False fronts for Wall Street

The power of moral sanction is something Wall Street takes very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that over the last two decades, hostile takeovers of authentic civil society organizations, known for exercising moral sanction (i.e., Sierra Club and Pacifica Radio Network), have evolved into full-fledged displacement by corporate false fronts (i.e., Avaaz and 350).

While the membership-based Sierra Club and Pacifica Radio Network fought back and reclaimed their boards of directors, false fronts and compromised NGOs (i.e. Amnesty International USA) have become what is known as imperial civil society. Used to justify privatization, austerity, and military aggression by NATO and the US, they reflect a perversion of moral sanction.

As Maximilian Forte writes in Civil Society, NGOs, and Saving the Needy, the main purpose of the burgeoning civil society fad – that comprises the international bureaucracy of neoliberalism – is to legitimate anti-democratic politics. In order to take over basic functions and powers of the state, this bureaucracy – engaged in development, governance and aid – justifies itself by creating a “need,” thereby cornering the market on “humanity.”

With corporate and government funding, often laundered through banks and foundations, international NGOs inspire pathos by constantly producing images of despair — thus allowing them to dominate discourse from an emotional vantage point. As a market-oriented institutional apparatus, this vast bureaucracy works hand in hand with military and finance authorities, thus functioning as Trojan horses on a par with transnational organized crime.

As a fifth column of fascism, imperial civil society – funded by such entities as Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Ford Foundation, and Soros Open Society Institute – operates worldwide (in tandem with official false fronts like USAID, National Endowment for Democracy, and US Institute for Peace) to subvert sovereignty and derail democracy in favor of US hegemony.

Overthrowing and destabilizing governments, using NGOs like Avaaz as provocateurs, puts authentic non-profits and journalists at risk. Indeed, the imperial network of financiers like Soros makes NGO entrepreneurs in the pro-war champagne circuit accomplices in crimes against humanity. As frontline opportunists in the psywar waged against public consciousness, these false fronts legitimate “humanitarian warfare” and “free-market environmentalism,” employed against indigenous peoples and independent states.

With help from Ford, Rockefeller, Gates and Soros, imperial civil society is admittedly a formidable foe, but not an invulnerable one. Built on a foundation of fraud, the power of moral sanction they have hijacked can effectively be turned against them. While false fronts are able to dominate social media, they do not own our minds; they are merely social engineers operating under false pretenses that we can reject at will.

Jay Taber is an associate scholar of the Center for World Indigenous Studies, a contributing editor of Fourth World Journal, and a featured columnist at IC Magazine.

AT/GJH

Russia, US welcome Ukraine ceasefire

Russia and the US have welcomed the ceasefire agreement between the Ukrainian government and the pro-Russia forces after five months of fighting in eastern Ukraine.

“The Russian presidential office welcomes the signing of the protocol in Minsk,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Friday.

He added that the agreement was the result of initiatives by Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, noting, “Moscow hopes all the provisions of the document and the agreements reached will be thoroughly observed by the parties and that the negotiating process will continue until the crisis in Ukraine is fully resolved.”

US President Barack Obama also welcomed the ceasefire but expressed skepticism over determination of pro-Russia militias and Moscow to implement the deal.

“With respect to the ceasefire agreement, obviously we are hopeful but based on past experience also skeptical that in fact the separatists will follow through and the Russians will stop violating Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. So it has to be tested,” Obama told a Friday news conference as he was leaving a two-day NATO summit in Wales.

He called on his European allies to agree on new sanctions against Russia that could be suspended if the truce is violated.

The ceasefire was signed after two hours of negotiations in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk on Friday between former Ukrainian president, Leonid Kuchma, who represented the government in Kiev, and rebel leaders, Igor Plotnitsky and Alexander Zakharchenko.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered troops to stop all hostilities by 15:00 GMT and instructed the Foreign Ministry to oversee monitoring of the ceasefire along with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Following the agreement, Plotnitsky stressed that ceasefire does not mean a change in their goal to split from Ukraine.

Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions in the east have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Moscow forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations to silence pro-Russians in mid-April.

Violence intensified in May after the two flashpoint regions of Donetsk and Lugansk held local referendums, in which their residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Ukraine.

Western powers and the Kiev government accuse Moscow of having a hand in the crisis in eastern Ukraine, but the Kremlin denies the accusation.

ASH/SS

Israel Use of Elderly as Human Shield Apparent War Crime

On the night of 6 June 2014, at least 11 Israeli soldiers have taken over the home of Mohamed Ayad (73) and Nejma Ayad (68), American citizens, in the village of Silwad, in the West Bank, and turned their home into a military outpost.

Video footage, photographs and witness statements indicate that Mohamed and Nejma Ayad posed no imminent threat to the Israeli forces that have entered and taken up positions in their home. The Israeli soldiers have forced the elderly couple to stay in the living room, effectively imprisoning them, while they use the rest of their house as a military observation and sniper position.

The Israeli army has a long and frequent pattern of taking over Palestinian civilians’ homes and holding their inhabitants as human shields while using the house as a military base.

The willful imprisonment and use of civilians as human shields by Israeli security forces as part of the occupation is a war crime. Israel has a responsibility to prosecute the forces who have take the home of the Ayads, and also those responsible for assigning the use of human shields, as this practice increases the risk to the Palestinian families concerned.

Background and testimonies

The surroundings and vicinity of Ayad’s street are frequently used by Palestinians to hurl rocks at route 60, a main road that is located a few miles away. The Israeli forces usually disperse the protesters with rubber bullets and tear gas, and at times by firing live ammunition on the protesters’ legs.

Israeli security forces are constantly trying to arrest the demonstrators by ambushing them and setting up local outposts to observe them before the protests.

At 3 am on Friday 6 June 2014, approximately 11 Israeli soldiers broke into the home of Mohammed Ali Ayad (73) and Nejma Ayad (68), both Palestinian-American citizens, and forced the elderly couple to stay in the living room, effectively imprisoning them. Additionally, the Israeli forces confiscated all their communication devices and home keys, and locked them up while using the rest of their house as a military observation and sniper position as preparation to the demonstrations expected later on that afternoon.

