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Hundreds wounded in Kabul suicide attack
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
CID: 20 foreigners identified in BB heist
[Dhaka Tribune] Criminal Investigation Department has identified 20 foreigners who were allegedly involved in the digital heist of $101 million from Bangladesh Bank.

Additional Deputy Inspector General Md Shah Alam made the disclosure in a press briefing held at CID Headquarters in Dhaka on Monday afternoon.

He said: "The names of 20 Filipino, Sri Lankan and Chinese nationals came up during our official visits to the countries regarding the heist.

"We might again visit the countries but we cannot disclose the names right now for the sake of the investigation."
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
Al-Qaeda re-emerges as challenge for US, Nato in Afghanistan
[Dhaka Tribune] Leadership turmoil within the Taliban since the death of the murderous Moslem group’s founder has fuelled closer links with foreign groups like al-Qaeda, the new commander of international forces in Afghanistan said, complicating counter-terrorism efforts.

In an interview, General John Nicholson pointed to what US officials saw as a shift in the Taliban’s relationship with groups that Washington considers terrorist organizations.

That could influence his assessment of plans to cut US troop numbers next year, because if al-Qaeda, which carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, can operate in Afghanistan with increasing freedom, it may pose a greater security threat inside the country and beyond.

That was the very reason NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
forces went into Afghanistan in the first place: to prevent al-Qaeda functioning freely while the Taliban, which ruled the country until its ouster at the end of 2001, looked on.

"You see a more overt cooperation between the Taliban and these designated terrorist organizations," Nicholson said.

"Our concern is that if the Taliban were to return, that because of their close relationships with these groups, that they would offer sanctuary to these groups."

Nicholson is about half way though a review of plans that would see US troop numbers nearly halved to 5,500 by 2017 and an end to much of the training and advice the NATO-led coalition currently provides Afghan forces fighting the Taliban.

Some US politicians and Afghan commanders are urging Washington to reconsider its draw-down plans, worried that the Taliban movement poses a growing threat to security.

Public appetite for an even more prolonged deployment of US forces in Afghanistan is low, partly because the conflict is seen as limited to the country itself with little risk of international spillover.

Nicholson highlighted a "greater linkage" between the Taliban and US-designated terrorist group al-Qaeda since the death of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar and his replacement by current leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour.

Prompted by the need to win support in a leadership battle that broke out after Omar’s death was announced last year, Nicholson said Mansour had been forced closer to groups like al-Qaeda and the Haqqani network, blamed for a series of high-profile suicide kabooms in Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
Al-Qaeda, which US officials have estimated has between 100-300 fighters in Afghanistan, has returned as one of the main focuses of the US counter-terrorism mission in Afghanistan. Some independent assessments say that estimate is too low.

The group has been less prominent in recent years as the Taliban, numbering thousands of fighters, seized territory in a series of intense battles including, briefly, the northern city of Kunduz and, more recently, swaths of Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
in the south.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  Who could have foreseen that?
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2016 15:20 Comments || Top||


Pakistan has reportedly told Taliban to end violence or pay a heavy price
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The authorities in Pakistain have reportedly called on Afghan Taliban group leadership to shun violence or pay a heavy price, a move which the Pak authorities are saying has been taken to persuade the group to participate in peace talks and end the violence through reconciliation process.

A Pak official quoted in a local media report said the authorities in Pakistain have also called on the Taliban leadership to call off their ’spring offensive’.

The official speaking on the condition of anonymity further added that the warning by Pak authorities have been issued amid concerns that the spring offensive by the group could derail the peace initiative the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) had launched in December last year.

Calling the announcement of spring offensive by Taliban as disappointing, the official said the Taliban leadership has been given a clear message through ’intermediaries’ that they would have to pay a ’heavy price’ if they refused to go back to the negotiating table.

The announcement by Pak authorities to warn the Taliban group comes as the Afghan officials have long been criticizing Pakistain for remaining reckless to act against the safe havens of the Death Eater groups operating in the country.

A top Afghan defense official said last week that Taliban group leaders are convening key meetings in their safe havens inside the Pak soil.

The Chief of Army Staff General Qadam Shah Shaheem told news hounds in Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
that the Taliban gatherings, including meetings to pledge allegiance are taking place in Pakistain.

