[windowslatest.com] Update: Mozilla has identified the problem and issued a fix for Firefox, Firefox Beta and Nightly. The update will be automatically applied in the background within the next few hours and bring back extensions to the original state. There is no action required by the users.
"Our team has identified and rolled-out a fix for all Firefox Desktop users on Release, Beta and Nightly. The fix will be automatically applied in the background within the next few hours. No active steps need to be taken to make add-ons work again," the company said in a new blog post.
Mozilla is using Firefox's Studies system to deliver the fix on short notice and the general fix is also being worked on. "We are working on a general fix that doesn't use the Studies system and will keep this blog post updated accordingly," Mozilla explains.
To turn on the 'Firefox's Studies system', follow the instuction below:
[Techguy.com Forum] Posted by Cookiegal; There's an update to that article and in order to get the update you have to allow "studies" to run in order to receive the fix. This is under Tools - Options - Privacy & Security and scroll down to the section entitled "Firefox Data Collection and Use". I had everything disabled there but that will prevent the fix from coming through. I've temporarily enabled it and will leave it like that for a few hours to see if the fix arrives.
https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2019/05/04/update-regarding-add-ons-in-firefox/ After turning on the above, turn off Firefox and wait a few seconds (to make sure Firefox shut down completely) then restart. This fixed my issue!
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance ||
05/04/2019
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[Ay-Pee] Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired scores of rockets into southern Israel on Saturday, wounding at least two Israeli civilians and triggering retaliatory airstrikes and tank fire against militant targets in the blockaded enclave and shattering a month-long lull in violence.
Israeli officials said a 50-year-old woman was severely wounded by rocket fire, while a teenage boy was mildly hurt as he ran for cover. Gaza's Health Ministry said a 22-year-old Palestinian man was killed by an Israeli airstrike, and seven other Palestinians were wounded. Israeli police said a house in the coastal city of Ashkelon was damaged
Air raid sirens sounded in southern Israeli throughout the day. By late afternoon, the military said some 150 rockets had been fired into Israel. It said dozens of rockets were intercepted by its Iron Dome rocket-defense system, and that roads near the Gaza border were closed to civilian traffic. Israeli police said they had dispatched bomb disposal experts to the country's south to deal with projectiles that landed in open areas.
The army said its chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, convened an emergency session with top security officials to discuss the situation. Later, it said it had hit 30 targets in Gaza, including what it said were five Hamas military compounds and several Islamic Jihad compounds. Smoke em
COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said it was closing the fishing zone off Gaza's coast altogether and sealing Israel's two land crossings with Gaza. The crossings are were used by Palestinian medical patients to enter and exit the territory, and provide the main entry for cargo into the blockaded territory Actions have consequences, even in Gazoo JPost:
IDF tanks and helicopters began attacking terrorist targets belonging to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, managing to destroy an Islamic Jihad attack tunnel entering Israel from the southern part of the strip, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit reported on Saturday.
Posted by: Frank G ||
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#1
President Sisi ought to be very seriously displeased at how blatantly they are disrespecting his hudna mediation efforts. But thus far he has not officially deigned to take notice.
According to the Times of Israel’s liveblog, it’s up to 200 rockets from Gaza now, and Israel hit 70 targets, including an Islamic Jihad tunnel that crossed the border. Something explosive was clearly stored in it — there’s a brief but dramatic video at the link, though it lacks the musical background of the Islamic Jihad video showing loading of missiles into a launcher. Also, some Army reserves are to be called up this evening.
The Islamic Jihad leader Baha Abu al-Ata was invited to Cairo and immediately left Gaza through the Rafah border crossing. Israel has threatened to kill Abu al-Ata more than once, since he is responsible for the launching of many rockets into Israeli territory.
I’m setting this as today’s headline, though really such explosive cross-border activity has become almost a normal variation on the regular routine.
Lulz!
[Newsbusters via Weasel Zippers] This week it was reported that CNN lost 26 percent of its audience, down 237,000 viewers since April 2018, and down nearly 40 percent from its 2016 peak. To put those numbers in their proper perspective:
■ According to Wikipedia, the population of prostitutes in the U.S. (approximately one million) is larger than the population of CNN viewers.
■ Across all cable networks, CNN now ranks 15th, behind Home and Garden TV (4th), the Hallmark Channel (9th) and the Food Network (14th).
■ The 237,000 viewers CNN has shed over just the last year is more than the populations of Richmond, Virginia (227,032), Baton Rouge, Louisiana (225,374) or Des Moines, Iowa (217,521).
Posted by: Frank G ||
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#1
"Even though we are becoming more selective in our appeal, for people who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like."
NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCIV) ‐ Several Airmen from Joint Base Charleston are facing scrutiny from base leadership over photos and video showing them engaging in what some feel is unprofessional behavior at work and in public.
JBC officials announced Tuesday morning they were working to identify the airmen in an attempt to address the situation appropriately.
The inquiry was prompted by photos shared publicly on Facebook Monday morning, April 28, showing three women in Air Force uniforms riding mobility assistance scooters through a Charleston-area Walmart.
Later, video surfaced on an Air Force humor Facebook page, appearing to show the same three women dancing while inside an office on Joint Base Charleston.
"I am disappointed in the actions of the Airmen. Their actions are not representative of the members of Joint Base Charleston," said Col. Terrence Adams, commander of Joint Base Charleston. "We expect the utmost professionalism and respect from all of our service members."
[Really Hot Air] I’m imagining him delivering his acceptance speech at the Democratic convention next year. "And now I’d like to say a few words to black Americans, without whom this moment wouldn’t have been possible. Homies..."
Are any progressives pretending to be outraged about this? Republicans might be outraged knowing how it would have been received had, say, George Bush or Mitt Romney used the same phrasing. (Never mind Trump.) The problem for anti-Biden lefties in wanting to feign upset about it, though, is the same problem they ran into last night with the 2015 clip of Biden praising Dick Cheney: It’s old. It’s been out there for years. The clip above is new, sure, but he’s been telling this same story with the same terminology since he was in office. Here he is as vice president in 2014 telling the Chamber of Commerce about residents of "the hood" in Detroit. He told the same story to the Brookings Institution last year and was dinged for it by the RNC, among others.
(Bloomberg) -- Attorney General William Barr has begun to fill in details on his controversial pledge to investigate whether the FBI and Justice Department engaged in improper "spying" on the Trump campaign in 2016.
In a contentious hearing this week on Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, Democrats accused Barr of sounding like President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer. But some Republicans encouraged him to lay out the contours of the nascent surveillance probe that he made clear is among his top priorities.
Barr told the Senate Judiciary panel that he has assembled a team to determine whether there was any improper "spying" on the Trump campaign in 2016, including whether intelligence collection began earlier than previously known and how many confidential informants the FBI used. He also suggested his focus was on senior leaders at the FBI and Justice Department at the time.
"To the extent there was overreach, what we have to be concerned about is a few people at the top getting it into their heads that they know better than the American people," Barr said.
His review also will examine whether a dossier that included salacious accusations against Trump was fabricated by the Russian government to dupe U.S. intelligence agencies and the FBI, Barr told the Senate panel on Wednesday.
"We now know that he was being falsely accused," Barr said of Trump. "We have to stop using the criminal justice process as a political weapon."
Mueller’s report didn’t say there were false accusations against Trump. It said the evidence of cooperation between the campaign and Russia "was not sufficient to support criminal charges." Investigators were unable to get a complete picture of the activities of some relevant people, the special counsel found.
#1
His review also will examine whether a dossier that included salacious accusations against Trump was fabricated by the Russian government to dupe U.S. intelligence agencies and the FBI
The intelligence community was not 'duped'. They exploited the dossier for political purposes.
#6
In a contentious hearing this week on Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, Democrats accused Barr of sounding like President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.
