#Islamic Supreme Council of Canada

[dealatweeklyact]

The attack was condemned by Canadian leaders, and called terrorism by Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan and Premier of Ontario Doug Ford. The suspect is charged with four counts of terroristic murder and one count of terroristic attempted murder.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 2.11 (after 1950)

1953 – Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower denies all appeals for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. 1953 – Israeli-Soviet relations are severed. 1959 – The Federation of Arab Emirates of the South is created as a protectorate of the United Kingdom. 1963 — The Beatles recorded their first album Please Please Me. 1970 – Japan launches Ohsumi, becoming the fourth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster. 1971 – Cold War: the Seabed Arms Control Treaty opened for signature outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters. 1978 – Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314 crashes at the Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada with 42 deaths and seven survivors. 1979 – The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. 1990 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner. 1990 – Buster Douglas, a 42:1 underdog, knocks out Mike Tyson in ten rounds at Tokyo to win boxing's world Heavyweight title. 1997 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. 1999 – Pluto crosses Neptune's orbit, ending a nearly 20-year period when it was closer to the Sun than the gas giant; Pluto is not expected to interact with Neptune's orbit again until 2231. 2001 – A Dutch programmer launched the Anna Kournikova virus infecting millions of emails via a trick photo of the tennis star. 2008 – Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President José Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack. 2011 – Arab Spring: The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 17 days of protests. 2013 – The Vatican confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI would resign the papacy as a result of his advanced age. 2013 – Militants claiming to be from the Sultanate of Sulu invade Lahad Datu District, Sabah, Malaysia, beginning the Lahad Datu standoff. 2014 – A military transport plane crashes in a mountainous area of Oum El Bouaghi Province in eastern Algeria, killing 77 people. 2015 – A university student was murdered as she resisted an attempted rape in Turkey, sparking nationwide protests and public outcry against harassment and violence against women. 2016 – A man shoots seven people dead at an education center in Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia. 2017 – North Korea test fires a ballistic missile across the Sea of Japan. 2018 – Saratov Airlines Flight 703 crashes near Moscow, Russia with 71 deaths and no survivors. 2020 – COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization officially names the coronavirus outbreak as COVID-19, with the virus being designated SARS-CoV-2.

[in-sightpublishing]

An Interview with Sufi Imam Syed Soharwardy on Canadian Muslim Narratives and Theology (Part Two)

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen Publication (Outlet/Website): In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2019/07/15 Abstract Sufi Imam Syed Soharwardy is the Founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada and the Founder of the Muslims Against Terrorism. He discusses: narratives of Canadian Muslims; certain media outlets or anchors who are fanning the…

[gettothestabbing]

In Canada, El Bahnasawy was portrayed as something of a victim. His lawyer Sabrina Shroff told the CBC he was young and “vulnerable,” adding, “It’s a very difficult situation undoubtedly — not just for him but also for his entire family.”

Syed Soharwardy of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada told Global News that El Bahnasawy’s views could be found at some mosques but that anti-Islamic sentiment in Canada could make Muslims more likely to support a terrorist organization. “Islamophobia helps others to be radicalized,” Soharwardy explained, and until the Islamophobia “which is going on in our communities” stops, the radicalization is “going to continue.”

On the other hand, Amarnath Amarasingam of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told Global News: “We have a young man from Canada receiving bomb making instructions from operatives linked to ISIS’s Khurasan province and financial assistance from ISIS networks in the Philippines. This has huge implications for how we approach ISIS’s loss of territory in Iraq and Syria, since it’s clear that their networks elsewhere could pose an equally serious threat in terms of attack planning in Western countries.”

[eretzyisrael]

TORONTO – A violent antisemitic slogan was proudly displayed at a recent Tehran rally organized by an infamous Iranian militia, B’nai Brith Canada has learned.

On Feb. 5, the Basij, one of five branches of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), held a massive gathering at the Grand Imam Khomeini Mosalla, as documented by an IranWire citizen journalist. Demonstrators wished death upon Israel and the United States as they mourned former terrorist mastermind Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. air strike Jan. 3.

The aforementioned slogan, hoisted by a young boy, conveyed hate messages bragging of wishing to fight Zionism and kill Jews.

Following Soleimani’s death, the IRGC shot down a civilian passenger jet near Tehran ⁠—killing 176 people, including 57 Canadian citizens and another 81 people who were travelling to Canada. A week later, B’nai Brith Canada joined forces with the Council of Iranian-Canadians and Justice 88 to renew the call for Canada to designate the IRGC as a terrorist group, in line with a House of Commons resolution passed in June of 2018.

“This is yet more evidence, if any were needed, that the IRGC as a whole is a dangerous and virulently antisemitic terrorist group,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “After seeing so many of our citizens killed, Canada should be taking tough steps against this rogue regime, not shaking hands with its representatives.”

Despite its history of Holocaust denial, the Islamist regime in Iran sometimes denies that it is antisemitic — claiming instead to be “merely” anti-Zionist. However, the poster displayed at the Feb. 5 IRGC rally, as well as a Tuesday tweet by Iran’s Supreme Leader asserting that the U.S. “is controlled by the wealthy Zionists & their corporate owners,” prove otherwise.

Also on Tuesday, B’nai Brith released a petition calling on Canada to take a strong stand against the use of child soldiers by Palestinian groups, many of which benefit from Iranian support. The Iranian regime is equally notorious for deploying child soldiers — having used them to clear mines during the Iran-Iraq War. In more recent years, the regime has recruited the children of Afghan refugees to fight alongside Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s brutal civil war.

[creepingsharia]

Canada: Muslim who joined ISIS in Syria arrested, then released on bail in Calgary

Calgary terrorism suspect Hussein Sobhe Borhot has been granted bail.

Provincial court Judge Anne Brown agreed with defence lawyer John Phillips that Borhot could be released on conditions, which include wearing an ankle bracelet that can monitor him 24 hours a day.

Crown prosecutor Kent Brown had sought Borhot’s detention.

At Phillips’ request, the judge placed a publication ban on the application before her, including her reasons for granting bail.

Among Borhot’s bail conditions are that his father post a $30,000 surety and he must report weekly to RCMP.

