Canadian Convulsions > CSIS Trafficked Shamima Begum and her friends to ISIS in Syria - 2 are now dead

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Trudeau defends CSIS after U.K. author claims agency

informant smuggled girls into Syria

PM says the government will probe the claims and expects intelligence agencies

to follow the rules

Murray Brewster · 

CBC News · 

Posted: Aug 31, 2022 5:22 PM ET | 

Shamima Begum made worldwide headlines when, at 15, she left the U.K. with two teenage friends to join ISIS.

(Alba Sotorra/Sky Documentaries)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood behind the country's top civilian intelligence agency on Wednesday in response to an allegation that one of its contractors helped traffic three British teenage girls to Islamic State extremists seven years ago.

A new book by U.K.-based writer Richard Kerbaj — The Secret History of the Five Eyes — is set to be published on Thursday. It claims that an informant for the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) smuggled Shamima Begum, 15 at the time, and her school friends Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase — 16 and 15 at the time — into northern Syria, and that the informant told his Canadian handlers.

Consequently, CSIS had the opportunity to stop these girls from going to Syria, thereby saving the lives of two of the girls, and perhaps preventing the three lost pregnancies of Shamima. That's 5 lives someone is responsible for. What possible reason could CSIS have for trafficking these three girls?

The book goes on to claim that CSIS later approached the counter-terrorism branch of London's Metropolitan Police — which was investigating the disappearance of the teenagers — and asked that the agency not become the focus of attention.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says CSIS and other intelligence agencies have to abide by 'strict rules.' (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Trudeau said the government will follow up on the claims.

"The fight against terrorism requires our intelligence services to continue to be flexible and to be creative in their approaches," Trudeau said following the swearing-in of two cabinet ministers on Thursday. 

"But every step of the way they are bound by strict rules, by principles and values that Canadians hold dear, including around the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and we expect that those rules be followed."

Trudeau said "there are rigorous oversight mechanisms" governing intelligence agencies — a reference to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP).

(Left to right) Kadiza Sultana, 16, Shamima Begum, 15, and 15-year-old Amira Abase go through security

at Gatwick airport before catching a flight to Turkey on Feb 17, 2015. (Metropolitan Police/The Associated Press)

Kerbaj alleges the informant, Mohammed Al Rasheed, facilitated the teenage girls' journey to ISIS-controlled Syria, took phone photos of the passports used by the British schoolgirls and showed them to his Canadian handler in Jordan. By the time the information was passed to the U.K. and Metropolitan Police, Kerbaj claims, the girls were already in ISIS territory.

Two of the girls — Sultana and Abase — are now dead, while Begum has been denied permission to return to the U.K. and has been stripped of her British citizenship.

Her lawyers have argued that the removal of her citizenship was unjust because she was a victim of human trafficking.

Tasnime Akunjee, one of her lawyers, told CBC Radio's As It Happens on Wednesday that the fact his client was trafficked is well known, but hearing that Canadian officials were aware of it is "helpful" to her case.

"The fact is that they communicated it to the police, who didn't communicate it to us. Or be it that Richard Walton, the head of the investigation at the time, decided for the last seven years not to mention any of this to the family but rather to put it into a book that he was happy to publish, which we think is rather egregious of him," said Akunjee, referring to the interview Walton gave to Kerbaj for the forthcoming book.

A 'twisted phrase'

Trudeau's assertion that intelligence agencies are expected to be "flexible" and "creative" drew a sharp response from Akunjee, who cited the rendition and torture of Canadian engineer Mahar Arar in Syria during the early 2000s. 

"It's all well and good for a prime minister or a president or a head of state to say, 'Yes, we follow the rules,' but that's patently not the case," Akunjee said.

"In many examples, and in this case, being flexible is rather a, maybe, twisted phrase when you're talking about intelligence being worth more than the lives of children."

CSIS appears to think intelligence is worth more than the lives of children. Trudeau doesn't appear to disagree with that. Good grief!

Both Canadian and British security officials say they don't comment on intelligence matters.

At the moment, Begum lives in a detention camp in northern Syria. She has given birth to three children, all of whom died young.

Perhaps Shamima has suffered enough.

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Ozzone 7-4 > Fretting rises from our determination to have our own way. Worrying always results in sin.

 

Islam - Current Day > More expats arrested for prostitution in Kuwait; 11 Rapists, murderers freed in silent India; French Muslim murders, mutilates Jew; Mossad Chief on Iran

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12 more expats arrested in Kuwait for engaging in prostitution

Fake police officer arrested after being found guilty of robbing people

Published:  August 29, 2022 18:04

Tawfiq Nasrallah, Senior News Editor

Gulf News

  

Dubai: Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior has arrested 12 more ex-pats for engaging in prostitution, as part of its ongoing crack down, local media reported.

Prostitution in Kuwait is illegal and most of those engaged in the trade are foreign nationals. Authorities usually deport prostitutes or make them sign a “good conduct pledge” before release.

Article 201 of Kuwait’s criminal code prohibits forced prostitution; prescribed penalties include imprisonment of up to five years or a fine for the forced prostitution of adults, and seven years’ imprisonment and a fine prescribed for the forced prostitution of minors under 18 years of age.

Meanwhile in Ahmadi, a fake police officer has been arrested after being found guilty of robbing people. Also in the same area, a man who dressed in women’s clothes was arrested in a shopping mall while trying to steal an item from a jewellery store.

Ahmadi, Kuwait

India: Bilkis Bano's rapists are freed, so why the silence?