It's not Barr is Trump's personal lawyer; it's just that Dems have gotten so outrageously corrupt that everyone is beginning to notice and getting fed up with it.
[Jpost] Social Democratic Foundation worked with terrorist entity Hezbollah.
The think tank of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) disinvited the distinguished Israeli writer Chaim (Hans) Noll in late April from a talk at the Ariowitsch House in Leipzig, Saxony, because he wrote articles critical of the German government’s pro-Iranian regime policies that jeopardize the security of the Jewish state.
The Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which is the ideas organization for the SPD, pulled the plug on Noll’s talk at its branch in the state of Saxony because he previously wrote: “German politicians of the ruling parties – like no one else – are trying to strengthen the mullah regime in Iran, which is preparing for Israel’s liquidation, and destroying and expelling the Jews living there.”
Noll, who grew up in Berlin, East Germany, fled the Communist and antisemitic regime in 1984, and moved to Israel in 1995, said: “‘Never again!’, they [German politicians] declare, sitting with concerned expressions in celebration hours, creating a show business of memorial sites and Jewish museums, commemoration sites and former torture chambers where photo-ops are given. The same politicians are making sure that money is constantly flowing to the mullahs, to terrorists in the Middle East, to organizations that boycott Israel. It is a hypocrisy that makes you speechless. It has long since become mainstreamed and has become ‘normal’ as it was then, because life in German cities was ‘normal’ when they deported the Jews.”
Noll wrote on the pro-Israel and pro-American website The Axis of Good on Sunday in connection with the cancellation of his event: “Recently, I have criticized the Middle East policy led by SPD [Foreign] Minister Heiko Maas’s foreign office several times. Written and verbally. I have reminded that this antiquated, ideology-driven, unsuccessful policy costs German taxpayers millions every year. I have referred to the embarrassment of Maas’s commitment to Auschwitz as an inspiration to his political career and to his persistently anti-Israeli policies. That Maas, as stated recently by the Israeli ambassador, basically sided with the enemies of Israel in the UN, ‘In November, Germany voted 16 times in 21 resolutions against Israel,’ I have criticized German arms deliveries and other help to the belligerent regimes of the region, for example Iran and Saudi Arabia.”
Maas, who last year said that he went into politics “because of Auschwitz,” permitted his Foreign Ministry to participate in a celebration of the Iran’s Islamic Revolution at the Iranian’s regime embassy in Berlin in February. Iran’s revolution calls for the destruction of Israel, and the clerical regime is the leading state-sponsor of terrorism, Holocaust-denial and lethal antisemitism.
Matthias Eisel, the director of the Friedrich Ebert office in Saxony, wrote in an email to the Post that he canceled Noll’s event because of the Israeli writer’s criticism of Germany’s pro-Islamic regime policies. Citing Noll’s writings, Eisel wrote: “Anyone who knows our events and discussion forums in Saxony knows that they are always controversial. Mr. Noll, on the other hand, judges flat rate and ideological. He despises German politics as a whole, sees Germany’s politics as traitorous – with the exception of the AfD... Mr. Noll prefers to publish such texts on the ‘Axis of Good,’ a forum that you can at least can call right-populist.”
Many well-known German-Jewish and non-Jewish writers post on the Axis of Good, a website that criticizes modern antisemitism and radical Islam in Germany.
LONGMONT, Colo. - Werner Trei is accustomed to being on a man on a mission.
This time around, the decorated Vietnam War veteran is on a mission to gain U.S. citizenship.
The 71-year-old said his family moved from Germany to Lincoln, Nebraska, when he was just 2 years old.
After he graduated from high school, he was drafted into the Vietnam War, defending a country in which he could not vote and returning home with three Bronze Stars.
"Every man that ever went out with me I brought back. Never lost a man. I can be proud of that," Trei said.
He has qualified for green-card status over the years and was under the impression that once he served in the Army, he would gain citizenship.
But it never happened.
Now. Trei has brain cancer and is in hospice care. His caregivers at The Peaks Care Center in Longmont are reaching out to Gov. Jared Polis and Sen. Cory Gardner to help him finally become a citizen.
#4
This nation in the past has always kept the battlefields at arms length so that the ones the soldiers loved and were protecting would not experience the horrors of the battlefield.
The above video from the TV series The Pacific was right on when capturing the return of soldiers to a sheltered society. The soldiers of WWII had only one thing to learn, to be the best killing machines in the world, nothing more and nothing less. Like Sledge said, they got pretty dam good at it. It was so obvious to them how disconnected the US civilians back home were from an understanding of living hell.
[IsraelTimes] General intelligence chief ousted after reports of bigwigs fomenting unrest, calling for mass protests against the government.
King Abdullah II of Jordan has reshuffled his top brass amid fears of instability How could you tell? in the Arab country.
The most prominent change reported this week by state news agency Petra is the replacement of the general intelligence chief.
In a letter to the new director, Ahmed Hossni, the king cited "many unprecedented challenges" imposed by regional and international dynamics, according to Petra.
Several officials at the influential Royal Court were also sacked.
Jordan is an oasis of stability in a turbulent Middle East and it has housed millions of refugees fleeing wars in neighboring Syria and Iraq.
However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... local discontent has grown over the increasing cost of living and government mismanagement. Protesters last year forced the king to fire the government.
Some Arab media reports said that several of those who were fired had been encouraging further mass protests.
#1
Western-oriented leader - from the wiki: He attended high school at Eaglebrook School and Deerfield Academy in the United States of America. He began his military career at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the British Army and served a year in Britain and West Germany as a troop commander in the 13th/18th Royal Hussars.
1985 he took the Armored Officer's Advanced Course at Fort Knox.attended the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Abdullah attended a staff course at the British Staff College He commanded a battalion in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in 1992 and was promoted to colonel the following year, commanding the 40th Brigade. defence resources management at the American Naval Postgraduate School, bdullah assumed command of Jordan's Special Forces and other elite units as brigadier general, restructuring them into the Joint Special Operations Command two years later. The King occasionally trains with the Jordanian army in live ammunition military drills.
He is a Star Trek fan, In 1996 he appeared briefly in the Star Trek: Voyager episode, "Investigations", in a non-speaking role.
[KhaamaPress] At least 11 Talibs including their local commander were killed in the Arclight airstrikes of the coalition forces in south-eastern Ghazni province.
The 203rd Thunder Corps in a statement said Thursday that the airstrikes were carried out Malik Khel area Waghez district and Sangasi area of Moqor district.
The statement further added that another holy warrior was maimed and a cycle of violence along with a vehicle were also destroyed.
The anti-government armed snuffies including Taliban ...Arabic for students... have not commented regarding the airstrike so far.
Ghazni is among the relatively volatile provinces in South-eastern parts of Afghanistan. Talibs are active in some of the restive districts of the province and often attempt to carry out terrorist related activities against the government and security institutions.
[DAWN] The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on Friday insisted that a "better way" to tackle the prevalent practice of child marriages is to start an awareness campaign among the masses instead of passing legislation.
A CII spokesperson said that the council in its 212th meeting had discussed the matter in detail and had arrived at the conclusion that "legislation against child marriage and setting an age limit will lead to many complications".
The meeting on the matter comes days after the Senate passed the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018 ‐ which proposes that the minimum age for marriage be set at 18 ‐ amid noisy opposition from religious parties and some members of the ruling Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI). Some of the opposing senators had argued that the bill be sent to CII before being tabled in the house.
A similar bill that was tabled in the National Assembly by a PTI politician a day after the Senate passed the anti-child marriage bill faced strong opposition from members of the ruling party itself.
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#1
Especially when legislation would be tantamount to blasphemy !
[DAWN] EVER SINCE terrorism ‐ specifically the jihadist variety ‐ has stalked the globe, a common refrain has been that radicalised young men need to be educated and given job opportunities to steer them away from the murderous path they have chosen.
