Foreign Affairs (News/Activism)
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Even if we have often reported the presence of the F-22 Raptors at Al Dhafra, satellite imagery showing five radar evading planes parked at the main airbase in the UAE has been made publicly available for the first time recently. The aircraft, parked next to an F-15E Strike Eagle, are five of the six F-22 that had (more or less secretely) deployed in South East Asia from Holloman New Mexico, via Moron, Spain, on Apr. 20, 2012. The image is not only interesting because it shows the main U.S. Air Force plane about 100 miles from Iran, but also because...
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A MAN seen ranting at a video camera moments after a soldier was beheaded in the street is Muslim convert Michael Adebolajo - who was known to MI5. Michael Adebolaj, 28, had reportedly been looked at during probes into extremism in recent years - and was also known to hate preachers Anjem Choudary and Omar Bakri.
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Sure, we as a nation have always killed people. A lot of people. But no president has ever waged war by killing enemies one by one, targeting them individually for execution, wherever they are. The Obama administration has taken pains to tell us, over and over again, that they are careful, scrupulous of our laws, and determined to avoid the loss of collateral, innocent lives. They're careful because when it comes to waging war on individuals, the distinction between war and murder becomes a fine one. Especially when, on occasion, the individuals we target are Americans and when, in one...
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RAMALLAH: Peace between Israel and the Palestinians is a "priority," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on a visit to the region on Thursday, warning that time was running out for a two-state solution. "The prospects of a two-state solution cannot be kept alive forever as the situation changes," he told reporters from the seat of the Palestinian presidency in the West Bank city Ramallah. "The two-state solution does not have much longer, there is not much more time in which it could be brought about," he emphasised. Hague's visit to Ramallah followed a meeting between Abbas and US Secretary...
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In stark contrast, the Obama Administration’s response has been to avoid calling the attack terrorism, let alone terrorism motivated by a radical Islamic ideology. Instead the Administration, via the State Department, said it stood with the U.K. in the face of “such senseless violence.” Senseless violence? One can hardly term a targeted attack on a U.K. soldier in broad daylight — where the assailants gleefully admit the radical motivation behind their attack — “senseless violence.” Yet, use of this terminology is nothing new for the Obama Administration. “Senseless violence” is the Administration’s catch-all phrase loyally called upon whenever motivations for...
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The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release May 23, 2013 Remarks of President Barack Obama It’s an honor to return to the National Defense University. Here, at Fort McNair, Americans have served in uniform since 1791– standing guard in the early days of the Republic, and contemplating the future of warfare here in the 21st century. For over two centuries, the United States has been bound together by founding documents that defined who we are as Americans, and served as our compass through every type of change. Matters of war and peace are no different. Americans...
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May 21, 2013 Yulia Ponomareva, RBTH Recruitment of military chaplains is stepping up a gear, as Vladimir Putin’s government builds on traditional Orthodox values to bolster patriotic feelings in society. On a snowy field in the Ryazan region, 100 miles southeast of Moscow, five burly, bearded Russian Orthodox priests fall to the ground, arms held skywards. They’re not praying, however – but preparing for their next parachute jump. Soon, the chaplains will take to the skies with regular military cadets in an Air Force plane, jump and pull the cord – hoping that God is watching over them, and their...
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President Barack Obama says supporting transitions to democracy in unstable regions like the Middle East will remain a key part of his strategy for fighting terrorism. … He cited as an example the need to support those in Syria who are fighting to overthrow the government. He cautioned, however, that ending tyranny in Syria must not give way to “the tyranny of terrorism.” …
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The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release May 23, 2013 Background Briefing by Senior Administration Officials on the President's Speech on Counterterrorism Via Conference Call 12:03 P.M. EDT MS. HAYDEN: Hi, guys. Thanks for joining, and apologies for a slight delay. We're here talking today about the speech the President is about to give at 2:00 p.m. at National Defense University on counterterrorism. This call is on background, attributable to senior administration officials. This call is embargoed until 2:00 p.m. when the President speaks. We actually don't have a lot of time so we'll go ahead...
