Three Americans have been kidnapped in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad by "militias," according to Arab news channel Al Arabiya, citing its own sources. restocking the Shia/Iran hostage pantry
The State Department said it is aware of the report and is working with Iraqi authorities to locate the missing Americans, but did not confirm that the individuals have been kidnapped.
"We are aware of reports that American citizens are missing in Iraq," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement to The Hill. Kirby - Liar for Obama and Kerry
"The safety and security of American citizens overseas is our highest priority," he continued.â" We are working with the full cooperation of the Iraqi authorities to locate and recover the individuals."
"Due to privacy considerations, I have nothing further."
The identities of the missing Americans or who may be responsible for their disappearance have not been confirmed.
The reported kidnapping comes a day after four American citizens were freed from Iran in a prisoner swap.
Several Republican primary candidates have criticized the move, saying it will incentivize American abductions.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/17/2016
16:52 ||
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[Legal Insurrection] Clinton surrogate to demand Sanders release medical records
A top surrogate for Hillary Clinton is prepping a new attack in an intensifying and increasingly personal war against rival Bernie Sanders -- calling on the 74-year-old to release his medical records before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1.
Clinton defender David Brock -- founder of the Correct the Record PAC, which coordinates directly with Clinton's campaign -- is expected to hit the airwaves this weekend from Charleston, the scene of the third Democratic debate on Sunday night, and challenge Sanders to cough up a clean bill of health and doctor's note in the next 16 days, according to a Democrat familiar with his thinking who was not authorized to preview any strategy.
Clinton released her medical records, showing she is "fit to serve as President," last July. A spokeswoman for the Clinton campaign declined to comment on the strategy.
But hours later, after this report was published and Brock's planned tactics were widely criticized on Twitter, campaign chairman John Podesta distanced himself from the surrogate's attack.
Bernie Sanders is only six years older than Clinton, so it was probably wise of her campaign to disavow this tactic. The last thing she wants is people asking questions about health. Of course she wants Medical Records discussed. It's her legitimate back door out of the race.
Apologies for the delayed post. Things. Suddenly it was 21:00 and I threw my hands.
I wanted to take a break from the history of the Mediterranean's historical competition and look at some of the good things going on in Europe, specifically the art of Italy during this time period, with the book Michelangelo & the Pope's Ceiling, Ross King, Walker Publishing Company 2003.
However, the combination of the proposition that the Huguenot movement as a foundation for the 2nd Amendment, the mentioning of La Rochelle, and even today the book topic at Ace of Spades concerning the behavior of the various Native Americans spurred me to stay on the path.
Champlain's Dream
David Hackett Fischer
Simon and Schuster, 2008
If a person were to read Roger Crowley's series, Champlain's Dream is a great relay as it begins in this same time period, late 16th century, and covers what was going on in France and Europe in general, something only mentioned in the Mediterranean centric series by Roger Crowley, and I mean no offense as it would have clogged Mr. Crowley's focus. Champlain's Dream is better described as complimentary to that series.
David Hackett Fischer writes with the same fluidity as Roger Crowley, but in a bit different fashion, and in a way makes quoting the book a bit difficult in a good way. Mr. Fischer's style is a fine weave a paragraphs where making an accurate quote in context would require pages a reference. I will do my best.
The books of Mr. Fischer I have read would read best in this order: Champlain's Dream, Paul Revere's Ride, then Washington's Crossing. If I were a betting man I would put Albion's Seed in between Champlain's Dream and Paul Revere's Ride.
To tie in with badanov's This Week in Guns, to understand the 2nd Amendment's history Mr. Fischer's books are a must read. Were the Huguenots solely responsible for the concept of citizens desire to be armed? In my opinion, and in a word, no. The United States, specifically the English colonies, were populated by numerous peoples who fled their respective local persecutions and violence of what was then a very unstable Europe. One could argue that it was France's interest in the New World which would eventually lead to what we would call The French-Indian War where random attacks on a civilian population would require local militia to defend themselves. So to propose the Huguenots led to this attitude, then Samuel de Champlain would have had a leading role; but then, who was Samuel de Champlain?
Champlain's Dream approaches France's difficulties in this time. Mr. Fischer begins his book with a ponder of Champlain and his book's cover art. The first illustration in the book is the block print, "Deffaite des Yroquis au Lac de Champlain," 1613.
The print offers an explanation in the presence of a small figure who stands alone at the center of the battle. His dress reveals that he is a French soldier and a man of rank. He wears half-armor of high quality: a well fitted cuirass on his upper body, and protective britches of the latest design with light steel plates on his thighs. His helmet is no ordinary morion, or crude iron pot of the kinds that we associate with Spanish conquistadors and English colonists. It is an elegant example of what the French call a casque bourgignon, a Burgundian helmet of distinctive design that was the choice of kings and noblemen - a handsome, high-crowned helmet with a comb and helm forged from a single piece of metel. Above the helmet is a large plume of white feathers called a panache - the origin of our modern word. Its color identifies the wearer as a captain in the service of Henri IV, first Bourbon king of France. Its size marks it as a badge of courage worn to make its wearer visible in battle.
The French captain is not a big man. Even with his panache, the Indians appear half a head taller. But he has a striking presence, and in the middle of a wild melee he stands still and quiet, firmly in command of himself. His back is straight as a ramrod. His muscular legs are splayed apart and firmly planted to bear the weight of a weapon which he holds at full length. It is not a conventional matchlock, as historians have written, but a complex and very costly arquebuse a rouet, a wheel-lock arquebus. It was the first self-igniting shoulder weapon that did not require a burning match, and could fire as many as four balls in a single shot.
....
We look back at the French captain and catch a glimpse of his face. He has a high forehead, arched brows, eyes set wide apart, a straight nose turned up at the tip, a fashionable mustache, and a beard trimmed like that of his king, Henri IV. The key below the print gives us his name, the "sieur de Champlain."
This small image is the only authentic likeness of Samuel de Champlain that is known to survive from his own time.
...
Other images of Champlain would be invented after the fact. Many years later, when he was recognized as the father of New France, he was thought to require a proper portrait. Artists and sculptors were quick to supply a growing market. Few faces in modern history have been reinvented so often and from so little evidence. All these images are fictions. The most widely reproduced was a fraud, detected many years ago and still used more frequently than any other.
Mr. Fischer's eleven pages in introduction must simply be read. As to Mr. Fischer's approach to history, his well researched topic, and honesty I include this quote: (page 7)
Champlain was a leader, but he was not a saint. We do not need another work of hagiography about him. He was a mortal man of flesh and blood, a very complicated man. He made horrific errors in his career, and some of his mistakes cost other men their lives. He cultivated an easy manner, but sometimes he drove his men so hard that four of them tried to murder him. His quest for amity and concord with the Indians led to wars with the Mohawk and the Onondaga. His private life was deeply troubled, particularly in his relations with women. Champlain lived comfortably as a man among men, but one discovery eluded this great discoverer. He never found the way to a woman's heart. It was not for want of trying. He was strongly attracted to women, but his most extended relationship ended in failure.
And then I smiled, as this was what I was taught: (page 8)
At the start of the twentieth century, a very large literature ran heavily to hagiography, and celebrated Champlain as a saintly figure. After 1950 the inevitable reaction set in. Popular debunkers and academic iconoclasts made Champlain a favorite target. These attacks were deepened by a fin-de-siècle attitude called political correctness, with its revulsion against great white men, especially empire-builders, colonial founders, and discoverers.
Incredibly, some apostles of political correctness even tried to ban the word "discovery" itself. Historian Peter Pope met this attitude on the 500th anniversary of John Cabot's northern voyage of discovery. He recalls: "I was asked by a servant of the P.R industry in June 1995 to summarize Cabot's achievement without using the term discovery. She told me it had been banned. Any talked of 'discovery' is understood as an endorsement of conquest." Pope was ordered to "describe what the Venetian pilot did without using the D-word."
The book is well referenced. The illustrations are of good quality and topic. Mr. Fischer's style engaging. The story so full that it is impossible to quote without re-typing the book in full. Where there is controversy, Mr. Fischer notes it. Where is discussion, Mr. Fischer brings in all sides fairly. And so Mr. Fischer begins in Brouage, its history, the region's culture, and who was a young Samuel de Champlain.
#2
Thanks. A couple topics Champlain/Mr. Fischer note concerning the linked print (link in the text, main link to Amazon):
These Indians did not like each other. At all. The way they treated their captives suggests a generational struggle. Champlain lived and fought through the Religious Wars where Mr. Fischer notes somewhere between 2 and 4 million were killed, and he is appalled by his ally's behavior, and it was explained that is how both sides treat captives.
Second, the battle formation of the Indians. I would best describe it as olde Greek. We are used to Indians being depicted as owls swooping to forest onto mice. In a land unvisited by Europeans and gunpowder unheard of, they line up abreast with the leaders out front and charge.
That is Champlain + 2 French and 60 allies vs. 200 Mohawk sallying from their wood fort. One can imagine the image of this short white fellow in color and armor standing by himself and suddenly putting shots into the Mohawk leaders, then Champlain's two buddies firing from concealment, and the book goes into detail, the confusion created really on both sides.
Like him or hate him, the man was phenomenal. An amazing amount of time at sea, including some 23 (?) voyages across the Atlantic and back, losing only one ship in his command ever, and that was because the Captain panicked in a storm, Champlain took command and beached it. Everyone survived.
And I was taught in school Champlain was some French Jesus who went to live among the Indians to prepare them against the coming European savages destined to disorder the amiable love circle of Indians, and showed that by living with love and rejecting the virus of European war different people can live side by side with lollypops and sugar canes. Mr. Fischer tells Champlain's odyssey as a story, not the conquest of a saint or a warmonger.
#3
The United States, specifically the English colonies, were populated by numerous peoples who fled their respective local persecutions and violence of what was then a very unstable Europe.
[Variety] A spokesman for the CIA is criticizing the Michael Bay movie "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi" as a "distortion of the events and people who served in Benghazi that night." 'Distortion'....? Alright then, declassify the message traffic and set the record straight.
The spokesman, Ryan Trapani, was quoted in an exclusive Washington Post story, which also features an interview with the CIA chief in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, when Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others were killed in a siege of the diplomatic compound and attack on the CIA annex.
"No one will mistake this movie for a documentary," Tripani told the Post. "It's a distortion of the events and people who served in Benghazi that night. It's shameful that, in order to highlight the heroism of some, those responsible for the movie felt the need to denigrate the courage of other Americans who served in harm's way."
Tripani did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The CIA base chief, identified only as "Bob," takes issue with a key point in the movie, when he tells the six contractors to "stand down" before responding to calls for help at the nearby diplomatic compound. The movie shows the contractors waiting for more than 20 minutes before bucking orders and leaving to try to save Stevens and others. IMHO, with a few exceptions, "Bob" represented the quintessential CIA career employee. Kudo's to the director, actor, and technical advisors. They nailed "Bob." A tragic confirmation might be found at FOB Chapman and the largest number of Agency personnel killed in one day. These klueless fok's WILL get you killed.
"There was never a stand-down order," the CIA chief told the Post. "At no time did I ever second-guess that the team would depart." The CIA chief told the Post that he spent about 20 minutes trying to enlist local security teams.
#1
and these two have no incentive to lie? Riiigghht
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/17/2016 12:07
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#2
"distortion of the events..."
The basic events are:
1- Troops in contact.
2- Help available.
3- Help not sent.
4- Troops die.
5- CIC attends fundraiser.
Where's the distortion?
Posted by: Matt ||
01/17/2016 12:33
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#3
The CIA chief actually confirmed the story given in the movie. He says that he did not "second guess that the team would not be allowed to depart".
This does not mean that he did not tell them to wait or to stand down.
He said also that he spent twenty minutes trying to enlist local support. This is consistent with the claim of the contractors that they waited for twenty minutes, and even that he once said "stand down" or "leave me alone" while he was frustrated at failing to get response from outside locals.
He is saying only that his motives for his delaying actions were pure; he was concerned that if he succeeded in getting outside help, the contractors might come into conflict with the helpers, and cause casualties that might be blamed on him.
Of course he should have been consulting his superiors to get outside US support which apparently was overhead.
Someone somewhere decided that the military should not intervene.