But as we have learned in attack after attack, many of those responsible have been not just educated, but well-to-do. The mantra of ’education and jobs’ rang particularly hollow in the aftermath of the recent mayhem that took place in Sri Lanka a fortnight ago: all the jacket wallahs involved in the terror attacks were from well-off families, and some had gone abroad to study.
Of course the classic example of well-heeled, well-educated snuffies remains the group of 19 (mostly Saudi) Arabs who flew the commercial jets into New York’s World Trade Centre, as well as the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
Continued on Page 49
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[Ynet] The United States on Friday granted waivers allowing Britannia, China, La Belle France and Russia to continue nonproliferation work with Iran, permitting them to maintain projects designed to make it harder for Tehran to build an atomic weapon, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Ford told Bloomberg.
Instead of granting the waivers for 180 days, the administration will shorten their term to 90 days, Bloomberg said.
Under the 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers, Iran agreed to transform its nuclear facilities at Arak and Fordow in ways that would make it much more difficult to use them to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons.
[IsraelTimes] Fourth Paleostinian reportedly dies overnight from injuries sustained during Friday border violence.
The army was investigating the possibility that a Paleostinian sniper targeted a senior Israel Defense Forces officer during riots on the Gazoo border Friday.
The army’s Gazoo division would conduct an investigation into the shooting, which injured two soldiers who were part of a patrol near the border in the southern Gazoo Strip, the Walla news site reported.
Continued on Page 49
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) began a new operation this week to target 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.... ’s (ISIS/ISIS/IS/ISIS) remaining hideouts along the Iraqi border.
Backed by the National Defense Forces (NDF) and Hezbollah, the Syrian Arab Army reportedly attacked a number sites between the city of Albukamal and the northern part of the U.S.-occupied al-Tanf Zone.
At the same time, their allies from Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi (Popular Mobilization Units) have also begun a similar operation in a bid to clear the Islamic State hard boyz from the Syrian border.
The Islamic State has recently wreaked havoc in this region and their constant operations along the border have further delayed the reopening of the international highway from Baghdad to Damascus.
A Syrian military source in Damascus told al-Masdar earlier today that the government was hoping to reopen the international highway at the end of April; however, due to the recent increase in terrorist activity near the roadway, they have been forced to keep it closed.
The Islamic State currently occupies several areas inside the vast Badiya al-Sham region between the Deir Ezzor and Homs governorates; this makes travel from western to eastern Syria very dangerous for civilians, let alone the army.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Fierce clashes reportedly broke out along the Colombian-Venezuelan border today, as opposition and government groups confronted one another on the Simon Bolivar Bridge.
The situation is still not clear, pro-opposition accounts claim that pro-government collectivos and pro-Guaido supporters engaged in an intense shootout at the Simon Bolivar Bridge.
This shootout comes just two days after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido announced the last phase of his attempt to overthrow the government of Nicolas Maduro.
The Venezuelan government has responded to Guaido’s announcement by calling on their supporters to take to the streets and protest against the opposition.
Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration stated that they would not rule out military intervention in Venezuela, despite pleas by Russia and China to avoid any confrontation with the government.
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April 26, 2019: In Siberia, large portions of the KrasMash manufacturing complex exploded and burned. It was feared this might delay production of liquid-fueled ballistic missiles and satellite launchers. The most notable missile built at KrasMash is the RS-28 (SS-x-30 or Satan 2) heavy ICBM which has passed recent test firings and is on schedule to enter service in 2021. It was later revealed that the explosion and fires were at the portion of the complex that manufactures consumer goods (refrigerators). The missile production areas were unaffected.
#2
"Dual Purpose" - it'll keep your vodka chilled and fire small projectiles into space
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05/04/2019 8:09
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It was later revealed that the explosion and fires were at the portion of the complex that manufactures consumer goods (refrigerators).
Interwar German humor on cheating the Versailles Treaty: "If you disassemble a Krupp baby carriage you can only put it back together as a heavy machine gun..."
[ALMASDARNEWS] Fierce festivities broke out this evening in northwestern Hama after the Syrian Arab Army attempted to advance at the Qal’at al-Madiq axis.
According to a military source in the town of Mhardeh, the Syrian Arab Army attempted to bypass the bully boy positions and score an advance at this front near the Idlib Governorate axis.
No advance has been reported as of yet; however, a source told al-Masdar that this is likely just a preliminary offensive to test the defenses of the bully boy forces.
Prior to this attack, the bandidosbandidos Death Eaters infiltrated the Syrian military’s positions south of Qal’at al-Madiq, killing several soldiers in the process.
More of these skirmishes are expected to take place in the coming days as the Syrian Arab Army continues to test the bully boy defenses around the demilitarized zone.
Update (9:40 P.M.) ‐ A Source from the National Defense Forces denied any advance made. The source said festivities occurred, but were limited to just machine gun fire and artillery shells
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Cyber-attacks, hacking and penetrating airline companies around the world The reason for hacking airports from the hacking group and the influence of the cyber operations teams of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence Rana's Intelligent Computing Institute pic.twitter.com/QTAHGbgH1E
[ALMASDARNEWS] The faceless myrmidons in northern Hama tied the bodies of two dead Syrian Arab Army (SAA) soldiers to the back of a vehicle and dragged them along a road in an undisclosed part of the governorate. Turks making friends...
The two soldiers were not identified.
The military personnel were likely killed early on Friday when the jihadist rebels or Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham attacked the Syrian Arab Army south of Qal’at al-Madiq.
Currently, two major rebel groups are active in the northern countryside of the Hama Governorate: the Ottoman Turkish-backed National Liberation Front ...the Turkic paramilitaries intended to replace with their native jihadi ferocity all the highly trained Turkish soldiers Sultan Erdogan I the much beloved has jailed in the last few years for not worshipping the ground he walks upon. The Uighurs and so forth who did not join Al Nusra or ISIS seem to have ended up here... and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
Both of these rebel groups have fought one another before, but they are now united in their fight against the Syrian government forces.
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[The Drive] The U.S. Air Force has revealed that a ground-based surrogate for a laser weapon system that could protect American fighter jets and other aircraft from incoming threats in the future has successfully shot down multiple air-launched missiles in a test. The service's publicly stated goal is to have a podded prototype system ready for actual flight tests by 2021 and an actual operational capability by the end of the decade.
The above paragraph has qualifying words in it and likely needs careful parsing. Words like "surrogate" always worry me.
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) conducted the test on Apr. 23, 2019, at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, together with defense contractor Lockheed Martin, which is developing the laser. Lockheed Martin first received the contract to build the directed energy weapon in 2017 as part of AFRL's Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) program. The laser component, or Laser Advancements for Next-generation Compact Environments (LANCE), is just one part of the SHiELD effort. Work on a turreted mount and a self-contained pod to attach the complete system to a fighter jet-sized aircraft are separate as part of the SHiELD Turret Research in Aero Effects (STRAFE) and Laser Pod Research & Development (LPRD) projects, respectively.
#8
The very idea of a laser was science fiction until it wasn't. Same with rockets landing on their fins.
It seems to take a couple decades to go from laboratory curiosity to off-the-shelf product. For airborne lasers, it appears the bottleneck was the acronym generator.
[THEDRIVE] The U.S. Air Force has revealed that a ground-based surrogate for a laser weapon system that could protect American fighter jets and other aircraft from incoming threats in the future has successfully shot down multiple air-launched missiles in a test. The service's publicly stated goal is to have a podded prototype system ready for actual flight tests by 2021 and an actual operational capability by the end of the decade.
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) conducted the test on Apr. 23, 2019, at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, together with defense contractor Lockheed Martin, which is developing the laser. Lockheed Martin first received the contract to build the directed energy weapon in 2017 as part of AFRL's Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) program. The laser component, or Laser Advancements for Next-generation Compact Environments (LANCE), is just one part of the SHiELD effort. Work on a turreted mount and a self-contained pod to attach the complete system to a fighter jet-sized aircraft are separate as part of the SHiELD Turret Research in Aero Effects (STRAFE) and Laser Pod Research & Development (LPRD) projects, respectively.
