[AmuTV] Opium in Nimroz province in western Afghanistan is now 12 times more expensive than it was a year ago — before the Taliban ...Arabic for students... issued a ban on poppy cultivation, sources told Amu TV. According to the sources, the Taliban has driven up the price — in fact the group, along with narcos, have a set price list on the walls of markets for opium in the province.
The sources, who are familiar with the matter, said trade in opium is conducted in accordance with the price lists. In addition, the tax on one kilogram of opium is now hundreds of afghanis. The price has increased by over 100%, from 60,000 Pak rupees ($216) to 120,000 rupees ($432) per kilogram.
Continued on Page 49
[ToloNews] Zabiullah Mujahid, the Islamic Emirate's spokesperson, said that so far, 300 General Directorate of Passports employees have been arrested or fired on charges of corruption.
Speaking to TOLOnews, Mujahid said that the Afghan government is committed to rooting out corruption and that the passport office has been cleared of any corruption.
"There were some forgeries produced. So far, 300 people from that department have been fired, arrested, and nabbed Book 'im, Mahmoud! due to corruption there," Mujahid told TOLOnews.
However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... some Kabul residents claim that even though the General Directorate of Passports is closed to the people, passports are given out to people in exchange for high fees.
"There are some people who sell passports for a lot of money on the black market. This has caused a lot of problems for the people," said Ramin, a resident of Kabul.
"Some of our relatives have paid 1200 dollars, 1000 hundred dollars and 1500 dollars to get passports and leave the country," said Hekmat Shah, another resident of Kabul.
Residents of Kabul said that receiving a passport is a fundamental right and that the Islamic Emirate should begin issuing them.
"It's been six months since I registered at the passport office, I filed the online form, but unfortunately I haven't received any calls or forms from the office," said Ahmad Zahid, a resident of Kabul.
First the new staff has to be taught to read. Then they need to be taught how to use a computer. Only then will they have the skills to learn how to use the passport office system. So good luck with that, Mr. Zahid.
The spokesperson of the passport department said that the technical problem has not been resolved in this department so far, so the issuance of passports has been stopped.
"All technical groups are working to find solutions to the existing problems so that we can then begin the passport distribution process. Passport distribution generally is halted at all," said Noorullah Patman, the spokesperson of the passport Directorate, told TOLOnews.
The passport directorate has been closed to the public for about five months, and there have been no updates on the ongoing technical issue; however, this Directorate issues passports to patients after receiving approval from the medical commission.
Afghanistan acting authorities detained Ismail Mashal, a lecturer who tore up his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees on live TV in protest against a ban on Afghan women’s education in the country.https://t.co/p2sk6BjECl
[AlAhram] Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... 's military leader said Friday that there was no break in diplomatic relations with La Belle France, which he asked to withdraw its forces, and denied Russian Wagner mercenaries were in the country.
Former colonial power La Belle France had special forces based in Ouagadougou, but its presence had come under intense scrutiny as anti-French sentiment in the region grows, with Gay Paree withdrawing its ambassador to Burkina over the junta's demands.
"The end of diplomatic agreements, no!" Captain Ibrahim Traore said in a television interview with Burkinabe journalists. "There is no break in diplomatic relations or hatred against a particular state," he added.
Traore went on to deny that there were mercenaries from the Russian Wagner Group deployed in Burkina Faso, even as the junta has nurtured ties with Moscow.
"We've heard everywhere that Wagner is in Ouagadougou... (this rumour) was created so that everybody would distance themselves from us," he said.
Gay Paree confirmed last month that the special forces troops, deployed to help fight a years-long jihadist insurgency, would leave within a month.
It was anger within the military at the government's failure to stem a jihadist insurgency that has raged since 2015 that fuelled two coups in Burkina Faso last year.
Violence by holy warriors linked to al-Qaeda and 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.... group has killed thousands of people and forced around two million more to flee their homes.
BLOODY CONFLICT
A landlocked country lying in the heart of West Africa's Sahel, Burkina Faso is one of the world's most volatile and impoverished countries.
It has been struggling with a jihadist insurgency that swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015.
Thousands of civilians, troops and police have been killed, more than two million people have fled their homes and around 40 percent of the country lies outside the government's control.
Anger within the military at the mounting toll sparked two coups in 2022, the most recent of which was on September 30, when 34-year-old Traore, seized power.