Borhot, 34, allegedly contributed to the activities of the Islamic State, commonly known as ISIS, according to the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team.

He is charged with three counts of participation in the activity of a terrorist group and one count of commission of an offence for a terrorist group.

He allegedly enlisted with the group, received training for the purpose of enhancing the abilities of ISIS and participated in a kidnapping.

Mounties said Borhot travelled to Syria between May 9, 2013, and June 7, 2014, when the alleged activities took place.

He was arrested earlier this month following a seven-year investigation by the Mounties.

Michael Nesbitt, a professor at the University of Calgary who specializes in criminal law, national security law and anti-terrorism law, said the charges were surprising considering the amount of time that has passed.

Nesbitt said although Borhot’s name has been “on the radar” in the past, “it’s still surprising because it’s been seven years . . . and nothing’s been heard.”

He said Canada has seen very few cases of people travelling abroad to join groups such as ISIS, coming back and then being charged based on evidence of their alleged activities abroad. Past charges related to terrorist travel have usually been based on planning that allegedly took place in Canada.

“This will probably be the first case where you’re really talking about full battlefield evidence as the information that would uphold the charges,” said Nesbitt.

“They’re going to have to have some evidence of what this person did abroad, presumably in a war zone.”

Calgary Imam Syed Soharwardy, founder of Muslims Against Terrorism and the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, said he has long advocated the RCMP thoroughly investigate Canadians who travel abroad to join groups such as ISIS.

Soharwardy estimated there have been more than 200 Canadian citizens who fit that bill.

“What happened to those guys? Why only the RCMP is finding one person after seven years?” he said, calling it “a very slow” and “tiring” process.

“These people are walking time bombs,” said Soharwardy.

“We cannot let them freely walk on Canadian soil because they have been trained for utilization of weapons. They might have committed major crimes in Syria and Iraq.”

RCMP said the investigation continues and could result in further charges or arrests.

Borhot’s case is back in court in September.

[in-sightjournal]

UN Interfaith Harmony Week (February 1 – February 7, 2020)

UN Interfaith Harmony Week (February 1 – February 7, 2020)

            Author: Imam Syed Soharwardy

Numbering: Issue 22.B, Idea: Outliers & Outsiders (Part Eighteen)

Place of Publication: Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Title: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightjournal.com

Individual Publication Date: February 1, 2020

Issue Publication Date: May 1, 2020

Name of Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Frequency: Three…

[bountyofbeads]

Trump Approves Strikes on Iran, but Then Pulls Back https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/world/middleeast/iran-us-drone.html

Trump Approves Strikes on Iran, but Then Abruptly Pulls Back

By Michael D. Shear, Eric Schmitt, Michael Crowley, Maggie Haberman | Published June 20, 2019 |New York Times | Posted June 21, 2019 |

June 20, 2019

WASHINGTON — President Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for downing an American surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching them on Thursday night after a day of escalating tensions.

As late as 7 p.m., military and diplomatic officials were expecting a strike, after intense discussions and debate at the White House among the president’s top national security officials and congressional leaders, according to multiple senior administration officials involved in or briefed on the deliberations.

Officials said the president had initially approved attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, like radar and missile batteries.

The operation was underway in its early stages when it was called off, a senior administration official said. Planes were in the air and ships were in position, but no missiles had been fired when word came to stand down, the official said.

Mr. Trump’s national security advisers split about whether to respond militarily. Senior administration officials said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; John R. Bolton, the national security adviser; and Gina Haspel, the C.I.A. director, had favored a military response. But top Pentagon officials cautioned that such an action could result in a spiraling escalation with risks for American forces in the region.

Congressional leaders were briefed by administration officials in the Situation Room.

The destruction of the drone underscored the already tense relations between the two countries after Mr. Trump’s recent accusations that Iran is to blame for explosions last week that damaged oil tankers traveling through the strait, the vital waterway for much of the world’s oil. Iran has denied that accusation.

Iran’s announcement this week that it would soon breach one of the key limits it had agreed to in a 2015 pact intended to limit its nuclear program has also fueled tensions. Mr. Trump, who pulled the United States out of the 2015 pact, has vowed that he will not allow Tehran to build a nuclear weapon.

On Thursday, Mr. Trump insisted that the United States’ unmanned surveillance aircraft was flying over international waters when it was taken down by an Iranian missile.

“This drone was in international waters, clearly,” the president told reporters on Thursday afternoon at the White House as he began a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada. “We have it all documented. It’s documented scientifically, not just words.”

Asked what would come next, Mr. Trump said, “Let’s see what happens.”

Iran’s government fiercely disputed the president’s characterization, insisting that the American drone had strayed into Iranian airspace. Iran released GPS coordinates that put the drone eight miles off the country’s coast, inside the 12 nautical miles from the shore that Iran claims as its territorial waters.

Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, wrote in a letter to the Security Council that the drone ignored repeated radio warnings before it was downed. He said that Tehran “does not seek war” but “is determined to vigorously defend its land, sea and air.”

Congressional Democrats emerged from the president’s classified briefing in the Situation Room and urged Mr. Trump to de-escalate the situation. They called on the president to seek congressional authorization before taking any military action.

“This is a dangerous situation,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. “We are dealing with a country that is a bad actor in the region. We have no illusions about Iran in terms of their ballistic missile transfers, about who they support in the region and the rest.”

Iran’s destruction of the drone appeared to provide a boost for officials inside the Trump administration who have long argued for a more confrontational approach to Iran, including the possibility of military actions that could punish the regime for its support of terrorism and other destabilizing behavior in the region.

But in his public appearance, Mr. Trump initially seemed to be looking for a way to avoid a potentially serious military crisis. Instead of directly accusing the leaders of Iran, Mr. Trump said someone “loose and stupid” in Iran was responsible for shooting down the drone.

The president said he suspected it was some individual in Iran who “made a big mistake,” even as Iran had taken responsibility for the strike and asserted that the high-altitude American drone was operating over Iranian air space, which American officials denied.

Mr. Trump said the episode would have been far more serious if the aircraft had been a piloted vehicle, and not a drone. It made “a big, big difference” that an American pilot was not threatened, he told reporters.