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Europe's largest economy, Germany, which has been criticized for not doing enough to help struggling euro zone countries, has topped a poll as the world's most popular country. The survey, carried out for the BBC, polled 26,000 people in 25 countries and asked them to rate 16 countries and the European Union as a whole on whether their influence on the world was mainly positive or negative. Germany came out on top, with 59 percent of survey participants giving it a positive rating. The country moved up three percentage points from its 2012 position. It displaced Japan, which saw its...
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The senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee said President Obama's national security speech will be "viewed by terrorists as a victory."
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President Obama is heckled by Code Pink protestor Medea Benjamin about Guantanamo Bay during his speech on terrorism at the National Defense University on Thursday.
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The senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee said President Obama's national security speech will be "viewed by terrorists as a victory." Sen. Saxby Chambliss (Ga.) made the remarks in a statement released moments after Obama's speech. He focused his criticism on Obama's plans to move toward closing the Guantanamo Bay detainee camp. "We knew five years ago that closing Guantanamo was a bad idea and would not work," Chambliss said. "Yet, today’s speech sends the message to Guantanamo detainees that if they harass the dedicated military personnel there enough, we will give in and send them home, even to...
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BERLIN - German brewers have warned Chancellor Angela Merkel's government that any law allowing the controversial drilling technique known as fracking could damage the country's cherished beer industry. The Brauer-Bund beer association is worried that fracking for shale gas, which involves pumping water and chemicals at high pressure into the ground, could pollute water used for brewing and break a 500-year-old industry rule on water purity. Germany, home to Munich's annual Oktoberfest - the world's biggest folk festival which attracts around 7 million visitors - has a proud tradition of brewing and beer drinking. Under the "Reinheitsgebot", or German purity...
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The gilded lifestyle of MEPs has been compared to the uncontrolled excesses of ancient Rome after research showed their perks have not been dented despite biting austerity measures. From Italian MEPs who enjoy free haircuts to Maltese ones who get 52 free gallons of petrol a month, the perks—and expenses—continue unabated for the representatives of European Union nations. MEPs from the 27 EU nations are paid salaries of Ł137 million ($207 million) a year, according to research by German pricing watchdog Preisvergleich.de, and some earn 740 percent more than the average citizen. …
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WASHINGTON — While momentum has been building inside the House Republican conference for a special congressional committee to investigate last year’s terrorist attacks in Benghazi, the GOP leadership is making it clear they still have no enthusiasm for establishing such a committee. About two-thirds of House Republicans — 153 in total — have signed on to the resolution offered by Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia to establish “a select committee to investigate and report on the attack on the United States consulate in Benghazi, Libya.” “I think there’s a lot of frustration up here among members that the stuff that’s...
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HUSBY, Sweden (AP) -- Sweden has long been a bastion of generous social welfare and an egalitarian political culture. So many people were shocked when scores of youths hurled rocks at police and set cars ablaze during rioting in several largely immigrant areas near Stockholm this week. Few dispute that the violence was probably touched off by the fatal police shooting of an elderly man who had locked himself in an apartment wielding a knife. But some residents in the area accused police who responded to the violence of racism. For some, the real reason for the unrest is the...
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Suspect identified on internet forums as Michael Adebolajo He was filmed ranting with bloodied hands shortly after the attack Accomplice believed to be from Harold Hill, RomfordIPCC confirms two officers fired shots and one officer discharged a TaserRaids carried out in Lincolnshire, Romford, Greenwich and WoolwichSuspects in attack on a soldier are not believed to be part of a terror groupBoth have been arrested and are being treated in separate hospitals after being shot by policeDavid Cameron: 'We will defeat violent extremism by standing together'Radical preacher Anjem Choudhary knew one of killers and has warned of more 'lone wolf'...
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Dozens of protesters clashed with police in Woolwich, south London on Wednesday night following the brutal killing of a London man in broad daylight by Muslim extremists. (VIDEO-AT-LINK)
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British police have made two further arrests and searched multiple properties as they widened their investigation into Wednesday's fatal hacking to death of a British soldier in broad daylight on a busy London street by two Muslim terrorists. The two arrests, of a man and a woman -- both 29 -- on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, raises the possibility that the gruesome attack was not a so-called "lone wolf" killing as once thought. Earlier it had been reported that the attackers were known to both UK authorities and a radical jihadist group well before the shocking attack that has...
