Monday, February 16, 2015
Egypt Bombs IS in Libya after Beheadings Video
State TV said the dawn strikes had targeted camps, training sites and weapons storage areas. A second wave of strikes was reported hours later.
Libyan officials said Egypt hit targets in the militant-held city of Derna. The strikes came amid widespread condemnation of the killings. The US and UN described them as "cowardly".
A video emerged on Sunday showing militants forcing a group of men to the ground and decapitating them.
The kidnapped Egyptian workers, all Coptic Christians, were seized in separate incidents in December and January from the coastal town of Sirte in eastern Libya, under the control of Islamist groups.
The video of the beheadings was posted online by Libyan jihadists who pledge loyalty to IS. It was one of the first such videos to come from an IS group outside its core territory in Syria and Iraq.
The video describes the Copts as "crusaders" and refers among other things to two women, wives of Coptic priests, whose alleged conversion to Islam triggered a sectarian dispute in Egypt in 2010.
IS militants claim to have carried out several attacks in Libya, which in effect has rival governments. (+ BBC video) » | Monday, February 16, 2015
How Isil Spread to Libya - and Now Has Europe in Its Sights
Isil's execution of 21 Egyptian Christians on Libya's Mediterranean shore is intended as a clear message to Europe: the group is expanding its geographical spread, and it has the West in its sights.
The slow creep of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) through Libya has gone largely unnoticed, but it is here, in a divided nation spiralling further into chaos, that the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's men are now finding find fertile ground.
The jihadist group - one of several now operating in Libya - gained a foothold in the port city Derna in back October, after a senior Isil official travelled to eastern Libya to unite a panoply of militant factions under a single banner.
The Isil leader has since recognised the Libyan "provinces" of Barqa in the east, Tripolitania in the west, and Fezzan in the desert south as belonging to his self-styled "caliphate." » | Louisa Loveluck | Monday, February 16, 2015
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Hundreds of Jewish Tombs Damaged in Northern France
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| Overturned grave stones in the Jewish cemetery in Saare-Union |
Hundreds of graves have been vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France, in what the president called an "odious and barbaric" anti-Semitic act against French values.
The vandalism comes at a time of growing insecurity among French Jews and amid general religious tensions in Europe, after Islamic radicals attacked a kosher market and a satirical newspaper in Paris last month and similar attacks hit Denmark this weekend.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement Sunday that a criminal investigation team is at the damaged cemetery in Sarre-Union, near the German border, and authorities will do "everything" to pursue the vandals. » | Reuters | Sunday, February 15, 2015
Islamic State: Egyptian Christians Held in Libya 'Killed'
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| Egyptians had protested earlier this week calling for the return of the kidnapped Copts |
The footage shows a group wearing orange overalls, being forced to the ground and then decapitated.
It was posted online by Libyan jihadists who say they are allied with IS.
Egypt's president had earlier this week offered to airlift Egyptian expatriates out of Libyan territory.
The kidnapped Egyptian workers, all Coptic Christians, were seized from the coastal town of Sirte in eastern Libya, now under the control of Islamist groups. » | Sunday, February 15, 2015
Nétanyahou appelle les Juifs d'Europe à émigrer en Israël
Avec des mots comparables à ceux qu'il avait employés après la tuerie de l'Hyper Cacher, Benyamin Nétanyahou a lancé dimanche un appel à l'«émigration massive» des Juifs d'Europe vers Israël. «Le terrorisme islamique vient encore de frapper en Europe, a dénoncé le premier ministre israélien lors de la réunion hebdomadaire de son cabinet, et cette vague de terreur va se poursuivre.» Un plan de 180 millions de shekels (environ 40 millions d'euros), destiné à faciliter l'accueil des Juifs de France, de Belgique et d'Ukraine, était examiné au même moment par son gouvernement. «Aux Juifs d'Europe comme à ceux du monde entier, je peux dire qu'Israël vous attend les bras ouverts», a conclu Benyamin Nétanyahou. Cette invitation, lancée quelques heures seulement après l'attaque qui a coûté la vie à un jeune juif posté devant une synagogue de Copenhague, a été accueillie avec une certaine fraîcheur par le grand rabbin du Danemark. » | Par Cyrille Louis | dimanche 15 février 2015
Der neue Exodus der europäischen Juden
Israels Außenminister Avigdor Lieberman ist nicht bekannt für diplomatische Zurückhaltung. Er pflegt das offene Wort. So auch jetzt, nach den Attentaten von Kopenhagen. Der Politiker forderte einen "kompromisslosen Krieg gegen den islamistischen Terror und seine Wurzeln". "Die internationale Gemeinschaft darf sich nicht mehr mit Erklärungen und Demonstrationen gegen den Terror zufriedengeben, sondern muss die Regeln der politischen Korrektheit aufgeben", verlangte Lieberman auf seiner Facebook-Seite.
Die Anschläge – auch auf eine Synagoge – bewiesen, dass Israel und die Juden "die Frontlinie im Krieg sind, den die Terroristen gegen den Westen und die ganze freie Welt führen". Bei einem Anschlag auf ein Kulturcafé und Schüssen auf eine Synagoge waren in Kopenhagen zwei Menschen getötet und mehrere verletzt worden. » | Von Gil Yaron, Tel Aviv | Sonntag, 15. Februar 2015
Danish PM on Jihad Murders: “This Is Not a War between Islam and the West”
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| Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the Danish Prime Minister |
Saudi Arabia Condemns 'Terrorist' Killing of American Muslims in North Carolina
The statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency also condemned as a "terrorist" act the recent attacks that killed two people in Denmark, one at a panel discussion that included an artist who caricatured the Prophet Muhammad and the other outside a synagogue.
