Finally Free: Persecuted Sudanese Christian Meriam Ibrahim Welcomed to Safety in Italy by the Pope

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Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese Christian who faced death for not renouncing her faith within Sudan, is finally free. After a failed attempt to leave the country a month ago, the Italian government stepped in and used its historic ties with the region to organize her safe passage out of Sudan.

Yesterday, Ibrahim, her husband, and two children were flown to Italy on an Italian government jet. On the journey back to Italy, Italian politician Lapo Pistelli posted the picture below on his Facebook page.

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In Israel’s Desperate Hour, Obama Leads from Behind

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Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

“We have your back,” President Obama told Israelis when he visited that embattled country recently. Way back, apparently. Mr. Obama’s administration famously claimed to “lead from behind” in overthrowing Libya’s strongman, Khaddafi. Young Sergeant Benjamin Anthony spoke to the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Washington Summit this week. Sgt. Anthony described a different vision of leadership. Ahalai he gave as the Hebrew word for “after me.” Officers in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) they should lead from the front. That used to be America’s idea of leadership, too.

You cannot say Secretary John Kerry isn’t alert to his opportunities. He sees another chance to be a peacemaker. He is rushing to the Mideast to broker a cease-fire. Sgt. Anthony says Israel needs a victory over HAMAS terrorists who have been hiding rockets in schools and hospitals.

Kerry wants Israelis to stop trying to root out those who have sent more than 9,000 rockets into Israel. Canada’s National Post recently reported that the UNWRA—the world body’s refugee agency—closed down a school it was operating in Gaza after a cache of HAMAS rockets was discovered next door. The UN bureaucrats did what they usually do: they turned the rockets over to “local authorities.” In Gaza, that means they gave the rockets back to HAMAS. The cartoonist wasn’t kidding when he said HAMAS means “hiding among mosques and schools.”

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Troop Leader: Border Agent Held Boy Scout at Gunpoint

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

A Boy Scout troop from the nation’s heartland is demanding answers and a U.S. senator is expressing outrage after a group of scouts was detained by Border Patrol agents and one child allegedly was held at gunpoint.

Jim Fox, the leader of the Mid-Iowa Boy Scout Troop 111, said the incident occurred earlier this month at a checkpoint along the Alaska – Canada border. The scouts and their leaders were on a 21-day trek from Iowa to Alaska – a trip that had been three years in the planning.

As their vans were moving through a checkpoint into the United States, one of the scouts snapped a photograph. Agents stopped the van and ordered all the passengers to get out. They told the underage photographer that he had committed a federal crime.

“The agent immediately confiscated his camera, informed him he would be arrested, fined possibly $10,000 and ten years in prison,” Fox told Des Moines television station KCCI.

During the search, one of the scouts tried to retrieve a bag from the roof carrier. When he turned around, Fox said a border guard had a loaded pistol pointed at the child.

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Another Missing Boeing Airliner Now Confirmed as Crashed

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Photo Credit: IJ Review

Photo Credit: IJ Review

By Caroline Schaeffer.

Air Algérie lost contact with flight 5017, which was en route in northern Africa from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to Algiers, Algeria. The Boeing MD-83 jet was carrying 116 on board when it disappeared an hour after take-off over Northern Mali.

An Algerian official confirmed to Reuters that the airliner has crashed, though the cause remains unknown, as does the number of casualties. A Burkina Faso official said the plane asked to change routes because of a storm in the area.

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700 Dead or Missing This Year in Plane Tragedies

By Colleen Curry.

The numbers are stark, and chilling.

Four commercial planes have crashed or disappeared in just four months this year and, perhaps more startlingly, 700 lives have been lost.

The latest news of potential tragedy in the skies came this morning, when an Air Algerie plane flying over Africa with 116 aboard disappeared off radar.

The disappearance comes on the heels of two other high-profile incidents: the crash of TransAsia Flight 222 in Taiwan Wednesday, which killed 47, and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine last week, which had 298 aboard.