Our constitution promises justice to all but the woman has been betrayed by the system

Published:  August 25, 2022 09:09

Jyotsna Mohan, Special to Gulf News

Women's organisations protest against the remission of the sentence given to the convicts of Bilkis Bano's case by the

Gujarat government, at Dadar, in Mumbai on Tuesday. Such protests have been few and far between. Image Credit: ANI

The silence is stark in a society whose fabric has been ripped inch by disturbing inch in the past few years to increasingly expose it as vacant. Ordinarily, even the most hard hearted would hang their heads in shame but where it matters, there is just a sliver of a murmur. And then, business as usual as though what they don’t say they don’t see.

But they saw, when in 2002 a five months pregnant Bilkis Bano was gang-raped by 11 men — her neighbours. They also saw when Bilkis’s own mother and sisters were gang-raped in front of her. Then her final defeat, her three- year- old daughter’s head was killed. They saw this too.

The men thought along with seven dead bodies they had left another lifeless but Bilkis survived, being alive though is different. Yet we are quiet.

As the country was celebrating 75 years of its independence, from the ramparts of the Red Fort the Prime Minister urged the nation to take a pledge to respect and support ‘nari shakti.’

At the same time these eleven men- convicted rapists and murderers were allowed to walk free by the Gujarat government.

Like some Roman gladiators returned victorious, the men were garlanded and sweets were stuffed in their mouth. Defending the indefensible is now an ideological divide, the good and the bad that we are taught as a primary life lesson has been buried somewhere deep, not unlike our conscience.

These are men who killed a child so young, so brutally, one who was perhaps still peaking wondrously at a the world from behind her mother’s shelter or sitting in her lap as she was when she plucked away by these men. She is dead and they are free. How is this justice for justice must also be seen to be done.

The messaging is not complex. At every turn minorities are reminded, some are more equal than others and it is not them.

There is also election season in the mix which is why barring the Congress most other parties have chosen to look the other way.

“The trauma of the past 20 years washed over me again when I heard that the 11 convicted men who devastated my family and life and took my three-year-old daughter away from me have walked free … Today, I can say only this, how can justice for any woman end like this?”

Bilkis Bano put faith in a system even when these men were allowed parole for lame reasons and we are still silent.

The convicts in Bilkis Bano case being offered sweets after their release

Especially the women. What stops leaders in positions of power to speak up, we recently welcomed a woman president with much fanfare. Are they not moved at her plight? How much more does Bilkis have to lose for them to raise a voice?

These same leaders are more vocal over a bar in Goa than when rapists and murderers walk out through the back door under questionable legality.

The men were granted freedom through the outdated 1992 remission policy, the 2014 policy outrightly disallows remission for rapists and murderers.

Women not standing for each other is perhaps the biggest travesty. Sisters, wives and daughters are universal, humanity surely has some last dregs left or have we become so weak?

In a country where rape is underreported, where a victim is haunted more by the process than the crime and where families choosing silence over a snickering constable at the local police thana are not cowards, this move ‘has set a very bad precedent’ says Justice U.D. Salvi, the former Bombay High Court judge who had convicted the eleven men.

‘If you don’t consider the theory of retribution, apply the theory of reformation.

Has there been reformation? Have they felt remorse? I don’t think so.’ 

- Justice U.D. Salvi

10 years ago a nation was shaken out of its hubris when a 23- year-old medical student was gang-raped on a moving bus in Delhi.

Search this blog for "Delhi bus" for a horrifying list of stories of murder, rape, gang rape committed by Hindu men against Indian girls. Twitter contains millions of listings for Indian men who claim to be 'proud Indians'. There are almost no women making such claims. 

There was outrage, candle marches and street protests with a promise that in one of the most unsafe countries for women in the world, enough was enough. The country came together to collectively call for the rapists to be hanged.

This time the streets are crowded yet empty and outrage is limited to the usual suspects. How quickly has that promise made after Nirbhaya’s death been forgotten or was it always conditional, seen through religious blinkers that make one woman more precious than the other? The candle it seems burnt out long ago.

In 2015 a documentary on Nirbhaya was banned after the then Home Minister said he was ‘upset seeing the film,’ a ruling politician, a woman was worried how it would portray India globally and the Delhi police felt it would create fear in a city.

If a documentary bothered us, imagine Bilkis’s plight, living in shadows for twenty years only to be told she has no place to hide.

Our constitution promises justice to all and Bilkis has been betrayed. Again. Those who speak up, need to make their voice heard even louder to shatter the wall of silence. Is Bilkis Bano not India’s daughter?

Jyotsna Mohan

@jyotsnamohan

Jyotsna Mohan is the author of the investigative book ‘Stoned, Shamed, Depressed’. She was also a journalist with NDTV for 15 years.

Muslim man axes Jewish roommate’s skull, burns face off

 August 29, 2022

Muslim man axes Jewish roommate’s skull, burns face off. Axe seized from attempted terrorist. (Israel police)

Worried family members asked the murderer if he had seen his roommate.

By Debbie Reiss, 

World Israel News

A 34-year-old Jewish man was axed to death by his Muslim roommate before having his face burned off in a commune in north-central France, an antisemitism monitoring group said on Monday.

The victim, identified as Eyal Haddad, was living in a commune in Seine-et-Marne, the National Bureau of Vigilance against Anti-Semitism (BNVCA) said. Originally from Djerba, Tunisia, Haddad’s family now live in Beersheba in southern Israel.