Although the Pak officials have repeatedly denied support to the Taliban group but the country’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj PrunefaceAziz
...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy...
earlier acknowledged the Pakistain has influence on Taliban leaders which could be used as a leverage to force the group to participate in peace talks.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies

#1  Emphasis on 'reportedly'...
Posted by: Raj || 04/19/2016 0:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Pull the other one - it has bells on it.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/19/2016 12:14 Comments || Top||


HIA demands removal of Hekmatyar’s name from blacklist to join peace talks
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan has demanded removal of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil...
from the blacklist of the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
and United States blacklist in a bid to join grinding of the peace processor.

The delegation of Hezb-e-Islami led by Ghairat Baheer have said they have put forward the party’s 25 conditions to Afghan government to join grinding of the peace processor, including the removal of Hekmatyar’s name from the blacklist.

Hekmatyar’s name was included in the blacklist by the United Nations Security Council in 2003 for having links with the al-Qaeda terrorist network leader the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse...
Meanwhile,
...back at the dirigible, the gondola was dangling by a single thread of rope.

Jack! Cynthia cried. I just realized I'm afraid of heights! I don't even like high heels!...

Baheer said the party has also demanded the removal of the other leaders name from the blacklist, including Abdullah Nowbahar and Abdul Saboor.

The two leaders were added to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists by the United States of America earlier in the month of March.

According to US State Department, the designations blocks all property subject to U.S. jurisdiction in which Abdullah Nowbahar and Abdul Saboor have any interest and prohibits U.S. persons from engaging in any transactions with Nowbahar and Saboor.

The State Department said both Abdullah Nowbahar and Abdul Saboor are explosive experts for Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) and participated in the September 18, 2012 attack on a bus carrying foreign employees of Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
International Airport that killed 12 people.

The delegation of Hezb-e-Islami arrived for peace talks with the Afghan government in mid March following the conclusion of Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) meeting on Afghan grinding of the peace processor.

The QCG members, including Afghanistan, Pakistain, United States and China called on krazed killer groups to join peace talks with the Afghan government in a bid to end the ongoing violence in the country.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar


'He is scared of cats. How can he become a suicide bomber?'
[DAWN] SPIN BOLDAK: At first glance Mohibullah looks an ordinary Afghan teenager, wide-eyed with a tender smile, a little peach fuzz and a boyish dream of becoming a kick boxer. But this 15-year-old is languishing in prison ─ tossed in the clink
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
after the Taliban preyed on him to become a jacket wallah.

The runaway teen was apprehended in 2014 as he was about to blow himself up outside a district governor's office ─ a failed mission that has left him locked up in juvenile detention in southern Kandahar city.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  The runaway teen was apprehended in 2014 as he was about to blow himself up outside a district governor's office

Should've had a Guard Cat
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2016 15:22 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Libyan parliament postpones vote on unity government
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A vote of confidence expected to be held Monday on a new UN-backed Libyan unity government was postponed until Tuesday, a parliament member told Al Arabiya News Channel. A special session of the internationally-recognized parliament, to be held in the eastern city of Tobruk, failed to take place.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Protests against French forces in Mali turn deadly
[FRANCE24] Demonstrators stormed an airport runway in northern Mali on Monday to protest against arrests by French forces of people suspected of links to Islamist Lions of Islam who operate in the region, local officials and witnesses said.

Security forces fired warning shots and teargas to deter the mostly female protesters in the town of Kidal who also ransacked and set fire to airport facilities, said a local official, witnesses and the U.N. mission in Mali, MINUSMA.

The protests appear to mark a deterioration in relations between foreign forces and the local community in Kidal, a town at the centre of a separatist movement and violence by Islamist Lion of Islams, some of whom are linked to al Qaeda.

One person died and six were maimed, said Ahmoudane Ag Ikmasse, who represents Kidal in the national assembly. Ikmasse said he was in the capital Bamako but was in contact with people in Kidal.

A doctor in Kidal’s health centre said two died from gunshot wounds.

It was not clear why the airport was targeted or why women were the main participants in the protest.

The U.N. mission was not immediately able to confirm the corpse count and it was not clear how many people were involved in the protests. A French military front man declined to comment.