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On “Fox News Sunday” last weekend, White House aide Dan Pfeiffer was asked about President Barack Obama’s whereabouts the night of the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi. This was the night when we lost our first ambassador in 30 years, and when three other Americans were killed in an attack that lasted all night long at multiple locations within the eastern Libyan city. Since the president is commander in chief, one would think where he was and what he did during such an event would be of obvious public concern. Not according to Pfeiffer. He deemed the president’s location, and...
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Hard to imagine a more demoralizing order for a soldier than to tell him to take off the uniform and hide after an enemy’s attack. And the powers that be know it: They’re stressing that the order’s temporary in order to blunt public indignation over their decision. The twisted punchline here is that the victim yesterday wasn’t wearing a uniform. The two degenerates who murdered him apparently targeted him because they saw him entering or exiting a barracks. There’s the next move, presumably — evacuate the barracks nationwide until they’re safe. For soldiers. Defence sources said the order had been...
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WASHINGTON – Attorney Victoria Toensing said Wednesday she will ask the State Department’s inspector general to launch an investigation into claims that employees there leaked personal information on her whistle-blower client to members of the media as an intimidation tactic ahead of a recent hearing on the Benghazi attack. Toensing’s client, Gregory Hicks, testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on May 8. Hicks is the former deputy chief of mission who was in Benghazi, Libya, at the time of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed four Americans. Toensing said State Department officials have told reporters that...
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Many disillusioned Egyptians say things are worse than ever. Thugs often run the streets, crime rates have skyrocketed, and police feel they're outgunned faced with the flood of weapons filling Cairo's streets. Making matters worse, everything from utilities to gasoline is both more expensive and more difficult to acquire than it was before the Muslim Brotherhood.
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A new Fox News poll finds that nearly a quarter of voters (23 percent) thinks the U.S. should get more involved because it’s a humanitarian crisis and Syria is a strategically important country. However, nearly three times as many, 68 percent, say the U.S. should stay out because it’s a civil war and the U.S. could actually end up helping anti-American extremist groups. Syria is a rare instance of agreement across the political spectrum: majorities of independents (65 percent), Democrats (69 percent) and Republicans (70 percent) agree the United States should stay out of Syria. Voters who have served in...
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In the final part of his interview with The Daily Caller, South Carolina Republican Trey Gowdy discussed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her role in the Benghazi scandal. He also questioned the selective method by which the administration has revealed what happened on September 11, 2012.
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Three U.S. senators have identified the missing parts of the response to the Benghazi terror attack. In a statement, Senators Kelly Ayotte, Lindsey Graham, and John McCain list "What We Do Not Know" about Benghazi: · We do not know whether the President was made aware of the classified cable that, according to published media reports, Ambassador Chris Stevens sent in August 2012, stating that the U.S. Mission in Benghazi could not survive a sustained assault from one or more of the threatening militia groups that were operating in eastern Libya. · We do not know whether the President’s national...
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The head of the International Monetary Fund arrived in the dock of a Paris courtroom today as she braced herself to be formally charged with embezzlement and fraud. Christine Lagarde’s humiliation is not only a massive personal blow which could lead to her resignation, but one which will plunge the world’s banking system into further ignominy. The clearly nervous 57-year-old said nothing to reporters as she entered the Court of Justice of the Republic, a special tribunal set up to judge the conduct of France’s government ministers, shortly after 8.30am. Lagarde faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail...
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After longtime Chavismo-strongman Hugo Chavez’s death earlier this year, his lieutenant Nicolas Maduro “won” the snap election for a replacement president — except that the opposition party headed by challenger Henry Capriles maintains that the election results were fraudulent and is refusing to recognize Maduro as the legitimate president without a thorough audit of the whole thing. The Venezuelan Supreme Court tried to nip that idea in the bud (because really, what good is a corrupted and tyrannical power structure without rule-of-law-defying loyalty?), but the opposition isn’t giving up and Venezuelan politics of late have not been going at all...