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Report: Cilia Flores, Maduro's wife, left #Venezuela on Tuesday on a Bombardier Global Express sent by Putin from Moscow. According to this flight tracker, the plane left Caracas on Tuesday and arrived at Istanbul on Thursday via Punta Cana. Not certain Cilia was inside. pic.twitter.com/TRbMwCNSXQ
[Breitbart] According to data released by the Gesellschaft fur Deutsche Sprache (Society for the German Language), the most popular boy’s name for newborn babies in Berlin is Mohammed.
Mohammed ranks first as the most popular name for newborn boys in the German capital once all the variations of the name, such as different spellings like Muhammed and variations like Mehmet, are counted together, German tabloid Bild reports.
The name has also become very popular in Bremen, where it ranks in third place for newborn boys behind Ben and Elias.
However, while Mohammed is the most popular name for children in Germany’s urban capital, it failed to make the top ten in terms of popular names across all of Germany.
The top five most popular names across Germany for boys were Paul, Alexander, Maximillian, Elias, and Ben.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad says Damascus "will not allow The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... to control even one centimeter of the Syrian territory," stressing that Ankara should know that "Damascus will not accept the survival of hard boy groups" in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib.
"The Damascus government’s resolution is to liberate every inch of the Syrian territory, and Idlib is no exception," Mikdad said in an exclusive interview with the Leb-based Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network.
He added, "The Turks and others should know that the Syrian government is determined to recover all of Syrian soil. Turkey must also understand that its support for terrorism and its occupation of the Syrian territory will not guarantee security."
Mikdad made these comments in response Turkey’s efforts to establish a new safe zone in northern Syria.
The Syrian government has already rejected any safe zone proposal that includes Turkey and the United States; they have called on both countries to immediately withdraw from Syria.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Several Syrian Arab Army (SAA) soldiers were killed on Friday when the jihadist rebels carried out two powerful missile strikes on their positions along the Hama-Idlib axis.
According to a report from northwest Syria, the jihadist rebels scored two direct hits on two Syrian Arab Army vehicles that were traveling south of the key town of Qal’at al-Madiq.
The Syrian Arab Army has since responded to these missile strikes by launching a number of Arclight airstrikes over the area between Qal’at al-Madiq and Kafr Nabl.
A source from the Syrian Arab Army told al-Masdar earlier this week that their troops were preparing to launch a wide-scale assault on the jihadist positions along the demilitarized zone.
Since then, the Syrian Arab Army has amassed several units, including the Tiger Forces and Elite Republican Guard, to the Hama-Idlib axis as they prepare to launch their new offensive.
The jihadist rebels have also received a major boost in numbers when the Ottoman Turkish-backed National Liberation Front ...the Turkic paramilitaries intended to replace with their native jihadi ferocity all the highly trained Turkish soldiers Sultan Erdogan I the much beloved has jailed in the last few years for not worshipping the ground he walks upon. The Uighurs and so forth who did not join Al Nusra or ISIS seem to have ended up here... sent their forces to the front-lines in the Hama Governorate.
This upcoming offensive is expected to be the largest battle of the year, with thousands of combatants on both sides preparing to participate.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The jihadist rebels launched a new attack on Friday that targeted the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) positions inside the northeastern countryside of the Latakia Governorate.
Led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham , the jihadist rebels attempted to infiltrate the Syrian Army’s positions near the town of Nibh Almur; this attack was partially successful as they managed to kill a few soldiers.
Following the infiltration attempt, a fierce battle broke out between the two warring parties, resulting in heavy casualties for all involved.
The festivities have since died down after many of the jihadist rebels retreated back to their lines in northern Latakia; however, the Syrian Arab Army is still attempting to eliminate the last the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham infiltrators in the area.
These infiltration attempts by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham have become more prevalent over the last three weeks, as they have not only attacked the Latakia Governorate, but also several government areas inside the Idlib, Hama, and Aleppo governorates.
In response to these infiltration attempts, the Syrian military has begun amassing their troops in northwestern Syria for what is expected to be an offensive to expel the forces of Evil from the demilitarized zone that was established in Sochi on September 17, 2018.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] A number of tanks belonging to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) allegedly crossed the demilitarized zone in the occupied Golan Heights and entered Syria’s al-Quneitra Governorate, the Sputnik News Agency’s Arabic language channel reported on Thursday
According to Ali Hassan, a correspondent for the agency, the IDF tanks crossed the Allon line and traveled deep into the demilitarized zone approved by the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... in 1974 as a neutral territory bordering the separate forces after the Six-Day War.
In response, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) reportedly raised their alert levels and moved forces towards the demilitarized zone. "Come get some"
The Sputnik correspondent said the Israeli forces purposely crossed the border to cover up their engineering projects and to "seal the corridor" which was previously used by the IDF to communicate with the rebels in the occupied Golan Heights.
This corridor was used by the Israeli Defense Forces to deliver supplies to the rebels, including the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA), and evacuate the maimed from the nearby al-Quneitra Governorate.
Al-Masdar reached out to the Syrian Arab Army’s 9th Division near the occupied Golan Heights; they said the IDF tanks entered the DMZ, but denied that they moved into the al-Quneitra Governorate.
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[Ynet] US president's decision to cancel sanctions waivers for Iranian oil importers - effectively severing the Islamic Theocratic Republic's financial lifeline - was made amid strong objections of some State Department officials; 'No one's actually tried to take this all the way to zero'. Deep State Diplos getting the vapors. "Bring the fainting couch!"
US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... 's unexpected decision to ban all Iranian oil purchases after May 1 - ending exemptions for eight nations - came after hawkish economic and security advisors allayed the president's fears of an oil price hike, according to three sources familiar with the internal debate.
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#2
forging a consensus among government agencies required "a lot of work."
It takes paper-shuffling, endless meetings, circular arguments and PowerPoint presentations so stupifying they could be weaponized for crowd control. Luckily, we're trained bureaucrats with nothing better to do.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
05/04/2019 16:43
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#4
Well, of course, our resident Jooo and American Empire Hater magickally appears!
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/04/2019 16:52
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#5
The only winner is Israel.
We've been are war with Iran for some time now. Something about a Marine barracks. And embassy hostages. I'm glad to see someone doing something about it.
Does Israel benefit? Probably. So do Iran's enemies. If oil prices rise, so does Russia. And American frackers. That doesn't mean it's the wrong thing to do.
[Jpost] The United States accused China on Friday of putting well more than a million minority Moslems in "concentration camps," in some of the strongest U.S. condemnation to date of what it calls Beijing's mass detention of mostly Moslem Uighur minority and other Moslem groups.
The comments by Randall Schriver, who leads Asia policy at the U.S. Defense Department, are likely to increase tension with Beijing, which is sensitive to international criticism and describes the sites as vocational education training centers aimed at stemming the threat of Islamic extremism.
Former detainees have described to Rooters being tortured during interrogation at the camps, living in crowded cells and being subjected to a brutal daily regimen of party indoctrination that drove some people to suicide.
Some of the sprawling facilities are ringed with razor wire and watch towers.
"The (Chinese) Communist Party is using the security forces for mass imprisonment of Chinese Moslems in concentration camps," Schriver told a Pentagon briefing during a broader discussion about China's military, estimating that the number of detained Moslems could be "closer to 3 million citizens."
Schriver, an assistant secretary of defense, defended his use of a term normally associated with Nazi Germany as appropriate, under the circumstances.
When asked by a news hound why he used the term, Schriver said that it was justified "given what we understand to be the magnitude of the detention, at least a million but likely closer to 3 million citizens out of a population of about 10 million."