My belief is this was based on the foolish state department fear that only state department personnel were protected by treaty from prosecution for injury to Libyans.
Often what appear to be callous and foolish decisions are based on preoccupation of the decision makers with nonsensical distractions.
That is the very nature of incompetence.
#5
There is only one person authorized to make such a decision.
IIRC, on that fatefull night POTUS handed the keys to SECDEF and retired to the west wing. With a clandestine Klingon shop and an under the radar State "consulate" setting up an arms conduit it's not surprising uncle Leon was squeemish about sending in the calvery.
#9
If I were Bob I would be upset about all the bad press. As someone who is not Bob, I take issue with him. In the book he comes across as a real ass. His public statements are only reinforcing that impression.
Dinesh's take of WaPo news: The State Department's inspector general has warned the department that $6 billion in contracting money over the past six years cannot be properly accounted for and cited "significant financial risk and .â.â. a lack of internal control."
The warning was the second "management alert" in State Department history, both issued by new Inspector General Steve Linick. Linick took over the job in late September, after it had been vacant for nearly six years.
I think I'm beginning to see a correlation. Hmmmm who were the Sec of State back then and now?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/17/2016
11:46 ||
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#1
Considering most government agencies are little more than legalized theft organizations these days...
#2
Contract money? Ok, so whom at Foggy Bottom serves as Contracting Officers Representatives (COR)? Should be easy enough to track down.
Difficulty with tracking it down? Start at the other end. Build a compendium of contractors and examine the State Dept. signatures on the contracting documents.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/17/2016 13:08
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#5
Oh, I've no doubt that the State Department spent it in the interests of foreign relations. I'm not sure how, but the picture of a slurry mixture of small ice crystals and liquid water keeps coming to mind.
#8
Everywhere the Clinton machine touches, you find the systematic, clever, looting of some part of the public treasury, feeding their criminal enterprise (CGI) and through "speaking fees" their lavish, entitled lifestyle.
[CSM] WASHINGTON -- President Obama on Saturday proposed changes to the US unemployment insurance system that he says would offer more security to the jobless and encourage experienced workers to rejoin the workforce, even if it means taking a pay cut. It's the old community organizer in him. He simply can't help himself. Having never held actual employment, he views communism redistribution as the cure for all social inequity.
"We shouldn't just be talking about unemployment; we should be talking about re-employment," Mr. Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.
The president's proposal would require states to provide wage insurance to workers who lose their jobs and find new employment at lower pay. The insurance would replace half of the lost income, up to $10,000 over two years. It would be available to workers who were with their prior employer for three years and make less than $50,000 in their new job. Part-time employment wage subsidy, how innovative.
The proposal also would require states to make unemployment insurance available to many part-time and low-income workers, and it would mandate that states provide at least 26 weeks of unemployment insurance. Nine states fall short of the benchmark, the White House said.
#7
Bzzzzzt! Sorry Barry but that's what you constitutional lawyer types call an unfunded federal mandate. But thanks for playin and don't forget your lovely parting gifts backstage.
#8
You open America to the global market and then you jack up the American minimum wage so high that American workers are legally prohibited from competing in it. Then you print more funny money to keep those workers from starving. Ain't we some kinda exceptional?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/17/2016 15:14
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#9
"And where does Mr. Obama expect the insurance money to come from?"
The Magic Money Tree out back the White House, #3 Pappy.
You know, the tree the unicorns sleep under.
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/17/2016 19:12
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#10
^ yes, scroll up to "Liberals Are Simple-Minded"
[Breitbart] Mystery still surrounds the couple that carried out the Islamic terror attacks in San Bernardino that killed 14, and the FBI is still haunted by questions. Were there accomplices and what was planned for unused bombs found in the couple's apartment? Same assessment and questions presented here from the onset.
Ten asylum seekers residing in Hessian refugee shelters are suspected of terrorism.
The Frankfurt prosecutor's office is investigating them because they're suspected of preparing a severe seditious criminal offense. There are three official investigations in total.
The prosecutor's spokesman did not reveal any details beyond this.
h/t Instapundit
It is almost a truism among psychological researchers that conservatives are simple-minded and dogmatic. Liberals, meanwhile, are supposed to be more complex and open-minded thinkers. But a new paper is calling those conclusions into question.
Writing in the journal Political Psychology, a team of researchers led by the University of Montana psychologist Lucian Gideon Conway III reports the results of four studies that together call "into question the typical interpretation that conservatives are less complex than liberals." It turns out that liberals and conservatives are both simple-minded, depending on the topic under discussion.
Using the dogmatism scale devised in 1960 by the psychologist Milton Rokeach, who defined dogmatism in terms of "closed belief systems," researchers have generally found a positive relationship between dogmatism and political conservatism. But while the Rokeach scale is supposed to be politically neutral, Conway and his colleagues argue that it actually includes a number of topics for which conservatives generally have a greater concern, such as religion and national defense. Conservatives who fill out the scale would more tend to come off as more dogmatic largely because they are endorsing conservative views.
So for their first study, Conway and his colleagues modified the Rokeach dogmatism scale by including items reflecting alternatively environmentalist and religious views. For example, item 7 reads alternatively: "When it comes to differences of opinion in protecting the environment/religion we must be careful not to compromise with those who believe differently from the way we do."
...They note that liberals scored high for dogmatism in response to these three items:
9. There are two kinds of people in this world: those who are for the truth that the planet is warming and those who are against that obvious truth.
3. When it comes to stopping global warming, it is better to be a dead hero than a live coward.
10. A person who thinks primarily of his/her own happiness, and in so doing disregards the health of the environment (for example, trees and other animals), is beneath contempt.
The researchers point out, "Those are not just statements about having an environmental position: They are explicitly and overwhelmingly dogmatic statements. And liberals are more likely to agree with such sentiments--for an environmental domain." The liberal respondents are not just asserting "'I am an environmentalist' but rather 'all people who disagree with me are fools.'" IMO, we're living in the age when "Liberalism is the first refuge of scoundrel".
#3
OTOH, Reason Magazine shows every day how stuff can be overthought to the same embarrassing end...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/17/2016 11:50
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#4
I think you're gonna be dogmatic if the words "empirical" and "predictable" don't carry any meaning for you. You either believe in cause and effect or you believe what you're told.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2016 14:52
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#5
Perhaps they deem themselves complex over the mental gymnastics necessary to square everything with what is current truth - or just quit thinking altogether and serf the current truth.
The workers of the Foreign Ministry insulted by comments that Minister of Education Naftali Bennett said about their office, have decided to cease all contact with the minister until he apologizes, Israel Radio reported on Saturday.
Bennett told Radio Tel Aviv earlier this week that there was "a deep problem with the DNA" of the ministry.
#2
A ministry doesn't have DNA so a metaphor (gasp!).
Perhaps the reference is to a dysfunctional culture. As Machiavelli once put it, changing the order of things (culture) is the most difficult of all undertakings. Which is why it isn't often tried.
I wonder if Trump has a plan for the Federal bureaucracy? Hmmm.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/17/2016 8:22
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#3
I wonder if Trump has a plan for the Federal bureaucracy? Hmmm.
Posted by Sven the pelter
Walmart abruptly announced Friday that it was abandoning a promise to build stores in Washington's poorest neighborhoods, an agreement that had been key to the deal allowing the retailer to begin operating in the nation's capital. They don't like it when they get beat at their own game it seems.
The giant retailer cited increasing costs for the new projects and disappointing performance at the three D.C. stores it opened over the past several years. But news that Walmart would pull out of two supercenters planned for east of the Anacostia River, where its wares and jobs are wanted most, shocked D.C. leaders. In one case, the city had already committed $90 million to make a development surrounding one of the stores viable.
"I'm blood mad," D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said at a Friday news conference. As mad as you were when 0bean lied about abortion funding in order to get that holdout group of Dems to vote for 0bamacare?
"It's an outrage," said former mayor Vincent C. Gray (D), who in 2013 completed the handshake deal for the stores. "This is devastating and disrespectful to the residents of the East End of the District of Columbia." Almost as devastating and disrespectful as when the store would have been looted in the future for some imagined insult.
The decision to withdraw from the planned D.C. locations came as part of a broader strategic move by the nation's largest retailer to shutter 269 of its stores around the world -- but not the existing D.C. stores, the company confirmed -- a plan Walmart hopes will allow it to focus on becoming a more serious player in online shopping and to improve its remaining fleet of supercenters and grocery stores.
But in the nation's capital, the two stores were more than statistics. For D.C. leaders, they amounted to Walmart's breaking a promise that had allowed it to win a public relations coup at a critical point for the company. Don't take it personal, it's just business.
After saturating the nation's rural landscape with big-box stores at the turn of the decade, Walmart had been blocked by liberal politicians and unions in New York and Boston from its next frontier, remaking retail in the nation's urban core. But in the District, Walmart won the right to open stores surrounding the U.S. Capitol -- and a symbolic victory for its belief that low-price goods help its poor customers more than low-wage jobs hurt its workers.
Under the initial deal, Walmart could build stores almost anywhere in the District, as long as it opened two stores in its poorest wards and areas of the city sometimes referred to as food deserts, with few -- if any -- options for fresh produce and groceries. One was planned for Skyland Town Center in Southeast Washington and the other at Capitol Gateway Marketplace in Northeast Washington.
The deal came at significant cost, however. Pushed by labor unions, a majority of the D.C. Council at first pushed back against welcoming Walmart to the city. Opponents cited Walmart's large profits and refusal to let workers unionize, as well as its reputation for low wages. I recommend the Unions join the Chinese embassy in a joint condemnation.
But as recently as last week, all of that seemed like a distant memory. In her list of first-year accomplishments, Bowser had included a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the city's latest Walmart, at Fort Totten, in a video montage and listed a technical deal signed in the fall that cleared a final roadblock for construction at Skyland.
Then on Friday, the deal was off. Walmart officials entered the mayor's office early in the morning and apologized, saying plans and economics had changed. Large urban Walmarts were more expensive to build and less profitable to operate than expected -- especially, it turned out, in the District. Maybe if the Dems fostered a better economic environment this wouldn't have happened. But . . . HEY! LOOK OVER THERE!
Mike Moore, Walmart's executive vice president of supercenters, said in an interview that the decision to pull out of the projects at Skyland and Capital Gateway was based on obvious fresh assumptions the company was making about the potential profitability of those stores. The officials said that they did not feel confident that the planned stores would generate healthy sales volume. Their latest math suggested that construction and operating expenses were going to be higher than they had originally budgeted for. Can anyone say "higher minimum wages?"
So far, Moore added, the three stores Walmart has opened -- one blocks from Union Station in the trendy NoMa neighborhood and two in gentrifying areas along Georgia Avenue and at Fort Totten -- were underperforming and "just not anywhere close to your expectation."
Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), head of the council's finance committee, sat in on the meeting Friday morning with Walmart officials and Brian Kenner, Bowser's deputy mayor for planning and economic development.
Evans said that, behind closed doors, Walmart officials were more frank about the reasons the company was downsizing. He said the company cited the District's rising minimum wage, now at $11.50 an hour and possibly going to $15 an hour if a proposed ballot measure is successful in November. He also said a proposal for legislation requiring D.C. employers to pay into a fund for family and medical leave for employees, and another effort to require a minimum amount of hours for hourly workers were compounding costs and concerns for the retailer.
"They were saying, 'How are we going to run the three stores we have, let alone build two more?'â" Evans said.
"The optics of this are horrible; they are not going to build the stores east of the river, in largely African American neighborhoods? That's horrible; you can't do that," Evans said. "A deal's a deal." Was raising the minimum wage part of the deal?
It was immediately clear that Walmart's announcement could also reverberate in a city election year. Gray, who is considering an effort to resurrect his political career after prosecutors dropped an investigation into his first mayoral run, said he was outraged.
Gray cast blame on Bowser's team, saying he had met with the project's developers two weeks before he left office last year and "everything was on track."
"What did the administration do to stay on top of this? There is no bigger project going on than this one, maybe in all of the East End," he said of Skyland.
Gray could run this year against Ward 7 Council member Yvette M. Alexander (D) or in an at-large race. But on Friday, he sounded more like a mayoral candidate.