Muhammad Ali Ayad testified the following to the Euro-Mid Observer:

“At 3:00 am, the Israeli army knocked on the door, I opened and 11 soldiers pushed me out of the way and entered the house. They closed the doors, shut down the windows and held us captive. We didn’t know at that time what they wanted from us. I told them that only I and my wife live in this house and that there is no one else. They told us to shut up and took our cell phones, the keys of the house, and everything else. They locked us up in the living room for 14 hours. From 3:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon. We both didn’t eat during all this time; we were very stressed and terrified. I had some coffee and my wife had some juice. Luckily, after 14 hours, our neighbors suspected that we are being held captive as they saw the soldiers on the roof of our home. Then my nephew, some relatives and neighbors came to the house and started knocking on the door, but the soldiers refused to open the door. They didn’t want us to open the door or answer their calls but the perseverance of the neighbors is what saved us. My wife shouted at them; that’s when the soldiers ran downstairs and we opened the door to the neighbors. My nephew and my neighbors came in, and chased the Israeli soldiers out of our home. But as soon as the soldiers were down the street, they started firing tear gas canisters at the house. They broke four windows and we had to evacuate as we were suffocating from the gas”.

Journalist Muath Hamed who entered the Ayad’s home with the neighbors and recorded a video of the incident that widely circulated on social media, testified to the Euro-Mid that “as we entered the house, all windows were shut and the home was kept dark by the soldiers, which was very intimidating. Mrs Ayad was utterly distressed and in tears, telling us to be careful as the soldiers were still in the house”.Hamed added that the occupation soldiers were heavily armed and trigger happy, while everyone in the house was civilian and clearly unarmed.

Mrs Ayad is 68 years old and is recovering from a pacemaker heart surgery. Mrs Ayad testified to the Euro-Mid Observer that “the Israeli soldiers tried to prevent us from opening the door when they heard the voices of the neighbors coming to our rescue. I was so scared, but the insistence of the neighbors to open the door is what made the soldiers go to the basement”.

Mrs Ayad added that “the Israeli soldiers confiscated our cell phones and keys, preventing us from calling for any help. They were intimidating us and they were not talking to us or explaining what was going on. They were just giving us commands by moving their hands. I informed them that we are American citizens and they should let us go, but they ordered us to shut up. And then, they dispersed themselves in the house in a clear way to use our home as a military base to shoot at the protesters and use us as a protection shield.”

Mrs Ayad says that “when the soldiers were chased out, they began firing tear gas directly at the house in retaliation to the people who helped us and saved us from them as they were keeping us hostage”.

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Deadly barrel bombs ‘hit taxi stand’ in Syria’s Aleppo

Syrian helicopters dropped barrel bombs on a taxi stand in the city of Aleppo today, killing at least 12 civilians, including a child, a monitoring group said.

“Twelve civilians, among them a child, were killed, and five others seriously wounded after helicopters launched two explosive-laden barrels against the Haidariyeh district,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

An AFP journalist at the scene saw at least a dozen bloodied corpses lying on the ground. One, wrapped in a shroud, was apparently that of a child.

The journalist also saw several people on stretchers, showing burns and shrapnel wounds, and others lying in pools of blood near sandbags. It was not clear whether they were dead.

Haidariyeh is home to a popular taxi stand, and the AFP journalist said he saw numerous destroyed cars.

There was also a massive crater in the street left by one of the bombs.

One resident said: “I saw the bodies. They were workers, people who were simply trying to find a way to put bread on the table… You can see the human remains.”

A man who had volunteered to help rescue survivors said “taxi drivers gather here to transport workers and goods… There were no rebels here.”

Last December, President Bashar al-Assad’s regime launched a massive aerial campaign against rebel districts in the east of Syria’s second city, despite a UN Security Council resolution condemning such strikes.

In July, Human Rights Watch condemned the air force campaign, saying it had killed 1,700 people in five months.

Barrel bombs are typically constructed from large oil drums, gas cylinders or water tanks, filled with high explosives and scrap metal to enhance fragmentation.

Indian Muslims’ worries grow due to Al-Qaeda branch establishment; Muslim groups rush to condemn Al-Qaeda

By A. Mirsab, TwoCircles.net,

New Delhi: In the wake of Al Qaeda’s recent announcement of a dedicated branch of it in the South Asia, many Muslim organizations in India have condemned the move and altogether rejected the statements made in concern with Indian Muslims by Al Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahari in his 55 minutes video tape released online on early Thursday.

All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat, All India Milli council, The Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM), UMA Interfaith Alliance and several other Indian Muslims’ organizations based in the country and abroad have out rightly rejected Al-Qaeda’s declaration, adding that they have full faith in the Indian Constitution and feel more secured here.

Ayman Al-Zawahari (Source: Google)

Indian security agencies were taken with surprise on Thursday after the declaration of Al-Qaeda that it has established a new branch, called “Qaedat al-Jihad in the Indian Subcontinent”.

Zawahiri said in the video that the group will defend the “vulnerable in the Indian subcontinent, in Burma, Bangladesh, Assam, Gujarat, Ahmedabad, and Kashmir …” and “your brothers in Qaedat al-Jihad did not forget you and that they are doing what they can to rescue you from injustice, oppression, persecution, and suffering.”

To condemn the concentration of Al-Qaeda towards India, Indian Muslims Apex organization All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat (AIMMM) immediately released press statements and tried to caution Indian Muslim youths.

Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan, President of the All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat said today that Indian Muslims totally reject the statement of the Al-Qaeda chief and consider it a disservice to the cause of the Muslims of South Asia who do not require such meddling in their affairs by a foreign terrorist outfit.

According to Dr. Khan Indian Muslims are loyal to the country that are well protected by Indian Constitution and laws and therefore will even fight Al-Qaeda if it ever tried to create a presence in India.

