[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A group of female prisoners have reportedly torched certain accommodations in Pul-e-Charkhi prison of Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... following a demonstration that turned violent.
Pictures emerging from the prison purportedly shows certain accommodations on fire inside the jail with reports suggesting the female prisoners started demonstrations after complaining regarding cells where they are kept.
There are also reports that an individual was taken hostage by the rioting prisoners but there are no reports regarding the possible casualties.
The security officials have not commented regarding the incident so far.
Pul-e-Charkhi prison is located in the east of capital Kabul and is the largest prison in Afghanistan where the prisoners are kept.
Completed in the 1980s, the government keep both the male and female prisoners in separate sections but the living conditions of the prison have been criticized by several human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... groups.
The rights groups in their reports have mainly cited the prison for being overcrowded and the living conditions as sub-par.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
and now they're even more sub-par. Enjoy your new blackened cells and furnishings assholes.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/22/2016 11:14 Comments ||
Top||
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The removal of General Abdul Rashid Dostum ...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier... ’s photo in Mazar-e-Sharif city in northern Balkh province has sparked furor among the supporters of the First Vice President as the acting provincial governor of the province Ata Mohammad Noor has warned strict actions against the possible riots.
In an online statement Noor said the photo has been removed by individuals who are looking to disrupt the stability of northern Balkh province.
Noor further added that the removal of the picture has sparked furor among certain people who are sending curse and are insulting the leadership of the province for the affront act.
He also ruled out that the party or the provincial leadership was involved in the act, apparently gesturing towards Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... party which is operating under his leadership.
Noor said several political and civil movements are operating in northern Balkh province and scores of pictures of Junish-e-Mili party can be seen in different parts of the city, including on the highway towards his residence.
He urged the people to refrain from chaos and moves that lead to disorders in the city and prevent destabilizing the stability of the local residents by repeating the bitter memories of the early 90s and 2000s.
The acting provincial governor warned of strict repercussions if his pleas for calmness were ignored, insisting that the leadership believes and respects tolerance.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Call out the Volunteer Collies! It's time for a Lathi Charge.
[Libya Herald] The Abu Sleem unit of the Rada (“Deterrance” Forces) have claimed that today’s fighting in central Tripoli’s Bab Ben Ghashir district was the result of an attempt by a militia to take over the branch of the Jumhouriya Bank in the district. It says it has now secured the area.
It did not name the unit.
The main Rada organisation, however, has said nothing about it on its Facebook page and is not answering the phone.
Most banks in Tripoli have kept their doors closed to the public because they have no cash. There is considerable anger in the city as a result.
Bab Ben Ghashir is now quiet and roads in Tripoli now all open.
[WASHINGTONPOST] In a secret mission involving an assortment of local tribes and a mystery African nation, 17 Jews from 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. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... escaped their country’s deadly civil war and landed in Israel early Monday morning.
Representatives of the Jewish Agency for Israel, a quasi-governmental organization that assists in Jewish immigration, said the group included 12 Jews from the town of Raydah in northern Yemen and a family of five from the capital, Sanaa.
They will join close to 200 Jews who have been brought to Israel secretly over the past few years, as well as a much larger community of Jews with Yemeni origins who came to Israel more than 60 years ago.
Professor Uzi Rabi, an expert on Yemeni Jews at Tel Aviv university who assisted in bringing the latest group of Jews to Israel, said that only about 40 to 50 members of the community now remain in Yemen. Most of them live in a specially guarded compound where the foreign embassies are located. They are not interested in leaving their homeland, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Houthis
[WASHINGTONPOST] The Slovenian government says the country will only take down most of the razor-wire fence along its border with Croatia when it is fully convinced that the deal between the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... is working and the flow of migrants colonists along the Balkans has stopped.
The office of Prime Minister Miro Cerar said Monday that Slovenia is still likely to keep the fence standing at certain parts of the border but could replace it with a different kind of obstacle.
The Slovenian statement says the obstacles have helped police control the border.
