Sunday Post

Three Americans are praised by anyone but Obama because they subdued a would-be terrorist when the Europeans decidedly failed:

The three American friends who helped foil a mass shooting on a packed high-speed train on its way to Paris started the trip in a different car, they said Sunday, underlining how narrowly their triumph could have been a tragedy.

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President Barack Obama praised the passengers who subdued the gunman, according to a White House statement. U.S. officials will stay in touch with French authorities about the investigation.

(Sidebar: Fort Hood.)

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Train staff on board the high speed train which was the scene of a suspected Islamic extremist attack yesterday have been accused of barricading themselves in their staffroom and locking the door, leaving passengers to fend for themselves.

Two other men were also injured and are being rewarded for their bravery.


The would-be terrorist denied that he was a jihadi and so do the Europeans:

A gunman who attacked passengers on a high-speed train in France two days ago is "dumbfounded" at having been taken for an Islamist militant and says he only intended to rob people on board because he was hungry, his lawyer said on Sunday.

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French anti-terror investigators on Sunday questioned a Moroccan man accused of a foiled attack on a crowded train, but he insists he was only trying to rob passengers, a lawyer said.

(Sidebar: yeah, that's what he was doing.)



How is that degrading thing going?

Syria's head of antiquities was quoted as saying the temple was blown up on Sunday. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that it happened one month ago.

IS took control of Palmyra in May, sparking fears the group might demolish the Unesco World Heritage site.

The group has destroyed several ancient sites in Iraq.

IS "placed a large quantity of explosives in the temple of Baalshamin today and then blew it up causing much damage to the temple," Syrian antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim told AFP news agency.

"The cella (inner area of the temple) was destroyed and the columns around collapsed," he said.

 
The Italian navy rescued 4,400 would-be immigrants:

The Italian navy organised the rescue of around 4,400 migrants in waters off the Libyan coast on Saturday, prompted by requests for help received from nearly two dozen boats, in one of the biggest multi-national operations so far.

Italy's coast guard said in a statement on Sunday that it had coordinated rescue efforts involving numerous vessels, including a Norwegian and an Irish ship as part of the European Union's Triton rescue mission.

Europe is struggling to cope with a record influx of refugees as people flee war in countries such as Syria.

The migrants were travelling aboard inflatable dinghies and overcrowded boats, the coast guard said.

The Mediterranean has become the world's most deadly crossing point for migrants. More than 2,300 people have died this year in attempts to reach Europe by boat, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

 
Now send them back.

(SEE: France, train, shooting, terrorism)



Talks resume between the two Koreas after North Korea attacks its southern neighbour:

Senior officials from North and South Korea on Sunday were in their second day of marathon talks meant to pull the rivals back from the brink, even amid reports of unusual North Korean troop and submarine movement that Seoul said indicated continued battle preparation.

Prediction: after South Korea gives North Korea what it wants, it will be attacked again in a few months.



Another one?

An explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China killed one person and injured nine others, a state news agency reported Sunday, less than two weeks after a similar disaster at a chemical warehouse killed 123 people.

The explosion occurred just before 9 p.m. Saturday in Zibo, a city southeast of Beijing in Shandong province, the Xinhua News Agency said. It said firefighters put out the resulting fire just before 2 a.m. Sunday.

One person working at the facility was killed, Xinhua said. It said the cause of the blast was under investigation.

Either Chinese factory workers are some of the most stupid people alive or someone is hiding something.



Speaking of explosions:

An explosion rocked a warehouse at a U.S. military base in Sagamihara, Kanagawea Prefecture, but there were no reports of injuries, Japanese fire officials said on Monday. ...

NHK said earlier the Sagami General Depot was used to store petroleum products and ammunition.

Also:

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to the disputed Northern Territories is forcing Japan to return to square one in its diplomatic efforts to invite President Vladimir Putin to Tokyo later this year. ...

The Russian Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, released a statement on Aug. 22 condemning Japan’s protest of Medvedev’s visit.

“Japan has made it clear that it opposes the universally accepted understanding on the consequences of World War II even when the 70th anniversary of the war's end, which is important for the international community, was approaching,” the statement says.

According to sources inside the Japanese government, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reached an agreement with Putin for Kishida to visit Russia from Aug. 31, during their telephone conference on June 24.

Executives of a dozen of major Japanese corporations planned to accompany Kishida, and expectations were also high among Russian officials for closer economic cooperation between the two countries.
But since mid-July, the Kremlin has orchestrated a series of “provocative actions,” said a senior Foreign Ministry official.

Russian Cabinet members have visited the Northern Territories in succession, culminating in Medvedev’s visit, which Japan repeatedly requested that he desist from, so that Kishida's visit could proceed.

A source close to Abe said, “Russia wanted to put it to the test whether Japan is serious about proceeding with the territorial negotiations while maintaining sanctions against Russia (over the Ukrainian crisis).”

Meanwhile, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Japan has no intention of terminating talks with Russia and will negotiate with the Russian side for a summit between Abe and Putin on the sidelines of international conferences from autumn.

Still mad over that Russo-Japanese War, eh?



This can only happen in Ontario:

A pair of Ontario teenagers will soon be collecting thousands of dollars after their employer fired them for observing a religious holiday.

The province's Human Rights Tribunal ruled that vegetable grower Country Herbs discriminated against the young siblings on the basis of their creed.

The tribunal heard and accepted evidence that the teens, identified only by their initials, provided several weeks of notice that they planned to take the day off to celebrate a holiday that was important to their Christian Mennonite faith.

Only the 16-year-old sister H.T. was scheduled to work that day, but both she and her 14-year-old brother J.T. were fired immediately after she failed to report to work.

Country Herbs argued that it dismissed H.T. for not complying with its attendance policy, but the tribunal ruled that the company made no effort to work with her to accommodate her religious beliefs.

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