Syrian civil war spills over to... Australia

(SMH) It was not so much a death threat as a declaration of war.

''You wanna go to war, you f---in' Shia dogs?'' the phone message says. ''We're taking all of you to war, in Sydney and overseas!''

It was 8pm and Jamal Daoud, an aspiring politician from Auburn was having dinner with his wife and children. An outspoken critic of the Free Syrian Army, Daoud is accustomed to abuse but this call was more frightening than most.

''You wanna kill our brothers and sisters overseas, we're gonna kill you motherf---ers here,'' the caller says.

''We know where [you] live. We're coming past [your] house and shoot at [it], if there are people inside we don't give a f---. You wanna spill blood, we're gonna spill blood, you f---in' dogs!''

After two years and an estimated 100,000 deaths, the civil war in Syria has spilled on to the streets of Sydney. Auburn, Lakemba and Bankstown are the new battle lines.

The Syrian conflict, which pits the Sunni-dominated rebellion against the Alawite regime of President Bashar al-Assad, has split the Middle East in two; the Sunni regimes of Saudi Arabia and Qatar and large Sunni population in Lebanon on one side, Iran, the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and the broader Shiite Muslim population, of which the Alawites are an offshoot, on the other.

In Sydney, it is splitting suburbs along the same sectarian lines.

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"And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality."
Barack Obama, Cairo, June 4, 2009.

Muslim Brotherhood member about the opposition: "We will eat them whole"

From Ahram Online:

Another Brotherhood member, Ahmed Shata, a researcher at Mansoura University, expressed indifference regarding the huge number of protesters demanding Morsi's ouster.

"We will stay [at Rabaa Al-Adawiya]. Nobody will dare touch the presidential palace, otherwise we will eat them whole," he said.

Given the documented cannibalism of Syrian jihadists, his threat is probably not metaphorical.

Allegations of Obama NSA bugging and hacking of EU offices stir tension with European allies

(Fox News) Emerging allegations that America's National Security Agency bugged and hacked European Union offices stoked tension Sunday between U.S. and European officials, with German prosecutors announcing they are probing the claims.

The allegations were carried in a report by the German magazine Der Spiegel. They are the latest claims to surface regarding NSA surveillance activity, as on-the-lam leaker Edward Snowden feeds a series of sensitive documents to the media. Der Spiegel did not specifically say how it obtained the information.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz, in response, demanded a clarification from the NSA about the alleged program.

"I am deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of U.S. authorities spying on EU offices," Schulz said in a statement, according to The Wall Street Journal. "If the allegations prove to be true, it would be an extremely serious matter which will have a severe impact on EU-U.S. relations."

German federal prosecutors also said they are looking into the reports. The Federal Prosecutors' Office said in a statement Sunday that it was probing the claims so as to "achieve a reliable factual basis" before considering whether a formal investigation was warranted.

It also said private citizens were likely to file criminal complaints on the matter.

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Newly-Appointed UN Counter-Terrorism Chief Believes "Hamas is Not a Terrorist Organization"

From Human Rights Voices:

The UN Secretary-General has appointed as his top counter-terrorism official a man who says Hamas is not a terrorist organization.

Frenchmen Jean-Paul Laborde will become the Executive Director of the UN's Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate. His official job description is to "carry out the policies of the [Security Council Counter-Terrorism] Committee, conduct expert assessments of each Member State and facilitate counter-terrorism technical assistance to countries." His unofficial job description will be to undermine Israel and America's abilities to act in self-defense and to stymie the war against Islamic extremists.

Here is Laborde in his own words as reported by the Philippine news agency, April 14, 2010: "Hamas is not a terrorist organization in the United Nations...we should talk to Hamas..." Laborde also said that terrorism is rooted in the failure to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In his words: "once the Israeli-Palestinian issue is resolved, the threat of terrorism will diminish."

So Laborde is on board with the familiar UN narrative that goes like this: 'if it weren't for Israeli actions allegedly taken in self-defense, Palestinian terror would disappear. All the nations of the world are best-served by isolating, demonizing and neutering Israel, because Israel is at the heart of the terrorist phenomenon everywhere. Shackle Israel and terrorism around the world will dissipate.'

In fact, Islamic terrorism is driven by a hatred of freedom, of democracy and of tolerance - whether in Jerusalem, New York, London or Mumbai. Nevertheless, on one count a UN counter-terrorism chief who has no understanding of the unmitigated hatred motivating a terrorist organization like Hamas makes sense. The UN still has no definition of terrorism because the 56 Islamic member states of the UN continue to insist on an exemption clause for killing Israelis and Americans who get in the way of "liberation" and "self-determination." The moral ignorance of Laborde will fit right in.

Pakistan: 49 people, including many women and children, killed in bomb attacks

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) -- Bombings killed 49 people in three different areas of Pakistan on Sunday, just as Britain's prime minister was in the capital pledging to help to fight extremism.

In the deadliest of the attacks, twin blasts near a Shiite Muslim mosque in Quetta, the capital of southwest Baluchistan province, killed at least 28 people, including nine women and several children, said city police chief Mir Zubair Mahmood. Dozens of others were wounded.

Initial reports indicated a hand grenade caused the first blast, forcing people to run in the direction of the mosque, where a suicide bomber detonated his explosives, said another police officer, Fayaz Sumbal said.

Security forces prevented the bomber from entering the mosque, or the death toll would have been higher, said the provincial Home Secretary Akbar Durrani. Radical Sunni Muslims have stepped up attacks in the past two years against minority Shiites, whom they consider to be heretics.

Local TV video showed ambulances rushing victims to the hospital and wheeling them inside on stretchers. Some of the bodies were covered with white sheets. Relatives of the victims frantically entered the emergency room to inquire about their loved ones. Security forces cordoned off the area of the attack. The walls of shops near the blast were pockmarked with holes caused by small steel balls packed with the explosives to cause maximum death and destruction.

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Muslim Brotherly Love: Sunni Clerics Express Joy over Murder of Four Shiites in Egypt

Obama Gets Tough, 'Dialogue' Tough

Says Egypt needs 'more constructive conversation' as violence sweeps the country.

(VOA) President Barack Obama says the U.S. is looking at Egypt's escalating political unrest with concern, as opponents of President Mohamed Morsi call for his departure.

During a joint news conference in Pretoria Saturday with South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, Mr. Obama said the U.S. supports peaceful methods to bring about change in Egypt.

"I think every party has to denounce violence. We'd like to see the opposition and President Morsi engaged in a more constructive conversation around how they move their country forward because nobody is benefiting from the current stalemate that exists there."

In Egypt, at least seven people have been killed and hundreds more wounded during days of street fighting between government supporters and opponents.

Authorities say three people were killed Friday, including Andrew Pochter, a young American student who was stabbed to death while photographing protests in Alexandria.

In a statement, Pochter's family said he loved the region's culture and had a summer job teaching English to school children in Alexandria.

Egypt's opposition has been accusing Mr. Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood movement of trying to undermine secular rights.

Activists are planning a massive anti-government rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday, which is the anniversary of Mr. Morsi's ascent to the presidency last year.

Meanwhile, at least eight members of Egypt's upper house of parliament announced they were resigning, on Saturday, in protest of Mr. Morsi.

FNC Special: Benghazi: The Truth Behind the Smokescreen

Hundreds of thousands march in Egypt, pushing for Morsi removal

CAIRO (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt's Islamist president poured out onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi's Islamist supporters vowing to defend him.