Last year, Mr. Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 nuclear pact with Iran, over the objections of China, Russia and American allies in Europe. He has also imposed punishing economic sanctions on Iran, trying to cut off its already limited access to international trade, including oil sales.

Iran has warned of serious consequences if Europe does not find a way around those sanctions, though it has denied involvement in the attacks on tankers near the vital Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, Iran said it would soon stop abiding by a central component of the nuclear deal, the limit on how much enriched uranium it is allowed to stockpile.

Both Washington and Tehran said the downing of the drone occurred at 4:05 a.m. Thursday in Iran, or 7:35 p.m. Wednesday in Washington. The drone “was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile system while operating in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz,” the United States Central Command said in a statement. “This was an unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset in international airspace.”

Iran’s ability to target and destroy the high-altitude American drone, which was developed to evade the very surface-to-air missiles used to bring it down, surprised some Defense Department officials, who interpreted it as a show of how difficult Tehran can make things for the United States as it deploys more troops and steps up surveillance in the region.

Lt. Gen. Joseph Guastella, the Air Force commander for the Central Command region in the Middle East, said the attack could have endangered “innocent civilians,” even though officials at Central Command continued to assert that the drone was over international waters. He said that the closest that the drone got to the Iranian coast was 21 miles.

Late Thursday, the Defense Department released additional imagery in an email to support its case that the drone never entered Iranian airspace. But the department incorrectly called the flight path of the drone the location of the shooting down and offered little context for an image that appeared to be the drone exploding in midair.

It was the latest attempt by the Pentagon to try to prove that Iran has been the aggressor in a series of international incidents.

[What we know and don’t know about Iran shooting down an American drone.]

Iran’s foreign affairs minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said in a post on Twitter that he gave what he said were precise coordinates for where the American drone was targeted.

“At 00:14 US drone took off from UAE in stealth mode & violated Iranian airspace,” he said in a tweet that included coordinates that he said were near Kouh-e Mobarak. “We’ve retrieved sections of the US military drone in OUR territorial waters where it was shot down.”

Mr. Trump’s comments on Thursday afternoon in the Oval Office reflected the longstanding tension between the president’s desire to be seen as tough on the world stage and his campaign promise to make sure that the United States did not get tangled in more foreign wars.

The president has embraced a reputation as someone who punches back when he is challenged. Only months into his tenure, Mr. Trump launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an air base in Syria after a chemical weapon attack.

But he has often talked about ending American involvement in long-running conflicts abroad, describing his “America First” agenda as having little room for being the world’s police force. In a tweet in January, he said he hoped that “Endless Wars, especially those which are fought out of judgement mistakes” would “eventually come to a glorious end!”

According to Iranian news media, a foreign minister spokesman there said that flying a drone into Iranian airspace was an “aggressive and provocative” move by the United States.

Hossein Salami, the commander in chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said crossing the country’s border was “our red line,” the semiofficial Mehr news agency reported.

“We are not going to get engaged in a war with any country, but we are fully prepared for war,” Mr. Salami said at a military ceremony in Sanandaj, Iran, according to a translation from Press TV, a state-run news outlet. “Today’s incident was a clear sign of this precise message, so we are continuing our resistance.”

Iranian news media said the drone had flown over Iranian territory unauthorized, and reported that it had been shot down in the Hormozgan Province, along the country’s southern coast on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

Both the United States and Iran identified the aircraft as an RQ-4 Global Hawk, a surveillance drone made by Northrop Grumman.

“This was a show of force — their equivalent of an inside pitch,” said Derek Chollet, a former assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs during the Obama administration, speaking of Iran’s decision to shoot down the drone.

James G. Stavridis, who retired as a four-star admiral after serving as the supreme allied commander at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, warned that the two countries were in a dangerous game that could quickly spiral out of control. He described Iran’s downing of the drone, which costs about $130 million, as a “logical albeit highly dangerous escalatory move by Iran.”

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Mueller Submits Trump-Russia Report, Lawmakers Urge Quick Release (Reuters) Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Friday handed in a confidential report on his investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election and any potential wrongdoing by U.S. President Donald Trump, setting off a clamor from lawmakers in both parties for the document’s quick release.

Supreme Court to look into gerrymandering (Reuters) Republicans and Democrats over the years have engaged in gerrymandering, manipulating electoral boundaries to entrench one party in power. Critics have said the practice has now become far more effective and insidious due to computer technology and precise voter data, warping democracy. The Supreme Court is due to examine the practice on Tuesday in two cases that could impact American politics for decades.

Free speech or no federal money for universities (Reuters) President Donald Trump signed an executive order linking “free speech” efforts at public universities to federal grants in an effort to combat what he considers a clamp down on conservative students’ abilities to share their views. The order requires that schools ensure they allow students to express themselves in order to receive funds from 12 federal agencies that help fund universities and colleges.

Petrochemical Fire Reignites at Fuels Storage Facility Outside Houston (Reuters) A petrochemical fire flared anew on Friday at a massive fuel storage facility on the Houston Ship Channel, compounding efforts to halt a chemicals leak at the Mitsui & Co.’s Intercontinental Terminals facility outside Houston.

U.S. Blacklists Venezuelan State Banks After Arrest of Guaido Aide (Reuters) The United States imposed sanctions on Friday on Venezuela’s development bank, Bandes, a day after the Trump administration warned there would be consequences for the arrest by Venezuelan authorities of opposition leader Juan Guaido’s top aide.

EU takes charge, forces Brexit deadlines on UK’s May (AP) Isolated at home and abroad, British Prime Minister Theresa May was laboring against the odds Friday to win backers in Parliament for her unloved Brexit deal--to a timetable dictated by the European Union. Almost three years after Britons voted to walk away from the EU, the bloc’s leaders seized control of the Brexit timetable from May to avert a chaotic departure at the end of this month that would be disruptive for the world’s biggest trading bloc and deeply damaging for Britain.

