Latest statement on incident at Manchester Arena pic.twitter.com/BEpLOan3dY— G M Police (@gmpolice) May 23, 2017
Police now suspect a suicide bomber.
Reports are 19 dead and about 50 wounded.
Please pray for England.
Latest statement on incident at Manchester Arena pic.twitter.com/BEpLOan3dY— G M Police (@gmpolice) May 23, 2017
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”So, in view of Christ's commandment to his disciples, is the Pope's arrival in Cairo for the purpose of converting and baptizing the Mohammedans to Christianity?
Pope Francis arrives in Cairo on Friday hoping to mend ties with Islamic religious leaders just as Egypt's ancient Christian community faces unprecedented pressure from Islamic State militants who have threatened to wipe it out.
In an address to the Egyptian people this week, Francis spoke of his hope that his visit would help bring peace and encourage dialogue and reconciliation with the Islamic world.
But it comes at a painful time for Egypt's Copts, the Middle East's largest Christian community, three weeks after Islamic State suicide bombers killed 45 people in twin church bombings.
Those attacks followed a cathedral bombing that killed 28 people in December and a spree of murders that has forced hundreds of Christians to flee North Sinai, where the group is most active.
In an impassioned address Friday, Pope Francis denied the existence of Islamic terrorism, while simultaneously asserting that “the ecological crisis is real.”Perhaps he means that every member of an organized religion is not a terrorist, which of course is true. But he did not say that.
“Christian terrorism does not exist, Jewish terrorism does not exist, and Muslim terrorism does not exist. They do not exist,” Francis said in his speech to a world meeting of populist movements.
What he apparently meant is that not all Christians are terrorists and not all Muslims are terrorists—a fact evident to all—yet his words also seemed to suggest that no specifically Islamic form of terrorism exists in the world, an assertion that stands in stark contradiction to established fact.
MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. Russia’s Foreign Ministry will demand an apology from the chief editor of the New York Daily News for publishing an article which justified the assassination of Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov, the ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
"American journalist and writer Gersh Kuntzman wrote in the New York Daily News that he was ‘shedding no tears for Andrei Karlov’," the Russian diplomat wrote on her Facebook page. "He also said that the Ankara attack reminded him of the assassination of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath in 1938 who was killed in Paris by a Jewish student. According to Kuntzman ‘like Karlov, Rath was the public face of atrocity - in this case, Adolf Hitler's genocide, anti-Semitism and coming global aggression’," Zakharova noted.
The Kremlin has praised U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s response to Monday’s attacks in Berlin and Ankara, claiming that his words are “in tune” with those of Russian President Vladimir Putin.And their entrails worn as neckties.
Trump accused a “radical Islamic terrorist” of shooting dead the Russian Ambassador to Turkey on Monday before also commenting on an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, Germany’s capital. In response to the latter, he declared “terrorists and their regional and worldwide networks must be eradicated from the face of the Earth,” and called for international support to do so.
Although little has yet been officially confirmed about the perpetrators of either attack, Russia welcomed Trump’s statement, claiming that Putin has been making the same argument for nearly two decades.
He noted that no one country could win this fight alone, but “it can only be done together.”Okay, lipstick, definitely lipstick. But no panties. At least not the skimpy, yellow bikini ones. They were a gift from Italy.
Somali refugee Abdul Razak Ali Artan posted on Facebook that he was 'sick and tired of seeing my fellow Muslim brothers being killed and tortured' shortly before he went on a slashing rampage at the Ohio State University that left 11 injured.
Authorities are currently investigating the posts, allegedly made by Artan, which mention radical cleric Anwar Awlaki and accuse America of 'interfering' with other nations.Then stay in your shit hole at the other side of the world. See if you can "take it" any better over there.
'I am sick and tired of seeing my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters being killed and tortured EVERYWHERE,' it stated. 'I can't take it anymore.
Last month, when the battle for Mosul began, Islamic State "caliph" Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi reportedly promised four extra Houris (supernatural, celestial women designed for sexual purposes) – atop the other 72 promised by the prophet Muhammad – to all jihadis who die (are "martyred") fighting the infidel forces, according to Arabic media accounts.
Al-Baghdadi did this during an extra-"fiery" sermon wherein he recounted 15 hadiths and three stories dealing with the Houris in the context of the original Muslim conquest of Mosul, circa 637, at the hands of Muhammad's companions (the sahahba). After promising his followers that "blood will run like rivers in the [forthcoming] battle," al-Baghdadi declared: "All, without exception, will enter paradise as martyrs. Moreover, you will enter paradise with four more Houris than other martyrs. For just as you stand by me now, so will they stand by you, or under you, or above you, so that you might forget what will happen to you by way of violence, death, and degradation in this war."
There have been several alarming developments in Germany over the past few weeks. For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the German government has told its citizens to begin stockpiling food and water. And not long after announcing that, the government suggested that they may bring back the draft, which was abolished in 2011 after it was deemed to be archaic and unnecessary.Story here.
