Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

UK Deputy PM: Israel Exaggerated in Gaza
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nicholas Clegg, tweeted on Tuesday night that “The Israeli army crossed the lines with respects to its activity in Gaza.”

According to Clegg, “The munitions transports should be suspended,” due to Israel’s operation in Gaza.

U.S. Regulators: Banks' Failure Plans Inadequate
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsThe World
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators have told the biggest banks in the U.S. that their plans for unwinding their operations in case of failure are inadequate to prevent the sort of financial disaster that struck in 2008 and led to a massive government bailout.

Russian Gang Said to Amass More Than a Billion Stolen Internet Credentials
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Age
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

While a credit card can be easily canceled, personal details can be used to take control of accounts at banks and brokerage firms.

A Russian crime ring has amassed the largest known collection of stolen internet credentials, including 1.2 billion username and password combinations and more than 500 million email addresses, security researchers say.

The records, discovered by Hold Security, a firm in Milwaukee, include confidential material gathered from 420,000 websites, ranging from household names to small internet sites. Hold Security has a history of uncovering significant hacks, including the theft last year of tens of millions of records from Adobe Systems.

Hold Security would not name the victims, citing nondisclosure agreements and a reluctance to name companies whose sites remained vulnerable. At the request of The New York Times, a security expert not affiliated with Hold Security analysed the database of stolen credentials and confirmed it was authentic. Another computer crime expert who had reviewed the data, but was not allowed to discuss it publicly, said some big companies were aware that their records were among the stolen information.

"Hackers did not just target US companies, they targeted any website they could get, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to very small websites," said Alex Holden, the founder and chief information security officer of Hold Security. "And most of these sites are still vulnerable."

There is worry among some in the security community that keeping personal information out of the hands of thieves is increasingly a losing battle. In December, 40 million credit card numbers and 70 million addresses, phone numbers and additional pieces of personal information were stolen from the retail giant Target by hackers in Eastern Europe.

And in October, federal prosecutors said an identity theft service in Vietnam managed to obtain as many as 200 million personal records, including Social Security numbers, credit card data and bank account information from Court Ventures, a company now owned by the data brokerage firm Experian.

But the discovery by Hold Security dwarfs those incidents, and the size of the latest discovery has prompted security experts to call for improved identity protection on the web.

"Companies that rely on usernames and passwords have to develop a sense of urgency about changing this," said Avivah Litan, a security analyst at Gartner, the research firm. "Until they do, criminals will just keep stockpiling people's credentials."

Websites inside Russia had been hacked, too, and Holden said he saw no connection between the hackers and the Russian government. He said he planned to alert law enforcement after making the research public, though the Russian government has not historically pursued accused hackers.

So far, the criminals have not sold many of the records online. Instead, they appear to be using the stolen information to send spam on social networks like Twitter at the behest of other groups, collecting fees for their work.

But selling more of the records on the black market would be lucrative.

While a credit card can be easily canceled, personal credentials like an email address, Social Security number or password can be used for identity theft. Because people tend to use the same passwords for different sites, criminals test stolen credentials on websites where valuable information can be gleaned, like those of banks and brokerage firms.

Like other computer security consulting firms, Hold Security has contacts in the criminal hacking community and has been monitoring and even communicating with this particular group for some time.

The hacking ring is based in a small city in south central Russia, the region flanked by Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The group includes fewer than a dozen men in their 20s who know one another personally - not just virtually. Their computer servers are believed to be in Russia.

"There is a division of labor within the gang," Holden said. "Some are writing the programming, some are stealing the data. It's like you would imagine a small company; everyone is trying to make a living."

They began as amateur spammers in 2011, buying stolen databases of personal information on the black market. But in April, the group accelerated its activity. Holden surmised they partnered with another entity, whom he has not identified, that may have shared hacking techniques and tools.

Since then, the Russian hackers have been able to capture credentials on a mass scale using botnets - networks of zombie computers that have been infected with a computer virus - to do their bidding. Any time an infected user visits a website, criminals command the botnet to test that website to see if it is vulnerable to a well-known hacking technique known as a SQL injection, in which a hacker enters commands that cause a database to produce its contents. If the website proves vulnerable, criminals flag the site and return later to extract the full contents of the database.

"They audited the internet," Holden said. It was not clear, however, how computers were infected with the botnet in the first place.

By July, criminals were able to collect 4.5 billion records - each a username and password - though many overlapped. After sorting through the data, Hold Security found that 1.2 billion of those records were unique. Because people tend to use multiple emails, they filtered further and found that the criminals' database included about 542 million unique email addresses.

"Most of these sites are still vulnerable," said Holden, emphasising that the hackers continue to exploit the vulnerability and collect data.

Holden said his team had begun alerting victimised companies to the breaches, but had been unable to reach every website. He said his firm was also trying to come up with an online tool that would allow individuals to securely test for their information in the database.

The disclosure comes as hackers and security companies gathered in Las Vegas for the annual Black Hat security conference this week. The event, which began as a small hacker convention in 1997, now attracts thousands of security vendors peddling the latest and greatest in security technologies. At the conference, security firms often release new research - to land new business, discuss with colleagues or simply for bragging rights.