He also cautioned Indian Muslim youths not to pay heed to any one instilling Al-Qaeda thoughts which do not belong to the enlightened and moderate mainstream Islam.

All India Milli Council, Gujarat state president Maulana Mufti Rizwan Tarapuri and general secretary Mr. Abdul Hafiz Lakhani jointly stated that Indian Muslims do not need such deadly outfit in India.

All India Muslim Personal Law Board’s executive member Maulana Alif Naksbandi appealed Indian Muslims, particularly youths to desist from such outfits.

Iftekhar Hai, President UMA Interfaith Alliance condemned Al-Qaeda announcement and said that Indian Constitution is based on excellent principles of Pluralism, Democracy, Freedom of Religion and Secular Governance and that Indians from all over India and also from abroad will fight Al-Qaida units.

The Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM), an NGO of expatriate Indian Muslims who live in North America on Thursday condemned in strong terms the statement from Dr. Zawahiri.

Kaleem Kawaja, the Executive Director of A.I.M. appealed to leaders of all significant Muslim organizations in India like Muslim Majlis Mashawarat, Jamiat- ul- Ulema, Jamat-e-Islami, Indian Union Muslim League, Darul Uloom Deoband, Nadvat ul Uloom Lucknow, Imarat e Sharia Patna, Anjuman-e-Islam Mumbai and others to condemn this mischievous statement from Al Qaeda and to cooperate fully with the police and government authorities in extinguishing any and all terrorist influences and activities from India.

National High Level Political Committee, MEMBER,AP Abdul Rahman has lashed and condemned the statement of Al- Qaeda chief to

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One in 10 girls sexually abused worldwide, says UN report

WASHINGTON: Around 120 million girls around the world, close to one in 10, have been raped or sexually assaulted by the time they turn 20, a new UN report has found. Drawing on data from 190 countries, the global report by child welfare agency UNICEF is billed as the largest-ever study of violence against children.

Entitled “Hidden in Plain Sight” it also revealed that one fifth of all murder victims are children and teens, with homicide the leading cause of death among male youths in Latin American countries including Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Brazil.

“These are uncomfortable facts, no government or parent will want to see them,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “But unless we confront the reality each infuriating statistic represents, the life of a child whose right to a safe, protected childhood has been violated, we will never change the mind-set that violence against children is normal and permissible. It is neither.”

Sexual violence against children has far-reaching consequences, the study warned, potentially hindering all aspects of their physical, social and psychological development. The consequences of abuse included self-harming behaviors such as bulimia and anorexia.

“Children who have been abused are also more likely to attempt suicide; the more severe the violence, the greater the risk,” the study said.

The mental health consequences include depression, panic disorder, anxiety and nightmares. “The psychological impact of sexual violence can be severe due to the shame, secrecy and stigma that tend to accompany it, with child victims often having to find ways to cope in isolation.”

UNICEF also warned the Internet skills of today’s children can have the pernicious effect of opening them up to online sexual abuse.

Youths feel safer sharing personal and sensitive information online than in other spheres. But in doing so they may expose themselves to a global audience including potential sexual predators, the report said.

The practice of grooming — online solicitation of children for sexual purposes, sometimes over a period of time to build trust — is a peril facing Internet-savvy kids. Some research suggests perpetrators may keep online connections with as many as 200 youths at a time, all at different stages of grooming, the study said. While sexual violence was more common in poor countries, it was by no means limited to them, with worryingly high rates of abuse reported in some high-income states.

In Britain for instance the report highlighted a 2009 study that found around 17 percent of youths aged 11 to 17 to have experienced contact or non-contact sexual abuse by an adult or peer at some point in their life. And a study conducted in 2011 in the United States found that 35 percent of adolescent girls and 20 percent of adolescent boys aged 14 to 17 reported suffering some form of sexual violence during their lives, UNICEF said.

Other abuses include bullying, which regularly affected more than one in three schoolchildren aged 13 to 15 worldwide. And as for violent discipline, the study found that about 17 percent of youngsters in 58 countries were subject to severe forms of physical punishment, including being hit on the head, ears or face or being hit hard and repeatedly. The UN report also tackles the mindsets it says perpetuate and justify such violence.

It recommended six strategies for preventing violence against children. They include “supporting parents and equipping children with life skills; changing attitudes; strengthening judicial, criminal and social systems and services; and generating evidence and awareness about violence and its human and socio-economic costs, in order to change attitudes and norms.”

View: Pictures from the 1980s at Brunner Comprehensive School, Billingham

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Gallery: Brunner Comprehensive School, Billingham

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We’re going back to school north of the Tees this week with a peek into The Gazette’s archive of photographs from Brunner School, Billingham.

And it seems they were a very busy bunch - with pupils turning their hands to everything from fundraising for the Guide Dogs For The Blind Association, to completing the Lyke Wake Walk to belting out some opera.

A group of staff calling themselves Brunner Runners even took past in the Great North Run - our picture shows art teacher Sue Price printing special T shirts for the race.

Brunner came into being in 1972 when Bede Hall Grammar became a compehensive.

There were other secondary modern schools on the Marsh House Avenue site - Faraday, Davy and Stephenson - two merged and one became a college.

The school later became known as Billingham Campus.

Can you spot yourself in our pictures? Let us know what you remember of your school days at Brunner.

Why Intel Agencies are wary of Hiring Muslims and Sikhs: By Brijesh Singh

In the third year of UPA-2, the then prime minister Manmohan Singh called a meeting of top officials of the Special Protection Group (SPG), the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to seek advice on whether the representation of Muslims in the intelligence agencies could be increased, whether they should be allowed to join RAW and whether to end the ban on the entry of Sikhs and Muslims into SPG. The officers reportedly pointed out that any such move would be risky. They asked who would take the blame if something went wrong after the established system was tinkered with. Nothing came out of that meeting and the issue was never raised again.