According to BNVCA, the murderer, identified as Baha Deridi, was owed 100 euros by Haddad who did not pay him back. Deridi “smashed his victim’s skull with an ax, then he burned his face and even began to bury the body,” on August 20, the group said in a statement.

After he was not contactable for several days, Haddad’s family started to worry about him. Family members asked Deridi if he had seen his roommate. Deridi then turned himself in to police and confessed to the murder.

Haddad’s body, partially mutilated, was retrieved from a hole dug in an open field in Longpré-le-Sec.

Deridi admitted that he had killed Haddad because he was Jewish, the statement said.

The murder received minimal media attention and BNVCA said it was concerned by “the silence surrounding this case,” especially in light of other antisemitic murders in the country, including that of Sarah Halimi, a 65-year-old Jewish woman beaten to death in her apartment in April 2017.

Police said it was investigating whether the murder was the result of a dispute between the roommates. The antisemitism monitoring group urged authorities to prioritize the case and “examine its antisemitic character.”

Yonathan Arfi, president of the Crif Jewish umbrella organization in France, similarly called on French police to consider “the possibility of the aggravating factor of antisemitism.”

I thought he admitted to killing him because he was Jewish. Do the police refuse to believe him? Are the police and/or media covering up another Muslim act of madness?

Israel attacked ‘countless’ nuclear targets in Iran’s ‘heartland,’

says former Mossad chief

Israel attacked ‘countless’ nuclear targets in Iran’s ‘heartland,’ says former Mossad chief.

Former Head of the Mossad Yossi Cohen (Flash90)

 

Yossi Cohen said Tehran was “lying to the whole world” about its nuclear ambitions.

By Debbie Reiss, 

World Israel News

 August 29, 2022

Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen on Monday said that under his tenure Israel had carried out “countless operations” in the heart of Iran against its nuclear program, adding that the Islamic Republic was “lying to the whole world” when it said its program was for peaceful purposes.

“During my term as Mossad director, countless operations were conducted against Iran’s nuclear program,” he said to an audience of 1,500 Jewish leaders at a World Zionist Organization anniversary event in Basel.

“Without going into too many details, I can tell you the Mossad had many successes in the fight against Iran’s nuclear program,” Cohen said. “We operated around the world and on Iranian soil itself, in the very heartland of the ayatollahs.”

“The Iranian regime is lying to the whole world and we proved it when we brought thousands of documents from the Iranian archives, documents that proved that the Iranians lied to the IAEA,” he said, referring to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

“This regime calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and wiping it off of the map. We can never allow a regime that calls for our destruction to get its finger on the nuclear trigger,” he said.

“Iran seeks to encircle Israel, from Gaza in the south to Lebanon and Syria in the north. It funds, trains and arms terrorist groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, enabling them to shoot thousands of rockets at Israel’s civilian population,” Cohen said.

“This fanatical regime must never obtain the ability to accelerate its weapon of mass destruction that would be used against the Jewish state,” he added.

Cohen’s successor, Mossad director David Barnea, was last week quoted in Hebrew media outlets as saying the emerging nuclear deal is a “strategic disaster.”

“The agreement is a bad deal that gives Iran a license to manufacture a bomb,” Barnea reportedly said.

“The Mossad is committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The agreement does not apply to Israel, nor does the freedom of action to continue operating.”

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Ozzone 7-3 > This is always the sign that a person is in the presence of God. There is never any vague sense of sin, but a focusing on the concentration of sin in some specific, personal area of life.

 

Climate Change > ‘There Is No Climate Emergency’

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1,100 Scientists and Professionals Declare: ‘There Is No Climate Emergency’

By Allan Stein 

The Epoch Times

August 26, 2022 

More than 1,100 scientists and professionals worldwide have signed a World Climate Declaration (WCD) stating that there is no climate emergency.

The independent foundation Climate Intelligence (CLINTEL) issued the one-page summary on June 27, 2022, garnering 1,152 total signatures in 15 countries as of Aug. 23.

“Climate science should be less political, while climate policies should be more scientific. Scientists should openly address uncertainties and exaggerations in their predictions of global warming.”

At the same time, “politicians should dispassionately count the real costs as well as the imagined benefits of their policy measures,” the declaration states.

CLINTEL was founded in 2019 by emeritus professor of geophysics Guus Berkhout and science journalist Marcel Crok to promote knowledge and understanding of climate change in forming climate policy.

A woman holds a sign in support of farmers protesting the Dutch government’s climate change policies,

in Ottawa on July 23, 2022. (Annie Wu/The Epoch Times)

Crok said the WCD project began in 2019 and that the power is in its message, brevity, and accessibility.

Conservative in its statements, “the message is plain and clear: there is no climate emergency. Very important: this is true even if you accept that CO2 is the main driver of the current climate change,” Crok told The Epoch Times in an email.

“We simply state that all evidence so far indicates that the increase in CO2 and the increase in temperature [are] not harmful for us or for nature and therefore the climate hysteria surrounding the topic is totally unjustified [and] that the ‘cure’—getting rid of fossil fuels asap and replace them with renewables—probably will be worse than the ‘disease’ [climate change],” Crok said.

Crok said the CLINTEL document has produced significant pushback from climate activists.

He said the organization sent many open letters to organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations, and World Economic Forum asking for a high-level meeting with CLINTEL scientists.

“We normally don’t even get a polite reply,” Crok said. “Activists don’t like our WCD for the simple reason that they always claim there is a 97 percent, or 99 percent, or 99.9 percent consensus.”