"MINUSMA is contact with the Malian authorities and leaders of local communities as well as those from civil society, aiming to ease tensions and understanding the circumstances of the events," the mission said in a statement.

MINUSMA and French forces have been stationed in northern Mali for about three years since separatists joined jihadists to seize the region from the government in Bamako.

Although La Belle France drove jihadists out of key towns in 2013, they have regrouped. In November, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb attacked a luxury hotel in the capital, killing 20 people and demonstrating a reach beyond their base.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
45 Boko Haram suspects in Kirikiri prison, group writes petition
[NAIJ] Over 45 suspected Boko Haram terrorists are reportedly being detained in Kirikiri maximum prison, Lagos. The Nation reports that the suspects have been in the prison awaiting trial since the last seven months, following an order by a magistrate, Adeola Adedayo of an Isolo magistrate court.

The Amnesty International has been called upon by a rights group, the Prisoners’ Rights Advocacy Initiative (PRAI), to carry out an independent investigation of the 45 suspected Boko Haram members arrested in Lagos last year, with a view to ascertaining their true status.

Recall that in September last year, operatives of the Department of State Services had arrested 45 suspected Boko Haram members in connection with a foiled attack on Dolphin estate, Ikoyi in Eti-Osa local government area of Lagos. The suspects were charged to a Lagos state magistrate’s court sitting in Isolo and the court ordered they be remanded in Kirikiri prisons in the state.

The petition, dated April 5, and signed by the PRAI director, Ahmed Adetola–Kazeem is entitled: Call for investigation and prevention of rights abuse of 45 terrrorism suspects detained in Kirikiri maximum prison since November. The petition was also sent to the executive secretary, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Lagos attorney-general and commissioner for justice.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Uncovered ammunition cache in Borno poses larger question -- How does Boko Haram get its funds?
[VENTURESAFRICA] The latest discovery made by the Nigerian army in a village in Borno state is a grave containing ammunition that is reportedly worth over N20 million. During a press briefing, Major General Leo Irabor noted that this "monumental recovery" was in conjunction with the Civilian Joint Task Force, who led them to the grave following a tip-off.

During the operation, the Nigerian army claims that they were able to recover "36 boxes of .50MM, a 5/20 lethal brief case, a mixture of 7.62 mm NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
and 7.62mm special, a 1/81 NATO tube, five AK-47 rifles, grenades, mortar bombs, a generator, Hilux van and several cycle of violences." According to Irabor, the arms and ammunition discovered by the army were enough to destroy a trained battalion. In addition to the missiles recovered, the army reportedly bumped off a few Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
gunnies as well.

Irabor stated that this discovery has confirmed the military’s earlier knowledge that Boko Haram operates several underground logistic bases in Borno state and its environs. This lends credence to the statement in Premium Times by Sani Usman (the Acting Director, Army Public relations), who said that the Nigerian army recently uncovered Boko Haram’s food storage. "To save for the rainy day, the gunnies had underground food storage facilities where they stocked large quantity of foodstuffs," Sani said in his statement.

With the recent discoveries, it is quite obvious that Boko Haram couldn’t have been able to get funds for food or sophisticated arms and ammunition without some external support or funding from an organization or country with an interest in their nefarious activities.

In 2014, Terrence McCoy, a writer at the Independent, explored how the Boko Haram terrorist group gets their capital. In his article, he noted that although analysts say the funding process for Boko Haram is "intricate and opaque," based on a survey of academic, governmental and journalistic accounts, Boko Haram funds are largely linked to "black market dealings, local and international benefactors, the al-Qaeda and other well-funded groups in the Middle East." Although there are speculations that some wealthy Islamic Lions of Islam may be involved in providing funds, weaponry and information to the gunnies group, it has not yet been confirmed.

Therefore, McCoy’s observation may explain why Boko Haram, which has pledged its allegiance to ISIS (the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and Syria) is in possession of modern and largely uncommon weaponry that can wipe out their opponents.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram

#1  Saudis? Just a guess!
Posted by: Raj || 04/19/2016 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  "36 boxes of .50MM, a 5/20 lethal brief case, a mixture of 7.62 mm NATO and 7.62mm special, a 1/81 NATO tube, five AK-47 rifles, grenades, mortar bombs, a generator, Hilux van and several cycle of violences."

