Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From The Times of Israel
Australian PM ousted for more moderate rival with Jewish roots
Malcolm Turnbull, who said his mother’s family was Jewish, defeats Tony Abbott in internal Liberal Party ballot to lead country
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s beleaguered prime minister was ousted from power in an internal party ballot on Monday as the ruling conservative party attempts to win back a disenchanted public by replacing the nation’s polarizing, gaffe-prone leader with his more moderate rival.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott lost a leadership ballot by members of his party, who voted 54 to 44 to replace him with former Liberal Party leader and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Liberal Party whip Scott Buchholz told reporters. Turnbull had called for a leadership ballot earlier Monday amid flagging opinion polls for the 2-year-old conservative coalition government.
Turnbull revealed in a 2013 interview that his mother’s family was Jewish, making him possibly halachically Jewish as well, but that he’d never really researched his background.
“My mother always used to say that her mother’s family was Jewish. “I’ve never researched it. I honestly don’t know where or how I would do that,” he told The Australian Jewish News at the time.
In the interview, Turnbull said he grew up in a neighborhood with a large Jewish community and has always been “very comfortable” around Jews. He has a strong connection to the Australian Jewish community, according to reports.
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From The Independent
From PressTV
Israeli forces storm al-Aqsa Mosque, injure Palestinians
More than 200 Israeli soldiers have once again stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), firing rubber bullets and tear gas at Palestinians.
The director of al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani said on Monday that at least six Palestinians, including an elderly man, were wounded during the second consecutive day of clashes at the mosque.
Dozens of Palestinians were also detained in the new attack.
The latest incident at the al-Aqsa Mosque follows violent clashes at the compound a day earlier.
On Sunday, clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli forces at the al-Aqsa compound after the regime’s forces attempted to force Palestinian worshipers out of the mosque. The incident left three Palestinians injured and resulted in property damage.
From Russia Today
End of Schengen? EU countries toughen border control
A Hungarian soldier patrols along the border near Roszke, Hungary September 14, 2015. © Dado Ruvic / Reuters-
15 September 2015
16:12 GMT
Greece’s interim maritime minister, Christos Zois, told Reuters that the refugee crisis “is not Greece’s problem alone. We’re not guarding Greece’s borders, we’re guarding the European Union’s borders. We need support – economic and moral support.”
Of the record 430,000 refugees and migrants that have made the journey across the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year, 309,000 have arrived via Greece, according to the International Organization for Migration.
In July and August alone, Greece saw 150,000 arrivals, Zois said.
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16:04 GMT
Europe’s border agency, Frontex, is preparing to speed up identification of illegal migrants, and will help deport them in large numbers.
“When you have up to 40 percent of migrants coming from a third country not granted refugee status and if nothing happens, if they are not returned, what message does the EU convey to potential migrants?” Frontex head Fabrice Leggeri told Reuters.
From The Times of Israel
US troops return to Iraq to battle Islamic State — report
160-strong force lands in Anbar, Asharq Al-Awsat says, to join campaign to push IS out of province’s capital Ramadi
A force of 160 American army soldiers have landed in Iraq as part of ongoing efforts by a US-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State that has captured swathes of the country and its war-torn Syrian neighbor, the Arabic-language media outlet Asharq Al-Awsat said.
Iraqi security sources told the pan-Arab paper that the force landed at a military base in the Anbar province, from where Iraq is running its offensive against IS, Israel’s Walla news reported Saturday.
The base is already hosting hundreds of American Army personnel who are training the local forces, but this is the first time that a US fighting force has arrived in Anbar, the report said. The soldiers are expected to take part in an operation to oust the Islamic State from Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, and some 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad.
IS overran Ramadi in mid-May in a major setback for Iraqi forces, which had held out against militants in parts of the city for well over a year.
Coalition forces bombed a key jihadist command and supply hub in the Ramadi area last week. A video of the strike on a football stadium showed a massive secondary explosion at the site.
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From PressTV
Israel playing with fire, fanning violence: PLO
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has blasted the latest Israeli aggression against Palestinian worshipers at the al-Aqsa Mosque in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), saying the Tel Aviv regime is instigating “violence and insecurity”.
“Israel is playing with fire,” Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said during aMonday meeting with Alastair McPhail, the British consul general to al-Quds.
“Clearly, Israel is deliberately creating and escalating a situation of instability, insecurity and violence,” Ashrawi said.
The senior PLO official went on to say that Israel’s aggression against the Palestinians, especially during the Jewish New Year holidays and ahead of the Muslim Eid al-Adha on September 23-24, is provoking the entire Muslim world.
The al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, together with its surrounding compound in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds is a flashpoint. The site is revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount.
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From PressTV
UN worried over al-Quds clashes after Israelis storm al-Aqsa
A senior UN official has expressed concern over the recent violence in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), where Israeli forces clashed with Palestinian worshipers at al-Aqsa Mosque.