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US Official: ISIL Is 'No Longer a Terrorist Organization–It's a Full-Blown Army'

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Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

By now, we all know how wrong President Obama was when he repeatedly said on the campaign trail in 2012 that al Qaeda is on the path to defeat. Indeed, it seems like we’ve got a much bigger problem on our hands. According to top U.S. officials, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is “worse than al Qaeda.”

Via The Hill (emphasis mine):

“It is al Qaeda in its doctrine, ambition and increasingly, in its threat to U.S. interests,” Brett McGurk, deputy assistant secretary of state, told lawmakers at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. “In fact, it is worse than al Qaeda.”

McGurk said the group, which splintered off from its parent, al Qaeda in Iraq, had strengthened its capabilities and was “no longer a terrorist organization. It is a full-blown army.”

Elissa Slotkin, acting principal deputy undersecretary of Defense for policy, added that the group has threatened: “We’re coming for you, Barack Obama.”

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Doctor ‘Saved Lives’ By Shooting Hospital Gunman

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

A Pennsylvania police chief says that a doctor undoubtedly saved lives after he shot a gunman who opened fire Thursday in an incident that left a hospital case worker dead.

The gunman, Richard Plotts, of Upper Darby, opened fire at Mercy Elizabeth Hospital, just outside of Philadelphia, shortly after entering an office with the case worker, the Associated Press reports.

Witnesses said that when they opened the office door after hearing shouting, they saw Plotts with a gun. The witnesses closed the office door and called 911. Minutes later, they heard gun shots.

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Appalling Video: Check Out Who Anti-Israel Protesters Call the ‘Biggest Terrorist Org. in the World’

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Protesters outside the Christians United For Israel convention in Washington, D.C, told MRCTV‘s Dan Joseph that the conflict on the Gaza Strip is not caused by the side that continues to reject the ceasefire agreement, but instead by Israel and the United States.

Two of those protesting insisted that if we want to throw the word “terrorist” into the conversation, it should be directed at the United States – because it and the State of Israel are the two largest terrorist organizations in the world.

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FNC's Beckel: I've Done Dope in The White House (+video)

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On Wednesday’s edition of “The Five,” co-host Bob Beckel remarked on Snoop Dogg’s revelation that he as smoked marijuana in the White House, by admitting to the same thing.

“I can’t criticize this guy (Snoop) because I’ve done dope in the White House myself,” Beckel said.

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'The Record Speaks for Itself': Murkowski-Begich Tension Looms Over Senate Race

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140723_lisa_murkowsk_mark_begich_gty_compy_328In Mark Begich’s view, fellow Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski is a valuable member of his “team” on issues ranging from fisheries to fighter jets.

But in the heat of Begich’s bruising reelection bid, Murkowski wants off that team…

When asked to characterize their relationship, Murkowski added: “He’s running for office, and I want a Republican partner.”

Begich brushed off Murkowski’s criticism.

“The record speaks for itself,” he said on Wednesday. “The votes that we have been taking are showing clearly that we’re one of the few delegations in this whole chaotic dysfunctional Washington, D.C., that actually vote together more often than anyone. That’s a fact.”

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Dem Senator Plagiarized His War College Thesis

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Photo Credit: Getty

Photo Credit: Getty

Montana Democratic Sen. John Walsh is in deep water after revelations surfaced that he copied the work of others for his U.S. Army War College thesis without proper attribution — a practice otherwise known as plagiarism.

The New York Times reports that the former National Guard general’s thesis contained at least a quarter of work that was not attributed to the original authors.

Additionally, all six of the recommendations he places at the conclusion of his paper were lifted entirely from another article published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Times points out that the entirety of one recommendation was exactly the same as it was printed in the original source. He did not cite the article at all in his thesis.

Walsh also extensively copied material from a paper published by a Harvard research institute without citing or footnoting it. Both papers are easily accessible through the internet.

Walsh’s paper, entitled “The Case for Democracy as a Long Term Strategy,” dealt with America’s Middle East policy and was conducted as a “strategy research project.”

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