A small Hamburg mosque once frequented by Sept. 11 attackers was shut down and searched Monday because German authorities believed the prayer house was again being used as a meeting point for Islamic radicals. The Taiba mosque was closed and the cultural association that runs it was banned, officials in the northern German city of Hamburg said. "We have closed the mosque because it was a recruiting and meeting point for Islamic radicals who wanted to participate in so-called jihad or holy war," said Frank Reschreiter, a spokesman for the Hamburg state interior ministry. The prayer house, until two years ago known as the al-Quds mosque, was a meeting and recruiting point years ago for some of the Sept. 11 attackers before they moved to the United States, authorities say. Sept. 11 ringleader Mohamed Atta as well as attackers Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah had studied in Hamburg and frequented the al-Quds mosque. Reschreiter said the mosque had been under observation by local intelligence officers for "quite a long time" and this was the first time it had been closed. The local interior ministry said about 45 supporters of jihad live in the Hamburg area. The ministry also said that over the years, the mosque also became a magnet for so-called jihad tourists — Muslims from out of town who bragged about having worshipped at the same mosque were once the Sept. 11 terrorists gathered for prayer. A 2009 report by the Hamburg branch of Germany's domestic intelligence agency said the mosque had again become the "center of attraction for the jihad scene" in the northern port city.
[VIDEO] Reconstruction of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church near ground zero in Manhattan remains stalled nearly nine years after it was destroyed by the falling south towers. It was the only house of worship destroyed on 9/11/01. The church's leader wants answers from the Port Authority of NY & NJ in light of the controversial plan to build a mosque near the World Trade Center site. Good Day New York spoke with Father Mark Arey on Friday. "We have worked with all the agencies. Gov. David Pataki assured us it will be rebuilt (at 130 Liberty Street.) We've hit a bureaucratic impasse with the Port Authority. We haven't heard from the PA in one year," said Fr. Arey. To read more about St. Nicholas Church at the World Trade Center, click here.
III. TorontoSun - Greek dancers attempt to set world record
More than 150,000 people held hands and danced on the Greek island of Crete on Saturday to try to set a world record and dispel the gloom of economic austerity. The dancers, some in traditional costumes, formed a human chain along a 200 km (125 mile) highway across Greece’s largest island while police halted traffic, event organizers said. Locals and tourists tapped their feet to the sound of folk music for about 15 minutes. “We feel proud. We believe we’ve set a new world record,” Spyros Prevezanos, head of the organizing group Planet Crete told Reuters. “Tonight we sent a message of hope, which is not related to money. We proved that there are more important values.” A Guinness World Records spokesman said no record for the biggest Greek dance had previously been set and organizers of Saturday’s event, which initially aimed for 200,000 dancers, said they expected their world record bid to be accepted.
IV. YAHOONEWS - Israeli PM says Turkey ignored flotilla warnings
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday told an inquiry into the Israeli naval raid on a Gaza aid flotilla that Turkey had ignored warnings and appeals "at the highest level" many days before the fatal clash. The clash took place before dawn in international waters off Israel, after the flotilla ignored repeated Israeli warnings not to continue to Gaza. The enclave is ruled by the Hamas Islamist movement and sealed off by a tight Israeli naval blockade. "Beginning on May 14, my office held contacts with the highest levels of the Turkish government," Netanyahu said. "These contacts ... were intended to prevent a confrontation with the Marmara flotilla, and they continued until the eve of the flotilla's arrival off Gaza's shores," he said. "Despite our continuous diplomatic efforts, ultimately the Turkish government did not prevent the attempt by the Marmara to violate the naval blockade... It appears that (Turkey) did not see in the prospect of a clash between Turkish activists and Israel something that clashed with its interests..." It was Netanyahu's most explicit public account of behind-the-scenes diplomacy that in the end failed to avert the clash. Netanyahu said Israel could not have allowed the ships to breach its cordon, which it insists is necessary to keep weapons including long-range rockets out of the hands of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement backed by Iran which runs Gaza. "The state of Israel and the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) operated according to international law," he said. "As prime minister I can't ignore Hamas as a threat to Israel's existence." The United Nations is conducting two inquiries of its own into Israel's high-seas interception. A panel formed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer is due to meet for the first time on August 10. It will include one Israeli and one Turkish member. A second probe, by the U.N. Human Rights Council, will be run independently and without Israeli cooperation.
