[NATION.PK] Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour's brief rule, which ended with his death in a drone strike, was marked by mistrust and strife.
Mansour, who was believed to be in his mid-50s, was reported killed by an Arclight airstrike in southwestern Pakistain on Saturday, according to U.S. and Afghan officials. However a senior Taliban capo told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that he was killed Friday night.
Since his takeover of the movement following the announcement last year of founder Mullah Mohammed Omar's death, Mansour had battled other Taliban capos. He eventually enlisted the powerful semi-independent faction known as the Haqqani network to cajole important commanders back into the fold and promised positions on the leadership council to entice Mullah Omar
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... has said the Afghan government is close to conclude a peace deal with Hezb-e-Islami led by 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... Speaking during a cabinet meeting today, Abdullah said negotiations between the High Peace Council and Hezb-e-Islami are underway.
Abdullah further added that the national interests of the country and the Afghan people are a top priority in all key issues, insisting that there will be no negligence in this regard.
He also emphasized that anyone joining grinding of the peace processor should lay down arms, stop insurgency activities, respect the Afghan constitution and reach to an agreement with the government.
In other parts of his speech, Abdullah hailed the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces (ANSDF) for their devotion and commitment and said the Afghan people remains thankful to armed forces of the country.
The remarks by Abdullah comes as the Afghan government signed the draft peace agreement with Hezb-e-Islami last week.
Deputy Chief Executive Mohammad Khan told news hounds last week that the draft agreement has been signed and will become enforceable once the Hezb-e-Islami party signs it.
Khan further added that the group has agreed to have no links with the anti-government armed holy warrior groups, insisting that Hekmatyar’s only demand is to remove his name from the international blacklist.
Meanwhilel, the United States has welcomed political negotiations between the Afghan government and Hezb-e-Islami party led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
"We support an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned process for a negotiated resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan," said John Kirby, front man of the US Department of State.
Kirby further added that all relevant groups, including Hezb-e-Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, should be a part of such a political dialogue so that Afghans can talk directly to other Afghans about the future of their country.
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[Tolo News] Reaction was swift and widespread on Sunday following the Pentagon's announcement that the Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was likely killed in a U.S drone strike in a remote area along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistain.
The response to the news by Afghans was also largely celebratory, as many believe that Mansour - after taking charge as new leader - planned deadly attacks on certain facilities in Afghanistan and against the people in both the capital and provinces .
[Al Ahram] Sudan has "de facto expelled" a senior United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... official after refusing to renew his "stay permit" for another year, a UN statement said on Sunday.
The foreign ministry informed the UN in Sudan that the annual permit for Ivo Freijsen, who heads the Sudan office of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), will not be renewed when it expires on June 6, the statement said.
"This is despite the request for a 12-month extension of his stay permit... which was submitted on 10 April 2016," it said, adding that the ministry did not provide an explanation in writing for its decision.
"The action by the government of Sudan is inconsistent with the fundamental principles of the international civil service enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations... to which Sudan is a party."
Freijsen, who is Dutch, is the fourth senior UN official to be expelled from Sudan over the past two years, the statement said.
His expulsion comes in addition to the "forced closure of international NGO Tearfund in December 2015 and the de facto expulsion of three international NGO country representatives in recent months", it said.
Freijsen was appointed to the post in February 2014, his sixth official appointment in Sudan.
He has worked for more than a decade in Sudan during a career spanning 23 years and more than 15 countries.
"During 12 years at OCHA he has led principled humanitarian coordination work, focusing on providing life-saving and emergency assistance to people in need," the statement said.
The Humanitarian Country Team, a top level coordinating agency among various UN agencies and NGOs in Sudan, expressed "shock and disappointment" at Freijsen's expulsion.
The team "is concerned about the impact of this decision on the operating environment for all humanitarian organizations in Sudan", a statement said.
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[Libya Herald] In a bid to encourage diplomats to return to Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , the head of the Temporary Security Committee (TSC) set up by the Presidency Council (PC), Abdulrahman Al-Tawil, has announced that plans are in hand to secure embassies and other diplomatic premises in the capital.
We had guys protecting our ambassador in Benghazi. We all know how well that worked...
Speaking yesterday, he said that along with safeguarding the safety of the Presidency Council itself, it was the first step towards securing the entire city.
However, a woman is only as old as she admits... Libya-accredited diplomats who have quit Tripoli, mostly for Tunis, almost unanimously say that they will not return until the entire city is safe.
