[Reuters] Ford Motor Co (F.N) said Tuesday it will cancel a planned $1.6 billion factory in Mexico and invest $700 million at a Michigan factory, after President-elect Donald Trump had harshly criticized the Mexico investment plan.
The second largest U.S. automaker said it would build new electric, hybrid and autonomous vehicles at the Flat Rock, Michigan plant and add 700 jobs.
Ford Chief Executive Mark Fields said the decision to cancel the new Mexico factory was the result of sagging demand for small cars in North America and not because Trump was elected president. He told Fox Business that the automaker would have made the same decision even if Trump had not been elected.
"There was no quid pro quo because there was no negotiation" with Trump over the decision to cancel the plant, Fields said.
Fields told reporters the decision related to the need to "fully utilize capacity at existing facilities" amid declining sales of small and medium sized cars such as the Focus and Fusion.
[PJ] The least-shocking, long-rumored departure in cable news seems that it is about to happen. The still-dominant Fox News Channel has been through a lot of changes in the past several months, most notably saying good-bye to the man who made it a ratings powerhouse. Now, according to The New York Times it appears that FNC is losing one of its biggest stars:
Megyn Kelly, who arrived at Fox News 12 years ago as a television news neophyte but rose to become one of its two biggest stars, has decided to leave the network to take on a broad new role at NBC News for an undisclosed amount, people briefed on the negotiations said on Tuesday.
[Charlotte Observer] A baggage handler was apparently locked in the cargo hold of an outbound Charlotte Douglas International flight Sunday and survived the ordeal as the plane reached altitudes of up to 27,000 feet, where outside temperatures can sink to minus 30 to 34 degrees.
Many questions remain about the incident. FAQ: No, the baggage handler in the graphic is not Reginald Gaskin.
United Airlines is still investigating what led to the baggage handler being in a cargo hold for nearly 90 minutes during the flight. The man was found after the aircraft landed at Washington Dulles International Airport, multiple media outlets reported.
The airline said in a statement to the Associated Press Monday that United Express flight No. 6060 was operated by Mesa Airlines, and it landed safely at Dulles on Sunday at about 4:16 p.m. Sunday. The statement said that once the plane was at the gate, an employee of the airline’s ground handling vendor was found in the cargo area.
The plane was an Embraer 170 with 50 seats, media outlets reported. Radio communications traffic about the flight suggested the baggage loader was accidentally locked in the cargo area at the Charlotte airport, reported Observer news partner WBTV . The man reportedly refused to be checked out by medics.
Airport officials initially treated the discovery as a security breach, as it worked to identify the employee.
Media outlets have identified the employee as Reginald Gaskin.
Gaskin, 45, told the Washington Post, "I thank God. He was with me." Gaskin told the Post that on advice of his attorney, he would not discuss what happened. He worked for Texas-based G2 Secure Staff, media outlets reported.
United officials could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday. At 27,000 feet, for comparison, that would be the equivalent of nearing the top of Mount Everest, which reaches 29,000 feet.
#2
United has just instituted an 'economy' class that for the cheaper fare prohibits a pax from using an overhead bin, but only the under seat room for personal gear.
Wonder how much this guy will get charged the THE WHOLE DANGED CARGO BAY???
Posted by: USN, Ret ||
01/03/2017 15:02
Comments ||
Top||
The Israeli company Convexum announced that it has developed technology to protect against drone infiltration, Channel 2 reported.
Drones have been used in increasing numbers both for recreational purposes and by the military, including in Israel. Drones can be used to gather intelligence without any risk to human life and are often smaller than manned aircraft, allowing them to fly closer to their targets without being spotted.
According to Convexum, it has designed a system that can take control of a drone without any human intervention, thereby protecting sensitive sites such as military installations from the mechanized eyes of drones. The company claims that the system "offers enhanced perimeter security against rogue and malicious drone intrusions."
The system automatically disables the control operations of a drone that comes too close and guides the drone towards a safe landing.
Now, I don't know about you, but I'm surprised
The annotated edition of Adolf Hitler’s "Mein Kampf" sold 85,000 copies in the one year since it was released in print for the first time since World War II.
"Hitler, Mein Kampf: A Critical Edition" is in its eighth printing, according to the Spiegel newspaper, which noted that the book topped its best-seller list in April.
#2
Given that it has been unavailable I wonder how many copies are by people trying to learn what the fuss was all about........that or German literate "refugees".
#6
The book, 'Hitler, Mein Kampf: A Critical Edition' is a scholarly exercise. It has the text and thousands of annotations. The annotations point out the grammatical errors in the book, the statements that are unsupported by science, the statements that Hitler later retracted or contradicted, etc.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/03/2017 16:29
Comments ||
Top||
h/t Instapundit
The anger against the ruling elites that fueled the election of Donald Trump was not understood by them for good reason: they genuinely are isolated from the realities of life as experienced by most Americans.
A fascinating survey has created a data-based measure of the social isolation of the urban elites, the people who run the country who have no contact at all with the lives of most people. Charles Murray, co-author of the groundbreaking study The Bell Curve, and author of Coming Apart: The State of White America, devised a clever survey to identify the social isolation from the rest of America that characterizes highly educated, affluent elites. He explains for the American Enterprise Institute, where he is a scholar:
In Coming Apart, a book I published in 2012, I asked my readers to score themselves on a 25-item test titled "How Thick is Your Bubble?" Scores could range from 0 to 100. The lower the score, the thicker one’s elite cultural bubble.
For PBS, he created a similar version of the quiz, taken by over 130,000 people who watch PBS.
...The data yield some remarkable conclusions about the way elites cluster together and cut themselves off (snip)
When I controlled for the age of the respondent and the urbanization of the zip code, it turned out that virtually all the effect on the bubble score is driven by the percentage of adults with a college degree in the zip code where the respondent lived. The zip code’s median family income had almost no independent effect. Another interesting finding: the zip code where people lived at age 10 had a modestly larger effect on their bubble scores than their current zip code.
In other words, there really is an elite at the very top of our income, education, and status hierarchy, and they cluster in just a few areas and cut themselves off from different people. Moreover, they tend to be children of people of higher status and education.
A hereditary class cut off from the society they rule ‐ not exactly the Jeffersonian ideal of America. More like the European, Latin, and Asian nations from which many Americans fled. And they live exactly where you would expect (list below).
#2
In other words, there really is an elite at the very top of our income, education, and status hierarchy, and they cluster in just a few areas and cut themselves off from different people.
Hence the terms 'bible thumping, gun toting, irredeemable deplorables.' Tell me, are 'ground breaking studies,' clever surveys, and scholarly examinations all that necessary ?
#5
PBS was a Great Society child which was to help the lower caste. Today its just a subsidized channel for the well to do. Using other peoples money to entertain themselves.
#6
A retired Marine SSgt. at a local bar here in North Georgia held up a T-shirt one night of Hillary's face crossed behind Bars and everybody in the Bar cheered. Went in a day or two later and the T-shirt is now in a see through glass frame hung above the cash register at the bar.
Message to the Donks and the Libtards, "We don't like you either." Won't fight the Civil War again, but something tells me that these same people had great grandfathers who DID.
We are, by and large. exactly what you think we are. We have been married to our wives for years. We own pickups and we do have guns. We go to Church on Sunday and we fly the American Flag off our porches and we like homemade Cornbread and Pork BBQ. We are almost all Vets and our sons are a lot like their dads.
Some of us have been to college, but we all also own our own businesses and homes. We work hard and drink Beer mostly, and enjoy basically happy and fulfilling Lives.
We UNDERSTAND liberals and "progressives", and we don't like them. God Bless you.
#7
What I'd really would like to see is a statistical study on sexual harassment accusations in colleges - to see if the accused and accusers populations have recurrent profiles.
#8
Chesney Hatfield1534, I'm with you, brother, but I DON'T understand liberals at all. If you want a visual, I'm that dog [I love dogs!] that has the confused look on his face when you do a magic trick with his favorite ball. I don't know how the LibProgs make it through life without analyzing their lives.
#9
Any society is going to have elites. I much prefer to have elites by achievement/merit vs elites who had a head start simply because of who their parents are.
#11
When I lived there,Raj, I had a hard time convincing people I wasn't in the KKK and that The Beverly Hillbillies was not a documentary. Also that in Alabama it does get cold in Winter and we do have heat in our homes.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/03/2017 15:49
Comments ||
Top||
#12
But are snakepits an important part of religious ceremonies Deacon? :)
If there’s any single statement that Barack Obama probably wishes he could undo, it was his mockery of Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential debates. Referring to Romney’s characterization of Russia as America’s greatest geopolitical foe, Obama said the 1980s are now calling, and they want their foreign policy back.
Now of course, Democrats are up in arms about the Russians, sounding like madcap John Birchers from the 1960s. As Twitter wag IowaHawk noted, they didn’t get upset when Russia invaded Crimea, they didn’t throw down when Russia shot down a civilian airliner over Ukraine, but stealing John Podesta’s password via a phishing scam is apparently grounds for restarting the Cold War. Well, only one of these crimes constitutes a threat to Democrats’ political power.
...So let’s look ahead: In the next administration, we need to pay a lot more attention to cyber security. People love to be online -- Obama famously refused to give up his Blackberry when he took office, even though experts thought it insecure, even with modifications. But anything that’s online is vulnerable to hacking. In Neal Stephenson’s futuristic novel The Diamond Age, all the really important people do everything, from correspondence to reading the news, on paper, in part because it’s more secure. That future may soon be our present, at least if we want to be safe from spies.
#1
Ifthere’s any single statement that Barack Obama probably wishes he could undo, it was his mockery of Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential debates.
Undo? The 'mockery' was totally effective. Given the opportunity, Obama would use it again and again. Lying and deception are the tools of his trade.
#2
If any of Baraq's earlier statements become inconvenient or inconsistent with today's narrative, no worries. He has the MSM's Ministry of Truth's Memory Hole to make those statements go away.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/03/2017 12:11
Comments ||
Top||
President Trump invited the Pope for lunch on his mega yacht, the Pope accepted and during lunch, a puff of wind blew the Pontiff's hat off, right into the water.
It floated off about 50 feet, then the wind died down and it just floated in place.
The crew and the secret service were scrambling to launch a boat to go get it, when Trump waved them off, saying "Never mind, boys, I'll get it.
Then Donald climbed over the side of the yacht, walked on the water to the hat, picked it up, walked back on the water, climbed onto the yacht, and handed the Pope his hat.
The crew was speechless. The security team and the Pope's entourage were speechless.
No one knew what to say, not even the Pope.
But that afternoon, NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN all knew how to cover the story. Their banner headlines read,
#4
SHHH! Donald knew where all the rocks were.....
Posted by: USN, Ret ||
01/03/2017 15:09
Comments ||
Top||
#5
USN, Ret -- he didn't know just know where the rocks were, he'd had them built on hydraulics, because landlubbers are forever losing their hats to the wind there. The hydraulics allow the rocks to be stored at the bottom of the sea until he puts his hand on a certain spot in the rail, causing them to rise up to just below the surface. It's the job of the winter boat crew to test them in early spring, and effect any necessary repairs before the start of boating season. ;-)
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Ahmad Alkhalaf has had a busy year.
He attended Democratic President Barack Obama Because I won... 's final State of the Union address as a special guest of a congressman. He learned to bike and rollerblade, took martial arts and gymnastics classes and spent his summer playing soccer and swimming in a lake at a day camp in the Boston suburbs.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
It is understood that Zimbabwe’s national parks authority was ashamed or embarrassed about exporting wildlife to China, which is why it claimed to be capturing scores of young jumbos this year to restock parks and conservancies inside the country. But the reality is apparently very different: the authority has allegedly been grabbing the young animals to export to China, not least because Zimbabwe is bankrupt.
The Russian cargo plane Airbridge Cargo747 left Victoria Falls airport earlier this week bound for Shanghai via Moscow with about 35 elephants aged between 5 and 12 years old on board. Another shipment of live wildlife cargo, this time hyenas and lions, is due to leave Victoria Falls for China before the weekend.
Among those the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spoke to last month about the capture of the elephants was a group of EU wildlife experts who were on a fact-finding mission to see if a way could be found to help preserve Zimbabwe’s wildlife more efficiently.
They were told rangers were going to attempt to capture a matriarch in the Hwange National Park so that when the youngsters were released inside the country, they would have a mother. They were not told the youngsters were off to China.
One visitor to Hwange who saw the EU delegation there said the young elephants were in good condition and were getting used to crates that had been built for their travel.
The cargo plane was delayed because scales to weigh the cargo were not working well. Victoria Falls was recently upgraded to accommodate the world’s largest aircraft.
Zimbabwe previously exported 24 elephants to a small safari camp in south-eastern China.
National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokeswoman Caroline Washaya-Moyo declined to comment.
Several wildlife Facebook sites have condemned the “cruel” export of the young elephants. Last month the Zimbabwe National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals stopped the export of 11 hyenas because the containers for the animals were not up to standard.
