[LBC] British men being detained by the Taliban ...Arabic for students... regime in Afghanistan have been in contact with their relatives, a family spokesperson has said.
53-year-old Kevin Cornwell, a charity medic, and an unnamed British national who manages a hotel for aid workers in Kabul have been detained since early January by Taliban secret police.
"Danger tourist" Miles Routledge is also being held after returning to the Afghanistan this year.
Scott Richards from non-profit organization Presidium Network, which is assisting Mr Cornwell and the unnamed Briton, told Sky News: "We're very pleased to announce that there has been contact between families and the detainees.
"They were able to spend about 10 minutes this morning in an unscripted conversation, which is very important. This is a landmark move and for any negotiation with the Taliban, because we haven't seen any of this privilege before.
"They've certainly taking this as a goodwill gesture and an incredibly important step."
Mr Cornwell was arrested in a raid at his hotel by officers from the Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) on January 11.
Taliban agents accused Mr Cornwell, a married father from Middlesborough, of having an illegal firearm in the safe in his room, but his family say he had been granted a licence for it by the Taliban government.
Mr Richards said this due to a "misunderstanding" and that during the search the licence may have become separated from the firearm.
It comes as the Home Secretary Suella Braverman revealed the UK government is "in negotiations" over the three British nationals.
Speaking to Sky News, Ms Braverman said: "If there are risks to people's safety, if they're a British citizen abroad, then the UK government is going to do whatever it takes to ensure that they're safe.
"The government is in negotiations and working hard to ensure people's safety is upheld."
Mr Routledge, a social media star from Birmingham who has built a large following visiting "the most dangerous places on Earth for fun", is also in detention, despite being evacuated from the country when the Taliban swept to back into power in 2021.
He has attracted controversy online by travelling to dangerous countries and sharing his experiences on social media.
Mr Routledge was caught up in the chaos in Kabul during a 'holiday' to the country in August 2021, having chosen the country after looking up the most dangerous places in the world to visit, despite the Taliban's gains in the country at the time.
The 23-year-old appears to have since returned to the country following the evacuation.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: "We are working hard to secure consular contact with British nationals detained in Afghanistan and we are supporting families."
Scott Richards, from the Presidium Network, previously said Mr Cornwell and the unnamed man his organization is helping are in good health and being well treated.
The Foreign Office continues to advise UK citizens against any travel to Afghanistan due to the security risks involved, which includes the possibility of being detained by the Taliban authorities.
There is currently no British embassy or any UK consular officials in the country following the Taliban takeover in 2021.
Ta'awunu Human Rights Initiative (THURIST) has frowned upon an attack on Moslems at a mosque in Ile-Ife, Osun State in Southwest Nigeria.
The human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... group said it had received a report of a coordinated attack on a group of Moslem faithful in their mosque in the holy month of Ramadan.
A statement issued on Saturday by Barr. Sulaymon A. Tadese, the Director-General of the group said, "We had been informed of how a group of Moslem faithful who were observing the last segment of the five obligatory Moslem prayers in their mosque on Thursday, 30th March, 2023 at around 4:30 pm in the evening were attacked by a group of Oro traditional worshippers at Idi Omoh, Ilare, Ile-Ife in which the Imam and other Moslems praying in the said mosque were fatally injured for offence of not obeying Oro Curfew!
"The human rights group does not only condemn this despicable act in the strongest term on Moslems in their own mosque and the subsequent wanton destruction of the mosque properties within the premises but also express dissatisfaction over the incompetence, nonchalant and complacency of the Osun State Commissioner of Police to the security of lives and properties of Moslems in Osun State as the chief law enforcement officer of the state.
"We recall that similar infractions were had in Ede and Iwo during a public air lecture sometime last year — 2022. The continuance of these unprovoked attacks on peace-loving Moslems is an invitation to chaos.
"However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... the human rights group demands a thorough investigation into this provocation by persons who think they have more rights than others under the guise of traditional worshippers.
