From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Author of Melania Trump profile files police complaint after deluge of anti-Semitic abuse
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, and his wife, Melania, with daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner at a campaign rally in Waterloo, Iowa, Feb. 1, 2016. (Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A Jewish reporter filed a complaint with Washington, D.C., police over threats she received after publishing a critical profile of Donald Trump’s wife, Melania.
Julia Ioffe filed the complaint under a statute that describes a threat “to kidnap any person or to injure the person of another or physically damage the property of any person or of another person, in whole or in part” as a criminal offense, subject to a fine and imprisonment.
The Washington Post, in reporting Ioffe’s complaint on Monday, quoted it as saying “an unknown person sent her a caricature of a person being shot in the back of the head by another, among other harassing calls and disturbing emails depicting violent scenarios.” The reference apparently is to a cartoon Ioffe received via email and which she posted on Twitter.
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From Russia Today
Gang rape a ‘pleasurable pastime’ in black culture, claims South African Judge
Published time: 11 May, 2016 02:19
© Carlo Allegri / Reuters
A white South African judge, who was revealed to have stated that gang rape is “a pleasurable pastime” and a part of black people’s culture, claimed that her racist comments, made during a private argument with an activist, were taken out of context.
The scandalous remarks were made by Mabel Jansen, a High Court Judge in the city of Pretoria, during a conversation with social activist Gillian Schutte on Facebook. Schutte had the discussion with Jansen in 2015 but has only now posted the comments online.
The screenshot of the private messages purportedly shows Jansen saying that “in their [black men’s] culture a woman is there to pleasure them.”
“It is seen as an absolute right and a woman’s consent is not required,” Jansen writes. “I still have to meet a black girl who was not raped at about 12.”
In a separate message, Jansen says that “murder is also not a biggy. And gang rapes of baby, daughter and mother a pleasurable pastime.”
Jansen said that it is only due to an increased awareness of women’s rights, there has now been a “veritable tsunami of rape cases.”
South Africa’s Judicial Service Commission, which deals with complaints against judges, confirmed that it received an official complaint from Ngalwana in relation to Jansen’s comments and that an investigation has been launched.
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From Russia Today
‘Refugee minor’ who sexually assaulted 10yo girl sentenced in Sweden
Published time: 10 May, 2016 20:07
© Cathal McNaughton / Reuters
An Eritrean migrant, who claimed to be 15, has been sentenced in Sweden for molesting a 10-year-old girl from a family which had agreed to house him. The investigation cast doubt on the migrant’s age, suggesting he could be as old as 19.
Isak Andai was accepted into a Swedish family in the southern town of Eslov together with another migrant boy as “unaccompanied refugee minors,” meaning persons below 18 years of age who had become separated from their parents, reported the Swedish Avpixlat news website.
The foster family consists of a mother, her two adult children and her 10-year-old daughter.
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From Russia Today
China scrambles fighter jets, warships after US destroyer sails near disputed reef
Published time: 10 May, 2016 17:58
Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May 21, 2015. © U.S. Navy / Reuters
China deployed two fighter jets and three warships Tuesday after a US navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea.
Guided missile destroyer, the USS William P. Lawrence, traveled within 12 nautical miles of the Chinese-occupied Fiery Cross Reef to “challenge excessive maritime claims,” said US Defense Department spokesman Bill Urban.
“These excessive maritime claims are inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention in that they purport to restrict the navigation rights that the United States and all states are entitled to exercise,” Urban said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
READ MORE: China refuses to drop S China Sea claims, says pending UN tribunal decision ‘illegal’
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From Russia Today
Putin hopes Russia-US cooperation will lead to fundamental changes in Syria
Published time: 10 May, 2016 16:21
May 10, 2016. Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, meets with Defense Ministry officials in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in Sochi. © Sergey Guneev / Sputnik
Russia hopes that cooperation with the US and other international partners on Syria will lead to fundamental changes in that country, says Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I hope that the mechanism we have developed together with our partners, including the Americans, in which the armed forces, our representatives and experts are taking an active part…. will lead to positive and fundamental changes,” Putin said during a meeting with top military officials and arms manufacturers in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday.
According to the president, the situation in Syria “remains complicated,” with the Russia-US-backed ceasefire still not fully implemented.
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From Russia Today
Brexit poll: Almost half of Europeans want own vote on leaving EU
Published time: 10 May, 2016 13:25
© Toby Melville / Reuters
An Ipsos poll of some 6,000 Europeans found that half think the UK will leave the EU and half think Brexit could lead to a ‘domino effect’ in their own country.
The online survey of people aged between 16 and 64 in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Poland and Hungary focused on the upcoming British referendum on whether to leave the European Union.
The nine European countries surveyed represent “around three-quarters of the EU population and approximately 80 percent of its GDP,” according to Ipsos Mori.
