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At least 17 killed in attack on restaurant in Burkina Faso
Today's Headlines
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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3 09:19 Mullah Richard [2]
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4 15:09 trailing wife [4]
4 23:19 Zenobia Floger6220 [5]
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Page 4: Opinion
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Africa North
Egypt's investment minister inspects development projects in North Sinai
Carrots for the residents against the military stick for ISIS in the Sinai.
[AlAhram] Egypt's Investment and International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr followed up on the implementation of development projects in North Sinai by the Armed Forces, stressing that "developing Sinai is key to eliminating terrorism."

The Sinai Development Programme includes 12 financing agreements with the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) as well as other financing agreements with Arab funds including the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development, which is contributing to Sinai development with approximately $900 million, according to a statement on the ministry's website.

The programme includes establishing six water desalination plants and connecting electricity to 26 Bedouin areas.

The minister hailed the rate of progress of implementing the projects, saying that "the president instructed the government to quickly complete development projects in Sinai given their role in providing services to citizens, such as providing youth and women with job opportunities and raising the standards of living."

Nasr stressed her keenness on supporting women, emphasising that priority has been given to grants targeting the most vulnerable groups, noting that she is interested in supporting Bedouin women given their role in raising future generations.

During her visit to North Sinai, the minister checked the establishment of development zones at the El-Nathila 1 and El-Nathila 2 areas in El-Nakhl City, financed by the SFD with $340 million.

The El-Nathila 1 project, which is 30 percent complete, involves developing an agricultural area of over 1,000 feddans.

Al-Nathila 2, which is 65 percent complete, involves developing an agricultural area of over 100 feddans.
The feddan is a measure of land area equal to 1.038 acres (0.42 hectares). It is still used in Egypt after the change to the metric system, as well as in Syria, Sudan and Oman. One feddan is supposed to be the amount of land an Arabic-speaking yoke of oxen can plow in a certain amount of time.
Both al-Nathila complexes include a residential area with 105 homes for local Bedouins over 175 square metres, a Diwan, a mosque, an elementary school, a health unit, a sports arena, and a shopping complex.

The minister also inspected the development zone at Taweel El-Hamed in El-Nakhl City, where the development of agricultural land is 85 percent complete.

She also inspected the development zone at Abu Rusasa Village, which has 50 feddans agricultural of land as well as two schools for basic education that include 11 classrooms divided into two kindergarten classes, six classes for the elementary stage and three for the preparatory stage.

The latter project will be implemented by Egypt's Armed Forces, North Sinai governorate, and the Sinai Development Agency in coordination with the General Authority for Educational Building.

Nasr also inspected the establishment of two schools at El-Swan and Wadi El-Haj villages, as well as the Taba Tunnel Road Development Project, which is financed by the SFD with $280 million and aims to serve the new residential areas east of the Suez Canal. The project is 34 percent complete.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is the first time in what that anyone has gotten somewhere with the Sinai?

Am I wrong?
Posted by: newc || 08/14/2017 1:16 Comments || Top||

#2  The Bedouin have long complained of being neglected, newc -- is that what you mean?
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/14/2017 15:15 Comments || Top||

#3  and when IS cuts off the water and electricity, the populace will be soooo pleased, amirite?
Posted by: Frank G on the Road || 08/14/2017 15:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Yes. At some point you need the locals "hearts and minds".
Posted by: newc || 08/14/2017 15:43 Comments || Top||

#5  At some point you need the locals "hearts and minds".

What would Teddy Roosevelt say?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/14/2017 15:53 Comments || Top||

#6  Arabic-speaking yoke of oxen

Out East, where their kind, refined shyness
Aligns with a dry, bovine slyness,
That ox chewing gum
As he tries to look dumb
Might be somebody's Thomas Aquinas.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 08/14/2017 21:29 Comments || Top||


Derna Shura Council vows to hand over body of pro-Haftar pilot
[Libya Observer] Derna Shura Council said Sunday that it would hand over the body of the pilot Adel al-Jahani to a committee of the city's elders, which will coordinate with his family for taking the body.

"We have been keeping al-Jahani's body for ten days as a tit-for-tat reaction as Dignity Operation had kept the body of one of our fighters for more than two weeks, let alone crucifying him." The Derna Shura Council added in its statement.