A minute of silence [was] held in South Ossetia on the eve of the anniversary of last year's war. On August 8 last year, as the world’s eyes were turned to the Beijing Olympics, Georgia launched its sneak attack. In the next few days commemorative events will take place in the afflicted region. It is known to the world as the Five-Day War, but in fact it lasted for almost two weeks. With the skirmishes on the border starting in early August and getting more intense each day, South Ossetians knew that something bad was coming. “Some say that they did not think of it. But I did. We just did not expect such fascism. We thought they might shoot a bit, or blow up a house, kill someone – but not that!” said Evelina Kakoeva, a local resident. On Thursday, August 7, Leonid Valiev – also a citizen of the South Ossetian capital – had already sent his younger cousins to relatives in Russia while he stayed in Tskhinval, glued to the TV screen. The summer Olympic Games in Beijing were about to begin. “The Olympics take place once every four years, as you know. We were looking forward to them. Sometimes you just run out of luck. There was tension in the air, people could feel it. I strongly felt that we were in for something bad,” he said. Meanwhile, frantic measures were under way to avoid the escalation of hostilities. A few days earlier South Ossetian forces had taken hostage four Georgian soldiers. Tbilisi threatened a full-blown invasion, but with the help of Russian peacekeepers the soldiers were released. A few hours later, the Georgian president went on national television, calling for peace. “As the commander-in-chief of the Georgian forces, I gave a very painful order that we will not respond even to intensive fire from the South Ossetian side. I demand an immediate ceasefire and confirm our intention to provide South Ossetia with absolute autonomy and offer Russia to be the guarantor of this,” Mikhail Saakashvili said. Milena Razmadze from Tskhinval recalls what happened later: “We heard the sound of shooting, but I was inside, deciding whether to get dressed or not. Then there was the sound of the strikes. I put on a dress at once and we ran to the basement.” It is no longer disputed that the Georgian invasion was well-planned. By early August, Tbilisi had amassed a number of troops and military hardware along the border. Meanwhile, South Ossetia called on its men to defend their land. Madina Gubieva's husband joined the paramilitary forces. August 4 was the last time she saw him. “He did not like either hugs or kisses. When he said goodbye, I sent my son to his room, so that he would not cry,” she said. “But my daughter was only five months old, and I was holding her when I followed him out. When he was about to get into the car, he looked back, came up to kiss me, then got into the car and waved. That was our last meeting.” He was killed by a mortar in his own backyard. His wife, widowed at 25. His daughter – orphaned and too young to remember him. South Ossetians saw the war coming, but were caught unawares when it pounded at their doors. On the eve of the Olympic Games in the middle of the night, amid security assurances and calls for peace, the Georgian army began its ultimately failed invasion of South Ossetia.
Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić told CNN that the Kosovo question divides the UN, EU and NATO, adding that a solution of compromise is needed to bridge the gap. Jeremić said that Belgrade is ready for open dialogue with the Priština institutions and that Belgrade would not say “no” beforehand to any possible solution. “We only said ‘no’ to a unilateral independence proclamation,” Jeremić said as a guest on CNN. Asked why Belgrade believes that Kosovo’s proclaimed independence should not be recognized, he said that it would be the first time in UN history that a secessionist territory achieved statehood without the consent of the parent state. “If this happens in Kosovo’s case, it can happen in other parts of the world tomorrow,” Jeremić said. He stressed that Serbia is not only defending its constitutional, political and democratic rights, but is also trying to stop a dangerous precedent. Jeremić said that Belgrade would continue its policies of seeking a peaceful solution for the Kosovo question, using only diplomatic, political and legal measures, refraining from violence.
VII. OCA - St. Vladimir's Seminary launches new website
On the Feast of Transfiguration, Friday, August 6, 2010, Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary launch[ed] its new website, with a fresh, inviting look, more audio and video content, and some space for interactive exchange. The Seminary's Chancellor, Archpriest Chad Hatfield, says of the new site, which took nearly six months to develop, "With so much good happening at SVOTS we wanted to offer you a website that was easy to navigate, informative, and a pleasure to view, and I believe we have met those goals." Father Chad especially thanked the seminary community who provided valuable information and feedback as the project was being developed, and the web team, made up of Virginia Nieuwsma, editor and project manager; Mark Klinski, site developer and technical advisor; and Joel Wilson, designer. Readers may find the new site at the old address: www.svots.edu, but, according to Father Chad, "should be prepared for dramatic, eye-catching changes."