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It's been burbling up from the conservative media for nearly six months, starting with Fox News. Last year, the network's reporter Catherine Herridge reported on a ship that had arrived to Turkey from Libya laden with weapons. Ordnance left unsecured after the fall of Gaddafi was being taken to Syria to overthrow another dictator. This isn't in much dispute. The dispute, and the theory, is that the weapons used to kill Americans in Benghazi were made available by bungling American gun-runners. That's the theory floated by Roger Simon, who talks to two "Benghazi whistleblowers" (multiplying like rabbits now). [Chris] Stevens’...
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GENEVA, Switzerland, May 23, 2013 (National Right to Life News) - Legalized abortion is widely touted as beneficial to women, but a wealth of medical and psychological evidence suggests otherwise, according to a new analysis of decades of research. The analysis was released today at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Global Outreach (MCCL GO) and National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund (NRLC), an NGO based in Washington, D.C. Jeanne E. Head, R.N., Patrick Buckley and Scott Fischbach, who are in Geneva introducing the analysis, are calling for a renewed emphasis on...
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A majority of American voters wants to keep the military prison at Guantanamo Bay open, and many feel it has made the United States safer. A new Fox News poll finds 63 percent of voters want to keep the detention facility known as Gitmo open, while 28 percent say it should be closed and the terrorist suspects moved to federal prisons in the United States. There’s across-the-board agreement on keeping the prison open, although the degree of support varies by political party. Democrats favor keeping Gitmo by a 7 percentage-point margin, independents by 31 points and Republicans by 66 points....
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JERUSALEM (AP) — The United States and Israel raised hopes Thursday for a restart of the Middle East peace process, despite little tangible progress so far from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's two-month-old effort to get Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. As they met in Jerusalem, Kerry praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the "seriousness" with which he is looking at ways to revitalize peace hopes. Kerry expressed optimism without outlining any concrete strategy for ending a stalemate between the two sides that has seen them hardly negotiate one-on-one at all over the last 4˝...
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Scores of supporters of the English Defence League threw bottles at police and chanted anti-Muslim slogans in Woolwich hours after the murder of one man and the shooting of his two suspected assailants. About 100 men, including some wearing balaclavas printed with "EDL", engaged in running battles with police for less than an hour. A police commander said officers cited section 60 of the Public Order Act, which allowed them to stop and search individuals within a specific area without evidence of a crime being committed. EDL leader Tommy Robinson said: "They're chopping our soldiers' heads off. This is Islam....
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Talk about art imitating life. I landed upon a classic movie while surfing TV channels. Kirk Douglas played a down-on-his-luck news reporter. When I began watching the movie, a man named Leo was trapped in a collapsed cave. Douglas managed to crawl within a few feet of Leo and was chatting with Leo, assuring the scared man that he would be rescued ASAP. But secretly, Douglas had other plans. Keeping Leo trapped for at least seven days could revive Douglas's career. He had exclusive access to Leo. Writing daily updates could produce tremendous financial rewards; it could land Douglas a...
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Young Muslims are being taught extremist views in British mosques, an undercover investigation has found. Shocking footage of children apparently being hit by their teachers during lessons on the Koran will also be aired on Channel 4's Dispatches programme on Monday. A hidden camera installed by a reporter at a school in Birmingham recorded a preacher telling pupils "the disbelievers are the worst creatures, they are the worst creatures".
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Commanders have advised troops not to wear uniform travelling to and from work or outside bases following the brutal killing of a member of the military close to Woolwich barracks. Defence sources said the order had been given that uniform should not be worn by those travelling alone, or on public transport as a "common sense precaution" immediately after the killing.
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Several major U.S. utilities are under "constant" cyberattack and haven't taken precautions to protect critical systems from Iran, North Korea and other adversaries, according to a congressional survey of more than 100 companies accounting for much of the nation's power system. The survey shows the nation's electrical grid remains "highly vulnerable" to attack after four years of failed efforts to pass major cyber-security legislation, according to an accompanying report. Industry trade groups, including the Edison Electric Institute, joined by Republicans in the Senate, opposed the bill, arguing minimum cyber-security standards would be out-of-date by the time they were implemented. "Our...
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A mother-of-two described tonight how she put her own life on the line by trying to persuade the soldier’s murderers to hand over their weapons.