Insiders say the hyenas were released by the authority but most were recaptured and will now leave Zimbabwe along with an unspecified number of lions before the weekend.
#2
The Chinese have a better racket. They rent pandas at $1m per animal. And they say these rentals are a token of their generosity. Why sell when you can rent?
[RUDAW.NET] Iraqi security forces have imposed a curfew in Samarra, 125 kilometers north of Baghdad, following armed attacks on two cop shoppes on Monday.
"A number of holy warriors wearing boom jackets attacked a cop shoppe in Samarra. Security forces repelled their attack, killed two of the suicide kaboomers and besieged the rest in the cop shoppe. The security forces have imposed their control over the site," said the Iraq War Media Office in a statement.
At least seven coppers are said to have been killed. Clashes are ongoing.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Hurriyet Daily News] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has become a country that cannot protect the lives of its own citizens or of its foreign guests, whether tourists or diplomats. It can now compete with Iraq and Afghanistan in terms of the frequency of terror attacks and the intensity of casualties.
This is not the only thing accelerating Turkey’s slide into the category of "third world countries."
It is not just the feeling of insecurity or instability that surrounds us. It is the feeling of hopelessness - characteristic of badly governed third world countries - that is a key indicator of where Turkey is heading.
What is particularly concerning is the fact that the feeling of hopelessness is becoming even more widespread among the young generations.
Evrim Kuran is the Middle East director of Universum, a research group active in over 50 countries. According to a survey they conducted among the young generation, the biggest dream most had is to leave the country.
"The second answer we came across was equally sad," Kuran said in an interview published in daily Hurriyet last Sunday. "The answer most gave to the question ’what is your biggest dream?’ was ’I want to be happy.’ Being happy cannot be a dream. They feel so cornered and so unhappy that they want to be happy. They are trying to overcome the barriers of hopelessness and the lack of opportunities, but they don’t know how."
Kuran also believes Turkey is becoming increasingly "mediocre," which is another characteristic of third world countries. "This is not just in art and literature, but even the business community is becoming more mediocre," she said.
Turkey’s rulers probably have no problem with this tendency, because a society where mediocracy reigns is one that is easier to rule without transparency or accountability.
Only a decade ago Turkey was the shining star of the region. Expats raced to come to Turkey and representatives of different sectors from all over the world were rushing to hold their annual meetings in Turkey. You could not find any rooms in Istanbul’s hotels.
Today, not just expats and youngsters but also older generations from the secular segments of the society want to flee Turkey. Rumors that the government could impose additional special taxes targeting higher income levels is increasing the anxiety, which no one dares to talk about publicly. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... ’s rhetoric that Turkey is under attack both from within and from without increases the fear that extraordinary measures, running against the principles of the liberal market economy, could be implemented by the government citing extraordinary circumstances.
All these fears, which may turn out to be baseless, are in line with the patterns of a third world country. In fact, I have no doubt that many in the West have already categorized Turkey as such.
As for those remaining in Turkey, as has been said by another colleague, either we will have to resist, run away or just get used to it.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
I didn't know Turkey was not considered a third world country?
[Hurriyet Daily News] A women calling for secularism was detained after participating in a speech protesting 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.... of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) attack on Istanbul’s Reina nightclub that killed 39 people and maimed 65 others.
The video of a speech delivered by a member of the Halkevleri (People’s Houses), Ergin Cevik, at a teahouse in the Istanbul neighborhood of Okmeydani calling for secularism emerged on social media on Jan. 1, prompting a user to report it to the Interior Ministry asking for the "traitors to be stopped."
"We say ’enough.’ From now on, we won’t allow ISIS or any reactionary jihadist gang into our neighborhoods," Cevik says in the video, as other Halkevleri members - including Aysegul Basar, who was later detained - listen in the background.
"There is a flag that needs to be raised against reactionaryism. The name of that flag is the flag of secularism. Secularism means freedom, brotherhood and struggling for a humane life. We are calling on everyone to be soldiers of this struggle. We are calling on you to bring fascists and lovers of the presidential system to account. Thank you for listening to us," Cevik added.
After the video went viral on social media, a Twitter user denounced it in a tweet posted to the Interior Ministry’s official Twitter account.
"Terrorists are inviting people to civil war in Okmeydani. Stop these traitors," wrote the user, addressing the Interior Ministry.
The tweet received a reply from the ministry, which stated that the person speaking in the video should be identified and the location of the speech found.
"The video has been transmitted to anti-terror units. Please identify the person wherever you see him," the reply sent by the Interior Ministry’s official account read.
The ministry’s tweet drew a condemnation on social media and was deleted nearly two hours after it was posted. Lawmakers from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) slammed the exchange and a hashtag reading "Secularism is not a crime" was launched.
Despite the Interior Ministry deleting its tweet, Halkevleri member Aysegul Basar, who can be seen in the background of the video listening to Cevik’s speech, was detained by police at her house in the early hours of Jan. 2.
CHP Istanbul deputy Baris Yarkadas released a statement after Basar’s detention, saying she would be held by police for five days.
"Why is the Interior Ministry bothered by youths making anti-ISIS propaganda?" Yarkadas asked.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[DAWN] At least 60 inmates died during a prison riot in the northern state of Amazonas, including several who had their heads chopped off or dismembered, Brazilian state authorities said Monday.
State public security secretary Sergio Fontes said that in addition to the deaths, some inmates escaped, but he did not say how many. Several prison guards were held hostage.
"This is the biggest prison massacre in our state's history," Fontes said during a presser. The riot began Sunday afternoon and lasted until Monday morning.
Two of the biggest crime gangs of Brazil have been fighting since 2016 over control of several prisons which, authorities in Amazonas believe, was the reason behind the first riot of 2017.
Fontes said the inmates made few demands to end the riot, which hints at a killing spree organised by members of a local gang against those of another that is based in Sao Paulo.
The secretary said officers found a hole in a prison wall through which authorities believe weapons entered the building.
Fontes confirmed that many of the dead had been beheaded and Judge Luis Carlos Valois, who negotiated the end of the riot with inmates, said he saw many bodies that were quartered.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
he saw many bodies that were quartered
And you think these inmates can peacefully reenter society?
#3
They had no problem with the death penalty. Such prison riots used to met with full combat assault by soldiers. Posted by P2Kontheroad
Solves a multitude of care & feeding problems, restores order and good discipline, and creates an excellent occasion for weapons cleaning and maintenance.
[AA.TR] Gambia ... The Gambia is actually surrounded by Senegal on all sides but its west coast. It has a population of about 1.7 million. The difference between the two is that in colonial days Senegal was ruled by La Belle France and The Gambia (so-called because there's only one of it, unlike Guinea, of which there are the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea, the English coin in circulation between 1663 and 1813, and Guyana, which sounds like it should be another one) was ruled by Britain... 's president-elect Adama Barrow has defended the position taken by the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) two days after the defeated President Yahya Jammeh branded them "partisan" in the mediation of the ongoing political situation in the country.
Barrow, a little known property developer, defeated President Jammeh at the small nation’s December 1 presidential polls.
Jammeh admitted the defeat but week later came out and reject the "results in its totality", claiming "unacceptable irregularities".
Jammeh said in his New Year message that the "partisan" position of the economic bloc took has disqualified them as genuine mediators that will bring the impasse to a successful end.
However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... in a statement released through his spokesperson, Halifa Sallah, Adama Barrow said the AU, UN and the ECOWAS are acting within the Gambian constitution.
"President elect Barrow, ECOWAS, AU and the UN have calculated their steps. Outgoing President Jammeh should also calculate his steps so that no mistakes would be made that would undermine the peace and security of the country," Sallah told a presser Monday afternoon.
"President elect Barrow has emphasized in no uncertain terms that the only time the ECOWAS, AU and the UN would have a foot hole in managing Gambian affairs is only if the two presidents failed to do, with impeccable thoroughness, what the constitution of the republic demands of both."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The year of 2016 was the hardest on the coastal cities of Syria compared to previous years since the beginning of the Syrian revolution.
Difficulties varied from lack of security and wide spread of Shabiha mercenary groups who had done whatever they like with any security force to stop them, added to lack of public services like electricity, water and fuel, besides soaring prices.
State of lawlessness
Armed individuals and gangs had breached all regulations and law in their practices such as killing, abduction, looting, bullying and humiliating against residents, even those loyalists to regime.
Weakness of security forces had facilitated huge kabooms in Tartus city, resulted in killing dozens. While other minor kabooms took place in neighbourhoods of Ramil Shamali and Tishrin suburb in Latakia and Karnak neighbourhood and national highway in Tartus.
Other results of lawlessness was the increase in murdering crimes, some aimed for looting and others for Dire Revenge. Besides abducting rich people and young women for ransom.
Activist Mohammed al-Sahili mentioned the state of corruption in justice system in Latakia with widespread of bribery and unfair verdicts.
Unprecedented fires
Forest in the coastal areas suffered of wide unprecedented fires lasted for days, they even forced residents in some village to evacuate their houses near Qardaha, al-Assad hometown.
Regime journalist and social media sites, especially of regime loyalist mentioned the fire brigade had deliberately delayed putting out the fire. Some mentioned that fire was an intentional act committed by Shabiha and others who wanted to clear the area from trees to sell it to wealthy traders from Aleppo.
Public Services
Residents in the coastal area suffered in providing fuel, oil for vehicles and gas for cooking, as regime had reduced their share from 14,000 cylinders into 8000 only.
Rationing electricity difficult to tolerate, as current cut-off lasted for 6 hours for only one hour on. The government justified that by lack of fuel or targeting electricity stations by terrorists.
Prices had hugely soared due to drop of the Syrian pound exchange rate against the US. Dollar, which hardened lives of people with fixed income and salaried employees who suffered in covering their living needs.
Rotten and expired food had spread widely in the coastal area, especially Latakia city, moreover, people find no option but to use them due to their low prices.
In regard to medicine, uncontrolled and expired drugs or unknown source had spread in pharmacy, most of them smuggled by Shabiha and members of different regime forces.
Thousands of soldiers killed
It is estimated that between 7000 and 10000 soldiers and members of National Defence Forces and other regime-loyalist forces were killed in the year of 2016.
Most of them were killed in battles of Aleppo, Hama and the countryside of Latakia.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[DAWN] LAHORE: A man allegedly murdered his former wife and daughter in Kot Kamboh, the Nawan Kot police claimed on Sunday.
Police said that Zahara, 42, and her daughter Amna, 9, went missing on Dec 30 after both of them left their house to attend a mehndi function of their relative in Sabzazar.
Victim’s brother Muhammad Dilawar had a kidnap case registered against his former brother-in-law, Tufail.
The woman was living with her son and daughter in a portion of the house of her former husband.
Iqbal Town SP Adeel Memon said suspect Tufail during interrogation confessed to having murdered his former wife and daughter.
He said the suspect also told police that he had thrown the bodies in a drain in the Nawan Kot area.
The SP said that police teams were constituted to recover the bodies from the drain. He said the murder charges would be added to the case after the recovery of the bodies.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
[DAWN] Pakistain lashed out at India on Sunday, saying that New Delhi had "deployed" terrorism as an instrument of state policy in the garb of denouncing terrorism. India, it added, was involved in perpetrating, sponsoring, supporting and financing terrorism.
The remarks came in a statement that Foreign Office front man Nafees Zakarya issued in response to queries regarding reports about the failure of an Indian move in the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... sanctions committee.
"Pakistain has been a direct victim of this state-sponsored terrorism by India. The arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav, a RAW ... India's Research and Analysis Wing, Pakistain's equivalent of the Boogie Man... agent and serving officer of the Indian Navy, and his confession ... [of] involvement in terrorist activities aimed at destabilising Pakistain and killing or maiming ... Pak citizens, is yet another proof of Indian-sponsored terrorism in Pakistain," he said.
With such "duplicitous behaviour and blood on its hands", India has little credibility on counterterrorism, the front man said. In coming days, Pakistain will share with the United Nations and members of the international community additional evidence of Indian involvement in terrorism in Pakistain, he added.
The official said that the Indian proposal at the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee was politically motivated and replete with frivolous information.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
China has in fact blocked the Indian request to sanction terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad's chief Masood Azhar.
Posted by: John Frum ||
01/03/2017 16:50
Comments ||
Top||
#2
"Projection"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2017 18:33
Comments ||
Top||
[AA.TR] At least nine people died after a five-story building partially collapsed late Sunday in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan, the country’s Interior Ministry has said.
Nine bodies, including those of three children, were recovered from the rubble in Shahan village, the ministry said.
Four people were pulled from of the remains of the building, according to Kazinform, a Kazakhstan news agency.
Kazinform also reported rescue efforts were underway. It added about 70 people are still working at the site.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
[Rooters] Cuba paraded troops and hundreds of thousands of citizens through its emblematic Revolution Square on Monday in a traditional show of nationalist fighting spirit in the face of steep economic and diplomatic challenges.