READ MORE: WWII vets rally behind EU, as Cameron warns Brexit risks war in Europe
Most of those polled believe Britain exiting the EU will do more harm to the EU than it will to the UK, and 40 percent of Europeans surveyed foresee a reduced EU membership by 2020.
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From Russia Today
Austrian Chancellor resigns amid party split fueled by huge far-right gains
Published time: 10 May, 2016 02:26
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann © Leonhard Foeger / Reuters
Austria’s Werner Faymann has unexpectedly resigned both as Chancellor and as leader of the Social Democrats two week after his party suffered serious losses to the anti-immigration Freedom Party during the first round of presidential elections.
“Do I have full cover …, strong support within the party? I must say the answer is no. I draw the consequences from this low level of support and step down from my positions as party leader and federal chancellor,” Faymann said in a resignation statement, according to Reuters.
“This country needs a chancellor who has the party’s full support,” he added.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israeli population 10 times larger than at state’s founding
Israeli soldiers marching with kindergarten children from Efrat as they celebrate the nation’s upcoming 68th Independence Day in the West Bank city, May 9, 2016. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)
(JTA) — The population of Israel has grown more than tenfold since the state’s establishment in 1948.
In statistics released to coincide with Israeli Independence Day, which begins Wednesday night, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported that Israel has 8.52 million residents, compared to 806,000 in 1948.
In the past year alone, Israel’s population has grown by 182,000, or 2.2 percent, thanks to a birthrate that exceeded the death rate, as well as the arrival of 36,000 immigrants.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Sanders wins in West Virginia
Bernie Sanders addressing the crowd during a campaign rally in Huntington, W.Va., April 26, 2016. (John Sommers II/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton in the West Virginia primary for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The win Tuesday for Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont, is his 20th so far in the primaries, but he still trails Clinton, the former secretary of state, in the delegate count. Clinton has 2,239 delegates backing her out of the 2,383 required to win, according to the New York Times count, while Sanders has 1,469.
With 70 percent of the vote in late Tuesday, Sanders led Clinton 51 percent to 36 percent.
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From PressTV
Turkey continues killing, beating Syrian refugees
Human Rights Watch says Turkish border guards are continuing to shoot and beat Syrian refugees trying to cross into Turkey, calling on the country to investigate abuses.
Turkish border guards in March and April used excessive force against Syrians and a smuggler trying to reach Turkey, killing five people, including a child, and injuring 14 others, the group said on Tuesday.
Human Rights Watch, which interviewed victims, witnesses, and Syrian locals said eight of the injured refugees were shot while the other six were severely assaulted.
“While senior Turkish officials claim they are welcoming Syrian refugees with open borders and open arms, their border guards are killing and beating them,” said Gerry Simpson, a senior HRW refugee researcher.
“Firing at traumatized men, women, and children fleeing fighting and indiscriminate warfare is truly appalling,” Simpson added.
The rights group also urged Ankara to abide by international laws and stop attacking refugees or banning them from crossing the borders.
The New-York based watchdog also called on Turkish authorities to investigate the excessive use of force by the Turkish border guards.
Turkey has banned Syrians from crossing into the country since at least mid-August 2015.
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From Russia Today
ISIS buries alive dozens of defectors who fled Iraq battlefield – reports
Published time: 11 May, 2016 02:30
© الجهاد في سبيل الله / YouTube
Islamic State has reportedly buried dozens of its own militants alive, after the jihadists refused to fight and fled the battlefield in the face of the Iraqi government’s push to retake ground in northern province of Nineveh, which has been ruled by the terrorists since 2014. TrendsIraq carnage, Islamic State
The overall number of militants who have been executed remains ambiguous. AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA) is reporting that 35 fighters were killed, while Iraqi News is reporting that Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) buried 45 of its members alive on charges of fleeing the battlefield.
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From Russia Today
Indian woman tortured to death by her Saudi employer – family
Published time: 10 May, 2016 15:10
© Reuters
A 25-year-old woman from India, working as a housemaid in Saudi Arabia, was tortured to death by her employer, the woman’s family claims. However, The Saudi hospital where she had been treated says she died of “natural causes.”
Asima Khatoon, from Hyderabad, had managed to sneak a call to her family two months before her death to blow the whistle on her ill treatment at the hands of her employer, Abdul Rahman Ali Mohammed, the ANI news agency reported, citing Asima’s family members.
They said the young woman complained of being harassed both physically and mentally, and begged her parents to help her get back to India as soon as possible.
The Telangana state government sent a request to the Ministry of External Affairs asking for help in repatriating the woman, Indian media report.
It was a call from an unknown source that informed relatives in India she had died at the King Saud hospital for chest diseases.