Croatia has repeatedly protested against the border fence between the two EU countries, which was erected by Slovenia last year at the height of Europe’s migrant crisis. More than half a million migrants colonists have passed through Slovenia since last fall.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
[Ynet] Turkish TV station claims security footage shows terrorist waiting for Israelis to leave hotel before approaching them and detonating explosives.
Mehmet Ozturk, the jacket wallah who killed three Israelis in Istanbul, followed a group of Israeli tourists from their hotel before detonating, according to Turkish TV station HaberTurk. The report was not officially confirmed.
The station claimed its report was based on analysis of security footage, which allegedly showed the ISIS terrorist waiting outside the restaurant in which the Israelis ate breakfast. When they left, he approached them and detonated the explosives.
Ozturk's family reported him missing after he went to Istanbul in 2013, security sources said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[IsraelTimes] Equipped with false identities, suspects said to have orders to strike again after Saturday’s deadly Istanbul bombing
Rear scorpions in your bosom, risk the occasional sting...
Turkish security forces were searching for three 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.... operatives still on the loose with orders to strike again in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , local media reported Monday.
According to a report by the Dogan news agency, Haci Ali Durmaz, Yunus Durmaz and Salas Yildiz -- who was a prime suspect in Saturday’s Istanbul bombing -- are using fake identities and have orders to carry out additional terror attacks.
Pictures of the suspects were run in morning papers across the country, just days after a suspected Islamic State bombing on Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue left four dead -- three of them Israeli -- and dozens injured.
Turkey’s interior minister on Sunday identified the jacket wallah who killed four foreign tourists in Istanbul as a bad boy with links to IS.
Minister Efkan Ala said the bomber was Turkish citizen Mehmet Ozturk, who was born in 1992 in Gaziantep province, which borders Syria. He said Ozturk wasn’t on any list of wanted suspects and that five other people were detained as part of the investigation.
Saturday’s kaboommaimed dozens of others. Among the fatalities were two American-Israelis, another Israeli and an Iranian. The attack targeted Istanbul’s pedestrian Istiklal Street, which is lined with shops and cafes in an area that also has government offices and foreign missions.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
in response Yippy'll bomb the Kurds in Iraq, again
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/22/2016 11:17 Comments ||
Top||
#2
We aimed for the moon but hit London the Kurds.
[REUTERS] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's Kurds on Monday marked the annual spring festival of Newroz with a call for the resumption of peace talks between the government and Kurdish bad boys, but four Turkish soldiers were killed in another rebel attack in the restive southeast region.
The appeal from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) for peace talks also coincided with a pledge from Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to use all the country's military and intelligence might to crush terrorism following a spate of suicide kabooms, two claimed by Kurdish bad boys.
Since last year's Newroz festival Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast has seen a big upsurge in violence due to the collapse of a 2-1/2 year ceasefire in July between the Ankara government and bully boyz of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
In the latest attack, PKK fighters launched a kaboom on a military vehicle in the town of Nusaybin near the Syrian border, security sources said. The army said four soldiers were killed, while five soldiers and a police officer were maimed.
The attack came as Kurds marked the Newroz festival, a traditional rallying point for PKK supporters who on Monday waved party flags and pictures depicting their incarcerated Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! leader Abdullah Ocalan as they gathered in a park on the outskirts of Diyarbakir, the region's largest city.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
"On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking Farook's iPhone," the Justice Department's lawyers wrote in a court filing. "Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook's iPhone. If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple...set forth in the All Writs Act Order in this case." The government is "cautiously optimistic" that this new strategy "will allow us to search the phone and continue our investigation."
If authorities have found a software or system vulnerability into the iPhone, Apple's lawyers said they will file a motion to obtain discovery and insist on knowing everything about the method-including who the third party is that discovered it and the nature of the zero-day vulnerability.
The government has been heavily criticized in the past for withholding information about vulnerabilities in software so that law enforcement and intelligence agencies can use them to exploit. The White House insisted last year that it discloses about 90 percent of vulnerabilities to software makers so that they can be patched instead of exploited. And if you can't trust the White House, ummm, fugettaboutit.