"If I were mayor, I'd get on a plane and go to Bentonville," to Walmart's global headquarters in Arkansas, Gray said. "They should be held accountable." Why don't you just sue them? {snicker}
Speaking to reporters, Bowser was more muted. She said she was disappointed but stressed that the District's three existing Walmarts were not on the closure list. Although they probably could be if, say, "headwinds" were to somehow get any stronger . . . .
Michael Czin, her communications director, said that Walmart had signed a lease at Skyland, but attorneys for the administration and the developer were still analyzing whether either could be entitled to legal recourse. Gee. I wonder if Walmart's attorneys ever considered this angle.
"We're assessing options and looking at everything," he said. "We continue to talk to legal counsel. It's still somewhat early; folks are looking into how everything was written."
#4
Maybe the black racist CEO of Sam's Club will step in with a few shoot and loot "membership" stores
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/17/2016 10:22
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#5
Walmart is a co dependent of the GIVERnment; as the EBT cards get loaded Walmart reaps the benefits. this is the real reason the Distict elite cannot understand the decision.
#6
Walmart is a co dependent of the GIVERnment; as the EBT cards get loaded Walmart reaps the benefits. this is the real reason the Distict elite cannot understand the decision.
Posted by Airandee
It's a balancing act. Shrinkage can easily trump co-dependency.
#10
When you lose a Walmart it changes the whole town. We had one that wanted to expand here in Elkin, NC, but some lawyers showed up and blocked it, something about a few Indian graves in the forest behind the store. So they closed the store and the 30 shops around it are now half vacant. They ask nicely, can write a check, but they also walk away, and they will.
#11
Riot history and black lives matter have killed any chance of protection for their stores. Media will always be against you. Politicians also. look at Deblasio of New York, now there's a piece of work.
#12
Hey - I've got an idea! Why don't Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the mayor of DC, and the BLM people hold a riot demonstration at each of the three existing stores in DC. That should convince Walmart to build the new stores, right? /sarcasm
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/17/2016 17:01
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#13
So the "local government" was putting 90 million into a project to make development around one store viable. A store that generated, what, 400 minimum wage jobs? 9*10^7 divided by 4*10^2 is $225,000 expended per $24,000 job. Yeah, that works.
#14
When you lose a Walmart it changes the whole town.
For the better.
Because adding a Walmart makes it worse - it adds a few minimum wage jobs, kills the local stores, and doesn't add anything to the local economy except more traffic at the local Dunkin Donuts.
#15
Hey - I've got an idea! Why don't Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the mayor of DC, and the BLM people hold a riot demonstration at each of the three existing stores in DC.
I see an episode of Undercover Boss, where they each clerk there for a day.
#16
"Hey - I've got an idea! Why don't Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the mayor of DC, and the BLM people hold a riot demonstration at each of the three existing stores in DC."
I've got an idea, too, Rambler.
Why don't Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the mayor of DC open their own business(es) and employ people in the areas Wal-Mart backed out of? At $15.00 an hour.
Put your money where your mouths are, jackasses, or STFU.
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/17/2016 19:47
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#17
B, that is not how community organizers work. There MO is extortion, not production.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/17/2016 20:09
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[Iran Press TV] Thousands of Greek people have once again taken to the streets in the capital, Athens, to protest against planned modifications of the country's pension system demanded by international lenders in return for rescue funds.
According to media reports, about 3,000 people took part in the peaceful protests outside parliament in Athens on Saturday.
The ADEDY public sector union said in a statement the march on Syntagma square, next to parliament, was called to say "no to the dissolution of the security system."
Holding banners reading "You cannot bargain with social security," the protesters also chanted "Your hands off our pensions!"
They also stressed that they will continue to protest till their demands are met.
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[Dhaka Tribune] Police last night recovered five of a family with throats slit in a house in Baburail area of Narayanganj sadar upazila.
The dead are Taslima, 35, her daughter Sumayia, 7, son Shanto, 10, brother Morshedul Islam, 20, and sister-in-law Lamia, 20.
According to police, the murders might have been committed sometime between Friday night and yesterday morning.
Taslima's brother-in-law Shobuj said he and his mother found the two-room apartment locked from the outside when they came to visit the family yesterday afternoon. They tried Taslima's mobile phone but found it unreachable. Even the neighbours could not give them any idea where the family could have gone.
Several hours later they informed police, who came and broke into the apartment and found the dead bodies -- three on the floor in one room and the two others in the second room, Shobuj said.
Mohammad Ali, deputy inspector general of police, who visited the scene of the crime late last night, said they were primarily suspecting that the murders might be results of family feud.
The DIG also said that they had so far locked away Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! two people in connection with the murders.
Based on primary findings, police believe that the killers were possibly acquaintances of the family and paid frequent visits. Investigators are also ruling out theft or robbery because nothing so far have been reported missing from the small apartment and there were no signs of struggle.
While talking to our Narayanganj correspondent Tanvir Hossain, Taslima's mother Morsheda Begum said the killings might be result of disputes over money matters that her son-in-law Shafiqul Islam might have had with some lenders in Dhaka.
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[WASHINGTONPOST] Iran reentered the global economy Saturday, as years of crippling international sanctions were lifted in exchange for the verified disabling of much of its nuclear infrastructure.
For Iran, implementation of the landmark deal it finalized with six world powers last summer means immediate access to more than $50 billion in long-frozen assets, and freedom to sell its oil and purchase goods in the international marketplace. Tehran has hailed the deal as vindication of its power and influence in the world.
"Today marks the start of a safer world," said Secretary of State John F. Kerry. "We understand this marker alone will not wipe away all the concerns the world has rightly expressed about Iran's policies in the region. But we also know there isn't a challenge in the entire region that wouldn't become much more complicated, much worse, if Iran had a nuclear weapon."
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#1
Did Jawn F'n Kerry add-in sending them food stamps for the self inspectors?
(IraqiNews.com) Salahuddin – The federal police captain, Raed Shaker Jawdat, announced on Friday the killing of 25 ISIS elements as well as the destruction of an ISIS shelter in the province of Salahuddin.
Jawdat said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The forces of the Third Brigade had managed to kill 25 ISIS elements and destroy eight vehicles west of Samarra Island,” pointing out that, “The rockets battalion completely destructed an ISIS shelter in Makshifiyah.”
Jawdat also added, “Our heroic forces destructed a defensive position in the village of Masoud.”
(IraqiNews.com) Diyala – On Friday, Diyala police Chief Brigadier-General Jassim al-Saadi announced, that an attack carried out by the ISIS organization on a village near the borders with Salahuddin was foiled, while emphasized that the situation is under control.
Saadi said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Armed cells belonging to the ISIS organization tried to attack a number of check points in Albu Eissa area near the borders between Diyala and Salahuddin (85 km north of Baquba).
Saadi added, “Iraqi Special Operations forces backed by al-Hashd al-Shaabi managed to foil the attack and killed some elements of the organization.”
Benghazi was once again quiet this afternoon and evening following intermittent explosions this morning in Ard Zwawa district. A number of buildings as well as vehicles were said to have been hit, but there are no reports of any casualties. There was also missile fire in Leithi, although again no one is said to have been hurt.
Yesterday, the Libyan National Army shot down a camera-mounted miniature drone aircraft which it claimed was being used by Ansar Al-Sharia to survey its positions near Garyounis. At the same time the air force targeted Ansar positions in Gwarsha and at Mreisa port.
Also yesterday, a number of missiles also landed in Sidi Yunis district, once again with no reports of casualties. However, in Buhdeima on Friday, a young girl was reported killed in a random rocket attack.
40 Taliban militants have surrendered to Afghan forces in Darqad District of northern Takhar province, the Ministry of Interior announced on Saturday.
“In an Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) joint clearance operation, 40 armed militants surrendered to ANSF in Darqad district of northern Takhar province,” states a statement released by the ministry.
“The operation started on 09 January 2016 and is still in progress to clear some of the areas of terrorists and enemies of peace and stability.”
According to the press release, 20 militants were also killed in fresh clashes and 12 arrested.
So far, 52 villages have been cleared of armed militants, the press release adds.
Darqad a strategic district of Takhar was under Taliban control for about three months. Afghan National Security and Defense Forces retook control of it last week.
Takhar is among the relatively volatile provinces in northeastern Afghanistan where anti-government armed militants are actively operating in a number of its remote districts.
Takhar is surrounded by two relatively volatile provinces, Badakhshan in the east and Kunduz in the west where Taliban militants are actively operating and frequently carry out insurgency activities in their various districts.
A group of armed insurgents launched an attack on a micro finance bank in northern Parwan province of Afghanistan, local officials said Saturday.
The incident took place in Charikar city, the provincial capital of northern Parwan province late on Friday night.
Provincial police chief Mohammad Zaman Mamozai said the gunmen were armed with rocket launchers and small arms when they launched attack on the bank building.
Mamozai futher added that the branch belonged to First MicroFinance Bank Afghanistan which is part of the Aga Khan Development Network (ADKN).
He said the attack did not cause any casualties but the property of the bank sustained damages due to rocket and bullets impact.
No group including the Taliban militants has so far claimed responsibility behind the attack.
Parwan is among the relatively volatile provinces in northern Afghanistan where anti-government armed militant groups are actively operating in its remote districts and often carry out insurgency activities.
#5
it will make it easier to spot armed robbers they will have to carry microscopes into banks and they can cross reference purchases on their computer lists!
#9
Penny banks because a penny saved is a penny earned. Over time those pennies add up to dollars. We're not talking about the Hamptons here. It can make a difference. But if they're making loans to women that would, of course, be unIslamic.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/17/2016 14:52
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[DAWN] DID we need President B.O. to tell us we are doomed to instability and krazed killer violence for another decade or more? I think not. But then do we ever take notice of our own accord of where we are headed, without someone abroad having to shake and wake us up?
The US president's 'assessment' came in his last State of the Union address of his second and final term in office and drew the usual response from Pakistain as foreign affairs adviser Sartaj PrunefaceAziz ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy... characterised Obama's view as being not based on ground realities.
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ERBIL – Militants of the Islamic State (ISIS) radical group burned three women to death in the Iraqi northwestern city of Mosul on charges of spying for the U.S.-led coalition, local activists and eyewitnesses reported on Saturday.
The three women were arrested on Friday, and after interrogations ISIS accused them of having leaked security information to the western coalition and its allies in Iraq.
The ISIS-led Sharia Court issued a statement accusing the three women of spying for what it called ‘crusader coalition’, in reference to the U.S.-led international coalition that has been bombing ISIS’s positions across Syria and Iraq for nearly two years. The Sharia Court ordered the immediate execution of the three women by burning them to death in public.
“The brutal execution took place in front of dozens of people in central Mosul, including family members who were forced to attend the execution,” a local media activist told ARA News. “The three women were burned to death.”
More People Executed On Charges of Spying
This is not the first time that ISIS executes civilians on charges of ‘spying’.
On Thursday, ISIS militants beheaded three media activists in Syria’s northern city of Manbij after accusing them of ‘spying for crusaders’. The three activists Ahmed al-Abdullah, Ibrahim Muhammad and Sarai al-Halabi were beheaded in public in central Manbij.
Earlier on Wednesday, the extremist group executed a Syrian woman in Raqqa on similar charges.
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian media says man worked for top official for 20 years, confessed upon his arrest 2 weeks ago
One-time aide to top Paleostinian official Saeb Erekat ...negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel. He has been chief Paleostinian negotiator since 1995. He is currently negotiating with Israel to establish a de jure Paleostinian state... was tossed in the slammer Please don't kill me! recently over suspicions that he spied for Israel, according to Paleostinian media reports Saturday.
The reports said the unnamed man had worked for Erekat for 20 years. He was reportedly arrested earlier this month and confessed to the charges. He is currently being held by Paleostinian security forces.
Channel 10 news reported that Erekat had confirmed the man's arrest.
Erekat is the Paleostinians' former top peace negotiator. He is seen as Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... 's closest aide and favored successor upon the end of his tenure, having displayed unwavering loyalty to the Paleostinian leader.
Late last year, Abbas appointed Erekat, 60, as secretary general of the Paleostine Liberation Organization, the same position Abbas once used as a springboard for becoming the main candidate in presidential elections following the death of Yasser Arafat in November 2004.