Waving Egyptian flags and posters of Morsi crossed out in red, crowds packed central Cairo's Tahrir square, the birthplace of the 2011 uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak, thunderous chants of "erhal!", or "leave!" rang out.

At the same time, tens of thousands marched from points around Cairo, heading toward Tahrir and toward Morsi's Ittihadiya presidential palace in another part of the city. The crowds, including women, children and elderly people, hoisted long banners in the colors of the Egyptian flag and raised red cards — a sign of expulsion in soccer.

With protesters from a range of social and economic levels in a festive atmosphere, the crowds resembled those from the 18 days of protests against Mubarak — a resemblance the protesters sought to reinforce, chanting the slogan from that time: "The people want to topple the regime."

Some carried tents, planning to camp in Tahrir or outside the palace. Residents of nearby buildings sprinkled water down on the marchers to cool them in the punishing summer heat and waved flags and blew whistles in support.

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Chinese crack down on Muslim violence in western Uighur region

BEIJING (LAT) -- Dozens of armored vehicles and military trucks entered the capital of the western Chinese region of Xinjiang on Saturday as President Xi Jinping ordered tighter security following at least two outbreaks of violence.

The show of force came amid rising tensions between minority Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese authorities as the region prepares to mark the fourth anniversary of ethnic clashes that left nearly 200 people dead in Urumqi in July 2009.

Photos from Urumqion in the microblog service Weibo showed white armored vehicles and open-topped trucks filled with troops and police in riot gear. An AFP reporter on the scene said the action shut down large sections of the city’s center, with hundreds of armed troops massing in People’s Square.

On Friday, state-run media said, more than 100 knife-wielding people riding motorbikes attacked a police station in the city of Hotan. The number of casualties was unclear Saturday.

Official media reported no injuries or deaths but Radio Free Asia said two people may have been slain by police officers who became unnerved when Uighurs began shouting religious slogans after leaving a mosque.

Friday’s violence followed a bloody clash Wednesday in the town of Lukqun in which at least 35 people died. It was the deadliest incident since the riots in 2009.

6 Taliban killed by own bombs

Instant karma.

KABUL (CAO) – Six Taliban accidentally blew themselves up with their own bombs June 27 in separate incidents, Bakhtar News Agency reported, citing an Afghan Interior Ministry statement.

They were trying to plant bombs to target security forces, but the devices detonated prematurely, the statement said.

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Russia evacuates its naval base in Syria

(CSM) In a surprise move, Russia has pulled all its military and nondiplomatic civilian personnel out of Syria. That includes a complete evacuation of the naval supply station in the Mediterranean port of Tartus, which is often discussed as one of Russia's key reasons for its long and stubborn support of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

"We have neither servicemen nor civilians in Syria anymore. Or Russian military instructors assigned to units of the Syrian regular Army, for that matter," a Russian defense ministry spokesperson is quoted as telling the Moscow business daily Vedomosti yesterday.

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Syrian Islamists attack Christian village, storm and loot monastery, kill priest trying to defend nuns

These are soon-to-be beneficiaries of the American arms shipments courtesy of one Barack Obama.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - "Fr. Franҫois Mourad's killing of is a sad occurrence and a blow to all the friars of the Custody of the Holy Land," said Fr Pizzaballa, Custos of the Holy Land, as he spoke with AsiaNews about the Syrian clergyman who died on Sunday in al-Ghassaniyah, a predominantly Christian village in Jisr al-Shughur District, Idlib province. His funeral was celebrated yesterday in the small village of Kanaieh, a few kilometres from where he was killed.

Until yesterday, there were two versions of the murder, the first spoke about a stray bullet, the second of an actual attack carried out by Islamist insurgents against the Monastery of St Anthony in al-Ghassaniyah.

"The second is the most reliable version," Fr Pizzaballa said. "From the photos and the testimony of our religious, the rebels attacked the village in past few weeks, forcing most residents to flee."

The Monastery of St Anthony was the only safe haven, where Fr Franҫois lived along with some Franciscan friars, four nuns and ten lay Christians. But on Sunday, rebels part of a fringe extremist Islamic group, stormed that place too."

According to the Custos of the Holy Land, Islamists broke into the convent, looted it and destroyed everything. When Fr Franҫois tried to defend the nuns and other people, the gunmen shot him dead.

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How Hezbollah Funds Terror: Illicit Drugs and Money Laundering

(IDFblog.com) Today, the United Nations marks the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The day is about much more than preventing drug addiction. It also highlights a pressing international concern – organizations selling drugs throughout the world.

Hezbollah – a terror group which seeks to destroy Israel – is one such organization. The group finances its terrorism using a sophisticated drug-trafficking operation. Despite the world’s objections, Hezbollah continues to profit from its drug sales. Stopping its drug trafficking could be a major step toward preventing its global acts of terror.

Hezbollah primarily earns its profits through drug sales in Latin America, but its activities have been traced across multiple continents. The group combines its drug profits with proceeds from legitimate used-car sales in West Africa. Until it was uncovered by officials, this global money-laundering scheme effectively masked Hezbollah’s earnings.

Concerns about Hezbollah’s crimes are growing throughout the international community. In April of this year, the United States Treasury Department took action against Hezbollah for working as a drug cartel. The department also blacklisted two Lebanese financial institutions, accusing them of transferring tens of millions of dollars to the terror group.

In 2001, international intelligence sources identified Lebanese residents operating for Hezbollah in South America’s tri-border area (Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil). The area has become a major source of funding for Hezbollah’s terror activities. In October 2008, investigators took down a cocaine smuggling operation in Colombia, noting that “profits from the sales of drugs went to finance Hezbollah.”

In Germany, officials arrested two suspects in Frankfurt’s airport after linking four Lebanese individuals to nearly 10 million euros in drug profits. Officials accused the suspects of trading drugs and sending the proceeds to relatives directly connected to top Hezbollah officials.

In 2011, the U.S. government seized drug profits linked to Ayman Joumaa, a drug trafficker and money launderer, linked to Hezbollah. His network was earning as much as $200 million per month. More recently, in June of this year, four Lebanese men were sanctioned for effectively acting as “ambassadors” for Hezbollah in West Africa.

Hezbollah’s drug trafficking remains a major threat to the international community. In recent months, the group has stepped up its activities while political turmoil in Syria, a close ally and funder, has intensified.

On this day, as the world takes a stand against drug traffic, it is important for us all to understand where Hezbollah is sending its profits. Drug money funds Hezbollah, which murders innocent people through terrorism around the world.

Pakistani mother, 2 daughters slain in brutal ‘honor killing’ over family video

(WT) A family video showing two teenage sisters enjoying a rain shower on the lawn of their bungalow led to their deaths in Chilas, Pakistan, on Sunday night.

Five masked men barged into the house of retired police officer Rehmat Nabi and started firing, killing his wife and daughters, ages 15 and 16, the Pakistani news site Dawn.com reported.

The video was circulated in the area, and police believe the girls’ stepbrother, Khutore, took their behavior as an “assault on the honor of his family” and tried to “restore the family’s honor” by killing the girls, Dawn.com said.

Khutore escaped, and authorities do not know his whereabouts. Four of his friends were arrested, however, and they have confessed to the murders, a senior police official told Dawn.com. Charges have been brought against the stepbrother.

The only honorable thing to do here is to take the girls’ stepbrother, Khutore, and his friends and send him as a treat to the Syrian cannibals.