Europeans credit EU with promoting peace and prosperity, but say Brussels is out of touch with its citizens (Pew) Across 10 European nations recently surveyed by Pew Research Center, a median of 74% say the EU promotes peace, and most also think it promotes democratic values and prosperity. However, Europeans also tend to describe Brussels as inefficient and intrusive, and in particular they believe the EU is out of touch--a median of 62% say it does not understand the needs of its citizens.

China Stops Purchase of Canadian Canola Seeds (AP) China has stopped all new purchases of Canadian canola seeds in what some see as retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a top executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei.

New Thai Government May Be Unstable, Short-Lived (AP) Thailand’s election Sunday is likely to produce a weak unstable government whether it’s a civilian or military-backed party that cobbles together a coalition, setting off a new phase of uncertainty in a country that’s a U.S. ally in Southeast Asia and one of the world’s top tourist destinations.

Cyclone Lashes Remote Australian Coast With Wind, Rains (AP) A vast and powerful cyclone made landfall Saturday along a remote stretch of the northern Australian coast, bringing fierce winds and heavy rains amid safety fears for a small number of residents who’ve stayed in the area.

New Zealand Reopens Mosques That Were Attacked; Many ‘March for Love’ (Reuters) Smelling of fresh paint, the two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch where a gunman killed 50 worshippers last week reopened their doors on Saturday, with many survivors among the first to walk in and pray for those who died.

Iraqi PM Seeks Sacking of Local Governor After Mosul Boat Capsize (Reuters) Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has formally requested that parliament sack Nineveh Governor Nawfal Hammadi al-Sultan after a river ferry accident that killed at least 90 people in the provincial capital, Mosul.

U.S. Ally Declares Islamic State Defeated,’ Caliphate’ Eliminated (Reuters) Islamic State has been defeated at its final shred of territory of Baghouz in Syria, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Saturday, announcing the end of its self-declared “caliphate” that once spanned a third of Iraq and Syria.

Pompeo at odds with Lebanese officials over Hezbollah (AP) U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday called on the Lebanese people to stand up to Hezbollah’s “criminality, terror and threats,” and claimed U.S. sanctions on Iran and its Lebanese Shiite ally were working and that more pressure on them was forthcoming. His comments in Beirut were in strong contrast to those of his host, Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil who minutes earlier, while standing next to Pompeo, insisted that Hezbollah is “a Lebanese group that is not a terrorist organization and was elected by the people.”

UN HRC condemns Israel’s actions in Gaza (Reuters) The United Nations Human Rights Council condemned Israel’s “apparent intentional use of unlawful lethal and other excessive force” against civilian protesters in Gaza, and called for perpetrators of violations in the enclave to face justice.

Tens of Thousands in Southern Africa Need Help After Cyclone (AP) A second week has begun of efforts to find and help tens of thousands of people after Cyclone Idai devastated parts of southern Africa.

[nova0000scotia]

LOVE YOU AND SO PROUD OF YOU...

quote:  Canadian imams urge Muslim community to get vaccinated against COVID-19QUOTE:  Canadian imams are urging members of the Muslim community to get vaccinated to protect themselves and others from COVID-19.Twenty-five religious leaders have issued a joint statement pointing to "overwhelming, undeniable scientific evidence" of vaccine protection as a fourth wave targets mostly unvaccinated people.The group says delaying or avoiding vaccination — unless under the advice of a medical expert — puts lives in danger, which goes against the teachings of Islam.It says COVID-19 and its more contagious variants are contributing to a rise in cases and deaths, so getting inoculated is more crucial than ever.The Islamic Supreme Council of Canada is holding its own lottery to encourage vaccination.    #CanadianImans #CovidVaccinations

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.3

752 – Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico, assumes the throne. 1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties. 1491 – Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptised by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I. 1616 – Treaty of Loudun ends a French civil war. 1715 – A total solar eclipse is visible across northern Europe and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within four minutes accuracy. 1791 – The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. 1802 – Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city after Congress abolishes the Board of Commissioners, the District's founding government. The "City of Washington" is given a mayor-council form of government. 1808 – Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia. 1808 – Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Príncipe Pío hill. 1815 – Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples, is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war. 1830 – The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway is opened; it is the first steam-hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel. 1837 – The University of Athens is founded in Athens, Greece. 1848 – The boar-crested Anglo-Saxon Benty Grange helmet is discovered in a barrow on the Benty Grange farm in Derbyshire. 1849 – The May Uprising in Dresden begins: The last of the German revolutions of 1848–49. 1855 – American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua. 1901 – The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida. 1913 – Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length Indian feature film, is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry. 1920 – A Bolshevik coup fails in the Democratic Republic of Georgia. 1921 – Ireland is partitioned under British law by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, creating Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. 1921 – West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a broad sales tax, but does not implement it until a number of years later due to enforcement issues. 1928 – The Jinan incident begins with the deaths of twelve Japanese civilians by Chinese forces in Jinan, China, which leads to Japanese retaliation and the deaths of over 2,000 Chinese civilians in the following days. 1939 – The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. 1942 – World War II: Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia. 1945 – World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay. 1947 – New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect. 1948 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Shelley v. Kraemer that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities are legally unenforceable. 1951 – London's Royal Festival Hall opens with the Festival of Britain. 1951 – The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begin their closed door hearings into the relief of Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry Truman. 1952 – Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the United States land a plane at the North Pole. 1952 – The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time, on the CBS network. 1957 – Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. 1963 – The police force in Birmingham, Alabama switches tactics and responds with violent force to stop the "Birmingham campaign" protesters. Images of the violent suppression are transmitted worldwide, bringing new-found attention to the civil rights movement. 1971 – Erich Honecker becomes First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, remaining in power until 1989. 1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as "spam") is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States. 1979 – Margaret Thatcher wins the United Kingdom general election. The following day, she becomes the first female British Prime Minister. 1986 – Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one are injured after a bomb explodes on Air Lanka Flight 512 at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka. 1987 – A crash by Bobby Allison at the Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama fencing at the start-finish line would lead NASCAR to develop the restrictor plate for the following season both at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega. 1999 – The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City is devastated by an F5 tornado, killing forty-five people, injuring 665, and causing $1 billion in damage. The tornado is one of 66 from the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. This tornado also produces the highest wind speed ever recorded, measured at 301 +/- 20 mph (484 +/- 32 km/h). 1999 – Infiltration of Pakistani soldiers on Indian side results in the Kargil War. 2000 – The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet. 2001 – The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947. 2007 – The three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia da Luz, Portugal, starting "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history". 2015 – Two gunmen launch an attempted attack on an anti-Islam event in Garland, Texas, which was held in response to the Charlie Hebdo shooting. 2016 – Eighty-eight thousand people are evacuated from their homes in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada as a wildfire rips through the community, destroying approximately 2,400 homes and buildings.