Initially the government was reluctant to bluntly spell out exactly why they wanted to bring back conscription or why their citizens should start stockpiling necessities. But based on some of the reports that have come from the German government since then, it’s obvious that they’re preparing for terrorist attacks...
[...] MAINZ, Germany — Germany is preparing to train troops to be deployed within its borders for the first time since World War II amid fears of terrorist attacks.
The country’s armed forces will hold joint drills with police early next year, officials confirmed.
Authorities stress that counterterrorism measures will primarily remain the responsibility of police.
However, the potential for large-scale attacks have made the use of German military assets “conceivable, even probable,” according to Lt. Gen. Martin Schelleis, the Bundeswehr’s chief of joint support services.
New emails unearthed through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by government watchdog Judicial Watch show longtime confidant and top Clinton aide Huma Abedin granting special access desired by foreign leaders and activists to Secretary of State Hillary after they donated to the Clinton Foundation.
Essentially, the emails show Abedin working as a pipeline between Secretary of State Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. When individuals wanted meetings with Clinton, Abedin would deny the meeting, introduce them to the Clinton Foundation, the Foundation would accept a donation and then access to Clinton was granted.
"In more than a dozen email exchanges, Abedin provided expedited, direct access to Clinton for donors who had contributed from $25,000 to $10 million to the Clinton Foundation.
An Islamic journal where Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's top aide, was assistant editor published an article accusing Jews of 'working the American political system' – and being aided by the 'memory of the Holocaust'.
Abedin, who is vice-chair of Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, spent 12 years as an assistant editor for Journal of Minority Muslim Affairs.
Her mother, Saleha Mahmood Abedin, is the journal's editor-in-chief and has been accused of espousing the views of the Muslim Brotherhood through the publication.
Huma Abedin's brother, Hassan, is an associate editor and her sister, Heba, is an assistant editor.
An 86-year-old priest has been 'beheaded' by two ISIS knifemen who cut his throat after bursting into a French church and taking nuns and worshippers hostage before being shot dead by police.Story here:
Five people including the priest, two nuns and two parishioners were held by assailants who raided the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy at 9am.
The clergyman, named as Jacques Hamel, is believed to have been beheaded during the attack while another hostage is fighting for life in hospital.
The two attackers were 'neutralised' by marksmen as they emerged from the building, which is now being searched for explosives. French president Francois Hollande said the men 'claimed to be from' ISIS.
There were reports the attackers shouted 'Daesh' – an alternative name for ISIS often used by the French government – as they ran into the church while at least one of the men was dressed in Islamic clothing.
It comes as it emerged that the building was one of a number of Catholic churches on a terrorist 'hit list' found on a suspected ISIS extremist last April.
At least 31 people have been killed in an attack on the main airport in Istanbul, a senior Turkish official has told the Associated Press.Initial reports suggest that three men opened fire on the crowd, then detonated themselves when police tried to stop them. Indications are that ISIS was behind the attack.
Initial indications suggest Islamic State was behind the attack, the official said.
Figures suggested up to 50 people had been killed - however that has now been downgraded.
'Islamic extremist' Omar Mateen, 29, from Florida, shoots dead at least 50 at Florida gay club after bursting in 'wearing a suicide vest' and taking hostages - injuring a further 53 - before he is killed.
A retired senior State Department military adviser claims that Hillary Clinton’s “sloppy communications with her senior staff” when she was secretary of state may have compromised at least two counterterrorism operations.
Bill Johnson, who was the State Department’s political adviser to the special operations section of the U.S. Pacific Command, or PACOM, in 2010 and 2011, says secret plans to eliminate the leader of a Filipino Islamist separatist group and intercept Chinese-made weapons components being smuggled into Iraq were repeatedly foiled.
Johnson says he and his team eliminated the possibility of other security leaks before settling on the unprotected telephone calls of the secretary of state and her aides as the likely source—though he quickly adds they have “no proof.”
“I had several missions that went inexplicably wrong, with the targets one step ahead of us,” Johnson tells Newsweek in an exclusive interview.
Clinton’s spokesman Nick Merrill calls the allegations "patently false."
The U.S. military has sent a platoon of Marines to bolster security at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad following recent protests led by firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.I hate to even speculate about this, but with SecState Kerry leading the show I do not have any confidence that our people will be protected at any cost.
Twenty-five U.S. Marine infantrymen arrived late Thursday night, a U.S. defense official told Fox News.
The move comes amid the Sadr-led protests against the rule of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, which escalated last weekend with protesters storming the Green Zone in Baghdad where the embassy is located.
[...]A U.S. Marine rifle company of more than 150 Marines, in addition to private security contractors, has been protecting the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and will continue to do so.
Cowering under desks and running for their lives, this is the terrifying moment passengers were caught up in an ISIS suicide bomb attack at Brussels Airport today in a series of blasts that have killed at least 34 people and injured 170 across the city.Over the centuries Muslims have occupied much of Europe. Charles Martel stopped them in 732 at the Battle of Tours (Tours is only about a 3 or 4 hour ride from the D-Day beaches at Normandy), but there were many more battles to come (846: Muslims invaded and sacked Rome; 849: Battle of Ostia- Muslim invasion of Rome; ninth and tenth centuries, Muslims pillage Sicily and Italy; Sicily would remain under Muslim control for over 250 years). Spain would not finally shake off all vestiges of the Muslim incursion until 1492.