But Erekat is seen by some in Fatah as an outsider, and polls indicate he would do poorly in elections for president of the Paleostinian Authority
[Dhaka Tribune] Hefajat-e-Islam ...a madrassa-based false nose and mustache of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, formed in 2010 to protest against secular education. In 2011 demonstrated violentyly against women's rights and in 2013 held large rallies demanding capital punishment of Shahbag Square protesters and banning women working outside the home... chief Shah Ahmed Shafi yesterday said some quarters were spreading confusion about the real Islamic identity of the members of the organization.
"Every Muslim should be aware of this. Sometimes, we are described as Wahabis but I would like to reiterate that there is no Wahabi in the country.
"Those who say we are the followers of Wahabism have no knowledge of Islam," said Shafi while addressing an Islamic conference at Laldighi Maidan in Chittagong.
Chittagong city unit of Hefajat-e-Islam organised the two-day conference which began on Thursday.
Islamic scholars from the country and abroad addressed the conference.
They said there would be no room for atheists in Bangladesh and any quarter found to be siding with disbelievers would face dire consequences.
They also demanded exemplary punishment of the perpetrators involved in the recent mayhem in Brahmanbaria where a madrasa student was killed.
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[CNN] Indonesian police have placed in durance vile Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! 12 people in connection with Thursday's deadly attack in front of a Starbucks in central Jakarta, including one accused of having received a wire transfer from the alleged ISIS-linked operative suspected of orchestrating the assault, the country's police chief said Saturday.
Two people -- an Indonesian and a Canadian -- were killed and 26 other people were maimed Thursday as a jacket wallah and gunnies launched an attack near the coffee store, police have said.
Four attackers also are dead, following the bombing and a firefight with police.
Among the 12 suspects subsequently rounded up in various Indonesian provinces, one is suspected to have received a money transfer from the alleged criminal mastermind, Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian bad boy who authorities believed to have conducted the operation from ISIS' headquarters in Syria, national Police Chief Badrodin Haiti said.
The transfer helped to finance Thursday's attack, the police chief said.
Police still are on high alert, Haiti said, in part because police have intercepted encoded messages about a possible attack. Further details about the threat weren't immediately available.
[WSJ] Concerns that Islamic State militants in the Middle East are taking a direct hand in organizing terrorist attacks in Asia escalated Saturday after Malaysian police said they had arrested four suspects, one of whom was planning a suicide attack in the country. You can wire $500 or a thousand anywhere in the world without much hindrance. Therefore IS's reach is world-wide.
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[DAWN] KARACHI: Caught in Iran while travelling illegally to Syria to join the murderous MoslemIslamic 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 before being repatriated to Pakistain, two youngsters have turned away from 'armed struggle' after being 'rehabilitated' with the support of their families and security administration, officials said on Friday. They're from "good families," meaning they've got money and political connections.
Although still under surveillance, the men in their early 20s have no more murderous Moslem tendencies according to the psychiatrists who evaluated their condition, said official in charge of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Raja Umer Khattab.
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[Iran Press TV] Iran said on Saturday that it plans to purchase 114 civil aircraft from European aircraft maker Airbus.
The country's Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi has been quoted by the media as saying that the early steps to make the purchases have been taken ahead of the anticipated lifting of international sanctions on Iran.
"We have taken the first step in agreeing with Airbus to buy 114 planes," Abbas Akhoundi has been quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency in a report that was also carried by Rooters.
Nevertheless, Airbus was quick to react to this and said it was not engaging in commercial talks with Iran until sanctions had been lifted.
Sanctions were expected to be lifted in the wake of a recent agreement on Iran's nuclear activities later on Saturday.
"Although Iran clearly has a need for new aircraft, we must conform strictly to the law and, until all measures concerning the embargo are lifted, no commercial discussions can take place," an Airbus front man said.
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#1
Iran flew by today, and was he crowing!
"F-ck you so much for paying what was owing.
Oh, how you bravely rowed away!
My arms are tired, but I can't stay.
I only came to say... I won't buy Boeing."
The Afghan national security forces thwarted a rocket attack plot on Kabul city by discovering four BM-1 rockets from the outskirts of the city.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the rockets were discovered by the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces from the Musahi district of Kabul.
A statement by MoD said the rockets were planted in Qala-e-Abdul Rauf area of Musahi district and were ready to launched on Kabul city.
The anti-government armed militant groups have not commented regarding the attack plot so far which comes amid deteriorating security situation with the rampant Taliban-led insurgency.
The attack has been thwarted as Kabul witnessed a spate of deadly suicide attacks during the recent weeks.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for three separate suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (SVBIED) attacks in the Afghan capital between 1 and 4 January, killing five civilians and injuring at least 56.
“The use of highly explosive devices in civilian populated areas continues to cause extreme harm to Afghan women, children and men,” said Mark Bowden, the Deputy Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and acting head of UNAMA.
Bowden further added “Loss of life, maiming, destruction of homes, businesses and personal property and widespread fear – these are the real consequences of suicide attacks in urban areas.”
At least four Afghan policemen have lost their lives in a suspected insider attack in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan.
The incident has reportedly taken place in Khakriz district of Kandahar province in a check post of belonging to the police forces.
Provincial governor spokesman Samim Khpolwak confirmed that an incident has taken place in a police check post but there are no further details available regarding the exact circumstances surrounding the incident.
Meanwhile, a local security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the attack was carried out by a group of individuals in police uniform.
The official further added that a commander of the police forces was also among those martyred in the attack and the assailants have managed to escape the area.
Kandahar is among the relatively volatile provinces in southern Afghanistan where anti-government armed militant groups are actively operating and frequently carry out insurgency activities.
This comes as the Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant during the recent weeks despite efforts to revive the Afghan peace talks in a bid to end the growing violence in the country.
At least four Taliban militants including the group’s regional commander was killed in a failed attack on a security post in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan.
The militants were killed earlier today in Arghistan district after launching an attack on the security post in Sarchi area.
The provincial government media office said the Afghan security forces repelled the attack which was launched around 10:00 am this morning.
The Taliban commander killed in the attack has been identified as Mullah Izat who was in charge of the Taliban militants in Arghistan.
The Afghan security forces also seized numerous weapons and explosives belonging to the Taliban militants, the provincial government media office added.
The Taliban militants group has not commented regarding the report so far.
Kandahar is among the relatively volatile provinces in southern Afghanistan where anti-government armed militant groups are actively operating and often carry out insurgency activities.
This comes as at least four Afghan policemen were martyred in a suspected insider attack in Khakriz district earlier.
[IN.REUTERS] German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has proposed the introduction of a special tax on gasoline in European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... member states to finance refugee-related costs such as strengthening the continent's joint external borders.
Schaeuble's proposal drew criticism from members of his own conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), as well as from the Social Democrats (SPD), junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... 's ruling coalition.
"I've said if the funds in the national budgets and the European budget are not sufficient, then let us agree for instance on collecting a levy on every litre of gasoline at a specific amount," Schaeuble told Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.
"We have to secure Schengen's external borders now. The solution of these problems must not founder due to a limitation of funds," the veteran politician said.
Asked if all EU countries should increase their payments to Brussels to finance joint refugee-related costs, Schaeuble said: "If someone is not willing to pay, I'm nonetheless prepared to do it. Then we'll build a coalition of the willing."
Schaeuble gave no details on how high the extra levy on gasoline should be and whether Brussels or the EU member states would be in charge of collecting it.
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#1
EU Tax. Yeah right. The CDU is losing its marbles.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/17/2016 9:33
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More than 10,000 persons were detained and kidnapped by the Houthi militias, most of them young men, journalists and social media activists and bloggers, the Arab Centre for Human Rights and Anti-Terrorism (ACHA) has revealed.
"Youth are being arrested on a daily basis and the number of those arrested in the capital Sanaa alone ranges between 100 to 200 daily," the ACHA said in a statement, adding that prisons were now crammed with detainees who were transferred after they had spent seven to 10 days in police stations.
Some of them were sent to political security prisons.
"Houthi militias are savagely torturing a number of prisoners and scanning their mobile phones, confiscating them and were using them for acts that blatantly violated all local and international laws and norms. And then, there's the downside...
"They were flagrantly flouting all values and principles," the statement noted.
The militias demanded ransom amounts ranging between $500 to $3,000 to release any prisoner who wanted to walk to freedom and those who refused to pay were being sent to even more notorious prisons.
[HUFFINGTONPOST] Global attention turned to Madaya, Syria earlier this month when images of emaciated residents, including many children, emerged from the besieged Syrian city and caused so much international outcry the Syrian government was forced to let food and medicine through. Everybody say tut tut. Now ask what's for dinner. There. Done.
Yet while Madaya made headlines, hundreds of thousands of Syrians elsewhere in the country are deprived of regular access to aid. There are 4.5 million people within Syria in regions that are hard to reach for aid groups, 400,000 of whom live in besieged areas, according to the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... Human rights groups and activists contend that the Assad regime has used food as a weapon of war since the beginning of the conflict. Through denial of aid shipments and siege tactics, government forces have levied a kind of collective punishment on areas under opposition control.
Only 10 percent of requests to send aid convoys to these 4.5 million people are granted, the U.N. says. The United Nations agencies require a degree of coordination with gangs and government forces in order to deliver aid, even though access to humanitarian relief is held as a right under international law.
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#1
They should just drink smoothies, like Cindy Sheehan on a hunger strike
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/17/2016 10:19
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#2
North Korea should be able to help with trainers and recipes.
ALEPPO – Russian fighter jets conducted fierce airstrikes in Syria’s northeastern city of Raqqa, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, activists reported on Saturday.
Raqqa is deemed a de facto capital for the self-declared Caliphate of the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS).
“The Russian airstrikes hit residential buildings in central Raqqa, causing dozens of civilian casualties and mass destruction to private property,” media activist Luay Ayyad told ARA News in Raqqa.
“Dead bodies of 15 civilians were pulled from the rubble,” the source reported. “23 others were wounded in the airstrikes, some of them suffer serious injuries.”
In the meantime, a medical source in the Muwasat hospital in Raqqa said that 20 wounded people arrived to the hospital for treatment, “some of them lost their legs and others lost arms in the strikes”.
“The hospital suffers a shortage in equipment and medical staff. More victims are expected to be still stranded under the ruins of the destroyed buildings,” the source told ARA News.
ISIS militants prevent the movement of civilians to outside Raqqa, “which makes transferring the wounded to medical centers outside the province impossible,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
KOBANE – Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) clashed with militants of the Islamic State in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah on Saturday.
At least three ISIS militants were killed and four others were arrested by the Kurdish forces near the Saddiq square in western Hasakah, the YPG leadership confirmed in a statement.
“The terrorists (of ISIS) tried to infiltrate into our (YPG) security center near Saddiq square on Saturday. However, our units repelled the attack and killed three terrorists,” the Kurdish military leadership said.
“Furthermore, our units captured four ISIS terrorists who were injured in the clashes,” it added.
This comes as ISIS militants strive to regain positions it lost earlier to the Kurdish forces in Hasakah province.
Also on Saturday, fierce clashes took place between the Kurdish forces and militants of al-Qaeda branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, in Aleppo.
The YPG fighters attacked with mortar shells a checkpoint for Nusra militants outside the Shekh Maqsoud district in Aleppo.
“Subsequent to the YPG-led attack, clashes broke out between the Kurdish units and al-Qaeda-affiliated militants of Nusra Front near Jandul roundabout in Shuqaif neighborhood,” a YPG spokesman told ARA News in Aleppo.
“At least six Nusra terrorists were killed and two others wounded,” the spokesman said, adding that three Kurdish fighters were injured in the same clashes on Saturday.
Or as it is called in Yemen, Saturday
A US drone strike killed three suspected Al Qaeda militants in southern Yemen on Saturday, according to local tribesmen.
Believed to be the first drone strike this year in Yemen, it targeted the militants' vehicle while they were travelling in Shabwa province, the tribesmen said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. It was not immediately possible to verify their account. US officials rarely comment on the covert drone programme.
The latest strike comes amid reports of divisions and defections among Al Qaeda's rival group, the Daesh affiliate in Yemen, as a defected group leader gave an online testimony, claiming that Daesh fabricated videos to exaggerate their strength and presence.