It is certainly not deemed so at the moment. The spate of kidnappings that has plagued it has continued despite the presence of the Presidency Council and the TSC. Many victims have been held for ransom, allegedly by members of militias now supposedly providing security for the PC.
Today, the manager of one of the departments at the Libyan Centre for the Study of Terrorism was reported to have been seized in the city. Abdulnasser Al-Bishti was taken while on his way to work in the west Tripoli suburb of Hay Andalus.
He is thought to have been kidnapped by brigands wanting a ransom although it is not known which brigade they belong to.
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05/23/2016 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] Claims that Khalifa Hafter has ordered Government of National Accord (GNA) defence minister Mahdi Al-Barghathi back to Benghazi or be court martialled are not true, Libyan National Army (LNA) front man Ahmed Mismari has told the Libya Herald.
"The day he went to Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , he chose not to be part of the Libyan armed forces," Mismari said. "We are no longer responsible for him."
An Emirati news site has been quoted claiming that "a high ranking" officer belonging to Hafter’s command had told it on Saturday that Barghathi told to resign from the government and return to Benghazi or be punished.
Mismari said that the LNA was aware of the report but it was false.
It was also not true that members of the 204 Tank Brigade, of which Barghathi was commander, had threatened anyone who was opposed to his becoming defence minister in the GNA, he said. On the contrary, the LNA had appointed a new commander and changed the name of the brigade, and this was happily accepted by the members.
Mismari, however, did not name the new commander, saying that for security reasons it had to be withheld but that an announcement would be made shortly.
For his part, Barghathi has moved to heal the breach with Hafter.
In an interview in Tripoli with Libya’s Channel TV station, he noted that Hafter had said he supported the legitimacy of the House of Representatives (HoR). "This is what Libyans want", Barghathi said. They certainly did not want to be ruled over in the name of religion or by militias ‐ a key Hafter position.
Both the GNA forces and the LNA had to unite to fight IS, Barghathi stressed. Otherwise "ISIS’s fire will burn Libya". The GNA, he said, wanted to work "in cooperation with the leadership of the military institution" in the war against terror. But the army was not there not serve any individual, party or tribe. Its aim is to protect Libya and Libyans, he said.
Despite the apparent current divide between him and the LNA, he also stated that he had had "a cordial meeting" with boycotting Presidency Council member Ali Gatrani and a number of members of the HoR and that they had talked about the army.
Gatrani is a firm supporter of Hafter.
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[Times of India] WASHINGTON: Ignoring objections of the White House, the Republican majority House of Representatives has approved the National Defense Authorisation Act which blocks $450 million aid to Pakistan for failing to take action against the dreaded Haqqani network.
The NDAA 2017 (H R 4909) was passed by the US House of Representative (277-147) on Wednesday night, which among others included approval of three major amendments reflecting the strong anti-Pak sentiment prevailing among the US lawmakers. HR 4909 or more commonly referred to as the Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour bill. Believe me, it will be paid.
[Tolo News] Former head of the Afghan National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) Rahmatullah Nabil and ex-US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad have said that the killing of the Taliban's leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in Pakistain territory could be a dangerous issue for Pakistain.
Speaking to TOLOnews, Khalilzad said that Pakistain will change into a second North Korea by pursuing a partial policy of supporting the bad boys.
According to Khalilzad, the attack could expand rifts within the group and the Pakistain spy agency, ISI, will likely try to appoint Sirajuddin Haqqani ...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network.... as the Taliban's new leader.
The U.S drone strike on Mansour, 70 kilometers inside Pak territory, has drawn strong reactions from the U.S and Afghan intelligence officials and politicians. Analysts say that the attack could be an alarm for Pakistain.
The attack happened just days after the U.S Congress leveled strong criticism against Pakistain over its reluctance to target bad boy groups and the Taliban leadership.
According to Nabil meanwhile, the attack has complicated facets, but that it will increase the morale of the Afghans security forces on the battlefields.
"I think there are three important aspects to Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour's killing, the first issue is that if the attack came as part of a joint intelligence sharing mission between Pakistain and the US, then Pakistain would have taken the decision for its national interests as part of Pakistain's struggle to reduce US criticism. The second is that Pakistain strived to nominate Sirajuddin Haqqani as deputy head of the Taliban's military wing, however Pakistain did this in line with its own interests. Haqqani has a lot of money and his involvement in drug smuggling boosted his capabilities to launch Taliban's military operations," Nabil said.