“I encourage all to stand firmly against incitement and violence,” especially during the Jewish New Year holidays and ahead of the Muslim Eid al-Adha, said the UN Special Coordinator for Middle East, Nickolay Mladenov, in a Sunday statement.
This comes in the wake of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces at the mosque.
On Monday, more than 200 Israeli soldiers stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque, firing rubber bullets and tear gas at Palestinians. A number of Palestinians were wounded in the clash.
Also on Sunday, clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli forces at the al-Aqsa compound after the regime’s forces attempted to force Palestinian worshipers out of the mosque while expanding the military deployment in the yard of the holy site for the Jewish Rosh Hashanah New Year holiday.
According to Palestinian sources, Israeli regime forces stormed the mosque and inflicted damage on the compound. Dozens of worshippers sustained suffocation injuries from tear gas as well as injuries from rubber bullets fired by Israeli forces.
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From The Times of Israel
Who is Corbyn? A look at British Labour’s new leader
A far-left activist for over five decades, UK’s new opposition leader voted over 500 times against his own party
LONDON (AP) — Far-left lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn has won the race to lead Britain’s opposition Labour Party, a result many considered unimaginable just months ago. Here is a glance at his background and his beliefs.
Corbyn was born in 1949 to a middle-class family. His mother was a teacher and his father an engineer, and they reportedly met while campaigning on the Spanish civil war.
As a teenager, he became involved in causes such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and both Corbyn and his elder brother joined the Young Socialists.
Corbyn did not finish his studies at the North London Polytechnic. He was elected to Haringey Council, a municipal authority in north London, in 1974 at 25.
He served as a full time trade union organizer before he entered the House of Commons as lawmaker for London’s Islington North in 1983 — a seat he has held ever since.
From Russia Today
EU approves military action against people smugglers in Mediterranean – reports
In June, the EU launched European Union Naval Force Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR Med) “to undertake systematic efforts to identify, capture and dispose of vessels and enabling assets used or suspected of being used by migrant smugglers or traffickers.” Now it will be allowed to stop and if necessary destroy boats which are used to carry illegal migrants.
“The conditions have been met” to launch the new phase of the military operation, one European diplomat told AFP.
However, the second phase of the operation, which was approved Monday, still restricts EU NavFor Med to action in international waters. The third phase would involve military action against people smugglers inside Libyan territorial waters, aiming to destroy their boats and networks before they set sail, AFP reports.
Earlier, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that record number of asylum seekers had crossed the Mediterranean in 2015 so far. According to the agency, 432,761 migrants and refugees reached Europe by sea, which is more than double the total for 2014.
The “vast majority of arrivals” were registered in Greece (309,356 people) and Italy (121,139 people), the IOM said.
From The Times of Israel
20 killed in car bomb explosion in northeast Syria
Blast at HQ of a pro-regime militia in Kurdish city follows car bomb hours earlier at a Kurdish security checkpoint
DAMASCUS — Syria’s state media are reporting that a car bomb explosion killed at least 20 people, including a woman and her two children, in the predominantly Kurdish northeastern city of Hassakeh.
The official SANA news agency says Monday’s attack took place in the city’s al-Mahatta neighborhood. Along with the 20 killed, at least 40 people were reported wounded.
In another part of the city, another car bomb blew up an hour earlier, but there was no word on casualties.
Syrian state TV showed footage of a two-story building that collapsed from the al-Mahatta explosion, which also left a large crater in the street. A man is seen holding a victim and weeping.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said the two explosions were suicide car bombs, although it could not immediately confirm a toll.
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From The Times of Israel
Putin said willing to sideline Assad in Syria
Bloomberg says Moscow focusing on fighting IS; US, Russian and Saudi leaders have been discussing plan since June
Russia may be willing to sideline Syrian President Bashar Assad as part of efforts to combat Islamic State and in order to maintain its influence in the Middle East, according to US and Russian officials and Syrian opposition leaders.
Bloomberg reported early Monday that American, Russian and Saudi officials and members of the Syrian opposition have been discussing the issue at least since June, when Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed in St. Petersburg.
Russia has since then embarked on “whirlwind diplomacy,” Bloomberg said, holding talks in Moscow with key officials from the region.
US President Barack Obama has in recent days warned Russia to rethink its apparent efforts to bolster Assad after more than four years of brutal civil war that has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced. Moscow in turn has insisted that it is not seeking to shore up Assad’s regime, but rather is supporting what it says is a key element in combatting Islamic State. Saudi Arabia, however, has long sought Assad’s ouster, arming Syrian opposition groups fighting the regime forces.
According to Bloomberg, US and Russian officials say they’re mulling a “transition plan,” which would effectively leave Assad powerless even as he remained interim head of state.
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