Syria: Civil War Death Toll Now Over 100K, War Spills Over To Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) - More than 100,000 people have been killed since the start of the Syrian conflict over two years ago, an activist group said Wednesday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has been tracking the death toll in the conflict through a network of activists in Syria, released its death toll at a time when hopes for a negotiated settlement to end the civil war are fading.

It said it had tallied a total of 100,191 deaths over the 27 months of the conflict, but Observatory chief Rami Abdul-Rahman said he expected the real number was higher as neither side was totally forthcoming about its losses.

Of the dead, 36,661 are civilians, the group said.

On the government side, 25,407 are members of President Bashar Assad's armed forces, 17,311 are pro-government fighters and 169 are militants from Lebanon's Hezbollah, who have fought alongside army troops.

Deaths among Assad's opponents included 13,539 rebels, 2,015 army defectors and 2,518 foreign fighters battling against the regime.

Entry of the foreign media into Syria is severely restricted and few reports from the fighting can be independently verified.

The total amount of dead in the Israeli-Palestinians conflict since 1948 is less than 15,000, and yet it's the biggest travesty on this planet to many. What gives?

Earlier this week, sectarian tensions drew Lebanon's weak army into the fray. Eighteen soldiers were killed in a two-day battle between the army and supporters of a radical Sunni sheik in the southern city of Sidon. The army had earlier reported 17 deaths and said Wednesday that another soldier died of his wounds in a hospital.

The conflict reached the capital Beirut on Wednesday when masked men ambushed a bus and attacked the approximately 30 people aboard with knives, a Lebanese official said. He said 10 people were wounded in the attack in the eastern part of the city, including five Syrians, two Palestinians and three Lebanese, the officials said. He spoke anonymously in line with regulations.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the bus was carrying Syrians headed to a TV studio in the eastern Sunday Market district to take part in a cultural program. It said there were eight attackers, who fled the area.

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Have you noticed how the "international community" is silent about Palestinians being knifed? What gives?

Lebanon: 12 dead in Lebanon as Sunnis fight with soldiers

To be fair, the Sunnis wanted to fight with Hezbollah but the soldiers got in the way.

BEIRUT, Lebanon (NYT) — Clashes raged on Sunday in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon between the army and the followers of a hard-line Sunni Muslim sheik, paralyzing traffic on a main highway and leaving at least 12 people dead.

The violence on Sunday, which continued into the night, reflected how deeply the civil war in neighboring Syria has undermined security in Lebanon, many of whose citizens still carry bitter memories of their country’s own 15-year civil war. Sidon, a Mediterranean port, is a mostly Sunni city whose population largely sympathizes with the Sunni-led insurgency in Syria.

The clashes in Sidon pitted the Lebanese Army against the armed followers of Sheik Ahmad al-Assir, who has earned national fame through a series of stunts in the news media and public calls for the disarming of the Shiite group Hezbollah, Lebanon’s strongest military force, which has been fighting in Syria on the side of the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

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Gaza: Hamas kills key Islamic Jihad field commander

Oh goody!

Ramallah: Al Quds Brigades of the Islamic Jihad has held Hamas Police in Gaza responsible for the death of a key Islamic Jihad field leader, Raed Qasim Jundiyah, who sustained serious head injuries when he clashed with Hamas police after they arrived at his residence in eastern Gaza to arrest him.

The Islamic Jihad said in a statement that Palestinian factions in Gaza have their own way of tackling the issues of the resistance groups and that there have been known channels to address disputes.

It accused Hamas of never adhering to those channels and regulations and of acting on its own which caused the death of Jundiyah, who is also one of Israel’s most wanted figures. [I'm surprised Islamic Jihad hasn't accused Hamas of being a Zionist tool or something. -ed.]

Islamic Jihad said that Jundiyah had been transferring arms from one place to another as the location of the arms has been known to some individuals who he believed may misuse them, but the Hamas authorities acted without coordination with the faction’s armed wing.

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Headline of the day: "Across the Middle East, hatreds between Sunnis, Shiites are becoming more virulent"

CAIRO (AP) — It's not hard to find stereotypes, caricatures and outright bigotry when talk in the Middle East turns to the tensions between Islam's two main sects.

Shiites are described as devious, power-hungry corruptors of Islam. Sunnis are called extremist, intolerant oppressors.

Hatreds between the two are now more virulent than ever in the Arab world because of Syria's civil war. On Sunday, officials said four Shiites in a village west of Cairo were beaten to death by Sunnis in a sectarian clash unusual for Egypt.

Hard-line clerics and politicians on both sides in the region have added fuel, depicting the fight as essentially a war of survival for their sect.

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Palestinian Terrorists Fire 7 Rockets From Gaza Into Southern Israel

(INN) Terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza fired at least seven rockets into southern Israel on Sunday night.

Around 1:00 a.m., four rockets were fired towards the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. One of them may have been intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, and the other three exploded in open areas. There were no physical injuries or damages.

Earlier, terrorists fired three rockets towards the Bnei Shimon Regional Council. The rockets exploded in open areas, causing no physical injuries or damages.

Residents reported hearing a siren shortly before midnight. The siren was heard in the Bedouin city of Rahat, in Netivot and in other towns in the area.

IDF Spokesman Yoav Mordechai wrote on his Facebook page Sunday night, "Again, an emergency meeting at about midnight. After 40 days of quiet, without fire from Gaza into Israeli territory, rockets which probably fell in open areas were fired tonight. A good and peaceful night for residents of the south.”

Last Wednesday morning, terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza fired three rockets at southern Israel.

At least one rocket exploded in an open region of the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, causing no physical injuries or damages. Two other rockets reportedly exploded in Gaza.

The rocket attacks come after a period of relative quiet in the region. The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said recently that May 2013 saw a decline in the number of terror attacks carried out against Israelis by Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists.

The report noted that in May there only three attacks which originated in Gaza, as opposed to 12 in April. Two of the three attacks were rocket attacks and the third one was a small arms shooting.

Syrian jihadists report new shipments of heavy weapons, credit U.S. influence

BEIRUT (WP) — Syrian rebels said Friday that newly arrived shipments of heavy weaponry could swing the momentum on the battlefield in their favor, after a shift in U.S. policy opened the door for others to send them arms.

Weapons from the United States have not materialized since the White House announced last week that it had authorized direct military support for the opposition, but the U.S. decision appears to have prompted other nations to increase their assistance, with new deliveries including highly prized antitank and antiaircraft weaponry, according to Khalid Saleh, a spokesman for the main Syrian Opposition Coalition.

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Video: Syrian jihadists blown up by their own bomb while bleating a celebratory song

Celebrating Syrian Insurgents are taken by surprise when a bomb they had been preparing explodes in the middle of a gathering. The number of casualties is not known but it appears as if the explosion caused significant damage considering it took place in the proximity of so many terrorists.

UK: Muslims desecrate British graves with Islamic graffiti

(England) Sick graffiti vandals crept into a cemetery to spray graves with Islamic messages.

The thugs used red paint to spray ‘Islam is great’ in large letters on one neatly-maintained grave.

On another headstone they painted the word ‘Islam’.

Visitors to the New Bradwell cemetery complained to council officials, who immediately sent out a graffiti removal squad.

Using specialist cleaning substances, council workers scrubbed the stones until no sign of the paint remained.

A spokesman said:“We have a policy to remove racist or highly offensive graffiti as soon as possible.

“We were very keen to remove this as soon as possible to minimise any further distress to the families.”

The council has appealed for information from anybody who saw people acting suspiciously around the graves.