"So a very significant portion of the population, (given) what's happening there, what the goals are of the Chinese government and their own public comments make that a very, I think, appropriate description," he said.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
#5
I work at a Chinese vocational school (different province). They have a para-military essence to them: students wear camo, up at 6:10am for PT, classes from 8:30-5:10, strict dormitory monitoring, lots of marching/drilling between and after class, etc. It's not a concentration camp, it is a school for flight attendants, all here voluntarily and paying tuition for it. It is very possible for an outsider to take a quick look and get confused about what's going on. I have no personal information about the 'schools' discussed here, but in many provinces vocational schools are a lot like boot camp+skill camp combined. There is a >0 chance the Chinese are telling the truth, except maybe they are making attendance mandatory for troublemakers.
[NYDailyNews] The familiar mantra is getting louder from Iran’s Western apologists, who say President Trump’s sanctions policy is counterproductive, probably because the opposite is true: There is growing evidence that Iran is cash-poor and its Middle East patrons are suffering.
That’s why it is time to declare what seemed unthinkable when Trump ran for president: His Iran policy, focused primarily on pressuring the Islamic Republic to end its sponsorship of militias throughout the Middle East and to renegotiate the nuclear deal, appears to be bearing fruit.
This past winter, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif insisted that U.S. sanctions were not working, that Iran would never renegotiate the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, and that it was the U.S., rather than Iran, that was growing isolated. On April 24, he took an about-turn, announcing to U.S. media that Iran wants to negotiate a prisoner exchange with Washington.
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[Express] A BOMB squad flocked to Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester following reports of a second suspicious package found in the major city today.
Police cordoned off the area with blue tape and scene guards are urging the public not to approach the Gardens while the package is being dealt with by professionals. The cordon covers McDonalds, Piccadilly Gardens, and part of a tram station, the Manchester Evening News reports. A man, 26, has been detained by police who say another suspicious package was found in a Manchester library today.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the incident could be related to the evacuation of Oldham Library, which was also evacuated due to a suspicious package being found there also.
In the latest police update, GMP said: “The suspicious package in Piccadilly Gardens is not believed to be a viable device.
Manchester city centre re-opens after man, 26, is found with arsenal of weapons and arrested over ‘bomb hoax’ after THREE suspicious packages are found putting area in lockdown for nine hours
The 26-year-old man was found with items including a 'bladed article', and remains in police custody as cordons are lifted at the site of three suspicious packages. One was found at Oldham Library in the north-west of the city, while two others were found in Piccadilly Gardens.
Police have been unwilling to confirm what was inside them, instead saying they were 'non-viable' and telling MailOnline they won't know for some time. It is therefore unclear whether the devices were a fake bomb, a badly made bomb or just an innocent rucksack. Police have said the incidents are believed to be connected.
It will be interesting to discover whether this was a jihadi, a nutter, or someone having a little too much fun.
[DAWN] Reuse of syringes by quacks appear to be the leading cause behind the recent wave of HIV-positive cases in Larkana, which rose by 32 on Friday to reach a figure of 128 ‐ of which 102 are children ‐ since last week, according to sources within the Sindh health department.
"Only in one case, the child’s mother was HIV-positive which shows that the virus was vertically transmitted from the mother to the child [in one case only]," said a provincial level health functionary on condition of anonymity.
Since the unusually high number of cases were reported in the last week of April, a total of 3,483 people have been screened in Ratodero taluka by Sindh government’s AIDS Control Programme staff.
Typical medical malpractice for that part of the world, but better than the other possibility, which would be a typical non-medical practice for that part of the world.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2019
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#2
Cargo cult medicine. We shall employ the white man's juju, but we don't understand the fundamental concepts like the germ theory of disease or infection control.
[FoxNews] What you don’t know – might make you feel better. The Trump administration is on guard – not just at our borders, not just renegotiating trade and security accords abroad, imposing sanctions on Iran, Russian, and North Korea, but also in the skies above. Washington got a surprise Saturday night – and it is symbolic.
At approximately 9:30 p.m. on Saturday the moist air around Washington, from City Center out to suburban Maryland, shook with repeated booms. U.S. Air Force F-16s, scrambling in defense of our nation’s capital, lit afterburners, tipped sideways, and intercepted a single-engine, non-responsive, civilian aircraft.
Observers saw the two F-16s, dispatched by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), screaming across the black sky, white lights pulsing, at what seemed breakneck speed. An F-16 can top 1,500 miles per hour. Whatever their speed that evening, they were swift, focused and noticeable.
They circled half a dozen times, first east to west, then west to east, forcing the civilian plane down, pursuant to special rules enforced over Washington. As the Colorado-based NORAD spokesman laconically reported: “As part of NORAD’s homeland defense efforts, NORAD aircraft responded, but prior to intercept, the civilian pilot established positive communications and immediately landed at the nearest airport.”
Yes, and one can only imagine his blood pressure was elevated. But the nation's capital was – as it should be and regularly is – dutifully protected. Having once been a passenger in a two-seat F-16, the familiar sound, speed, and profile are oddly comforting. Under 10,000 feet, they may awake sleepers and arouse curiosity, but they should also bring comfort.
As members of Congress feud, seemingly without end, over which committee gets dibs on which people, documents and subpoenas; as Trump critics and detractors fault all that moves in this polarized City of Marble; and as most Americans shake their heads at a U.S. House intent on impeachment, not security, it is worth noting that we sleep well at night – because of those who work for, have faith in, and follow the national command authorities of this Commander in Chief.
Those F-16 pilots did not hesitate, did not ask why or whether they should fly, did not question their mission, the president’s authority or the Constitution Like everyone else in military uniform, they stood up, did what they had to do when it had to be done, to protect us.
So in a time of national confusion, division and disunion, regular political disruption and tiresome recrimination, it is nice to know that our American military is composed of such men and women as will instantly rise, on a few second’s notices, to tear down a runaway, engage the unknown and defend us – here in the Washington area, around the country, and indeed around the world.
The next time you hear that unfamiliar rumble of a fighter overhead, or maybe the familiar sound of wings pushing air sideways at the speed of sound, be not worried but grateful. We are a nation of free men and women, protected by free men and women who regularly risk all for us, with the sort of resolve that should make us all proud. It did me, as I heard their afterburners fade into the night.
#1
Saw a Blue Angels performance once, from a hill overlooking their center point in Little Traverse Bay. Some clown in a Cessna came puttering across the middle of the show.
Blue Angels aren't armed. But I suspect they were thinking about a supersonic flyby tipping dummy into the bay.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
05/04/2019 0:20
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[Bangkok Post] A Thai insurgent was killed and a policeman injured in a clash in Pattani province on Thursday afternoon. The battle took place in Nong Chik district when police rounded up the village to arrest suspects involved in the southern unrest. During the operation, there was an exchange of gunfire.
One militant was gunned down and a policeman injured, Thai media reported reported that the dead man was identified as Sareesan-umree Dueramae, a southern rebel.
[RT] A minor outbreak of African swine fever among some 400 pigs in Shenyang in northeastern China is now threatening the global food supply chain and may increase pork prices for years.
Despite a mass cull, a blockade to prevent any further transmission and a government declaration that the outbreak of the particularly nasty strain of swine fever had been “effectively controlled,” China, the country with half of the world’s pigs, failed to stop the spread of the disease in time. Domestically, this contagion is already massive: China has a $128 billion pork industry and is third-highest global consumer of pork.
In the truest sense of the word, the outbreak has already gone viral, spreading to Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia and farther afield. The strain of African swine fever kills virtually every pig it infects with a bloody death reminiscent of Ebola, although it is not known to infect humans.
“It’s the biggest thing to affect the animal-protein market this year, and will probably have a lasting effect for a number of years,”said Angus Gidley-Baird, a commodities analyst with Rabobank in Sydney. “It will move markets and possibly influence geopolitical situations.”
