[DAWN] JALALABAD: At least 14 people were killed on Sunday when a jacket wallah struck a gathering of tribal elders at a prominent politician's home in Jalalabad, prompting Afghanistan's Caped PresidentAshraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. to warn that the security forces will go after the culprits with all their strength.
"When snuffies lose the ability to fight face-to-face with our security forces, then they target public places and kill our innocent people," Mr Ghani said in a statement.
"The government will fight those who shed the blood of our innocent people."
The Taliban denied responsibility for the bombing, which also left 13 people injured on the eve of a second round of four-country negotiations aimed at restarting peace talks with the Death Eaters.
The carnage came during a jirga of tribal leaders at the home of politician Obaiduallah Shinwari, who escaped unscathed.
"Fourteen people were killed and 13 others injured when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the house of Shinwari," Najibullah Kamawal, the health director of Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province, said.
Ambulances rushed to the scene, which was littered with pieces of human flesh, sandals and charred debris.
Mr Shinwari is a well-known member of Nangarhar's provincial council and his family is said to be actively involved in local politics.
The United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... also condemned the killings, reiterating its plea to all gangs to stop the deliberate targeting of civilians.
The bombing is the second deadly attack in the city since Wednesday, when 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's murderous Moslems grabbed credit for a four-hour gun and bomb siege targeting the Pak consulate.
All three attackers and seven members of the security forces were killed in the assault, the first major IS attack in an Afghan city and on a Pak government installation.
The group, which controls territory across Syria and Iraq, is making gradual inroads in Afghanistan, challenging the Taliban on their own turf.
It has managed to attract disaffected Taliban fighters increasingly lured by the group's signature brutality.
In a sign of its growing reach in Afghanistan, the group has taken to the airwaves with a 90-minute Pashto-language radio show.
The government has said it is trying to block the broadcast, which is beamed from some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location and aimed at winning new recruits.
The uptick in violence comes amid renewed international efforts to revive peace talks with the Taliban, which are locked in a tussle for supremacy with the IS in Afghanistan.
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01/19/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistain, China and the United States gathered 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.... on Monday called on the Taliban to resume peace talks with the Afghan government.
Senior officials from the four countries met for most of the day at the Presidential Palace amid tight security, a week after a first round of discussions in the Pak capital, Islamabad.
In a joint statement released by the Afghan Foreign Ministry, they said the talks "made progress on a roadmap toward initiating peace talks with Taliban groups."
It said they hope to bring the two sides together for talks "aimed at reduction of violence and establishing lasting peace in Afghanistan and the region."
The four-nation group "called on all Taliban groups to enter into early talks with the Afghan government," and agreed to meet again in Islamabad on February 6.
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01/19/2016 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Fifty-five Nigerians, including former ministers, governors, business leaders and public officials, have stolen nine billion dollars in public funds in seven years, the information minister claims.
Addressing news hounds at a Monday presser in the Nigerian capital Abuja, Lai Mohammed said that the money was stolen between 2006 and 2013, without identifying the accused.
The looted funds could have built 36 hospitals or educated 4,000 children through university, Mohammed said.
"The situation is dire and the time to act is now," he noted.
The minister also appealed to Nigerians to join the fight against corruption that is crippling Africa's biggest economy, population and oil producer.
"If we don't kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria," he stressed.
According to Mohammed, the stolen money included USD 2.1 billion meant to buy weapons to fight the 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... terrorist group but instead was diverted to the election campaign of former President Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau.Other than that he's pretty useless as the Boko Haram debacle shows.. .
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01/19/2016 00:00 ||
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[AlAhram] Muslim women who fail to learn English to a high enough standard could face deportation from Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron announced Monday.
How hard can it be? British babies learn to speak English without any apparent effort.
He also suggested that poor English skills can leave people "more susceptible" to the messages of groups like Islamic State (IS).
Cameron's comments came as his centre-right Conservatives launched a £20 million ($28.5 million, 26 million euro) language fund for women in isolated communities as part of a drive to build community integration.
Immigration rules already force spouses to speak English before they come to Britain to live with their partners.
But Cameron said they would also face further tests after two and a half years in the country to make sure their language skills were improving.
"You can't guarantee you will be able to stay if you are not improving your language," he told BBC radio. "People coming to our country, they have responsibilities too."
Cameron's government estimates that around 190,000 Muslim women in England -- about 22 percent -- speak little or no English.
There are estimated to be around 2.7 million Muslims in England out of a total population of some 53 million.
Cameron said that a lack of language skills could make Muslims in Britain more vulnerable to the message of extremist groups.
"I am not saying there is some sort of causal connection between not speaking English and becoming an extremist, of course not," he told BBC radio.