Intelligence agencies in India have long followed an unwritten ‘no entry’ policy for Muslims (though there have been a few Muslim officers in the IB), while Sikhs are banned from SPG, formed in 1984 to provide security to the prime minister, and the National Security Guard (NSG), the elite anti-terror force functioning under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. “This is not a new policy. There have been no Muslim officers in RAW since its formation in 1969,” says a former RAW officer. “It has its own reasons for following this policy.”

According to a senior IPS officer, the unwritten rule barring Muslims from sensitive wings of the intelligence agencies was extended to the Sikhs as well following the 1984 assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

“It is true that Muslims and Sikhs are not deployed for VVIP security. We have witnessed the assassination of a prime minister and a former prime minister (Rajiv Gandhi) in the past due to security lapses. The SPG forms the final security cordon, so we cannot afford to take any risks with it,” says a former police officer, who has worked with the SPG.

Not just RAW and SPG, but the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), which deals with technical surveillance, and Military Intelligence (MI) too have barred the entry of Muslims. “Nothing can be done about it now since it has become the norm and no one finds it odd,” says an MI officer.

Talking to TEHELKA, former special secretary (RAW) Amar Bhushan opined that “there is a conscious effort to keep Muslims out of sensitive and strategic areas”. According to Bhushan, this reflects a bias against the community.

A report published in The Telegraph a few years ago gives credence to this statement. The report claimed that former Union education minister Humayun Kabir’s grandson was denied entry into RAW because he was a Muslim. Kabir was one of those Muslims who chose to stay in India at the time of Partition. “The communal bias in intelligence agencies has persisted since Partition. Many intelligence officials doubt the patriotism of Muslims and that’s why they are not given charge of sensitive desks,” says retired IPS officer SR Darapuri.

Sources close to RAW reveal that there has been a debate over the agency’s recruitment policy since a long time now. But a group of officers have always been strongly averse to the idea of any change. An initiative in this regard was undertaken when PK Hormis Tharakan headed RAW (2005-07). He formed a committee to find ways to ensure that religious bias does not affect recruitment. However, the committee never submitted any report nor did the policy change.

The issue had also been raised during the previous NDA regime. “In the wake of the Kargil war, a committee was formed to prepare a report on the entire intelligence system and suggest what improvements could be made,” recalls a former official. “Brajesh Mishra was the National Security Adviser (NSA) at that time. One of the issues raised in the committee was about how a particular religious community dominated the security agencies, while another was denied access.”

One of the officers who served on that committee reveals that he took up the matter with Mishra. “I told him that we need to bring Muslim officers into our intelligence system,” says the officer. “He laughed at the idea and said, ‘So, tell me, who do you want to recruit? Don’t worry. We can work on it. But give me some better advice. Not one that will cost us our jobs.”

The issue was raised again when JN Dixit was appointed NSA by the UPA. “There were discussions about reforming the recruitment policy. But a faction within RAW rigidly opposed it. They strictly told the government to stop thinking in that direction,” reveals a senior official who was earlier posted with the Union home ministry.

A former RAW official points out the reason why any change in the recruitment policy is a tough call. “See, there is no need to get into it. That would disturb the existing system. Whoever makes the change will have to bear the brunt if something goes wrong in the future, says the official. “I am not against the inclusion of Muslims in the agency. But the time is not right. When so many Indians are found to be involved in Islamic terrorism, it will be treason to even think of it.”

Some people believe it was because of the deep-rooted distrust of Muslims among intelligence officials that the IB conducted a national survey in 1998 to find out if the Muslim community posed any threat to the nation’s internal security. This is revealed by some of the 28 questions in the survey questionnaire. For instance, respondents were asked: In a state of war with Pakistan, will the Muslims stand by India?

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Dyslexic Redcar fashion student secures place at London College of Fashion

A talented designer has won a personal battle against a lifelong learning disability after securing a place at a prestigious UK college.

Cleveland College of Art and Design graduate, Thomas Walker, 20, is delighted to have been accepted at The London College of Fashion after his struggle with severe dyslexia saw him leave school without any qualifications.

As one of five students from the college’s Extended Diploma in Fashion and Textiles to be heading to the top London college, Thomas will study menswear technology and design.

Thomas, who lives in Redcar said: “I never ever thought this would happen for me.

“I thought I would struggle to complete the course so to realise how far I have come and where it has led to is just a dream come true.”

Despite being shortlisted for the principal’s award in the CCAD’s summer show for his aquatic evolution menswear designs, Thomas found it hard to fit in at school when he was younger.

He said: “School wasn’t great. It didn’t cater for my dyslexic needs and I started to fall behind.”

After his best friend at the time also passed away, Thomas left school without the minimum qualifications and found it hard to find a college to accept him.

Thomas knew he wanted to do something art related and so after finally being accepted at CCAD, he began to excel.

In need of a bigger challenge, Thomas graduated to a level three BTEC Extended Diploma in Fashion and Textiles where his talents in menswear design began to shine.

Thomas added: “I know that if it wasn’t for the outstanding help and expertise of my tutors at CCAD I would never have been able to express myself the way I have or achieve so much.”

CCAD tutor, Stephen White said: “Once again we have shown that CCAD students have what it takes to secure places on some of the best fashion courses in the world.

“I have been blown away by Thomas’s talent and his artistic interpretations of design within the field of menswear. He is definitely one to watch for the future.”

Live: Breaking news, traffic and travel across Teesside

The Evening Gazette's live breaking news blog brings you regular updates, pictures, video, tweets and comments covering the latest Teesside and North Yorkshire traffic, travel, weather, crime and council news for today, Wednesday 3rd September, 2014.

You can contribute to the live blog by posting your comment below, and you can also tweet us @EveningGazette to share breaking news stories, pictures and opinions.

Our Teesside breaking news live blog begins at 07:00am every weekday and is updated throughout the day and into the evening.

Live: Breaking news, traffic and travel across Teesside

The Evening Gazette's live breaking news blog brings you regular updates, pictures, video, tweets and comments covering the latest Teesside and North Yorkshire traffic, travel, weather, crime and council news for today, Thursday 4th September, 2014.