Ah, Rooters - the masters of understatement. Notice that there's no scare quotes either.
The event marked the 60th anniversary of the landing of the Granma yacht which brought the Castro brothers and their bearded rebels from Mexico to Cuba to start their revolution against a U.S.-backed dictatorship.
Troops wielding automatic rifles marched in lock step behind a replica of the Granma on Monday, followed by a sea of banner- and flag-waving Cubans, many bussed in and organized through their workplaces and neighborhoods.
"This is an important message of unity and strength," said Rene Lazo, 66, who, like most, got up well before the crack of dawn to participate in the parade. "This is going to be a difficult year but we will keep working hard to bring our people forwards".
Communist-ruled Cuba fell into an economic recession in the second half of last year, its first since the collapse of the Soviet Union a quarter century ago, as its strategic ally Venezuela floundered.
Meanwhile its historic detente with the United States came under threat with the election of Donald Trump as President. Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has said he would unravel attempts to normalize relations unless he gets a “better deal".
All this is taking place as Cuba is also coming to terms with the loss of its revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro. While "El Comandante" had handed the presidency over to his younger brother Raul in 2008, he remained a key figurehead.
Some of those marching held up images of Castro or banners reading "We are Fidel". While the parade normally takes place every five years on Dec. 2, it was postponed a month due to his death in late November.
Raul Castro and his family watched and waved at those marching from the foot of the towering monument to independence hero Jose Marti in the center of the square.
The mood on Monday was of defiance although many Cubans said they hoped there would not be a return of Cold War-era politics. Trump's threat to gradual and still fragile detente could not come at a worse time for Cuba.
A tourism boom in part sparked by looser travel restrictions on Americans failed last year to offset dwindling oil shipments from Venezuela and less cash for Cuban doctors and other professionals working overseas.
"Everything is just very uncertain at the moment, so there's more propaganda," said Antonio Sosa, 50, an engineer who chose not to attend the parade. "You don't see news on the news broadcast anymore, just speeches Fidel gave 30 years ago."
[Bloomberg] The "Russian hacking" story in the U.S. has gone too far. That it's not based on any solid public evidence, and that reports of it are often so overblown as to miss the mark, is only a problem to those who worry about disinformation campaigns, propaganda and journalistic standards -- a small segment of the general public. But the recent U.S. government report that purports to substantiate technical details of recent hacks by Russian intelligence is off the mark and has the potential to do real damage to far more people and organizations.
The joint report by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has a catchy name for "Russian malicious cyber activity" -- Grizzly Steppe -- and creates infinite opportunities for false flag operations that the U.S. government all but promises to attribute to Russia.
The report's goal is not to provide evidence of, say, Russian tampering with the U.S. presidential election, but ostensibly to enable U.S. organizations to detect Russian cyber-intelligence efforts and report incidents related to it to the U.S. government. It's supposed to tell network administrators what to look for. To that end, the report contains a specific YARA rule -- a bit of code used for identifying a malware sample. The rule identifies software called the PAS Tool PHP Web Kit. Some inquisitive security researchers have googled the kit and found it easy to download from the profexer.name website. It was no longer available on Monday, but researchers at Feejit, the developer of WordPress security plugin Wordfence, took some screenshots of the site, which proudly declared the product was made in Ukraine.
Continued on Page 49
#1
I lack the impolite words to respond to this properly.
And I lack the knowledge of whom to direct these impolite words towards, which might affect my selection of these words. So I find myself bound by a dilemma.
But there are a few RBers out there who don't have our limitations. :-)
#2
Reference #1 - Here, let me be of assistance. Plan A: Target your wrath at the presidentially appointmented intelligence community directors. From there, take your wrath downstream among the literally thousands of Senior Executive Service employees empowered by the their directors over the past 10 years or so.
Too large an undertaking, too difficult to sort out? Too much fly shi* in die rooibos tin? I fully understand. Then initiate plan 'B' by sacking the entire organization and beginning anew.
Gov't hacking and monitoring of networks (theirs or ours) is not entirely unlike wanking. Denial is futile.
#3
If Obama and his so called security experts really wanted to help they would publish the ranges of IP addresses in the .ru and .ua domains, those IP addresses that belong to Russia and Ukraine. That way, computer network administrators all over the country could put those addresses into their firewalls thereby blocking access from Russia and Ukraine. They should have done this years and years ago and they should have included the .cn, .ro, .tr, .ir domains as well. The fact that this has not been done indicates they really don't care about cyber security. That's the scariest part of this whole episode. I can say with all honesty that I fear Obama far more than Putin. Putin might be a bad guy but he is far away in Russia. Obama is right here and he has power over my own country.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/03/2017 12:26
Comments ||
Top||
#4
But not for very much longer. :)
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/03/2017 12:27
Comments ||
Top||
#5
I lack the impolite words to respond to this properly.
How about closing the barn door after the cows have escaped?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/03/2017 12:36
Comments ||
Top||
#6
The hacking story is just disinformation aimed at Democrats hoping to get them mad and deligitimze the election in their eyes. Sadly it worked well and a large number thing voting machines were hacked or some such nonsense instead of it being Podesta fell for a fairly obvious Phishing trick.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] One of the most violent years in Chicago history ended with a sobering tally: 762 homicides, the most in two decades in the city
'Chicago murder rate is record setting – 4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders in 2016,' Donald Trump tweeted on Monday
'If Mayor [Rahm Emanuel] can't do it he must ask for Federal help!'
Emanuel and Trump met December 7 in New York City but reportedly talked about illegal-immigrant 'dreamers,' not gun violence
The nation's third largest city also saw 1,100 more shooting incidents last year than it did in 2015
The increase in homicides compared to 2015, when 485 were reported, is the largest spike in 60 years
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
C'mon folks, it's 795 plus 36 "death investigations"
#7
Somebody asked yesterday what is the point of gun control in Chicago. Obviously it's not helping with the shootings and murders. But as long as the shooters and murderers are "confined to certain geographic and demographic parameters" Emanuel and his kind don't care. Gun control is for the control of law abiding, legal citizens.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/03/2017 11:56
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Favorite soundbite from the article: " ... Illinois lax gun laws..."
#9
Found a link to Chicago F/R through Pappy's link, thought it would be interesting to listen to a major urban w/port dispatch system - about as far away from what I am used to as one can get without going international.
Little ways in, something like, "Do we have a unit available for a reported shooting?"
#10
Rahm keeps the murders within the plantation and he doesn't care.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/03/2017 20:08
Comments ||
Top||
#11
There is no gun control in Chicago, not where it counts. They only want more restrictions on law abiding citizens.
Meanwhile, criminals, including repeat felons who use guns during a crime, are either not charged with that offense or get off lightly with early release.
Just enforce the existing law, and the killings will diminish very quickly. That's what Trump should propose and monitor.
[Hurriyet Daily News] Justice Ministry sources said on Jan. 2 that there are 41,326 suspects who are placed in durance vile ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... as part of probes launched against the Gulen movement in the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt.
Sources said 103,850 people were prosecuted and pre-trial arrest warrants had been issued against 41,326 of them.
Among those arrested, 2,286 are judges and prosecutors, 104 are members of the Supreme Court of Appeals, 41 are members of the Council of State members, and three are members of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK).
Some 6,325 of those arrested are from the military, including 168 generals. Some 7,624 are coppers, 100 are district governors, 74 are deputy governors, and 17 of them are provincial governors.
Sources said 3,831 suspects have been released as the probes are ongoing, among them 1,066 soldiers and 583 coppers.
Operations to apprehend many suspects are still ongoing, the sources added, as there are a total of 5,150 people who have warrants against them but are currently on the run.
A total of 902 suspects are currently under detention, the source added.
Meanwhile Ankara prosecutors on Jan. 2 sought three aggravated life-terms and up to 22.5 years in jail for 51 Air Force Academy students for their alleged role in the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. The suspect are charged with "attempting to abolish the constitutional order," membership to terrorist organization," and "attempting to abolish the parliament, the government and attempting to prevent it from carrying out its duties."
The first trial into the coup attempt began in Istanbul on Dec. 27 amid tight security measures at a courthouse inside a prison complex that was once known as the venue for hearings in cases led by judges and prosecutors inside the Fethullah Gulen ... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world... network.
Twenty-nine coppers are being tried at Istanbul’s 22nd High Penal Court in Istanbul’s Silivri district on a range of charges connected to July’s deadly coup attempt, widely believed to have been orchestrated by the followers of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Gulen.
Among the 29 officers, 25 were remanded in jug for disobeying orders to resist the coup attempt. The coppers are charged with disobeying orders to defend the Huber Kiosk, a presidential palace in Istanbul, on the night of the coup attempt.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[AA.TR] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has strongly condemned the kabooms that hit Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday that killed at least 50 and injured dozens.
"We are sure that these kind of heinous attacks will not discourage the Iraqi government or the Iraqi people," a written statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, expressing condolences for the families of the victims.
"The cooperation between both countries to fight terrorism will continue to grow stronger," it added.
Earlier reports suggested that at least 31 people were killed in a car-kaboom that shook Baghdad's Shia-majority Sadr City district, local Police Officer Ahmed Khalaf told Anadolu Agency.
No group has yet grabbed credit for Monday’s bombing, but Iraqi officials typically blame such attacks on the ISIS terrorist group, which overran vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq in 2014.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the entire 614th quadrant searched. The Green Lensman must be found!... Baghdad Operations Command’s Spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan had announced that other three separate kabooms left many dead and injured in northern Baghdad.
ISIS boom-mobile killed 24 people in Baghdad's Sadr City district on Monday and the snuffies also attacked two cop shoppes in the city of Samarra as Iraqi forces fought to oust the group from djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , its last major stronghold in Iraq.
At least four other attacks across Baghdad, some also claimed by ISIS, killed nine more people earlier in the day, bringing the total corpse count from bombings in the capital over the past three days to more than 60.
In the attacks in Samarra, about 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, security sources said multiple gunnies wearing boom jackets had killed at least seven coppers. Clashes between the security forces and the gunnies continued and an indefinite curfew was imposed on the city, the sources said
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Ynet] The Israel Police locked away Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! 17 men in their 20s from northern Israel who are suspected of being involved in drugs and arms trade, it said Monday.
The suspects were arrested in a raid of their homes that included some 200 officers, during which drugs, cash money and five vehicles were also seized.
[DeutscheWelle] China blocked a recent Indian move to blacklist Jaish-e-Mohammad's chief Masood Azhar at the UN. In a DW interview, Siegfried O Wolf, a South Asia expert at the University of Heidelberg, explains why China is protecting the Pakistain-based krazed killer group's head.
DW: China blocked a recent Indian move to blacklist Jaish-e-Mohammad ...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat... chief Masood Azhar at the UN. In April, Beijing put a similar move on hold. Why is China protecting Azhar?
Siegfried O. Wolf: China's diplomatic support for Pakistain-based bully boyz is multi-faceted. Therefore, one must look at Beijing's latest action at the UN in a larger context.
China's protection of Masood Azhar is only one component of the Chinese campaign to provide Pakistain its diplomatic support, which includes informal "lobbying work" to prevent Pakistain from being listed as a state that sponsors terrorism. The possible sanctions would not only have immense political and economic implications for Islamabad, they will also reflect poorly on Beijing as Pakistain is widely seen as a close China ally. Therefore, Chinese authorities try to undermine all Indian attempts to officially name Pakistain as a state-sponsor of terrorism on international platforms like BRICS or the Heart of Asia conference.
Beijing is now also drawing on Islamabad's improved relations with Moscow. China is increasingly involving Pakistain in multilateral dialogues on regional cooperation and security in relation to the Afghanistan-Pakistain region and Central Asia in an attempt to minimize Pakistain's international isolation.
Another dimension of China's move to block the Indian effort to designate Azhar as a terrorist is the threat that anti-Indian krazed killer groups like the JeM could turn against the Pak state. This would have dangerous implications for China, especially for its massive investments and development initiatives in the South Asian country, including the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistain Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. We must not forget that international terror groups like al Qaeda, "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.... " (IS) and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) oppose Beijing for its alleged anti-Moslem policies against the Uighurs in its western Xinjiang province. China doesn't want an additional confrontation with Islamist groups.
Finally, there is no doubt that the India-China rivalry might also be a factor in Beijing's support for Islamabad and Pakistain-based terrorists. In this context, China's major development projects like "One Belt, One Road" to link China with Europe and the Middle East, and several other infrastructure projects show that Beijing considers Afghanistan an important country for its economic, security and geopolitical interests.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 21 Taliban forces of Evil were killed in separate Arclight airstrikes conducted in central Pashtun-infested Logar province of Afghanistan, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said Monday.
The ministry further added that two key commanders of the group were also among those killed.
"Acting upon confirmed intelligence reports, Air Forces stormed a hideout of armed Taliban in Charkh district of Pashtun-infested Logar province yesterday evening, killing 21 armed Taliban and destroying their weapons and ammunition," MoI said.