Official estimates in China count one million culled pigs so far but many expect 100 times that number will be eradicated in 2019. The US Department of Agriculture is predicting a decline of 134 million animals from Chinese hog populations, equivalent to almost one-and-a-half times the entire US inventory of 75 million pigs.
Effects have already been seen on the other side of the globe. The price of bacon in Spain already jumped 20 percent in March owing to increased Chinese demand, while wholesale pork prices in China are reportedly up 19 percent from 2018 levels, and rising.
#1
Don't mess up Smithfield like you did china. You suck at everything commie idiots. Why don't you ACT and BE on the Level with US? Stop acting like thieves and back stabbers and all that other Horrible shit you do. You are NOT acting like a great country. You are acting like you could be a great country - yet you have none of those features at all. It makes me weary of your ascendance
Yet, from what I can tell, you are too lazy to do your own homework so you will fall apart fast.
#3
Word to the wise never buy food products that originate in China.
Good luck with that! Working at a fluid milk plant I was *unpleased* several years ago to notice that the bulk food additives, food chemicals in 55-gallon drums, were from Mainland China. Knowing their track record on things like baby formula...
Latin American diplomatic sources tell me there are private talks within the Organization of American States to invoke a dormant 1947 Inter-American defense treaty known as TIAR, or the Rio Treaty, against #Venezuela. See: https://t.co/5YkhZv5ksL@miamiheraldpic.twitter.com/MCAGaDqITM
[KhaamaPress] At least 80 Taliban ...Arabic for students... and ISIS turbans have been killed during the latest Arclight airstrikes and operations of the Afghan Special Forces across the country, the military sources said Friday.
The sources further added that Afghan Special Forces conducted a raid in Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province killing 6 Taliban fighters and destroying 200 Kg of narcotics.
The Afghan Special Forces conducted two similar raids in Maiwand district of Kandahar province on IED-making facilities killing 2 Taliban fighters, destroying a house-borne IED, 3 jugs of homemade explosives, 3 pressure plate IEDs and several IED components.
At least 33 turbans were killed in separate airstrikes conducted in Tarinkot district of Uruzgan, Burkah district of Baghlan and Sinkay district of Zabul province, the sources said, adding that 7 Taliban fighters in an operation of the Afghan Special Forces in Andar district of Ghazni province.
The Afghan Special Forces conducted an operation in Deh Bala district of Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province killing 22 ISIS-K fighters and destroying 2 pressure plate IEDs, the sources added.
The sources also added that the Taliban fighters attacked a 203rd Corps battle position along Highway 1 in Muhammad Aghah district of Pashtun-infested Logar province but the attack was repulsed killing 8 Taliban fighters.
"4th Afghan National Civil Order Forces brigade conducted a successful ambush in Muhammad Aghah district killing 2 Taliban fighters and wounding another," the sources said.
The anti-government armed turbans including Taliban have not commented regarding the operations and airstrikes so far.
[DAWN] A LOYA JIRGA ‐ a grand assembly of Afghanistan’s tribal, political and religious leaders ‐ has just concluded in Kabul with the demand by the delegates for a ceasefire in the country. The jirga was convened for a discussion on how to forge a peace deal with the Afghan Taliban ...Arabic for students... . While the Afghan elites were putting their heads together in Kabul, the Taliban are continuing a parallel process with the Americans in Doha. The jirga’s demand that the Taliban put down their guns is indeed justified. But the fact of the matter is that the Lions of Islam are unlikely to do so, especially when they consider themselves to be negotiating with the Americans from a position of strength. Moreover, the Afghan government needs to offer clear terms to persuade the Death Eaters to become part of the political process; at the moment, the Taliban are dismissive of the set-up in Kabul, terming it as America’s ’puppet’. It is also unfortunate that some major opposition figures and opponents of President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. were absent from the Loya Jirga, including Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... . This sends the message that the Kabul elite is divided and unable to present a united front. Before the Afghan government can attempt to engage with the Taliban, it would need to set its own house in order and bring together all political forces in order to exert the pressure needed to negotiate with the group.
At their end, the Taliban would do well to show flexibility and open channels with Kabul, while negotiations between the Americans and the Afghan militia should not be allowed to stall. If the current negotiations turn out to be talks for the sake of talks, an early end to the bloodshed in Afghanistan is unlikely. There has been some progress, and a pessimistic view may not be necessary. However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... all sides in the conflict ‐ the Afghan government, the Taliban and the Americans ‐ must be willing to give, take and compromise for the peaceful and prosperous future of Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Rudaw] Attacks by Syrian regime forces and their Russian allies killed 12 civilians in the country's northwest on Friday in the latest violation of an eight-month-old truce, a war monitor said.
The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four women were among the 12 people killed in shelling and Arclight airstrikes on several towns and villages in Idlib and neighbouring Hama province.
"The attacks have been continuously escalating for four days," Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP.
An AFP correspondent saw intense bombardment of southern Idlib on Friday, when warplanes dropped bombs that sent huge plumes of grey smoke billowing into the sky.
Idlib and nearby areas have been protected from a massive regime offensive since a September deal inked by Damascus ally Russia and rebel backer The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the most dubious NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... ally.... But the region, currently harbouring some three million people, has come under increasing bombardment since the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham took full control of it in January.
The escalation has killed 200 civilians and displaced nearly 140,000 since February, according to the UN.
Abdul Rahman said shelling and airstrikes in recent days have primarily targeted positions and bases belonging to former al-Qaeda affiliate HTS and other gangs.
The UN says schools and medical centres have also been hit by the new wave of attacks.
State news agency SANA on Friday said the Syrian army "intensified" operations against HTS in Idlib and Hama, targeting armoured vehicles and rocket launchers.
The AFP correspondent saw vehicles loaded with mattresses, carpets and household appliances leaving villages in southern Idlib en route to areas closer to the Ottoman Turkish border.
Residents said increased attacks have emptied some villages in southern Idlib of their residents.
"We've all left," said Abu Ali, a 40-year-old man who fled the Idlib village of Kafr Ain four days ago because of bombing.
"No one is left in the village because of the shelling," he told AFP.
[AnNahar] Hungary is deliberately depriving rejected asylum seekers of food, in violation of international law, the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... charged Friday, in the latest criticism of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's anti-migrant government.
The U.N.'s human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... office said it had direct information that "at least 21 migrants colonists awaiting deportation had been deprived of food by the Hungarian authorities -- some for up to five days," since August 2018.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, had last September accused Hungary of withholding food from migrants colonists being held in transit zones along its border with Serbia.
The U.N. rights office pointed out that the Hungarian authorities had promised to end the practice following an interim ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.
"However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... we regret that, in the absence of a clear change in the legal framework, reports suggest the practice is continuing," spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said.
She said that once an asylum application had been denied, all adult migrants colonists, with the exception of pregnant and nursing women, "are deliberately deprived of food."
This, she pointed out, "can lead to malnutrition and is both detrimental to their health and inherently inhumane."
The Hungary government stressed in an official blog post earlier this week that "asylum seekers who have requested asylum and whose claim is under review continue to receive food and shelter as they always have."
But it acknowledged that "we take the position that Hungary is not responsible for those who have not requested asylum, nor for those whose requests have been denied."
It maintained that rejected asylum seekers were not detained and were free to leave and cross into Serbia.
The U.N. rights office rejected the Hungarian assertion that migrants colonists can simply travel to Serbia to have their needs met.
"We note that such 'voluntary' departure could put migrants colonists at further risk as it could breach Hungarian deportation orders, and force migrants colonists to enter Serbia irregularly in contravention of Serbian law," it said.
In general, it insisted, "migrants colonists must not be subject to detention in inadequate conditions, arbitrary detention or other forms of coercion as this renders any return involuntary."
The rights office pointed out that the deliberate deprivation of food is prohibited under international law.