You can contribute to the live blog by posting your comment below, and you can also tweet us @EveningGazette to share breaking news stories, pictures and opinions.

Our Teesside breaking news live blog begins at 07:00am every weekday and is updated throughout the day and into the evening.

Prophet dome removal reports rubbished

The Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques has strongly denied reports that surfaced in Western media outlets claiming that the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in Madinah may be removed.

“This is the personal opinion of a researcher, who had expressed his views in a study, and it does not reflect the views of the presidency or the Kingdom,” said Ahmed Al-Mansouri, the presidency’s media spokesman, on Thursday. The spokesman urged media outlets and researchers to refrain from spreading speculative rumors about significant holy sanctuaries, affirming that a provision is made against such actions in the presidency’s charter.

“We are discussing the prospect of taking legal action against the British daily with our legal consultants,” Mowafaq Al-Nowaiser, deputy editor-in-chief of the “Makkah” newspaper, told Arab News. The green dome atop the Prophet’s shrine was first built in 678 Hijri, according to a historical account published by the Madinah Municipality. In 1228, Ottoman ruler Sultan Mahmud II reportedly renewed the dome and painted it green.

Media Desperately Spinning Bad Jobs Report

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.

Shockingly enough the numbers are bad and performing below the usual optimistic expectations. Just like every other time.

I’ll just give you the headlines for a taste of how frantically the media is spinning the bad news.

A Disappointing Jobs Report May Mask Economy’s Strength – NPR

Jobs Report: Not Good, but Not Terrible Either – New York Times

Don’t freak out about bad jobs report – Washington Post

Why weak August jobs report probably a fluke – MarketWatch

The Awful New Jobs Report Has One Silver Lining – New Republic

It’s a fluke! There’s a silver lining! The bad news is really good news! It’s not good… but it’s not terrible.

U.S. job growth slowed to its lowest level of the year in August, a stumble for labor markets that had delivered a string of steady gains over the prior six months despite uneven economic growth.

Friday’s report could take some pressure off the Federal Reserve, which has been looking for such evidence that excess slack is being whittled away amid a debate over when it might need to increase interest rates.

It’s safe to say the interest rates won’t go up until Yellen is dragged out of there in handcuffs.

After a series of positive economic reports in recent weeks, the Labor Department said Friday that hiring in August sank to its slowest pace since December, with employers adding 142,000 jobs last month.

The vast majority of economists had been looking for a gain of at least 200,000 in payrolls, coming off healthy indicators for durable goods orders, construction activity and manufacturing in July and August.

The unemployment rate did fall by 0.1 percentage point to 6.1 percent last month, but that was because more people dropped out of the work force rather than found jobs.

When everyone leaves the economy, unemployment will finally go down all the way.

Palestinians march across West Bank against Israeli occupation

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Hundreds of Palestinians took part in marches across the West Bank on Friday calling for an end to the Israeli occupation and in protest against the continued confiscation of Palestinian land and construction of Jewish settlements.

Protests took place in Wadi Fukin village near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank as well as Nabi Saleh and Bilin villages near Ramallah in the central West Bank.

Wadi Fukin

Dozens of Palestinians suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation in Wadi Fukin after Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters at a protest march near the village west of Bethlehem.

Demonstrators were protesting against an Israeli decision earlier in the week to confiscate 4,000 dunums of privately-owned Palestinian land, including a large chunk of the village itself, to expand Jewish-only settlements nearby.

Local sources said that protesters headed toward lands in the eastern part of the village that are under threat of confiscation and and started planting olive tree saplings, but were subsequently assaulted by Israeli soldiers.

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas canisters and stun grenades at the group as they planted the trees.

If Israeli authorities carry out the promised land confiscation, it would be the largest Israeli land grab in the West Bank since the 1980s.

Nabi Saleh

Israeli forces also repressed a weekly march against occupation and settlement construction in Nabi Saleh village in northern Ramallah.

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas bombs and rubber-coated bullets at the marches, suffocating and injuring many.

Dozens of soldiers were deployed around the village earlier in the day after it was declared a “closed security zone,” while soldiers blocked the main road to the village and forced locals to take unpaved, bumpy roads in and out.

The village is the site of weekly protests against the Israeli occupation, with residents demanding that lands confiscated by Israeli forces to build a nearby Jewish-only settlement be returned to them

Bilin

Another weekly march against the separation wall and settlement was repressed by Israeli soldiers in Bilin village in Ramallah.

Israeli forces fired rubber-coated bullets, tear gas canisters, and stun grenades at marchers, and dozens of protesters were suffocated by the use of excessive tear gas.

Protesters held Palestinian flags as they sang slogans and national songs calling for national unity, fighting the occupation, releasing prisoners, and against land confiscation.

Since 2005, Bilin villagers have protested on a weekly basis against the Israeli separation wall that runs through their village on land confiscated from local farmers.

Previous protests by Bilin activists have forced the Israeli authorities to re-route the wall, but large chunks of the village lands remain inaccessible to residents because of the route.

Israel began building the separation wall in 2002, and the route has been the target of regular demonstrations by border towns whose land is cut off by its path

Source: MAAN News

In August, Egypt sentenced 20 opponents to death and handed out 161 prison sentences

The Egyptian Observatory for Rights and Freedoms said that 20 supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi have been sentenced to death in the month of August, while 161 others have received a total of 2595 years of prison sentences.

According to a statement by the NGO, as cited by news agency Anadolu, the month of August has seen the conviction of 268 people, including three women, in 26 lawsuits brought against political detainees.

The three women have been sentenced to life in prison and fined $143 by a Cairo court on charges of possessing weapons and for membership to a terrorist group.

Moreover, 87 defendants have been acquitted, while a court overturned a death sentence that had been handed to a teenager. Abdullah Omar Ahmad, 17, received a death sentence, along with 37 other defendants, last April 28 on charges of rioting and killing a police officer.

