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Luis Miguel

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?

6/26/2015 2:52:49 PM

Decapitated body, daubed with Arabic, found at French attack site

By Catherine Lagrange1 hour ago

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A French Gendarme blocks the access road to the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier industrial area, near Lyon, France, June 26, 2015. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot

By Catherine Lagrange

SAINT-QUENTIN FALLAVIER, France (Reuters) - A decapitated body daubed with Arabic writing was found at a U.S. gas company in southeast France on Friday after an assailant rammed a car into the premises, triggering an explosion, in a suspected Islamist militant attack.

The attacker survived the blast and was arrested. The identity of the beheaded victim was not clear but a police source said it was a manager of a transport company, on the site for a delivery. It was not yet clear whether his vehicle was then used by the attacker to gain entrance.

Speaking from a European Union summit in Brussels, French President Francois Hollande described it as a terrorist attack and said all measures would be taken to stop any future strikes on a country still reeling from Islamist assaults in January.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said one suspect, named as Yassin Sahli, had been arrested, and police were holding other suspected accomplices. He said Sahli did not have a criminal record but had been under surveillance from 2006 to 2008 on suspicion of having become radicalized by Islamists.

"A person was killed and decapitated and the anti-terrorist section of the Paris prosecutor has been immediately deployed," Cazeneuve said at the scene of the attack in an industrial zone by the town of Saint-Quentin Fallavier, 30 km (20 miles) southeast of Lyon.

French media said Sahli was a 35-year-old professional driver who lived in the Lyon suburbs. There was no official confirmation of that but Europe 1 radio interviewed a woman they identified as his wife.

"In the morning he left for work and didn’t come home between noon and 2:00, I was waiting for him," she told Europe 1 radio, saying she and her family of three children lived normal lives as Muslims. "My heart is about to give out."

It was not known whether the victim, so far the only known fatality in the incident that also injured two people, was decapitated before or after the car smashed into the building.

"We all remember what has happened in our country, and not just in our country. So there is plenty of emotion. But emotion cannot be the only response - that must be action, prevention and dissuasion," Hollande said.

Saint-Quentin Fallavier, with its good air, rail and road links, is one of Europe's major logistics hubs, venue to some 1.5 million square meters (370 acres) of depots, with through-traffic of 5,000 trucks a day.

The attack underlined again the difficulty for authorities across Europe and elsewhere of protecting so-called "soft" targets against strikes by assailants operating by themselves or in small undercover cells.

At least 27 people were killed on Friday in a gun attack on a beachside hotel in Tunisia. In Kuwait, Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed more than 10 people at a packed Shi'ite mosque.

ISLAMIST FLAG

Police sources earlier said the decapitated body was found at the site, along with a flag bearing Islamist inscriptions.

Local newspaper Le Dauphine said the head, covered in Arabic writing, was found hanging from a fence.

France, which has deployed aircraft to the international coalition fighting Islamic State insurgents in Iraq, has long been named on Islamist sites as a primary target for attacks.

In January, Islamist gunmen killed 17 people in the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly and a Jewish food store.

In April, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said no fewer than five attacks had been thwarted in the country since then.

Noting that hundreds of French nationals are in Syria where they risked being radicalized by Islamist fighters, Valls has said repeatedly that France has never seen a higher threat level.

The site belonged to Air Products, a U.S. industrial gases and chemicals company, according to a spokeswoman for Air Liquide, a French company in the same sector. It was immediately ringfenced by police and emergency services.

Air Products said its crisis and emergency response teams were "working closely with all relevant authorities".

The chairman and CEO of Air Products is Seifi Ghasemi, who in 2011 testimony to a U.S. Senate committee described himself as Iranian-born. Mainly Shi'ite Iran is a sworn enemy of Sunni-dominated Islamic State.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack and the motive was unknown.

According to French regulations applicable to zones where gases and chemicals are handled, the site would have been required to implement security arrangements at the low end of the European Union's so-called "Seveso" scale, named after the location of an industrial accident in northern Italy in 1976.

Jean-Paul Bonnetain, prefect of the local Isere region, said the vehicle used to gain access to the site had the necessary authorization to do so.

Cazeneuve said the government had ordered security to be stepped up around all sensitive sites.