“If we find out who is responsible we would certainly want them prosecuted and punished,” said the spokesman.

It is not yet known whether CCTV evidence will offer any clues to the perpetrators.

The name on the defaced grave pictured has been disguised by the Citizen to avoid distress to relatives.

Meanwhile other families who visit New Bradwell cemetery are furious about the vandalism.

“We’re worried they will strike again and damage other headstones,” said one visitor.

“To spray graffiti anywhere is mindless vandalism, but to deface a grave is the sickest thing imaginable.”

H/t: 7th Rangers

Iconic figure of Egypt's uprising Wael Ghonim to Morsi: Quit

CAIRO (AP) — The most iconic youth figure of Egypt's 2011 revolution has asked Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to step down ahead of planned protests to force him out on June 30.

In a video message posted on the Internet on Sunday, Wael Ghonim accused Morsi of reneging on promises he made ahead of his 2012 election. The president, he said, must act like a "patriotic Egyptian" and step down to prevent "strife" he said Egypt was headed to.

Many Egyptians have been alarmed by statements from Morsi supporters vowing to "smash" the protesters. Several hard-line Islamists have declared the protesters infidels whose killing is justified.

Morsi's supporters say that his opponents should try to remove him through the ballot box, and attempting to force him out is an attack on electoral legitimacy.

Syria: Suicide bombers kill 5 people in Damascus, car bomb kills 12 regime soldiers in Aleppo

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Suicide bombers targeted security compounds in the Syrian capital on Sunday, killing at least five people and wounding several others, the latest in an uptick of violence in Damascus as the regime tries to defend its seat of power.

A car bomb also killed 12 regime soldiers in the northern city of Aleppo, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists in Syria for information. It had no other details, and the government did not immediately confirm the attack.

The state-run news agency SANA said three suicide bombers blew themselves up while trying to break into the Rukneddine police station in northern Damascus, killing five people and wounding several others. It said three would-be suicide bombers also bombers tried to break into the Criminal Security Branch in the southern Bab Mousalla area but were caught by security forces before they could detonate their explosives.

Activists confirmed the death toll.

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Pakistan: Gunmen burst into hotel, kill 10 foreign nationals, including Russians, Chinese, Ukrainians

Snowden leaves Hong Kong on Russian Aeroflot flight, may head for a "democratic nation" of Venezuela

HONG KONG/MOSCOW (Reuters) - An aircraft believed to be carrying Edward Snowden landed in Moscow on Sunday after Hong Kong let the former U.S. security contractor leave the territory, despite Washington's efforts to extradite him to face espionage charges.

The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said Snowden was heading for a "democratic nation" which it did not name, although a source at the Russian airline Aeroflot said he would fly on within 24 hours to Cuba and then planned to go to Venezuela.

Moscow airport officials said the flight from Hong Kong had landed but could not immediately confirm Snowden was on board. However, a source at Aeroflot said he had booked a seat on the service.

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Report: Iran's new "moderate" president and Western left's darling Rohani tied to 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires

Bombing of Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA), killing 85 people, in July 18, 1994

(JPost) Iranian President-elect Hassan Rohani was on the special Iranian government committee that plotted the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, The Washington Free Beacon reported, citing an indictment by the Argentine government prosecutor investigating the case.

According to a 2006 indictment, the decision to launch the attack in Argentina was made within a special operations committee connected to the powerful Supreme National Security Council in August 1993.

According to the report, former Iranian intelligence official Abolghasem Mesbahi testified in 2006 that Rohani was a member of the special committee, as he was then serving as secretary of the council.

“With regard to the committee’s role in the decision to carry out the AMIA attack, Moghadam stated that this decision was made under the direction of Ali Khamenei, and that the other members of the committee were [then-Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi] Rafsanjani, Mir Hejazi, Rohani, Velayati and Fallahijan,” the Free Beacon quoted the indictment as saying.

According to the indictment, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei led the special committee, and Khamenei and Rafsanjani made the ultimate decision to go ahead with the attack.

Argentina has accused the Iranian government of directing the bombing, which killed 85 and injured 300, and the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah of carrying it out. No arrests have been made in the case.

Six Iranians have been on Interpol ’s most wanted list since 2007 in connection with the bombing, including the current defense minister, Gen. Ahmed Vahidi.

The report offers an intriguing window into the past thinking of Rohani, widely seen as a moderate or pragmatic conservative, whose surprise victory in weekend elections to succeed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was perceived by the United States and other Western powers as positive - at least at first glance.

Lebanese army seals off parliament after protests stemming from Syrian war

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Lebanese army sealed off Beirut's parliamentary district with razor wire and threatened stern action against violence on Friday after a night of unrest stoked by the war in Syria and political paralysis at home.

Around 100 protesters, angered by the postponement of June's parliamentary election until next year, scuffled with police on Thursday night near parliament. Twenty camped out overnight outside the ring of barbed wire, vowing to maintain the protest.

As the largely peaceful demonstration unfolded in central Beirut, protesters blocked roads with burning tyres elsewhere in the capital and in Bekaa Valley towns in eastern Lebanon.

Demonstrators said they were acting in solidarity with residents of the Sunni Muslim Bekaa town of Arsal, which they say has been cut off by security forces investigating the shooting of four Shi'ite Muslim men on Sunday.

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Obama regime stands up for its Muslim Brotherhood friends

Egyptian activists express outrage over US ambassador's criticism of anti- Muslim Brotherhood protests.

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian anti-government activists denounced the U.S. ambassador in Cairo Friday for a statement in which she criticized street protests as the opposition gears up for mass rallies to demand the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi.

The outrage mounted after Ambassador Anne Patterson said in a speech earlier this week that she is "deeply skeptical" that protests will be fruitful and defended U.S. relations with Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood as necessary because the group is part of the democratically elected Egyptian government.

"Some say that street action will produce better results than elections. To be honest, my government and I are deeply skeptical," she said Tuesday during a seminar organized by a Cairo research center. "Egypt needs stability to get its economic house in order, and more violence on the streets will do little more than add new names to the lists of martyrs."

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US troops undergo ant-riot training in preparation for their deployment to Egypt.

(KCEN) -- A group of soldiers are preparing for their deployment to Egypt with riot training on post.

They're planning ahead for violent protests or riots and the possibility of protecting the country's border with Israel.

Soldiers encountered Molotov cocktails and other dangerous items in the training.

Lt. Matthew Wilkinson says, "Just what I've seen over the course of the past week than we were a week ago."

PFC Perez Alexander says, "We want to be as professional as possible... Know what we're doing."

The family of a dead Hezbollah fighter makes an interesting observation

From The New York Times:

“It’s as if you take the fight against Israel and you bring it instead into your own house,” the Hezbollah supporter said. “But honestly,” he added, referring to Syrian rebels and the foreign radicals fighting with them, “it was them who brought it into the house.”

Muslim convert threatens to kill his mother for trying to "poison" him with a pork dinner

From The Smoking Gun:

JUNE 19--A Pennsylvania man allegedly threatened to kill his mother because he believed she tried to “poison” him by serving pork, “which was against his Muslim religion," investigators day.

Joshua Lee Coffey, 25, confronted his mother Sherri last week in the family’s home in St. Marys, a central Pennsylvania city.

Coffey accused his mother of “attempting to poison him,” noting that “the meat he was given to eat was pork, which was against his Muslim religion," according to a probable cause affidavit. A criminal complaint alleges that Coffey “did threaten to kill his mother…due to his displeasure with the dinner served to him.”