Yet for all the new security mousetraps, data security breaches have only gotten larger, more frequent and more costly. The average total cost of a data breach jumped 15 per cent this year from last year, to $US3.5 million per breach, from $US3.1 million, according to a joint study last May, published by the Ponemon Institute, an independent research group, and IBM.

Last February, Holden also uncovered a database of 360 million records for sale, which were collected from multiple companies.

"The ability to attack is certainly outpacing the ability to defend," said Lillian Ablon, a security researcher at the RAND Corp. "We're constantly playing this cat and mouse game, but ultimately companies just patch and pray."

Ron Prosor Hits Back At UN War Crimes Accusation
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Ron Prosor

Reuters

Israeli ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor sharply criticized the UN on Wednesday, after Secretary General Ban Ki Moon accused Israel of "war crimes" against Palestinian Arabs in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge. 

"If the UN assembly had invested a tenth of the energy invested in investigating Israel, it would reveal horrific war crimes on the part of Hamas," Prosor fired. 

"The international community has lost its way," he continued. "This organization was founded to promote morality, truth and justice. Unfortunately, that is not its mission now." 

Earlier, Ban accused Israel of "war crimes" in Gaza. 

"The fighting has raised difficult questions of proportionality, attacks on civilians and whether Israel abided by international humanitarian law," Ban stated. 

He claimed that Israel knew of the presence of civilians in UN facilities, and that it did not justify hitting Hamas terrorists hiding within those buildings.

"A suspicion of armed activity does not justify the risk of hundreds of thousands of civilians," Ban said. 

Ban opened a special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly with an appeal for a lasting peace as a 72-hour ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was holding for a second day.

"The senseless cycle of suffering in Gaza and the West Bank [Palestinian Authority - ed.], as well as in Israel must end," he told the 193-nation assembly.

After three wars in Gaza in six years, the UN secretary general warned that the world's patience with the Israelis and the Palestinians was being tested.

"Do we have to continue like this - build, destroy, and build and destroy?" Ban asked. "We will build again but this must be the last time - to rebuild. This must stop now."

The UN General Assembly was convened at the request of Arab countries, who have criticized the Security Council for failing to adopt a strongly-worded resolution to press Israel and Hamas to stop.

Jordan has circulated a draft resolution in the Security Council calling for a ceasefire, a lifting of all travel and import restrictions on Gaza, and an investigation of attacks on UN-run schools that were being used as headquarters by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The document has yet to come up for a vote.

The UN has been virulently anti-Israel throughout the conflict, helping spark waves of anti-Semitism worldwide as it contributed to the media's coverage of fighting in Gaza. 

UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay, who also launched the investigation into Israel by the UN and the Assembly meeting Wednesday, has accused Israel of violating international law by defending itself against Hamas rockets, and recently skewered Israel for not 'sharing' the Iron Dome missile defense system - which may also have offensive capabilities - with Hamas terrorists.

Report: European Countries Form Cmmtee to Raise Funds for Gaza
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Sources within the Palestinian Authority and from within western diplomatic countries said that a number of European counties have accepted Norway’s offer to establish an international committee in Oslo at the beginning of September.

The goal of the committee would be to raise funds to restore the Gaza Strip.

Report: Call Between PM, Kerry Didnt Suddenly Disconnect
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A senior Israeli official said on Wednesday that reports that a technical malfunction disconnected a phone call between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State, John Kerry, are untrue.

Putin Urges Government to Prepare Response to Western Sanctions
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsRia Novosti
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Vladimir Putin visits Voronezh

VORONEZH, August 5 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday he has told the government to retaliate against Western sanctions.

“I have already prepared such instructions today,” the president said during a working trip to the Central Russian Voronezh Region.

“Of course, it should be done very carefully, so that domestic manufacturers are supported without detriment to consumers,” he added.

Putin said that the use of political instruments to put pressure on the Russian economy is “against all norms and rules.”

“Political instruments for putting pressure on the economy are inadmissible, this is against all norms and rules. In this respect, the Russian government has already come forward with an array of retaliatory measures to the so-called sanctions imposed by certain states,” he said.

The Russian leader said producers in various countries should be in an equal environment and this meets the national security interests and also the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In July, the United States and the European Union announced new economic sanctions against Russia amid the Ukrainian crisis. Moscow has repeatedly called such measures counterproductive and stressed that Russia was not one of the sides of Ukrainian conflict.

Psaki: Call Between Kerry, Netanyahu Dropped, not Resumed
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

US State Department Spokesperson, Jen Psaki, said on Tuesday during a conversation with the press, that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke a few days ago with US Secretary of State, John Kerry, but that their call was disconnected after a brief period.

According to Psaki, the call dropped due to a communications malfunction. “Kerry raised the matter of civilian casualties…” she said, and denied reports that one party slammed the phone, disconnecting the call.

NATO Claims Russia Gathered 20,000 Troops on Ukraine Border
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsRia Novosti
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow

BRUSSELS, August 5 (RIA Novosti) – NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow said Tuesday Russia had beefed up its troops along its border with Ukraine by some 20,000 soldiers.

“Russia broke intl law w/ [with] no justification, invaded #Ukraine, backs separatists, now has +/-20,000 troops on Ukraine’s E. border,” Vershbow wrote on his Twitter page.