But the government has also admitted that if a software hole has "a clear national security or law enforcement" use, officials may choose to keep information about the vulnerability secret in order to continue exploiting it. That's assuming they could actually keep a secret, without Hillary's e-mail leaking it.
The FBI's change in tactics may partially be a result of the wave of public support Apple has received in its case, along with a slew of amicus briefs filed to the court on its behalf. Everyone from privacy activists, to law professors, to iPhone-focused hackers, to fellow tech giants including Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook made statements in Apple's defense, arguing that the software the FBI demanded Apple create represented an undue burden on the company, set a dangerous precedent, and would ultimately lead to the weakening of Americans' digital security.
Most observers of the case have guessed from the start that Farook’s phone likely didn’t contain much data of interest; investigators had already accessed an older backup of the phone, and admit that a metadata analysis also found no evidence of terrorist ties.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/22/2016 07:46 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
More likely the Israelis cracked it. I would guess figuring out how to override the 'bad password attempt counter' would be the simplistic approach to get in.
#3
Snowden has said the FBI already has access to the phone. Makes sense. This case was all about setting a precedent. Now that the FBI looks to lose in court they can avoid setting a negative precedent by suddenly getting into the phone themselves.
Citing a new possible way to access a locked iPhone used by a shooter in the San Bernardino terrorist attack, the Justice Department on Monday convinced a federal court to cancel a Tuesday hearing on whether Apple should be forced to help the FBI break into the device.
Government lawyers had insisted for months they needed Apple to write special software so the FBI could bypass security features on the iPhone being used by the San Bernardino shooter, Syed Farook, and obtain what could be critical information for their ongoing terrorism investigation.
But the Justice Department unexpectedly told the court just hours before a scheduled hearing that it may not need Apple’s assistance after all.
So they were lying and were using this as a way to force Apple to capitulate? When Apple said "hell no" they came up with Plan B? Or is Apple wrong and there is a way to crack the phone after all?
"On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking Farook's iPhone," federal prosecutors said in a filing Monday afternoon. "Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook's iPhone. If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple Inc. ('Apple') set forth in the All Writs Act Order in this case."
For the moment, the DOJ’s move hits the pause button on a case that has pitted Washington against Silicon Valley in a fierce debate over the role tech companies should play in terrorism investigations. The Justice Department now has until April 5 to test its prospective technical fix, which law enforcement sources, speaking with reporters on Monday, repeatedly declined to detail.
Apple did not immediately comment on the decision. Earlier Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook affirmed his company’s intent to fight this and other cases where the government seeks greater access to digital data. As he unveiled his company’s latest iPhone, Cook pledged on stage in San Francisco that Apple would not “shirk from [its] responsibility” to protect its users.
In the San Bernardino case, the Justice Department had asked a federal magistrate in February to require Apple to write software to help unlock Farook’s password-protected iPhone. Apple doesn’t retain a copy of device passwords, and the iPhone is programmed to erase itself after too many failed attempts to unlock it. The DOJ wanted the company craft special software to remove the restriction.
Federal Magistrate Sheri Pym initially sided with the DOJ in February, drawing a sharp rebuke from Apple, which lambasted the government’s request as a digital “backdoor.” In the eyes of the tech company, a win for the government would set a dangerous legal precedent, allowing the Justice Department unparalleled access to all digital communications in other major national security investigations. Apple argued Congress never gave law enforcement such power, and doing so now would only encourage foreign governments to seek the same access in the future.
In its filings with the court, the Justice Department initially argued it had no option to obtain the data other than ask for Apple’s help — even as security experts suggested the FBI might have been able to extract the phone's contents by other means. FBI Director James Comey was grilled about a potential technical solution by lawmakers like Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Capitol Hill earlier this month.
The DOJ did not specify in its court filing Monday, however, exactly how it planned to obtain the contents of the San Bernardino device. Nor did law enforcement officials, speaking to reporters on background, explain who their “outside source” was or how the FBI got in contact with them.
"As a result of these efforts, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI this past weekend a possible method for unlocking the phone," a DOJ spokeswoman said in a statement. "We must first test this method to ensure that it doesn’t destroy the data on the phone, but we remain cautiously optimistic. That is why we asked the court to give us some time to explore this option."