"The third is that Pakistain likely tried to remove a failed and weak Taliban leader, because Mansour was ranked in the third or fourth categories of Taliban and it was Pakistain that brought him up to this level, but this was a wrong decision by Pakistain, now that Mansour is no longer alive, Pakistain will try to designate a powerful Taliban figure as a new leader and this could be Zakir Abdul Qayoum or Mullah Baradar," he said.
"ISI is likely to convene another mass gathering as it did for Mullah Mansour and ISI will provide security for it. This time it can be a mass gathering or a small gathering in the corner of a Madrasa where they will invite a few people and will issue the decree. It has implications in the short term, because the idea of the world and the U.S about Haqqani is quite clear and this can complicate the grinding of the peace processor in Afghanistan," Nabil further said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea, one that didn't involve kerosene... former U.S ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmai Khalilzad has said that the U.S can increase pressure on Pakistain.
"Targeting the Taliban leader inside Pak territory itself is a big issue. Because the U.S had rejected the assumption that Taliban leaders will not be targeted inside Pakistain. Following this, the Taliban leaders will live there with fear and they (Taliban) must realize that they are no longer safe in their hideouts and the one who rejects peace with the Afghan government will be killed, this indicates that the U.S policy toward Pakistain is now harsher and pressure has increased," said Khalilzad.
Mansour's killing has also drawn positive reaction from a number of U.S senators and members of congress.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Taliban supreme leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor’s relations had deteriorated with Pakistain since he assumed the charge of Taliban leadership, succeeding the group’s founder Mullah Mohammad Omar.
According to the diplomatic sources quoted in a report by a local newspaper in Pakistain, Mullah Mansoor’s death would not cause any major concerns in Pakistain’s power circles.
The sources claimed that Mullah Mansour had some ties with the Paks in the past but relations became strained after he became leader of the Afghan Taliban, Dawn newspaper reported.
According to the report, Pakistain made several attempts in the recent past to persuade him to join the reconciliation talks but he refused.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pound, the little lost dog backed into the corner and showed its teeth. And what big teeth they were!... diplomatic observers said that Mullah Mansour’s death would further fragment the Taliban movement, which split into several factions after Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... ’s death.
"His death will have both negative and positive consequences," said one diplomatic source. "Sometimes, it is easier to deal with a unified leadership and sometimes a weakened leadership is better. We have to wait and see how this unfolds."
Mullah Mansoor has likely been killed in a drone strike carried out by the US forces, targeting his vehicle in southwest of the town of Ahmad Wal.
The appointment of Mullah Mansoor as the new Supreme Leader of Taliban led to widening rift among the Taliban ranks which resulted into deadly festivities on numerous occassions among his supporters and the dissident Taliban leaders.
Mansoor was however supported by the notorious Haqqani terrorist network which is also believed to be based in Pakistain as the network’s leader was appointed as the deputy chief of the Taliban group.
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#1
"Deteriorated," eh?
Our resident Boer recently mused that the 'Bin Ladin Favour' has recently expired and wondered what else the Paks had in stock.
#4
Besoeker - No doubt that OBL was sold. I assumed the one that had the most to gain is the one that whispered into our ear - Zawahiri.
The Pakis hold a serious grudge against us for the OBL embarrassment and five months later shut our supply lines through Pakistan down in an attempt to choke us out of Afghanistan. If a Paki General sold OBL out, he did it of his own accord.
I hope we are playing a long game here and make Pakistan pay a serious price when we no longer depend upon them.
#5
The Pakis hold a serious grudge against us for the OBL embarrassment....
I suspect the Paki discomfort came from the huge media event (books, movies, etc) conducted by the Champ regime. They would have preferred a much more discreet approach, hence the meaningless 'supply line' issue...which if I remember correctly, was resolved via the usual method.
#6
Concur on the 2012 resolution of the supply line issue via the usual method. They will continue to bleed us until the end.
Concur on your assessment of the Paki discomfort as well. Although if the Pakis did this as Hersh asserts, they certainly did not think the second and third orders of effect through. Obama is a trophy guy and a braggart and never considered a discreet post-op approach once this kill mission was deemed a success. It still gets under my skin - who in the hell authorizes a photographer in a SCIF Ops Center during a mission like that? Only Obama in order to record his heroic act.
