BBC News
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VIDEO: Drone footage shows migrants' arrival September 23, 2015
Matthew Price looks at one of the Greek hotspots for migrants entering Europe.
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VIDEO: The Olympian who never gave up September 23, 2015
In 1992, 400m medal hopeful Derek Redmond pulled up injured in the semi-final of the Barcelona Olympics, but still finished the race.
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VIDEO: Football legend Pele at 75 September 23, 2015
Football legend Pele is 75 this year. He talked to the BBC about what inspires him and what he makes of football today.
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VIDEO: Pope Francis lands to cheers in US September 22, 2015
President Obama and his Family have greeted Pope Francis upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
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VIDEO: Lesbos struggles as 4,000 arrive daily September 22, 2015
The Greek island of Lesbos is still struggling to keep up with the steady flow of migrants and refugees.
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VIDEO: How much does making a drug cost? September 22, 2015
As Turing Pharmaceuticals raises the price of an Aids treatment, Daraprim, BBC News looks at how the pharmaceutical industry tries to balance the pursuit of profit with a patient's need to access medication.
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VIDEO: Refugee crisis: Food and phone charging September 22, 2015
The BBC's Mark Lowen reports from a sports stadium on the Turkey-Greece border where agencies are providing shelter and food to refugees trying to reach Europe.
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VIDEO: On the ground at refugee hotspots September 22, 2015
EU ministers have approved a controversial plan to relocate 120,000 refugees and migrants across the EU using compulsory quotas.
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VIDEO: A guide to strange initiation ceremonies September 22, 2015
Initiation ceremonies are in the news, here are some of the stranger ones from around the world.
– HOLY LAND FOUNDATION
Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was founded in Dallas, Texas, in 1992 by Ghassan Elashi, his brother in law Mousa Abu Marzook, a senior Hamas leader, and Shukri Abu Baker, the President of the ‘Occupied Land Foundation’ that was established in California, USA, in 1989 and operated in Western Europe, USA and other countries. Holy Land Foundation was a reorganization and expansion of the ‘Occupied Land Foundation’.
The Holy Land Foundation described its object “to find and implement practical solutions for human suffering through humanitarian programs that impact the lives of the disadvantaged, disinherited, and displaced peoples suffering from man-made and natural disasters”. The focus of Holy Land Foundation was the Palestinian people but the foundation also provided assistance to Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo and even to victims of natural disasters inside USA. Holy Land Foundation raised money openly and publicly also through the web.
In 12/04/2001, in the aftermath of The 9/11, The Holy Land Foundation Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control in US designated Holy Land Foundation as a designated terrorism financier and the European Union froze its European assets.
US prosecution claimed Hamas controlled the charities to which $12.4m were sent between 1995 and 2001, when the Holy Land Foundation was closed. The Holy Land Foundation also provided economical support to families of senior Hamas military wing commanders killed by Israel.
On 07/27/2004 Holy Land Foundation and 5 of its senior managers were charged in Dallas, Texas, for providing material support to foreign terror organization such as Hamas.
The defendants were: President Shukri Abu Baker; Chairman, Ghassan Elashi, executive director, Haytham Maghawri and four others: Mohammad el-Mezain, Akram Mishal, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulraham Odeh. Five of the seven have been arrested. Haytham Maghawri and Akram Mishal have not been found and are considered fugitives.
On 12/09/2004 a federal magistrate judge ordered two Islamic charities, the Holy Land Foundation and the Islamic Association for Palestine, along with a man – Muhammed Khalil Salah, accused of raising money for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, to pay $156 million to Joyce and Stanley Boim, whose 17-year-old son, David, was shot by Hamas activists in 1996 in the West Bank.
On 10/22/2007 a mistrial was declared for four former managers of the Holy Land Foundation: Ghassan Elashi, Shukri Abu Baker, Abdurahman Odeh and Mohammed el-Mezain. The charges against a fifth defendant Mufid Abdulqader were dropped.
Epilogue ;
On Monday 11/24/2008, a US court in Dallas, Texas, has convicted Holy Land Foundation and five of its former leaders of all 108 charges in the largest “terrorism” financing trial in US history. The Texas jury reached its verdict after eight days of deliberations over whether the former Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, once the largest US Muslim , had given money to the Palestinian group Hamas.
The , which was shut down seven years ago, was accused of giving more than $12m to support Hamas, which was designated a “terrorist organisation” in 1995 by the USA government.
Ghassan Elashi, Holy Land’s former chairman, and Shukri Abu-Baker, the ’s ex-chief executive, were convicted of a combined 69 charges, including supporting a specially-designated “terrorist” organisation, money-laundering and tax fraud, The Associated Press reported.
Mufid Abdulqader, Khaled Mashaal’s brother, and Abdulrahman Odeh were convicted on three counts of conspiracy, and Mohammed El-Mezain was convicted on one count of conspiracy to support a “terrorist organisation”. The Holy Land foundation itself was convicted on all 32 counts.
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