He is standing by a pledge made by the preceding junta to stage elections for a civilian government by 2024.
After the ruling junta in Mali forced French troops out last year, the army officers running neighbouring Burkina Faso followed suit, asking Gay Paree to empty its garrison.
Under President Emmanuel Macron, La Belle France was already drawing down its troops across the Sahel region ... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas... , who just a few years ago numbered more than 5,000, backed up with fighter jets, helicopters and infantry fighting vehicles.
Around 3,000 remain, but the forced departures from Mali and Burkina Faso -- as well as the Central African Republic to the south last year -- underline how anti-French winds are gathering force.
They may be registered in Russia but they are not registered in the Rantburg archives, which should be of some comfort.
[KavkazUzel] A resident of Dagestan was unable to achieve in court removal from the professional accounting under the category "extremist". The court based its decision on the police's assertion that such records were not kept.
As the "Caucasian Knot" has reported, in March 2017, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Dagestan announced the destruction of orders for professional registration under the category "extremist", however, human rights activists stated that the practice of accounting for believers was preserved.
The security forces continue to compile secret lists of alleged religious extremists, lawyer Shamil Magomedov noted in late 2017. In March 2018, Novaya Gazeta reported that the security forces are using the measures of the abolished professional accounting, applying the law "On Investigative Activities" .
Profuchet is one of the ways to prevent offenses and recurrence of crimes, notes the "Caucasian Knot" certificate " Profuchet in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation ".
A court in Dagestan refused to remove him from the preventive register as an extremist, a local resident Ramis Abubakarov. The decision was made on the basis of the response of the police about the lack of such records. At the same time, the court pointed out that the registration of a resident of Dagestan does not violate his rights and freedoms, Kavkaz.Realii reported today.
He found out that Abubakarov was on a preventive list when he tried to get permission to carry pneumatic weapons. The case states that Abubakarov assists "in providing the personnel of the tactical group" that takes part in the military operation in Ukraine, the publication says.
The "Caucasian Knot" also wrote that in December 2022, the Supreme Court of Dagestan returned the case of teacher Hussein Khamzatov to the Sovetsky District Court of Makhachkala , having considered a complaint against the decision to recognize Khamzatov's registration as an "extremist" as illegal.
Earlier, the Sovetsky District Court ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan to remove Khusein Khamzatov from the preventive register within a month, recognizing the actions of the security forces as illegal. The Ministry of Internal Affairs challenged this decision, stating that the court's findings did not correspond to the circumstances of the administrative case.
On May 23, 2022, a court in Makhachkala denied Ramazan Nazhduev's lawsuit against the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the issue of preventive registration. The decision was justified by the fact that Nazhduev did not provide enough data proving that he was on professional accounting. The authorities of Dagestan want to keep the accounting, but they do not have the right to apply it officially in the absence of an appropriate federal law, lawyer Marina Agaltsova emphasized.
The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia did not find any violations when considering a complaint about inaccurate answers from the prosecutor's office of Dagestan about the practice of professional accounting in the republic, in particular, about registering Vazir Bazanaev on professional accounting. Evidence of illegal keeping of professional accounting, listed in the complaint, was ignored , human rights activists said.
[DW] A town in northern Germany is in the spotlight after a riot over planned housing for asylum-seekers. Local authorities are under strain from long-term issues and recent crises, while right-wing Lions of Islam fuel ire.
A wooden board painted with garish red letters greets everyone arriving in Upahl. "Upahl says no" reads the sign at the entrance to the small community in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, north-eastern Germany.
The "no" refers to a planned accommodation facility for 400 refugees and asylum-seekers, which is due to be built in the town of 1,600 residents. The site where the so-called container village of temporary housing is planned is close to the entrance to the village.
On this January morning, there is barely a person to be seen in Upahl. Industrial buildings lie silent on both sides of the street — a rubber factory, a creamery, a second-hand tractor yard, with a field of solar panels in between.
Some residents are shopping in the local bakery. "We know that they need to go somewhere," the saleswoman says when asked about the asylum-seekers. "But why put everyone here? How are we supposed to manage that?" A customer nods in agreement.
When journalists ask around the village, people are standoffish when it comes to the topic of the planned facility. Nobody really wants to talk about it — there is clear skepticism of mainstream media.