“So, they have two general ways to attack the WCD. They say that only a few [signatories] are active climate scientists, and many are retired. Both are true and very understandable.”

Crok said if a working climate scientist dependent on government money signs the WCD, there is the risk of getting fired.

“We have some brave enough to speak out nevertheless, but that means you will have to face a lot of criticism and attempts to discredit you,” he said.

Direct engagements with the activists are rare, Crok said.

“They simply dominate the media, and if they feel our WCD has some impact, they will arrange that it gets discredited in the media and the social media.”

In recent weeks, CLINTEL has received increased attention and new signatories, many of whom have worked in academia.

The WCD concludes that the science of climate change is far from settled and that the geological archive shows Earth’s climate has been in flux for as long as the planet has existed.

“Therefore, it is no surprise that we are now expe­riencing a period of warming. Natural as well as anthropogenic factors cause warming. The world has warmed significantly less than predicted [based on] modeled anthropogenic forcing,” the WCD states.

“The gap between the real world and the modeled world tells us that we are far from understanding climate change.”

The WCD states that climate models have “many shortcomings,” and are unsatisfactory policy tools.

“They do not only exaggerate the effect of greenhouse gases, [but] they also ignore that enriching the atmosphere with CO2 is beneficial. CO2 is not a pollutant. It is essential to all life on Earth. More CO2 is favorable for nature, greening our planet.

“Additional CO2 in the air has promoted growth in global plant biomass. It is also profitable for agriculture, increasing the yields of crops worldwide.”

The Texas-based company Navigator Heartland Greenway recently announced plans to build a carbon capture network across five states in the U.S. Midwest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The company held public meetings on potential land takings to make way for the project earlier this year.

The proposed Heartland Greenway pipeline would span 1,300 miles across South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois, to nearly 20 recipient points. CO2 would be converted into liquid form and buried underground.

A detail of the pilot carbon dioxide capture plant is pictured at the Amager Bakke waste incinerator

in Copenhagen, Denmark, on June 24, 2021. (Ida Guldbaek Arentsen/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

“CO2 is plant food, the basis of all life on Earth,” the declaration states. “There is no statistical evidence that global warming is intensifying hurricanes, floods, droughts, and suchlike natural disasters or making them more frequent. However, there is ample evidence that CO2­ mitigation measures are as damag­ing as they are costly.

“There is no climate emergency. Therefore, there is no cause for panic and alarm. We strongly oppose the harmful and unrealistic net-zero CO2 policy proposed for 2050.”

The declaration advises European leaders that climate policy should “respect scientific and economic realities.”

“To believe the outcome of a climate model is to believe what the model makers have put in. This is precisely the problem of today’s climate discussion to which climate models are central.

“Climate science has degenerated into a discussion based on beliefs, not on sound self-critical science. Should not we free ourselves from the naive belief in immature climate models?” the WCD states.

Crok said the document’s main goal is to make clear that even if you accept most of the claims of the IPCC, that you can still conclude there is no climate emergency. In this respect, our WCD should be uncontroversial.”

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Corruption is Everywhere > Argentina prosecutor seeks 12 yrs jail for VP Kirchner in graft trial; Shakira faces 8 years in prison over tax evasion; Church secretary steals $209k

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Argentina's public prosecutor on Monday asked that Vice President Cristina Kirchner be sentenced to 12 years in prison and disqualified from public office for life for alleged corruption during her two terms as president.

Kirchner, 69, is accused of fraudulently awarding public works contracts in her fiefdom in Patagonia, but even if convicted she would not go to jail so long as she benefits from parliamentary immunity as an elected senator.

A verdict is expected at the end of the year.

There are two ways she could lose her parliamentary immunity: either by losing her senate seat at the next election, or if the Supreme Court were to ratify an eventual guilty verdict.

Minutes after public prosecutor Diego Luciani's request was made public, the office of President Alberto Fernandez issued a statement condemning "the judicial and media persecution" of Kirchner.

"None of the actions attributed to the ex-president has been proved and the whole accusation is based purely on the function she exercised at that time, which sadly degrades the most basic principles of modern criminal law."

Another 12 people are also accused of involvement in the illicit attribution of public works contracts in the southern Santa Cruz province in favor of businessman Lazaro Baez.

The period investigated includes Kirchner's eight years in office from 2007 to 2015 and the preceding four years when her late husband Nestor Kirchner, who died in 2010, was president.

Luciani hit out at "an authentic system of institutional corruption" which he said was "probably the biggest corruption operation the country has known," while Sergio Mola, another public prosecutor, said "there were systematic irregularities in the tenders over a 12-year period."

"The evidence clearly demonstrates illicit manoeuvres," added Mola, who said the defendants had sought to defraud the state through "discretion in the use of funds."

"It is not credible that Cristina Fernandez (Kirchner) would not have known about anything in the solitude of her office," said Mola.

Shakira faces 8 years in prison over tax evasion in Spain

By Pedro Oliveira Jr.

Colombian superstar Shakira was indicted Friday on six counts of tax fraud in Spain, where she faces eight years in prison and a fine of nearly $24.5 million. File photo by Rune Hellestad/UPI | License Photo

July 29 (UPI) -- Shakira's hips don't lie, but according to Spanish prosecutors, her tax returns do.

The Colombian superstar was indicted Friday on six counts of tax fraud in Spain, where she faces eight years in prison and a fine of nearly $24.5 million.

Prosecutors say Shakira didn't pay income taxes on some $14.8 million between 2012 and 2014, when she became a regular in Barcelona in the early days of her relationship with soccer star Gerard Piqué, according to El País.

