Cuba Mystery Deepens

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The blaring, grinding noise jolted the American diplomat from his bed in a Havana hotel. He moved just a few feet, and there was silence. He climbed back into bed. Inexplicably, the agonizing sound hit him again. It was as if he’d walked through some invisible wall cutting straight through his room.

Soon came the hearing loss, and the speech problems, symptoms both similar and altogether different from others among at least 21 U.S. victims in an astonishing international mystery still unfolding in Cuba. The top U.S. diplomat has called them “health attacks.” New details learned by The Associated Press indicate at least some of the incidents were confined to specific rooms or even parts of rooms with laser-like specificity, baffling U.S. officials who say the facts and the physics don’t add up.

“None of this has a reasonable explanation,” said Fulton Armstrong, a former CIA official who served in Havana long before America re-opened an embassy there. “It’s just mystery after mystery after mystery.” (Read more from “Cuba Mystery Deepens” HERE)

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Man ‘Shouting Allahu Akbar’ Attacks 7

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A former psychiatric patient viciously punched four passers-by then attacked three police officers while screaming Allahu Akbar in Toulouse today.

The enraged man, 42, began beating shoppers in the French city at around 4pm before police who were only metres away swooped in.

The assailant kicked and punched the officers before they managed to contain and arrest him.

He continued to shout Allahu Akbar – Arabic for God is Great – as he was wrestled to the ground before bursting into tears.

Footage shows the man being handcuffed and lifted on to a stretcher before being taken [to the] hospital. (Read more from “Man ‘Shouting Allahu Akbar’ Attacks 7” HERE)

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While Christianity Dies in Germany, Islam Springs up in It’s Place

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By Paul Bremmer. Christianity in Germany, and indeed in all of Europe, is dying.

There are about 47 million Catholics and Protestants combined in Germany, representing roughly 60 percent of the German population, but that number is falling by 500,000 a year through deaths alone, according to the Gatestone Institute . . .

In the year 2016 alone, the German Catholic Church lost 162,093 faithful attendees and closed 537 parishes, according to data from the German Bishops’ Conference. One quarter of all German Catholic communities that existed in 1996 have now closed . . .

While Christianity is dying in Germany, Islam is on the rise. Historian Walter Laqueur wrote that Germany had about 700 “little mosques and prayer rooms” in the 1980s but “more than 2,500 at the present time” – and that was in 2009. (Read more from “While Christianity Dies in Germany, Islam Springs up in It’s Place” HERE)

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Christian Student, 17, Is Beaten to Death by Muslim Classmates After Drinking From the Same Glass as One of Them

By Gareth Davies. A Christian teenager has been beaten to death by his classmates for drinking from the same glass as a Muslim.

High-flying Sharoon Masih, 17, was battered by fellow students in a classroom in the Vehari District in Punjab, Pakistan, on just his fourth day at a new school.

Shockingly, the boy’s teacher was in the room when the brutal attack took place, but claims he didn’t see anything because he was reading a newspaper.

Sharoon’s parents had saved money to send their son to MC Model Boys Government High School Burewala and District Vehari in an attempt to pursue higher education.

From the day he started, on August 25, he was subjected to abuse from Muslim boys for being a Christian. (Read more from “Christian Student, 17, Is Beaten to Death by Muslim Classmates After Drinking From the Same Glass as One of Them” HERE)

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Hurricane Jose’s Path Is Uncertain as It Lingers off the Atlantic Coast

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Hurricane Jose has weakened to a Category 1 storm, but its ultimate path and strength are uncertain as it lingers over the Atlantic Ocean.

Jose, which followed on the heels of Hurricane Irma, passed north of the Caribbean islands and Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm on Sunday.

According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm is currently “moving slowly eastward with little change in strength,” and “will remain well to the east-northeast of the Bahamas through Wednesday.”

The storm has maximum sustained winds of 75 mph.

“Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles (35 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 140 miles (220 km),” the NHC said.

There are no hurricane watches or warnings for the storm in effect for the U.S. at this time.

Americans await Jose’s future as the recovery from Irma is getting underway.

Irma, one of the most powerful storms in recorded history left a path of extensive destruction, but experts noted it could have been far worse.

Still, Irma has taken the lives of at least 12 people in the U.S. including seven in Florida, three in Georgia and two in South Carolina, according to ABC News.

The Florida Keys faced the brunt of the storm as it made landfall in the U.S.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday that 25 percent of the homes in the Keys were destroyed.

“Basically, every house in the Keys was impacted some way,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, 15 million Floridians remained without power on Tuesday. (For more from the author of “Hurricane Jose’s Path Is Uncertain as It Lingers off the Atlantic Coast” please click HERE)

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Bones Attributed to St Peter Found by Chance in 1,000-Year-Old Church in Rome

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Bones attributed to St Peter have been found by chance in a church in Rome during routine restoration work, 2,000 years after the apostle’s death.