[in-sightpublishing]

An Interview with Sufi Imam Syed Soharwardy on Some Recent Developments (Part One)

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen Publication (Outlet/Website): In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2019/06/15 Abstract  Sufi Imam Syed Soharwardy is the Founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada and the Founder of the Muslims Against Terrorism. He discusses: recent events; similar instances; having difficult conversations; concerns of some…

[timespakistan]

Islamophobia: Causes and consequences Islamophobia, a term expressed to depict fear of Islam is widely used to connote indiscriminate attitudes, beliefs and emotions directed towards Islam or Muslims.  In reference to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word Islamophobia means “Intense dislike or fear of Islam”.  It was first coined by French Scholar Alain Quellien, as ‘’Islamphobie” in 1910 to describe a prejudice against Islam that is rife among the people of the West. Later, it was adopted by English Literature in 1923. As a concept in practice, it is considered a new word of an old notion presented by Edward Said in his work on Orientalism where West has always been associating derogatory sentiments and stereotypes to the practices of Islam.  The term Islamophobia developed in late 1990’s and early 2000’s by political activists, non-governmental organizations, commentators, international organization to draw attention towards the evils of a rhetoric bringing harms directed towards Muslims and Islam. Yet Islamophobia emerged on the plane of international discourse with the publication of a report by the Runnymede Trust in 1997 titled; ‘’Islamophobia: A Challenge for all of us’’.  It laid down the concept of Islamophobia as a useful shorthand way of referring to dread or hatred of Islam – and therefore, to fear or dislike of all or most Muslims. In 2004 United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan opened a UN conference on “Confronting Islamophobia” with the lament, “When the world is compelled to coin a new term to take account of increasingly widespread bigotry, that is a sad and troubling development. Such is the case with Islamophobia.” According to Imam Dr Abdul Jalil Sajid, chairman of the Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony UK, Islamophobia is “the fear and/or hatred of Islam, Muslims or Islamic culture and history. Islamophobia can be characterized by the belief that all or most Muslims are religious fanatics, have violent tendencies towards non-Muslims, and reject as directly opposed to Islam such concepts as equality, tolerance, and democracy” (RISC 2011).  The Terrorist Attack of 9/11 provided an impetus to the rise of Islamophobia. After the attack of Twin Towers Islam was being viewed as a conservative, barbaric and intolerant perspective of life. Muslim was posited as blood thirsty savages under the banner of a monolithic religion.  The West holding the power to Information Technology spread the acrimony, condemning Muslims to racial discrimination and ridiculed Muslim community as perpetrators of violence and unrest in society. With the rise of Islamophobia across the board, the far-right political parties of liberal western communities gained momentum in exploiting the subjected minorities of Muslims to confer political gains. Islamophobia became a subterfuge to add defamation to Islam by public commentators and political actors. The 2016 Presidential elections of America were one of the most acrimonious and confrontational campaigns in the history of America.  Extraordinary political rhetoric, outbursts in distasteful discriminatory tones, and anti-Muslim invectives blemished the campaign of United States (US) Presidential Elections of 2016.  To endorse his political agenda, Donald J. Trump specifically focused upon Muslims as a grave issue, and likely toyed with the public pulses, which resulted in an unpredictable election result. Mirroring the perceived reality, media as an invention of information shapes public opinion. Media reports after 9/11 specifically underrepresented Muslim views and negatively portrayed Islamic culture. Islam was painted as a religion of discrimination, radicalization and regression by the Western media. With the advent of digital media, providing a carte blanche demerited the situation further. The rhetoric of Islamophobia dispersed hatred speech & acts of defamation on social media websites backed by the freedom of speech narrative.  Social media being a personal medium of communication galvanized the connotations of Islamophobia and intimidated Muslim minorities living in liberal Western communities. Society deprived of inter-faith harmony glaringly promotes intolerance and rejection towards those who is considered other. European countries including America and Canada practiced anti-Semitism long before Islamophobia surfaced. The hate of Muslims towards Jews and of Jews towards Muslims persists even in today’s scenario.  Terrorist attack of 9/11 and shooting in Orlando’s night club reinforced the primitive visceral hatred towards Muslims and Islam, exacerbating the discriminative attitudes and tarnishing the fabric of freedom for all narrative of Western society. Islamophobia, a narrative delegated to hatred and intolerance took its toll on the Muslim minorities resided in Europe and America.  Bin Laden became a schoolyard taunt and banning Muslim women from wearing hijab, a public policy. Implicating Muslims with discriminations in political, social and civic life became a normalized attitude by the authorities.  Surveillance by security agencies in order to keep radicalization at bay and interfering with practices of Islam demonstrated consequences far beyond the imagination. In the wake of events like 9/11 and with the rise of ISIS and Al-Qaeda, West launched a military operation to quell the terrorism machinations.  In quest to quash Talibans of Afghanistan, a full fledge operation was launched by Western forces on 16 September, 2001. Furtherance of the military operation was seen by the world as Operation Inherent Resolve to quash the ISIS in Middle East. Fallouts by use of cogency to suppress the militancy had adversarial effects. It led to displacement of indigenous innocents and anarchy for the state structures.  The aftermath of Islamophobia’s notion was evidently witnessed during the refugee crisis resulting from Arab Spring specifically during and after Civil War of Syria. Hundreds of thousands were displaced and was seeking refuge in the modernized Western states.  Engulfed by the fear of Islam and hatred rooted deep in conscience towards Muslims, the European countries demurred the refugees entering their premises. The far-right political parties of the West depicted the war-torn refugees as invaders of freedom to culture and Western values. Rallies and protests were carried out extensively against the refugee situation and the debate of Us versus Them surfaced in the legislative bodies of the Western societies. The provocative phobia of Islam, hurtling in the Western society presents itself as propensity of violence and vandalism.  The antipathy of Westerners towards followers of Islam turned out as harrowing for Muslims in West.  A report published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (US) states that more than two thousand anti-Muslim offenses have been perpetuated in United States alone. The Kingston mosque incident where English vandalized the holy premises of worship and attack of violent mobs in Hamilton City of Canada on Muslim Education centres and mosques is another story of the liberal region.  One major incident reported as a backlash of Islamophobia was shootings in New Zealand, where 51 Muslims were subjected to death.  The pretext of ‘national security’ in a post-9/11 world is particularly useful, being an amorphous concept that can be made to fit any inconvenient truth and throttle indicted to discriminatory shenanigans.  Alienation of Muslims from political and civic life in upgraded societies of West is an epitome of Islamophobia.  The unemployment rate for followers of Islam was seen at pinnacle especially in United States and European countries. Subjected to discrimination in education sectors, the repugnancy of Islamic views with the values of West was deplored on behest of Islamophobia. Travesties of Muslims as subjugators, discriminatory attitudes of authorities were considered just. Irreverent attitudes of the West towards the diaspora of the East proved to be harrowing for Muslim women and children. The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ in California surveyed 11 to 18 years old Muslim students to examine their experiences in school and reported that 50% American Muslim students were bullied based by the hatred towards Islam. In France, incidents of pulling scarfs of Muslim women in public was highly reported. Islamophobia, as a just reason of hatred provided abyss for the most vulnerable community of Muslims minority residing in the West.  As a principle, it is the duty of United Nations and its law enforcing organs to maintain International Peace and protect its subjects from Human Rights violations. The world post 9/11 witnessed the failure of United Nations and its law enforcing organs. A research conducted by Brown University states 200,000 & 40,000 civilian causalities in Iraq and Afghanistan respectively.  Arab League Envoy to Syria put out an estimate of 400,000 that had died in the Civil War. The supreme of all states and international protector of civil rights was proved as a fiasco.  The on-going atrocities of Indian Military on the besieged Kashmiri’s resulted in 51,000 civilian casualties from 1989-2018 but as the Guardian Angel of Human Rights, United Nations neutrality to the conflict is questionable for the supremacy of International Humanitarian Law.    https://timespakistan.com/islamophobia-causes-and-consequences/7851/