#8
"Pakistain likely tried to remove a failed and weak Taliban leader, because Mansour was ranked in the third or fourth categories of Taliban and it was Pakistain that brought him up to this level, but this was a wrong decision by Pakistain, now that Mansour is no longer alive, Pakistain will try to designate a powerful Taliban figure as a new leader" - former Afghan NDS head Nabil
So, like bin Ladin, Mansour likely was "sold". The Paks get rid of damaged-goods, select a new Taliban leader, and do a favor for the Champ regime; a chit to be called in later.
[GEO.TV] A passport found at the site of a dronezap targeting Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour bears the name of a Pak man named Wali Muhammad, the Pak Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
The purported passport holder was believed to have returned to Pakistain from Iran on May 21, the day of the drone strike targeting Mansour.
One of the charred bodies has been identified as a local taxi driver but the badly burnt second body has not.
Photos of Muhammad´s passport seen by Rooters show a passing resemblance to some of the old photos available of Mansour, though the ministry did not directly comment on the possibility that Mansour had been travelling under another name.
"(Muhammad´s) passport was bearing a valid Iranian visa," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... had not been told about the drone strike in advance by Washington.
The ministry front man called the attack a violation of Pakistain’s illusory sovereignty.
Earlier, the Pak foreign office had said it was "seeking clarification" about a US drone strike against Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, after US officials said Mansour was likely killed in an air strike.
"I have seen the reports. We are seeking clarification," Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in a statement. He added that Pakistain wanted the Afghan Taliban to return to the negotiating table to end the long war in Afghanistan.
"Military action is not a solution," he added.
US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said on Sunday that Pakistain Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was notified of the air strike which took place a day earlier, but declined to elaborate on the timing of the notification.
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#1
Be interesting to find out whether it was a "business or leisure trip", as Hertz is wont to say.
[GEO.TV] Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... on Sunday said that reports are still not confirmed that Taliban leader Mullah Mansour has been killed in a US drone strike.
Speaking to media representatives after arriving here, the prime minister however confirmed that he had received a phone call from United States Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... on Saturday night at 10:30PM.
Kerry had informed him about the drone attack, he added, but maintained that he was informed about the strike after it had been conducted.
"Afterwards, I spoke with the army chief as well," he said.
Prime Minister Nawaz also said that the foreign office’s statement was a protest against the drone attack.
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising. And then he smelled the smoke... the Pak Foreign Ministry has said that a passport found at the site of a dronezap targeting Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour bears the name of a Pak man named Wali Muhammad.
The purported passport holder was believed to have returned to Pakistain from Iran on May 21, the day of the drone strike targeting Mansour.
One of the charred bodies has been identified as a local taxi driver but the badly burnt second body has not.
Photos of Muhammad´s passport seen by Rooters show a passing resemblance to some of the old photos available of Mansour, though the ministry did not directly comment on the possibility that Mansour had been travelling under another name.
"(Muhammad´s) passport was bearing a valid Iranian visa," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had not been told about the drone strike in advance by Washington.
The ministry front man called the attack a violation of Pakistain’s illusory sovereignty.
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[VOA News] The Afghan intelligence agency confirmed that Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor was killed in a U.S. Arclight airstrike in Pakistain near the Afghan border.
Pakistain says it was informed by the U.S. after the drone strike was carried out but lashed out at Washington for violating its "illusory sovereignty." Islamabad did not immediately confirm that Mansoor was killed.
U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said Sunday during a visit to Myanmar that Mansoor was targeted because he posed "an imminent threat to U.S. personnel, Afghan civilians, and Afghan cops," and that Mansoor "was directly opposed to peace negotiations."
Taliban officials have privately confirmed the death of their leader but are reluctant to be identified, saying any final determination will be made by the group's so-called Rahbari Shura or leadership council.
The drone strike occurred Saturday in Dalbandin, Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , according to Afghan intelligence agency NDS.
Passport and IDs found
The Pak statement and doctors at Quetta's Civil Hospital say two bodies were brought to the hospital, following what witnesses say was an Arclight airstrike on a taxi at Kochaki. The statement said the taxi driver's body was released to his relatives.
A passenger in the taxi, who is believed to be Mansoor, was carrying a Pak passport and an I.D. card with the name Wali Muhammad. The picture on the Pak passport resembles Mullah Mansoor, some Taliban sources confirmed to VOA.
Images from the scene showed a destroyed car.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraq’s army said on Sunday it was preparing to retake the ISIS stronghold of Fallujah and asked residents to get ready to leave, state TV reported.