Asima went to Riyadh in December 2015 on a business or a tourist visa, according to various reports. The Saudis stopped using ‘house maid’ visas two years ago.
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From Russia Today
‘Truly appalling’: Turkish border guards continue to shoot Syrian refugees, HRW says
Published time: 10 May, 2016 14:39
© Osman Orsal / Reuters
Turkish border guards are continuing to shoot and abuse Syrian refugees who are crossing into the country, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). The rights group, citing the deaths of several asylum seekers, has called on Ankara to investigate.
According to HRW, border guards used excessive force against Syrians and a smuggler trying to reach Turkey in March and April. Five people were reportedly killed, including a child, and 14 others were injured.
“Firing at traumatized men, women, and children fleeing fighting and indiscriminate warfare is truly appalling,” Human Rights Watch researcher Gerry Simpson said in a statement.
Citing witnesses, HRW mentioned six incidents of abuse which reportedly took place near the Khurbat al Juz-Güveççi border crossing, around 50km (30 miles) south of the Turkish city of Antakya. HRW has published a video of witness accounts online.
“The women started screaming and the children started crying, but the shooting continued. We all threw ourselves onto the ground, covering the children. I was lying close to my sister and my cousin, and the bullets hit them while we were lying down. They stopped screaming and shouting. I knew right away they had been killed,” the rights group quoted a refugee as saying.
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From Russia Today
Iran ballistic missile test controversy leaves Washington puzzled & concerned
Published time: 10 May, 2016 05:02
A ballistic missile is launched and tested in an undisclosed location, Iran, March 9, 2016 © Mahmood Hosseini / Reuters
The Iranian Defense Minister has denied carrying out a new medium-range ballistic missile test after a senior official boasted about its pinpoint accuracy, leaving the US State Department “concerned” and White House officials scratching their heads over “what exactly transpired.”
“We haven’t recently tested any missile with the range of 2,000km and with an eight meter margin of error,” Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said Monday, reported Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency. Dehran added that the development of Iran’s missile program will not stop as the country continues to increase its defensive capabilities.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Romania passes law facilitating restitution claims of Holocaust survivors
(JTA) — Legislation making it easier for Holocaust survivors to press restitution claims passed in Romania’s Parliament on Tuesday.
The law prioritizes the processing of claims belonging to Holocaust survivors, the World Jewish Restitution Organization, or WJRO, wrote in a statement applauding the legislation .
Claimants who filed before 2003 have been waiting more than a decade for a decision. More than 40,000 claims remain to be processed, WJRO said.
“This law acknowledges the urgent needs of Romanian Holocaust survivors, who have waited too long to have their property claims resolved,” said Gideon Taylor, WJRO’s chair of operations.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Venezuela’s UN envoy calls Israeli counterpart to apologize for likening Israel actions to ‘final solution’
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations called his Israeli colleague to apologize for his remarks accusing Israel of seeking a “final solution” against the Palestinians made a day after Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israel’s U.N. mission said.
Rafael Ramirez called Danny Danon over the weekend to offer the apology for what Danon called “blunt anti-Semitic statements” toward “the Jewish nation,” Israel’s U.N. mission said in a statement.
During the phone call, the statement said, Danon demanded that Ramirez issue a public apology, which may happen at the next Security Council meeting on the Middle East this week.
At a Security Council meeting on Friday, Ramirez said council members should ask themselves: “What does Israel plan to do with the Palestinians? Will they be disappeared? Is Israel trying to impose a ‘final solution’ on the Palestinians in the West Bank?”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
London’s Muslim mayor reaffirms plan for Israel trip
Sadiq Khan, who became the first Muslim mayor of London, and his wife, Saadiya, after voting, May 5, 2016. (Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)
(JTA) — Sadiq Khan, who was sworn in as London’s first Muslim mayor last week, reiterated plans to lead a trade delegation to Israel.
In an interview with London’s The Jewish News published Monday, Khan, the first Muslim mayor of any Western capital city and London’s first Labour Party mayor in eight years, also said he believes it is important to improve Jewish-Muslim relations in the UK capital.
During his campaign, Khan criticized Labour for not doing enough to confront anti-Semitism among some of its members. Accusations of anti-Semitism have roiled his party in recent months, with dozens of members suspended in the past few weeks allegedly for making anti-Semitic remarks. London’s former Labour mayor, Ken Livingstone, was suspended for anti-Semitic remarks in late April following a series of interviews in which he claimed that Adolf Hitler had supported Zionism.
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From Russia Today
‘Delicious & juicy’ Erdogan burgers off the menu: Threats force German eatery to close
Published time: 10 May, 2016 12:44
© Urban Burgery / Facebook
A restaurant in Cologne that was selling “delicious and juicy” Erdogan burgers, apparently named after the Turkish president, was forced to close over “credible threats” it had received, the eatery said.
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