[in-sightjournal]

An Interview with Sufi Imam Syed Soharwardy on Canadian Muslim Narratives and Theology (Part Two)

An Interview with Sufi Imam Syed Soharwardy on Canadian Muslim Narratives and Theology (Part Two)

            Interviewer: Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Numbering: Issue 20.A, Idea: Outliers & Outsiders (Part Sixteen)

Place of Publication: Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Title: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightjournal.com

Individual Publication Date: July 15, 2019

Issue Publication Date: September 1, 2019

Name of Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Frequen…

[dailynewswebsite]

Donald Trump is hardly the ‘Republican Jesus’

U.S. President Donald Trump staged a go to in entrance of St. John's Church June 1 in Washington after authorities cleared protestors from the world, prompting the bishop overseeing the church to precise outrage. (AP Picture/Patrick Semansky)

It’s but unknown how U.S. President Donald Trump’s makes an attempt to place himself because the Christian candidate of selection will affect Christian voters in the US — and the way Democrats’ makes an attempt to talk to Christians could sway earlier Trump voters or these not publicly declaring their intentions.

‘Republican Jesus: How the Proper has Rewritten the Gospels’ (College of California Press)

“Dems need to shut your church buildings down, completely,” Trump tweeted in early October. Just a few days earlier, his son, Eric Trump, declared that his dad “actually saved Christianity.”

These statements match a wider sample: Trump has referred to as himself “the chosen one,” proclaimed that God is “on our aspect” and warned that Biden will “damage the Bible, damage God.”

The Trump administration and its Christian supporters have been utilizing Christianity to attract battle strains on this high-stakes election. This Republican political technique that makes use of Christian language to solid Trump as a divinely appointed protector of Christians warrants extra scrutiny than it’s obtained.

In my e book, Republican Jesus, I determine key tendencies in the way in which at the moment’s right-wing influencers interpret the Bible: they view Jesus as a prophet of free-market capitalism who opposes taxes and is in opposition to any regulation that helps social welfare applications, protects employees or prevents discrimination.

Sister Quincy Howard, centre, a Dominican nun, protests President Donald Trump at Saint John Paul II Nationwide Shrine, June 2, in Washington, after the president staged a go to to a church with a bible after authorities cleared the world of protesters. (AP Picture/Jacquelyn Martin)

Greater than faith

The Trump administration and their Christian supporters promote a type of Christianity that students name “Christian nationalism.” That’s an ideology that isn’t nearly faith, however “consists of assumptions of nativism, white supremacy, patriarchy and heteronormativity, together with divine sanction for authoritarian management and militarism,” in line with sociologists Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry.

They’ve demonstrated with survey information that about half of Individuals help some type of the concept that America is, and must be, a Christian nation. Christian nationalists are particularly keen on boundaries — not simply partitions, but additionally social boundaries that solid liberals as outsiders.

These sociologists say about 20 per cent of Individuals are “ambassadors,” an overwhelmingly white group that insists the U.S. has at all times been and should stay Christian. One other 30 per cent are “accommodators,” who lean towards supporting Christian nationalism however maintain considerably extra ambivalent views (for instance, they are saying that “Christian values” ought to affect society however would possibly permit that non-Christians additionally advance these values).

When pro-Trump Christians use the language of Christianity beneath siege, their foremost goal is to courtroom the votes of those “accommodators.”

Company backing

As historian Kevin M. Kruse argues, “the assumption that America is essentially and formally a Christian nation originated within the 1930s when businessmen enlisted non secular activists of their combat in opposition to FDR’s New Deal.” These corporate-funded conservatives claimed that the social security internet breaks the commandment to not steal — that the federal government steals taxes from people to reward the indolent.