Families who could not leave should raise white flags to mark their location in the city just went of Baghdad, the army’s media unit added, according to the TV channel.
Fallujah was the first Iraqi city to fall to ISIS in January 2014, six months before the group that emerged from al Qaeda swept through large parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria.
The army "is asking the citizens that are still in Fallujah to be prepared to leave the city through secured routes that will be announced later," the channel said.
The city on the Euphrates river 50 km (32 miles) west of the capital, had a pre-war population of around 300,000.
It is encircled by Iraqi forces and a coalition of Shi’ite militias known as Hashid Shaabi.
Known as the "City of Minarets and Mother of Mosques", Fallujah is a focus for Sunni Muslim faith and identity in Iraq. It was badly damaged in two offensives by U.S. forces against al Qaeda Death Eaters in 2004.
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#1
Known as the "City of Minarets and Mother of Mosques", Fallujah is a focus for Sunni Muslim faith and identity in Iraq.
Baghdad also wants to take Fallujah because that's where they believe the Sunnis Islamic State are launching their attacks from.
Israel's ambassador to the United States slammed on Sunday the "fiction" that a partner for peace exists within the Palestinian Authority, warning of a hostile reaction from Jerusalem to any effort to impose terms of a two-state solution through international bodies.
Addressing The Jerusalem Post's annual conference in New York, Ron Dermer, a close confidante to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that world powers supporting an initiative by France to outline parameters for peace between Israel and the Palestinians are "ignoring the will of the free people who live in the most endangered democracy on Earth."
"These powers, albeit with the best of intentions, will only encourage the Palestinians to continue their 100 year campaign to destroy the one and only Jewish state," Dermer told the crowd.
"Such an effort will not only prevent peace today," he said, but could prevent peace "for decades to come" and bolster international efforts to delegitimize Israel. The degenerates running the world applying their version of 'transgender restroom logic' to the problem.
[Ynet] Following six months of knife attacks targeting both civilians and military personnel, the IDF has invented a neck collar for its soldiers to wear to reduce the risk of their dying if attacked.
In the past six months, Paleostinian attackers have stabbed dozens of Israeli civilians and soldiers. While civilians have usually been attacked in the stomach, soldiers are stabbed either in arms and legs, or in the neck as the assailants know they are wearing bullet-proof vests.
So the Israeli army has developed a neck collar made of the same material as the bullet-proof vest, an invention that has cut down on fatal attacks of soldiers, Col. Hagay Frenkel, the chief medical officer of the Central Command, an area that includes the West Bank, and its 2.5 million Paleostinians, told The Media Line in an exclusive interview. He said that soldiers don’t always like to wear it in 100 degree heat, but it has already saved lives.
Continued on Page 49
In an age of fewer Pontius Pilates
Leathernecks strode against Barbary Pirates
Their scimitars thus blunted
And expansionism blunted
The Arabs then plundered their own mates.
[Ynet] Several Israeli companies have been working on advanced solution to fight terrorism more effectively and without putting security personnel at harm's way, including an automatic interrogation of suspects at airports, advanced cameras with facial recognition software, and radar that pinpoints drones flying in sensitive air space.
BLUF:
Identifying terrorists' anxiety before an attack SDS was founded in 2004 by Eran Drukman, formerly vice president of sales at Nice Ltd., Gal Peleg, a senior algorithm developer formerly with Comverse, the late Yeshayahu Horowitz, formerly the head of the polygraph division with the Israel Police, and Shabtai Shoval. The company was financed by the US Department of Homeland Security and has worked closely with the Israeli defense establishment in developing its technology.
According to Shoval, the sensors the system uses can identify changes in suspects’ physiology or increasing anxiety before an attack from a distance and thereby aid in the identification of attackers entering public spaces, such as airport terminals, stadiums and subway stations.
[CTV] Abu Sayyaf insurgents in the Philippines have released a new video of the three hostages abducted from a resort last fall, including Canadian Robert Hall.
In footage released Sunday, Hall is dressed in an orange T-shirt wearing handcuffs. Two fellow captives, a man from Norway and a woman from the Philippines, are seated on the ground next to him. Hall pleads with Philippine president elect Rodrigo Duterte to "work on our behalf as soon as possible to get us out of here."
"It appears my government has abandoned me and my family in this endeavour," he said.
To his family and friends, Hall says, "I know you did everything you can. I truly appreciate it. I’m sorry I got you in this mess."