"But if you are not able to speak English, not able to integrate, you may find therefore you have challenges understanding what your identity is and therefore you could be more susceptible to the extremist message."
His comments drew criticism from Muslim groups and opposition parties.
Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, which campaigns for better community relations, accused Cameron of "disgraceful stereotyping".
"David Cameron and his Conservative government are once again using British Muslims as a political football to score cheap points to appear tough," he added.
And Andy Burnham, home affairs spokesman for the main opposition Labour party, accused Cameron of a "clumsy and simplistic approach" which was "unfairly stigmatising a whole community."
h/t Instapundit
Two Dutch, pro-immigration filmmakers published a video Saturday of themselves getting brutally robbed at a refugee camp in Calais, France, known as "The Jungle."
Journalist Maaike Engels and photographer Teun Voeten were attacked at knife point while obtaining footage for their documentary "Calais: Welcome to "The Jungle." The video shows Voeten getting tackled down by three masked men, before one man threatens Engels with a knife.
[Telegraph] Heavily armed French riot-police guarded bulldozers tasked with clearing sections of the makeshift Calais migrant camp two days after activists burned down two vehicles in protest at new permanent housing
In fairness, there is only enough "permanent housing" for a quarter or less of those there, with families getting first priority as far as I can tell. No wonder the rest are unhappy at this change in the status quo ante.
[Daily Beast] The Defense Secretary is looking to put the clamp down on misbehaving generals. Pentagon insiders say Petraeus could be the next general to face the consequences.
The Pentagon is considering retroactively demoting retired Gen. David Petraeus after he admitted to giving classified information to his biographer and mistress while he was still in uniform, three people with knowledge of the matter told The Daily Beast.
The decision now rests with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, who is said to be willing to consider overruling an earlier recommendation by the Army that Petraeus not have his rank reduced. Such a demotion could cost the storied general hundreds of thousands of dollars--and deal an additional blow to his once-pristine reputation.
"The secretary is considering going in a different direction" from the Army, a defense official told The Daily Beast, because he wants to be consistent in his treatment of senior officers who engage in misconduct and to send a message that even men of Petraeus's fame and esteemed reputation are not immune to punishment. Last week's closed door session with Gowdy and crew must have been quite interesting. Appears to be time to kick the dog and remind everyone exactly who the boss is.
#2
The regimes Damoclesian threat in full activation. Ash, please make sure he continues to keep his mouth shut will you? Along those lines, please send our best to Ms. Broadwell, she's done excellent work for us in the past. Any chance she could, once again, encourage the general on our behalf ?
#4
Can there be any more confirming evidence that there is much more, more sinister aspect to Champ/Rice/ValJar connection to Benghazi and Petraeus knows it? He was muzzled before the last election, and now they are trying to do so again. What he knows must really sting.....
2 - Depends on the classified material exposed. Remember 'he' was the classification authority by position for a lot of stuff. He who classifies can declassify. It's outside stuff that becomes the problem.
This may be a desperate attempt to take someone out as the next SecDef. We're not just talking Champ/Rice/ValJar, but cleaning the five sided house as well.
#6
The regime could be pressuring Petraeus to tamp down some of the rhetoric from people like former DIA Director General (Ret) Mike Flynn or former DCI Gates. These highly respected leaders have been very vocal in their condemnation of the regime's goals and objectives of late.
#7
I imagine one sign of the wheels coming off this suppression of evidence might occur should one of our retired & highly esteemed leaders move overseas, renounce his pension, and then blow the lid off the massive coverups with massive data releases.
[DAWN] An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Quetta on Monday acquitted former president General Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... in a case pertaining to the alleged murder of former Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.
The court also acquitted former provincial home minister Mir Shoaib Nosherwani and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) chief and member of National Assembly Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao.
After the announcement of the decision by ATC-1 Judge Jan Muhammad Gohar, the lawyer representing Jamil Bugti, Sohail Rajput, announced his decision to challenge the judgment of the court.
"We are not satisfied with this judgement and we will challenge it," Rajput told news hounds outside court.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Bugti's on the move Captain York, should prepare the men to move out?
No Sargent Mulcahy, that won't be necessary, send Philidephia Wednesdayafternoo by the office, here's American dollar get 2 quarts of your Bugti trading good. Keep one for yourself, but keep yur yap shut.
Aye sir, I'll bring the lady by.
Be nice Mulcahy, she was near killed by that Hagen bomb.
[DAWN] A video game based on the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. Taliban school massacre of more than 150 people, mostly children, was removed Monday after triggering a social media uproar, with critics blasting it as tasteless. This isn't the one with Jonas Savimbi.