It explained as well that it kept the body without doing it any harm, unlike what Dignity Operation forces did to the council's fighters.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Alamo, Davy was counting their remaining cannon balls and not liking the results...
Derna elders and dignitaries council announced earlier the formation of a committee to receive the body of the pilot, who was killed as his fighter jet was downed on August 02 by Derna Shura Council.

Dignity Operation retaliated for the downing by shutting down all entrances of Derna disallowing the residents from going out or in leading to worsened living conditions amid shortages of food, fuel and medicines.

On August 10, the municipality of Derna, elders council and civil societies all issued a joint emergency shout-out to the officials in Libya telling them to save Derna from a looming humanitarian disaster due to the siege on the city by Haftar-led forces.

Posted by: Fred || 08/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Arabia
Houthis seize passports of 2,000 pilgrims to block Hajj travel
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Awqaf for the Department of Hajj and Umrah in Yemen, Mukhtar al-Rabash, said that the Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
militias and snuffies loyal to ousted president Saleh had seized the passports of over 2,000 pilgrims and obstructed the departure of hundreds of others from areas under their control.

He said in a statement to the Yemeni official news agency that the checkpoints of the coup militias confiscated the passports of many of the pilgrims, which caused delay to the schedule of Hajj arrivals toward Mecca as agreed with Saudi authorities.

Posted by: Fred || 08/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


The Grand Turk
Jailed HDP co-chair Demirtas claims AKP-MHP alliance will soon go to snap election
[Hurriyet Daily News] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have begun preparations for snap elections, incarcerated
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas has claimed.

"The alliance between the AKP and the MHP has begun preparations for snap elections. This is why they are keeping me and my friends behind bars," Demirtas said in a message sent to the HDP’s ongoing "conscience and justice" event in Van on Aug. 13.

Demirtas and former HDP co-leader Figen Yuksekdag were incarcerated
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
in November 2016 on terror-related charges, along with more than a dozen other HDP politicians. In addition, parliament voted in favor of lifting the politician status of three HDP MPs, including Yuksekdag.
Posted by: Fred || 08/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Erdogan implies main opposition CHP leader's involvement in espionage case
[Hurriyet Daily News] President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
has implied that an ongoing probe into espionage and the leaking of secret state documents to media outlets can also reach main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, as one of his deputies is already behind bars in the same case.

"The leader of the main opposition is obviously trying to muddy the waters over concerns that charges which led to the imprisonment of one of his politicians may reach him as well. Don’t get surprised if Kilicdaroglu’s link on the issue related to the incarcerated
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
politician is revealed," Erdogan said at a Justice and Development Party (AKP) meeting in the southern province of Antalya on Aug. 13.

"I hear different news coming from prison. ’I will speak if I am not freed,’ the imprisoned person says," Erdogan added, referring to CHP Istanbul Deputy Enis Berberoglu, who has been in jail since mid-June.

Berberoglu was sentenced to 25 years for leaking confidential state documents to the media that allegedly revealed the National Intelligence Organization’s (MIT) shipment of weapons to groups fighting in Syria.

Some pro-government media outlets reported that Kilicdaroglu provided the documents to Berberoglu after obtaining them from members of the Gulen network.

Kilicdaroglu launched a historic "justice march" from Ankara to Istanbul after Berberoglu’s arrest in a bid to stress on growing judicial problems in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
. But for Erdogan, the march was solely an action taken by Kilicdaroglu to create a mess in the country. "His purpose was nothing to do with justice but to create a mess," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 08/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Also claimed he had a Coup.
Posted by: newc || 08/14/2017 1:34 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
JuD fields candidate for NA-120 by-poll
[DAWN] The Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
(JuD) has also fielded its candidate for the upcoming by-election of NA-120 under the banner of it’s yet to be registered political party, Milli Moslem League (MML).

As the MML has not been registered as a political party, its candidate, Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh, filed his nomination papers with the Election Commission of Pakistain (ECP) as an independent candidate on Saturday.

"We would fully support Mr Sheikh in the by-poll," MML President Saifullah Khalid told a presser held in the Lahore Press Club. He said the process of the MML registration as a political party was under way before the ECP; therefore, its candidate would contest the election independently.

MML front man Tabish Qayum said the party would hold its maiden public meeting today (Sunday) at Istanbul Chowk on The Mall.

Posted by: Fred || 08/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


Iraq
Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr arrives in UAE on official visit
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Influential Iraqi holy man Moqtada Tater al-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...
has reportedly arrived in the United Arab Emirates on an official visit.