The report added that the total fines in August amounted to $120,000.

Mark Proctor: International break brings back some fond memories

With England playing Norway this week, I couldn’t help thinking back to that infamous World Cup qualifier in Oslo 33 years ago.

I was in the stadium that night watching the match along with the other members of the England Under-21 squad.

The game has now gone down in folklore because of the famous “Maggie Thatcher, your boys took a hell of a beating” commentary on Norwegian TV.

England lost 2-1 and it looked like we wouldn’t qualify for the World Cup but, fortunately other results went our way and we scraped through after winning our last qualifier against Hungary.

And, speaking of Hungary, I was sitting in the Nep Stadium in Budapest a few weeks earlier when England played the Hungarians in a World Cup qualifier.

It was a crucial game because we’d lost to Switzerland in the previous match but we played brilliantly and ran out deserved 3-1 winners.

Trevor Booking scored a brilliant goal that night, firing in a shot that stuck in the stanchion.

In those days the senior squad and the Under-21s often travelled together and stayed in the team hotel, which was brilliant for young lads like me.

We tended to play our game the day before the seniors so I was able to watch some important games in some great stadiums.

It was an amazing experience to spend time with big stars such as Kevin Keegan, Peter Shilton and Brooking.

I remember before that Hungary game walking across a bridge over the River Danube with Keegan and other England stars, stopping off for a coffee - it was surreal.

I was just a young lad from the Boro and there I was, mixing with the biggest names in English football. They were great, great times.

Ron Greenwood was the manager in those days while the then Manchester United boss Dave Sexton looked after the Under-21s.

I also worked with Terry Venables at one stage, he was an up and coming coach in those days.

And I’ll never forget playing for Brian Clough.

This was in the days before he signed me for Nottingham Forest.

For a relatively brief time in the 1970s he was the England youth team coach and it was certainly an experience when he was in charge.

Young people now probably don’t realise what a huge personality Clough was in the 1970s.

He was one of the most famous people in the country, a massive media celebrity.

Some of the things he did and said were incredible - for young lads like us it was compulsive viewing.

The attention to detail when you were away with England was unbelievable.

Clubs now have big backroom teams, but back then we didn’t at Boro so when I joined up with England it was a real eye-opener.

There were coaches, medical staff, everything you needed.

Even the kits were different. I remember playing in a tournament in the Canary Islands with the England youth team and because the weather was going to be so hot, the fabric the shirts were made of were perforated.

I have some wonderful memories of playing for England at youth and Under-21 levels.

There were three of us in the Boro squad who were called up - myself, Craig Johnston and David Hodgson.

I can still remember some of the other players in the squad at that time.

There was Sammy Lee, who went on to do really well with Liverpool, winning the title and the European Cup, as did Gary Shaw with Aston Villa.

Adrian Heath, who started at Stoke but won the old Division One championship with Everton; Remi Moses, who went from West Brom to Manchester United; Clive Allen, who had a great career with several clubs including Spurs, and former Leeds and Arsenal keeper John Lukic, who also won the title as a player.

I think it was harder to get called up in those days.

If you weren’t with one of the big clubs, you weren’t in the media spotlight and that was the case with Boro unfortunately.

The big clubs in those days - the late 1970s and early 1980s - were the likes of Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, Liverpool, Ipswich Town and Manchester United.

I don’t think the players in the North-east probably got the same recognition as those playing for the successful teams.

Call-ups tended to be based on domestic success. If your club is doing well and getting good results and you are doing well then that tends to influence call-ups for the national team.

In those days you didn’t have the same level of media coverage so it was harder to catch the eye.

I moved to Nottingham Forest when I was 20 for big money and if I’m honest I didn’t do myself justice at the City Ground and that didn’t help my England claims.

It stalled my growth and development as a player and as an international.

But I did play for the Under-21s while I was at Boro and Forest and it was brilliant to get the call-up.

I remember getting the letter through the post at home in Middlesbrough telling me I had been called up.

It had an FA logo on the envelope so I got to know what to look for when the post was delivered a few days before an up and coming international.

I’ve kept all my shirts, caps and I’ve even got my England blazer somewhere.

I loved representing my country and I’m sure my parents were very proud when I played for England.

I think you are more aware of it when you have children of your own.

You live and breathe every moment of their careers.

My daughter Sophie was a promising tennis player and played professionally for a while and I know what it was like watching her play.

You are incredibly proud and absolutely desperate for them to succeed.

It was probably even worse for my mam and dad watching me playing football.

Fans aren’t known for keeping their own counsel during games so if a player is having a poor game they soon let you know about it.

It will have been great for my mam and dad when thing were going well for me at Boro but if I was having a bad game I’m sure there were negative comments flying about from.

Still, it’s the same for every player and a small price to pay for playing the game you love.

Billingham Stars confident ahead of cup showdown with Solway Sharks

Billingham Stars begin their new season with a tough trip north of the border against Solway Sharks in the English Challenge Cup tonight.

The revamped cup competition offers the Ultimate Windows-sponsored Stars the chance to test their mettle against higher level English Premier League opponents, alongside regular rivals from the National Ice Hockey League Moralee Division One.

Each side in the seven-team league will face each other home and away, and the rules of competition have levelled the playing field to ensure every game should be competitive.

The English Premier League sides – Manchester Phoenix, Peterborough Pirates, Sheffield Steeldogs and Telford Tigers - will have their usual import quota of four reduced to just one on the ice when they face any of the three NIHL teams – Billingham, Blackburn Hawks and Solway Sharks – in effect playing NIHL rules to allow the lower league teams to compete.

A trip to reigning league, play-off and cup winners Solway Sharks should be daunting for the Stars.

However the Dumfries-based outfit have had a quiet off-season, losing more players than they have picked up and their last pre-season match saw them on the wrong end of a 15-0 hammering at home to Elite League side Braehead Clan.

By contrast, Billingham couldn’t have had a better confidence boost as they thrashed Aberdeen Lynx 10-2 last weekend at the Forum.