It stressed that countries have "an obligation and heightened duty of care towards migrants colonists who are deprived of their liberty, including through the provision of food."
"We encourage Hungary to ensure it fulfils its human rights obligations towards those deprived of liberty, regardless of whether they are in transit zones or any other place where migrants colonists are detained and cannot provide for themselves," it said.
[Jpost] North Korea fired several short-range missiles from its east coast on Saturday, South Korea's military said, the first missile launch since 2017 as it steps up pressure against Washington after a failed nuclear summit.
The North fired an unidentified short-range missile from the city of Wonsan around 9 a.m. (0000 GMT), South Korea's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The Office said it was conducting joint analysis with the United States.
Several missiles flew 70 kms to 200 kms (44-124 miles), the Joint Chiefs of Staff said later.
The launch is the first since the North fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in November 2017, before declaring the building of its nuclear force complete and extending an olive branch to the South and the United States.
Its leader, Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... , has vowed to no longer test nuclear weapons or ICBMs, but the North has conducted other weapons tests since then.
The missile firing, coming after the North's test of what it called a tactical weapons system, added to the pressure it has exerted on Washington in talks on ending the North's nuclear program.
"It also seems clear that North Korea is angry over what appears to be a lack of flexibility in the Trump administration’s position on relieving sanctions, sticking to a policy of 'maximum pressure'," said Harry Kazianis at the Center for the National Interest, a think-tank.
Kim has held two summit meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... , the second in February in Vietnam, but the two failed to make progress on ending the North's nuclear program due to disagreement on weapons dismantlement and sanctions relief.
[DAWN] AFTER an over two-decade-long career piloting 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... , one of the most lethal jihadi outfits in South Asia, the noose around Masood Azhar appears to be tightening, as the holy warriorcriminal mastermind has been designated a global terrorist by the UN Security Council.
While some segments may see the move as a ’victory’ for India, the fact is that Masood Azhar and his group have caused nothing but trouble for this country. The JeM may have made India-held Kashmire its focus, but its cadres have caused plenty of havoc in Pakistain as well. For example, its turbans form the nucleus of what is known as the Punjabi Taliban ...Arabic for students... , a loose confederation of jihadists, also consisting of sectarian elements. Though the JeM was banned in 2002 by Pakistain, its activities continued and Masood Azhar was largely a free man. Now, with the UN proscription, it is hoped that the group is permanently shut down and its head not allowed to continue his activities.
India had been trying for over a decade to get Masood Azhar blacklisted. Each time its efforts would be blocked by China on ’technical’ grounds. What this translates to is that India was using the JeM and its head to project the Kashmiri freedom struggle as a ’terrorist’ insurgency, hence the Chinese and Pak resistance to the move.
Now that the "political references" have been removed, as the Foreign Office has put it, China has lifted its technical hold, paving the way for the JeM chief’s blacklisting.
Two lessons emerge; first, that India has been trying to conflate the legitimate ‐ and largely indigenous ‐ Kashmiri freedom struggle with terrorism. This false binary must be exposed; India cannot be allowed to link the Kashmiri struggle for justice and rights with terrorism. Secondly, the state must realise that tolerating such groups is a liability for Pakistain. Far from serving any ’strategic depth’, these outfits end up isolating the country internationally.
Perhaps if we had put our own house in order, India would not have been able to exploit the situation and associate jihadist groups with Pakistain. It is also hoped that the blacklisting of Masood Azhar will help strengthen the country’s case with FATF, to prove that Pakistain is working hard to eliminate all holy warrior outfits.
Ultimately, all holy warrior groups and non-state actors that promote hateful, divisive ...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled... and sectarian narratives must be shut down. Their funds must be choked and their organizational capabilities neutralised. All of this ‐ and more ‐ has been highlighted in the National Action Plan; it is just a question of summoning the will to implement it.
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[SunStar] An Abu Sayyaf militant was arrested in an operation in Zamboanga City. Police spokesman Emmanuel Luis Licup identified the arrested Abu Sayyaf bandit as Uring Akil, a resident of Menzi, Isabela City, Basilan.
Licup said Akil is a follower of Basilan-based Abu Sayyaf leader Furuji Indama and member of the Anjawani“gun for hire group.” Akil is also listed as the top most wanted person of Isabela City, Basilan.
Posted by: ryuge ||
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[DAWN] India's Enforcement Directorate (ED), a financial crimes investigation agency, on Thursday filed its first charge sheet against controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik,
...a busy man who has regularly appeared in our pages for encouraging jihadis, first from his native India, but in the last few years from his welcoming home-in-exile in Malaysia...
accusing him of money laundering, The Hindu reported, adding that others had also been charged.
The charge sheet was filed in a special court in Mumbai under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. While this is the first time a charge sheet has been filed against Naik, it is the second charge sheet in the case.
According to BBC, Naik is accused of acquiring $28 million worth of criminal assets, which he has denied. Additionally, he has been accused of spreading hate speech and inciting terrorism by Indian authorities.
The ED, according to The Hindu, has identified assets worth 1.93 billion Indian rupees and attached properties valued at Indian Rs504,600 in the case so far.
The attached properties include investments in mutual funds, the Islamic International School building in Chennai, 10 flats, three godowns, two buildings, and land in Pune and Mumbai, besides 10 bank accounts, according to India's financial crime investigating agency.
Additionally, the ED has also identified properties linked to the preacher in Dubai and London, The Hindu reported.
The investigation was based on a first information report (FIR) registered by India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) for Naik's role in "unlawful activities, the use of provocative utterances, and for promoting enmity between different religious groups in India", The Hindu stated.
The ED added that most of Naik's speeches from 2007 to 2011 were "planned, organised, funded and promoted by the Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation (IRF)".
"The ED probe revealed that Mumbai-based Harmony Media allegedly recorded the speeches and forwarded the edited versions to the Global Broadcasting Corporation (Dubai) and the UK-based Islamic Research Foundation International (IRFI) for further broadcast on Peace TV across the globe," The Hindu reported, adding that DVDs were also circulated.
Additionally, the report added that as per the ED, the IRFI had received Indian Rs648,600 from 2003 to 2017, "mostly from various dubious, suspicious or unknown sources. A large part of the funds was used for organising ’PEACE’ conferences".
From 2012 and 2016, Indian Rs492,000 were transferred from Naik's accounts in United Arab Emirates (UAE) to his personal accounts in India, the ED said.
This article starring:
Zakir Naik
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05/04/2019
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[Reuters] United Nations human rights experts voiced concern on Friday at what they called the “disproportionate sentence” of 50 weeks in prison imposed on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for skipping bail in Britain.
Assange is being held in the high-security Belmarsh prison “as if he were convicted for a serious criminal offence”, the U.N. working group on arbitrary detention said in a statement, adding that this “appears to contravene principles of necessity and proportionality”. It described the skipping bail charge as a relatively “minor violation”.
#2
There are some mechanical "batteries" that do work. The island of Kauai takes unused power generated via solar during the day to pump water up the mountain. Then releases it at night to power generators. Perfect - no. Useful - yes.
#5
Utility batteries are not for storing power. They are for absorbing transient demand spikes or to operate for the 15 minutes for a gas turbine peaking power plant to come online. They reduce the need for spinning standby reserves.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Dandy idea. Polish chicks are hot and that's a kind of war bride without the war.
Plus, if your cardiologist doesn't mind, Polish cooking is really, really good.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
05/04/2019 0:15
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#2
And you get your knickers in a bunch when Russians show up in Caracas.
[BareNakedIslam] In a frightening display at a Philadelphia Muslim school run by Muslim Brotherhood front group, the Muslim American Society, young children perform songs calling for the “liberation” of land that belongs to Israel with the “blood of martyrs.”
FOX News Disturbing footage of Muslim kids saying they would sacrifice themselves and kill for the “army of Allah” surfaced from an Islamic center in Philadelphia.