According to MoI, among the kills include two key commanders of armed Taliban named Waziri and Samad.
The Taliban forces of Evil group has not commented regarding the report so far.
Pashtun-infested Logar is among the relatively volatile provinces in central Afghanistan where the Taliban forces of Evil are actively operating in a number of its remote districts.
The group often conducts insurgency activities by placing landmines and carrying out coordinated attacks against the government and security forces.
The killing of the two senior Taliban capo in Pashtun-infested LogarArclight airstrikes came as the Afghan forces are busy conducting their annual counter-terrorism operations in the provinces where the bandidosforces of Evil are actively operating.
According to the Afghan officials, the operations were launched to suppress the insurgency activities of the krazed killer groups by specifically targeting their leaders and commanders.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[DAWN] India's top court on Monday ruled that election candidates cannot use religion or caste to seek votes, describing them as corrupt practices under electoral laws.
India has a Hindu-nationalist government, and most political parties select candidates in various districts based on caste and religious considerations to influence voting.
The ruling on Monday is considered significant as it comes months before elections in Uttar Pradesh state where dominant campaign issues are caste affiliations and the building of a Hindu temple in place of a 16th century mosque demolished by Hindu hardliners.
Legislature elections are also due in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur states.
Hindus constitute nearly 80 per cent of India's 1.25 billion people, while Moslems comprise 14.2pc and the remaining 6pc adhere to other religions, such as Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism.
Monday's verdict was split 4-3. The majority ruling by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and three other judges said that religion "has no role in electoral process which is a secular activity."
Three dissenting judges said the issue should be left to parliament to decide.
The ruling came on a batch of petitions, including one by Abhiram Singh of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party whose election had been set aside by a Mumbai court.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
In other news, Maharaja Canute commanded the waves not to touch his feet
Posted by: John Frum ||
01/03/2017 17:10
Comments ||
Top||
[Bangla Daily Star] Police yesterday jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! two men over their suspected involvement in the October 30 attack on the Hindus in Brahmanbaria's Nasirnagar.
The arrestees are Uttam Kumar Das, 25, personal assistant to Haripur Union Parishad Chairman Dewan Atikur Rahman Akhi, and Manaranjan Devnath, 40, a secretary at the UP.
Abu Jafar, officer-in-charge of Nasirnagar Police Station, claimed that during their interrogation, the arrestees admitted the UP chairman's involvement in the incident.
Though locals say Akhi was the "criminal mastermind" behind the attack, he is still absconding.
"We'll interrogate them [the arrestees] further to trace Akhi," said the OC.
A day before the attack, police arrested Rasraj Das, a local fisherman, for "hurting the religious sentiments of the Moslems" through a Facebook post.
However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... Sherlocks later cleared him of the charge. But he is still languishing in jail.
Today, the court is scheduled to hear his bail prayer.
Mobs, including religious zealots and local goons, vandalised and looted over 100 houses of Hindus and temples in Nasirnagar upazila during the three-hour mayhem on October 30 following the Facebook post.
Meanwhile, ...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout Montefiore's foot was still stuck and the hound had completely soaked his uniform with slobber... sources say Sherlocks have already submitted to the court the forensic reports on the computer and cell phone collected as evidence in the case filed against Rasraj.
Another report, submitted to the court, says the post was not uploaded from Rasraj's cell phone, added the sources.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
[AA.TR] Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has called on murderous Moslems in the country's oil-rich delta region to embrace peace and shun pipeline bombings that seriously harmed the local economy in 2016.
"We will continue to pursue peace initiatives in the Niger Delta as I again, call on our brothers in that region who have taken to violent disruptions of economic infrastructure to come to the negotiating table," Buhari said in a new year message to his country.
The president also, for the first time, sought rapprochement with the country's Shia Moslems whose mass killings by security forces in December 2015 - following disagreements with the army - and attempts to proscribe them dominated much of last year.
Apparently responding to Shia’s insistence on the release of their detained chief and nonstop condemnation of his administration, Buhari called on the Shia Moslems to embrace peace, respect the law and not be ’islands by themselves’.
"At the same time, the law enforcement agencies must treat them humanely and according to the rule of law," Buhari added.
But the Shia have fired back at the president, saying they have never been violent but have been victims of state repression.
"Buhari's statement (with regards to security agencies) proves correct what all human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... organizations have been saying about the monumental savagery and gross inhumanity of Nigerian security forces against (our) members," Harun El-Binawi, a top Shia Moslem, said in a statement on Sunday.
The delta murderous Moslems have not responded to the president’s statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
[ARA News]. Aleppo – Russian warplanes on Monday launched several airstrikes near the city of al-Bab in Syria’s northern Aleppo Governorate, targeting Islamic State’s (ISIS) tactical units and fighting positions.
The Russian air raids destroyed at least five ISIS strongholds in the western and northern suburbs of al-Bab city, killing and wounding dozens of ISIS militants.
This comes amid heavy clashes between ISIS and Turkey-backed rebels of the Euphrates Shield Brigades.
“The Russian air cover helped the Turkish forces and allied rebels to advance towards Oqail Hill in northern al-Bab,” media activist Muhammad al-Jassim told ARA News.
al-Jassim, who accompanied the Euphrates Shield Brigades during the clashes on Monday, reported that ISIS was able to repel the rebels’ progress towards the city through improvised explosive devices and landmines.
“The Russian airstrikes came in support of the Turkey-backed groups as part of a recent agreement to intensify cooperation in the fight against ISIS,” al-Jassim told ARA News.
According to observers, if the Russian support to the Turkey-led offensive on al-Bab continues, the Euphrates Shield Brigades may take control of the city very soon.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
At least 26 Taliban insurgents were killed and 17 others wounded in a clearance operation in Faryab, local officials said Monday.
Security officials said that in the past 24 hours security forces advanced 12 km from Charshanba area of Qaisar district toward Ghormach district of Faryab province.
In this time, 26 Taliban insurgents were killed, officials added.
Among those killed were Mullah Bahauddin, Mullah Habibullah, Mullah Abdul Raziq, Mullah Nazim, Mullah Jabar and Mullah Gul.
However, the Taliban rejected the security forces’ claims regarding the advancement on Ghormach but said there had been casualties on both sides.
Security forces did not however release details on casualties among security forces.
#1
Does every Tom, Dick, and Abu start out as a Mullah? Jeebus
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2017 18:24
Comments ||
Top||
#2
It's all those Saudi-funded madrassahs in Pakistan, Frank G, creating thousands of Koran-memorizers and imams a year, almost all sent directly from the graduation ceremony to wherever the Taliban front happens to be at the moment. Nothing to complain about, either -- they were fed and housed after a fashion for free-ish during the years of their schooling, and there aren't any other jobs to be had for their skill set.
At least six people, including four security personnel and two civilians, were wounded on Monday in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, India’s PTI news agency reported.
A roadside bomb exploded in the regional capital’s Quetta area, the report said, adding that security personnel from the Frontier Corps (FC) were on a routine patrol when their vehicle was targeted.
The injured were taken to a nearby hospital and police have started to investigate the incident, PTI said, adding that there has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.
[Hurriyet Daily News] On the afternoon of Jan. 1 a group of young men and women staged a brief public demonstration in a teahouse in Okmeydani, a working-class neighborhood of Istanbul, declaring that they would struggle to keep The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s secular system alive and not let the propagandists of 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.... of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) or similar jihadist organizations recruit people in their area.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Syrian rebel groups said on Monday they had decided to freeze any talks about their possible participation in Syrian peace negotiations being prepared by Moscow in Kazakhstan unless the Syrian government and its Iran-backed allies end what it said were violations of a ceasefire.
In a statement, the rebel groups also said that any territorial advances by the army and Iran-backed militias that are fighting alongside it would end the fragile ceasefire brokered by Russia and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , which back opposing sides, that came into effect on Friday.
"The regime and its allies have continued firing and committed many and large violations," said the statement signed by a number of rebel groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Rooters] China will not allow anyone to use Hong Kong as a base for subversion against mainland China or to damage its political stability, Beijing's top official in the territory told state television.
Chinese leaders are increasingly concerned about a fledgling independence movement in Hong Kong, which returned to mainland rule in 1997 with a promise of autonomy known as "one country, two systems", and recent protests in the city.
In an interview with state television broadcast late on Sunday, Zhang Xiaoming, the head of China's Liaison Office in Hong Kong, said Beijing will not interfere in matters that purely affect Hong Kong's autonomy.
"As far as Hong Kong is concerned, nobody is permitted do anything in any form that damage the country's sovereignty and security, they are not allowed to challenge the central government's authority or that of Hong Kong's Basic Law, they are not allowed to use Hong Kong for infiltration subversion activities against the mainland to damage its social and political stability," Zhang said.
China's parliament last month staged a rare interpretation of the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution, to effectively bar pro-independence city lawmakers from taking office there.
Chinese President Xi Jinping told outgoing Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying last month that China's central government strongly supports efforts by the Hong Kong government to curb moves by some promoting independence for the global financial hub.
The former British colony returned to China under the "one country, two systems" agreement that ensured its freedoms and wide-ranging autonomy, including a separate legal system. But Communist Party rulers in Beijing have ultimate control, and some Hong Kong people are concerned they are increasingly interfering to head off dissent.
Misrata’s Third Force last night recaptured the key Gwirat al-Mal checkpoint from the Libyan National Army in an operation which included at least one airstrike.
The position is astride the important junction 20 kilometres north of Sebha from which the main north-south highway branches to the Tamenhint airbase which is held by the Third Force.
Three days ago the Misratans had flatly denied that the LNA’s 12th Brigade led by Mohamed Ben Nayel had captured the junction.
Last night’s assault is reported to have included at least one ground attack by a Misratan aircraft. There are no details of casualties and the LNA has yet to comment on the battle. When the LNA took the position last week, it appears there were no casualties.
At the start of December Nayel’s force occupied the Brak Al-Shatti airbase from which the Third Force had withdrawn. The subsequent LNA capture of the Gwirat al-Mal checkpoint appeared to open the way for a further advance on Tamenhint.
However, the 12th Brigade may lack numerical strength, especially if the Third Force is being reinforced by fighters released from the Bunyan Marsous operation in Sirte. The circumstances of the checkpoint’s recapture are still unclear.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) We are Coming, Nineveh announced on Monday liberating al-Intisar neighborhood in the eastern side of Mosul, from the Islamic State’s control, and raised Iraqi flag over its buildings.
Commander of operations, Major General Abdel Amir Yarallah, said in a brief statement, “Federal Police forces liberated al-Intisar neighborhood in eastern Mosul, and raised Iraqi flag over its buildings.”
“The security forces inflicted heavy material and human losses on the enemy,” Yarallah added.
Earlier today, We Are Coming, Nineveh Operations Command announced, that Iraqi Counter-Terrorism forces liberated northern Karama neighborhood in the eastern side of Mosul.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkish televangelist Ahmet Mahmut Ünlu, popularly known as "Cubbeli" Ahmet Hoca (Robed Ahmet Hoca), has raised eyebrows by claiming that playing chess is more sinful than gambling, daily Hurriyet reported on Jan. 2. Personally, I consider televangelism more sinful than either.
Ünlu said chess players were "cursed" and claimed that "most people who played chess are liars."
"Playing chess is worse than gambling and eating pork ... People who play chess are more prone to lying than others. People who play chess may not say the shahada [declaration of Islamic belief] while they are dying," he said.
"People who play chess are cursed ... You should count your prayer beads instead of playing games like this," he added.
Ünlu had hit headlines on Nov. 14 in 2014 by condemning the European Space Agency’s (ESA) successful landing of the Philae probe on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, describing the mission as "maniacal."
More recently, he waded into a debate on the religious permissiveness of oral sex, slamming a colleague for describing it as religiously forbidden and saying there is no such ban in Islam.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Muslim Televangelist"
(Finally working their way out of the 6th Century at last.) If you were a devout muzzie, he would have a point. He is just not gifted enough to spain the sitiation.
Bishops are a Christian reference. Knights, Kings and Queens can conjure up images of crusaders. But then again, anything that is considered entertainment is cause for a fatwa against it.
Posted by: Herb Noodleman1548 ||
01/03/2017 0:26
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Chess requires logical thinking, thinking ahead, and employs no violence whatsoever - obviously un-Islamic.
#3
Originated in the Orient, found its way into Persia where the Muslims picked it up, spreading it through their culture. The Euros picked it up from them.
#4
I'd think that dogmatic Muslims would love chess. It's absolutely deterministic, with no provision for chance, happenstance or free will on the part of the pieces.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/03/2017 8:58
Comments ||
Top||
#5
Can we get a fahtwa that says breathing is sinful
[DAWN] A district and session court in Islamabad on Monday sent Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz (PML-N) Islamabad chapter's office bearer on a 14-day judicial remand to Adiala Jail in an alleged gang-rape case.