Mmmm...from a warehouse in Libya?
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/19/2016 1:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Saudis? Just a guess!
Posted by Raj


An answer condensed from a lengthy 28 page report ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2016 8:41 Comments || Top||

#4  "Might be down to 26 pages now. We seem to have, uh, misplaced one or two."
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 04/19/2016 9:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Chad (more specifically its ruling party) may have been an original sponsor - that changed when Boko Haram decided to attack that nation.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/19/2016 12:32 Comments || Top||


UN amb. Samantha Power's motorcade hits, kills young boy in Cameroon
  • [DAILYMAIL.CO.UK] An armored jeep in a motorcade carrying United States Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power killed a boy on Monday

  • The young boy darted in the road near the small city of Moloko in northern Cameroon, where Power was to speak about Boko Haram

  • Power said she met with the boy's family to 'offer our profound condolences and our grief and heartbreak'
The kid's mother never told him not to run out from between parked cars.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "why would Willem Dafoe kill our child?"
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2016 15:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Any comment from Black Lives Matter yet?
Posted by: European Conservative || 04/19/2016 17:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Power said she met with the boy's family to 'offer our profound condolences and our grief and heartbreak'

Wonder if she'd have done the same thing if it had happened in Toronto, Tel Aviv, Melbourne, or Warsaw?
Posted by: Pappy || 04/19/2016 18:40 Comments || Top||

#4  "Jeebus. Why are we stopped? It's very hot and dusty here. Oh. Really. All right, let's get this shit over so we can get to our rooms. I need a shower"
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2016 20:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Got Frank G's joke after the link.

Pappy, you mean apologize or drive 60mph on a 2 lane residential road?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/19/2016 20:18 Comments || Top||

#6  ;-)
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2016 20:55 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemeni peace talks delayed as Houthis back out
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A Yemeni government front man has said the arrival of the Houthis delegation to peace talks has been delayed following disagreements between them and the ousted president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
Yemen’s Iranian catspaws backed out of UN-brokered peace talks just hours before the negotiations were due to start on Monday in Kuwait, demanding an immediate halt to Arclight airstrikes by the coalition according to two officials who spoke to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to news hounds.

It was not immediately clear if the negotiations were completely scuttled.

According to two media officials linked to the Houthis, rebel representatives have delayed their trip to Kuwait.

A UN-brokered cease-fire announced earlier this month has sought to facilitate the negotiations in Kuwait, though it has repeatedly been breached. Along with Sanaa, cities of Taiz, Marib and Jouf have seen most of the cease-fire violations.

At the talks, the Houthis were widely expected to comply with a UN Security Council resolution demanding their militia withdraw from Yemeni cities, the handover of the rebels’ heavy weapons to government forces and the release of detainees.

Representatives from both sides were also to be deployed along the front lines to monitor for cease-fire violations.

Also Monday, tens of thousands of Yemenis rallied in the port city of Aden, demanding the secession of the south from the rest of the country and the return of the one-time independent state of South Yemen.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Oman offers to calm Iran-Saudi oil row
[Iran Press TV] Oman
The country on the Arabian Peninsula next to Yemen. It is ruled by Sultan Caboose.
on Monday offered to narrow differences between Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and Iran over efforts to stabilize the global crude market.

"Oman has a good relationship, by the way, with everyone, not just Saudis and Iran, and we are prepared to see what is good for all of us," Oman’s Oil Minister Mohammed Al Rumhy told Bloomberg TV.

"I’m willing to talk to anyone."

Rumhy said he was disappointed but not surprised over the failure of Doha talks among world’s biggest crude producers to freeze output to the levels that existed in January.

"It was expected that there would be problems because in the buildup to Doha, there were a lot of talks about Iran not joining and Saudis insisting on having Iran on board," he said.

One suggestion to advance the talks that wasn’t considered at the Doha meeting is to set the cap based on maximum production, Rumhy said.

"The reality is in the fields. Most of us have peaked, with the exception of maybe one or two, so if we say look, everybody is producing at a maximum level, let’s try to agree on where we are now and then move forward."

Producers should try to get consensus on a freeze by the time OPEC meets in June, Rumhy said.