They solid Christianity because the free-market antidote to “pagan stateism”: a menace they created to conflate progressive types of Christianity with communism, socialism and Nazism.

Dogmatic adherence to free-market capitalism and restricted authorities is the frequent thread within the historical past of the American Christian proper. By this logic, anybody who favours a extra regulated type of capitalism assaults Christianity.

Within the Civil Rights period, some non secular conservatives insisted that the desegregation of public colleges was authorities overreach and a risk to non secular freedom. Since Roe vs. Wade, they’ve characterised abortions as the federal government robbing unborn residents of their rights.

Politics of exclusion

On Sept. 26, Rev. Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham and among the many most influential pro-Trump evangelicals, hosted an enormous prayer march that drew hundreds to Washington, D.C.

The printed’s chorus was “this isn’t a political occasion, however a prayer occasion.” But audio system repeatedly invoked the parable that America was based as a Christian nation because the march proceeded on a path by way of the Nationwide Mall (with no social distancing and restricted masks).

U.S. President Donald Trump with Rev. Franklin Graham after a funeral service for Billy Graham, in Charlotte, N.C., March 2018.‘ (AP Picture/Chuck Burton)

It was scheduled simply earlier than Trump’s announcement of a conservative Catholic choose who has ties to a charismatic and secretive Christian group as his Supreme Courtroom nominee later that day.

Each speaker was a vocal Trump supporter, Vice-President Mike Pence made a “shock go to,” and marchers wore each “Make America Nice Once more” and “Let’s Make America Godly Once more” hats and chanted “4 extra years!” Tony Perkins, president of the Household Analysis Council, prayed for regulation enforcement as a result of “lawlessness has been unleashed” in America — an indictment of the Black Lives Matter protests.

A political technique

It might be apparent that American Christian Democrats and a few Christians are outraged by pro-Trump Christians. However as an American educating Christianity at a public college in Canada, I’ve famous that plenty of my college students and colleagues who determine as “evangelicals” or “conservatives” are equally outraged by how Trump’s high evangelical advisers cherry-pick and deform biblical verses to justify xenophobic immigration insurance policies and restrictions on the federal government’s position in regulating well being care, environmental safety, gun management, employment and the social security internet.

Whereas conservative Christians outdoors the U.S. are likely to share the identical “household values” positions (conventional marriage, pro-life) as conservative American Christians, they’re much less usually inclined to agree with their financial conservatism.

The Christian nationalism and financial conservatism advocated by Trump could be perplexing to Christians unfamiliar with the American Christian proper’s historical past of studying the Bible as a blueprint for unfettered free-market capitalism on the expense of the poor. Within the New Testomony, in spite of everything, Jesus calls on the wealthy to promote their possessions and provides them to the poor, and speaks of loving one’s neighbours and enemies.

To some who advocate Jesus’s platform of social justice, advancing totally different views within the language of Christianity can warrant being referred to as a “pretend Christian” or a deluded devotee of the “cult of Trump.” I warning in opposition to these labels, nonetheless, since such exclusionary rhetoric diverts consideration from how the American proper is busy redefining what it means to be “Christian” for their very own political agenda.

The Rev. William J. Barber speaks throughout a rally protesting in opposition to President Donald Trump’s insurance policies in Washington, in June 2019.

Shaping the election?

Democrats’ efforts to problem the suitable’s try to personal Christian identification and values might be important within the ultimate days of the marketing campaign. Within the vice-presidential debate, Kamala Harris acknowledged: “Joe Biden and I are each folks of religion” in response to Mike Pence’s insinuation that Democrats are attacking Christianity. If it weren’t for the eye the suitable’s influencers obtain, Harris wouldn’t have needed to make this assertion.

The Poor Folks’s Marketing campaign: A Nationwide Name for Ethical Revival is asking for “coming collectively to confront the interlocking evils of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism and the warfare economic system, and the distorted ethical narrative of non secular nationalism.” Christian activists Rev. Dr. William J. Barber and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis helm this motion organized on the idea of values. It’s supported by interfaith our bodies like The Islamic Society of North America and the Motion Centre on Reform Judiasm.

In the meantime, the mainstream media, politically average and liberal Christian leaders and progressives on the entire should maintain the Christian proper accountable for his or her exclusionary doublespeak and their extremely selective readings of the Bible and American historical past.

Tony Keddie receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Analysis Council of Canada.

from Growth News https://growthnews.in/donald-trump-is-hardly-the-republican-jesus/ via https://growthnews.in

[newstfionline]

Sunday, November 22, 2020

Toronto Goes Back to Lockdown as ICUs Fill With Virus Patients (Bloomberg) Canada’s largest province ordered a lockdown in Toronto and one of its suburbs, a declaration that forces shopping malls, restaurants and other businesses to close their doors to slow a second wave of coronavirus cases. Ontario, home to 14.7 million of the country’s 38 million people, said all non-essential retail stores in Toronto and Peel will have to close, though they can take orders for outdoor pickup and delivery. Restaurants will be allowed to operate takeout and delivery services only. Personal services such as salons will also shut down and indoor gatherings will be largely banned. The measures, which take effect Monday, mean Canada’s financial capital will be operating with restrictions on business similar to the start of the pandemic. Unlike in March, schools are staying open.

Business and World Leaders Move On as Trump Fights to Reverse Election (NYT) Inside the wrought-iron fences that surround the 18-acre White House complex, the 2020 election rages on, with President Trump refusing to concede. But the rest of the world—and President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.—is moving on. The leaders of Western Europe have called Mr. Biden, as has the president of the world’s rising superpower, Xi Jinping of China. PayPal’s chief executive extended his “warmest congratulations to President-Elect Joe Biden, who will become the 46th president of the U.S.A.” The Boeing Corporation, which benefited from Mr. Trump’s demands for big-ticket defense items, issued a statement on Friday saying, “We look forward to working with the Biden administration.” It is as if the vast machinery of diplomacy, business and lobbying has suddenly been recalibrated for the Biden era. Mr. Trump, by far the dominant world figure for the past four years, is increasingly treated as irrelevant. Mr. Biden is seizing the moment, not to aggressively confront the president he defeated, but to act presidential in his stead. Even as he demands that an orderly transfer of power be allowed to begin, the president-elect is proceeding as if the political drama created by Mr. Trump amounts to little more than noise.