NATO has never looked for pretext to stir tensions with Russia, the deputy secretary-general added in another message.

“For +20yrs we’ve worked to build coop w/Russia,” Vershbow said.

On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that NATO revived its propaganda against Moscow in order “to justify the alleged need to 'rally its ranks' in the face of an imaginary external threat to NATO, to increase military expenditure and to boost the demand for the alliance in the 21st century." The ministry also sharply criticized NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen for his ungrounded confrontational rhetoric against Russia that resembles ‘Cold War’ propaganda clichés.

In a Sunday interview with French newspaper Midi Libre, Rasmussen said the alliance would draw up new defense plans in the face of alleged "Russia's aggression" against Ukraine, and again encouraged NATO countries to increase their defense spending.

The West has repeatedly accused Russia of building up its forces on its border with eastern Ukraine and supplying Ukrainian independence supporters with weapons. The West has failed to provide any proof so far.

Moscow has rejected these claims. The Russian Defense Ministry said on July 27 that in the past four months 18 international inspection teams visited the areas in Russia bordering Ukraine under the Vienna Document of 2011 and the Treaty on Open Skies and found “no violations or undeclared military activity.” Russian President Vladimir Putin said that before accusing Russia one has to show real evidence.

Let the Headlines Speak
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

How the NSA Attacks Tor/Firefox Users With QUANTUM and FOXACID
After identifying an individual Tor user on the Internet, the NSA uses its network of secret Internet servers to redirect those users to another set of secret Internet servers, with the codename FoxAcid, to infect the user's computer. FoxAcid is an NSA system designed to act as a matchmaker between potential targets and attacks developed by the NSA, giving the agency opportunity to launch prepared attacks against their systems.  

WSJ/NBC Poll: Obama Approval Hits All-Time Low
Obama's approval rating has plunged to an all-time low, as 79 percent of respondents to an Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll said they were dissatisfied with him and the American political system. "The public seems to have moved beyond the plaintive cry of 'feel our pain' to the more angry pronouncement of 'you are causing our pain,'.  

Ukrainian troops move in on Donetsk as Polish PM warns of Russian incursion
Air strikes and artillery fire between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian troops in the eastern city of Donetsk have brought the violence closer than ever to the city center, as Kiev's forces move in on the rebel stronghold. With Ukrainian troops encircling Donetsk, Western leaders have accused Russia of building up forces along the border in what some fear may preface an intervention.  

Hurricane, tropical storm roll toward Hawaii
A hurricane and a tropical storm on Wednesday were heading west across the Pacific Ocean toward the tourist haven of Hawaii, where officials announced school closures and warned visitors and residents to prepare. Sea surges and flooding were forecast.  

Kurds, Islamic State clash near Kurdish regional capital
"We have changed our tactics from being defensive to being offensive. Now we are clashing with the Islamic State in Makhmur," said Jabbar Yawar, secretary-general of the ministry of the Kurdish peshmerga fighters.  

Bodies dumped in streets as West Africa struggles to curb Ebola
Relatives of Ebola victims in Liberia defied government orders and dumped infected bodies in the streets as West African governments struggled to enforce tough measures to curb an outbreak of the virus that has killed 887 people.  

Sheriff: Pack heat to stop bloody crime wave
“Even though I’m a cop, I don’t go anywhere without a gun,” he told about 130 residents who gathered at a local church to discuss and pray about a string of shootings that have left several people dead or injured over the past two weeks. “I want my deputies to get there just as fast as they possibly can if you’ve got a problem. But you better be able to take care of business before we get there if you need to protect your family.”  

Italy Expels Muslim Cleric Who Called to 'Kill Jews'
Italy said Tuesday it is expelling a Moroccan imam caught on video inciting violence against Jews during Israel's offensive against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, as reported by Arutz Sheva Monday. The cleric was filmed during a Friday sermon in a mosque near Venice last month calling for Jews to be killed "one by one", according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which published the video on its website.  

Poll: Americans Favor Israel over Hamas 3:1
A Gallup poll has found that 42% of the adult population in the US think the Israeli actions in Gaza are “mostly justified,” while 14% thought the same about Hamas's actions.  

Quake damaged buildings as tremors rock South Africa
An earthquake shook buildings in South Africa’s biggest cities and most populous province on Tuesday, claimimg at least one life in a mining town of Orkney in the country’s North West province.  

Earthquake Today: 6.4 Magnitude Quake Rocks Mexico City
The strong quake happened in the capital city at about 5:46 am. The epicenter of the earthquake was found to be located at about 46 km or 28 miles south west of Isla, a city located in the gulf state of Veracruz. Emergency management personnel and seismic researchers are currently in the city, conducting inspections.  

Cease-fire in Gaza holds for second day
A cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that ended a month of war was holding for a second day Wednesday, ahead of negotiations in Cairo on a long-term truce and a broader deal for the war-ravaged Gaza Strip. In the coming days, Egyptian mediators are to shuttle between delegations from both sides to try to work out a deal. The Palestinian delegation is composed of negotiators from all major factions, including Hamas...  

Doctors Begin To Refuse Obamacare Patients
Obamacare plans have shrunk payments to physicians so much that some doctors say they won’t be able to afford to accept Obamacare coverage, NPR reports. Many of the eight million sign-ups in Obamacare exchanges nationwide already face more limited choices for physicians and hospitals than those in the private insurance market. But with low physician reimbursement rates, the problem could get even worse.  