In testimony posted online by Al Qaeda supporters, a man calling himself Antar Al Kanadi said he defected from Daesh because its leadership had become too extreme. Al Kanadi's allegations seem to match reports elsewhere of dissension within the Yemeni Daesh ranks. According to The Long War Journal, which monitors militant group activity, more than a dozen Daesh leaders and scores of their fighters have rebelled against the top leader, Abu Bilal Al Harbi, for alleged violations of Shariah law.
"Seventy members of the Daesh's Yemeni branch announced their 'defection' from the Daesh's wali in a letter published online on December 15," it said.
Al Kanadi also alleged that Daesh in Yemen released two videos of training camps in Hadramawt province and fraudulently claimed they were elsewhere in the country.
Yemen has been mired in conflict between Houthi rebels and an internationally recognised government backed by a Saudi-led military coalition. Both Daesh and Al Qaeda in Yemen have exploited Yemen's chaos and expanded their reach over the past year.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has long been described by Washington as the global network's most active and dangerous branch. The Daesh affiliate in Yemen has claimed responsibility for a series of bloody attacks including four suicide bomb attacks on mosques in Sanaa in March and the assassination of the governor of Aden province.
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – On Friday, a senior military official announced the liberation of Albu Khalifa and Albu Mahal areas east of Ramadi, while indicated to the death of 15 elements of the ISIS organization including suicide bombers.
The Commander of the army’s 8th Brigade Majid al- Fatlawi said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “This evening, our forces managed to fully liberate the areas of Albu Khalifa and Albu Mahal east of Ramadi.”
Fatlawi added, “Fifteen elements of the ISIS organization were killed during the operation including three suicide bombers wearing explosive belts, while three armed vehicles as well as a booby-trapped military vehicle were destructed.”
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – Media officials with the Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday the killing of the so-called ISIS Mufti in the area of al-Muhammadi, along with eight of his aides, during an aerial bombardment by the Iraqi Air Force in the province of Anbar.
The officials said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Based on information by the Military Intelligence Directorate, the air force carried out an aerial strike resulting in the death of the so-called ISIS Mufti, Ahmed Jasim Hamadi al-Bilawi, along with eight of his aides, in the area of al-Muhammadi in Anbar Province.”
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday, that the security forces had managed to repel an ISIS attack on Haditha District west of Ramadi.
The ministry said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “al-Jazeerah and al-Badiyah Operations Command, with support from the clans of Haditha, had managed to repel a violent attack by ISIS on the city of Haditha,” noting that, “The enemy was incurred a painful blow that caused it big losses in lives and equipment.”
The statement added, “The attack proved the strength and ability of the Iraqi army.”
[AlAhram] The United States and its allies targeted 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.... (ISIS) group with 18 strikes in Iraq and 11 in Syria on Friday, the US military said.
Eight of the strikes in Iraq hit ISIS tactical units and five command and control nodes near djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , a statement issues on Saturday said.
In Syria, five of the strikes were near Mar'a and hit ISIS tactical units.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/17/2016
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[DAWN] LAHORE: Okara police on Saturday locked away Book 'im, Mahmoud! the imam of a mosque on terror charges in relation to the incident involving a 15-year-old boy who had cut off his own hand believing he had committed blasphemy.
On Friday night a first information report (FIR No. 36/16) was registered against the prayer leader Shabbir Ahmed on behalf of the state under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Section 324 of the Pakistain Penal Code (PPC) against.
Police officials said the holy man was arrested under the National Action Plan (NAP) for inciting violence during a speech in which he asked a controversial question.
Around five days ago, the holy man, addressing a Mehfil-e-Milad at a village mosque in Chak 3D of Hujra Shah Muqeem town in Depalpur Tehsil of Okara District, said that "those who love the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) always say their prayers".
He then asked his audience "Who does not love the Prophet (PTUI!)?" The holy man asked, "Raise your hand." The child misheard the question and raised his hand.
The imam then pointed to the youth and alleged he was a "blasphemer who was liable to be killed".
When asked, members of the crowd said they were aware the boy had not committed blasphemy as he was the victim of a misunderstanding.
However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... police maintain that the allegations of the holy man led to the boy's heinous act, as he felt ashamed and dejected after being called a blasphemer.
The 15-year-old maintains that the imam is blameless while his act was reportedly celebrated by his parents and neighbours.
Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistain, where even unproven allegations can stir mob violence and lynchings.
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#1
the only downside i see to this is that the poor boy will have to sit out one verse of "hokey pokey"
[Tolo News] Scores of gunnies related to Zahir Qadir, the Deputy Speaker of Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament), on Saturday joined public uprising groups in 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.
Security officials in eastern Nangarhar province said that the gunnies will cooperate with Afghan cops in the fight against Death Eaters in Nazian and Achin districts in the province.
Nangarhar Police Chief Fazel Ahmad Sherzad said that he appreciates Qadir, because hundreds of his people, under the framework of public uprising, are fighting alongside Afghan cops and are playing an important role in ensuring security of the province.
"These people have their own weapons, but we will see if they need anything, so that we provide for them," said General Dad Muhammad Harifi, Nangarhar National Security Director.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a hurried meeting of his closest advisors. It was to be his last. They discussed the officers's efficiency rating system... members of the High Peace Council (HPC) and tribal elders lent their support to Afghan troops and public uprising forces.
Malek Nazir, a member of the peace council of Nangarhar, urged government not to prosecute these gunnies, because they were fighting to ensure security of Nangarhar and killings and beheadings are part of war.
The public uprising members vowed that they will fight till the last drop of their blood to defend their country.
These gunnies joined public uprising groups at a time that Daesh [Islamic State]Death Eaters have intensified their activities in Nangarhar, particularly Nazian district.
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[Tolo News] The Talibs have captured several villages in Gereshk district of southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province.
Muhammad Karim Atal, the chairman of Helmand Provincial Council, said: "We witnessed the collapse of a village in Gereshk two days ago. Unfortunately, Adam Khan village also fell to the Taliban last night."
He said at least 14 Afghan troops have been killed and nine others maimed.
Local residents voiced their concerns that prolonging the war in Gereshk will lead to civilian casualties.
"We are concerned about prolonging the war and the Taliban have captured several villages during the fighting," said Muhammad Khan, a resident of Gereshk district.
The Provincial Police Chief, Abdul Rahman Sarjang, however, said Afghan forces have the upper hand in the fighting. He added that 20 hard boyz have been killed and 15 others injured.
"Our forces at a checkpoint in Adam Khan village fought for five days, after that their equipment was finished, they tactically retreated 1.5 kilometers back and now we are on the defensive," he said, adding the Taliban have sustained heavy casualties in the fighting.
The fighting between Afghan cops and the Talibs started around six days ago, when a large group of Taliban hard boyz attacked several areas of the province and captured several villages.
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Home Front: Politix
"The Washington Post published an interview with the now-retired CIA base chief in question, a man who in that interview was adamant no such stand order was given. So are we to believe that air, land, and sea Quick Reaction Forces (QRF) and 'in extremis' forces unilaterally decided to forgo involvement ?
Mitchell Zuckoff, the book's author on which the film is based, strongly disagrees. Zuckoff points out how he used direct corroborating testimony from multiple sources who were on the ground in Benghazi that night. Zuckoff says he attempted to interview the station chief but that the interview was denied -- repeatedly.
More recently, the 13 Hours author has indicated any claim the stand down order was NOT given as being "not credible", a slightly kinder way of saying the former CIA station chief is lying.
In Washington D.C., the Obama administration's CIA spokesperson dismissed the film as well, calling it, '...a distortion of events.'
The conflicting views leads America to wonder who is telling the truth? Is it the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton, or the accounts of the men and women who were on the ground in Benghazi during the Benghazi Massacre attack?"
#1
The conflicting views leads America to wonder who is telling the truth? Is it the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton, or the accounts of the men and women who were on the ground in Benghazi during the Benghazi Massacre attack?"
So let me see if I understand something:
1) My government would have me believe that when there was an attack on an embassy in what was basically a war zone in Libya, that neither we nor our allies had anybody who could respond. Except for a few special forces, who were told to stay out (because they were too far away to respond, I suppose).
2) Whereas when there was an attack on a stupid hotel in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (right next to Bum-Fuc& Nowhere) that we could get forces there almost instantly.
#5
apparently they were painting targets for either an armed drone overhead (we know they had drones overhead) or an AC Gunship above. Neither fired
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/17/2016 11:53
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#6
Shrillary's CIA is all about domestic politics, pensions and CYA and nothing about America. Trump will have to clean house and then burn it to the ground.
Posted by: regular joe ||
01/17/2016 12:21
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[EXPRESS.CO.UK] Dr Amnon Eden said more needs to be done to look at the risks of continuing towards an AI world. Computers = toasters with keyboards
He warned that we were getting close to the point of no return in terms of AI, without a proper understanding of the consequences. In fact, now they're putting little computers into toasters. We're gonna be attacked by breakfast!
Dr Eden said: "The New Year needs to see this ill-informed controversy replaced by a better informed analysis of the potential impact of AI and of its applications. The Terminator is coming! Even worse: He'll be back!
"In 2016 expert risk analysis must gain a far greater role in the thinking of policy and decision makers, of governments and corporations." Yes. We must trust government policy and decision makers. They know best.
Dr Eden is principal of the Sapience Project, a think-tank which has been formed to look at the potential disruptive impact of artificial intelligence AI. What's Dr. Eden's doctorate in?
Science fiction has regularly explored whether robots could destroy mankind, most famously the Terminator films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Try "Colossus, The Forbin Project"... From way before the days when kilobytes were the rage.
Dr Eden's stance comes after Oxford Professor Nick Bostrom said that super intelligence AI may “advance to a point where its goals are not compatible with that of humans”. In which case it wouldn't be very intelligent, unless somebody was dumb enough to design one without a plug. I'd expect something like that from a government policy maker.
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#1
Great. That way we won't have to work so hard to destroy ourselves.
#5
"Some days, when my sector is clear,
Which it's been now for many a year,
I'll take time to go scorch
On walls, with the blowtorch,
My portrait and 'Killbot was here.'"
#9
Everyone cites The Terminator and nobody cites I Robot. Robot are a long way from self consciousness IMHO.
In short they can't have 'competing goals' because they have no goals of their own. Any goals they have are from a human.
I'd be worried about misuse of intelegent robots by other humans.
DAMASCUS – The extremist group of Islamic State (ISIS) killed dozens of people in Syria’s eastern province of Deir ez-Zor after breaking into regime-held neighborhoods, local sources reported on Saturday.
The radical group stormed the regime-held neighborhoods of Ayash and Begayliya in Deir ez-Zor, and beheaded more than 150 people, including Syrian army soldiers and their families.
“At least 40 soldiers and 130 civilians were brutally killed by ISIS militants in Deir ez-Zor,” local media activist Ahmed Helwani told ARA News.
“The militants broke into the regime-held neighborhoods of Ayash and Begayliya, and attacked people in their homes,” Helwani said. “Their main target was the pro-regime soldiers and their families.”
Most of the city of Deir ez-Zor and its countryside is under ISIS control. However, pro-regime army troops still hold control of several neighborhoods in the city beside a military airport in Deir ez-Zor suburb.
Speaking to ARA News, a civil rights activist reported that ISIS militants first targeted Ayash and Begayliya with several car bomb attacks, before storming the two neighborhoods.
“Dozens of women and children were brutally beheaded,” said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “ISIS is punishing families of pro-regime soldiers after the group lost the battle for Deir ez-Zor’s military airport.”
The province of Deir ez-Zor is deemed strategic for ISIS as it links the group’s de facto capital of Raqqa with Iraqi territory controlled by the radical group.
[DAWN] PESHAWAR: A woman and her three minor children were found murdered in the limits of Paharipura cop shoppe here on Friday.
Police said the incident took place in Islamabad Mohallah locality.
A police official told Dawn it was not immediately clear when the incident took place as they came to know about it around 11am on Friday. "When police personnel reached the house, they found a woman and three children dead," the official added. He said that the slain were killed with an axe. He identified them as Bakht Meena, 32, wife of Umara Khan, Gul Meena, 7, Ameena, 6, and Waqas, 2.
The police official said the family head, Umara Khan, was untraced so far. He said Bakht Meena's mother had nominated Umara Khan and four other people identified as Syed Wali, Akram, Amanullah and Misri Khan in the murder case.