During the ensuing argument, Coffey allegedly threatened to kill his mother and her boyfriend (with whom she had been eating dinner in her bedroom).

At one point, Coffey went to the kitchen and retrieved a 10-inch kitchen knife. He then returned to the bedroom and “held the knife in a threatening manner,” prompting his mother to “flee out the window of the bedroom onto the roof.” Sherri Coffey subsequently called 911 and then went to a neighbor’s home to await the arrival of officers.

According to cops, Coffey held the knife to the throat of Mark Blair, his mother’s boyfriend, and threatened to kill him if his mother called the police. When cops reached the Coffey residence, they found Joshua, carrying the knife, in the backyard. After complying with an order to drop the weapon, Coffey was arrested.

Charged with simple assault and making terroristic threats, both misdemeanors, Coffey was booked into the Elk County jail in lieu of $5000 bail. He is scheduled for a June 25 preliminary hearing in District Court. (3 pages)

UN: Palestinian refugee camps in Syria now ‘theatres of war’

What else would you expect from the Palestinians?

17 June 2013 (UN) – Warning that the centrifugal force of the Syria crisis continues to imperil the region, a senior United Nations agency official today said that more than half of the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria have become “theatres of war,” where killings and kidnappings have become the norm.

According to the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Filippo Grandi, seven out of 12 of the agency’s camps are now virtually inaccessible.

“Killings, kidnappings, poverty, destruction and fear have become part of daily life,” he said at the bi-annual meeting of UNRWA’s Advisory Commission in Amman, Jordan.

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But let's be honest, that is not what's really important to the UN, they have a bigger fish to fry. From the same page:

7-Eleven raids target 14 stores harboring illegal immigrants from Pakistan and the Philippines, 40 more investigated

(AP) Nine owners and managers of 7-Eleven stores across Long Island and in Virginia were charged on Monday in a scheme to exploit immigrants from Pakistan and the Philippines, in part by paying them using the stolen Social Security numbers of a child and three dead people while stealing most of their wages.

Most of the defendants were arrested early Monday as federal authorities raided 14 franchise stores. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were executing search warrants at more than 40 other stores across the country suspected of similar infractions, authorities said at a news conference in Brooklyn.

Four defendants who hold both U.S. and Pakistani citizenship belong to a family that has participated in social events with Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, prosecutors said in court papers as they highlighted foreign ties while seeking to have the defendants held without bail until trial. Another defendant is a citizen of the Philippines. The government said the defendants pocketed tens of millions of dollars in the scheme, hiding some of the money.

Federal indictments naming eight men and one woman allege that since 2000 they employed more than 50 immigrants who didn't have permission to be in the U.S. They tried to conceal the immigrants' employment by stealing the identities of about two dozen people — including those of the child, the dead and a Coast Guard cadet — and submitting the information to the 7-Eleven payroll department.

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Scottish Police Worry Breakup of 2 Muslim Paedophile Rings Will “Increase Community Tensions”

Pedophile rings should cause community tensions.

(FPM) There’s so much tiptoeing around this story that you might get the impression that you’re at the Bolshoi Ballet instead of reading an article about the breakup of two major paedo rings.

Unfortunately for the police, the paedos in question appear to originate from a religion whose prophet had a thing for little girls. Naturally the Scottish Express can’t bring itself to say this, the prophet part or the Muslim part. The closest it can come to saying that is to mention that there is an ethnicity involved that “extremist” elements will capitalize on.

And it’s a safe bet that it’s not the Welsh we’re talking of here. (via Religion of Peace)

In another, utterly appalling example of child abuse, two 13-year-old Scots girls were groomed and raped by a network of “numerous” paedophiles across Britain.

This operation resulted in 37 arrests and the identification of 108 further potential victims and perpetrators. Again, all of those involved are still awaiting trial.

The details of the crackdown were revealed by Assistant Chief Constable Malcolm Graham to a Holyrood inquiry into the scale of child abuse. Concern is growing that the problem has been grossly underestimated for years, with police and prosecutors failing to take victims seriously.

Senior officers also fear the involvement of ethnic minority offenders in child sexual exploitation (CSE) will lead to “significant community tension”.

Ah, the dreaded backlash. No sooner does the Religion of Peace do something horrible, than we must all brace for the backlash.

So who are the ethnic offenders? The Express’ paper lips are sealed, but there is one hint.

According to a police source, “There are groups of foreign nationals involved in this and maybe respect for women isn’t seen as being a high priority in their country of origin.”

It’s nice of the Scottish cops to be so understanding of the cultural differences involved.

Mr Graham said: “In two large scale CSE investigations in Scotland a significant proportion of the identified perpetrators were from ethnic minority communities. It is not possible to draw conclusions from this relatively small dataset and more accurate data and wider research is required.

Naturally. We mustn’t jump the gun. Perhaps Mr. Graham would care to expand his dataset by abandoning his daughter in the vicinity of some moderate mosques and seeing how that goes.

“It is acknowledged extremist groups have attempted to associate CSE with wider immigration issues and this has the potential for significant unrest.”

Right, yes. The extremists are the ones who think filling Scotland with people whose religion was founded by a child molester might be a bad idea. The moderates are the ones who want to expand the dataset.

Mr Graham, formerly the top murder detective in Edinburgh, said the force was determined to “tackle this emerging threat to Scotland”.

Just not by talking about it or being extremist about it.

(I did an article on the SNP’s flirtation with Islam a few years ago. These are the wages of it.)

As immigration rules funnel more Muslims to Scotland to replace the native population, the Scottish National Party is aligning itself with an Islamist agenda. Mosques are clashing with traditional pubs. Scottish medical workers have been barred from eating at their desks during Ramadan. The Burka is being promoted and Scottish Muslims have been planning to set up an Islamic state in some remote part of Scotland. But they might as well do it in Glasgow.

New Iran Prez: Our Economic Problems All Israel's Fault

That's the guy the Obama administration believes is a “moderate”.

(INN) Hassan Rohani, Iran's new President, is being termed a “moderate” in Western media, but it appears that his moderation stops when it comes to Israel. In his first speech as Iran's new leader, Rohani quickly launched into a diatribe against Israel, blaming the Jewish state for Iran's economic problems.

Those problems largely have their roots in the sanctions imposed by the West on Iran, the result of the previous government's refusal to allow international inspectors into some of its nuclear facilities, and its insistence at enriching uranium at a level that would allow Tehran to build nuclear weapons. Western countries several times tried to work out arrangements with Iran to allow the country to continue nuclear enrichment at a level that would be used for civilian nuclear development programs in exchange for the removal of sanctions – but Tehran refused. [...]

On Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned the world not to be deceived by the leader’s “moderate” credentials. “We are not deluding ourselves,” the prime minister said said. “We need to remember that the Iranian ruler at the outset disqualified candidates who were not in line with his extreme world view, and from among those whom he did allow, the one seen as least identified with the regime was elected. But we are still speaking about someone who calls Israel the 'great Zionist Satan.'”

Nigeria: Boko Haram attacks four churches, kills pastor, two others

"And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality."
~Barack Obama (Cairo, June 4, 2009)

(Daily Post) One month after the declaration of emergency rule to fight insurgency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, violence has erupted again, as gunmen suspected to be members of Islamist terrorist sect attacked four communities of Hwa’a, Kunde, Gathahure and Gjigga of Gwoza Hills settlements, torching four churches with Improvised Explosives Devices,IEDS, and petro-bombs Thursday afternoon.