A woman was allegedly gang-raped in Islamabad on New Year's Eve by four men. The incident took place within the jurisdiction of the Sihala cop shoppe on December 31.
Sihala police tossed in the slammer Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! one accused and produced him before the court on Monday and sought arrest warrants for the other three accused.
The court issued arrest warrants for the other three accused and sent the arrested accused, who is PML-N's Islamabad chapter office bearer, on 14-day judicial remand to Adiala Jail. He will now be presented before the court on January 16, 2017.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Bugs Moroni was holding Slats from behind while his brother Greasy Thumb was pounding his face into paste ... the Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz office bearers in the federal capital and police officials further confirmed that the arrested accused is PML-N’s general secretary in Islamabad.
PML-N politician Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, when repeatedly contacted by Dawn.com, avoided commenting on the issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The case emerged in February 2016 when Huthaifa Derkel was stopped and questioned. He admitted to the charges brought against him from theft to communicating with a regime agent, and handing over three people to the security forces for them to be conscripted into the army. Derkel’s testimony was strengthened by that of his partner in the thefts Khalouk Hallak. Hallak testified that Derkel told him that he handed three people from the al-Qasas family to the regime security forces.
Based on the admission, referred to as "Master of Evidence", the Shariah Commission in Aleppo issued a decision to execute Derkel after proving the charges of "Manifesting the infidels" by handing over three people to the security forces on 11 March 2013. Two judges signed the death sentence, Abu Ihsan and Abu Abdullah al-Sharii. Then on 23 March 2016, Derkel’s sentence was amended to only two-years imprisonment and 30 lashes on the head at the beginning of every month. I'm trying to picture that. So far I've failed.
Three other judges signed off on the reduced sentence: Abu Adham, Abu Adnan, Abu Ahmad al-Sharii (Mounir Zammar).
Two judges signed the death sentence, Abu Ihsan and Abu Abdullah al-Sharii. Then on 23 March 2016, Derkel’s sentence was amended to only two-years imprisonment and 30 lashes on the head at the beginning of every month. Three other judges signed off on the reduced sentence: Abu Adham, Abu Adnan, Abu Ahmad al-Sharii (Mounir Zammar).
Mounir Zammar was the person who suggested the ruling be changed and the person who convinced the court to adjust the sentence. The new sentencing document says that the Aleppo Sharia Commission took a decision to modify the death sentencing in Derkel’s right giving a series of justifications among them the "extreme naivety" of the convicted, and that capital punishment exceeds the crime committed.
Regardless of the correctness of either decision, the investigations raise questions about the ways the Commission managed the rights’ violation cases and civilian injustices experienced in one of the most important areas that was outside regime control. The questions emerge as the rights’ violations cases were a major cause that pushed so many people to revolt against the al-Assad regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) Mayor of Sharqat district, Ali al-Dawdah, announced on Monday, the killing of two children in a mortar shelling carried out by the Islamic State, while pointed out that security forces imposed a curfew in the district due to the attack.
Dawdah said in a press statement, “The Islamic state shelled Sharqat District with mortar shells that fell near a school in Sabkha area, killing teo children.”
“The Islamic State mobilized its members in Zawya area and attacked security forces that repulsed their offensive,” Dawdah added.
“The extremist group also strengthened its positions north of the province, while security forces imposed a curfew in the area due to the attack,” he further added.
Earlier today, members of the Islamic state tried to sneak into Sharqat and cut Mosul-Tikrit road, but the attack was foiled by security forces.
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) Mayor of Baiji District in Salahuddin Province, Mohamed al-Jabouri, announced on Monday, that security forces repulsed a violent attack launched by the Islamic State’s militants on a village, north of the district.
Jabouri said in a statement, “Security forces repelled a violent attack launched by the Islamic State’s militants on Mohamed al-Mousa village, in northern the district.”
“The clashes are still ongoing,” Jabouri added.
Al-Hashd al-Shaabi forces managed in October 19, 2015, to liberate the district of Baiji, north of Salahuddin, and expelled members of the Islamic State of it.
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.om) A security source in Salahuddin province revealed, that large military reinforcements, backed by Army Aviation, arrived in the district of Baiji, to deter the attacks launched by the Islamic state, north of the Province, Alsumaria reported on Monday.
“Extra military troops arrived in the district, at noon today, to deter the attacks launched by the Islamic state, north of Baiji,” the source told Alsumaria News.
“Army Aviation also will participate in the repulsion of the Islamic State’s attack,” the source added.
Earlier today, Mayor of Baiji announced repulsing a violent attack launched by the Islamic State on Mohamed al-Mousa village, north of Baiji.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[DAWN] RAWALPINDI: A man was tossed in the slammer Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! at a check post manned by various security agencies on Sunday on suspicions of having links with a terror group.
According to sources, the suspect was intercepted by security officials after a silver car bearing a registration plate from Azad Jammu and Kashmire was signalled to stop at check post number five on Rawal Road on Sunday at 8pm.
During the search of the car, security officials recovered a 9mm pistol, 28 rounds of ammunition with two magazines, a laptop, 200 Saudi Riyals, Rs10,900 and two bags of literature on the so-called 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.... The 22-year-old suspect was taken into custody and moved to an undisclosed place for further investigation. According to an official, a man came to help the suspect soon after he was taken into custody and that man was also moved to an undisclosed place for investigation.
When asked, a police official said the suspect has links with a terror group and that because he was being investigated by another law enforcement agency, the police did not have further details about the case.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Hurriyet Daily News] The Center of Modern Art (Çağdaş Sanatlar Merkezi) in the capital Ankara, where Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov was assassinated during a photo exhibition on Dec. 19, will reopen on Jan. 5 with a recital of the Catholic hymn “Stabat Mater.”
The gallery has been closed since the assassination of Karlov, but will begin its new season with the free-to-attend evening recital.
Funda Yazıksız as soprano, Ayşe Dağıstan as mezzo soprano, and Dengin Ceyhan on the piano will perform in the concert starting at 8:00 p.m. on Jan. 5.
The Stabat Mater Oratorio, composed by G. B. Pergolesi in 1736, is hymn that portrays Mary’s suffering as Jesus Christ’s mother during his crucifixion. The title comes from its first line, Stabat Mater Dolorosa, which means “the sorrowful mother was standing”.
Meanwhile, the Center of Modern Art will host on Jan. 6 an event marking the 68th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, organized by the Jose Marti Cuba Friendship Association.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Two top commanders of the loyalists of 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.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were tossed in the calaboose Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! and at least ten others were killed during the counter-terrorism operations in East of Afghanistan.
The provincial police commandment said the ISIS top commanders were arrested during a night operation conducted in Haska Mina district.
According to a statement by the provincial police commandment, the US forces based in Afghanistan also conducted a dronezap that led to the killing of at least 10 ISIS bully boyz in this province.
The statement further added that the ISIS commanders were leading a group of at least 30 ISIS loyalists in Gorgori area of Haska Mina and were arrested during a special night operation on Sunday night.
The loyalists of the terror group have not commented regarding the report so far.
Both the Afghan and US forces conducted regular strikes against the loyalists of the terror group in this province.
The increased raids, usually involving dronezaps, by the US forces followed a broader role granted by the B.O. regime earlier this year.
The broader role was granted amid concerns that the loyalists of the terror group are attempting to expand foothold in the country and turn the eastern 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 into a regional operational hub for its fighters.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The authorities in Tajikistan are saying that an investigation is underway to ascertain claims made by the former Afghan officials suggesting the Taliban weapons are being repaired by the Russian experts inside the Tajik soil.
A front man for Tajikistan’s border guard agency, Muhammadjon Ulughkhojaev, has said the allegations by the former Afghan officials are baseless.
However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... he did not rule out the possibility as he vowed to probe the allegations.
Ulughkhojaev quoted in a report by RFE/RL said the border guard agency "has been looking into the claim."
He said the authorities will study the Afghan media reports, and will report on the results of their investigation.
The former provincial governor of Kunduz Mohammad Omar Safi claimed late last year that the vehicles and weapons had been repaired by Russian military engineers based in Tajikistan before being returned to the Taliban.
Safi also added that such cooperation between the Afghan Taliban and the Russian military has been going on for nearly two years.
This comes as reports have emerged recently suggesting the growing nexus between the Taliban group and the Russian as well as the Iranian authorities.
The reports have emerged amid concerns by the authorities of the two countries that the loyalists of 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.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group are attempting to expand foothold in Afghanistan, a threat which is seriously taken by the Iranian and Russian authorities who are believing that the terror group eyes expansion beyond the Afghan borders into the Central Asian States.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[AA.TR] Iraq's Vice President Nouri al-Maliki said Monday the Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militia could enter Syria to fight for "Syrian brothers" if needed.
His statement came amid increased concerns over the armed Shia group to fuel sectarian festivities in northern Iraq, especially the Turkmen-populated city of Tal Afar and the Sunni-populated djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... "If we can be successful against ISIS and liberate our soil, we can go into Syria if our brothers there need help against ISIS," Malik told a press meeting in Iran’s capital Tehran.
An umbrella group of pro-government Shia militias, the Hashd al-Shaabi was established in 2014 with the express purpose of fighting the ISIS terrorist group.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Bangla Daily Star] A French tourist was bitten by a crocodile inside a Thai national park as she tried to get close to the fearsome animal to take a selfie, an official said yesterday.
The incident took place on Sunday afternoon in Khao Yai, a popular national park filled with dense jungle hiking trails and waterfalls three hours north of Bangkok.
"She wanted to take selfie with the crocodile who was lying down near a stream," a park official told AFP, asking not to be named because he did not have the authority to speak to the media.
"It was startled and bit her on the leg."
The official said two crocodiles had made their home on that particular section of the park for years with warning signs laid out.
"I guess that she wanted to see it for real," he added.
Local media posted pictures of park rangers dressed in camouflage carrying the 47-year-old victim strapped to a stretcher, a thick bandage wrapped around her knee.
Another shot showed a ranger pointing to a pool of blood close to a sign saying in Thai and English "Danger Crocodile No Swimming".
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Danger Crocodile No Swimming"
In all fairness, the sign said nothing about selfies.
[Bangla Daily Star] Nine civilians, including five members of one family, have been killed in rebel bombing and an air strike by the pro-government coalition in war-torn Yemen, military and rebel sources said yesterday.
An air strike by the Saudi-led coalition hit on Sunday a house in the province of Marib, east of the capital Sanaa, killing five members of the same family, a military officials told AFP.
It took place in the village of Wadi Habab, in Sarwah region, a major front in the war between the sock puppets of the Medes and the Persians and forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, hard boys' news website sabanews.net said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the revival hall, the pastor had finally been wrestled from the pulpit. Y'got the wrong guy! he yelled just before Sergeant Malone's billy club landed... four civilians, including three children, were killed Sunday in rebel bombing that targeted residential areas in the southwestern city of Taez, a local official and medical sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Houthis
If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land...
[Bangla Daily Star] A high school headmaster was beaten up with hammer allegedly by a local Awami League leader and his men in Gangni upazila of Meherpur on Sunday.
The assault left his left leg broken.
Victim Rafiqul Islam told The Daily Star he was attacked for "refusing to recommend the leader's appointment as the president of his school's management committee unlawfully".
According to Rafiqul, 48, and local sources, the management committee election of Devipur High School was held on December 26 in the presence of Gangni Upazila Secondary School Education Officer Mir Habibul Basher.
Following due procedures, the committee elected Abdul Baki, a freedom fighter, as its president, Habibul told The Daily Star.
Baki became the president beating the other candidate, Mamunur Rashid, who is the president of Bamundi union ward-7 AL, said Rafiqul and the local sources.
However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... Mamunur, 32, allegedly did not accept the election results and repeatedly asked the headmaster to send his name, instead of Baki's, to the education board for its approval.
As Rafiqul refused, the AL leader "threatened" to beat him up "merciless", said the victim.
Several local AL leaders also asked him to send Mamunur's name to the board, the teacher said, without mentioning their names.
Rafiqul said Mamunur along with three of his accomplices swooped on him with a hammer and sticks when he was on his way to his school around 9:30am on Sunday.
After the attackers left, locals took him to Gangni Upazila Health Complex. Later, he was shifted to Kushtia Medical College Hospital.
Yesterday morning, he was again brought back to the health complex in Meherpur as his family lives in the district.
Apart from breaking his left leg, Rafiqul also had injuries in his chest and hands, said MK Reza, a medical officer at the health complex.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon his head
Do do do do do
Bang, Bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that he was dead
[IsraelTimes] Cairo continues to crack down on network used to transport weapons and goods to the Strip ruled by Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, terror group.
Egypt discovered and destroyed 12 smuggling tunnels linking the Gazoo Strip to the Sinai Peninsula, the Egyptian army said Monday.
Egyptian army front man Tamer al-Rifae said that the tunnels, in the north of the Sinai, had been destroyed, though he did not specify when the demolitions were carried out.