Amanullah and Misri Khan, who have been charged for facilitating the murder of four people, are already behind bars for murder of a sister of the slain women some years back.
The remaining accused had not yet been locked away Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! , the official said, adding a domestic dispute was probably the reason behind the murder incident.
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(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – A local source in Nineveh announced, that ISIS has executed 19 citizens from the people of Qayyarah south of Mosul (405 km north of Baghdad) for trying to “escape” from the region.
The source said in an interview for IraqiNews.co: “ISIS terrorist gangs executed 19 citizens from the people of Haj Ali village in Qayyarah (60 km south of the city of Mosul).”
The source, who asked anonymity, added: “Those innocent people were accused of trying to escape without the consent of the organization, after they tried to cross the Tigris River to Makhmour southeast of Mosul.”
An arms depot outside the central Libyan town of Hun has been destroyed in a massive blast. It is said to have been an accident and happened when an unstable explosive at the store detonated last night setting off a chain reaction.
No one was last hurt although an eyewitness told the Libya Herald there had been substantial damage to the premises.
Local fire fighters managed to deal with the ensuing blaze.
Munitions in several arms depots across the country are poorly maintained and, as a result, extremely dangerous.
[Iran Press TV] Hawkish American commentator Bill O'Reilly has vowed to flee to Ireland if Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders ...The only openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords... becomes president of the United States.
On his Fox News show on Thursday, O'Reilly argued that Sanders wanted to "dismantle" Medicare and the Affordable Care Act "in the sense that it would be Berniecare and it would be much more than it is now."
"If Bernie Sanders gets elected president, I'm fleeing ... I'm going to Ireland. And they already know it. ... I shouldn't say it publicly because that will get Sanders more votes," O'Reilly said.
"I shouldn't say it publicly because that will get Sanders more votes, but I'm not going to pay 90 percent of my income to that guy," added the blustery talk show host, who is proud of his Irish roots. "I'm sorry, I'm not doing it."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Anyone saying they plan to flee their country rather than stay and fight proves they aren't much of a patriot. This is my country, I'd rather fight for it than leave it.
SWABI: Four constables suffered shrapnel injuries when suspected militants lobbed a hand-grenade into a police van on the Swabi-Mardan road on Saturday.
District Police Officer Javed Iqbal said the police van was going to Shahmansoor police lines when the incident took place in the Dagai area. He said the van was damaged in the attack.
The injured constables, identified as Arshad Ali, Imtiaz Ahmad, Aftab and Mohammad Ishaq, were taken to the district headquarters hospital.
The police cordoned off the area soon after the attack and launched a search operation to track down the attackers.
A case was registered by the police.
Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2016 I highly recommend seeing this movie.
GWADAR: Security forces claimed on Friday to have seized illegal arms and ammunition from a militants’ hideout in Prom area of Panjgur district.
A spokesperson for the Frontier Corps said that FC and intelligence agency personnel raided the hideout on a tip-off and seized weapons and ammunition including AK-47s and other rifles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, foreign currency and laptops.
No arrest could, however, be made as the militants had escaped before the raid. The FC personnel sealed the hideout after the raid.
MARDAN: Police on Saturday arrested a terrorist while recovering explosive and ammunitions from his possession in Mardan.
On a tip-off, the police conducted a raid at a hideout in Tarnab Chowk Charsadda and arrested the suspected terrorist identified as Yarmat Shah who hailed from Khyber Agency.
The police said that the terrorist was a commander of a banned terrorist outfit. The suspect was shifted to undisclosed location for further investigation.
[ALMANAR.LB] Two citizens were killed on Friday when a terrorist jacket wallah from the ISIL terrorist group went kaboom! in the village of Touk al-Milh to the west of Hasaka.
A police source told SANA that an ISIL terrorist who was wearing an boom belt infiltrated into one neighborhood in Touk al-Milh village went kaboom!, killing two citizens and wounding many others.
The terrorist act also caused material damages to the properties.
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[Dhaka Tribune] A case has been filed against 500 people in the death of madrasa student hafez Masudur Rahman in the Monday's triangular clash in Brahmanbaria town.
Kandipara Jamia Yunosia Madrasa Education Secretary Shamsul Hoque registered the case with Sadar cop shoppe against 500 unknown people around 11am Saturday.
Sadar cop shoppe Officer-in-Charge Md Mainur Rahman confirmed of filing the lawsuit.
Masudur Rahman departed this vale of tears three days ago following repeated festivities among madrasa students, local traders and police.
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[NRTTV] Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Saturday (Jan. 16) shortly after rejecting a call from United States Secretary of Defense Ash Carter for greater military commitment against 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) murderous Moslems in Syria and Iraq.
The request came on the heels of an attack in Gay Paree last November that killed 130 people by shooters and jacket wallahs pledging allegiance to IS in Syria.
Australia is a staunch ally of the United States and its battle against IS murderous Moslems and has been one of the largest contributors to the U.S.-led bombing campaign against the group.
Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne said last Thursday (Jan. 14) there were no plans to increase that commitment above the current levels at the moment, except the possibility of additional humanitarian aid, despite the request from Washington.
Australia in late-2014 committed Super Hornet fighter jets, as well as support aircraft and a 600-strong group of air force personnel and special forces soldiers to the force battling IS in Iraq. It expanded that mission into Syria last year.
Since it joined the campaign, Australia has been on heightened alert for attacks by home-grown radicals. Authorities say they have thwarted a number of potential attacks, although there have been several "lone wolf" assaults.
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[Iran Press TV] The United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... (UN) says about 20 Syrians died of starvation last year in the city of Deir Ezzor, where Daesh [Islamic State]gunnies have imposed a siege.
"Severe cases of malnutrition are reported by health personnel particularly amongst children with unverified reports of 15 - 20 people dying from starvation in 2015 (of whom four were children)," the UN said on Saturday.
The UN also warned that 200,000 residents in the city face a severe food shortage and sharply deteriorating conditions.
The report also said the city's residents have been living with no electricity for more than 10 months, adding that they have access to a water supply for only three hours a week.
"All schools are functioning in the city however absenteeism amongst children is common as children suffer from frequent fainting due to malnutrition," it added.
The UN said the Syrian government airlifted an amount of basic commodities, including food, last Monday. Russia also said on Friday it had dropped 22 tonnes of aid to the besieged part of the city.
The UN report added that none of the health centers are functioning and there have been reports of cases of Leishmaniasis and Typhoid.
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#1
Could air drop some food. Or some AK-47s, & let them fight IS for food.
(IraqiNews.com) Diyala – On Friday, a local source in Diyala Province announced, that a shop owner was killed in an armed attack in north-eastern Baquba.
The source said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “This morning, unidentified gunmen shot a supermarket owner in front of his shop in al-Asri neighbourhood in the middle of Miqdadeya District (35 km north-eastern Baquba).”
The source added, “The security forces opened an investigation into the incident and transferred the dead body to the forensic medicine department.”
[ALMANAR.LB] The army on Saturday advanced in many areas of Syrian cities, establishing full control over new strategic areas and hills in Lattakia northern countryside.
Lattakia
Army units, in cooperation with the popular defense groups, established control over the hills overlooking al-Sarraf village in the northern countryside of Lattakia, a military source announced on Saturday.
The Points 489, 465 and 547 that overlook al-Durreh axis and al-Sarraf crossing also came under the army's control.
The source told SANA that the army units later combed the areas and dismantled bombs planted by the terrorist organizations.
Many of the bad boyz were potted during the army operations, which the source said were "intensive", while others bravely ran away.
Later on the day, an army unit and the popular defense groups established control over the villages of al-Mreij, al-Kart al-Fouqani and al-Kart al-Tahtani and a number of strategic hills in the same countryside.
Deir Ezzor
Field sources in the eastern Deir Ezzor province told SANA that a unit of the army destroyed an armored vehicle filled with huge quantities of explosives for ISIL before reaching one of the military points in the surrounding of Ayash village in the province's western countryside.
Meanwhile, ...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin... another army unit confronted a number of ISIL gunnies who have infiltrated into al-Baghiliah village, inflicting them heavy losses and killed many of them.
Daraa
The army carried out a special operation against gunnies of al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front (Qaeda branch in the Levant), destroying their gatherings to the south of Busra square and in al-Abassiya and al-Karck in Daraa al-Mahata.
Meanwhile, ...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin... terrorist organizations have acknowledged on their websites the killing of a number of terrorists, among them Muhanad Jamal al-Hussein.
Suwaida
An army unit targeted positions of ISIL gunnies in the northeastern countryside of the southern Suwaida province.
A number of ISIL centers and depots containing amounts of weapons and ammunition were destroyed in Ashayhib village.
Aleppo
The Syrian army and allies managed on Saturday to regain control over al-Ajozeyye in Aleppo eastern countryside.
The terrorist groups launched an artillery attack on the besieged town of al-Foaa in Idleb countryside, killing one local.
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[Tolo News] Afghan Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs Faiz Mohammad Osmani on Saturday raised concerns over threats which he believes is emerging from extremism in the country, calling for collective efforts to curb the trend.
Speaking at a seminar of Islamic scholars on Saturday, Osmani called for wider efforts to be taken to end the phenomena before it causes more damage.
Religious scholars from across Afghanistan participated at the event where they declared the Taliban insurgency and atrocities of Daesh [Islamic State]Death Eaters against Islamic principles and human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. .The scholars said that ongoing insurgency can not be justified as Jihad, adding that those involved in such issues aim to tarnish the image of Islam and Muslims, referring to activities of Taliban and Daesh [Islamic State] hardliners.
The three day seminar is aimed at finding a way to curb extremism in the country.
"Comprehensive and effective [measures] weren't taken so far in Afghanistan to combat krazed killer groups, hence, this makes us to review the ongoing process and map out a scientific and cognitive strategy to tackle the issue," Osmani said.
The Afghan people have long suffered from insurgency in their country, he said.
"The discussion involves a war which is being justified in the name of Jihad, the war which is controlled by foreign intelligence aimed to destroy our home and the country, it is war which is aimed to tarnish the image of our religion, this is not the war for Islam and Islamic values," researcher Mohammad Mohiq said.
The scholars strongly condemned the Taliban insurgency and activities of Daesh [Islamic State] krazed killers, announcing it against the human values and Islamic laws.
"The only way to combat this violence and extremism is to seek help from the scholars which can change public mindset," said the head of Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... 's Hajj and religious affairs department Sayed Abdul Wahid.
"Today there is a situation in which even the women and the children aren't safe including the scholars and the elderly people," religious scholar Shahzada Shahid said.
"The violence which is emerging from extremism has destroyed the entire nation, if this extremism is not tackled, this will push Afghanistan toward more crisis," head of Badghis religious affairs department Sayed Abdul Halim said.
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Pro tip: It's prolly the Brits. Could have been the Ruritanians...
...with an outside chance that it was the Italians.
Egyptians? But definitely not the Israelis, so we've narrowed it down.
There is still no clear idea of whose warplanes have twice attacked IS positions in Sirte in the last six days. Neither the government in Beida nor the Libya Dawn administration in Tripoli has claimed responsibility.
Yesterday’s night raid by two aircraft is reported to have targeted buildings on the edge of the town, in the Al-Sabiha and Dahira districts. One site that was hit is said to have been a weapons store. A picture [above], purportedly taken some time today, shows black smoke billowing from a point which is hidden by other buildings.
Locals have said that they heard the sound of aircraft yesterday afternoon, which attracted ground fire from IS. Last Sunday, unidentified warplanes attacked a terrorist convoy, supposedly inflicting heavy casualties. Neither incident was reported by IS.
Warplanes from Egypt and the United States are known to have carried out raids in Libya. The UAE airforce was widely suspected of a series of airstrikes against Libya Dawn targets in September 2014.
In February last year, Egyptian aircraft attacked militants in Derna killing seven people, in response to the IS beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians on a Sirte beach.
Last November US warplanes killed IS terror leader Abu Nabil Al-Anbari in Derna. However, in June an American airstrike that obliterated a farm outside Ajdabiya apparently failed to kill the target, Algerian terrorist leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar.
A few days later another precision raid on the IS headquarters in Sirte killed 16 people and injured dozens more. No one claimed responsibility for that strike.