The game, called "Pakistain Army Retribution", was released by the Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... IT board on Google Play, and invites the player to step into the shoes of a soldier shooting murderous Moslems in the hallways of a school.
It is inspired by the country's deadliest ever bully boy attack that saw nine Taliban gunnies storm a school in Peshawar, shooting students and teachers in cold blood and occupying the school for hours until they were killed by the army.
But after an article on Dawn.com criticised the game, social media users lambasted its makers for exploiting the tragedy.
"Bizarre and distasteful," user Shaheryar Mirza wrote.
"Play the APS game on Android, kill the bad guys, empathy and good taste in one go," wrote Fasi Zaka, referring to the Army Public School that was targeted in the grisly attack.
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01/19/2016 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] 55 out of the 150 attacks carried out so far in the current terror wave orignated in Hebron; the Otniel attack marks an escalation in the severity of the attacks, as they now are at people's doorsteps.
The brutal attack Sunday in Otniel symbolizes two important points regarding the current wave of terrorism: an escalation in the severity of attacks and the fact that Hebron has become the "terror center" of this wave.
The first point is the escalation of the severity of the attacks and the transition from stabbings at intersections and on roads, which ended up with the terrorist being killed, to terror at people's doorsteps, which is more focused and much more deadly.
The second point is the official transformation of Hebron into the "terror capital" and the producer of the largest number of terrorist attacks in the current intifada. According to the Shin Bet, out of the 150 attacks carried out by Death Eaters so far, 55 originated in the Hebron area. The most severe attacks of the current terror wave, which has claimed the lives of 29 people came from the area.
The initial investigation of the Hebron Brigade revealed that the terrorist entered the settlement of Otniel, which is not surrounded by an electric fence, came to the family home and stabbed Dafna Meir in front of her daughter. Apparently, her screams had driven him from the settlement, but not before he was caught by the security cameras. A manhunt was carried out in the near-by villages of Yatta and Khirbet al-Karmel, where IDF soldiers and Shin Bet agents were active all night long.
During the second intifada, in December 2002, it was the severe attack at Yeshivat Otniel which marked an escalation in the type of attacks. The settlement had no fence, and two Paleostinians dressed in IDF uniforms, armed with rifles and hand grenades, infiltrated the settlement, entered the yeshiva's kitchen and opened fire. Four students were killed, and some of their friends, along with soldiers called to the scene were maimed. The settlement and they yeshivah became a symbol. Community and the meeting became a symbol.
Getting back to current wave: the Hebron sector rose up later than East Jerusalem, Nablus and Ramallah. Hebron and its surrounding area quickly became the primary infrastructure from which Death Eaters emerged, and for now the Shin Bet and the IDF do not have a solution to restore peace.
It's possible that the Shin Bet data showing that there has been a drop in the number of attacks last month are true, but definitely not with respect to the severity of the attacks. Every day there was an incident there, the main threat being, as published in Yedioth Ahronoth, the Hebron sniper, who has acted several times and has maimed soldiers from a distance near the Cave of the Patriarchs, and until now the authorities have been unable to capture him.
The security forces' main worry is from copycats who may be emboldened by Sunday's successful attack, just as happened at the start of the current terror wave. Therefore, Central Command has instructed to stick closely to security procedures with regards to the settlements in the West Bank, where security has been beefed up lately.
[Jpost] Raheel Raza met with MKs, political activists, NGOs, and the media during her stay in Israel.
Muslim reform activist Raheel Raza: North American leaders are very politically correct. They don't want to say Islam and hard boyz in the same sentence
A Pak born Muslim woman activist told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday while on a trip to Israel that Western leaders that are not willing to identify radical Islam are part of the problem.
Continued on Page 49
DAMASCUS – Denmark is taking “necessary and proportionate measures” against jihadists of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria and Iraq, an official said.
Denmark’s Permanent Representative to the U.N. Ib Petersen told the Security Council that his country has been taking strict measures against ISIS.
“The Kingdom of Denmark is taking necessary and proportionate measures against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria,” Petersen said in a letter to the President of the Security Council.
Petersen’s letter, which dated January 11 and was revealed on Monday, did not provide further information about the nature of the measures his country has been applying to combat the jihadi group.
Denmark has earlier sent fighter jets to Iraq within the framework of the international efforts to fight ISIS militants.
This is the first time the Kingdom reveals its participation in the anti-ISIS campaign in Syria.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/19/2016 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Iranian security forces have detained three people accused of having played a key role in the recent raid on the Saudi embassy in the capital, Tehran, a top Iranian Judiciary official says.
"In the recent couple of days, three main suspects involved in the transgression against the Saudi embassy [in Tehran] have been identified and tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! ; and the suspects have so far been heavily investigated," Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said on Monday.