The relics of the saint, who is regarded as the first Pope, were found in clay pots in the 1,000-year-old Church of Santa Maria in Cappella in the district of Trastevere, a medieval warren of cobbled lanes on the banks of the Tiber River.

The bones were discovered when a worker lifted up a large marble slab near the medieval altar of the church, which has been closed to the public for 35 years because of structural problems.

He came across two Roman-era pots with inscriptions on their lids indicating that inside were not only bone fragments from St Peter but also three early popes – Cornelius, Callixtus and Felix – as well as four early Christian martyrs. (Read more from “Bones Attributed to St Peter Found by Chance in 1,000-Year-Old Church in Rome” HERE)

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Church Elder Stabbed by Knifeman Who Stormed Into Church and Attacked Three Worshippers

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A man has been charged with attempted murder after three worshippers were hurt in church by the suspect who wielded a ‘kitchen knife’ in front of a horrified 150-strong Sunday service congregation.

One victim, 33, suffered a neck wound before two other members of the congregation at the New Jerusalem Apostolic Church in Aston, Birmingham, hurt their hands while restraining the attacker.

John Delahaye, 47, of Aston, has also been charged with two counts of wounding and possession of a bladed weapon, and will appear at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

The church has named the victims as Karl George, Adam Brooks and Jorge George.

Minister Kevin Hutchinson said about 150 people were taking part in the New Jerusalem Apostolic Church’s Sunday service shortly before 11am when ‘a man with a knife stormed into our sanctuary’. (Read more from “Church Elder Stabbed by Knifeman Who Stormed Into Church and Attacked Three Worshippers” HERE)

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U.S. Doesn’t Know What North Korea Is Doing

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North Korea openly has been threatening the rest of the world, and specifically the United States, for years. The rhetoric has intensified in recent months as the rogue Communist nation has repeatedly conducted bomb tests and missile launches in violation of international agreements, reveals a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

President Donald Trump, following a Barack Obama tenure in which the danger surged but was unaddressed, repeatedly has warned that Kim Jong-un needs to fall into line and behave, even suggesting military action has not been ruled out.

But a report that has appeared in Politico talks about the situation’s difficulties.

Jacqueline Klimas explains, “U.S. efforts to penetrate reclusive North Korea have been so confounding for so long that the military likely doesn’t have enough accurate intelligence to take out its nuclear and missile facilities even if President Donald Trump ordered it.”

Trump himself seemed to note a certain level of uncertainty, explaining at a White House news conference about action against North Korea, “Is it inevitable? Nothing’s inevitable.” (Read more from “U.S. Doesn’t Know What North Korea Is Doing” HERE)

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Denmark Suspends Refugee Resettlement

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Denmark won’t allow any refugees into the country this year under a United Nations program and will seek flexibility in determining how many may resettle in the future instead of a set quota, the Ministry of Immigration and Integration said.

Since 1989, Denmark has pledged to take 500 refugees a year selected by the UN for resettlement. The program is separate from European Union efforts to distribute migrants among member states, which has encountered fierce opposition from countries including Hungary. (Read more from “Denmark Suspends Refugee Resettlement” HERE)

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Mexico Earthquake: Mysterious Green Flashes Light up the Sky After Tremor

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Mysterious green and blue flashes were seen by witnesses in Mexico City after it was rocked by a magnitude 8.2 earthquake.

The powerful quake set off a tsunami warning for at least eight countries – and at least six people have been confirmed dead in the most powerful quake to strike the country for 100 years.

A video of the earthquake lights was captured by a witness – capturing a strange, little-understood phenomenon.

Earthquake lights have been reported around the world for decades – with some claiming it’s a natural phenomenon, and others claiming it’s due to structural damage.

(Read more from “Mexico Earthquake: Mysterious Green Flashes Light up the Sky After Tremor” HERE)

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Top Muslim Scholar: Stop Pretending Islam Isn’t Linked to Violence

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Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, has a constitution that recognizes other major religions, and practices a syncretic form of Islam that draws on not just the faith’s tenets but local spiritual and cultural traditions. As a result, the nation has long been a voice of, and for, moderation in the Islamic world . . .

Among Indonesia’s most influential Islamic leaders is Yahya Cholil Staquf, 51,advocates a modern, moderate Islam. He is general secretary of the Nahdlatul Ulama, which, with about 50 million members, is the country’s biggest Muslim organization. Yahya. This interview, notable for Yahya’s candor, was first published on Aug. 19 in German in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Many Western politicians and intellectuals say that Islamist terrorism has nothing to do with Islam. What is your view?

Western politicians should stop pretending that extremism and terrorism have nothing to do with Islam. There is a clear relationship between fundamentalism, terrorism, and the basic assumptions of Islamic orthodoxy. So long as we lack consensus regarding this matter, we cannot gain victory over fundamentalist violence within Islam. (Read more from “Top Muslim Scholar: Stop Pretending Islam Isn’t Linked to Violence” HERE)

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