese Entwicklung war absehbar", politische Entscheidungsträger auf Bundesebene hätten nichts in der nötigen Form entgegengesetzt. » | AG/red | Freitag, 11. September 2015

Viktor Orban dénonce la «rébellion» des migrants

Le premier ministre hongrois Viktor Orban.

LE MATIN: HONGRIE — A partir du 15 septembre, une nouvelle législation sur l'immigration entrera en vigueur en Hongrie et les clandestins qui franchiront la frontière seront arrêtés.

Les migrants qui franchiront illégalement la frontière entre la Serbie et la Hongrie à compter du 15 septembre seront arrêtés, a déclaré vendredi le premier ministre hongrois Viktor Orban. Il a dénoncé la «rébellion» des immigrés arrivés par milliers dans son pays.

«Etant donné que nous devons faire face à une rébellion de ces migrants illégaux, la police fait son travail de façon remarquable, sans faire usage de la force», a-t-il soutenu après une rencontre avec Manfred Weber, qui préside le groupe PPE (Parti populaire européen, droite) au Parlement de Strasbourg.

Les migrants, a ajouté Viktor Orban, «ont occupé des gares, refusé de se laisser prendre leurs empreintes digitales, n'ont pas voulu coopérer et refusent d'aller là où ils pourraient recevoir de la nourriture, de l'eau et des soins médicaux (...) Ils se sont rebellés contre l'ordre juridique hongrois.» » | ats/nxp) | vendredi 11 septembre 2015

Die Angst beherrscht Osteuropa

TAGES ANZEIGER: Analyse: Warum zeigt der Osten Europas so wenig Hilfsbereitschaft, obwohl die Länder selber einst so viel Solidarität erfahren haben?

Noch während Jean-Claude Juncker am Mittwoch in Strassburg seine Rede zur Lage der Europäischen Union hielt, machten zwischen Prag und Warschau osteuropäische Regierungspolitiker erneut Front gegen feste EU-Flüchtlingsquoten, wie der Kommissionschef sie vorschlug. Tschechiens Minister­präsident Bohuslav Sobotka beharrte darauf, dass «Quoten keinen Sinn haben, weil sie von den Ursachen der Migrationswelle ablenken». Seinem Innenminister erteilte er demonstrativ das Mandat, beim Europäischen Rat am kommenden Montag jede Quotenregelung zu blockieren.

Auch Polens Regierungschefin Ewa Kopacz wird nicht müde, «unsere europäischen Partner daran zu erinnern, dass sie von uns keine unmöglichen Dinge fordern sollten», wie Kopacz es gestern formulierte. Flüchtlingsquoten, wie Juncker sie verlangt, seien «nicht realistisch». Ungarn hat seine ablehnende Haltung wiederholt mehr als deutlich gemacht, nicht zuletzt durch den Bau eines Nato-Draht-Zauns an der Grenze zu Serbien. Und der slowakische Premier Robert Fico sagt: «Ich will nicht eines Morgens in einem Land aufwachen, in dem Hunderttausend Araber leben.» » | Von Ulrich Krökel | Freitag, 11. September 2015

Lest We Forget: 9/11 Remembered

9/11 Close Up. Not for the faint-hearted. These scenes are not suitable for children. (18+ only!)

LIVE: 9/11 Anniversary - US Remembers Victims

Government officials and ordinary citizens are gathering across the US to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The suicide attacks claimed the lives of almost 3,000 people when four hijacked airplanes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Virginia and a field in Shanksville.

Saudi Arabia Offers Germany 200 Mosques – One For Every 100 Refugees Who Arrived Last Weekend

THE INDEPENDENT: The kingdom has faced criticism over its response to the crisis

Saudi Arabia has reportedly responded to the growing number of people fleeing the Middle East for western Europe – by offering to build 200 mosques in Germany.

Syria’s richer Gulf neighbours have been accused of not doing their fair share in the humanitarian crisis, with Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the UAE also keeping their doors firmly shut to asylum-seekers. » | Adam Withnall | Friday, September 11, 2015

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Die arabische Halbinsel schottet sich ab: Die Golfstaaten und Saudi-Arabien stellen sich taub gegenüber ihren muslimischen Glaubensbrüdern aus den Bürgerkriegsstaaten. Riad möchte lieber für die syrischen Flüchtlinge in Deutschland 200 Moscheen bauen. » | Rainer Hermann | Dienstag, 8. September 2015

Related »

Video Shows Refugees Fed 'Like Animals in Pen' in Hungary Camp

THE TELEGRAPH: Austrian volunteer who filmed footage in Hungary's Roszke camp says treatment of refugees "like Guantanamo in Europe"

Disturbing footage emerged on Friday of the way migrants are being treated inside Hungary's main refugee camp on the border with Serbia, with images showing families fed "like animals in a pen".

The video, shot secretly by an Austrian volunteer who visited the flashpoint Roszke camp on Wednesday, shows some 150 people wildly scrambling for bags of sandwiches thrown at them by Hungarian police wearing helmets and hygiene masks in a fenced-in enclosure inside a big hall.