[NRTTV] Iraq's top Shi'ite holy man Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani on Friday (Jan. 16) condemned the recent surge in violence - bombings claimed by 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 retaliatory assaults this week on Sunni mosques in the province of Diyala.
In a speech delivered by his front man, Sheikh Abdul Mehdi Karbala'i, in Kerbala and that was broadcast on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
, al-Sistani called on the government to end the activities of bully boy groups operating outside of the state.
"A few days ago Muqdadiya town in Diyala province witnessed terrorist acts and regrettable attacks on several mosques and houses of civilians which will definitely have dangerous consequences on peaceful coexistence of the people of this country. As we strongly condemn these attacks, we hold the government security forces fully responsible for preventing their repetition and not permitting the presence of turbans outside the framework of the state."
Shi'ite militias were crucial in keeping IS from overrunning Baghdad and southern Shi'ite shrines during their lightning advance across the Syrian border in 2014, and have supported Iraqi forces pushing back the bully boys, including from parts of Diyala.
The statement comes after at least seven Sunni mosques and dozens of shops in eastern Iraq were Molotov cocktailed on Tuesday (Jan. 12), a day after 23 people were killed in two blasts claimed by IS.
Ten people were also shot and killed in Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
The rise of the Islamist bully boy group IS, which follows a Sunni jihadist ideology, has exacerbated a long-running sectarian conflict in the country, mostly between the Shi'ite majority and minority Sunnis.
A member of the local council in Diyala province where Muqdadiya is located, Haqqi al-Jabouri, said both types of attacks hurt the social fabric of the community. He blamed "undisciplined (Shi'ite) militias" for burning the mosques.
Militia elements have been accused of human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. abuses against Sunnis, allegations the groups have repeatedly denied or blamed on rogue members.
Amal Omran, a Shi'ite member of the Diyala council, blamed the mosque attacks on "infiltrators" seeking to smear the image of the militias.
Iraqi officials declared victory over the murderous Moslems in Diyala, which borders Iran, nearly a year ago after security forces and Shi'ite militias drove them out of towns and villages there. But the turbans have remained active and militia elements have been accused of human rights abuses against Sunni residents.
Sistani, who is widely revered by millions of followers in Iraq and elsewhere, wields authority few Iraqi politicians would openly challenge.
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Offending video game clip can be seen here.
The family of slain Angolan rebel chief Jonas Savimbi are suing the makers of the popular video game 'Call of Duty' for representing his character as a 'barbarian'. A warlord in a poor African country? Seems accurate enough...
Three of Savimbi's children, who live in the Paris region, are seeking one million euros in damages from the French branch of game publisher Activision Blizzard.
Lawyers for both parties describe the case involving defamation over a video character as a first.
The offending clip shows Savimbi, known as the 'Black Cockerel' by his supporters, rallying his troops from the back of a tank as the MPLA advances on them, gunfire rattling all around
Savimbi was the founder and leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), which fought a 27-year civil war with the government in Luanda. He gave it his best shot. Quite difficult to prevail when the entire Western world is against you.
He was killed in battle against MPLA government forces in 2002, paving the way for a peace deal that would bring an end to one of Africa's longest and bloodiest conflicts, which erupted after independence from Portugal in 1975. Sort of like the 'end of conflict' when Castro assumed leadership following the revolution.
The war left at least half a million people dead and forced some four million civilians to flee their homes in the oil-rich nation.
#2
Most were internal movements, Angola is a very big country- area is double of France with just 20 millions now, even less at war time.
We don't have a rape problem from our ex.colonies.
There are ghetto issues but it is mild compared to Europe. Most of our murder rate is related to passion, family/neighbors fights, -i think the murder rate is higher in whites than blacks- than anything to do with gangs.
I still remember a commentary from an Australian tourist in 1980's: "black people seem to be working strong like anyone else"
I have had several black friends in school and college and everyone was like each other.
Here there is nothing of the perverse incentive apartheid system that American journalists and the Left are making in USA.
It should be noted that the Portuguese relationship with Africa went for almost 500 years.
Angola Capital was founded in in 1576 at time as fortress and trading post/market.
When visitors arrived in Lisboa in XVIII century were always admired by the number of blacks and mulatoes.
[REUTERS] Two Swedish citizens who U.S. prosecutors said fought alongside the Islamist turban group al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... in Somalia in battles to take control of the country's capital of Mogadishu were sentenced to 11 years in prison on Friday.
Ali Yasin Ahmed, 31, and Mohammed Yusuf, 33, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge John Gleeson in Brooklyn, New York, in light of their guilty pleas in May to conspiring to provide material support to al-Shabaab.
Prosecutors had sought 15 years in prison for the Somali-born men, who they called "operational members of a terrorist organization."
But while Gleeson said that was correct, he said he also partly accepted their lawyers' characterizations of the men as freedom fighters who only joined al-Shabaab in order to return to war-torn Somalia to fight against Æthiopia.
"This is not a black-and-white situation," Gleeson said.
Prosecutors said Ahmed and Yusuf abandoned their homes in Sweden in 2008 to travel to Somalia to undergo military and doctrinal training with al-Shabaab.
The turban group, which seeks to overthrow Somalia's Western-backed government and impose a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, has links to al Qaeda and has carried out attacks in Kenya and Æthiopia.
After receiving training, Ahmed and Yusuf traveled to Mogadishu, where they fought in battles alongside other U.S. and European fighters who had joined al-Shabaab to take control of the city in 2009, prosecutors said.
Ahmed and Yusuf continued to train and fight with al-Shabaab, prosecutors said, and Yusuf appeared in a propaganda video filmed in Mogadishu urging people to fight on behalf of the turban group.
The men and a former British citizen, Madhi Hashi, were placed in durance vile Please don't kill me! in August 2012 in Djibouti after illegally crossing the border from Somalia on their way to 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... to join al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000... , prosecutors said.
Their lawyers said the men were tortured while in jug in Djibouti over the next several months before being turned over U.S. authorities for prosecution, though their case had no allegations that they intended any direct harm to the United States.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shreve Ariail said the "unconscionable" treatment they received in Djibouti factored into extending plea deals that capped their prison terms at 15 years.
The men, who before pleading guilty faced 30 years to life in prison, will be deported after they are released from prison.
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[Telegraph] If the West carries on admitting large numbers of migrants it must insist they respect our values
In 1993, when I was 17 and my sister were 12 and 11, our family moved to the Turkish capital, Ankara, because of my father's job with the UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR. For the next two years we were leered at, jeered at, hissed at, groped and touched, again and again and again, every single time we left the house. The only time this treatment lessened was if we went out with my father. Once I was groped and hit in the face right outside the president's palace. The guards responded by hooting and laughing and shoving their pelvises at me.
Of course, not all Muslim men behave this way. Not all Muslim societies allow such misogynistic behaviour. I have never been insulted by, say, a sub-Saharan African Muslim or an Indonesian. But the confluence of certain cultural mores with particular interpretations of Islam, and particular understandings about Western women, can produce the toxic brew I've experienced.
For example, when we were in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , dark-haired Western women suffered significantly less harassment and we concluded that this was happening because we were pale and blonde. Male Muslim friends later confirmed that many of their peers consider all Western women "whores", but associate this most strongly with blonde women. Why? We are rarer, more distinct from "their" women, and still highly objectified in our own societies. They associate us with the peroxide performers they see involved in sexual acrobatics in pornographic films and assume this is an accurate portrayal of who we are.
To me, this is akin to thinking all Arab and North African-looking men must be jacket wallahs because the murderous Moslems we see on TV look like them. Such a blanket association would, rightly, not be acceptable in liberal, Western society. Yet this same society seems to shy away from holding men from Muslim backgrounds to similar standards.
It is this that disturbs me almost as much as the mass sexual molestation in Germany. It makes me fear for the future. To begin with the police in Cologne tried not to publicise the ethnicity of the attackers. The city's mayor suggested women keep their distance. Perhaps she thinks they should cover their hair too?
I gave up talking to people about how I was treated by Muslim men a long time ago. Most became uncomfortable, muttered things about cultural sensitivity, or accused me of racism. Yet Islam is not a race, it is a religion; a belief system, a set of cultural constructs and values that are open to interpretation and change. Being white, blonde and female, on the other hand, are constants.
Naturally, the West is not always a bastion of sexual equality and respect. But in my experience the worst examples of misogyny do come from Muslim societies, and disproportionate numbers of Muslim men hold misogynist views. So while we must respect the plight of refugees, I have rights too. So do those German women who were, in my view, subjected too a hate crime. Certainly my attackers always left me feeling hated and dehumanised.
If liberal Europe wants to continue with the current level of Muslim immigration it needs to have an urgent debate about how much cultural relativity it is prepared to tolerate. It needs to stop clinging to the idea that "cultural imperialism" is a purely white western thing, or that to criticise aspects of another culture is to criticise all of it. We need to decide what our values are, protect them and insist that new arrivals respect them.
The harassment I suffered has left a lasting legacy, left me deeply distrustful of all male attention. Intimate relationships have been problematic and I ended up having a child on my own. I don't want my daughter to be distorted by similar experiences.
Jessica McCallin is a journalist who has worked in the Middle East
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/17/2016 5:56
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#5
Islamists teach muslim men they are superior to all women
they teach muslim women to wear a hijab to show modesty, and that they are better than the *bad* muslim women who wont wear a hijab
those who do not wear a hijab are thus *immodest*
Non-muslim women are fair game
Western women who wear no hijab, go out alone, have boyfriends of their own choosing and sex before marriage -- well now they are flat out sluts who are gagging for it. Take your pick and rape or grope them, even if they are 12 years old. That is why there is a huge problem with muslim rape gangs. mohammad took non-muslim women as sex slaves. That is the example.
Imams teach that uncovered women are like uncovered meat - and to blame for their own attacks.
it is so common it has a term *slut shaming* and is something progressive muslim women fight against to no avail
[Iran Press TV] The Syrian army, backed by fighters from allied popular forces, has launched a massive operation to retake the strategic town of Aqrab in the central province of Homs from Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... turbans.
The Syrian forces on Saturday conducted the operation to gain control of the Takfiri turbans' stronghold of Aqrab in northwestern Homs, 12 hours after the government troops captured the village of Jarisah, which is located along the northern border of the al-Rastan Lake.
This comes as a fresh batch of recruits has been deployed to the eastern countryside of Aleppo Province to help protect the roads and villages in order for the Syrian troops to progress further.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard... Arab media said some 20 turbans from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front and Ahrar al-Sham ...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014... were killed in Syrian Arclight airstrikes in the northern countryside of Aleppo.
Separately, the Syrian army seized control of several regions in the coastal province of Latakia after fierce festivities with turbans that left scores of the bully boyz dead.
The Syrian army and popular forces took control of the villages of al-Koum al-Tahtani, al-Koum al-Fouqani, al-Mreij, Katef al-Khabi, al-Kart al-Fouqani and al-Kart al-Tahtani as well as a number of strategic hills in the province.
The Syrian troops also resumed their mop-up operations in the provinces of Damascus, Dara'a, Sweida, and Deir Ezzur.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2016
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#1
Define massive.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/17/2016 6:09
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[CNN] Attackers raided a luxury hotel in Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... overnight, shooting some and taking others hostage in a siege that lasted hours and ended with dozens of people dead.
An al Qaeda-linked terrorist group grabbed credit for the assault at Splendid Hotel -- a popular meeting place for Western diplomats in the capital, Ouagadougou.
The attack began Friday night and dragged on under the cover of darkness. Security forces circled the perimeter to assess the situation before they stormed in hours later.
"Everyone was panicked and was lying down on the floor. There was blood everywhere, they were shooting at people at point blank," said Yannick Sawadogo, who survived the siege.
Scurity forces entered the hotel early Saturday and freed 126 hostages, half of whom were hospitalized, according to Burkina Faso's Foreign Minister, Alpha Barry.
Burkina Faso's Security Minister Simon Compaore said 23 people from 18 countries had been killed. Gilles Thibault, La Belle France's ambassador to Burkina Faso, said 27 were dead.
Two Frenchies were among the dead, CNN affiliate BFMTV reported, citing the French Foreign Ministry.
It was unclear whether either corpse count included the four attackers -- including two women -- that Compaore said were killed.