"Hopefully those who were not on board yesterday will be on board by June. From now on until June, we would be working on trying to convince everyone else that the freeze is the right way to do it."

Producers should still work on reaching a deal, Rumhy said, offering to facilitate discussions.

Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh on Monday described a plan to implement a freeze on the output of key oil producers as a "new sanction" against the country’s oil industry.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia


Europe
More than 200 Somalis drowned in Mediterranean
Dozens of African migrants have reportedly drowned after a boat carrying 400 people capsized in the Mediterranean Sea.

Most of the 400 migrants aboard the boat were fleeing from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea and had been hoping to reach Italy. Somali media reports say that rescue workers have only managed to save 29 passengers from the waters after the shocking incident.

Over 400 migrants are thought to have drowned, the Somali ambassador in Egypt told BBC Arabic.

Social media users have claimed that the boat had started its journey in Egypt with Italy being its intended destination, a route favoured by many smugglers.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  200+ fewer pirates, I suppose
Posted by: Raj || 04/19/2016 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  You ever try swimming with a DShK and 500 rnds of ammo ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2016 8:47 Comments || Top||

#3  At least the Turks had the decency to sell life jackets to these people before they got into the boats. And it's a good bet that not one of them ever learned to swim.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 04/19/2016 11:24 Comments || Top||

#4  I guess they won't make it to Dodge City.
Posted by: bman || 04/19/2016 12:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Are their sharks in the Mediterranean? Can we make it happen? Or at least stock with ill tempered sea bass with frickin lasers on their heads?
Posted by: regular joe || 04/19/2016 14:04 Comments || Top||

#6  "As God is my witness, I thought Somalis could swim."
Posted by: SteveS || 04/19/2016 14:37 Comments || Top||

#7  SteveS----That is very cruel, but witty. WKRP, one of their best episodes.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/19/2016 15:54 Comments || Top||

#8  Should have paid for the upgrade to the premium service.

Funny how the reporting never mentions the money involved and where it comes from. A few million migrant colonists X a few thousand per head and we are talking billions of dollars.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/19/2016 17:34 Comments || Top||

#9  At least the Turks had the decency to sell life jackets to these people before they got into the boats.

What odds the January arrests got all the manufacturers of fake life vests in Turkey?
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2016 19:12 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Thousands at Tel Aviv rally call for release of IDF soldier charged in Hebron shooting
Frustration, anger, racist chants and the lionization of a jailed IDF soldier were in full effect in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv Tuesday night, as a few thousand people rallied in support of Sgt. Elor Azarya, the day after he was charged with manslaughter.

As chants of "he’s a hero" were heard around him, 60-year-old Edi Arusilevi of Petach Tikva said he came "because we must support the IDF, it’s our family", adding that "people who sit in offices all day and are judging Azarya don’t understand what soldiers go through."
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/19/2016 16:04 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria says Israel collaborating with militants in Golan Heights
[Iran Press TV] Syria's envoy to the United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
says Israeli regime has been collaborating with the Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
ISIS turbans and al-Qaeda linked holy warriors in the occupied Golan Heights.

Bashar Ja'afari made the remarks during a press briefing after meeting the UN's special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, at peace talks in the Swiss city of Geneva on Monday.

The Syrian official also denounced as "provocative" an Israeli cabinet meeting recently held in the occupied region.

"It is an irresponsible provocation committed by Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of the Israeli occupation force," Ja'afari said, noting, "This Israeli provocation ... confirms without any doubt the cooperation between Israel and turbans of ISIS and Nusra Front on the demarcation line between where the Golan is and UN troops are positioned."

Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu at the beginning of a cabinet meeting in the occupied territory on Sunday ruled out any possibility of returning the occupied Golan Heights to Syria, saying Israel will lay claim to it forever.

The Sunday meeting was held in defiance of international law that requires Israel to return Golan to Syria.

Israel’s returning of Golan to its rightful owner is part of a draft agreement being drawn up during peace talks currently under way in Geneva for the objective of ending the deadly five-year conflict in Syria.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Syrian opposition chief: If it weren't for Israel, Assad wouldn't still be in power

Whom to believe?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/19/2016 16:07 Comments || Top||


Palestinian heavyweights pop up in offshore dealings documents
[Dhaka Tribune] Ever since the inception of the Paleostinian Authority (PA) in 1994, local and international organizations have repeatedly issued reports on the rampant corruption plaguing its ministries and departments. The problem is not limited to administrative and financial excesses committed by irresponsible individuals for personal motives, but rather is seems entrenched in the PA’s structure.