According to Tada Garuta, a resident of Kunde, the gunmen climbed the hills on foot with explosives and petro-bombs, and chanted God is great, in Arabic, before setting four local churches ablaze. Thereafter, they ransacked and emptied their bans of grains along with some livestocks. Gathahure and Hwa’a communities were also affected.

The attacked communities are located in Gwoza council area of Borno state of Mandara Hills, and 151 kilometres south of Maiduguri, the state capital.

Two churches at Hrazah and Hembe,hilly communities were also torched by the gunmen in April this year with the killing of two residents.

Garuta also told newsmen in Maiduguri, Bama road Motor Park yesterday that after torching another church in Hwa’a community, the gunmen also killed Rev. Jacob Kwiza (rtd) of Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), while picking mangoes at his father’s orchard on the hills settlement of Hwa’a.

He said: “as the gunmen threw some explosives at our church, they forced the retired Reverend to renounce Christianity and be converted to Islam, but Rev. Jacob defied the gunmen’s threats of being killed, as he insisted on being a Christian among his people on the hills of Hwa’a. They slit his throat with sharp objects; and we started to flee for safety, as we don’t know the next targets of these gunmen.”

He said because of fears and terrorizing around Hwa’a’s community, none of the residents came to pick the body of the slain Reverend for burial and prayers.

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Report: Nasrallah's Brother Killed in Syrian Battle

Good times!

(INN) A report on Channel Two Monday said that the brother of Hizbullah head Hassan Nasrallah was killed recently in a fierce battle in the Syrian city of Al-Qusayr. Khader Nasrallah was buried in the village of Kfar Kana in south Lebanon on Sunday, Channel Two said.

If true, it would make Nasrallah one of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Hizbullah terrorists killed in the city, which has been a bloody battleground between troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and rebel groups. Hizbullah, a direct agent of Iran, has been assisting Assad.

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Catholic Church beatifies Italian righteous gentile Odoardo Focherini

ROME (JPost) – Odoardo Focherini, whom Yad Vashem honored as a Righteous among the Nations in 1969, was beatified on Saturday by the Roman Catholic Church in Carpi, his hometown in the province of Modena in northern Italy.

Focherini is the first Righteous Gentile to be sent on the road to sainthood, the first Catholic to be named a blessed martyr for losing his life in order to save Jews during the Nazi era.

His beatification process began in 1996 when the Carpi Catholic Diocese presented an official document.

Pope Benedict XVI signed the decree attesting to Focherini’s martyrdom on May 10, 2012.

Strong positive reactions have begun pouring in from representatives of world Jewry.

Renzo Gattegna, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, offered “homage with deference and deep feeling.”

“Odoardo Focherini was a person of the highest values and principles. An extraordinary commitment, paid at the price of his life... His courage, his ideals, his love for life will not be forgotten. His memory will continue to be a source of inspiration, also for future generations,” Gattegna said.

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Turkey: Unions call strike over Erdogan's crackdown

(BBC) Unions in Turkey have called a one-day nationwide strike to protest against the police crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.

The Confederation of Public Workers' Unions (KESK) and Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DISK) are demanding an end to "police violence".

The move comes after continued sporadic clashes between protesters and police in Istanbul and the capital Ankara.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has angrily defended the crackdown.

Addressing tens of thousands of supporters in Istanbul on Sunday, Mr Erdogan said it had been his duty to order the eviction of the protesters in the city's Gezi Park the previous night.

The protests, he said, were "nothing more than the minority's attempt to dominate the majority", adding: "We could not have allowed this and we will not allow it."

He also denied behaving like a dictator, criticised foreign media, and vowed to "identify one by one those who have terrorised the streets".

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Once Erdogan has finished disemboweling Turkey, there is no way that he can put things back the way they were.

Putin: Do not arm Syrian rebels who 'eat human organs'

LONDON (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West against arming Syrian rebels on Sunday, saying the foes of President Bashar Assad ate human organs and should not be supported.

In his first public comments since a decision by President Barack Obama's administration to arm rebels trying to overthrow Assad, Putin said Russia wanted to create the conditions for settling the two-year conflict.

"I think you will not deny that one does not really need to support the people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies, eat their intestines, in front of the public and cameras," Putin said at a joint news conference in London with Prime Minister David Cameron.

Thousands take to streets of Istanbul, defy Erdogan; Erdogan threatens with violence

(JPost) Thousands of people took to the streets of Istanbul overnight on Sunday, erecting barricades and starting bonfires, after riot police firing teargas and water cannon stormed a park at the center of two weeks of anti-government unrest.

Lines of police backed by armored vehicles sealed off Taksim Square in the center of the city as officers raided the adjoining Gezi Park late on Saturday, where protesters had been camped in a ramshackle settlement of tents.

"We have our Istanbul rally tomorrow. I say it clearly: Taksim Square must be evacuated, otherwise this country's security forces know how to evacuate it," he told tens of thousands of flag-waving supporters at a rally in Ankara.

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Syria accuses Egypt's Morsi of joining US, Israeli 'conspiracy' after Morsi severs ties with Assad's regime

(JPost) Syria on Sunday harshly criticized Cairo's decision to sever diplomatic relations with Damascus, accusing Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi of joining a US and Israel-led conspiracy against Syria.

Morsi said he had cut all diplomatic ties with Damascus on Saturday and called for a no-fly zone over Syria, pitching the most populous Arab state firmly against President Bashar Assad.

Syria's official SANA news agency quoted a government source as saying that Morsi was implementing the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood, who has called for jihad against the Syrian regime, and ignoring the aspirations of the Egyptian people.

The statement added that Morsi and the Egyptian clerics should direct their attention toward liberating "usurped Palestinian land, particularly Jerusalem," rather than issuing fatwas calling for more "Syrian bloodshed."

The Syrian official said that Morsi's calls for foreign intervention in Syria and the implementation of a no-fly zone in the country would only serve the interests of the US and Israel.

The source added that the continued presence of an Israeli embassy in Cairo and Egypt's adherence to the Camp David accords with Israel delegitimizes both Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

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Obama and Hezbollah welcome Iran's new president

Obama already convinced himself Rohani is a moderate, Hezbollah knows he is not.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US President Barack Obama's chief of staff said on Sunday the election of Iranian President Hassan Rohani was a "potentially hopeful sign," and that if he lived up to his obligation "to come clean on this illicit nuclear program, he will find a partner in us."

Speaking on CBS's "Face the Nation," Denis McDonough said: "If he (Rohani) is interested in, as he has said in his campaign, mending Iran's relations with the rest of the world, there is an opportunity to do that."

(JPost) Lebanese militant Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah on Sunday welcomed the election of new Iranian President Hassan Rohani, calling him a "beacon of hope."

"The Arab and Muslim people... who have always seen the Islamic republic as a supporter of the oppressed... and every fighter who resists for God, consider you today a beacon of hope," AFP quoted the militant group as saying.

In a message, Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah congratulated Rohani for winning the trust of the Iranian nation in a “political epic,” Iran's Press TV reported.

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Israel to field lightweight Spice 250 glide bombs

(Tel Aviv) The Israeli air force is equipping its fighter fleet with Rafael's new Spice 250 glide bomb, with the company having disclosed partial details of the system.

Unlike previous members of the company's Spice family of weapons, which added precision guidance kits to 2,000lb (900kg) and 1,000lb "dumb" bombs, this time Rafael is supplying a complete system, weighing 113kg.