Witnesses described apocalyptic scenes with blood and 'dismembered bodies everywhere' after two blasts rocked the terminal at around 8am (7am GMT), killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens of others.
Then 79 minutes later at 9.19am, at least 20 people were killed and scores injured, some critically, when a blast hit a Metro station just 400 metres from the EU headquarters in the city centre.
At the airport, there were reports of a firefight between police and the attackers who shouted in Arabic moments before detonating their bombs, one of which was understood to contain nails.
An unexploded suicide vest was later found in the rubble and a Kalashnikov rifle beside the body of a dead terrorist. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The blasts, which detonated near a Starbucks and several check-in desks, sent shockwaves through the terminal building, shattering windows and knocking roof tiles off the ceiling as terrified passengers ran for their lives.
The explosions, coming just four months after the Paris attacks, have left countries around the world reeling, with security services placed on high alert, flights cancelled, Eurostar services suspended and France's border with Belgium shut down.
In a stroke of irony, a sniper from the elite British Special Air Service (S.A.S.) took the head off an Islamic State leader who was teaching recruits how to behead prisoners.More here.
[...]“One minute he was standing there and the next his head had exploded. The commander remained standing upright for a couple of seconds before collapsing and that’s when panic set in. We later heard most of the recruits deserted.
The Turks and Saudis appear desperate to try to keep Aleppo under opposition control. Aleppo’s capitulation would virtually end the organized opposition in western Syria. ISIL and militant groups affiliated with al-Qaida. At the recent pace of the offensive by the Syrian government and allied forces, the Turks, NATO and the Saudis appear to have missed the opportunity to rescue the Syrian opposition forces in western Syria.The Kurds are fighting the ISIL terrorists in Northern Syria. No way the Turks are going to let the Kurds get a foothold in Syria without a fuss. And Putin is still stewing over the loss of a Russian SU-24 fighter that was downed by Turkish F-16s. It could be very possible that Putin is putting together a scenario wherein Turkey's goose is cooked and the US is asked to come to the aid of a NATO member. Now the question is; is Putin banking on a limp wristed American response? Might could be...
While all this was going on, Syrian and allied forces continued their offensive to encircle Aleppo. Several news services reported that Aleppo is effectively cut off from any high volume line of communication to Turkey. A million people are trapped in Aleppo, according to one credible report.
After years of weakness and vacillation, the Obama administration may find itself backed into a corner by aggressive Russian action. Particularly if coupled with intemperate Turkish reactions, that could create a nightmare of historic proportions around Aleppo. Although the White House has foresworn any military intervention in Syria’s fratricide, it’s worth noting that Mr. Obama led NATO to war in Libya exactly five years ago to prevent possible slaughter in Benghazi, a far smaller humanitarian threat than the terrifying sword of Russian artillery and airpower that’s hanging over Aleppo right now.Between the Bitch of Benghazi and Obama, America is facing an Islamic nightmare that has been mishandled from the get go. That wasn't just a phone call at 3:00 AM that Clinton was referring to years ago, it turned out to be a D-9 bulldozer taking out the front door. And this administration is still hiding under the bed.
For their part, the Russians are upping the ante with regime media publishing claims by the Defense Ministry that air attacks on Aleppo yesterday that killed civilians, including the bombing of a hospital, were actually perpetrated by U.S. Air Force A-10s, a war crime that they say the Pentagon has tried to pin on Moscow. In fact, American intelligence knows this was the work of the Russian Air Force: “We have intercepts of the Russian pilots talking during the attack,” a Pentagon official explained. “As usual, the Russians are lying.” Yet this sort of dishonest Kremlin propaganda, what spies term disinformation, is exactly what the Obama administration has refused to counter...
By letting Mr. Putin get away with whatever he likes in Syria, Mr. Obama has created a deeply dangerous situation in the region. By abandoning his infamous Syria “redline” in September 2013, the White House in effect outsourced American policy there to Mr. Putin, as I warned at the time, and which the Obama administration, powerless to influence terrible events in Syria, is slowly realizing.
“Are we heading for our ‘Sarajevo moment’?” a senior NATO official bluntly asked. “It’s clear that there has to be some actual ‘redline’ for Mr. Obama, something that the United States cannot tolerate Russia doing—but where is it? If I don’t know, I’m sure the Kremlin doesn’t either.”
That is NATO’s top concern right now: After years of weakness and vacillation, the Obama administration may find itself backed into a corner by aggressive Russian action. Particularly if coupled with intemperate Turkish reactions, that could create a nightmare of historic proportions around Aleppo.
Paris (CNN)Scores of people are reported dead after what are being called terror attacks across Paris. Police early Saturday freed hostages at a concert hall where more than 100 people may have died. The attacks seemed to be planned to hit areas where many people would be gathered on a Friday night, officials said.Story here and here. At least 142 dead and more to come.