'Hand of God sent missile into sea'
More claims of divine intervention are being reported in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, with an operator of Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system saying he personally witnessed “the hand of God” diverting an incoming rocket out of harm’s way. Israel Today translated a report from a Hebrew-language news site, which noted the Iron Dome battery failed three times to intercept an incoming rocket headed toward Tel Aviv last week.  

Russian Gang Amasses Over a Billion Internet Passwords
A Russian crime ring has amassed the largest known collection of stolen Internet credentials, including 1.2 billion user name and password combinations and more than 500 million email addresses, security researchers say. The records, discovered by Hold Security, a firm in Milwaukee, include confidential material gathered from 420,000 websites, including household names, and small Internet sites.  

Italy falls back into recession
Italy's economy has fallen back into recession, latest official figures show, after contracting for two quarters in a row. GDP, the value of all the country's goods and services, shrank 0.2% in the second quarter of the year. The surprisingly weak number follows a 0.1% contraction in the first quarter.  

Ebola: Global experts begin emergency talks at WHO
Global health experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) are meeting to discuss new measures to tackle the Ebola outbreak. The meeting - being held in Geneva, Switzerland - is expected to last two days and will decide whether to declare a global health emergency. The outbreak began in February and has since spread to four African countries, claiming nearly 900 lives.  

US-Israel ties at new low after Netanyahu-Kerry phone 'disconnect'
How badly have US-Israel relations deteriorated in recent weeks? If Israeli media reports are any indication, tensions boiled over to the point where a phone call between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ended due to "communications problems" earlier this week. Both men have not spoken since, according to the State Department.  

Cabinet told purging Gaza of terror would take 5 years, cost hundreds of soldiers’ lives
The IDF last week presented an assessment of a possible reoccupation of the Gaza Strip to the security cabinet, saying that the cost of reestablishing Israeli control over the entire territory would be hundreds of soldiers’ lives, endangering peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, and tens of billions of shekels per year, Channel 2 reported Tuesday night.  

$619 billion missed from federal transparency site
A government website intended to make federal spending more transparent was missing at least $619 billion from 302 federal programs, a government audit has found.  

Quake hits South Africa, 1 killed
An earthquake shook buildings in Johannesburg and surrounding areas in South Africa's most populous province on Tuesday. At least one person was killed and three were injured, medical staff said. The magnitude-5.3 quake was centered in Orkney, 170 kilometers (105 miles) southwest of Johannesburg, the U.S. Geological Survey said.  

Chinese earthquake death toll rises to 589
The death toll from a 6.1-magnitude earthquake that struck China's southwestern Yunnan province on Sunday has risen to 589, with nine people still missing, China's state-run media said on Wednesday. Among the reported deaths, 504 were in the worst-hit Ludian County and 72 in Qiaojia County. In addition to the deaths, 2,401 people were reported injured.  

Afghanistan base shooting: US 'major general' killed and 15 soldiers wounded by insider attack
A US major general has reportedly been killed and 15 other people have been wounded after a man dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire with a machine gun at the British-run army base known as “Sandhurst in the sand”. The victims of the attack included both local and Nato forces, a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s defence ministry said, while the German military said those injured included one of its brigadier generals.  

Russia gang hacks 1.2 billion usernames and passwords
A Russian group has hacked 1.2 billion usernames and passwords belonging to more than 500 million email addresses, according to Hold Security - a US firm specialising in discovering breaches. Hold Security described the hack as the "largest data breach known to date".  

Syria conflict: France to speed up arms for Lebanon
France says that it is to speed up the delivery of weapons to the Lebanese army, as violence from Syria's conflict threatens to spill over. The army has been fighting and Islamist militants from Syria for days around the eastern border town of Arsal.  

UN alarm over fate of Iraqi Yazidi children
The UN children's agency has expressed "extreme concern" over reports that 40 children from Iraq's Yazidi minority died after an offensive by jihadists. Unicef says reports indicate the children died as a "direct consequence of violence, displacement and dehydration" over the past two days.  

Russia to retaliate with boots on the ground and new economic sanctions on U.S.
For more than four months Russia, and its leader Vladimir Putin, have watched patiently, and in some cases with humor, as the United States implemented negligible economic sanctions against the Eurasian power in response for their support of rebels involved in the Ukrainian conflict.  

Kerry: Use Ceasefire to Resume Peace Talks
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

John Kerry

Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry thinks that the ceasefire in Gaza should be used to resume broader peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Kerry’s remarks were made in an interview Tuesday with the BBC, in which he said the situation could concentrate minds on the need to negotiate a "two-state solution".

In the interview Kerry called for a "bigger, broader approach to the underlying solution of two states" that would provide security for Israel and “a better life and greater freedoms for the Palestinians”.

"I believe that the situation now that has evolved will concentrate people's minds on the need to get back to the negotiations and try and resolve the issues of the two states," he said.

Kerry tried to broker a peace agreement between the sides but those efforts failed when PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas signed a unity pact and formed a government with the Hamas terrorist organization.