"The Ede, Iwo and now Ile-Ife incidences are one too many. The state commissioner of police is given a seven-day ultimatum to cause an immediate arrest, arraignment and prosecution of perpetrators of this criminal act of public disturbance and attempted murder of peaceful people contrary to the law of the land.
"Freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed as encapsulated even in the African Charter of People and Human Rights.
We shall keep track of this matter until Justice is done and served."
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] The Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... i Media Union (YMU) expressed deep concern over the mysterious disappearance of Egyptian journalist Rania al-Assal two months ago and expressed its full solidarity over her sudden absence during her 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... to perform Umrah rituals.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the YMU appreciates the honorable positions taken by al-Assal on the oppression and the cause of the Yemeni people, as well as her role in advocating for issues in the region that fall under the freedom of opinion and expression guaranteed by international charters...
The statement considered her disappearance in Saudi territory as a serious indication towards the security and safety of media workers in the Kingdom and media workers visiting the kingdom for the purpose of carrying out media or journalistic tasks or performing Hajj and Umrah rituals or others, especially media workers opposed to Saudi policy in the Arab and Islamic region.
The YMU called on the concerned authorities in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to quickly disclose the location of the journalist Rania al-Assal and bring those involved in her disappearance to justice.
The YMU further called on all media, press, human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... and legal organizations to put pressure on the Saudi government to urgently reveal the circumstances of the disappearance of colleague al-Assal as soon as possible, and expose repressive Saudi policy towards media professionals, journalists and public opinion writers.
In this regard, the Saudi government bears responsibility for the safety of colleague al-Assal or her exposure to any kind of violations affecting media professionals because of their opinions and media work, the statement concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2023 00:00 ||
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[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Spokesman for Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... i Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Sare’e warned that if the US-Saudi aggression committed any foolish acts, surprises and major strikes, whether in 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... or the Emirates, will have an impact on the entire region.
Sare’e’s remarks came in a speech he delivered during the closing ceremony of the qualifying courses for the 36th batch of those who stopped fighting for the US-Saudi aggression. The ceremony was held by the Fifth Military Region on Saturday in Sana’a.
Sare’e expressed how the Ministry of Defense, the Chief of Staff and the military regions are honored to have those who were brainwashed by the US-Saudi aggression return to the national side.
He communicated the keenness of the leadership of the revolution, represented by Sayyid Abdul-Mlik Badr al-Din al-Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...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 legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. 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 They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... , to allow the return of those involved with the aggression.
"The Armed Forces consider every Yemeni citizen an essential part of the country, and no one can be excluded," he added.
Brigadier Sare’e pointed out that eight years of steadfastness are years of pride and dignity. He explained that the chance is still available for the return of those brainwashed, but it will not remain open permanently.
"The provisions of Yemeni law will be applied to those who are late and continue in the ranks of aggression, and they will be held accountable," he confirmed. "Our advice to those who are still on the side of the aggressors is that the door is still open, and they must return to their villages and their families, before the door of return closes. They have to learn from eight years."
Sare’e explained that the aggression was defeated, as the Safer strike hindered the UAE, and since then it replaced by liaison officers, and it no longer has a presence in the field. As is the case with Saudi Arabia, it even abandoned its borders and replaced the fighters on its borders with Yemenis, as a first line of defense, and after them the Sudanese, so that the Saudi soldiers would be a third line of defense, he added.
"If the battle had been with the Saudis and the Emiratis, it would have ended in its first year, but what happened was the intervention of the Yemenis who were the fuel of this war," Sare’e affirmed.
"Therefore, the Leader of the Revolution and the Supreme Political Council called for the return of those brainwashed, because the Saudis and the Emiratis will not remain occupiers of Yemen continuously, and there must be a watershed point."
He pointed out that Britannia occupied the south of the homeland for 128 years and was forced to leave in humiliation and submissiveness.