He also said that efforts continue to identify and apprehend more suspects, and that investigations continue regarding those already in jug.
On January 2, demonstrations were held in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the northeastern city of Mashhad by angry protesters censuring the execution by 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... of top opposition holy man Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, which had been announced on the same day.
Some people mounted the walls of the consulate in Mashhad while incendiary devices were hurled at the embassy in Tehran. At least 60 people were detained over the violations of the diplomatic perimeters, which were condemned by top Iranian officials and followed by the Saudi severance of ties with the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called for an urgent investigation into the assaults on Saudi diplomatic missions, saying the perpetrators must be "brought to justice."
In a letter to Iran's Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli-Larijani on January 6, Rouhani denounced the attacks as a breach of the Islamic Theocratic Republic's security.
He said the Judiciary must prosecute those involved in this "evidenced offense" in a bid to bring a halt to such attempts against the standing of the Islamic Theocratic Republic's establishment.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Usual Suspects
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/19/2016 20:27 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] The Zionist-controlled media in the United States have exaggerated the terrorist attacks in the country and falsely blamed them on Muslims to fuel Islamophobia ...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do... among Americans, an American scholar and radio host says.
"Virtually all of the 600-plus so-called terror prosecutions since 9/11 have all been complete hoaxes," said Dr. Kevin Barrett, a founding member of the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance.
"The threats were fabricated by the FBI in virtually every single case and yet people don't know this because the American media is in the hands of Zionists who are committing a war crime and a crime against humanity by refusing to investigate the terror attacks attributed to Muslims which are proven over and over to have been committed by paramilitary hired killers who are the enemies of Muslims, creating these incidents to whip up Islamophobia," Barrett told Press TV on Monday.
"There is no statistically significant terror threat from anyone in the United States, much less Muslims," he added. "The major events attributed to Muslims in the United States from 9/11 onward have all been false flag events; professional killers carried out attacks designed to be blamed on Muslims."
These acts of violence falsely blamed on followers of the Islamic faith have increased attacks against American Muslims and have created anti-Muslim sentiment in the country, the scholar noted.
Islamophobia has recently spiked in the US following anti-Muslim comments by some Republican presidential candidates, especially Donald Trump and Ben Carson ... a neurosurgeon who is under the delusion that being brilliant qualifies him to be president.... In the latest case on Friday, a 43-year-old Muslim man in the Bronx borough of New York City was attacked by a group of assailants who were yelling "ISIS," a reference to the terrorist group also known as ISIL or Daesh [Islamic State].
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Maybe he should move to syria , iraq, hell just about anywhere in the middle east an see how he fares.
Posted by: chris ||
01/19/2016 15:20 Comments ||
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[WASHINGTONTIMES] Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Monday that the world is safer now that major provisions of the historic Iranian nuclear deal were implemented over the weekend.
"The world is safer today," Mr. Kerry said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "Before we had this agreement, Iran had a completely invisible, unaccountable, unverified nuclear program."
Iran had 19,000 centrifuges and enough material to make 10-12 bombs "and they were hurtling towards a program that was going to create inevitability of confrontation," Mr. Kerry said.
"Today, that is not true," he said. "That is entirely reversed."
Economic sanctions on Iran were lifted Saturday after the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency determined that Iran has complied with its part of the deal to curb Tehran's nuclear program.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
So, if Tel Aviv is nuked, we may make soup of your grandchildren and feed it to you?
This administration has a nasty habit of stealing from the future to make today only marginally easier. This will come back to bite him, probably within his lifetime.
[Iran Press TV] Lebanese Christian politician Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... has endorsed the candidacy of his rival Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... , in a major boost for Hezbollah-backed Aoun and his supporters in their bid to fill the power vacuum in the Arab country.
Sitting alongside Aoun, Geagea made the highly-anticipated announcement on Monday in a televised news conference, urging his allies in the March 14 alliance to support Aoun's candidacy.
The endorsement could boost Aoun, the leader of the March 8 Alliance, in his attempt to fill the presidency that has been vacant for 20 months. However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... the seasoned Christian politician may need the backing of other groups to secure the necessary parliamentary support to become president.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2016 00:00 ||
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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.
[DAWN] Representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistain, China and the United States gathered in 
Goodluck Jonathan
Pervez 
[Iran Press TV] The Zionist-controlled media in the United States have exaggerated the terrorist attacks in the country and falsely blamed them on Muslims to fuel 
[WASHINGTONTIMES] Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Monday that the world is safer now that major provisions of the historic Iranian nuclear deal were implemented over the weekend.
Michel Aoun