The Stars have reshaped their squad over the summer, retaining the core of the side and bringing in more firepower in the shape of Thomas Stuart-Dant and Chris Sykes to counterbalance the loss of top scorer Stephen Wallace.

The Teessiders take a full bench to Solway with Will Robson replacing Luke Brown, who misses out with a hand injury.

Stars general manager Allen Flavell said: “The Aberdeen game has really whet our appetite for the new season. Solway are always very difficult to play but we’re looking strong.

“All the guys are fit and raring to go. The cup is something new and we want to give a good account of ourselves – we’re aiming to take every point we can.

“The league will be tighter than ever this season with at least three teams in with a shout of the title.

“I think we’re good enough to be up there come the end of March, but we’ll have to be on our game every shift as other teams look strong too.”

Israeli forces detain 9 Palestinians in arrest raids

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained nine Palestinians across the West Bank overnight Wednesday, locals told Ma’an.

Soldiers raided the Bethlehem-area village of Husan and detained Mahmoud Ishaq Sabatin, 19, Muhammad Faris Suleiman, 20, and 20-year-old Muhammad Ismail Sabatin.

Israeli forces detained Samir al-Qawasmi, Arqam Ahmaro and Ayman al-Hashlamoun in Hebron and 21-year-old Muhammad Jawad Fathi Qafini in Tulkarem.

In Jenin, Israeli forces detained two young men from Yaabad and Arraba, with one identified as Abd al-Jabbar Iqab Nufeat, 27.

Israeli forces also raided Qalqiliya and detained 19-year-old Ahmad Abd al-Latif Abu Haniyeh from Azzun.

An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma’an that 15 Palestinians were detained in the West Bank overnight

Missing 11-year-old Thornaby boy Reece Parker found safe and well

Police have confirmed that missing schoolboy Reece Parker has been found safe and well in the Thornaby area.

Officers had been appealing for information after the 11-year-old boy went missing from his Thornaby home.

Reece had left Thornaby Acadamy school at 3pm on Friday afternoon, but did not return home to Cumbernauld Road in Thornaby.

A Cleveland Police spokesperson said: “Police would like to thank the public and media for their support in finding Reece.”

Sangh re-converts Dalit Muslim converts

A day after they were arrested for converting to Islam, four Dalits were “re-converted” to Hinduism by VHP and Bajrang Dal activists in a ceremony at the Hanuman Temple here on Thursday.

Calling it “Ghar Vapasi”, the Hindu organisations also brought in over half-a-dozen other Dalits who had expressed their willingness to embrace Islam, and subjected them to a “purification” ceremony amid chanting of mantras by the temple priest.

The four converts — Maniram Jatav, his wife Makhobai Jatav, their son Nilesh Jatav and another relative Tularam Jatav — claimed that nobody had forced them to return to their original faith.

On Wednesday, they were arrested under the state’s anti-conversion law for not informing the district authorities in Shivpuri before converting to Islam. They were later released on bail. They claimed that they had converted to Islam because they were being discriminated against by upper castes.

Meanwhile, Maniram’s two other sons refused to participate in the “re-conversion” ceremony today. They said efforts were on to persuade them to return to Hindu fold.

“I decided to return to my original faith after Hindu leaders in our area promised that we would not be discriminated against in future,’’ said Maniram. Before the ceremony, the Bajrang Dal workers made him shave and wear new clothes.

“No religion teaches discrimination. I have read the Gita, Bible and Quran. We faced a lot of difficulties and chose to convert to Islam but now we have been promised a better future,’’ he said.

Maniram remained a Muslim for 14 months. “Didn’t Lord Rama spend 14 years in exile,’’ said Manoj Sharma, Bajrang Dal district convenor. “I told them that nobody would even lift a finger against them in future,’’ he said.

“Our activists will become active and stop such discrimination in every village. We will ensure nobody converts to Islam and will make every effort to bring those who have already converted back to the Hindu fold,” said Sharma.

The officer in charge of Khaniyadhana Police Station, Y S Jadaun, said the Jatavs had probably decided to re-convert under pressure from their own community.

Bajrang Dal workers said they had convinced them to re-convert by putting pressure on their community members. They said a meeting of the Ahirwar community has been called on Sunday to convince members to stop converting..

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US State Department: US resettled 166 Syrian refugees since 2011

The United States has resettled 166 Syrians since the outbreak of the Syrian Revolution in 2011, a State Department official said on Thursday.

Marie Harf, US state department deputy spokeswoman, said during her daily press briefing, “The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began in mid-2014 to refer Syrian refugees in large numbers to the United States.”

She pointed out that there are several thousands of Syrian refugees waiting to gain entry into the US, noting that the number will continue to increase.

Harf refused to comment on the State Department’s decision not to grant visas for twelve Syrian actresses scheduled to participate in a play at Georgetown University, stating the visa records were confidential. The women planned to take part in a play entitled “Syria: The Trojan Women” during the month of September.

In a report released last Friday, UNHCR stated that “Syria’s intensifying refugee crisis will today pass a record 3 million people, amid reports of horrifying conditions inside the country. These include cities where populations are surrounded, people are going hungry and civilians are being indiscriminately killed.”

The report announced that the number of Syrian refugees and internally displaced Syrians now amounted to 9.5 million.

The Commission added that more than US$2 billion is needed by the end of this year to meet the immediate needs of the refugees. Most urgently, more than 2.4 million people are expected to need support in the coming weeks to prepare for winter

Israel charges suspect in West Bank teens’ kidnap

A prime suspect in the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank has been charged with organizing and financing the crime, Israeli security officials said Thursday.

The deaths, which Israel immediately blamed on Hamas despite Hamas’ repeated denials, triggered a massive Israeli campaign across the the Palestinian territories including a devastating 50-day war in Gaza that killed more than 2,100 Palestinians.

Israel’s internal security service Shin Bet accused Hossam Qawasmeh, who was arrested on July 11, of organizing the June 12 kidnapping and spending some 220,000 shekels ($61,300, 47,200 euros) on weapons and cars used in the crime.