RIOTS AT THE DISTRICT ASSEMBLY
Just a few days ago, Upahl made headlines across Germany. According to police, about 700 people protested outside the offices where local authorities had met in nearby Grevesmuhlen to discuss the container village for Upahl. Most of the protesters remained peaceful. However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... a group that included known right-wing Lions of Islam from the region attempted to force its way into the meeting room, and some people even threw fireworks. In the end, 120 officers shielded the building, a police spokesperson said.
"Yes, that was all over the media again," says the woman at the ticket counter at the train station in Grevesmuhlen as she patiently hands over a printed bus timetable, following with a polite nod toward the exit. It is from here that the bus departs for the district hub of Wismar, a port town on the Baltic coast.
It is there Tino Schomann has his office. He is the district administrator for the Nordwestmecklenburg area and supports the establishment of the container village. Since the protest, many more media representatives than usual have been knocking on his door. Between his many political and press appointments, Schomann finds time to return DW's call.
PLENTY OF SPACE, FEW RESOURCES
"I understand people's fears," he says. But there is no alternative. "I am assigned about 20 to 30 asylum-seekers per month. We are housing these people in gyms," he explains.
In Germany, people applying for asylum are distributed across the country according to an agreed formula and assigned to reception centers. They live there while their status is decided upon, which in some cases can take up to two years. They are not allowed to move on during this time, but more people continue to arrive.
Schomann says that what he needs to bring the situation under control again is for fewer people to be assigned to his district. And for those whose request for asylum has been denied to be deported, to make space for newcomers.
It is not only Schomann who has come forward — other districts have also stressed that they are reaching their limits. "I have the impression that the response from citizens, as well as colleagues, is: 'we are glad someone has spoken out.'"
According to Schomann, Germany's federal government needs to finally recognize how serious the situation has become: "Money does not help us, we need the resources and possibilities to be able to fulfill the task that has been assigned to the local municipalities."
"People are currently burdened with many crises — the energy crisis, inflation, war," says Green Party politician Rene Fuhrwerk in Wismar. "That triggers fears, then the people look for someone to blame, and it is often refugees and asylum-seekers," he explained, even if they are not the cause of local people's struggles.
Fuhrwerk pleads for "solidarity and human dignity," for asylum-seekers. He sees a massive challenge: "The burden has increased gradually since thousands of refugees came in 2015. At the same time no new affordable housing has been created. And now everything has slowly become occupied," explains Fuhrwerk. "The war in Ukraine is only now revealing this."
NO COMPROMISE IN SIGHT
Back in Upahl. On a fence along the main street hangs a series of notes — they are laminated so they do not disintegrate in the rain — and each printed with one word. In a long row, they form sentences: "Where are the spaces in daycare for children? Where is the medical care? Where is the appropriate infrastructure?" and finally "We don't want this."
The nearest supermarket is a 20-minute bus ride away, and the closest doctor's clinic is also not directly in the village. Compared to other German communities of its size, Upahl is not very well-connected. The fear of being left behind is palpable here. Anger over decades of underinvestment in infrastructure is mixed for some with a fear of change that the influx of 400 people might cause. The fact that well-known right-wing Lions of Islam from the region are further fueling the fears to win influence simply exacerbates the problem.
For the moment, it seems as if the container village will be established in Upahl — despite the protests. Discussion groups and meetings are planned in Wismar and surrounding areas in the coming weeks. These moves are also an attempt to gain support from locals for housing to be built. Because of the developments at the end of January, all meetings will take place under police protection.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/05/2023 13:16 Comments ||
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#3
Interestingly, at the bottom of the article at the link, there is a video report entitled “How Germany's deportation process works — or doesn't”. The journalist makes the point that even after asylum applications have gone through all the appeals, only to be rejected, almost none are required to actually leave.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Pakistain Telecommunication Authority has blocked Wikipedia services for not removing "unlawful" content from its website.
The Pakistain Telecommunication Authority (PTA) reported blocking internet access to Wikipedia in the country due to the website’s refusal to remove allegedly offensive content.
The ban comes after the website failed to remove the offending content within 48 hours.
The Pakistain Telecommunication Authority said it had "degraded" Wikipedia services earlier on Friday because the site had ignored a previous order to remove an ’unlawful’ continent.
Blasphemy is taken very seriously under Pak law, which allows capital punishment for anyone convicted of affronting Islam, said PTA.