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A specter has been haunting the Western Hemisphere since mid-summer 2012, the specter of China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) routinely patrolling the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. At first sight, it might seem that Beijing is truly laying the groundwork for its foothold in the Atlantic Rim. Not least, Chinese government signed a free-trade agreement with Iceland in April and PLAN vessels recently made a month-long trip in the Mediterranean Sea and Eastern Atlantic. Even so, China's strategic projection in the Atlantic is still far from becoming reality. The whole psychodrama unfolded at the end of June 2012, when...
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Prosecutors are pursuing rape charges against a 40-year-old Malaysian who allegedly had sex with a 13-year-old girl and then married her. Restaurant manager Riduan Masmud was charged with committing statutory rape in a parked car in Borneo in February, but his lawyer said he has since married the girl. Rights activists have long criticised Malaysian laws that allow very young Muslims to be wedded with the permission of Islamic courts. Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail said late Wednesday that authorities remain firmly against statutory rape and were compiling a DNA report and other evidence in Riduan's...
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“How many isolated incidents does it take to make it not isolated?” Stephen Coughlin on the events in Europe over the last couple of days. Yesterday’s barbaric attack on a British Soldier on a London street & muslim riots in Sweden... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX6PW6hESPQ
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The European Parliament met Tuesday to discuss the issue of tax evasion throughout the UK and the Eurozone, and how the European Parliament might clamp down on those attempting to protect their well earned wealth from government confiscation. All was going according to plan, until UKIP member Nigel Farage was given the floor. Farage immediately launched into a classic rant against Barroso and the rest of the EU bureaucrats, stating that it is not the average man on the street that is engaging in tax fraud, but the European Parliament members themselves: If we look at the...
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Sky sources: military commanders tell soldiers not to wear uniform in public until further notice.
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As multiple scandals have simultaneously engulfed the Obama administration, a number of political observers have cautioned Republicans against overreaching. Liberal blogger Greg Sargent writes over at the Washington Post that, “the current scandal-mania gripping the GOP risks bringing about a rerun of 1998, when the frenzy amid the Monica Lewinsky revelations led the GOP to overreach, resulting in backlash.” Charlie Cook reaches a similar conclusion: Red-faced Republicans, circling and preparing to pounce on a second-term Democratic president they loathe, do not respect, and certainly do not fear. Sound familiar? Perhaps reminiscent of Bill Clinton’s second term, after the Monica Lewinsky...
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Washington - India and the US have called upon all nations - without naming any country - to take effective steps to work toward eliminating sanctuaries and infrastructure that supports terrorism and to increase efforts to counter violent extremism. The call was made in a joint communiqué issued after the Second US-India Homeland Security Dialogue here Tuesday co-chaired by Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. The communiqué reaffirmed the two nations' own "commitment to, and importance of, bilateral homeland security cooperation on common challenges faced such as terrorism, and countering violent extremism." India...
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A British soldier was decapitated a few hundred yards from a UK Army base by two men with large knives and saying ‘ we swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you’. The men were shot when police responded 20 minutes later. The photo above shows a scene. This is the dramatic moment a woman appears to remonstrate with a man carrying a knife following a brutal attack in Woolwich. The two alleged attackers are thought to have waited around for 20 minutes until Metropolitan Police officers arrived and then tried to attack them – but were swiftly...
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(VIDEO-AT-LINK) You know that part in the video where the announcer is speaking over the Muslim killer. That’s the part where the killer is saying, “Many, many Ayah throughout the Koran that we must fight them as they fight us.” Instead the official media video cuts the Koran part out and picks up only when the Muslim killer says, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” That doctrine is used today by Muslim countries to demand a literal eye for an eye justice. In August 2000, the Saudi Arabian media reported that Abdel Moti Abdel Rahman...
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May 23 (Reuters) - Indonesia's energy regulator says the country's oil production target next year is too optimistic, and wants it scaled back between roughly 4 percent and 8 percent, domestic media reported on Thursday. The former OPEC member was once self-sufficient in oil and gas but has been struggling for years to attract investment to halt declining oil output. Southeast Asia's largest economy has often missed annual oil production targets, which have gradually fallen from a peak of 1.6 million bpd in 1995. The government set an oil production target of between 900,000 and 930,000 barrels per day in...
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