According to the charge sheet seen by AFP, Qawasmeh was charged in a military court for “transferring enemy funds,” carrying out services for an illegal organization (Hamas) and “deliberately causing the death” of the three Israelis.

The boys were shot almost immediately after their abduction, and their bodies were discovered on June 30 near to where they were snatched.

Critics said that despite knowledge of the youth’s deaths, the Israeli government withheld the information for weeks as it engaged in a massive arrest campaign across the West Bank that led to the detention of more than 700 individuals unrelated to the crime, while leaving nearly a dozen dead and more than hundred injured in raids and ensuing clashes.

Qawasmeh’s two suspected accomplices, Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Eisha, are still at large.

The Israeli army destroyed the homes of the latter two on July 1, a day after the teens’ bodies were found, Palestinian witnesses said.

Israel’s massive arrests in the West Bank triggered an uptick in rocket fire from the Gaza Strip in response, setting the stage for an Israeli operation in Gaza

Dad-of-two crashed Audi A4 into garden fence after suffering heart attack at wheel

A former businessman who crashed his car into a fence suffered a heart attack at the wheel, an inquest heard.

Patrick Steel was driving home with his partner and two friends after playing badminton, when he lost control of his Audi A4 and smashed in to a garden fence on Fabian Road, in Eston.

An inquest at Teesside Magistrates’ Court heard that moments before the crash, the dad-of-two had complained of shortness of breath but wished to continue driving.

The 61-year-old's arms fell to his sides prompting his passenger to grab the steering wheel in an attempt to control the car, the court heard.

Despite being rushed to Middlesbrough’s James Cook University Hospital, Mr Steel, of Ashbourne Close, Eston, could not be saved.

He was pronounced dead on May 2 last year.

Mr Steel's three passengers escaped without injury.

A witness statement read out to the court said the car was seen turning a corner “quickly” before mounting the pavement and colliding with a garden fence.

Another witness who got into the back of the car after the collision said Mr Steel had a “weak and slowing pulse.”

A post-mortem examination carried out by Dr David Scoones, a consultant neuropathologist at Middlesbrough’s James Cook University Hospital, found that Mr Steel died of heart disease.

Dr Scoones said there was no evidence of significant injury sustained in the collision.

PC Paul Harris told the court he was “satisfied” no-one else was involved in the incident and that the road and weather conditions were good.

Mr Steel was originally from Southampton but settled in Middlesbrough around five years ago after retirement, with his partner Jackie.

The grandad-of-one was the founder of Home James which became one of the biggest coach companies in the south.

Hartlepool senior coroner Malcolm Donnelly, sitting as deputy coroner for Teesside recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.

Second Teesside Natwest set to close as time is called on Marske branch

Natwest bank has announced it will shut its branch in Marske - just days after calling time on another branch in the area.

The bank has confirmed the Marske branch will close on December 2 this year.

The decision comes just days after the Natwest announced the closure of its Great Ayton branch also scheduled for December 2.

In a statement sent to The Gazette, Natwest said that the number of transactions taking place at the Marske branch had dropped over the last few years and that the branch is currently only open for 16 hours a week.

The Great Ayton branch, with just 40 customers a week, will shut because of a drop in customers.

A spokeswoman for Natwest said the closure was a “difficult decision” to make.

The Natwest spokeswoman added: “When we close a branch, we take a number of factors into account including usage and alternative ways to bank with us in the local area.

“We’ve taken a number of measures to ensure that our customers will still have access to banking in the area.”

These include the Post Office, ATM machines and nearby branches.

“We’ve advised staff and we’re writing to our customers to make them aware of the closure and the different ways they can still bank with us.

“If customers or local businesses are concerned about how this will impact their banking, they can go into the branch where staff will be happy to discuss the alternative ways to bank with us.”

Firefighters tackle large warehouse blaze on Dockside Road in Middlesbrough

Firefighters are currently on the scene of a large warehouse blaze in Middlesbrough.

A property on Dockside Road, near the River Tees in Middlesbrough, is currently alight.

Four fire appliances are on the scene, one each from Middlesbrough and Middlesbrough Marine stations and two from Grangetown.

The hydraulic platform is also in use, with firefighters using ground monitors and jets.

They received the call at 6.55am on Saturday morning.

A spokesman for Cleveland Fire and Rescue service described the incident as “quite a large fire”.

Missing Thornaby boy Reece Parker: Police appeal for information to help find 11-year-old

Police are appealing for information after an 11-year-old boy went missing from his Thornaby home.

Reece Parker left Thornaby Acadamy school at 3pm on Friday afternoon, but did not return to his home at Cumbernauld Road in Thornaby.

Reece is described as white, with fair hair and freckles and of small build for his age.

He was a wearing uniform of black blazer, with a blue jumper and white shirt, a red and blue tie and black trousers and shoes. He will have been carrying a black ruck sack.

If you see Reece or have any further information, call Cleveland Police on 101.

Algerian activists launch pro-Palestine media network

A number of Algerian journalists and media professionals announced the launch on Thursday of the Algerian Network of Media Practitioners in Solidarity with Palestine.

The founding charter aims at proposing suggestions and alternative solutions to the media sector to “present the most accurate picture on the flagrant violations against Palestinians in Gaza.”

The charter of the network calls on all workers in the media sector to join it.

According to the network’s founder and activist Belal Lrari, it aims at “embodying and reinforcing the values of solidarity with the Palestinian people at large.”

Lrari added that they “seek to awaken the conscience of Arab rulers by unifying the media discourse to confront Western media lobbying which depicts resistance of occupation as terrorism, in the same way Algerian resistance of French occupation was portrayed as illegitimate.”

The network will be officially launched on Friday at the Palestinian embassy in Algiers.

Lrari pointed out that the network will coordinate its work with international rights groups and pro-Palestine activists including Spanish journalists and Britain’s first Algerian Arab mayorMouna Hamitouche