Rafael says the Spice 250 can be loaded with 100 optional targets in a given area, with scene-matching algorithms. As with previous Spice products, the weapon navigates to a target area using INS/GPS guidance, before its electro-optical/imaging infrared sensor is engaged.

This combination enables a claimed circular error of probability accuracy of less than 10ft (3m), with positive target identification and no risk of GPS jamming, Rafael adds. The weapon also can provide a battle damage indication capability by transmitting an image of its target just before it is struck.

According to Rafael the Spice 250 can achieve an extended standoff range of up to 54nm (100km) using its deployable wings, which also allow for increased weapons load-out on combat aircraft.

Rafael also is supplying its smart quad rack to the air force, with each capable of carrying four Spice 250 bombs. The weapon will arm the Lockheed Martin F-16, while a Boeing F-15 will be capable of carrying a maximum of 28.

"This allows each aircraft to handle multiple targets," says Rafael, including engaging time-sensitive targets and moving ground and maritime threats.

The Spice 250 can also be armed with different types of explosives, in order to handle specific targets, says Yuval Miller, head of Rafael's air-to-ground directorate.

At least 39 dead after wave of coordinated car bombings in Iraq

"... we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq... And we are ending a war not with a final battle, but with a final march toward home."
~Barack Obama, December 14, 2011.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – A wave of car bombings rocked central and northern Iraq on Sunday, killing at least 39 people and extending the deadliest eruption of violence to hit the country in years.

Attackers initially targeted market-goers early in the morning, then turned their sights on police posts after sunset. Security forces scrambled to contain the violence, blocking a key road in central Iraq and imposing a curfew in the former Sunni insurgent stronghold of Mosul after the blasts went off.

Killing in Iraq has spiked to levels not seen since 2008. The surge in bloodshed, which follows months of protests by the country's Sunni Arab minority against the Shiite-led government, is raising fears that Iraq is heading for another bout of uncontrollable sectarian violence.

The upsurge comes as foreign fighters are increasingly pouring into neighboring Syria, where a grueling civil war has taken on sectarian overtones similar to those that pushed Iraq to the brink of its own civil war in 2006 and 2007.

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Iran to send 4,000 troops to aid President Assad forces in Syria

Meanwhile, Obama urges the UK and France to join in supplying arms to al Qaeda Syrian rebels as UK MPs fear that the country will be drawn into growing conflict.

(The Independent) Washington’s decision to arm Syria’s Sunni Muslim rebels has plunged America into the great Sunni-Shia conflict of the Islamic Middle East, entering a struggle that now dwarfs the Arab revolutions which overthrew dictatorships across the region.

For the first time, all of America’s ‘friends’ in the region are Sunni Muslims and all of its enemies are Shiites. Breaking all President Barack Obama’s rules of disengagement, the US is now fully engaged on the side of armed groups which include the most extreme Sunni Islamist movements in the Middle East.

The Independent on Sunday has learned that a military decision has been taken in Iran – even before last week’s presidential election – to send a first contingent of 4,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against the largely Sunni rebellion that has cost almost 100,000 lives in just over two years. Iran is now fully committed to preserving Assad’s regime, according to pro-Iranian sources which have been deeply involved in the Islamic Republic’s security, even to the extent of proposing to open up a new ‘Syrian’ front on the Golan Heights against Israel.

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Policeman stabbed inside British mosque

(Birmingham) Following on from my post yesterday where I revealed that the so called rise of Islamophobic attacks against Muslims in the UK is nothing more than a sham, I bring you the case of a mad man running amok inside a mosque in Birmingham, stabbing people for the sake of Allah.

Police were called and within 4 minutes they were there. There they found 3 people had been stabbed at evening prayers, and when they corned the knife-man in a side room, they found instead of a foaming at the mouth EDL white racist... a peace loving Somali Muslim who had no problem stabbing his fellow Muslims.

Of course, as he was a peace loving Muslim, the police only tazered him and then, when they went to arrest him where the arresting officer found to his horror that the Tazer had no effect on him and thus he became the fourth victim of Allah's little knife-man. (And there are people in the UK who feel that using Tazers is far too barbaric.) Thankfully, the knife wielding idiot was arrested and the policeman was taken to hospital (along with the other poor victims) for treatment.

Gee, for all the increased police presence around mosques in which to protect them from a non-Islamic backlash after the cold blooded murder of yet another non-Muslim on the streets of the UK by Muslims, it transpires that actually you have more to fear from the people inside the mosques than those outside them.

Convicted Moroccan thief sues Scotland Yard for discrimination for refusing her a job as a Police Officer

(London) In the UK, Moroccan Rachida Sobhi is suing Scotland Yard (yes, that Scotland Yard) for refusing to accept her application to become a police officer, because when they ran a background check on her, they found she has a conviction for theft when she worked at a department store during the 90s. When asked why she left out that salient bit of information, she replied that she had selective amnesia that caused her to forget her crime – but no other aspect of her life.

Her application was rightly rejected by the Police who demand that all new recruits are blemish free, but a year later, Ms Sobhi filed a claim in the London Central Employment Tribunal complaining of discrimination on the ground of her sex, her sexual orientation, her religion or beliefs, her age and her disability against the Met and several individuals. She claimed that the Met treated her 'less favourably' because of her condition and failed to take reasonable steps to accommodate her.

What is really disturbing is some low life lawyer is willing to take her case to the courts. You know what I say? Deport her back to her own country and let her become a policewoman there. Oh, hang on, Morocco is an Islamic country, they don't have equality for women there, do they?

New York-bound flight from Egypt diverted after threat, makes emergency landing in Glasgow

LONDON (AP) – A plane from Cairo bound for New York was diverted by fighter jets to an emergency landing in the U.K. after a passenger discovered a letter threatening the aircraft, officials said Saturday.

Police said late Saturday there had been no arrests, and that authorities are working to ascertain who wrote the note in a lavatory which forced Flight 985 -- carrying around 300 passengers en route to John F. Kennedy Airport -- to make an emergency landing at Glasgow's Prestwick Airport.

British Typoon fighter jets escorted the plane to Glasgow's Prestwick Airport, where the flight was met by a heavy police presence. It stayed there for several hours before passengers were able to disembark, at which point officers searched the plane.

The BBC said one of its producers, Nada Tawfik, had discovered the note, written in pencil on a napkin, with the words "I'll set this plane on fire" and what appeared to be a seat number written on it. She said that after discovering the note by the lavatory sink, she alerted cabin crew who then locked the toilet.

"It almost looked like a child's handwriting or someone who has very sloppy handwriting, but it was very alarming especially these days when everyone is so concerned about safety on flights" she told the BBC, saying she told the stewardesses she wasn't sure if the note was a prank or not. "Either someone has a very bad sense of humor or, you know, it's very scary."

Det. Superintendent Alan Crawford said there have been no arrests, and that police are working to determine where the note came from, who put it on the plane and under what circumstances.

"This note, whatever narrative it contained, we have to treat it seriously and maintain the safety of passengers and crew," Crawford said. "Whether it is a prank or not this will be investigated thoroughly to establish the circumstances. We could never write something off as a prank without investigating."

Arrangements for onward travel will be made once all passengers have been interviewed, police said.

Sarah Palin on Obama's Decision on Syria: ‘Let Allah Sort It Out’

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin criticized the Obama administration's decision to supply weapons to the rebels in the civil war in Syria today, arguing that the U.S. should "Let Allah sort it out" until there is a stronger leader in the White House.