The Muslim American Society (MAS) Islamic Center in Philadelphia posted the video to its Facebook page celebrating “Ummah Day” in which young children wearing Palestinian scarves sang and read poetry about killing for Allah and the mosque in Jerusalem.
“These are not isolated incidents; they are happening in major centers of the country – including in Pennsylvania,” MEMRI said in a statement. In the video, translated by MEMRI, kids can be heard singing: “The land of the Prophet Muhammad’s Night Journey is calling us. Our Palestine must return to us.”
“We will defend the land of divine guidance with our bodies, and we will sacrifice our souls without hesitation,” a second girl says. “We will chop off their heads, and we will liberate the sorrowful and exalted Al-Aqsa Mosque. We will lead the army of Allah fulfilling His promise, and we will subject them to eternal torture.”
MAS Philly belongs to the Muslim American Society (MAS), which has 42 chapters in the United States.
MFA On March 30, 2018 residents of the Gaza Strip began a series of events that they call the “Great Return March”. Carefully planned and led by Hamas, the campaign is actually an excuse for mass riots at the border between Gaza and Israel, with Hamas activists and gunmen hiding behind women and children as they try to breach the fence.
March 2019 update: In the year that has passed since the beginning of the “March of the Return” demonstrations, the following attacks have taken place:
1,173 rockets/mortar bombs
600 Molotov cocktails
18 shootings
94 roadside bombs
102 rock-throwing events
152 burning tires/thrown objects
1,963 fires ignited by arson kites/balloons (30 Mar 2018 – 25 Mar 2019)
8,648 acres of land damaged (updated 4 Nov 2018)
Damage claims = NIS 35 million (about $9.68 million)
Posted by: Bright Pebbles ||
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#1
Perhaps Ilhan Bro-Fo Omar and Rancida T-Labia can explain "The Context™" that makes this acceptable?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/04/2019 6:22
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#2
this doesn't shock me one bit
Posted by: chris ||
05/04/2019 7:19
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#3
I suspect it's more the rule than the exception.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/04/2019 7:29
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#6
Shouldn't CPS intervene or something ? The feds should shut down a place that makes a song about decapitation and muhammed for kids to sing.
Decapitating anyone for muhammed, ain't that the definition of jihad ? If this were in India, the school, the organization, every parent ... all would be in jail. And some would just go missing.
[ToloNews] The US military operations killed 120 civilians in 2018, including 76 civilians in operations against the Taliban ...Arabic for students... and other snuffies in Afghanistan, the US Department of Defense said in an annual report to the US congress. *YAWN*
Quoted by Washington Post, the department said that 42 civilians were confirmed to have been killed last year in the US-led operation against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... in Iraq and Syria and two civilians died in operations against al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... in Somalia.
The department found no credible reports of civilian deaths caused by US operations in Libya or Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... last year, the report said.
A UN report from last month shows that 799 non-combatants were killed in the first quarter of this year while 303 of them were killed in pro-government forces operations which shows a 39 percent increase from the same period last year.
The UN attributed 17 percent of civilian casualties to the Afghan national security forces, 13 percent to international military forces, two percent to pro-government gangs, and two percent to multiple pro-government forces.
The report says that ground engagements were the leading cause of civilian casualties, causing approximately one-third of the total.
Contrary to 2017 and 2018 trends, the majority of IED civilian casualties were caused by non-suicide IEDs rather than suicide IEDs, the report says.
The US Forces- Afghanistan Spokesman, Col. Dave Butler, told TOLOnews on April 24 that the US and Resolute Support Forces in Afghanistan strive for precision in all their operations.
[KhamaPress] President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. announced the release of 175 Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... prisoners as an apparent gesture of goodwill towards grinding of the peace processor.
In his closing remarks at the gathering, President Ghani called on Taliban to send a delegation to receive the prisoners in Kabul or any other province.
He also called on Taliban to prepare for peace talks inside Afghanistan as he welcomed the resolution adopted by the delegates of the Jirga, vowing that the government will take steps to implement the demand of the participants of the gathering for a ceasefire.
Calling on Taliban to declare a ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, President Ghani said the government is ready to declare a ceasefire provided that the Taliban group is also ready for a ceasefire.
In other parts of his speech, President Ghani thanked NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... and the United States for their support to Afghanistan and the Afghan grinding of the peace processor.
The consultative peace Jirga concluded earlier today in Kabul after several days of debates among 3,200 delegates to specify the limits of grinding of the peace processor.
A 23-article resolution was also issued at the end of the summit, mainly focusing on declaration of an immediate ceasefire and launch of intra-Afghan dialogue.
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.
[windowslatest.com] Update: Mozilla has identified the problem and issued a fix for Firefox, Firefox Beta and Nightly. The update will be automatically applied in the background within the next few hours and bring back extensions to the original state. There is no action required by the users.
[Ay-Pee] Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired scores of rockets into southern Israel on Saturday, wounding at least two Israeli civilians and triggering retaliatory airstrikes and tank fire against militant targets in the blockaded enclave and shattering a month-long lull in violence.
NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCIV) ‐ Several Airmen from Joint Base Charleston are facing scrutiny from base leadership over photos and video showing them engaging in what some feel is unprofessional behavior at work and in public.
(Bloomberg) -- Attorney General William Barr has begun to fill in details on his controversial pledge to investigate whether the FBI and Justice Department engaged in improper "spying" on the Trump campaign in 2016.
[IsraelTimes] Fourth Paleostinian reportedly dies overnight from injuries sustained during Friday border violence.
[THEDRIVE] The U.S. Air Force has revealed that a ground-based surrogate for a laser weapon system that could protect American fighter jets and other aircraft from incoming threats in the future has successfully shot down multiple air-launched missiles in a test. The service's publicly stated goal is to have a podded prototype system ready for actual flight tests by 2021 and an actual operational capability by the end of the decade.
[Breitbart] According to data released by the Gesellschaft fur Deutsche Sprache (Society for the German Language), the most popular boy’s name for newborn babies in Berlin is Mohammed.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad says Damascus "will not allow 
[ALMASDARNEWS] A number of tanks belonging to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) allegedly crossed the demilitarized zone in the occupied Golan Heights and entered Syria’s al-Quneitra Governorate, the Sputnik News Agency’s Arabic language channel reported on Thursday
[Ynet] US president's decision to cancel sanctions waivers for Iranian oil importers - effectively severing the 
[NYDailyNews] The familiar mantra is getting louder from Iran’s Western apologists, who say President Trump’s sanctions policy is counterproductive, probably because the opposite is true: There is growing evidence that Iran is cash-poor and its Middle East patrons are suffering.
[Express] A BOMB squad flocked to Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester following reports of a second suspicious package found in the major city today.
[DAWN] Reuse of syringes by quacks appear to be the leading cause behind the recent wave of HIV-positive cases in Larkana, which rose by 32 on Friday to reach a figure of 128 ‐ of which 102 are children ‐ since last week, according to sources within the Sindh health department.
[RT] A minor outbreak of African swine fever among some 400 pigs in Shenyang in northeastern China is now threatening the global food supply chain and may increase pork prices for years.
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun...
[AnNahar] Hungary is deliberately depriving rejected asylum seekers of food, in violation of international law, the 
North Korea
[SunStar] An Abu Sayyaf militant was arrested in an operation in Zamboanga City. Police spokesman Emmanuel Luis Licup identified the arrested Abu Sayyaf bandit as Uring Akil, a resident of Menzi, Isabela City, Basilan.
[DAWN] India's Enforcement Directorate (ED), a financial crimes investigation agency, on Thursday filed its first charge sheet against controversial Islamic preacher 
[BareNakedIslam] In a frightening display at a Philadelphia Muslim school run by Muslim Brotherhood front group, the Muslim American Society, young children perform songs calling for the “liberation” of land that belongs to Israel with the “blood of martyrs.”
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