Canadian hostage John Ridsdel, who was kidnapped with the three others, was beheaded on April 25. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the time that the Canadian government refuses to negotiate with terrorists.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Rebel groups Sunday set a 48-hour deadline for the US and Russian sponsors of a February ceasefire in Syria’s conflict to halt a regime offensive in the Damascus region.
"We are giving the sponsors of the ceasefire 48 hours to rescue what remains of the accord and to force the criminal regime of (President Bashar al-) Assad and his allies to completely and immediately halt their brutal offensive against Daraya and Eastern Ghouta," 29 rebel groups said in a statement.
"In view of the regime’s offensive against all the liberated regions, in particular Daraya... we consider the ceasefire accord to have totally collapsed," the groups said.
Continued on Page 49
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[AnNahar] 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.... group appeared to try to keep morale high among its supporters in a new audio message released on Saturday, which also called for attacks on the U.S. during the holy month of Ramadan.
The audio recording reportedly featuring IS front man Abu Mohammed al-Adnani was posted online late Saturday evening after much fanfare by IS supporters on Twitter.
"Will we be defeated if we lose djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , or Sirte, or Raqa, or all the cities, and go back to how we were before?" Adnani said.
The three cities are IS's strongholds in Iraq, Libya, and Syria respectively.
"No. Defeat is only losing the desire and the will to fight," Adnani continued, in his first voiced speech since October.
The front man appeared to mock the United States, which is leading a coalition of countries in an air war against IS in Iraq and Syria, for failing to definitively defeat IS.
He said even "20,000 air strikes" by the coalition had not destroyed IS.
Adnani also called for attacks on the U.S. and Europe during the holy month of Ramadan, which starts in early June this year, an appeal he made at the same time last year when urging supporters to seek "martyrdom".
On Friday, flyers apparently dropped by the coalition on Raqa city in northern Syria urged residents to leave the city, perhaps ahead of an offensive by anti-IS forces to recapture it.
"It would appear IS is more clearly acknowledging its limitations in holding territory" while stressing the "idea of living on despite losses," wrote jihadism expert Aymenn al-Tamimi in reaction to Adnani's recording.
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[Daily Caller] A Washington, D.C., non-profit that allegedly acted as a key proxy for the Obama administration to help push the Iran nuclear deal reportedly spent millions on various media outlets in order to promote reporting and analysis of the resulting nuclear agreement.
Ploughshares Fund provided over 90 grants to various organizations in 2015 in order to engage in reporting, research and analysis on Iranian nuclear issues. The over 90 grants given out in 2015 nearly doubles those the organization provided in 2014, and triples the amount given in 2013. Ploughshares increases in grant funding directly coincides with the time period during which the Iran nuclear deal was being finalized and presented to Congress.
The non-profit was named directly by Ben Rhodes, President Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication, in a piece for New York Times Magazine as one of the groups that he and his team utilized to spin the Iran nuclear deal to the American public. In the piece, Rhodes claimed he and his team created an "echo chamber" which involved various friendly journalists and organizations.
The organizations and individuals which received the grants spanned from National Public Radio (NPR), which received $100,000 for " reporting that emphasizes the themes of US nuclear weapons policy and budgets, Iran's nuclear program, international nuclear security topics and US policy toward nuclear security," to think tanks such as the RAND Institute which was given $40,000 to write "a series of articles that analyze specific elements of the diplomatic agreement with Iran on its nuclear program."
#6
#4 Ploughshares is financed by KAPO billionaire George Sorosâ Open Society Institute.
I'd wondered where the money came from that they were handing out so freely -- J Street got over half a million dollars to be the "pro-Israel" voice pushing the thing.
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Of a piece with Ploughshares' Iran policy is the organization's support for the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), the Iranian regime’s principal lobbyist in the United States. A few facts about NIAC.....ValJar, etc.
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I remember reading somewhere (some libertarian blogger in 1990es) "The amazing thing about politicians is not that they're for sale. The amazing thing is how cheap!"
#11
I remember reading somewhere (some libertarian blogger in 1990es) "The amazing thing about politicians is not that they're for sale. The amazing thing is how cheap!"
More concerning is that all news reporting is becoming 'sponsored'.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[NATION.PK] Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour's brief rule, which ended with his death in a drone strike, was marked by mistrust and strife.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
[Tolo News] Former head of the Afghan 
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraq’s army said on Sunday it was preparing to retake the ISIS stronghold of Fallujah and asked residents to get ready to leave, state TV reported.