In neighboring Qatar, several thousand people held a march Sunday in the capital Doha in solidarity with the families of the North Carolina victims. The marchers appealed for protection against hate crimes for the tens of thousands of young Arabs studying in the United States on scholarships funded by the energy-rich governments of the Gulf. » | Associated Press | Sunday, February 15, 2015
Muslim Population in England and Wales Nearly Doubles in 10 Years
The Muslim population of England and Wales is growing faster than the overall population, with a higher proportion of children and a lower ratio of elderly people, according to an analysis of official data.
One in three Muslims is under 15, compared with fewer than one in five overall. There are also fewer elderly Muslims, with 4% aged over 65, compared with 16% of the overall population.
In 2011, 2.71 million Muslims lived in England and Wales, compared with 1.55 million in 2001. There were also 77,000 Muslims in Scotland and 3,800 in Northern Ireland. » | Aisha Gani | Wednesday, February 11, 2015
'Copenhagen Gunman' Shot Dead
Copenhagen police said on Sunday they believe a man shot dead by officers was responsible for two fatal attacks that shocked the normally peaceful Danish capital.
The killings, coming little more than a month after bloody Islamist attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead, were described by Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt as "a cynical act of terror".
The man believed to be behind the shootings was shot dead after he opened fire on police at a rail station, a spokesman said.
It came after a 55-year-old man was killed at a panel discussion about Islam and free speech on Saturday attended by the Swedish cartoonist behind controversial caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
In the second attack, a Jewish man was killed and two police officers were wounded outside Copenhagen's main synagogue early on Sunday.
"We believe the same man was behind both shootings and we also believe that the perpetrator who was shot by the police action force at Noerrebro station is the person behind the two attacks," Torben Moelgaard Jensen told a press conference. » | AFP | Sunday, February 15, 2015
Copenhagen shooting during debate on Islam: live »
Danish Rabbi Criticises Benjamin Netanyahu's Jewish Emigration Call
Benjamin Netanyahu has clashed with Denmark's chief rabbi after seizing on the weekend's deadly shootings in Copenhagen to call on European Jews to emigrate en mass to Israel.
Rabbi Jair Melchior said he was "disappointed" by the comments of Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, who made a fresh plea for Jewish emigration while extending condolences to Denmark over the twin attacks. An armed assailant killed a Jewish man guarding Copenhagen's main synagogue at around 1am on Sunday morning, following an earlier incident at a cultural centre hosting a conference on free speech in which another man was shot dead.
"Jews have been murdered again on European soil only because they were Jews and this wave of terrorist attacks – including murderous anti-Semitic attacks – is expected to continue," Mr Netanyahu told the Israeli cabinet, as it met to approve a £30 million scheme to absorb Jewish immigrants from France, Belgium and Ukraine.
"Jews deserve protection in every country but we say to Jews: Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe. I would like to tell all European Jews and all Jews wherever they are: 'Israel is the home of every Jew.' ... Israel is waiting for you with open arms." Read on and comment » | Robert Tait, Jerusalem | Sunday, February 15, 2015
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Dresden: Tausende bei Pegida-Kundgebung
In Deutschland rückt mit der Rückkehr von Pegida-Gründer Lutz Bachmann die islamkritische Dresdner Bewegung weiter nach rechts. Zur ersten Pegida-Kundgebung seit Abspaltung der Gruppe um Ex-Sprecherin Kathrin Oertel zogen am Montagabend laut Polizei rund 2000 Demonstranten vor die Dresdner Frauenkirche. » | APA/dpa | Montag, 09. Februar 2015
Record de neige à Boston, des centaines de vols annulés
Une nouvelle tempête de neige a provoqué l'annulation de centaines de vols et la fermeture d'écoles et d'administrations dans le nord-est des Etats-Unis, notamment à Boston.
La tempête pourrait encore voir 60 cm de neige tomber sur la principale ville du Massachusetts, qui a déjà battu un record, avec 1,54 mètre de neige tombée en un mois. Le précédent record, qui datait de 1978, était de 1,49 m de neige en un mois. » | lundi 09 février 2015
Monday, February 09, 2015
Vladimir Putin's Egypt Visit Sends Message to US
Russian president Vladimir Putin has flown to Cairo for a two-day visit, in a move nominally aimed at bolstering bilateral ties with Egypt that also allows both countries to send pointed messages to the US.
As Russian and western diplomats struggle to reach a peace deal over the conflict in Ukraine, Putin will spend Monday evening at Cairo’s opera house. In meetings on Tuesday, the day before the resumption of Ukraine peace talks, Putin is expected to hold discussions about ending the use of the US dollar in bilateral trade between Egypt and Russia. Collaboration between a Russian and Egyptian newspaper is also reported to be scheduled for discussion.
Analysts believe both sides, though interested in forming stronger relations, primarily seek to signal to the international community that their foreign policies are not to be dictated by others. In the middle of negotiations that have left him with few friends, Putin wants to show that he still has allies, said Ben Judah, a chronicler of Putin’s life, and the author of Fragile Empire, a book about Putin’s Russia. Read on and comment » | Patrick Kingsley in Cairo | Monday, February 09, 2015
Queen Rania Addresses Government Summit Delegates
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