(Reporting by Paris bureau; writing by Mark John; editing by Mark Trevelyan)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/26/2015 3:04:14 PM
	IS affiliate hits Shiite mosque in Kuwait, killing 25 people By HUSSAIN AL-QATARI1 hour ago Security forces, officials and civilians gather outside of the Imam Sadiq Mosque after a deadly blast struck after Friday prayers in Kuwait City, Kuwait, Friday, June 26, 2015. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for what appears to be a bombing that targeted the Shiite mosque. (AP Photo) View Gallery KUWAIT CITY (AP) — A suicide bomber purportedly from an Islamic State affiliate unleashed the first terrorist attack in Kuwait in more than two decades on Friday, killing at least 25 people and wounding scores more in a bombing that targeted Shiite worshippers after midday prayers. Related Stories More than 10 killed in Kuwait mosque attack: Kuwait city governor Reuters IS suicide bomber kills 25 at Kuwait Shiite mosque AFP Kuwait mosque bomb kills four, governor says, eight badly hurt Reuters Islamic State claims responsibility for Kuwait mosque attack: statement Reuters IS jihadists claim deadly attack on Tunisia police AFP The bombing struck the Imam Sadiq Mosque in the residential neighborhood of al-Sawabir in Kuwait's capital, Kuwait City. It is one of the oldest Shiite mosques in Kuwait, a predominantly Sunni Arab nation where at least at third of the population is believed to be Shiite Muslims. It was the third attack in five weeks to be claimed by a purported IS affiliate calling itself the Najd Province, a reference to the central region of Saudi Arabia where the ultraconservative Sunni ideology of Wahhabism originated. The upstart IS branch had claimed two prior bombing attacks on Shiite mosques in Saudi Arabia that killed 26 people in late May. The group was unheard of until the first Saudi bombing. The attack took place as worshippers were standing shoulder to shoulder in group prayer, according to one of the witnesses at the mosque, Hassan al-Haddad. The explosion ripped through the back of the mosque, near the door, he said, adding that other worshippers behind him said they saw a man walk in, stand in the back with other congregants and detonate his device. View gallery This image provided by Kuwaitna news shows a man in a blood-soaked dishdasha following of a deadly b … Another witness, Ahmed al-Shawaf, said he heard a man interrupt prayer by shouting "Allahu Akbar," or "God is Great" in Arabic, several times. The man then he yelled out something about joining the Prophet Muhammad for iftar, the dusk meal with which Muslims break their daytime fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, which started last week. Then, the blast came, al-Shawaf said. The explosion took place near the end of a second prayer, which is traditional to Shiites and follows the main midday Friday prayer. The Ministry of Interior said 25 people were killed and 202 wounded. Police formed a cordon around the mosque's complex immediately after the explosion, banning people from entering or gathering near the area. Ambulances could be seen ferrying the wounded from the site. "We couldn't see anything, so we went straight to the wounded and tried to carry them out. We left the dead," said witness Hassan al-Haddad, 21, who said he saw several lifeless bodies. A posting on a Twitter account known to belong to the Islamic State group claimed the explosion was work of a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt. It said the attack was carried out by the Najd Province, which also claimed the Saudi bombings. View gallery Security forces and officials gather at a Shiite mosque after a deadly blast claimed by the Islamic … The Islamic State group regards Shiite Muslims as heretics, and refers to them derogatively as "rafideen" or "rejectionists." The IS Twitter statement said the bomber had targeted a "temple of the apostates." Immediately after the attack, Kuwait's ruler, Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, who is in his mid-80s, visited the site of the attack. The Cabinet convened an emergency session later in the afternoon. Kuwaiti Justice and Islamic Affairs Minister Yaacoub al-Sanea condemned the attack in a statement carried by the official Kuwait News Agency. But the attack also drew accusations from some Kuwaiti Shiites, who said that Kuwait's leaders should have been more pro-active in protecting Shiites, and that their response to the attack is too little too late. Former Sunni lawmaker, Abdullah al-Neybari, said the Kuwaiti government "is not doing what it should be doing to fight extremism in the country. " This is a wakeup call to fight harder," he said. The last massive attack to take place in Kuwait was in 1983, when Iranian-backed Shiite militants from Iraq carried out bombings that killed at least five and wounded nearly 90. IS claims responsibility for deadly Kuwait bombing An explosion targeted a Shiite mosque in a busy neighborhood of Kuwait City. At least 10 reported dead
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/26/2015 5:21:06 PM
