Muslims Threw Christians Overboard During Med Voyage

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african-migrants-italy-620x350Italy has become a destination of choice for many in Northern Africa, especially from Libya, fleeing violence. Italy is close, only a short boat ride across the usually calm Mediterranean Sea, and, as part of the European Union, is an access point to refugee status in any number of countries. So many illegals are crossing over that some have labeled it a crisis.

Sad to say, Italy’s migration crisis took a deadly turn as police in Sicily reported Muslim migrants threw 12 Christians overboard during a recent crossing from Libya, and an aid group said another 41 were feared drowned in a separate incident.

Palermo police said they had detained 15 people suspected in the high seas assault, which they learned of while interviewing tearful survivors from Nigeria and Ghana who had arrived only after being rescued at sea. The 15 were accused of multiple homicide aggravated by religious hatred, police said in a statement.

The survivors said they had boarded a rubber boat on the Libyan coast with 105 passengers aboard, part of the wave of migrants taking advantage of calm seas and warm weather to make the risky crossing from Libya, where most smuggling operations originate. During the crossing, the Christian migrants from Nigeria and Ghana were threatened with being abandoned at sea by other passengers from the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali and Guinea Bissau. The police statement said the motive was that the victims “professed the Christian faith while the aggressors were Muslim.” (Read more from “Muslims Threw Christians Overboard During Med Voyage” HERE)

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Vatican Holds Exorcism Course: We All Experience Satan

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crucifix-cardinal-AP-640x480The tenth annual course on exorcism has gotten off to a bang in Rome, with a full house of 170 students eager to learn how to recognize and fight demonic possession.

Sponsored by the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy and organized by the Sacerdos Institute, the weeklong course titled “Exorcism and Prayer of Liberation” is taking place at the European University of Rome from April 13 to 18.

The course consists in a series of meetings aimed at giving priests, doctors, psychologists, teachers, and pastoral workers the instruments they need to recognize and deal with cases of demonic possession and distinguish them from disturbances of a psychological or medical nature.

Breitbart spoke with Father Pedro Barrajon, the organizer of the program, who said that the exceptional interest in the course reflects a growing awareness of the activity of the devil in the world, and a concern on the part of bishops to have some of their men specially trained for dealing for this reality.

He told Breitbart that some three quarters of the 170 students are priests, with the other 25% being lay people. (Read more from “Vatican Holds Exorcism Course: We All Experience Satan” HERE)

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Boston Marathon Bomber Relatives Break Silence, Claim Conspiracies, Efforts to Fire Compromised Defense Attorney

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Uncredited

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Uncredited

Throughout the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 21-year-old who was convicted last week of bombing the Boston Marathon in 2013, his family resisted the urge to speak out publicly in his defense. Tsarnaev’s defense team had advised them not to grant interviews, they say, as it could risk his chances at trial. But when the jury issued its guilty verdict on April 8, convicting him on 17 counts that could each carry the death penalty, some of his relatives decided to go public with their outrage. . .

In one of her first arguments before the jury after entering a not-guilty plea, [Tsarnaev’s defense attorney] said that her client is indeed responsible for the “senseless, horrific, misguided acts.” But in committing these crimes, she argued that he was acting under the direction of his older brother Tamerlan, who was killed in a shootout with authorities soon after the bombing.

This line of defense has outraged many of Tsarnaev’s relatives, who have tried to convince him to dismiss Clarke and ask for a lawyer who will argue his innocence. “Why do we even need defense attorneys if they just tell the jury he is guilty?” his aunt asks. “What’s the point?” . . .

Like many observers of the case in Russia, the Tsarnaev family has claimed — without providing any meaningful evidence — that the bombing was part of a U.S. government conspiracy intended to test the American public’s reaction to a terrorist threat and the imposition of martial law in a U.S. city. “This was all fabricated by the American special services,” Said-Hussein Tsarnaev, the convicted bomber’s uncle, tells TIME. A panel of 12 jurors in Boston reached the verdict after weeks of testimony from some 90 witnesses and 11 hours of deliberations spread over two days. . . (Read more from “Boston Marathon Bomber Relatives Break Silence” HERE)

Scientists: World Must Prepare for Catastrophic Volcanic Eruption

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The world is woefully unprepared for a massive volcanic eruption that could kill millions of people and destroy much of modern society, a leading group of scientists have warned.

In a new report on the risks posed by natural disasters, experts at the European Science Foundation concluded that large volcanic eruptions posed the greatest risk human survival.