Lawyers for the singer spent weeks in negotiations with tax authorities, hoping for a deal that would've quashed charges and excluded jail time. In May, judges threw out a defense appeal to have the case dismissed, El Mundo reported.

But this week Shakira rejected the state's settlement offer, maintaining her "absolute innocence" and blasting the prosecution for "trampling her rights," El País reported.

Shakira has maintained throughout the proceedings that she lived in the Bahamas and spent much of that time traveling for work, officially moving to Spain in 2015.

Yet her defense team is in for a tough fight to prove her residence was elsewhere in those two years.

The case against Shakira is further bolstered by a detailed investigation by El Pais, tracking the singer's day to day in those two years to show she spent more than half the year there. She was reportedly in Spain for 246 days in 2012, 210 days in 2013 and 243 days in 2014.

Her life in Barcelona included times in music studios, French tutoring, twice-weekly visits to a hair salon and zumba classes, El País reported.

Alabama church secretary pleads guilty to embezzling $209K

By Michael Gryboski, 

Mainline Church Editor

Christian Post

The former financial secretary of an Alabama congregation has confessed to embezzling approximately $209,000 from the church over the course of several years.

Sharon Collins, who worked at First Baptist Church of Foley from 2007 to 2019, admitted in a recent plea agreement that she stole $209,745 via multiple church credit cards.

Collins admitted to using cards issued in both her name and the names of coworkers to steal the money and use it for expenses, satellite TV bills, plane trips and even a college degree, reported local media outlet WALA.

U.S. District Judge Terry Moorer read out the 12 counts of wire fraud to Collins on Wednesday, with Collins pleading guilty to them all. Sentencing is scheduled for November.  

"I imagine, for you, this is embarrassing," Moorer told Collins, as quoted by WALA. "Even if you find this embarrassing, it's not the worst thing in the world someone has ever done, and you can live this down."

Although the plea agreement will result in the government dropping 20 other identity theft and wire fraud charges, Collins could still face up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the Mobile-based NBC 15 News.

The college degree she used church funds to pay for was a bachelor's degree in psychology and criminal justice at Troy University.

Now that's funny! 

Collins reportedly began stealing money from the church in 2008. The criminal actions were not uncovered until years later when a new pastor and the finance committee realized that a savings account valued at around $100,000 had disappeared.

In July 2019, the church fired Collins, and the congregation turned the matter over to the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office and later the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Foley FBC Senior Pastor Drew Whittington said in a statement that the congregation is "grieved about what took place" but also "grateful for the work of law enforcement officials."

"We have taken the appropriate steps to uphold the ethical stewardship of God's household," stated Whittington, as quoted by WALA.

"This has been an unfortunate chapter in our history, but we are thankful to put it behind us and focus on being a healthy church that uses our resources to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

Bits and Bites from Around the World > Rapunzel-like Tower for Sale; Turkey attack puts man in hospital

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Scots Rapunzel-style castle for sale for just £80k – but there’s a catch

Freya Coombes

The Scottish Sun

14:13, 20 Aug 2022

A SCOTS Rapunzel tower has hit the market – and it can be yours for just £80,000.

The four-storey Gothic tower provides impressive views for anyone wanting to indulge in a princess moment by staring out of the tall tower to the surrounding Binn forest.

The only catch is it has no running water, no kitchen and no bathroom or other amenities.

So, before you lock your Princess in the top floor, remember you have to provide food, water, and sanitation facilities two or three times a day. 

Binnhill Tower, situated in Kinfauns, Perth, was designed in 1839 by the Scottish politician Sir Frances Gray, 14th Lord Gray.

It was built as an observatory and focal point for Kinfauns Castle, a nearby gothic mansion.

The nearby villages of Kinsfauns, near the River Tay, offer scenic views as well as good connections to surrounding villages.

Rooftop view

It is a ten-minute drive to reach the city of Perth, and for a further journey out, 30 minutes in a car to reach Dundee.

The listing states: “This prominent landmark represents a truly rare and unique opportunity for anyone seeking a historic and romantic building that is ripe for a Grand Designs-style transformation.

“The square-shaped tower is reached by a beautiful woodland approach, just a short distance from the nearest road, with the arched front door opening into a ground-floor space that would be easy to imagine as a homely living area.”

“The tower has lapsed planning permission to be restored and converted into a dwelling, and it comes with a small footprint of land.

“Recently, the property has undergone some repair work, including the replacement of joists and the addition of a roof to make it watertight from the top.

“Externally, Binnhill Tower comes with a footprint of land that is perfect for admiring the lavish landscape.”

Gang of turkeys attacks man in Chase, B.C., breaking

both his hips and a finger

RCMP told that the birds are scheduled to ‘receive the death penalty for their crimes’

JACQUELINE GELINEAU

Aug. 24, 2022 5:30 p.m.

 

A Shuswap man was seriously injured after being attacked by a rooster and turkeys.

On July 28, Chase RCMP was asked to check on the well-being of someone at a home in Celista. Upon arrival, they found a man who had been attacked by some angry birds. The man had already received medical attention.

His injuries included two broken hips, a broken finger and multiple lacerations.

Police were told that the birds in question have already been scheduled to receive the “death penalty for their crimes,” said Sgt. Barry Kennedy.

It is not known if implicated turkeys will be served at this Thanksgiving dinner.

