Sunday, July 06, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 351 • 25 of 29

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made what would be his first public appearance, delivering a sermon at a mosque in Iraq's second-largest city, according to a video posted online Saturday.
• The 21-minute video that is said to show Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State group, was reportedly filmed on Friday at the Great Mosque in the northern city of Mosul. It was released on at least two websites known to be used by the organization and bore the logo of its media arm, but it was not possible to independently verify whether the person shown was indeed al-Baghdadi.
• There are only a few known photographs of al-Baghdadi, an ambitious Iraqi militant believed to be in his early 40s with a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head. Since taking the reins of the group in 2010, he has transformed it from a local branch of al-Qaida into an independent transnational military force, positioning himself as perhaps the pre-eminent figure in the global jihadi community.
• Al-Baghdadi's purported appearance in Mosul, a city of some 2 million that the militants seized last month, came five days after his group declared the establishment of an Islamic state, or caliphate, in the territories it seized in Iraq and Syria. The group proclaimed al-Baghdadi the leader of its state and demanded that all Muslims pledge allegiance to him.
• In the video, the man said to be al-Baghdadi says that "the mujahedeen have been rewarded victory by God after years of jihad, and they were able to achieve their aim and hurried to announce the caliphate and choose the Imam," referring to the leader.
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Great white shark trying to free itself from hook bites man near Southern California beach

• MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- A swimmer was bitten by a juvenile great white shark that grew agitated trying to free itself from a hook a fisherman had thrown into the water off Southern California's Manhattan Beach Pier, officials said.
• The man, who was with a group of long-distance swimmers when he swam into the fishing line, was bitten on a side of his rib cage around 9:30 a.m. Saturday, said Rick Flores, a Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman. The man's injuries were not life-threatening and he was taken to a hospital conscious and breathing on his own, Flores said.
• Witnesses said the approximately 7-foot shark was thrashing around in the water for more than 30 minutes before biting the swimmer about 300 yards off the beach.
• Eric Martin told KABC-TV that the shark's mouth opened and closed as if it was

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