Wikipedia is a multilingual and free online encyclopedia launched in 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. The content of Wikipedia is written and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. It is one of the ten most popular websites as of 2022.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2023 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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Is that likely to work now, when it hasn’t before?
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Pakistan wants to reach out to Afghan Taliban Chief Haibuttallah Akhundzada to rein Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, who are responsible for the recent Peshawar mosque attack.https://t.co/Xfc3z8vMDJ
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian terror groups, which long enjoyed support from Khartoum, condemn African nation’s decision to continue with normalization efforts.
The poor darlings. How they do suffer!
Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®, and Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... condemned Sudan on Friday for agreeing to move ahead with normalizing ties with Israel, with Khartoum apparently breaking with decades of support for Paleostinian terror groups.
[AlAhram] Iran ...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... slammed UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi after the agency raised concerns over covert changes to equipment at its Fordo uranium enrichment plant,
...sometimes spelt Fordow, for reasons that altogether escape me...
state media said Saturday.
The criticism of Grossi comes after the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency director-general said he plans to visit Tehran in February for talks on getting it to increase cooperation over its activities, amid stalled negotiations to revive a landmark deal over Iran's nuclear programme.
The IAEA said in a confidential report seen by AFP on Wednesday that Iran had substantially modified an interconnection between two centrifuge clusters enriching uranium to up to 60 percent at Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), without giving prior notice.
Iran said later an inspector had "inadvertently" reported the changes, and that Grossi had issued the report despite the matter being resolved -- a response that the United States and its allies criticised as "inadequate".
"We gave a letter to the agency that an inspector... made a mistake and gave an incorrect report," Mohamad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.
"But yet again the director-general of the agency released this issue to the media," he said, labelling it "unprofessional and unacceptable" behaviour.
"We hope that this practice will not be continued... because this is not acceptable for his reputation and the agency."
The IAEA had said that during an unannounced Fordo inspection on January 21 it found "two IR-6 centrifuge cascades... were interconnected in a way that was substantially different from the mode of operation declared by Iran to the agency".
Since late last year, the two cascades had been used to produce uranium enriched to up to 60 percent, the report to member states added.
In the report, Grossi expressed concern that Iran had "implemented a substantial change in the design information of FFEP in relation to the production of high enriched uranium without informing the agency in advance".
In a statement on Friday, the United States, Britannia, La Belle France and Germany said Iran's response to the report was "inadequate".
"Iranian claims that this action was carried out in error are inadequate," they said.
"We judge Iran's actions based on the impartial and objective reports of the IAEA, not Iran's purported intent."
[Rudaw] A top Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) commander on Thursday claimed that in the early years of the Syrian uprising, Ottoman Turkish officials tried and failed to enlist the support of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in bringing down the Damascus regime. The revelation is a surprise as The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... considers the YPG a terror organization and has launched several military operations against the force.
Murat Karayilan, a top PKK commander, told his party’s Sterk TV during an interview aired on Thursday that Turkey in 2013 offered to give the YPG anything it wanted if the group helped Ankara and its Syrian mercenaries topple Bashir al-Assad’s regime. Ankara has been the main backer of opposition groups in the fight against the regime since the onset of the uprising.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/05/2023 00:00 ||
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[13 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[An Nahar] The head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammed Raad, on Saturday warned that his party’s "enemies" are "trying to turn the presidential juncture in Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...In 2020 Hezbollah blew up a considerable portion of Beirut and many of its inhabitants when its ammonium nitrate facility exploded. They blamed it on... somebody else. It wasn't them though. Trust them on that. And it ain't never coming to trial... into a platform for taking hold of a president who would implement their policies and continue their scheme of tightening the noose on the Resistance®."
"We are not the ones paralyzing the country. It is rather being paralyzed by those who are putting their hand on its money, banks, policies, siege and sanctions, preventing that it be supplied with electricity," Raad said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2023 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[IsraelTimes] Doha’s enhanced clout in Beirut seen in Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i state energy company’s replacement of Russian firm in consortium searching for gas in offshore field along Israeli border.
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.
[AmuTV] 
...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 
...The word 
Hezbollah
...In 2020 Hezbollah blew up a considerable portion of Beirut and many of its inhabitants when its ammonium nitrate facility exploded. They blamed it on... somebody else. It wasn't them though. Trust them on that. And it ain't never coming to trial...