The most recent corruption case was revealed by the so-called "Panama Papers," which were published early this month. The Panama Papers exposed the involvement of international figures, which also includes notable Paleostinians, in tax evasion and money laundering,

Tareq Abbas, the son of Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  Suha Arafat could shed some light on this...
Posted by: Pappy || 04/19/2016 12:45 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Kerry to meet Iran foreign minister on Tuesday
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in New York on Tuesday to discuss implementation of the Iran nuclear deal and ways Tehran can use its influence to end Syria’s civil war, US officials said on Monday.

Kerry is expected to raise Tehran’s concerns over difficulties with accessing the global financial system despite the lifting of some US sanctions under the nuclear deal.

Iran and six world powers clinched the nuclear agreement in July 2015, which allowed for the easing of some sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and United Nations in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear program.

Tehran has called on the United States to do more to remove obstacles to the banking sector so that businesses feel comfortable with investing in Iran without penalties.

Current US policy bars foreign banks from clearing dollar-based transactions with Iran through US banks. But US officials have said the Obama administration is considering ways in which non-US companies can use the dollar in some business transactions with Iran.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  How loudly will Mr. Zarif be yelling at Jawn-Jawn this time?
Posted by: Raj || 04/19/2016 0:29 Comments || Top||


Syria, Iraq crises sparked by US interventions: Analyst
[Iran Press TV] Political and military interventions by the United States and its allies have sparked the ongoing crises in Syria and Iraq that have taken thousands of lives, says an author and political commentator.

Jack Lauria made the comments in an interview on Monday with Press TV over Washington’s plans to increase the number of special operations forces in Syria and deploy Apache helicopter gunships to the battlefield in Iraq.

"The major reason over the last century for the crises that has beset the Middle East and North Africa, has been intervention by Western powers," Lauria said.

He said the ongoing crisis in Iraq has been particularly sparked by the US invasion in 2003 that gave rise to the ISIS (ISIS) Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
group.

Lauria argued that Washington, along with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and other Persian Gulf allies directly supported the terror group and helped it take parts of Syria under control as well.

"The issue now is what does the US do? What is the responsibility of the United States now that they have created this mess? Do they just walk away or there is more intervention needed," he noted.

Lauria said Washington’s objectives in Syria were suspicious considering its record of training anti-government faceless myrmidons in the country.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Iran vows to defend Muslim states
[DAWN] Iran’s Presi­dent Hassan Rouhani on Sunday vowed to defend Muslim countries against terrorism and Israel while insisting that its neighbours should not feel threatened.

Speaking during a Natio­nal Army Day parade in which Iranian forces displayed sophisticated air defe­nce systems recently acq­uired from Russia, Mr Rouh­ani praised Tehran’s role in helping the Syrian and Iraqi governments roll back the krazed killer Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group.

"If tomorrow your capitals face danger from terrorism or Zionism, the power that will give you a positive answer is the Islamic Repub­lic of Iran," he said. But he added that Iran would only help if Muslim countries asked it to, and said its military power was purely for defensive and deterrent purposes. "The power of our armed forces is not against our south­ern, northern, eastern and western neighbours," he said.

The Iranian president appeared to be referring to Gulf Arab states, which have long viewed Iran as seeking to dominate the region.

During the parade, the army displayed Russian-made S-300 air defence missiles delivered earlier this month.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran



Who's in the News
26[untagged]
7Taliban
6Govt of Iran
5Islamic State
4Govt of Syria
3Boko Haram
2Govt of Pakistain Proxies
2Houthis
2Hamas
2Commies
2Govt of Saudi Arabia
1al-Qaeda
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1Arab Spring
1Baloch Liberation Army
1Govt of Pakistan
1Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar
1Palestinian Authority
1Sublime Porte
1al-Shabaab

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Wed 2016-04-13
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Mon 2016-04-11
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Sat 2016-04-09
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Fri 2016-04-08
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Wed 2016-04-06
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