Islamic State is challenge to US, Gaza ceasefire fails, and sex-selective abortion bans

Governments around the world are reacting with abhorrence to the beheading of American journalist, James Foley, by ISIS militants. He had been missing since 2012. The jihadist group released a video on Friday of the murder. They claimed it was in revenge for U.S. bombing raids in Iraq.
Steven Simon is a fellow at the Middle East Institute. He’s written in Foreign Policy magazine on the unintended consequences of U.S. air strikes in Iraq. He’s also written on the danger ISIS poses to countries like Jordan. He’ll tell us what the U.S. and other Middle East countries are up against in trying to stop ISIS.
And, the Cairo talks to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas are shuttered and the fighting is back on. Israel says Hamas broke the ceasefire with rockets about eight hours before it expired. Palestinian Authority negotiators blamed Israel for the failure of talks. At least 19 Palestinians were killed today including the wife and child of one of Hamas’s military leaders, Mohammed Deif, who is said to have escaped injury. Richard Silverstein is author of the Tikun Olam blog. It promotes Israeli democracy and exposes secrets of its national security state.
Then, four countries in the world ban sex-selective abortions. In the U.S., eight states ban sex-selective abortions and 21 states have considered a ban. Abortion opponents in the U.S. claim that laws to curb sex-selection practices are necessary because of immigrants from Asia. Brian Citro is with the University of Chicago Law School where he works in its International Human Rights Clinic. They recently authored the report, Myths with Facts: Sex-Selective Abortion Laws in the United States.

(photo: Iraq Shiite fighters with the "Peace Brigades" fires at militants from the extremist Islamic State group in Jurf al-Sakhar, 43 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Aug 18, 2014. (AP Photo/ Hadi MIzban))