Monday, July 21, 2014
Inside Story: Cyprus Divided - 40 Years On
Jihadists Seize Ancient Iraqi Monastery and Expel Monks
Jihadist militants have taken over a monastery in northern Iraq, one of the country's best-known Christian landmarks, and expelled its resident monks, a cleric and residents said Monday.
Islamic State (IS) fighters stormed Mar (Saint) Behnam, a fourth-century monastery run by the Syriac Catholic church near the predominantly Christian town of Qaraqosh, on Sunday, the sources said.
"You have no place here anymore, you have to leave immediately," a member of the Syriac clergy quoted the Sunni militants as telling the monastery's residents.
He said the monks pleaded to be allowed to save some of the monastery's relics but the fighters refused and ordered them to leave on foot with nothing but their clothes.
Christian residents from the area told AFP the monks walked several miles along a deserted road and were eventually picked up by Kurdish peshmerga fighters who drove them to Qaraqosh. » | AFP | Monday, July 21, 2014
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Christians Lie and Wives Must Have Sex or Go to Hell, Trojan Horse Pupils Told
Children were taught that all Christians are liars and attempts were made to introduce Sharia law in classrooms as part of an alleged 'Trojan Horse' takeover plot of Birmingham schools, an inquiry has found.
The inquiry commissioned by Birmingham City Council found evidence of religious extremism in 13 schools as school governors and teachers tried to promote and enforce radical Islamic values.
Schools put up posters warning children that if they didn't pray they would "go to hell", Christmas was cancelled and girls were taught that women who refused to have sex with their husbands would be "punished" by angels "from dusk to dawn".
The report found that the extremism went unchecked because the council "disastrously" prioritised community cohesion over "doing what is right".
It concluded that there was a "determined effort" by "manipulative" governors to introduce "unacceptable" practices, "undermine" head teachers and deny students a broad and balanced education. » | Steven Swinford, Senior Political Correspondent | Friday, July 18, 2014
Bolivia Becomes First Nation to Legalise Child Labour from Age 10
Alicia weaves through El Alto's stalled traffic under a blazing sun, hawking colourful woven flowers to grumpy drivers and lovers. With luck, the 12-year-old and her mother will together muster £10 by day's end, all the while keeping watch over her younger brother and sister, ages 8 and 6.
"It is difficult for my mother to sell alone because she has to look after my siblings," said Alicia, who normally goes to school in the afternoon but is using her vacation to help her mother by working the entire day. As her siblings sleep, her mother knits the flowers that Alicia sells.
While most of the world is trying to diminish child labour, Bolivia has become the first nation to legalise it from age 10. Congress approved the legislation early this month, and Vice President Alvaro Garcia signed it into law on Thursday in the absence of President Evo Morales, who was travelling.
The bill's sponsors say lowering the minimum work age from 14 simply acknowledges a reality: many poor families in Bolivia have no other choice than for their kids to work. The bill offers working children safeguards, they say. » | Agencies | Saturday, July 19, 2014
'Radical Muslims On The March' - Hannity Investigation - Fox News
Muslims Attack Jews in Paris Synagogue
Ten thousand Muslims were protesting, in Paris, regarding Israel’s response to Hamas; a terrorist organization targeting the Israeli population with rockets and drones. The Muslims converged on the Don Isaac Abravanel Synagogue, and began chanting “Slaughter the Jews,” “Death to Jews” and “Hitler was right.” 10,000 Muslims vs. 150 Jews inside for a service were the odds of the day.
As if that were not enough intolerance, the Muslims attacked the synagogue.
The incident was partially caught on tape. » | Larry Provost | Saturday, July 19, 2014
Convert, Pay Tax, Or Die, Islamic State Warns Christians
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| Islamic insurgents in Mosul are consolidating control over the civilians, warning any Christians remaining in the city to agree to certain terms – or face death. |
Islamist insurgents have issued an ultimatum to northern Iraq's dwindling Christian population to either convert to Islam, pay a religious levy or face death, according to a statement issued by the Islamic State (Isis) and distributed in the militant-controlled city of Mosul. The al-Qaida offshoot that led last month's lightning assault to capture swathes of northern Iraq said the ruling would come into effect on Saturday.
In the statement, Isis said Christians who wanted to remain in the "caliphate" declared earlier this month in parts of Iraq and Syria must agree to abide by terms of a "dhimma" contract – a historic practice under which non-Muslims were protected in Muslim lands in return for a special levy known as "jizya". "We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract – involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword," the announcement said.
A resident of Mosul said the statement, issued in the name of the Islamic State in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, had been distributed on Thursday and read out in mosques. It said that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, which the group has now named Caliph Ibrahim, had set a Saturday deadline for Christians who did not want to stay and live under those terms to "leave the borders of the Islamic Caliphate". "After this date, there is nothing between us and them but the sword," it said. Read on and comment » | Reuters | Friday, July 18, 2014
Friday, July 18, 2014
How 'Caliph' Baghdadi Aimed His Sermon at the Muslim Devout
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Woman Helps Over 1,000 Belgian[s] Converts to Islam
Veronique Cools, a 25-year-old Belgian convert to Islam, has has helped over 1,000 people who have accepted Islam in the past 8 years.