Islam - Current Day > UK Government supports Rushdie Fatwa; Muslim tries to kill MP; Migrants abused in Libya; Muslims attack Hindus for their land

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Chairman of a British-based Islamic Human Rights Commission

 — that has received more than £1.4 million in charity cash —

 praised the fatwa on Sir Salman Rushdie less than a year ago

Massoud Shadjareh, founder and chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), spoke fondly of the death sentence on Sir Salman Rushdie

The IHRC has shown support for terrorists detained in the UK and the US

By MAX AITCHISON FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 18:27 EDT, 20 August 2022 | UPDATED: 19:12 EDT, 20 August 2022

They should remove the word 'Human' from the name of this organization. 

Go to the Mail on Sunday for the full story

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Migrants face abuse in Libya after EU-backed interceptions

AFP

Godwin risked everything for a better life in Europe, but he was detained and ransomed in Libya by European Union-backed authorities accused of "extreme abuse" against captured migrants.

Migrants from sub-Saharan Africa take what work they can get in Libya, desperate to scrape together the money

for their next attempt to reach Europe © Mahmud Turkia

The 34-year-old Nigerian had paid 1,100 euros ($1,100) for a place on an overcrowded vessel from the Libyan port of Zawiya, heading for Italian shores via the world's deadliest migration route.

"It was night when I got on the boat, it was already dark. I didn't know (where we were going)," he said, giving only his first name. "I just wanted to go to Europe and have a good life."

Those hopes were dashed when a Libyan patrol boat approached.

Godwin said he was so reluctant to avoid going back to Libya that he considered throwing himself into the sea.

But he was detained and dragged back to Libya, where he was only released after his family paid a 550 euro ransom.

Migrants intercepted by the Libyan coast guard as they attempted to reach Europe are held in a detention camp in Surman, west of the capital Tripoli, pending possible deportation. © Mahmud Turkia

His is far from the only case.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch said some 32,450 people had been intercepted by Libyan forces last year and "hauled back to arbitrary detention and abuse" in the war-ravaged country as European countries turned a blind eye.

HRW accused the EU's border agency Frontex of using a drone to provide information that "facilitates interceptions and returns to Libya ... (despite) overwhelming evidence of torture and exploitation of migrants and refugees".

Maldives Minister Ali Solih stabbed in broad daylight,

attacker seen reciting Quran verses

The video of the incident went viral over social media which shows the attacker making several failed attempts to slit the Minister's neck. Soon after Solih ran away leaving his scooter on the road, the attacker began expressing his aggression. He also talked to local people in the local language.

24 August, 2022

OpIndia Staff

Maldivian Minister Ali Solih stabbed in broad daylight. The attacker used sharp knife to cut the Minister's neck

but slashed a portion of his left arm instead

In a horrific incident, Maldivian Minister Ali Solih was attacked by a sharp weapon while he was riding on a bike in the Hulhumale region of the capital Male. The Maldivian Police immediately arrested the attacker who tried to slit his throat.

According to the reports, the incident is said to have happened on Monday when Minister Solih was riding his two-wheeler in the Hulhumale region of Male. The attacker stopped in front of the Minister’s bike and blocked his way. He then chanted some Quran verses and launched an attack to cut Solih’s neck, as reported by Maldives media.

I'm sure he was chanting Quran verses about how Islam is such a wonderful religion of peace.

The attacker used a sharp knife to cut the Minister’s neck but slashed a portion of his left arm instead. Minister Solih jumped off the motorcycle and rushed away from the spot to save his life. He is being treated at the Hulhumale Hospital.

The video of the incident went viral over social media which shows the attacker making several failed attempts to slit the Minister’s neck. Soon after Solih ran away leaving his scooter on the road, the attacker began expressing his aggression. He also talked to local people in the local language.

The Male police were immediately informed about the incident and reached the spot and arrested the attacker. While the Police are investigating the case and interrogating the attacker, it is not clear why the attack was planned and executed.

The Maldives is facing a threat from rising Islamic radicalism as well as recruitment for global militant organizations. Earlier, the island was in the news when former president Mohamed Nasheed was attacked in Male. The attackers in May 2021 had planted explosives on the bike that was parked outside the residence of Nasheed. The former President had to undergo treatment for months in Germany.

Reports mention that the present administration, led by President Solih and Speaker Nasheed, is recognized for being democratic and liberal in its approach to governance and social values. With international assistance, the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has been fighting a lengthy war against the rise of extreme inclinations in the Indian Ocean island nation.

The victim in the current situation, Minister Ali Solih is the State Minister of Environment, Climate Change, and Technology. He is also the spokesperson for the Jumhooree Party (JP), a coalition partner of President Ibrahim Solih’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Barbaric attack on indigenous Munda people at Shyamnagar

Upazilla, 12 injured and 1 dead

Published on: August 21, 2022

Kapaeeng Foundation

Munda people of Bangladesh

On 19 August 2022 at around 8 am a group of 200 goons led by land grabbers Rashedul Islam and Ebadul Sardar carried out a heinous attack on the indigenous Munda people of Dhumghat Antikhali village under Shyamnagar Upazilla of Sathkhira District. The land grabbers intentionally perpetrated the attack in order to grab the land of the Munda people of Dhumghat Antikhali village.

It is reported that the 32 indigenous Munda families have been living in the Dhumghat Antikhali village for many years. Recently, Rashedul Islam and Ebadul Sardar have been claiming the lands of 8 Munda families where Rakhal Munda, Abinash Munda, Nirapod Munda and Odhir Munda families have been living and cultivating. Not only that but also the land grabbers have been threatening the indigenous Munda families from many days in order to evict them from their lands.