Abbas has indicated his willingness to resume peace negotiations with Israel but conditioned that on Israel releasing terrorists and halting construction in Judea and Samaria.

Kerry also told the BBC in the interview that the U.S. fully supported Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks.

"No country can live with that condition and the United States stands squarely behind Israel's right to defend itself in those circumstances. Period," he declared.

He said that Hamas, which controls Gaza, had "behaved in an unbelievably shocking manner engaging in this activity and, yes, there has been horrible collateral damage as a result.”

Asked whether he supported the PA’s demands for a lifting of Israel's blockade of Gaza, Kerry replied, "What we want to do is support the Palestinians in their desire to improve their lives and to get food in and to open crossings and to reconstruct and have greater freedom."

But he said that had to come "with a greater responsibility towards Israel, which means giving up rockets.”

Israel Says Hamas Launched 600 Rockets from Schools, Other Civilian Facilities
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A Gaza terrorist preparing to fire rockets into Israel from an underground launcher. (photo credit: MEMRI)

As of August 5, 2014, when a truce went into effect, the IDF Spokesman’s Unit published the following statistics drawn from 29 days of Operation Protective Edge:

3,356 rockets fired at Israel:
2,303 hit Israel and 356 were aimed at IDF forces operating in Gaza
116 hit populated areas inside Israel (3.45%)
578 were intercepted by Iron Dome
475 landed within the Gaza Strip

Prior to the operation, the IDF estimated the Gaza rockets arsenal at approximately 10,000 rockets, about 1/3 of which were fired at Israel, and an additional 1/3 were demolished by the IDF.

Geographic Breakdown
69.4% of rockets were fired from the northern Gaza Strip
12.9% fired from the central Gaza Strip
17.3% fired from the southern Gaza Strip

597 rockets were launched from civilian facilities abused by terrorists (18%)
Approx. 260 launched from educational facilities (schools)
Approx. 127 launched from cemeteries
Approx. 160 launched from religious sites
Approx. 50 launched from hospitals

Smoke billows from the rubble of the Imam Al Shafaey mosque, destroyed in an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014. Israel said it hit five mosques in which rockets were hidden. (Photo credit: AP/Lefteris Pitarakis)

4,762 terror sites struck across the Gaza Strip:
1,678 rockets launching capabilities
977 command and control centers
237 militant wing government facilities
191 weapon storage and manufacturing facilities
144 training and militant compounds
1,535 additional terror sites

Gaza tunnel network:
32 terror tunnels neutralized
14 of which crossed into Israel
2 tunnels had shafts located 300-500 meters from Israel

750-1,000 militants targeted:
At least 253 Hamas operatives
At least 147 Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives
At least 65 operatives of various other organizations
At least 603 operatives whose affiliation is unknown

In addition, 159 suspected terrorists have been questioned by Israeli security forces, 25 of whom are currently imprisoned.

Israeli casualties:
3 civilians killed
64 IDF soldiers killed in combat
83 Israeli civilians wounded
463 IDF soldiers wounded

1,856 trucks of Humanitarian aid supplied to Gaza, carrying 40,550 tons:
1,491 trucks with 37,178 tons of food
220 trucks with 1,694 humanitarian supplies
106 trucks with 1,029 tons of medical supplies

82,201 IDF Reserve Duty Personnel called up

ISIS Battling to Seize Iraqs Largest Dam
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsNational Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

AP Photo/ Khalid MohammedThis Oct. 31, 2007 file photo, shows a general view of the dam in Mosul, 360 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, Iraq. The rapid advance of the Islamic State group, which captured Iraq's second largest city of Mosul and declared a self-styled Islamic Caliphate straddling the Iraq-Syria border, has plunged Iraq into its worst crisis since U.S. troops withdrew in 2011. 

Fighting between militants from the so-called Islamic State and Kurdish security forces raged for a third day near the Mosul dam, Iraq’s largest, Hisham al-Brefkani, member of the Nineveh provincial council, said in a phone interview.

About 350 kilometres to the south, Iraqi forces engaged militants in the farmland and villages near the Haditha dam, Khalid al-Hadithi, a city council chairman, said in an interview.

The Islamic State, which was previously known as Islamic State in Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS), has grabbed territory throughout Iraq and Syria and declared its own self-styled caliphate, highlighting the central government’s inability to ensure security under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Strengthened with weapons seized from the Iraqi army, the group this week took two oil fields and predominantly Kurdish towns in the north, forcing thousands to flee their homes.

They have shown their capacity, skills and desire to fight a resource war

“The Kurdish military status has changed from a defensive one to an offensive one,” al-Brefkani said.

Kurdish forces also launched a counterattack on Sinjar and Zummar, which were seized by militants during the past few days, he said.

In Sinjar, used during the filming of The Exorcist about 40 years ago, the fighting overnight went back and forth, with the majority of the district still under the control of the militants, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Obaidi said in a phone interview from Mosul. “The Kurdish forces were be able to control the entrance to the city twice last night, and then they withdrew.”

The Mosul dam, about 50 kilometrs northwest of the city that the militants captured in June, is a major supplier of electricity and water. Germany’s Hochtief AG helped build the dam on the Tigris River in the 1980s. If it was sabotaged, it could flood Mosul and surrounding villages.