Earlier Monday, Hamas published a report in which it said that it had lost 21 members of its armed forces while digging tunnels under the Gazoo Strip in 2016, some of them to Egypt and some into Israel.
Last month, four men, aged 22 to 45, were killed when the Egyptian army flooded a tunnel with seawater. The men were found dead 9 days after the tunnel they had been working in was flooded by the Egyptian army, according to a statement by local authorities in the Gazook city of Rafah near Egypt’s border.
[Ynet] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's Interior Ministry says that dozens of people have been detained in the past week over suspected ties to 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.
In a statement released Monday, the ministry said 147 people were detained after authorities determined "they were in contact with the ISIS terrorist organization," referring to an Arabic acronym for ISIS.
Of the detained, 25 people have been formally put under arrest.
The ministry's announcement came after a gunman opened fire on New Year's revelers at an Istanbul nightclub, killing 39 people and maimed dozens of others. ISIS has grabbed credit for the attack.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
Now just make human cannonballs out of them and deliver them back to Syria.
Let’s step back and think about who Trump has shown himself to be. Sure, he’s vulgar, and his knowledge of traditional conservatism is … limited. But he’s a competitor, and if he’s stupid like the liberals say then what does that make the liberals who Trump keeps beating as enthusiastically as Josh Marshall tweeting past midnight? Look, the guy is a property developer. If he does not deliver what he promises, the buyer won’t take occupancy and he loses money. Trump knows from his own experience – and the painful experience of the follow-through-free GOP – that the way to win is to deliver on his promises. It may ruffle our conservafeathers, but Trump promised to keep Carrier in the USA and he did it. As promised, the market is in the stratosphere and consumer confidence exists again. Trump promised to nominate conservatives and he did – do you think that whiny puffball Jeb Bush would have put up a cabinet full of Mad Dogs and activists aching to burn their own useless agencies to the ground?
People babble on about how “Trump will never do anything about illegals” and “He’ll never repeal Obamacare.” Yeah, put your money on Trump failing – I did, and the guy I wrote checks to lost. News Flash: Donald Trump is not only going dance with the ones who brung him but afterwards he is going to take them to his limo to make out. This guy is interested in trying to please the people who elected him, not the urban swells who write for or read the NYT or WaPo – he knows they will never stop loathing him even if he somehow simultaneously cures cancer, brings world peace, and convinces Coldplay to disband.
#1
and if he’s stupid like the liberals say then what does that make the liberals who Trump keeps beating as enthusiastically as Josh Marshall tweeting past midnight?
Maybe the kind of submoron who doesn't recognize himself in a mirror?
#6
Expect see the Dims establish a rebel government. Not a shadow government but a rebel government. Their constituents will be illegals, radical left, Muslims.
[DAWN] LANDI KOTAL: Possession of Pak passport was made mandatory on Sunday for cross-border movement by Pak nationals at Torkham border after expiry of the deadline on December 31.
Authorities had made announcements through loudspeakers and displayed banners at prominent places at the border to apprise Pak nationals about the new restrictions prior to expiry of the deadline.
Authorities said that the new restrictions were imposed after arrest of a number of suspected Afghans with fake Pak Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs).
Earlier, authorities had permitted Pak nationals to use their CNICs for cross-border movement but ended the relaxation after receiving information about preparation of fake CNICs in 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 of Afghanistan.
Officials told Dawn that Shinwari tribal people, living on both sides of the Durand Line, would be exempted from possessing passport as they were already issued temporary ’Rahdari’ cards by Khyber Agency ... the place to go if you've got an Indiana Jones hat and whip. Chock full of high adventure and treacherous Pathans. You should really train up to it, though... political administration after necessary verification.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Just an excerpt from the middle. Real good backgrounder on the "Golden Division." [POLITICO] Iraq’s Golden Division has a storied, and controversial, history. As one of three special brigades of Iraq’s elite Counter Terrorism Service, it acts under the direct command of Iraq’s prime minister. Established as a nonsectarian formation, the unit was first organized, equipped and trained by U.S. special forces units soon after Baghdad fell, with the express purpose of fighting the then-growing Iraqi insurgency. A select group of its best officers were brought to the U.S. for intensive training at the U.S. Army Ranger School, then redeployed to the division as combat commanders. From its earliest days its independent chain of command was resented, however, with Iraqis viewing the division as a political tool in the hands of the Iraqi prime minister. Among Iraqis, it became known as "the dirty division."
But the Golden Division’s tenacious fight against ISIS over the past two years has burnished its reputation, giving it a gloss of respectability unequaled by any other Iraqi unit. The division’s newfound stature has also been a source of pride at Centcom, whose intelligence officers cite it as an example of the Army’s training expertise and as a counterpoint to America’s anti-ISIS fight in Syria.
#4
#3 'Losing control' would appear to indicate someone actually had control. Posted by: Besoeker Concur, we never established control over that city. ISIS is the only force to maintain control for any amount of time...
Great article - and timely since the Iraqi SOF, CT units and Federal Police attacked into the Industrial zone on Mosul's East Bank this morning.
One senior Pentagon officer with access to daily battle reports on the Mosul fight says the battle for the city has been so intense that the Golden Division’s veteran battalions “are suffering upwards of 50 percent casualties. If that rate stays constant,” he told me, “the division could become combat ineffective in a little over a month, and perhaps even sooner.”
If that is true, the Golden Division could be ineffective before the battle is over. Implications of that for the govt of Iraq are bad, very bad
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/03/2017 11:13
Comments ||
Top||
[Bangla Daily Star] An alleged robber was killed in a "shootout" with police in Mithapukur upazila of Rangpur early yesterday.
The dead is Rahat Hossain, 32, of Bujruk-Shontoshpur village in the upazila.
Humayun Kabir, officer-in-charge of Mithapukur Police Station, said on information, police jugged Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! Rahat at his home around 10:30pm Sunday.
Based on information gleaned from Rahat, police went to recover firearms. They took Rahat with them. When the police van reached near a bridge of Bheluarmor around 5:00am, some robbers opened fire to snatch him.
Police then returned fire, triggering the "shootout". At one stage, Rahat was caught in the line of fire and was struck down in his prime, said the OC.
Police also claimed to have recovered a firearm and four bullets from the spot.
The OC said Rahat stood accused in 10 cases, including robbery and murder.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Ah, a classic crossfire story. Haven't heard one of them in ages.
[WaPo] About 10,000 Venezuelans are streaming into Brazil every month in search of food and medicine, authorities say, camping out on the streets and swamping government services in Amazon frontier towns ill-prepared to receive them.
It is an exodus by land, sea and air. Venezuela’s well-to-do can leave on planes, if they haven’t already. Rickety boats ferry small groups of migrants to Curacao, Bonaire and other Caribbean islands a short distance from Venezuela’s north coast. But those numbers are dwarfed by the tens of thousands pouring into Brazil and Colombia each month — either for emergency shopping trips or long-term stays.
Venezuela’s economic meltdown and political chaos have left its neighbors fearful of a large-scale humanitarian crisis that could bring even greater numbers of needy migrants.
Every month seems to bring a new low. Maduro attempted to outlaw Venezuela’s largest banknote in mid-December, a measure that he said would strike at foreign powers conspiring to sabotage his socialist government. Instead, cash dried up, retail commerce froze, and Maduro suspended the move as rioting and looting erupted. It was a reminder to the whole region that Venezuela is burning on a short fuse, and Maduro’s cash-strapped government will need a major boost in global petroleum prices to avert disaster.
Maduro abruptly closed Venezuela’s border with Brazil and Colombia on multiple occasions last year, ordering the crossings reopened with just as little notice. This, too, appears to be fueling a sense of urgency among Venezuelans who opt to face precarious living conditions in neighboring countries rather than suffer the hunger and social breakdown back home.
Brazilian government services are buckling under the weight of the sudden influx of Venezuelan migrants. Their arrival has overwhelmed Roraima, a poor, sparsely populated state the size of Wyoming. Venezuelans account for 60 percent of all hospital visits along the border, according to the Health Ministry in this northern state. Infections from sexually transmitted diseases are skyrocketing from the arrival of so many Venezuelan prostitutes. In December, Roraima’s governor declared a state of emergency and appealed for federal assistance to cope with the crush of border-crossers.
Almost overnight, sleepy border towns such as Pacaraima have been transformed into bustling hubs of international commerce, where makeshift supermarkets pop up selling food, medicine, soap and other goods that are hard to find in Venezuela. Although some Brazilians welcome the business, many are worried that things are spiraling out of control.
Although they can easily enter Brazil, Venezuelans can’t work legally unless they apply for an immigration or refugee visa. Because the visas are hard to obtain, many Venezuelans have taken informal jobs selling food, cleaning car windshields at traffic lights or unloading trucks at the border. The unregulated work has heightened tensions with locals, who say they are unable to compete with the Venezuelans’ low wages.
The crisis is similar in the Colombian cities along the border with Venezuela. Colombian authorities last year registered 6 million visits by Venezuelans crossing into their country, many of them to purchase food and other goods that have become scarce back home.
There are no formal immigration checks at the busy crossings, so Venezuelans can freely enter Colombia as tourists, and it is unknown how many aren’t going back. But Christian Kruger, Colombia’s top immigration official, said many Venezuelans are remaining in the country to work illegally. Colombian authorities reported 2,000 Venezuelans last year who were caught working without authorization, Kruger said.
But Kruger and other officials said they remain committed to an open-border policy that facilitates commerce and offers a lifeline to families who can’t find enough to eat in Venezuela. Still, Kruger added, Colombian officials are preparing for the worst, and would be ready to cope with a collapse in Venezuela or a mass migration. The United Nations and international aid organizations would also be called on to help.
“Every government institution in our country knows what it has to do,” he said, including the military, police and health authorities. “We know it isn’t something that would only affect our border region. It would be the whole country.”
[Bangla Daily Star] Myanmar said yesterday it has detained several coppers over a video shot by a fellow policeman that shows them beating Rohingya civilians, a rare admission of abuse against the Moslem minority.
Tens of thousands of people from the persecuted ethnic group -- loathed by many of Myanmar's Buddhist majority -- have fled a military operation in Rakhine state, launched after attacks on police posts in October.
Dozens of videos have emerged apparently showing abuses against Rohingya, but this is the first time the government has said it will take action over them.
The refugees' stories have raised global alarm and galvanised protests against Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been accused of not doing enough to help the Rohingya.
Her government has said troops are hunting hard boyz behind the deadly raids on police border posts, denying claims of atrocities with a flurry of public statements.
However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... authorities yesterday pledged to take action "against police who allegedly beat villagers during area clearance operations on November 5 in Kotankauk village".
Suu Kyi's office named four officers involved in the operation including constable Zaw Myo Htike, who looks nonchalantly into the camera smoking as he records the video.
"Those who [were] initially identified were detained," it said in a statement. "Further investigations are being carried out to expose other coppers who beat villagers in the operation."
'SADISTIC CINEMA VERITE'
The footage shows police hitting a young boy around the head as he walks to where dozens of villagers are lined up in rows seated on the ground, hands behind their heads.
Three officers in uniform then start attacking one of the sitting men, beating him with a stick and kicking him repeatedly in the face.
A Rohingya activist contacted by AFP said the footage had been verified by a refugee from the nearby camp, Shilkhali.
Analyst David Mathieson said the video "brings into sharp question the government's denials of security forces abuses in Rakhine since October, when here is sadistic cinema verite of how they are treating the local Moslem population".
Around 600 people have been detained since the start of the military operation, according to state media, including six who died in police custody in largely unexplained circumstances.
Matthew Smith, chief executive of Fortify Rights, said the video adds to a growing body of evidence of widespread abuse by security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Maybe the place to start "deradicalisation" would be in the madrassehs that are openly run by outfits like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi?
Common sense, Fred? What an odd idea.
[DAWN] DEALING with the scourge of militancy requires multipronged efforts. One way is to fight Death Eaters on the battlefield and uproot the infrastructure of terror, as has been done, to an extent, in the tribal areas as well as in our cities through Zarb-e-Azb ..the Pak offensive against Qaeda in Pakistain and the Pak Taliban in North Wazoo. The name refers to the sword of the Prophet (PTUI!)... and ’intelligence-based operations’, respectively. However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... efforts must also be made to prevent young minds from falling into the trap of extremism, and to help them find a way back into the mainstream once they forsake the way of the gun. Pakistain has experimented with deradicalisation programmes, most notably in Swat, where the army-led effort has produced mixed results. Now, as reported in this paper yesterday, Sindh also wants to initiate a deradicalisation project. Officials of the provincial Counter Terrorism Department have said that they plan on deradicalising and rehabilitating around 300 Death Eaters lodged in Sindh’s prisons. Help would be sought from professional psychologists to understand the factors that drew these individuals towards militancy. The officials went on to say that two youngsters who were on their way to Syria to fight for the bad boyIslamic 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 renounced militancy through the efforts of the Sindh CTD.