Sare’e reaffirmed by saying that the aggression is coming to an end, and the Armed Forces are determined to expel every occupier from the country. "This is a promise we made to the Leader of the Revolution and the people."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2023 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The Ministry of Commerce on Sunday termed rumours regarding trade between Pakistain and Israel as "sheer propaganda" after the "misrepresentation of a statement" issued by the American Jewish Congress (AJC), an association of the Jewish community based in the US.
"The rumours about beginning of Pakistain-Israel trade is sheer propaganda affer (sic) the blurb of AJC which was misrepresented," the ministry said in a statement. "However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... neither we have any trade relations with Israel nor we intend to develop any."
Pakistain does not have diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv,
...a stylistic faux pas — the legal capitol of Israel is Jerusalem. Tel Aviv is just where many foreign embassies are located, along with nightlife, beaches, shopping, and the arts...
and believes in a "two-state solution in accordance with the relevant United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... and OIC resolutions as well as international law, with pre-1967 borders and al-Quds al-Sharif (Jerusalem) as the capital of Paleostine".
The statement by the commerce ministry comes after Fishel Benkhald, a Jewish Pak,
...I had no idea any still remained...
tweeted on March 28 that he "exported [the] first batch of Pakistain food products to [the] Israel market.
"Congratulations to me as a Pak. I exported first batch of Pak food products to Israel market," Benkhald wrote. "Dates, dry fruits, and a single container of spice."
In his tweet, he tagged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, former prime minister Imran Khan ...aka The Great Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... , Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif ...served two three 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, then by the courts... , and other PML-N leaders including Maryam Nawaz, Ahsan Iqbal and Miftah Ismail.
“Nyah, nyah, nyah!”
Subsequently, the AJC released a statement on March 30, saying: "This week, the first shipment of Pakistain-origin food products was offloaded in Israel, in a transaction that involved Pak-Jewish businessman Fishel Benkhald, based in Pakistain’s business hub of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , and three Israeli businessmen from Jerusalem and Haifa.
"We welcome this small step that can have wider implications for Israeli and Pak economies and for the region on the lam," the statement said.
The same day, Voice of America ran a story headlined "Rare Trade Occurs Between Pakistain, Israel".
Members of the opposition PTI seized on the development, with Farrukh Habib demanding answers from the Foreign Office, commenting if it was part of the "London Plan" — a phrase coined by party chief Imran Khan.
"Under which deal is this trade being done after the regime change? Why is the Pakistain Democratic Movement (PDM) government silent on this," Habib asked on April 1.
That same day, Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Interfaith Harmony and the Middle East Tahir Ashrafi — who was also a part of the Imran Khan government — told state media that Benkhald was permitted to go to Israel by the PTI government.
Talking to APP, he said the Pak-Jewish businessman exported some goods including dates, dry fruit, and spices to an Arab friendly country and later on, managed to dispatch them to Israel.
Dispelling the impression that trade ties were being established between Pakistain and Israel, he was quoted as saying: "As per reports, neither the Ministry of Commerce, nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs furnished Fishel any no-objection certificate (NOC)."
Separately, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told Independent Urdu that the incumbent government did not permit anyone to engage in any trade activities with Israel.
"We will conduct an investigation into this," he said. "Now we are receiving information that in the previous regime, Imran Khan had given similar permission to someone but nothing of this sort has come up to our notice, information, or inquiry right now."
Today’s the Ministry of Commerce’s clarification said: "Even in their blurb (AJC) nowhere mentioned about official trade between Pak-Israel."
It added: "A Jewish Pak Fishel Benkhald has sent food samples to three businessmen in Jerusalem and Haifa through UAE in personal capacity who he met in foreign countries during food exhibitions.
"Nevertheless, it was not supported by the Pakistain government and no banking or official channel was involved either."
It said that in its talks with the UAE, the "issue of origin will be strictly implemented". "UAE has curtailed tariffs on 96 per cent goods traded with Israel which has benefited traders from UAE to Israel," it added.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/03/2023 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] ran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has issued a warning to the Israeli regime on Sunday, vowing retaliation for the killing of two of its military advisers in Syria in an Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... near Syria’s capital.