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Outside Party" = a certain federal three letter agency?
Good on Apple, for standing their ground! Will be interesting to see what the retaliation for their defiance will be, though.
Also, awesome pseudonym is awesome! Harry Platypus!
[Ynet] Shuhada al-Yarmouk, the ISIS affiliate on Israel's Golan border, has changed leadership from a Syrian-Paleostinian to a Saudi, a possible sign of ISIS central leadership trying to rein in the group.
The ISIS branch operating on the Israeli-Syrian border announced recently that it had appointed a new chief, mere months after someone else took over the role.
"Shuhada al-Yarmouk announces the pledge of allegiance to the brother Abu Abdullah al-Madani," the group announced in a surprise social media post recently.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[An Nahar] A Syrian Kurd representative defended Monday the proclamation of a Kurdish federal region in northern Syria, saying it was not meant to be autonomous and only for Kurds.
The Kurds and their allies unilaterally proclaimed a federal region in the war-ravaged country last week, but critics said it would undermine Syria's unity and lead to its partition.
"We don't aspire to create an autonomous zone that is exclusive to the Kurdish nation," said Rodi Osman, director of the Syrian Kurd's representative office in Moscow.
"We envision to install a federal regime, democratic and secular, in which all parts of Syrian society can live and by which they will feel themselves represented," he told news hounds.
Both the Damascus government and the main Syrian opposition grouping involved in U.N.-brokered peace negotiations in Geneva have rejected last Thursday's move by the Kurds.
Washington has said it will not recognize any autonomous regions they set up under their planned federation and says that Syria's future system of government is something to be negotiated in the U.N. talks.
But it has also said that it will continue to work closely with the Kurds, whom it regards as the most effective fighting force against 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.... jihadist group.
Kurds comprise about 15 percent of Syria's population and Kurdish fighters have been backed by Washington in the battle against the Islamic State group.
Moscow has steadily built up its alliance with the Kurds after a fallout with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... over the downing of a Russian warplane last November, pushing for the inclusion of the Syrian Kurds in U.N. peace talks.
The Turkish government considers the Syrian Kurds affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), its nemesis.
The Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... on Monday rejected Kurdish-led moves for a federal system of government, saying they consist of "separatist calls that harm the unity of Syria."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[An Nahar] Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... on Monday ruled out an imminent Israeli attack or war against Leb as he warned that this group has the ability to target nuclear and biological sites in Israel in any future confrontation.
"I rule out an Israeli attack or war against Leb in the near future," said Nasrallah in an interview on al-Mayadeen television, dismissing recent media reports in this regard.
"Any Israeli war on Leb would be an uncalculated adventure," he warned, reassuring that "through its readiness, expertise, military skills and stance, the resistance has made the Israelis realize that any war on Leb will be very costly."
"We will not abide by any restrictions or red lines in the event of any war against Leb," Nasrallah threatened, revealing that Hizbullah possesses "a full list of targets in occupied Paleostine, including nuclear reactors and biological research centers."
Commenting on the latest Israeli military exercises, Hizbullah's chief noted that "Israel's military maneuvers are not new."
"Some think that Hizbullah is preoccupied in Syria, but we have a team that is dedicated to the Israeli issue and everything the Israelis say," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
"I rule out an Israeli attack or war against Leb in the near future," said Nasrallah in an interview on al-Mayadeen television, from an undisclosed location (under his daughter's bed), dismissing recent media reports in this regard.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/22/2016 11:22 Comments ||
Top||
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.
"On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking Farook's iPhone," the Justice Department's lawyers wrote in a court filing. "Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook's iPhone. If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple...set forth in the All Writs Act Order in this case." The government is "cautiously optimistic" that this new strategy "will allow us to search the phone and continue our investigation." 
Citing a new possible way to access a locked iPhone used by a shooter in the San Bernardino terrorist attack, the Justice Department on Monday convinced a federal court to cancel a Tuesday hearing on whether Apple should be forced to help the FBI break into the device.