Incident Day:

On the incident day, Rashedul Islam and Ebadul Sardar hired nearly 200 goons from different Unions and Upazilas of the District. The perpetrators surrounded the Munda village and locked the indigenous Munda people inside their houses forcefully. Meanwhile, when Bilasi Rani Munda, Rina Munda, Sulta Munda and Narendra Munda were working in the field Rashedul Islam ordered them to leave the field immediately. However, when Bilasi Rani Munda and Fanindra Munda protested Rashedul Islam, the perpetrators started attacking the victims with sharp weapons with the intention to kill them. At this stage, the victims injured severely. Nevertheless, the perpetrators also sexually assaulted by tearing apart their cloths and snatched away the gold chain and ear rings of Sulta Munda, Bilasi Rani Munda worth of 144,000 Taka. By seeing this, Narendra Nath Munda came forward to rescue the victims, but the perpetrators hit him with bamboo stick and tried to kill him. A total of 100kg rice seedbed worth of 100,000 Taka were also destroyed by the miscreants. Nobody came to help the victims after seeing the goons. The culprits left the place only when the police arrived after calling at 999.

Later, the miscreants started cultivating on the land of indigenous Munda people by using power tiller. However, the indigenous Munda people anyhow got out from their houses and obstructed the land grabbers. The perpetrators also vandalized the houses of indigenous Munda families with local made weapons. At this point, 4 were injured seriously including 3 women out of 12 indigenous Munda persons. Afterwards, the 4 injured were admitted to Shyamnagar Upazilla Health Complex when the police rescued them.

The eyewitnesses are-(1) Nirapod Munda son of late Ramcharan Munda, (2) Sonatan Munda son of Narendra Nath Munda, (3) Bimla Dasi wife of Monosa Munda, (4) Nomita Munda wife of Narayon Munda, (5) Probash Munda son of late Babulal Munda, (6) Aroti Munda wife of Nirapod Munda from Dumghat Thana, Shyamnagar Upazilla of Sathkhira District.

The injured are-Sulta Munda (30), Bilasi Rani Munda (35), Rina Munda (36) and Narendra Munda (65).

Death of a victim:

Unfortunately, the injured Narendra Munda died on the day after the incident on 20 August 2022. A case has been lodged with Shyamnagar Police Station against 23 known and 160-170 unknown perpetrators on 19 August 2022. The police have arrested 4 perpetrators on 19 August 2022 and the following day respectively. However, the main culprits are still at large till the report.

Perpetrators:

As identified by the locals, the perpetrators are-(1) Rashedul Islam (45), son of late Gafur Sardar (2), Ebadul Sardar, son of late Gafur Sardar from Shrifolkati village, (3) Firoz (30) son of Munshur Ali from Bongshipur village, (4) Moukim Mahajan (40), son of Firoz Mahajan from Shrifolkati village, (5) Islam (50), (6) Robiul Islam (40) son of Siddique, (7) Firoz Gazi (35) son of Munshur Gazi from Bongshipur village, (8) Akkas Ali (48) son of Akbar Ali from Patrakhola village, (9) Soyeb Gazi (36) son of Kader Gazi, (10) Nur Hossain (35) son of Alam, (11) Adom Ali (35) son of Bhalu Ali from Bongshipur village, (12) Ashraf Gazi (48) son of Akbar Gazi, (13) Rshedul (40), son of Sunnot Gazi from Pathrakhola village, (14) Babu (28), (15) Israfil (27), (16) Alamghir (28), (17) Nur Mohammed (27), (18) Akbar (24), (19) Emdad (25), (20) Rashedul (29), (21) Firoz (30), (22) Shafiqul (30) son of Gafur Gazi from Shrifolkati village, (23) Kamrul (38) from Shrifolkati village of Shyamnagar Upazilla and other 160-170 unknown miscreants.

Current situation:

Local police stationed in the village for the protection of the villagers. However, indigenous Munda people still leaving in fear. The mastermind of this barbaric attack still out of bar. It is learnt that now they are giving pressure to the villagers for the settlement of the issue.

Different human rights and indigenous peoples’ organizations including SoDESH Sathkhira, HRDF Sathkhira, CSO and HRD Coalition Sathkhira, Bangladesh Mohilla Parishad, Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum (BIPF), SAMS, Jatiya Adibashi Parishad and Kapaeeng Foundation condemned and protested the barbaric attack and also demanded justice and arrest of the perpetrators as soon as possible through separate statements on 19 August 2022.

Shyamnagar Upazilla, Bangladesh

Canadian Convulsions > Trudeau's Emergency Act against Truckers Unnecessary; Trudeau seems determined to destroy Economy

..

I have always said that Trudeau's invoking of the Emergencies Act in response to the truckers' protest was an act of sheer terror. This story lends credence to that theory.

Protesters participating in the truck convoy protest against COVID-19 mandates and restrictions gather

on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Jan. 29, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Agreement Was Reached for Convoy Protesters to Reposition

Vehicles Before Emergencies Act Was Invoked, Negotiator Says

By Andrew Chen 

The Epoch Times

August 18, 2022 

Dean French, who negotiated with leaders of the Freedom Convoy earlier this year, said the Liberal government didn’t give enough time for a peaceful resolution to transpire before invoking the Emergencies Act to have the protesters removed by force, even though an agreement for the convoy to leave was reached.

“This was a black mark on Canadian history. History will show this was a total overreaction … and the inquiry is going to show that as well,” French told CBC’s Vassy Kapelo in an interview on Aug. 17.

