Israel-Gaza Ceasefire, American ISIS
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Vol. 3, No. 239
Israel/Gaza: Israel and Gaza have agreed to yet another ceasefire, an open-ended deal that ends 50 days of bloody fighting and gives Hamas little of what it went to war to win. Hamas declared victory and people celebrated with gunfire after agreeing to a deal it could have had after seven days of fighting.
The deal relaxes, but does not eliminate Israeli restrictions on travel, trade and fishing in Gaza. Israel will allow humanitarian aid and construction materials to enter Gaza, and will extend the fishing zone to six miles off the coast. One of the big issues is cement, which is necessary for building, but is also used by Hamas to build tunnels into Israel.
Hamas and Gaza are left devastated. The damage to buildings is greater than in any previous fight with Israel. At least 2,100 people were killed in Gaza, most of them civilians and 500 of them children.
The Caliphate: An American man fighting for ISIS in Syria was killed in combat, providing proof that some Americans have joined the extremists trying to establish an Islamic State. He is believed to be the first American to die fighting for ISIS. Douglas McCain, 33, of Minneapolis and San Diego, was killed by members of the Free Syrian Army in the northern city of Marea where the FSA has been fighting ISIS for control. They found McCain’s US passport on his body.
McCain was a dropout with a criminal record for theft, possession of marijuana and driving without a license. He was a convert to Islam. One of his Twitter postings: “It’s funny to me how all these so call Muslim claim that they love Allah but always curse the one who try to implement his laws.”
Ukraine: The army has captured members of a Russian airborne division who say they were sent into Ukraine in unmarked vehicles. It’s the most direct proof that Russian troops are fighting against Ukraine and it came at an inconvenient moment for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was meeting with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko.
Poor Planning: A residential tower in New York has become the rallying point in the effort to include low-income residents in projects built for the rich. The building in question called 40 Riverside was allowed to have more square footage in trade for providing low-income units. But the building has separate entrances for the rich and the not rich. The back door has been dubbed “the poor door,” sparking an argument about whether the low-income residents should be segregated from those who pay up to $25 million for a condo.
Slapped: The New York Times has declined to endorse Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for re-election because he failed to clean up corruption as promised when he was elected. The Times editorial says, “The state government remains as subservient to big money as ever, and Mr. Cuomo resisted and even shut down opportunities to fix it.”
Recoil: A 9-year-old girl accidentally killed her firearms instructor at a gun range in Arizona when the Uzi she was firing kicked up and shot 39-year-old Charles Vacca. It happened at a range called “Bullets and Burgers” 60 miles southeast of Las Vegas. A video released by the local sheriff’s department shows the shooting right up to the moment Vacca is killed. A similar incident happened with an Uzi in 2008 when a Massachusetts boy was unable to control the gun and ended up killing himself.
Space Wars: A United Airlines jet bound for Denver was diverted to Chicago Sunday after a passenger defending his knee room got into a spat with the woman sitting in front of him. The man sitting in the middle seat on row 12 had deployed a device called the Knee Defender, which locks onto the tray table and prevents the seat in front from reclining. The woman in front objected and when the man refused to remove the lock, the woman threw water at him. The Knee Defender’s slogan: “Standing up for the right of the tall guy to sit down.”
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