They calculated that there is between a five to 10 per cent probability of an explosive eruption large enough to cause huge numbers of deaths, alter the climate and poison the atmosphere occurring by the end of the century.

Such an eruption would be of a similar size to the explosion of Tambora on Sumbawa, Indonesia in 1815, which killed around 100,000 people at the time.

The ash cloud thrown out from this eruption reached more than 26 miles (43km) into the atmosphere and triggered temperature changes that led to widespread famine and epidemics.

The summer following the Tambora eruption is known as ‘the year without summer’.

The scientists warn, however, that rising population levels and increasing reliance on global travel could mean the impacts of a similar eruption could be far more severe. (Read more from this story about the potential for a catastrophic volcanic eruption HERE)

ISIS Camp a Few Miles From Texas, Mexican Authorities Confirm [+video]

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ISISIS is operating a camp just a few miles from El Paso, Texas, according to Judicial Watch sources that include a Mexican Army field grade officer and a Mexican Federal Police Inspector.

The exact location where the terrorist group has established its base is around eight miles from the U.S. border in an area known as “Anapra” situated just west of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Another ISIS cell to the west of Ciudad Juárez, in Puerto Palomas, targets the New Mexico towns of Columbus and Deming for easy access to the United States, the same knowledgeable sources confirm.

During the course of a joint operation last week, Mexican Army and federal law enforcement officials discovered documents in Arabic and Urdu, as well as “plans” of Fort Bliss – the sprawling military installation that houses the US Army’s 1st Armored Division. Muslim prayer rugs were recovered with the documents during the operation.

Law enforcement and intelligence sources report the area around Anapra is dominated by the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Cartel (“Juárez Cartel”), La Línea (the enforcement arm of the cartel) and the Barrio Azteca (a gang originally formed in the jails of El Paso). Cartel control of the Anapra area make it an extremely dangerous and hostile operating environment for Mexican Army and Federal Police operations. (Read more from “ISIS Camp a Few Miles From Texas, Mexican Authorities Confirm” HERE)

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Russia and Iran Just Showed How ‘They Can Do Whatever They Like’ Right Now [+videos]

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missilesIran and a US-led group of countries consisting of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany (called the P5+1) still have a ways to go before they reach a final nuclear deal.

But one P5+1 member is already acting as if the nuclear issue has been settled.

On Monday, the Kremlin retracted its hold on the transfer of S-300 missiles to Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported. Iran and Russia had finalized a contract to deliver the weapons in 2007, but the deal was shelved under international pressure and the embargo on arms transfers to Iran that the UN Security Council passed in 2010.

Russia is now announcing its intention to send one of the world’s most advanced anti-aircraft systems to Iran, notwithstanding that embargo — and against mounting evidence that the nuclear issue is actually far from resolved.

The Pentagon has already slammed the move, while Israel is already framing it as an unsavory result of apparent diplomatic progress on the nuclear front. US Secretary of State John Kerry has also raised a complaint with Moscow. (Read more from “Russia and Iran Just Showed How ‘They Can Do Whatever They Like’ Right Now” HERE)

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Europe to Pull Trigger on Google Antitrust Charges

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Photo Credit: The Wall Street Journal

Photo Credit: The Wall Street Journal

Europe’s antitrust regulator plans to file formal charges against Google Inc. for violating antitrust laws, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday, stepping up a five-year investigation likely to become the biggest competition battle here since the European Union’s pursuit of Microsoft Corp. a decade ago.

EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager made the decision Tuesday in agreement with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, this person said. She is expected to inform her fellow EU commissioners at a meeting Wednesday, said three EU officials.

The European charges will focus on complaints that Google uses its dominant Internet search engine to favor its own services over those of rivals, people familiar with the situation said. Rivals say Google search results in areas like travel, shopping and maps increasingly favor Google’s own offerings, rather than links to similaronline services run by rivals.

Google told employees Tuesday it has a “very strong case” against the expected charges. In the past, Google has denied breaking antitrust laws and argues that providing more direct answers to online queries, including from its own services, benefits consumers.

The charges would be “very bad news” for Google, said Ioannis Lianos, a professor of global competition law at University College London. (Read more from “Europe to Pull Trigger on Google Antitrust Charges” HERE)

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Blackwater Guards for US Diplomats Sentenced to Life, 30 Years, Say “Our Government Betrayed Us”

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File photo of Blackwater Worldwide guards Liberty and Heard leaving federal courthouse after being arraigned on manslaughter charges in WashingtonA former Blackwater security guard was sentenced to life in prison and three others got 30-year terms on Monday in the massacre of 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians at a Baghdad traffic circle in 2007, closing a case that had outraged Iraqis and inflamed anti-U.S. sentiment around the world. . .