Foreign Policy observed that if the dam fails, “Mosul could be completely flooded within hours and a 15-foot wall of water could crash into Baghdad.”

The Islamic State has enriched itself by seizing infrastructure and energy assets as its makes military gains in Iraq and Syria, where it is battling forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as other opposition groups.

“They have shown their capacity, skills and desire to fight a resource war,” Paul Sullivan, a Middle East specialist at Georgetown University in Washington, said by e-mail. “These dams will be part of that. The electricity and water from them are vital not only for the north, but all of Iraq.”

The militants are attempting to seize the Haditha dam, on the Euphrates river in Anbar province northwest of Baghdad.

“They have intensified their attacks on Haditha town and the dam in the last four days,” Hameed Hashim, a member of the Anbar provincial council, said in a telephone interview. “Haditha dam is still under government forces’ control and there are military reinforcements around it.”

Islamic State fighters captured the town of Zummar and the Ain Zala and Batma oilfields, which together have an output of 30,000 barrels per day, in the past few days, according to the state-run Northern Oil Co.

The militant advance on Sinjar and other towns in the area displaced as many as 200,000 people, according to the UN Mission in Iraq. Most of the displaced are Yezidi, a Kurdish community whose faith includes features of the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism.

Hamas: We Have not Received Israeli Response to Our Demands
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A senior Hamas official spoke of efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire agreement in Gaza and said “We have yet to receive an official response from Israel regarding the demands we placed before Egypt.”

The source claimed that “Israel is interested in reaching an agreement, especially after its defeat in the face of our resistance and our nation’s victory.”

Google Bans 'Bomb Gaza' Game, Allows 'Bomb Israel'
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Google

AFP photo

Google has removed from its Google Play store games in which the player plays the part of the IDF bombing Gaza, but continues to offer a game in which rockets are fired at Israeli civilians.

According to TIME, a game called Rocket Pride, which is available on Google’s Play store, lets players provide “support for the besieged Gaza Strip” by firing rockets at targets in Israel.

Meanhile, a game called Bomb Gaza was removed. One plays the game as the Israeli Air Force, “tapping a touchscreen to pour red-nosed bombs into a 2D multi-level landscape filled with cartoonish people wearing white robes and clutching children — meant to signify civilians — as well as others draped in black, clutching rifles, touting greenish headbands and grinning maniacally,” reported TIME.

The goal is to hit the black-garbed terrorists while avoiding the white-clad civilians.

The game was released on July 29, but removed a week later from Google's Adroid Store. “It’s not clear why,” TIME says. “Google’s only officially saying what companies like it so often say when handed political hot potatoes: that it doesn’t comment on specific apps, but that it removes ones from its store that violate its policies.”

Another game, dubbed Gaza Assault, was also removed, as was Code Red, which is about dropping bombs on Palestinians using Israeli drones. Its designers describe the game as “[bringing] you to the forefront of the middle-east conflict, in correlation to ongoing real world events.” Yet another game, Whack the Hamas, targets Hamas members as they pop out of tunnels. It, too, was eliminated.

A game called Iron Dome is still available on Google’s Play store. It lets players intercept incoming rockets using Israel’s famous missile defense system. 

One of the developers behind “Bomb Gaza” told the Daily Beast that the “game was a joke made in 2 hours.” 

“It is based on avoiding killing civilians,” Roman Shapiro, the developer said in an email exchange. “As usual, Jews are demonized by everyone. Not surprised."

Gantz: Gaza Devastation on Hamas Hands
Aug 6th, 2014
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Chief of Staff Benny Gantz

Flash 90

IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz addressed the winding-down process of Operation Protective Edge on Wednesday afternoon, shortly before reports surfaced that 30,000 reserve soldiers in Gaza had been discharged. 

"We are at the end of a long and continuous process, which began with a very broad campaign in Gaza and continued with a significant ground offensive," Gantz stated. "The result is devastation in Gaza, and guilt for the tragedy rests on Hamas leaders, which used civilians in the line of fire in an indiscriminate manner."

The Chief of Staff stressed that "Hamas leaders are hiding in their basements" and that the IDF will respond to any incidents of rocket fire on Israeli civilians. 

“I hope this lesson will be internalized in the Gaza Strip, because we will not hesitate to continue to mobilize our forces as necessary to ensure the security of Israeli citizens,” he added.

Gantz also urged the residents of the Gaza border towns to return home.

“I am convinced the residents can return to their houses, develop their fields, live well here, just as it was before,” he says.

“Just as there was peace here before, it will be even quieter after [the operation]," he urged. "The IDF is not going anywhere. It remains to protect, to make breakthroughs, to seek the next challenge, and together with the citizens we will continue to enhance security in this area.”

The IDF announced Wednesday afternoon that some 55,000 soldiers - mainly regular service units - will stay along the Gaza border for the time being, to protect communities near the fence. 

Hof Ashkelon Regional Council head Yair Farjun noted, however, that up to 60% of Gaza border residents have left the area, and many are reluctant to return home. 