During his visit, al-Sadr is expected to meet with UAE officials to discuss regional developments as well as the latest efforts in the fight against ISIS on the ground.

Al-Sadr’s visit to the UAE follows his earlier visit to 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...
, a first for the holy man after 11 years.

Sadr, who enjoys a wide base support as leader of al-Sadr movement, comes from a prominent Shiite family and is the fourth son of a highly-respected Shiite holy man, the late Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr.
Posted by: Fred || 08/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia

#1  If that booze company wants to follow up their current ad campaign with "The World's Most Unattractive Man", I have a candidate.
Posted by: Helmuth, Speaking for Whineper3260 || 08/14/2017 10:58 Comments || Top||

#2  tater's troops have been mostly assigned to securing territory already taken

suspect that the Soddy's and UAE seek to get intel about Iran from him in return for listening to his ramblings



Posted by: lord garth || 08/14/2017 12:37 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Mossad Chief warns: Iran is taking over the Middle East
Mossad Director Yossi Cohen briefed the cabinet Sunday, warning that the Iranian regime is expanding its control across the Middle East through proxy forces in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen.

"In places where Iran's presence is limited, Iran is working to fill the void." he said.

Cohen also said that Iran has not abandoned its aspirations to become a nuclear power, and that the nuclear agreement signed between the world powers and Iran only strengthens Iranian aggression in the region.

The Mossad head also told ministers that Iran's economy has gotten stronger ever since signing the nuclear accords in 2015, a trend that has been reinforced by recent international agreements. The agreement freed frozen Iranian funds and led to trade agreements with European countries eager to profit from the opportunity. Under Obama, the US also sent Iran hundreds of millions of dollars after Iran freed US hostages.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/14/2017 02:17 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  The Mossad head also told ministers that Iran's economy has gotten stronger ever since signing the nuclear accords in 2015

Airlift me pallets of Swiss fracs and USD's in the middle of the night and my economic condition will improve as well.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/14/2017 9:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Economic benefit from Obama's deal with run out soon and with oil at $50/barrel, Iran's economy will likely stagnate soon (if they aren't already).
Posted by: lord garth || 08/14/2017 9:36 Comments || Top||

#3  As planned by Obumble and his mooselimb handlers.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/14/2017 9:55 Comments || Top||

#4  ValJar the Persian Rodent is pleased
Posted by: Frank G on the Road || 08/14/2017 9:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Yeah, $400M goes a long way.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/14/2017 11:09 Comments || Top||

#6  The Mossad head also told ministers that Iran's economy has gotten stronger ever since signing the nuclear accords in 2015 Yeah, Obumble gave them billions of our hard-earned cash in the dead of night. What a putz. Hope the door hit him in the arse as he left the WH.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/14/2017 11:33 Comments || Top||

#7  Let's not forget the Europeans:

The agreement freed frozen Iranian funds and led to trade agreements with European countries eager to profit from the opportunity

Not to mention 'profit' in some other ways, albeit at the expense of another country.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/14/2017 11:50 Comments || Top||


Syria investigator del Ponte says enough evidence to convict Assad of war crimes
[Hurriyet Daily News] The U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria has gathered enough evidence for Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
to be convicted of war crimes, a prominent member of the commission, Carla del Ponte, said in remarks published on Aug. 13. Del Ponte, 70, who prosecuted war crimes in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia, announced last week that she was stepping down from her role in frustration at the U.N. Security Council’s failure to continue the commission’s work by setting up a special tribunal for Syria that could try alleged war criminals.

She has not said when she will leave her post.

Asked in an interview with Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung whether there was enough evidence for Assad to be convicted of war crimes, she said: "Yes, I am convinced that is the case. That is why the situation is so frustrating. The preparatory work has been done. Despite that, there is no prosecutor and no court."

The Syrian government led by Assad denies reports by the commission documenting widespread war crimes committed by government-backed forces and Syria’s security services.

Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney general, joined the three-member Syria inquiry in September 2012, chronicling incidents such as chemical weapons attacks, a genocide against Iraq’s Yazidi population, siege tactics, and the bombing of aid convoys.

The commission was set up in August 2011 and has regularly reported on human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
violations, but its pleas to observe international law have largely fallen on deaf ears.