Earlier in the day, Iran’s IRIB News reported that an Iranian military adviser injured in the Friday airstrike succumbed to his wounds, becoming the second to fall victim to Israeli aggression.
Following the death of the second adviser, identified as Meghdad Mehghani, the IRGC issued a statement pledging that "Undoubtedly, the fake and criminal Zionist regime will receive a response to its heinous crime."
The strike, the sixth Israeli attack since the beginning of March, had killed Milad Heidari, an IRGC advisor who died in the attack on the suburbs of Damascus.
The IRGC had issued a similar warning after it declared Heidari was killed in the airstrike.
According to the Syrian news agency SANA, Israeli fighter jets entered Syrian territory from the northern occupied Golan Heights very early on Friday morning at 00:17 Damascus Local Time. They targeted a facility in the suburbs of Damascus.
In a statement on Friday morning, Iranian Foreign Ministry front man Nasser Kan’ani strongly condemned the Israeli airstrikes, lamenting the international community’s failure to adopt appropriate and deterrent measures against the Tel Aviv regime’s acts of aggression on Syria, which target civilian airports and even residential neighborhoods.
"Such an approach has emboldened the regime to continue violating the illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity of an independent country and a member of the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... , and to persist in committing crimes against its citizens and military forces," he said.
"The latest Israeli airstrike on Syria is a blatant and repeated violation of international law and principles, a move by the regime to divert attention from internal crises and deep divisions within its society, as well as a testament to Israel’s dissatisfaction with growing stability in Syria and the recent rapprochement between the war-torn Arab country and world countries," explained Kan’ani.
Known as one of the main supporters of terrorist groups that have battled the government of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... since foreign-backed militancy erupted in Syria in early 2011, the Israeli regime frequently violate Syrian illusory sovereignty and target military positions.
The targets usually include residential buildings. Military positions especially those of the Hezbollah resistance movement, which has played a key role in helping the Syrian army in its fight against foreign-backed terrorists, are also frequently hit by Israeli strikes.
Israel largely remains silent about the attacks. Damascus has repeatedly complained to the UN over Israeli assaults, urging the Security Council to take action against Tel Aviv’s crimes. The calls have, however, fallen on deaf ears.
Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... maintains an advisory mission in the Arab country, helping it in the face of foreign-backed terrorism. Back in 2017, the advisory assistance helped Syria vanquished 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... terrorist group of ISIS.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2023 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[NPASyria] Canada is set to repatriate six children from Roj camp, northeast Syria, without their Quebec mother. The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems... (ISIS)-linked woman is still undergoing a security assessment, Canadian press reported on Sunday.
The six children — at least two of whom were born in Syria — will reportedly be placed in foster care in pairs upon their return.
In late January, Global Affairs Canada, the country’s chief diplomatic body, ruled out bringing back four foreign-born mothers of ten Canadian children. The women had given birth to the children of their Canadian husbands. Global Affairs Canada gave the women one and a half weeks to decide whether to send the children to Canada by themselves or whether they should remain in the camps.
Separate of those children, Canada is getting ready to repatriate 13 children, six women, as well as four male prisoners after a court ruling. The Canadian press furthermore identified 10 children of Canadian nationality of non-Canadian mothers being held in camps in northeast Syria.
The mothers have decided not to let their children return home, as they themselves have been barred from entering the country.
A staff member of Families Against Extremist Violence Alexandra Bain, which advocates for the mother’s return, said she was "shocked" at the Canadian government’s decision regarding the six children and their mother.
"It doesn’t make any sense. It’s not how I expect Canada to behave," she added.
Canada has so far only repatriated two children and one woman from the camps.
Roj is one of several detention camps in northeast Syria that house thousands of people, including many foreign nationals, since Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS declared the territorial defeat of the terror group in March 2019.
It currently houses 806 families, including 2,800 individuals of Arabs and foreigners, mostly women and kiddies of ISIS members who hail from 62 countries, according to a previous report published by North Press.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/03/2023 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
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.
...Arabic for 
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
...aka 
...
...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...