It is well known that bad boycriminal masterminds prey upon the weak and the poor, luring them towards bad boy violence with a mix of religious rhetoric and worldly enticements. Certainly, youngsters who had been brainwashed and who now renounce militancy deserve a second chance. However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... we must approach deradicalisation efforts with caution. For example, with the aforementioned programme in Swat, there is little transparency and it is not known quite how successful the effort really has been, with rumours that some of the programme’s graduates have returned to militancy. Even with militancy reform programmes in other countries, such as 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... , there is a considerable number of supposedly ’reformed’ Death Eaters that return to violence once reintegrated into society. Perhaps the state -- with the help of law enforcers and psychologists -- should investigate which Death Eaters have been drawn towards extremism due to financial and socio-economic reasons, and which fighters are hard-core ideological supporters of bad boy causes. In the case of the latter, deradicalisation efforts would have little, if any, effect. Coming back to Sindh’s efforts, while the deradicalisation plan may seem like a good idea, the provincial authorities must also pay attention to more basic efforts, such as building high-security prisons for ’hard-core’ bad boys, as that has yet to get off the drawing board.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
they plan on deradicalising and rehabilitating around 300 Death Eaters lodged in Sindh’s prisons
Perhaps 'Cult Deprogramming' will work, as a bullet alternative. It's worked so well for sexual identity reassignment.
The hunt continues. Here's what has been discovered since yesterday's posts -- lots of photos at the links:
[Mirror] Passport photo released of suspect Iakhe Mashrapov who moved to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... with his wife and two kids about a month before the massacre and allegedly fought for ISIS in Syria.
The suspect in a New Year's Day massacre at an Istanbul nightclub has been identified as an alleged ISIS myrmidon from Kyrgyzstan.
Turkish authorities are hunting 28-year-old Iakhe Mashrapov in connection with the shooting spree which left 39 people dead and nearly 70 injured.
It was claimed Mashrapov fought in Syria for ISIS and was "specially selected" to carry out the nightclub rampage as the victims welcomed 2017.
He reportedly moved to Turkey from Kyrgyzstan with his wife and two kids on November 20 and spent some time in Konya province before returning to Istanbul just days prior to the terror attack.
Police have tossed in the calaboose Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! 14 people, including the suspect's wife, after they reportedly traced a phone call he made from a taxi driver's mobile on the way to the popular Reina nightclub. Even the taxi driver's cellie, was not his friend.
Abdulkadir Selvi, a columnist for the Hurriyet newspaper, claimed the attacker had been trained in street fighting in residential areas in Syria and used those techniques in the attack as he shot from the hip like he was in a "street war".
Selvi wrote that the gunman was "specially selected" for the shooting and his "hit rate" was high, with just 28 bullets failing to hit a target.
Reports claimed he fled Turkey following the shooting, and a photo of his passport picture has been circulated online.
His wife was among at least 14 people arrested during raids in Istanbul and Konya.
Turkish media outlet TRT World reported that she claimed she had never witnessed her husband showing sympathy to ISIS or its causes.
She said he arrived in Istanbul on November 20 and drove to Konya two days later to "look for work", and returned to Istanbul on December 29.
[DailyMail, of course] Turkish police released two new pictures of the suspected Istanbul nightclub killer as they closed in on two locations in the hunt for the ISIS fanatic. The images, which appear to be taken from CCTV footage, show The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's most wanted man wearing a black and blue bomber jacket and leaning on a counter.
The towns of Yalova and Bursa were targeted by police after members of the public claimed to have spotted the nightclub killer. The first sighting took place in the port town of Yalova, where the suspect was allegedly seen disembarking from a passenger ferry after crossing about 40 miles across the Sea of Marmara. He then was reportedly seen hitchhiking to Bursa, a distance of 45 miles.
Police are understood to now know the suspect's identity, nationality and associates but have not yet released this information to protect their investigation, Turkish media has claimed.
It comes after anti-terror officers tossed in the calaboose Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! eight people in connection with the attack. Investigators continue to question the eight people ‐ most of whom were from Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan ‐ to establish some connection between them and the atrocity.
Police have also released the taxi driver who drove the terrorist to the Reina nightclub after several hours of questioning, leaving them with very few leads.
According to Sherlocks, the suspect is thought to originate from Kyrgyzstan.
A spokeswoman from the country's foreign ministry, Aiymkan Kulukeyeva, told Turkish media that her officials are 'checking' the information and assisting police with their attempts to identify the suspect.
Details of the victims were released as an international manhunt continued for the attacker who arrived in a taxi before unleashing a hail of 120 bullets during a five-and-a-half minute rampage at the exclusive night spot.
Investigators said that they had found the jacket discarded by the attacker as he expeditiously departed at a goodly pace. It had 500 Turkish Lira (about £115) in the pocket, local media have reported.
Police believe the suspect made his escape in a taxi, according to reports, which he hailed on the street after committing the massacre. He escaped north into the Kurucesme district on the banks of the Bosphorus, officers now believe.
Turkish media reported that the gunman took a cab to the venue, but got out due to traffic and walked the last four minutes to the scene.
A local security specialist, Abdullah Agar, also said that CCTV footage of the attacker appeared to suggest that he had an old injury to his foot.
[DailyMail, of course] Menacing selfies of the man suspected to be the ISIS killer who murdered 39 people at an Istanbul nightclub have been leaked.The suspect is pictured wearing a heavy hooded jacket and staring coldly into the camera, on a street thought to be just off Taksim Square, before the massacre on New Year's Eve.
The chilling images were released after 12 people were incarcerated Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! by Turkish police in relation to the attack at the exclusive Reina club.
CCTV footage believed to show the gunman handing over identification documents at a border kiosk, has also been revealed. The suspect, dressed in a black jacket with a red hood over a black top, is shown handing over papers before entering the country at an unidentified date and location.
Other footage also reports to show the runaway arguing with taxi drivers at an unknown location.
Again, it is not known if the picture was taken before or after the nightclub attack.
The CCTV footage is the latest attempt by the authorities to trace the brutal terrorist after fruitless searches of business addresses and homes of eight people, most of whom were from Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan.
The video appears to match three images released by police earlier today, in which The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s most wanted man seems to be pictured on different CCTV footage leaning against a counter, wearing the same clothing.
The tantalising images are among the first pieces of evidence showing the killer, who managed to spirit himself away from the carnage and evade a massive manhunt for two days, despite having left clues like his jacket and weapon at the scene.
The gunman has consistently been described as ’professional’, ’highly trained’ and ’focused’ by eyewitnesses and analysts, however.
Sefa Boydas, a professional footballer who was inside the nightclub at the time of the attack, told MailOnline: ’He looked relaxed and was very precise in the way he shot, like a professional. Very focused. He shot people from about 10 or 15 metres away.’
Captain Abdullah Agar, a terrorist expert who analysed footage of the attack taken by security cameras, described the suspect as ’highly trained’.
’[He is] stable, practical, knowing how to get the required result, cold-blooded and expert’, he told Turkish media.
’The terrorist is very good at rapid firing. It takes thousands of bullets to create such carnage. He has carried out such an attack as well as in real conflict situations.
’He has no hesitation about shooting innocent people. He is a complete killer, experienced in close combat and fighting in residential areas.'
During the afternoon, the towns of Yalova and Bursa were both targeted by police after members of the public claimed to have spotted the nightclub murderer. But these operations have also produced no results.
Turkey’s most wanted man remained on the lam in a city on high alert as an official state of emergency threatened to stretch into its third day.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
for months Turkey has been arresting suspected followers of Gulan and firing police and military personnel.
Got to wonder if anti ISIS work would have done better w/o that.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/03/2017 7:18
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Given that the Gulenists select for drive and ability plus piety, there's not much wondering to be done, lord garth.
#3
Protruding brow, sloping forehead, malevolent expression. Why would you let this man into your country?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/03/2017 11:49
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Protruding brow, sloping forehead, malevolent expression. Why would you let this man into your country? From the old GEICO Commercial : "Cavemen are people, too."
Posted by: USN, Ret ||
01/03/2017 14:57
Comments ||
Top||
Cause and effect are both subject to Allah's whim as he recreates the universe without telling anyone he changed it, so really there's no point in learning something so temporary.
Kunduz residents and officials on Monday complained that the Taliban recently imposed price regulations on goods being sold in some areas in the province.
According to locals, the Taliban have capped prices of certain goods including foodstuffs and rental prices of vehicles. They have also reportedly banned the sale of imported frozen white meat.
They said the Taliban is exploiting a weak local government and state that government should be ashamed.
“This indicates the weakness of government’s sovereignty, the government must take action and prevent Taliban from such moves, government must undertake military operations and hit the Taliban’s main centers,” said senator Safiullah Hashimi.
“This has happened in Chahardara district, several areas in Chahardara are under the control of the Taliban,” said a member of Kunduz’s provincial council Ghulam Rabbani Rabbani.
Residents warned that if they are allowed to get away with this, there will be serious consequences for government.
“This quite shameful for the government, it was supposed to be announced by the government and not the Taliban,” said a resident of Kunduz Shuja.
This new development comes a week after the Taliban reportedly carried out a public lashing against six people accused of theft in Qarabaghi district of Ghazni province.
“Military operations need to be launched, is there corruption, why have operations not started. We are two months away from spring, they must tackle Taliban now,” said another resident Ejazulhaq.
Ghazni Police Chief Aminullah Amarkhail also said that some Taliban commanders and their relatives had raped girls in Ghazni province.
“The entire people of Ghazni are aware that large numbers of Taliban commanders and their relatives are involved in sexual assaults against women; if they (Taliban) claim to be the defenders of the Sharia (Islamic laws), then Taliban must implement Sharia on their own commanders,” said Amarkhail.
According to Amarkhail, the Taliban’s Quetta Shura (council) has also suspended several key Taliban commanders in Ghazni following their defeat by the Afghan security forces.
But, security institutions have said that by suspending commanders, the Taliban is trying to mislead the public into believed they have not faced major setbacks on the battlefields.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] U.S.-led air strikes on Sunday killed 4 senior commanders of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham ...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant... in northern Idlib province,sources said.
... killed in two air strikes. The first targeted a car carrying Khatab al-Qahtani, Fateh al-Sham Emir in Hazzano and Abo Motasim al-Deri, Shariah principal in the town...
Field source said the commanders of formerly known Nusra Front were killed in two air strikes. The first targeted a car carrying Khatab al-Qahtani, Fateh al-Sham Emir in Hazzano and Abo Motasim al-Deri, Shariah principal in the town.
The second air raid conducted in the town of Sarmada, targeted a vehicle carrying Abo Omar Turkistani, a commander in the front and another commander was not possible to identify, and both were killed as well. We had the news about Abu Omar's demise yesterday.
People in the northern countryside of Idlib reported to Zaman al-Wasl that US-alliance warplanes kept flying all the day in Northern countryside of Idlib and Western countryside of Aleppo before being able to target the four commanders.
The liquidation operations followed the nationwide ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and had been announced by Russia Dec. 28 and put in effect Thursday Dec 29 midnight Syria's time. The Syrian ceasefire excluded Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and 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.... The ceasefire agreement was not clear in the beginning in regard to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham when Russian announced the cease fire truce, as the Syrian opposition factions did not mention excluding it from the agreement, while Tukey mentioned that the agreement excluded all organization on UN’s terrorist list, till Russia made clear and excluded the Front from the agreement.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under: al-Nusra
#1
It would be one thing to carpet bomb a town, or a large military installation and, as a bonus, get the commanders.
But this precise targeting must be driving their counter intel guys nuts. HOW DID THEY KNOW? WHO DO THEY HAVE ON THE INSIDE? And the counterintel guys might be suggesting/requring various moves, transfers, purges, extra comm security, etc. all reducing efficiency.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/03/2017 7:06
Comments ||
Top||
#2
We too are killing ourselves at an alarming rate. Your cellie is not your friend.
BEIRUT: Syrian government warplanes resumed their bombardment of a rebel-held valley near Damascus on Sunday after nearly 24 hours with no air raids, a rebel official and monitors said, during the third day of a fragile cease-fire.
The truce deal, brokered by Russia and Turkey which back opposing sides in the conflict and welcomed unanimously by the United Nations Security Council, has been repeatedly violated since it began, with warring sides trading the blame.
Rebels on Saturday warned they would abandon the truce if the government side continued to violate it, asking the Russians, who support President Bashar Assad, to rein in army and militia attacks in the valley by 8 p.m.
Bombardments ceased before that time — although some clashes continued — but began again late on Sunday.
It was not immediately clear if the rebels would abandon the truce as a result. Like previous Syria cease-fire deals it has been shaky from the start with repeated outbreaks of violence in some areas, but has largely held elsewhere.
The raids hit areas of Wadi Barada, where government forces and their allies launched an operation more than a week ago, a spokesman for the Jaish Al-Nasr rebel group and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
There was a “fierce attack and attempt by Assad and Shiite militias to raid Wadi Barada” from nearby hills, the rebel spokesman, Mohammed Rasheed, said.