Retailers brace as virus bears down on consumers and economy (AP) LaTonya Story is every retailer’s worst fear. With the viral pandemic re-surging through the country and the economy under threat, Story has decided to slash her holiday shopping budget. She’ll spend less than $2,000 this season, down from several thousand dollars in 2019. Worried about entering stores, she’s buying gifts online and going out only for groceries. “I want to be conservative,” said Story, a 47-year-old Atlanta resident. “I’m not a scientist, but the best precaution is to stay in place.” The acceleration of coronavirus cases is causing an existential crisis for America’s retailers and spooking their customers just as the critically important holiday shopping season nears. An anxious consumer is a frightening prospect for retailers as well as for the overall economy. Any sustained recovery from the pandemic recession hinges on consumers, whose spending fuels about 70% of economic growth.

Scenes of flooding, devastation lie in wake of monstrous Hurricane Iota (Washington Post) For the second time in November, the Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport in Honduras was engulfed by floodwaters because of devastating rains from the remnants of Hurricane Iota. Earlier this month, it was deluged by Hurricane Eta. Both systems made landfall 15 miles apart in the span of two weeks on Nicaragua’s northern coast at Category 4 strength. Iota killed at least 16 people in Nicaragua and a dozen or more in Honduras, according to the Associated Press, just weeks after 130 people died during Eta in Central America. Eta slammed the Nicaraguan coast on Nov. 3 with winds in its eyewall of 140 mph, striking just south of the community of Puerto Cabezas. Ten thousand people sought shelter as the system’s winds lashed the area. On Nov. 15, Hurricane Iota reached Category 5 status off the shore of Central America, making landfall as a Category 4 near Haulover, Nicaragua. Both storms moved inland for several days, Eta eventually curving north while Iota breezed due west. That meant places like Honduras endured a torrential 20-to-30-inch rainfall twice. Some places saw a year’s worth of rainfall in two weeks’ time.

Bolsonaro ran against corruption. Now, he’ll have to find another slogan. (Washington Post) It was a moment when, after so many scandals and broken promises, Brazil finally seemed on cusp of change. The sprawling corruption probe known as Lava Jato had ensnared scores of politicians in Brazil and abroad, upending the Latin American power structure. The election of Jair Bolsonaro brought to power an outsider politician who promised to root out corruption. But now the corruption investigation is on life support. The coronavirus response has turned into a graft bonanza. And the president, who is himself being investigated by the supreme court for alleged misconduct, is declaring that public malfeasance is no longer an issue. The gap between the promise and the reality was made stark this month when Bolsonaro’s son Flávio, a senator, was charged with embezzlement and money laundering. Rio de Janeiro prosecutors allege that he took public money meant to pay legislative aides when he served in the state assembly. Another son, Carlos, a Rio city council member, has been accused of similar behavior. (Both have denied wrongdoing.) And one of Bolsonaro’s top congressional allies was found with wads of cash stuffed into his underpants. Brazil appears to be regressing in its quest to stamp out malfeasance.

'People need mountains': Swiss ski resorts buck Alpine lockdowns (Reuters) Blue skies over the Matterhorn drew skiers and snowboarders to Zermatt on Saturday, as well as police to break up crowds, as Switzerland’s modest coronavirus restrictions allowed near-normal operations while other Alpine resorts keep their lifts shut. Switzerland is hoping that a middle way of social distancing, limits on gatherings and mask-wearing on lifts can prop up pillars of the economy such as tourism without fuelling the pandemic. “If it’s open, I’ll definitely ski,” said Swede Max Ahlstedt, on the glacier where Zermatt offers year-round skiing. “You just have to ... accept wearing a mask.” There is no denying the sense of release from confinement that a day on the slopes can bring. “It’d be worse if you couldn��t go to the mountains at all,” said Anne Spiegler, a German living in Zurich. Zermatt Mayor Romy Biner-Hauser thinks the future looks bright: “People need vacation,” he says. “People need mountains.”

South Korea mulls steps as new virus cases rise (AP) South Korea has reported 386 new cases of the coronavirus in a resurgence that could force authorities to reimpose stronger social distancing restrictions after easing them in October to spur a faltering economy. More than 270 of the new cases have come from the Seoul metropolitan area, where health workers have struggled to track transmissions in schools, private tutoring academies and religious facilities. South Korea has so far managed to weather the pandemic without major lockdowns, relying instead on an aggressive test-and-quarantine campaign and mask-wearing. Officials eased distancing measures to the lowest level in October, which allowed high-risk venues such as nightclubs and karaoke bars to reopen and fans to return to professional sports. But the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases said Friday that the country could be reporting more than 1,000 new infections a day in a week or two if social distancing measures aren’t effectively strengthened.

Mortar shells hit Kabul residential areas; at least 8 dead (AP) About 23 mortar shells slammed into different parts of the Afghan capital on Saturday, killing at least eight people and wounding 31 others, an official said. The shells were fired from two cars, Interior Ministry spokesperson Tariq Arian said. No one took immediate responsibility for the early morning attack that also targeted the posh Wazir Akbar Khan area of Kabul, which houses diplomatic missions. The Taliban issued a quick statement denying any responsibility for the attack. The Islamic State group affiliate also operates in the area and has claimed responsibility for recent assaults in Kabul including two devastating attacks on educational institutions that killed more than 50 people, many of them students.

Ethiopia pushes toward Tigray capital (Reuters) Ethiopia said on Saturday its forces had seized another town in their advance on the capital of northern Tigray region and rebuffed an African Union (AU) push to mediate in the war with rebel forces in the region. More than two weeks into Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s offensive, his government said Tigrayan forces were digging in and using bulldozers to plough up roads around their capital Mekelle, home to about half a million people. Hundreds, possibly thousands, have died and more than 30,000 refugees have fled to Sudan. The conflict has spread beyond Tigray, whose forces have fired rockets at the neighbouring Amhara region and the nation of Eritrea, spurring concern of a wider war.