	Tunisia Terror Attack: Witness Describes Horror Seconds After Beach Shooting Spree By Courtney Greatrex \| Yahoo News – 4 hours ago Tunisia: Gunmen Attack Two Tourist Hotels A Russian tourist staying in a hotel 200 metres from a private beach where gunmen opened fire killing several tourists has described the 'shocking' scenes he witnessed in the immediate aftermath of the attack. Petr, a holidaymaker from Moscow, told Yahoo News UK he saw three dead bodies face down on a beach area popular with British tourists in the resort of Sousse, Tunisia. Petr's instagram profile picture Seeing the commotion from his hotel bedroom window immediately after the attack Petr rushed outside and followed hotel security men. He said: "I just saw that there was something wrong and security were rushing to the beach, so I followed. "I saw two women and one old man and they all appeared to be dead." Petr, , who did not want to give his surname, took a picture of the scene, showing a man on the beach wearing blue shorts lying face down in the sand with what looks like blood in the area around his head. Empty sun loungers can be seen behind him and there does not appear to be anyone else near him. WARNING: You may find this picture disturbing Picture taken by Petr in the immediate aftermath Petr said he was told by witnesses that a group of terrorists approached the shore on a boat and opened fire while still onboard. "They shot the first line of people on the beach and then turned the boat and left." Sousse is a city on the east coast of Tunisia, about 87 miles (140km) south of the capital, Tunis. Around 1.2 million tourists visit Sousse every year, drawn by the hotels, sandy beaches and culture. Watch video
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/26/2015 6:00:39 PM
	Supreme Court affirms right to gay marriage Watch video Liz Goodwin and Meredith ShinerJune 26, 2015 Supreme Court affirms right to gay marriage The Supreme Court has found a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, striking down bans in 14 states and handing a historic victory to the gay rights movement that would have been unthinkable just 10 years ago. Anthony Kennedy, a conservative justice who has broken with his ideological colleagues to author several decisions expanding rights for LGBT people, again sided with the court’s four liberals to strike down the state bans. The 5-4 majority ruled that preventing same-sex people from marrying violated their constitutional right to due process under the 14th Amendment and that the states were unable to put forth a compelling reason to withhold that right from people. “It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage,” Kennedy wrote of same-sex couples. “Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves.” “They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law,” he continued. “The Constitution grants them that right.” The United States is now just the 21st country in the world to allow same-sex marriage in every jurisdiction. Chief Justice John Roberts read a stinging dissent from the bench, as Kennedy sat beside him, his hand on his chin. “Five lawyers have closed the debate and enacted their own vision of marriage as a matter of constitutional law,” he wrote. “Stealing this issue from the people will for many cast a cloud over same-sex marriage, making a dramatic social change that much more difficult to accept.” Roberts told same-sex couples they could “celebrate today’s decision,” even though he disagreed with it so strongly. “Celebrate the achievement of a desired goal. Celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new benefits,” he wrote. “But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it.” Despite Roberts’ harsh words, people in the courtroom were all smiles as they poured out onto the steps after the decision. Some wiped tears from their eyes. In oral arguments last April, Kennedy expressed reservations about changing the traditional definition of marriage to include LGBT people and seemed to suggest that the court should allow the American public to continue debating the relatively new concept. “The word that keeps coming back to me in this case ismillennia,” he said then, referencing the amount of time societies had considered marriage to be only between a man and a woman. But Kennedy was swayed by the fact that hundreds of thousands of married same-sex couples already exist and that they — and their children — are being treated differently by the law when they move to a state that doesn’t recognize their union. The states in the case also had trouble articulating why they had a compelling reason to deny that recognition, saying only that it was in the interest of children to only allow couples of the opposite sex to marry. The decision came just two years after the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could no longer refuse to recognize married same-sex couples who lived in the handful of states that had legalized their unions. That decision, also written by Kennedy, caused a cascade of lower court decisions striking down state same-sex marriage bans, and now 36 states allow same-sex marriage. Public opinion on gay marriage has changed at lightning speed as well: 60 percent of Americans support it, compared with just 37 percent 10 years ago. This transformative opinion will most likely continue the trend toward greater acceptance of LGBT people around the country, as the highest court of the land has ruled that same-sex unions are legitimate and lawful everywhere. Even with the landmark decision, however, support for gay marriage has been almost nonexistent among elected Republican officials, whose positions on the issue likely will not change overnight. To date, no major Republican presidential candidate has endorsed marriage equality. Many 2016 GOP candidates even struggled with the question of whether or not they would attend a gay wedding. Despite public opposition, many Republican operatives privately have suggested that court rulings favorable to gay marriage are a blessing in disguise for GOP politicians. With the judicial system expanding gay rights, the courts have eased the burden on the legislative and executive branches, removing pressure for them to act proactively on marriage equality policy. The opinion is a big win for the Obama administration, which is already flying high after the Supreme Court batted down a potentially fatal challenge to the Affordable Care Act on Thursday. The president came out in favor of same-sex marriage in 2012. Friday’s ruling also could have a big effect on