Hungarian police said on Friday they had launched an investigation into the video.

In an e-mailed response, police said they had launched an "emergency enquiry" into the matter, describing it as a fact-finding investigation, without elaborating. (+ video) » | Telegraph Video, and AFP, video source Michaela Spritzendorfer-Ehrenhauser | Friday, September 11, 2015

European Refugee Crisis - The Anatomy of a Cover-up

‪The Glazov Gang:‬ The Problem With ISNA Influence on Mosques in America

The Glazov Gang-The Problem With ISNA Influence on Mosques in America. Dr. Mark Christian (President, Global Faith Institute)

HT: Jamie Glazov @ Jihad Watch »

Saudi Arabia Won’t Take Any Syrian Refugees, But Offers to Build 200 Mosques for Them in Germany

JIHAD WATCH: This tells you all you need to know about the “refugee” crisis in Europe. It is, as I said, a hijrah: a migration for the sake of Allah, to plant Islam in a new land. If they were really refugees, the Saudis would take them. But no, they are invaders, and the Saudis are offering to make things easier for them by providing them with facilities for the invasion — remember, four separate studies since 1998 have shown that 80% of Saudi-funded mosques in the U.S. teach hatred of Jews and Christians and the necessity to replace the Constitution with Sharia. » | Robert Spencer | Thursday, September 10, 2015

TAGES ANZEIGER: Saudischer König will für Flüchtlinge in Deutschland 200 Moscheen bauen » | Dienstag, 8. September 2015

Netanyahu in Britain: Mideast Crumbling in Face of Radical Islam

THE JERUSALEM POST: Prime Minister Netanyahu declares he is ready to immediately renew peace negotiations with the Palestinians without preconditions.

The Middle East is disintegrating in the face of extreme Shi'a radicalism embodied by Iran, and extreme Sunni extremism incarnated by Islamic State, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the outset of a meeting Thursday in London with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Netanyahu said that this – and how to “roll back the tide of militant Islam both in the Middle East and North Africa” – was one of three main issues he wanted to discuss with Cameron.

The second “no less important” issue, he said, was peace. (+ video) » | Herb Keinon | Thursday, September 10, 2015

Is This the ‘Religion of Peace’ Our Politicians Keep Harping On about? Islamic School Teachers Beat Boy, 10, So Badly He Loses Hair from Stress

Mohammed Waqar and his father Mohammed Siddique

THE TELEGRAPH: Mohammed Siddique and son Mohammed Waqar sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court after admitting wilful cruelty to young boy in lessons

Islamic school teachers who brutally beat a 10-year-old pupil until he lost his hair from worry have each been jailed for a year.

Mohammed Siddique, 60, and his 24-year-old son Mohammed Waqar were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court after admitting wilful cruelty to the boy in lessons.

Judge Mark Wall QC told the pair "it would not be right" to suspend the jail terms, because a message had to be sent that such "brutality" had no place in classrooms. He said: "Acts of brutality of this sort which you each indulged in, with a stick, will not be tolerated."

Their victim was beaten with a plastic stick and given back-handed slaps by tutors for "talking in the classroom" or failing to properly recite the Koran at Sparkbrook Islamic centre, attached to the Jamia Mosque, in Birmingham.

The assaults happened on four separate occasions, with photographs of the boy's injuries showing "extensive" bruising to the backs of his legs. » | Agency | Thursday, September 10, 2015

Poland Launches Probe into Calls to Send Refugees to Auschwitz Camp

In Poland, calls to send refugees to former Nazi camps and have them murdered, appeared in the comments of a local TV channel's social network page. The prosecutor's office in Warsaw has launched an inquiry into incitement of national and religious hatred. The racist comments included calls to exterminate migrants and refugees at Auschwitz.

Islamic Extremists 'Trying to Recruit Syrian Refugees in Germany'

German Salafist preacher Pierre Vogel

THE TELEGRAPH: Islamic extremists in Germany are trying to recruit Syrian refugees to their cause, warns country’s domestic security service

Islamic extremists in Germany are trying to recruit Syrian refugees to their cause, the country’s domestic security service has said.

The warning came as one of Germany’s best known Islamist preachers published a list of suggestions for his followers on how best to approach refugees.

Pierre Vogel, a former boxer and convert to Islam who has been described as “Germany’s most influential Salafist preacher”, a puritan branch of Sunni Islam, called on his followers to seek out new recruits at government refugee shelters.

The preacher told his followers to take gifts and donations with them, and to volunteer to help staff with the influx. If the offer was refused, they should seek out newly arrived refugees at nearby mosques where they would go to pray, he said. » | Justin Huggler in Berlin | Thursday, September 10, 2015

Yazidi Girl: I Was Enslaved by ISIS Leader

A young Yazidi woman tells CNN's Atika Shubert that she was handpicked by ISIS leader Abu Bakar Al Baghdadi, held captive and forced to serve his wives and children.