Cools, who accepted Islam herself at a very young age after being influenced by her Muslim friends and researching into the religion, turned her home into an Islamic center for Belgian Muslims seeking to learn more about their religion. » | World Bulletin/News Desk | Saturday, July 12, 2014
Muslim Cleric Says Islam Sees No Distinction Between Combatants and Civilians, So Killing American Women and Children Is Fine
“In its war with the infidels, Islam recognizes no distinction between regular armies and civilians,” said Sudanese cleric Muhammad Al-Jazouli at his Friday sermon, citing a fatwa, or religious ruling.
The Middle East Media Research Institute found video of the sermon and posted translated excerpts online.
In the sermon, Al-Jazouli said he had been “overjoyed” to hear of one particular hadith, that is, a tradition related to the prophet Mohammed.
Al-Jazouli quoted a statement once conveyed to the prophet Mohammed that when Muslims would attack “the polytheists at night, women and children would be harmed.” » | Sharona Schwartz | Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Is This the Wife of Iraq's New Islamist Overlord?
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| Image from a video of a woman believed to be Saja al-Dulaimi, the wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi |
He is the world's most feared Islamic terrorist, carving out a new Middle East 'caliphate' through a combination of medieval butchery and stunning military success.
But until now, the wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State, has remained largely out of the public eye.
A photo has now emerged online purporting to show Saja Hamid al-Dulaimi – the woman whose husband now controls vast swathes of Syria and western Iraq after his forces routed government troops in a lightening eastern advance over recent weeks.
Although the provenance of the picture is unclear, it shows a youthful-looking woman draped in a black headscarf and gazing purposefully into the distance. » | Alastair Beach | Thursday, July 17, 2014
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Tesco Apologises after Muslim Checkout Worker Refused to Sell Customer Ham and Wine because It Was Ramadan
Tesco has issued an apology after a Muslim worker refused to sell a customer ham and wine because of Ramadan.
Mother-of-three Julie Cottle went into her local store to stock up, but was left stunned when a checkout employee insisted he couldn't serve her.
Muslims worldwide are currently fasting for Ramadan - the holy ninth month of the Islamic calendar where devotees abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours. » | Richard Spillett | Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Syria Conflict: Isis Marches Further into Syria Tipping the Balance of Power in the Civil War
Isis fighters have captured much of eastern Syria in the past few days while international attention has been focused on the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Using tanks and artillery seized in Iraq, it has taken almost all of oil-rich Deir Ezzor province and is battling to crush the resistance of the Syrian Kurds.
Isis is establishing dominance over the opposition to Syria’s President, Bashar al-Assad, as other rebel groups flee or pledge allegiance to the caliphate declared by the Isis leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, after the capture of Mosul on 10 June. On Monday, the jihadists took over the rebel held half of Deir Ezzor on the Euphrates river, raising their black flag over the city and executing the rebel commander from Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qa’ida affiliate that was previously in control.
The recent Isis advances in Syria, following victories in Iraq last month, are altering the balance of power in the whole region. The opposition military forces not aligned with the Syrian government or Isis are being squeezed out of existence, making obsolete the US, British, Saudi and Turkish policy of backing groups hostile to both Assad and Isis. » | Patrick Cockburn | Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Edward Snowden Should Not Face Trial, Says UN Human Rights Commissioner
The United Nations's top human rights official has suggested that the United States should abandon its efforts to prosecute Edward Snowden, saying his revelations of massive state surveillance had been in the public interest.
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, credited Snowden, a former US National Security Agency contractor, with opening a global debate that has led to calls for the curtailing of state powers to snoop on citizens online and store their data.
"Those who disclose human rights violations should be protected: we need them," Pillay told a news conference. Read on and comment » | Reuters in Geneva | Wesnesday, July 16, 2014
Andrew Grice: Cameron’s New Cabinet of Eurosceptics Will Push Us towards EU Exit Door
Although the headlines are about the demotion of Michael Gove and the promotion of women, Europe is the thread that runs through David Cameron’s wide-ranging reshuffle. We now have a Foreign Secretary in Philip Hammond who has said he would vote to leave the EU unless substantial powers are returned to Britain ahead of the in/out referendum planned for 2017. It is a significant appointment that will send shivers down the spines of some Foreign Office officials.
Although William Hague, the outgoing Foreign Secretary, insisted that Mr Hammond held the same view on Europe as Mr Cameron and himself, his promotion could mark another step towards the EU exit door.
The reshuffle also opens the way for a Conservative manifesto pledge to pull Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights. Liberal-minded ministers opposed to such a drastic move – Dominic Grieve, who had a pivotal role as Attorney General, Kenneth Clarke and Damian Green – have lost their jobs. Jeremy Wright, the new Attorney General, is a loyalist centre-right figure who will not rock the boat. The Liberal Democrats blocked Tory plans for a “British Bill of Rights” to replace Labour’s Human Rights Act, which incorporated the Convention into UK law. » | Andrew Grice | Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Monday, July 14, 2014
Rove: Obama's 'Lack of Self-awareness' Is 'Amazing'
'Obama's Mid East Policies Disastrous, He's Weakened & Withdrawing' – Political Scientist
From Citizens to Suspects: Cameron Pledges £800m on Nation's Cyber Intelligence
Netanyahu: Two-state Solution Impossible, Israel on Frontlines of Jihad
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