Although 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...
is setting up a new body to prepare prosecutions, there is no sign of any court being established to try war crimes committed in the six-and-a-half year-old war. Nor is there any intention by the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

"For six years, the commission has investigated. Now a prosecutor should continue our work and bring the war criminals before a special court. But that is exactly what Russia is blocking with its veto in the U.N. Security Council," del Ponte was quoted as saying.

Russia, a close ally of Assad’s government, has a veto on the Security Council as one of its five permanent members.

Asked which of the parties to the conflict the commission had primarily investigated, she said: "They all committed war crimes. Therefore we investigated all of them."
Posted by: Fred || 08/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Going the way of Milosevich
Posted by: chris || 08/14/2017 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Asked which of the parties to the conflict the commission had primarily investigated, she said: "They all committed war crimes. Therefore we investigated all of them."
Let's try to broker peace in Syria by convincing the belligerent(s) that Peace means being arrested by the EU Lawfare Ministry ICC. Genius, Sheer genius.
Posted by: magpie || 08/14/2017 1:10 Comments || Top||

#3  LOL as if they're going to lift a finger against Islamic State or Al-Nusra. Gimme a break.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 || 08/14/2017 2:18 Comments || Top||

#4  I thought Del Ponte resigned about a week ago
Posted by: Don Vito McGurque5019 || 08/14/2017 7:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Pencil neck is only 51. If he gets arrested, he might not die of old age before being tried.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 08/14/2017 9:21 Comments || Top||

#6  200,000 victims is possibly enough evidence.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/14/2017 11:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Another pious utterance from the people that help prolong the butchery in Sri Lanka's Tamil Insurrection all those unnecessary years.
Posted by: magpie || 08/14/2017 16:07 Comments || Top||


Iran boosts budget for missiles, Revolutionary Guards
[Al Jazeera] Iran's parliament has overwhelmingly voted to increase spending on Tehran's ballistic missile programme and the elite Revolutionary Guards in retaliation for new sanctions imposed by the United States.

In a session on Sunday, a total of 240 politicians out of 244 present voted to allocate $520m to develop the country's missile programme and boost foreign operations of the paramilitary troops, with only one abstention.

Parliamentarians approved the outlines of the bill to "counter America's terrorist and adventurist actions in the region" as some chanted "Death to America" after the vote results were announced.
Posted by: Fred || 08/14/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  I remain mystified at the thinking behind JV actors posturing up against Varsity. Extortion?
Nobody really cares about Iran. If they just shut up they could live in relative peace and perhaps even enjoy some prosperity. But no ...
Posted by: Beau || 08/14/2017 2:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Nobody really cares..., other than 1500+ years of world history.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/14/2017 19:23 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
22[untagged]
8Islamic State
4Commies
4Arab Spring
4Taliban
3Sublime Porte
2al-Shabaab (AQ)
2Govt of Syria
2Lashkar e-Taiba
2Govt of Iran
1Moslem Colonists
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Pirates
1TTP
1al-Nusra
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Ansar al-Sharia
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1Govt of Pakistain Proxies
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar
1Houthis

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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2017-08-14
  At least 17 killed in attack on restaurant in Burkina Faso
Sun 2017-08-13
  IS executes its Legal Judge in Hawija for attempting to secede
Sat 2017-08-12
  30 Taliban insurgents killed as suicide vests explodes in Farah gathering
Fri 2017-08-11
  Theft and kidnapping ravages north Aleppo as Erdogan’s Syrian caliphate experiment fails
Thu 2017-08-10
  Gang convicted of sex offences against vulnerable girls in England
Wed 2017-08-09
  Police hunt BMW driver who mowed down six French soldiers in Paris
Tue 2017-08-08
  Kurdish authorities arrest 1700 Islamic State militants among displaced civilians
Mon 2017-08-07
  Taliban kill 30 villagers in Afghanistan's Sari Pul province
Sun 2017-08-06
  Governor of Galgaduud region shot dead in Somali capital
Sat 2017-08-05
  US confirms airstrike killed al-Shabab commander in Somalia
Fri 2017-08-04
  Al Qaeda frees South African hostage after six years
Thu 2017-08-03
  Police Make Arrest in 2003 Case of Grooming Gang Victim Believed Ground Up and Sold as Kebab Meat
Wed 2017-08-02
  Gang who called themselves 'Musketeers' guilty of plotting UK bomb attack
Tue 2017-08-01
  IS claims attack on Iraq embassy in Kabul
Mon 2017-07-31
  Besieged IS mufti blows himself up in northern Baghdad


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