Gallup: Plurality of Americans Think Israel is Justified
Aug 6th, 2014
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Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Egyptian Initiative Won, Hamas Lost, Says Diplomat
Aug 6th, 2014
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Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi

Reuters

“Hamas has suffered a military beating, in terms of the rocket array and the tunnels, and has arrived in Cairo with its demands no longer on the agenda,” a diplomatic source said Tuesday. “Hamas could have received the same thing in the first ceasefire that was offered, but it refused the Egyptian initiative and in the end surrendered to what the Egyptians dictated. The blockade has not been lifted. In the end, the Egyptian initiative has won and therefore Hamas has lost.”

Egypt has reportedly made clear to the Palestinian delegation that the construction of an international airport in Gaza and the opening of the sea port are not on the agenda of the talks. As for the crossing between Egypt and Gaza at Rafah – one report said that Egypt refuses to talk about that too, and another says it will only talk about the possibility if control of the crossing's Gazan side is placed in the hands of Mahmoud Abbas, and not Hamas.

The Israeli negotiating team is reportedly already in Egypt and was to meet with Egyptian intelligence officials Tuesday evening. The Egyptian officials are acting as mediators between Israel and Hamas.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu chaired a meeting of the Diplomacy-Security Cabinet Tuesday to discuss the proposed ceasefire. The agreement is to be based on the understandings reached after Operation Pillar of Smoke in 2012. It will include an understanding that Israel will respond with fire to any fire by Hamas, and will regulate Gazans' fishing rights and the movement of people and goods through the crossings. At the same time, Israel will work with the Egyptians on “preventing Hamas from growing stronger,” in coordinating activity to keep rockets and other weapons from crossing into Gaza from Sinai.

The Cabinet was reportedly shown a presentation in the course of the war, outlining the IDF's prediction of what taking control of Gaza would involve. According to the military's estimates, conquering Gaza would take months and ridding it of all weapons would take five years. The cost would be hundreds of soldiers killed and 10 billion shekels.

The prime minister said Tuesday that the Operation Protective Edge “damaged a strategic array that Hamas put a huge effort into, for years. The ability that Hamas prepared in digging these tunnels would have enabled it to abduct and murder numerous citizens and IDF soldiers by a simultaneous attack from many tunnels that penetrate our territory. There is no guarantee of 100% success, but we did all we could to obtain the maximum.”

Even before the arrival of the Israeli team, the Egyptians began talking with the Palestinian delegation, which includes representatives from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Hamas-Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh published a statement Tuesday evening in which he boasted that “the military victory by the Resistance and the legendary strength of our nation are leading us to a removal of the blockade from Gaza.”

"What the enemy failed to achieve militarily, will not be attained diplomatically either,” he added. “We are convinced that our Egyptian and Arab brothers agree with the Resistance about the need to end the siege of Gaza.”

Even before the arrival of the Israeli team, the Egyptians began talking with the Palestinian delegation, which includes representatives from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Hamas-Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh published a statement Tuesday evening in which he boasted that “the military victory by the Resistance and the legendary strength of our nation are leading us to a removal of the blockade from Gaza.”

"What the enemy failed to achieve militarily, will not be attained diplomatically either,” he added. “We are convinced that our Egyptian and Arab brothers agree with the Resistance about the need to end the siege of Gaza.”

Ebola Outbreak: World Health Organisation Urged to Allow Experimental Drugs to Treat Disease
Aug 6th, 2014
Daily NewsABC.net.au
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Photo: Ebola experts are pushing for the WHO to allow Africans infected with the disease to try an experimental vaccine. (Reuters, file photo)

Three of the world's leading Ebola specialists have called for experimental drugs and vaccines to be offered to people in West Africa affected by an outbreak of the deadly virus.

Noting that American aid workers who contracted Ebola in Liberia were given an unapproved medicine before being evacuated to the US, the specialists - including Peter Piot, who co-discovered Ebola in 1976 - said Africans affected by the same outbreak should get the same chance.

Dr Piot, David Heymann and Jeremy Farrar - all influential infectious disease professors - said there were several antiviral drugs, monoclonal antibodies and vaccines under study for possible use against Ebola.

"African governments should be allowed to make informed decisions about whether or not to use these products - for example to protect and treat healthcare workers who run especially high risks of infection," they wrote in a joint statement.

The World Health Organisation (WHO), "the only body with the necessary international authority" to allow such experimental treatments, "must take on this greater leadership role", they said.

"These dire circumstances call for a more robust international response," they added.

Almost 900 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have been killed by Ebola and more than 1,600 infected since the virus started spreading in Guinea in February.

Experimental drug shows some success

Two American aid workers who fell sick with Ebola in Liberia saw their conditions improve by varying degrees after they received an experimental drug called ZMapp, developed by San Diego-based private biotech firm Mapp Biopharmaceutical.

Nancy Writebol, 59, has arrived in the US after being flown from Liberia and is being treated by infectious disease specialists at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

Ms Writebol is in the same isolation ward as Kent Brantly, 33, an Ebola-infected American doctor who was able to walk into the hospital when he arrived by ambulance on Saturday.

The pair are believed to be the first Ebola patients ever treated in the US, and health officials have said the virus does not pose a significant threat to the public.

Ebola heartache in Hobart

Hobart local Isaiah Lahai has lost eight members of his family in the deadly Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone.

Dr Piot, Dr Farrar and Dr Heymann questioned why Africans were not being given the same chance to try the experimental drug.