religious institutions that have maintained their opposition to same-sex marriage. Religious schools that refuse to provide housing for same-sex couples could face lawsuits and lose their tax-exempt status, for example. (Religious clergy will not have to marry same-sex couples, however.) Some states will most likely respond to this ruling by attempting to pass legislation to exempt people who oppose same-sex marriage on religious grounds, such as the controversial Indiana law that passed in March. The gay rights movement, meanwhile, will move on to employment discrimination. Activists want a federal law that forbids discriminating against people based on their sexual orientation. Gay and lesbian couples will be able to marry immediately in the four states named in the case — Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan. There may be a delay of a few days or weeks for same-sex marriage to be legal in the remaining states with bans, since lower courts will have to apply the opinion to them.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/27/2015 10:14:34 AM
	Bitter dissents in gay marriage case lay bare deep divide in high court Liz GoodwinSenior National Affairs ReporterJune 26, 2015 Interns with media organizations run on Friday in Washington with copies of the Supreme Court decision that the U.S. Constitution gives same-sex couples the right to marry. (Photo: Joshua Roberts/Reuters) Justice Anthony Kennedy almost always votes alongside his four conservative colleagues on the Supreme Court. But when he doesn’t, it’s often in big, transformative cases, like Friday’s gay marriage decision. His defection clearly has made his conservative peers hopping mad. Each of the four conservative justices in the minority wrote his own dissent, a sign that their disappointment and anger at the decision striking down gay marriage bans could not be combined into one response. Separately, their writings bordered on the caustic, sometimes even making personal attacks on Kennedy’s jurisprudence and writing style. Kennedy, who is known for rhetorical flourishes and sweeping legal writing, begins his opinion with a broad statement: “The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity.” He concludes that the 14th Amendment guarantees the right to marriage to same-sex couples, and that denying them marriage robs them of liberty entitled to them by law. And on his way, Kennedy colorfully explains that marriage is an ennobling institution that bestows dignity upon those who enter it. (“Marriage responds to the universal fear that a lonely person might call out only to find no one there,” Kennedy writes.) The opening seemed to enrage Justice Antonin Scalia, who went even further than usual in his criticism of Kennedy’s signature flowery language. He wrote in a footnote that he would “hide his head in a bag” if he ever signed onto an opinion containing this first sentence, which he said contained “the mystical aphorisms of a fortune cookie.” Justices Kennedy (left) and Scalia. (Photos: U.S. Supreme Court via Wiki Commons) Chief Justice John Roberts, who read much of his dissent aloud from the bench, a sign of his deep displeasure, called the opinion’s reasoning “unprincipled.” He even compared it to the infamous Dred Scott case from the 19th century, when the Supreme Court held that no one of African descent could be an American citizen. Conservative judges also lambasted Kennedy for skipping some key legal details in his opinion, such as what level of scrutiny the high court used to examine gay couples’ claims. Doug NeJaime, a professor of law at UCLA, says that conservative justices have long criticized Kennedy’s opinions for this sort of gloss-over when he writes with the liberals. “This is classic Justice Kennedy,” he said. “It’s not the kind of mechanical, constitutional analysis that some of the other justices might want.” Complaints about Kennedy’s writing style pepper the dissents. Roberts mocks its “shiny rhetorical gloss,” Scalia calls the opinion’s style “pretentious” and full of “silly extravagances.” Justice Clarence Thomas objects to the majority’s characterization of marriage as ennobling. “I am unsure what that means,” he wrote. “People may choose to marry or not to marry. The decision to do so does not make one person more ‘noble’ than another.” At one point, Scalia even goes line by line through parts of the opinion, adding critiques in parentheses, such as, “Huh?” and “What say?” He ends by declaring that the opinion will “diminish this Court’s reputation for clear thinking and sober analysis.” Perhaps most striking was when Roberts went so far as to tell gay people in his dissent that they should not celebrate the Constitution today, because that document had nothing to do with their legal victory. The statement gets to the heart of the conflict between the majority and the minority in today’s decision: Whether the Constitution is a living document that evolves with the times or whether it is frozen in the 18th century. Though Kennedy generally sides with his conservative colleagues who more strictly interpret the Constitution, he has argued for a more expansive interpretation of the document in this case as well as in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down state laws that criminalized sodomy. “The nature of injustice is that we might not always see it in our own times,” Kennedy wrote in Friday’s opinion. “The generations that wrote and ratified the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment did not presume to know the extent of freedom in all of its dimensions, and so they entrusted to future generations a charter protecting the right of all persons to enjoy liberty as we learn its meaning.” Kennedy thinks we are still learning this meaning. His colleagues do not.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1