State media and the Observatory said hundreds of people had left Wadi Barada in the past day for government-controlled areas nearby.
Earlier on Sunday government warplanes carried out several air strikes in the southern Aleppo countryside, the Observatory and rebel officials said.
Government forces also advanced overnight against rebels in the Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus, seizing 10 farms, the Observatory said.
A second rebel official suggested that low-level clashes on the ground would not necessarily derail the truce, but that air strikes were a “clear violation.”
Russia’s defense ministry has accused the insurgents in turn of violating the cease-fire numerous times.
A military news outlet run by Lebanese group Hezbollah, an ally of Assad, said the Syrian army had been targeting militants from the former Nusra Front both in southern Aleppo province and in Wadi Barada.
The army has said the group, previously Al-Qaeda’s Syria branch, is not included in the cease-fire deal but rebels say it is — just one point of friction and confusion in the deal which could lead to its collapse.
The latest truce agreement is the first not to involve the United States or the United Nations — a reflection of Moscow’s growing diplomatic influence after a long campaign of Russian air strikes helped Assad recapture the northern city of Aleppo last month.
That victory has greatly strengthened the president’s position as the warring sides prepare for peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana this month.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[AA.TR] Nigeria’s peace drive in the oil-rich delta region suffered a major setback on Sunday night when a key krazed killer group slammed President Muhammadu Buhari for allegedly stalling the grinding of the peace processor.
In a statement, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta ... a confederation of bands of bandidos portraying itself of a political organization grabbing for Nigeria's oil boodle ... (MEND) -- an influential krazed killer group -- said Buhari’s "arrogant" posturing had affected the region and blamed him for failing to honor previous agreements.
"Prior to and after his reluctant meeting with traditional rulers, opinion leaders and stakeholders of the Niger Delta region under the auspices of Pan Niger Delta Forum [PANDEF] on Nov. 1, 2016, Buhari has been carrying on arrogantly and making controversial, prejudicial, conflicting and contradictory statements about the politics and economy of the oil-rich region," the statement quoting a front man for the movement, Jomo Gbomo, said.
"Without prejudice to the pre-2015 presidential election endorsement freely and voluntarily given to Buhari on Jan. 6, 2015, MEND hereby categorically and unequivocally passes a vote of no confidence on the government of President Buhari," Gbomo added.
The group accused the president of "blackmailing" leaders from the region over the peace talks and accused the administration of not forming its own team to interact with stakeholders from the oil-rich region.
It also accused the president of reneging on his pledge to facilitate the release of all political prisoners connected to the agitation in the region, while also allegedly sanctioning the arrest of top krazed killers.
The presidency has not reacted to the development yet which threatens the fragile peace in the area.
MEND, whose leaders Henry Okah and others are standing trial for alleged bombings of government infrastructure, has been said to be a key ally of Buhari from the region. 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.. also hails from the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
from fragment of blue papyrus:
De Nile, in de district of Horus.
Bos taurus and sports all adore us.
They stamp and they trample
Our temple so ample.
The chorus implores you, "Come gore us!"
[DAWN] KARACHI: A boy was killed and a girl and three women were among the over 20 people maimed as several areas of the metropolis reverberated with New Year jubilant gun sex on Saturday midnight, police and hospital officials said.
The seven-year-old boy was hit with a stray bullet near Ayesha Manzil in Azizabad.
The police said Subhan with his father, Irfan, was travelling on a cycle of violence when unidentified people fired gunshots to herald New Year.
The child sustained bullet wounds in the head and was taken to a private hospital in Nazimabad, where he died.
In other gun sex incidents in several localities, at least 20 people sustained bullet wounds, said police and hospital sources.
"We received 10 people brought with injuries from several areas," said Dr Seemin Jamali, executive director of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
Among the injured were seven-year-old girl Arba and three women. Arba sustained bullet wounds in Liaquatabad. Her condition was critical as she received bullet injuries in her abdomen, added Dr Jamali.
Later on, she was referred to the National Institute of Child Health for further treatment.
Among the three maimed women, the condition of Afshan was serious because she also received bullet wounds in her abdomen in Jacob Lines.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats grabbed for his rosco... a police spokesperson said that Asad Razzaq, 35, and Shaharyar Jaffar, 25, received bullet wounds near the Kharadar police post.
Fourteen-year-old Raheel Latif was hit by a stray bullet on Kashmire Road near Jail Chowrangi.
In Garden 40-year-old Inayat Qadir was shot at and maimed near Ramaswami.
Seventy-year-old Syed Mustafa
Qasim received a stray bullet at Soldier Bazaar-3 while 25-year-old Waqas received bullet wounds near Noorani Kabab House.
Eighty-year-old Mushtaq received stray bullet near Bilal Masjid in Landhi-6.
Pir Sattar Shah, 40, was maimed near the Hasanzai restaurant in Patel Para.
In Baldia, Hussain Sattar, 20, was maimed while in Pak Colony Amar Gul, 41, was maimed in jubilant firing.
A man, Zahid Shakoor, 25, was shot at and maimed when people resorted to firing in Shah Faisal Colony while 30-year-old Safeer Shah was injured in Abidabad, Baldia.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats grabbed for his rosco... around a dozen youngsters were detained in the Clifton and Defence areas on Saturday night for rowdyism, said South SSP Saqib Ismail Memon.
He added that two coppers were also tossed in the calaboose You have the right to remain silent... and suspended for resorting to firing into the air in jubilation outside the Clifton cop shoppe.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
The man had entered Germany in December 2014 and applied for asylum in January 2015, obtaining refugee status and a residency permit, prosecutors said in a statement.
The case against him was bolstered by an informant who went to Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, chats on the suspect's smartphone and his own statements, "insofar as they can be followed," prosecutors said in a statement.
[AlAhram] German police said on Sunday they had prevented a repeat of the assaults and robberies suffered by hundreds of women in Cologne a year ago by screening 650 mostly North African men on New Year's Eve. Police detained and screened many of the men at the main railway station as they headed towards the centre of Cologne in western Germany, where the attacks a year earlier fuelled criticism of Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door migrant policy. Cologne police chief Juergen Mathies did not say how many of the men were subsequently allowed into the city centre but denied that the checks amounted to racial profiling. He also said many of those detained had been aggressive.
"This was clearly about preventing similar incidents to last year," he told a news conference. "A large part of this group that was checked was such that criminal acts were to be expected. That is why we took this clear approach."
Congratulations, sir. You prevented another night of vicious attacks. But unless those men are evicted from Europe altogether, they will do the same thing soon enough.
Police arrested 92 people - including 16 Germans and 10 Syrians - during Saturday night's celebrations in Cologne. Police also installed new video surveillance cameras to monitor the station square.
[DeutscheWelle] An Afghan teen has sustained serious burns after lighting himself on fire at a supermarket warehouse in Bavaria. Police say he was carrying a knife but his motives weren't immediately known.
[DeutscheWelle] The northern German city of Braunschweig has launched a special commission investigating more than 300 cases of welfare fraud by mostly Sudanese asylum seekers. One fraudster is believed to have used as many as 12 different identities.
According to the initial report, the refugees in question had registered themselves several times in different locations in a bid to receive multiple welfare payments. Most of them succeeded by using basic disguises to create three or four different identities.
"Sometimes just growing a beard, or putting on a pair of glasses, having shorter hair, but always different surnames," Memenga said.
According to the Asylum Seekers Act, every asylum seeker receives 135 euros "pocket money" and 216 euros a month to cover the necessary personal needs - if they're not completely under the care of state authorities. Asylum seekers who arrived last year are now being asked to return to registration centers to provide their fingerprints.
"You can maybe fake your name and date of birth, but you can't fake your fingerprint," Memenga said.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2017 18:27
Comments ||
Top||
#3
The answer has been simple since 9/11
Ban Muslim migration. No migrants in from the 56 Muslim nations of the OIC
Ban family-reunion visas for Muslims. If citizens marry a Muslim from a Muslim nation, they must emigrate. The Muslim is not allowed to immigrate. No anchor babies.
Make it easy for Muslims to leave and hard for them to enter. No student visas. No work visas. No money from outside sources for mosques and schools. No Islamic schools allowed at all.
plus, ban sharia, which is not a religion but a legal system. Prosecute those who promote it with treason - which carries a life sentence. They'll leave, and when they do iris scan and fingerprint and mark never to return.
Deport all Muslim "refugees" to their country of origin or failing that, their last port of call.
This is the simple solution for Europe, for the US and for all of Western civilisation. We did not need all that draconian security legislation that destroyed our civil rights.
All we needed was to keep the Muslim colonisation project out.
Had this been implemented after 9/11 there would have been no London tube bombings, no Lindt cafe killing, no Orlando massacre, no Bataclan, no Charlie Hebdo, no beheading an elderly French priest at the altar - none of the many Islamist attrocities.
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.
[PJ] The least-shocking, long-rumored departure in cable news seems that it is about to happen. The still-dominant Fox News Channel has been through a lot of changes in the past several months, most notably saying good-bye to the man who made it a ratings powerhouse. Now, according to The New York Times it appears that FNC is losing one of its biggest stars:
President Trump invited the Pope for lunch on his mega yacht, the Pope accepted and during lunch, a puff of wind blew the Pontiff's hat off, right into the water.
[RUDAW.NET] Iraqi security forces have imposed a curfew in Samarra, 125 kilometers north of Baghdad, following armed attacks on two 
[AA.TR] 
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The year of 2016 was the hardest on the coastal cities of Syria compared to previous years since the beginning of the Syrian revolution.
[DAWN] LAHORE: A man allegedly murdered his former wife and daughter in Kot Kamboh, the Nawan Kot police claimed on Sunday.
[Bloomberg] The "Russian hacking" story in the U.S. has gone too far. That it's not based on any solid public evidence, and that reports of it are often so overblown as to miss the mark, is only a problem to those who worry about disinformation campaigns, propaganda and journalistic standards -- a small segment of the general public. But the recent U.S. government report that purports to substantiate technical details of recent hacks by Russian intelligence is off the mark and has the potential to do real damage to far more people and organizations.
[AA.TR] 
[Ynet] The Israel Police 
DW: China blocked a recent Indian move to blacklist 
[DAWN] India's top court on Monday ruled that election candidates cannot use religion or caste to seek votes, describing them as corrupt practices under electoral laws.
[ARA News]. Aleppo – Russian warplanes on Monday launched several airstrikes near the city of al-Bab in Syria’s northern Aleppo Governorate, targeting Islamic State’s (ISIS) tactical units and fighting positions.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Syrian rebel groups said on Monday they had decided to freeze any talks about their possible participation in Syrian peace negotiations being prepared by Moscow in Kazakhstan unless the Syrian government and its Iran-backed allies end what it said were violations of a ceasefire.
[DAWN] A district and session court in Islamabad on Monday sent Pakistain 
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The case emerged in February 2016 when Huthaifa Derkel was stopped and questioned. He admitted to the charges brought against him from theft to communicating with a regime agent, and handing over three people to the security forces for them to be conscripted into the army. Derkel’s testimony was strengthened by that of his partner in the thefts Khalouk Hallak. Hallak testified that Derkel told him that he handed three people from the al-Qasas family to the regime security forces.
[AA.TR] Iraq's Vice President Nouri al-Maliki said Monday the Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militia could enter Syria to fight for "Syrian brothers" if needed.
[Bangla Daily Star] A French tourist was bitten by a crocodile inside a Thai national park as she tried to get close to the fearsome animal to take a selfie, an official said yesterday.
[Ynet] 
[DAWN] LANDI KOTAL: Possession of Pak passport was made mandatory on Sunday for cross-border movement by Pak nationals at Torkham border after expiry of the deadline on December 31.
[POLITICO] Iraq’s Golden Division has a storied, and controversial, history. As one of three special brigades of Iraq’s elite Counter Terrorism Service, it acts under the direct command of Iraq’s prime minister. Established as a nonsectarian formation, the unit was first organized, equipped and trained by U.S. special forces units soon after Baghdad fell, with the express purpose of fighting the then-growing Iraqi insurgency. A select group of its best officers were brought to the U.S. for intensive training at the U.S. Army Ranger School, then redeployed to the division as combat commanders. From its earliest days its independent chain of command was resented, however, with Iraqis viewing the division as a political tool in the hands of the Iraqi prime minister. Among Iraqis, it became known as "the dirty division."
[Bangla Daily Star] An alleged robber was killed in a "
[Bangla Daily Star] Myanmar said yesterday it has detained several 
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] U.S.-led air strikes on Sunday killed 4 senior commanders of Jabhat 
BEIRUT: Syrian government warplanes resumed their bombardment of a rebel-held valley near Damascus on Sunday after nearly 24 hours with no air raids, a rebel official and monitors said, during the third day of a fragile cease-fire.
Goodluck Jonathan
[DAWN] KARACHI: A boy was killed and a girl and three women were among the over 20 people 