If the deadly virus was raging though wealthy countries, they said, medical agencies "would begin discussions with companies and labs developing these products and then make rapid decisions about which of them might be appropriate for compassionate use".

"Experimental treatments shouldn't be rolled out generally without prior safety testing," they said in their statement.

"But in the face of the critical challenge in West Africa, the WHO and Western medical agencies should be helping countries weigh the risks and benefits of limited deployment of the best [drug and vaccine] candidates to those in the greatest need, while continuously monitoring safety and efficacy."

A spokesman for the Geneva-based WHO said it "would not recommend any drug that has not gone through the normal process of licensing and clinical trials".

Relatives dumping bodies in street to avoid quarantine

In the Liberian capital of Monrovia, relatives of Ebola victims defied government quarantine orders by dumping infected bodies in the streets, officials said.

Information minister Lewis Brown said some people may be alarmed by regulations imposing the decontamination of victims' homes and the tracking of their friends and relatives.

With less than half of those infected surviving the disease, many Africans regard Ebola isolation wards as death traps.

"They are therefore removing the bodies from their homes and are putting them out in the street. They're exposing themselves to the risk of being contaminated," Mr Brown said.

"We're asking people to please leave the bodies in their homes and we'll pick them up."

In Sierra Leone and Liberia, where the outbreak is now spreading fastest, authorities have deployed troops to quarantine the border areas where 70 per cent of cases have been detected.

A presidential aide from Sierra Leone said the soldiers would "deter relatives and friends of suspected and Ebola patients from forcefully taking them from hospitals without medical consent".

Dutch Pro - ISIS Rally Features 'Death to the Jews' Chants
Aug 6th, 2014
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Video has emerged showing a chilling rally in Holland, during which dozens of young Muslims flew the black flag of the "Islamic State" group (formerly ISIS) and chanted "Death to the Jews!" in Arabic (maut al Yahud!)

The demonstration appears to be the same incident following which two Arab men were arrested on July 31, on suspicion of "inciting violence against people of a specific belief or race".

Astonishingly, Arabic-speaking police who monitored the event (but did nothing to intervene) initially reported that "the slogans overheard by this officer were not considered as crossing boundaries. Hence no arrest was made."

The rally took place in Holland and appears to be the first such open mass display of support in western Europe for ISIS - which rebranded itself as "the Islamic State" or "Caliphate" following massive territorial conquests in Iraq.

One Dutch MP asked why a pro-ISIS rally was allowed to held in the first place.

"What are these kids doing there in the first place? ISIS is pure barbarism, it is bloodthirsty," Labor MP Ahmed Marcouch asked in an interview with The Daily Beast, noting that ISIS was a danger to the Muslim community as well. "We can’t allow them to win our children away from us."

Anti-Semitism in Europe has risen dramatically in recent weeks, primarily fueled by Muslim extremists who have used Israel's military operation in Gaza as a springboard for unprecedented incitement and violence.

Yesterday, Italian authorities announced the deportation of a Moroccan-born imam who called to "kill the Jews" at an inflammatory sermon in an Italian mosque.

France, Germany, Spain, Belgium and the UK are just some of the other European countries where high-profile anti-Semitic attacks have occurred at the hands of ostensibly "pro-Palestinian" supporters, drawing condemnation from the UN Secretary General.

In eastern Europe, some far-right groups such as Hungary's Jobbik party (which itself has flirted with Islamist groups as part of a "common front" against Israel) have themselves sought to use pro-Gaza sentiment to stoke anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic hatred.

Britain's Student Union Votes to Boycott Israel
Aug 6th, 2014
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Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Anti-Israel boycott movement

Reuters

Britain’s National Union of Students (NUS) has voted to boycott Israel, The Jewish Chronicle reports.

The decision came at a special meeting on Monday, during which the NUS national executive committee adopted a policy of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).

Under the policy, which passed with 23 votes in favor, 18 against and one abstention, student unions around the country could impose sanctions on Israel and support campaigns to boycott Israeli products on their university campuses.

The Union of Jewish Students was quick to condemn the move.

“For all the insistence from campaigners who argue BDS doesn’t target individuals, time and time again this is proven not to be the case,” a spokesperson said, according to The Jewish Chronicle.

“Even today at the vote, Jewish students reported to UJS that they felt intimidated and bullied by the antagonistic atmosphere,” she added.

“NUS NEC have passed a policy that will only divide student groups, undermine interfaith relations and suffocate progressive voices for peace on both sides.

“The Jewish people have an inalienable right to self-determination, and on this principle, UJS will not compromise.”

Several weeks ago, Britain's largest trade union voted to boycott Israeli companies in a unanimous vote.

The UNITE union adopted the anti-Israel motion at its first policy conference, calling "to vigorously promote a policy of divestment from Israeli companies." The motion added that such a boycott would be "similar to the boycott of South African goods during the era of apartheid" - representing an adoption of the rhetoric of the virulently anti-Israel BDS (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions) movement, which seeks to portray Israel as similar to apartheid South Africa.

There have been several attempts in several countries to block the sales of Israeli products from Judea and Samaria.

Last week, Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket chain, announced it will no longer sell products originating from Judea and Samaria starting this September.

A spokesman for the supermarket said the move was not "politically motivated" and not connected to the Gaza conflict.