"Militarily, where is our commander in chief? We're talking now more new interventions. I say until we know what we're doing, until we have a commander and chief who knows what he's doing, well, let these radical Islamic countries who aren't even respecting basic human rights, where both sides are slaughtering each other as they scream over an arbitrary red line, 'Allah Akbar,' I say until we have someone who knows what they're doing, I say let Allah sort it out," Palin said at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference.

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Condell: Singling out a billion Muslims

Kuwaiti Islamic Scholar: Wife Beating in Islam Treats Women Suffering from Masochism

Video report: More Muslims arrested for spreading jihadist materials and inciting jihad in Spain

IRS scandals threaten funding for Obamacare

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mounting scandals at the Internal Revenue Service are jeopardizing critical funding for the agency as it gears up to play a big role in President Barack Obama's health care law.

Obama sought a significant budget increase for the IRS for next year, when the agency will start doling out subsidies to help people buy health insurance on state-based exchanges. Congressional Republicans, however, see management problems at the IRS as an opportunity to limit the agency's funding just as it is trying to put in place the massive new law.

Republicans have been fighting the health care law ever since Democrats enacted it in 2010 without a single GOP vote. Unable to repeal the law, some Republicans hope to starve it by refusing to fund its implementation.

The IRS scandals are giving them a timely excuse.

"I think it's safe to say they're not going to get the kind of increase they're asking for," said Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee that funds the IRS.

"The question is, based on their bad behavior, are they going to end up with less money?" Crenshaw said.

Last month, the IRS was rocked by revelations that agents had targeted tea party and other conservative groups for extra scrutiny when the groups applied for tax-exempt status during the 2010 and 2012 elections. A few weeks later, an inspector general's report said that the agency had spent lavishly on employee conferences during the same time period.

From 2010 through 2012, the IRS spent nearly $50 million on employee conferences. In 2010, the agency used money that had been budgeted to hire enforcement agents to instead help pay for one conference that cost $4.1 million, according to the watchdog's report.

Three congressional committees and the Justice Department are investigating the targeting of conservative groups, and much of the top leadership at the IRS has been replaced.

Obama appointed a new acting IRS commissioner, Danny Werfel, a former White House budget official. Werfel is conducting an internal review of the agency and is expected to issue recommendations for changes by the end of June.

All this is happening as the agency works to implement the health law that includes some of the most sweeping changes to the tax code in a generation.

"The IRS needs to repair the plane while it's in flight right now," said Paul Cherecwich, chairman of the IRS Oversight Board, an independent board within the agency. "Should the current budget environment continue, the IRS will have to continue to have to do more with less while rebuilding taxpayer trust. It has no choice, and it won't be easy."

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Sweden threatens cut aid to Palestinians unless peace talks resume

I wonder if Sweden will be accused of being Islamophobic or something.

(JTA) — Sweden will reduce its aid to the Palestinians by 28 percent unless progress is made in peace talks with Israel, a Swedish minister said.

In an interview Thursday with Sveriges Radio, Development Aid Minister Gunilla Carlsson said that unless talks on a two-state solution move forward, her country would slash 28 percent of its annual aid package of $107 million to the West Bank and Gaza.

“Is there any merit in pursuing the prerequisites for a two-state solution when Israel and the Palestinians themselves do not want to sit down at the negotiating table?” Carlsson asked during the interview.

The Palestinians have refused to engage in peace talks with Israel unless it halts construction in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. Israel has declined to meet any preconditions and has expressed its readiness to discuss the issue in the framework of talks.

“I don’t want to haggle using aid money, but I can only take the perspective of the Swedish taxpayers,” Carlsson said. “One wants results.”

Shock lingers after Nazi unit leader found in US

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The revelation that a former commander of a Nazi SS-led military unit has lived quietly in Minneapolis for the past six decades came as a shock to those who know 94-year-old Michael Karkoc. World War II survivors in both the U.S. and Europe harshly condemned the news and prosecutors in Poland have said they'll investigate.

An Associated Press investigation found that Karkoc served as a top commander in the Ukrainian Self-Defense Legion during World War II. The unit is accused of wartime atrocities, including the burning of villages filled with women and children.

"I know him personally. We talk, laugh. He takes care of his yard and walks with his wife," his next-door neighbor, Gordon Gnasdoskey, said Friday.

"For me, this is a shock. To come to this country and take advantage of its freedoms all of these years, it blows my mind," said Gnasdoskey, the grandson of a Ukrainian immigrant himself.

Karkoc told American authorities in 1949 that he had performed no military service during World War II, concealing his work as an officer and founding member of the legion and later as an officer in the SS Galician Division, according to records obtained by the AP through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Though records do not show that Karkoc had a direct hand in war crimes, statements from men in his unit and other documentation confirm the Ukrainian company he commanded massacred civilians, and suggest that Karkoc was at the scene of these atrocities as the company leader. Nazi SS files say he and his unit were also involved in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, in which the Nazis brutally suppressed a Polish rebellion against German occupation.

No one answered the door Friday morning at Karkoc's house on a residential street in northeast Minneapolis. Karkoc had earlier declined to comment on his wartime service when approached by the AP, and repeated efforts to arrange an interview through his son were unsuccessful.

Late Friday, Karkoc's son, Andriy Karkos, read a statement accusing AP of defaming his father. Karkoc became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1959.

"My father was never a Nazi," said Karkos, who uses a different spelling for his last name. He also said the family wouldn't comment further until it has obtained its own documents and reviewed witnesses and sources.

Family attorney Philip Villaume said Saturday that the family may comment further within a few days. "Their intention is to investigate the matter and research it, and then they'll make a further public statement," he said.

Polish prosecutors announced Friday they will investigate Karkoc and provide "every possible assistance" to the U.S. Department of Justice, which has used lies in immigration papers to deport dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals.

The AP evidence of Karkoc's wartime activities has also prompted German authorities to express interest in exploring whether there is enough to prosecute. In Germany, Nazis with "command responsibility" can be charged with war crimes even if their direct involvement in atrocities cannot be proven.

Efraim Zuroff, the lead Nazi hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, said that based on his decades of experience pursuing Nazi war criminals, he expects that the evidence of Karkoc's lies as well as the unit's role in atrocities is strong enough for deportation and war crimes prosecution in Germany or Poland.

Former German army officer Josef Scheungraber - a lieutenant like Karkoc - was convicted in Germany in 2009 on charges of murder based on circumstantial evidence that put him at the scene of a Nazi wartime massacre in Italy as the ranking officer.

Members of Karkoc's unit and other witnesses have told stories of brutal attacks on civilians.

One of Karkoc's men, Vasyl Malazhenski, told Soviet investigators that in 1944 the unit was directed to "liquidate all the residents" of the village of Chlaniow in a reprisal attack for the killing of a German SS officer, though he did not say who gave the order.

"It was all like a trance: setting the fires, the shooting, the destroying," Malazhenski recalled, according to the 1967 statement found by the AP in the archives of Warsaw's state-run Institute of National Remembrance, which investigates and prosecutes German and Soviet crimes on Poles during and after World War II.

In a background check by U.S. officials on April 14, 1949, Karkoc said he had never performed any military service, telling investigators that he "worked for father until 1944. Worked in labor camp from 1944 until 1945."

However, in a Ukrainian-language memoir published in 1995, Karkoc states that he helped found the Ukrainian Self Defense Legion in 1943 in collaboration with the Nazis' feared SS intelligence agency, the SD, to fight on the side of Germany - and served as a company commander in the unit, which received orders directly from the SS, through the end of the war.

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