The four guards opened fire with machine guns and grenade launchers on the Iraqis, including women and children, at Nisur Square. A heavily armed, four-truck Blackwater Worldwide convoy the men were in had been trying to clear a path for U.S. diplomats.

Nicholas Slatten, 31, of Tennessee was convicted in October of killing the driver of a car the defendants had argued at trial they believed contained a bomb. . .

In their statements, all four former guards maintained their innocence. [One guard told the court,] “I feel utterly betrayed by the same government I served honorably.” (Read more from “Blackwater Guards for US Diplomats Sentenced” HERE)

Castro Absolves Obama of Fault for U.S.’ ‘Imperialist Aggression’

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raul castro summit panamaBy Fox News Latino. Cuban President Raul Castro recounted the history of U.S. “imperialist aggression” in Latin America in an address here Saturday at the 7th Summit of the Americas, although he absolved U.S. head of state Barack Obama of responsibility for those past actions.

Castro, whose country was invited to the gathering for the first time this year, received an ovation when he began his speech by saying the “time had come for him to speak here” on Communist-ruled Cuba’s behalf.

He referred to the United States’ “wars, conquests and interventions” in the region, saying through an interpreter that the country has been a “hegemonic force that plundered territories throughout the Americas.”

Castro recalled that the U.S. Congress authorized military intervention in Cuba in the late 19th century and that led to the establishment of a military base in Guantanamo that still “occupies our territory.”

In the 20th century, the United States carried out a series of “interventions to overthrow democratic governments” in Latin America, where “dictators were installed in 20 countries, 12 of them simultaneously.” (Read more from “Castro Absolves Obama of Fault for U.S.’ ‘Imperialist Aggression'” HERE)

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Floridians Question Special Treatment Afforded Cuban Immigrants

By Sally Kestin, Megan O’Matz and John Maine. More Floridians than not support ending special immigration privileges for Cubans, though a considerable number are unsure of their position on the complex U.S. policy, according to a new Sun Sentinel poll.

Thirty-seven percent favor ending the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, which gives Cubans preferential treatment over other immigrants, while 27 percent want to keep it. One-third were unsure.

The poll found even less support for the “wet foot/dry foot” policy granting entry to Cubans who make it to land while returning those intercepted at sea. Nearly 46 percent said that policy should end while 27 percent favor continuing it.

The Obama administration has said it has no plans to change Cuban immigration policy, but the poll results reflect public sentiment against it in the state with the largest Cuban population in the country.

“It seems like a strong vote of no confidence in the status quo,” said Marc R. Rosenblum, an immigration expert at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan Washington think tank. “If this policy loses support in Florida, it’s hard to see where there’s going to be strong demand to maintain [it].” (Read more from this story HERE)

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Watch: New Islamic State Video Calls for Attacks on the American Homeland, Promises Another 9/11

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USBy Patrick Poole. The Islamic State has released a new 11-minute video called “We Will Burn America” that calls for supporters to attack the American homeland and promises another 9/11.

[Editor’s note: without explanation, the video posting site “SendVid” has taken the Islamic States’ video down, likely due to its gruesome content]

(Read more from “Watch: New Islamic State Video Calls for Attacks on the American Homeland, Promises Another 9/11” HERE)

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Islamic State Group Destroys Ancient Ruins of Nimrud

By Sinan Salaheddin. Islamic State militants hammered, bulldozed and ultimately blew up parts of the ancient Iraqi Assyrian city of Nimrud, destroying a site dating back to the 13th century B.C., an online militant video purportedly shows.

The destruction at Nimrud, located near the militant-held city of Mosul, came amid other attacks on antiquity carried out by the group now holding a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared caliphate. The attacks have horrified archaeologists and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who last month called the destruction at Nimrud “a war crime.”

The seven-minute video, posted late Saturday, shows bearded militants using sledgehammers, jackhammers and saws to take down huge alabaster reliefs depicting Assyrian kings and deities. A bulldozer brings down walls, while militants fill barrels with explosives and later destroy three separate areas of the site in massive explosions.

“God has honored us in the Islamic State to remove all of these idols and statutes worshipped instead of Allah in the past days,” one militant says in the video. Another militant vows that “whenever we seize a piece of land, we will remove signs of idolatry and spread monotheism.”

The militants have been destroying ancient relics they say promote idolatry that violate their fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law, including the ancient Iraqi city of Hatra, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Authorities also believe they’ve sold others on the black market to fund their atrocities. (Read more from this story HERE)

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