The public hearings part of the inquiry are set to take place next month to look into the unprecedented use of the Emergencies Act, invoked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Feb. 14, to clear the demonstrations in downtown Ottawa that began late January and called for an end to federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions.

French, the former chief of staff to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, said negotiations for a peaceful resolution were carried out under a “very tight timeline,” with him speaking to Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson on Feb. 10, and the convoy leaders, including Tamara Lich and convoy lawyer Keith Wilson, on Feb. 11.

But recently released documents show that the government had been discussing the possibility of invoking the act as early as Feb. 10.

The documents include minutes from a cabinet meeting held on Feb. 13 in which Trudeau told his cabinet that he and the Incident Response Group—a committee of ministers and senior officials—were weighing a response to the convoy protest, and had “explored measures to enhance the powers of law enforcement agents on the ground to enhance actions, relieve Canadians and distressed communities and address the disruptions to the economy.”

During the cabinet meeting, Trudeau’s national security and intelligence adviser, Jody Thomas, told cabinet members that “there was potential for a breakthrough” in negotiations with the protesters.

French, who was trying to broker a deal for the trucks to leave the residential area in downtown Ottawa, said he was “surprised” that the wording from the national security adviser to the cabinet “wasn’t a little bit more direct,” since Mayor Watson had reached an agreement with the protesters on Feb. 11.

“I think the words should have been ‘there is an agreement,’ because Tamara’s own words in her letter—it’s a one-page letter from the mayor and one-page letter from Tamara … her final quote was, ‘we will do our best to start on Monday,’ which they did,” he said.

“We were done the deal that night, essentially.”

“Why wouldn’t Trudeau’s cabinet have waited on the Sunday night [Feb. 13] to say: Mayor Jim Watson, a very credible, respected mayor, has an agreement. Let’s just wait two or three days to see if this peaceful resolution works. If it doesn’t, if it’s not real, then let’s put down the hammer,'” French said.

Agreement

According to a Feb. 12 letter to Watson obtained by CBC, Lich acknowledged that the protest was “disturbing others,” but said “that was never our intent.”

“The Freedom Convoy Board agrees with your request to reduce pressure on the residents and businesses in the City of Ottawa,” Lich wrote.

“We have made a plan to consolidate our protest efforts around Parliament Hill. We will be working hard over the next 24 hours to get buy in from the truckers. We hope to start repositioning our trucks on Monday.”

In a separate letter issued that day, Lich revealed that the Freedom Convoy board had agreed to reposition the trucks, and had begun to work with road captains on the details.

French noted that the protesters were eager to comply with the mayor’s request as they wanted “a peaceful resolution.”

“All they really want is to get out of the residences so Mayor Watson will then talk to them. Remember, not a single politician had even listened to them—and that’s a Canadian trait: to listen—that wasn’t happening. And Mayor Watson made it clear: If you don’t move out of the residences, I’m not speaking to you,” he said.

Watson’s office confirmed this week that the mayor never met with Lich, CBC reported.

When asked to respond to French’s remarks, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino’s office told CBC in a statement that “the government closely monitored the status of negotiations which were disavowed by many associated with the so-called Freedom convoy, and were ultimately unsuccessful.”

Trudeau moved to invoke the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, less than 24 hours after being informed of the likely breakthrough with the protesters. The act gave the police special powers to compel towing companies to remove the trucks and vehicles parked in the city’s downtown core, and the police cleared the protesters in escalated operations over the next few days.

The act also allowed financial institutions, without having to obtain a court order, to freeze the bank accounts of individuals and entities suspected of making financial contributions to the movement. It was later reported that some banks froze accounts beyond the list of names provided by the RCMP.

Canada just missed possibly one of the greatest opportunities in its history

Canada could have been using its LNG to save an embattled Europe ... 

and make billions in the process

Author of the article: Tristin Hopper

Publishing date: Aug 24, 2022

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz at an event in Toronto on Tuesday. Scholz's attempts to secure Canadian LNG have mostly fallen on deaf ears in Ottawa. PHOTO BY THE CANADIAN PRESS/CHRIS YOUNG

It could well represent one of the biggest missed opportunities in Canadian history: An embattled Europe is clamouring for natural gas, and one of the world’s biggest producers of the stuff can’t sell it to them.

The economic hit is overwhelming: At current prices, even just one Canadian port exporting liquid natural gas could be adding nine figures to the Canadian GDP each day. Politically, Canada could be helping to deal a body blow to Russian hegemony over Western European energy. Instead, on both fronts, Ottawa appears content to watch from the sidelines.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is currently on a mad dash to secure alternate sources of gas before the onset of winter. In Toronto on Tuesday, Scholz said “Canada is our partner of choice” in transitioning away from Russian energy, adding “we hope that Canadian LNG will play a major role in this.”

The invitation was pooh pooh’ed almost immediately by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said there has “never been a strong business case” for moving Canadian LNG to Europe.

That was before Europe decided it can do without Russia's gas. Canada's debt has more than doubled under Trudeau who seems to think that it will take care of itself. 

Oddly, Trudeau doesn’t share the same sentiment when it comes to hydrogen. Despite hydrogen having a dramatically smaller and less-developed European market, one of the signature features of Scholz’s visit was when Trudeau took him to Stephenville, Newfoundland to visit the proposed site of a wind-to-hydrogen facility. The hydrogen project hasn’t obtained regulatory approval and it’s still not entirely clear whether it will go forward. 

There is much more on this article at The National Post.

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