Thibault said three attackers died, and none of them were women.
Survivors described horrific scenes as the attackers paced and fired in the hotel Friday night.
"We could hear them talking and they were walking around and kept shooting at people who seemed alive," Sawadogo told CNN affiliate BFMTV.
Sawadogo said he escaped through a broken window, and could barely see because of smoke.
Burkinabe forces scoured rooms at the hotel, looking for hard boyz and any remaining hostages. Those rescued included a government minister, state media reported.
The West African nation's forces received logistical support from American and French troops. Shortly after the forces stormed the hotel, the sounds of gunshots faded.
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[Tolo News] The Pentagon is preparing to punish specific members of the U.S special operations forces and others involved in a bungled Arclight airstrike on Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) -- or Doctors without Borders -- hospital in northern Kunduz province.
The Arclight airstrike that was carried out in October last year during the Taliban's siege on Kunduz city - which left 42 civilians, including MSF staff, dead.
U.S and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... forces commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Campbell, has forwarded an exhaustive 3,000-page investigation into the incident to the U.S Central Command along with his recommendations for disciplinary action against the troops involved in the Arclight airstrike.
Staffers at the Tampa, Fla.-based Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will likely need "about two to three weeks" to redact the Kunduz report for potential public release, said one defense official who is not authorized to speak for attribution. The official said that no decisions have been made about when and if it might be made public.
One congressional staffer told Foreign Policy that the U.S Army Green Beret team on the ground on the night of the attack has come under particular scrutiny from Sherlocks for their role in calling in the strike by an AC-130 gunship, which lasted about 30 minutes.
In addition to the 42 killed, including 14 of the aid group's staffers, several dozen others were maimed. MSF has called the attack a "war crime."
Also likely in the crosshairs of Sherlocks is Army Lt. Col. Jason Johnston, the commander of the military's special operations task force in Afghanistan. Given the strict rules of engagement in Afghanistan, it's likely that his superior, Army Maj. Gen. Sean Swindell, who oversees all U.S and NATO special operations forces in the country, and Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott West, the overall commander of the air war in Afghanistan, are also likely to have drawn the attention of the Sherlocks.
If the only military personnel reprimanded are enlisted soldiers or junior officers, it will further infuriate MSF, which has already made clear that it didn't believe the Pentagon could be trusted adequately investigate itself. The aid group has called for an independent investigation.
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#1
You're sure you can afford to keep this man in WH until next January?
#2
grom, apparently elements of the military still have some initiative left. He's got to finish crushing that before he leaves office. "Who dares, goes to jail."
Posted by: Matt ||
01/17/2016 14:45
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[ALMANAR.LB] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... on Saturday condemned as "extremely worrying" The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's arrest of academics who signed a petition criticizing a military crackdown in the Kurdish-dominated southeast. Everybody say "tut tut." There. Doesn't that feel better?
"The steps taken against the Turkish academics who signed a declaration regarding events in the southeast of Turkey are an extremely worrying development," an EU spokesperson on foreign affairs said in a statement.
"They are no longer detained, but the procedures against them are ongoing."
Turkish police on Friday detained at least 18 academics who signed a petition criticizing a military crackdown in the southeast, triggering new alarm about freedom of expression in the country.
They were locked away Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! in raids targeting 21 academics accused of disseminating "terrorist propaganda" by signing a petition denouncing military operations against Kurdish rebels.
Fifteen academics and lecturers from the University of Kocaeli, near Istanbul, were initially detained, with another three academics from Uludag University in western Bursa province later held in their offices, Turkey's Dogan news agency said.
The academics were questioned for a day before being released, Dogan reported late Friday.
"While reaffirming our strongest condemnation of all forms of terrorist attacks, including by the PKK ... we restate that the fight against terrorism must fully respect obligations under international law, including human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... and humanitarian law", the EU spokesperson said.
"Freedom of expression must be upheld, in line with the Copenhagen political criteria; an intimidating climate goes against this.
"We expect Turkey ensure that its legislation is implemented in a manner which is in line with European standards enshrined in the European Convention for Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights."
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[DAWN] THE series of raids in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. against money changers possibly involved in illegal hundi and hawala transactions is a welcome development.
However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... far more effort is required to shut this business down. It is widely known that money changers deal in enormous amounts of cash on a daily basis, and dollars are literally auctioned on the streets in rapid makeshift markets that rise and disperse quickly.
The FIA has been active in the area for a while now, with some officials claiming that over 200 shops in the Chowk Yadgar area, where the money changers are located, have been sealed, 150 traders enjugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! and 126 cases filed.
The KP apex committee discussed the possible role of Peshawar-based currency dealers in terrorism financing back in November. Then in late December, a leaked report reflected the concerns of the law-enforcement agencies about how the informal market for currency exchange in this area is being used for terrorism financing.
On Thursday, the FIA in KP conducted another large raid in the area and arrested 45 dealers.
There appears to be a strengthened push to clamp down on illegal hundi and hawala operators in Peshawar. Some of these operators engage in money transactions so large that there have been occasions -- admittedly rare though -- where their dealings have been felt at the State Bank and have possibly impacted the exchange rate.
Turnover volumes in the Peshawar clearinghouse, where all paper instruments such as cheques and pay orders are processed, are also amongst the largest in the country, after the cities of Lahore and Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... .
Such massive volumes of turnovers, in paper clearing and currency exchange, in the absence of any visible economic activity is grounds for suspicion that a portion of these is very likely linked to illegal business and possibly even terrorism financing.
But it will take far more than the heavy hand of the state, or even the apex committee, to bring this business into the full light of day. A larger policy response is needed to shut down the capillaries of terrorism financing, rather than relying on periodic crackdowns and criminal prosecutions alone.
The federal government needs to do more to coordinate the overall effort against this lethal funding to supplement the efforts of the KP apex committee. Thus far, going after this kind of financing is one of the weaker links in the implementation of the National Action Plan.
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[DAWN] "IN the recent history of relations between India and Pakistain, it has seemed an immutable law: that any apparent political breakthrough will be followed by a terrorist atrocity in India blamed on agents of the Pakistain state." Further, "to call off the dialogue gives the Death Eaters what they want".
This is what The Economist said a week after the terrorist attack on the air force base in Pathankot. There was a terrorist attack in Gurdaspur on 27 July last. It is all very reminiscent of the train blasts in Mumbai in July 2006 and the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on Nov 26, 2008.
The one common feature in all these outrages in the decade from 2006 to 2016 is that they were perpetrated in the phase when détente in the relations between India and Pakistain seemed promising.
There is, however, a marked difference between the reaction to the Pathankot incident and the one to the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The consensus is in favour of proceeding with that process while seeking redress for the wrongs; by making an end to terrorism the first item on the agenda of the talks.
The most significant comment came from the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. "As we have seen in the past, whenever there is a serious effort made by India and Pakistain to resolve issues, incidents like this have taken place with the aim to derail the dialogue process. The elements who seek to vitiate the atmosphere and derail the dialogue process are working against the interest of the people of South Asia."
It urged the prime ministers "to carry forward and work together to try and rid the region of conflict and violence".
There are fundamental differences between the reactions to Pathankot and Mumbai. One is India's trust in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... This explains India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh's statement on Jan 12: "The Pak government has said it will take effective action. I think we should wait."
He referred to press reports of the government of Pakistain executing the arrest of some persons suspected of complicity in the Jan 2 attack and to the high-level team it had set up to look into the evidence given by the Indian government.
He pointedly said, "Since they have given an assurance to the Indian government, we don't have any reason to doubt them. We should wait for some time. There is no reason to distrust them as of now."
But this also raises expectations in India. If results are not forthcoming -- as in the Mumbai case -- the trust will be transformed into bitter disappointment. Diplomacy must work its way despite acts of terrorism.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi told his host at Lahore, on Dec 25: "Ab yahan aana jaana laga rahega" (Now there will be visits). Those who attacked the Pathankot air force base must be renewing their sordid resolve as doggedly.
Is it not time that a durable, effective mechanism against terrorism was devised, simultaneously with action against the culprits in Pakistain, for the countries to set in motion whenever the holy warriors launch an attack? Former prime minister Manmohan Singh and president Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... had devised one at Havana in 2006 but it got nowhere for political reasons.
In 2008, the two countries came fairly close to evolving one on an ad hoc basis. Had it succeeded, it would have laid the basis for a permanent accord. Reportedly, when the two prime ministers spoke on the phone soon after the attacks, Manmohan Singh invited the director general of the ISI. This was agreed to but then the ISI objected.
The crucial question is the degree of cooperation in the investigation. Sending the intelligence chief was too much to expect of any state. Very soon after the announcement, it was clarified that someone of lower rank would go; the director general following him, if need be.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2016
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Community elders have mediated to release two hostages from the custody of Taliban militants in southeastern Ghazni province.
The two civilians spent several days in Taliban captivity before they were released and reunited with their families yesterday.
Fahim Amiree, spokesperson for the police headquarters of Ghazni said the two civilians were dragged out of the vehicles in the jurisdiction of Qarabagh District while on their way from Jaghori District to the province capital.
Taliban then took them to an undisclosed location but community elders mediated and secured their release.
They are residents of Jaghori District.
Ghazni has been the scene of several cases of abduction in recent months. About three months before militants kidnapped seven civilians including a child, two women and four men from Ghazni’s Gilan District and later their decapitated bodies were recovered in Khak-e-Afghan District of southern Zabul province.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi police said on Friday, that two civilians had been killed by a militant attack in northern Baghdad.
The source reported for IraqiNews.com, “Today, unidentified militants opened fire against two civilians in the area of al-Fahama in northern Baghdad, resulting in the immediate death of both of them.”
“A security source arrived in the area of the incident and transferred the two bodies to the forensic medicine department, while opened an investigation into the incident,” the source added.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source within the police force said on Saturday, that a man had been killed in a militant attack in eastern Baghdad, while a woman was wounded by another attack in western Baghdad.
The source reported for IraqiNews.com, “Today, unidentified militants driving a motorcycle opened their fire against a man in the city of al-Sadr in eastern Baghdad, resulting in his immediate death,” adding that, “Other unidentified gunmen opened fire against a woman in the neighborhood of Hattin in western Baghdad, resulting in her injury.”
“The security forces transferred the dead to the forensic medicine department, while the woman was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment,” the source also added.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi police said on Saturday, that gunmen robbed 75 million dinars from a banking store west of Baghdad.
The source said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “Today, unidentified gunmen stormed a banking store in Yarmouk District, and opened fire on the owner of the shop, resulting in his injury,” adding that “The gunmen stole 75 million dollars from the shop.”
The source, who requested anonymous, added, “The security forces arrived in the area of the incident and transferred the injured to a nearby hospital.”
[Iran Press TV] As the Saudi invasion continues to claim more civilian lives, a Yemeni criminal court continues deliberation of charges against the country’s fugitive former president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his aides. The charges were filed by the attorney general and relatives of those who lost their loved ones. He'll likely be executed in absentia, too.
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[Dhaka Tribune] A total of 600 UK citizens have been caught trying to enter Syria to join 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.... and other Islamist groups since 2012, the foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, has said.
Speaking on a visit to southern The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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[ALMANAR.LB] Malaysian police said Saturday they had jugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! a suspected krazed killer with weapons and documents related to the ISIL group at a train station in the capital Kuala Lumpur.
Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said in a tweet that the man was arrested Friday at a station in Jelatik, close to the center of the city.
No further details were immediately available. Police were expected to release more details later in the day.
Malaysia has been on high alert since bomb and gun attacks in neighboring Indonesia's capital city Thursday.
Security has been beefed up security in public areas and the country is taking extra measures to secure border areas fearing infiltration of bad boys.
Indonesian police potted one suspected krazed killer and arrested two more in raids across the country Friday, a day after an attack by ISIL jacket wallahs and gunnies in Jakarta that killed seven people.
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[DAWN] Here's a hypothetical situation: You have a 15-year-old son, and he hacks off his own hand after believing he has committed blasphemy. How would you react?
Shock? Horror? Perhaps, a few weeks of introspection wondering where you have gone wrong as a parent?
How about pride, joy, and celebration instead?
In Pakistain, where all sorts of bizarre reports make headlines, it isn't often that we sit up and take notice of news stories. Yet, this is exactly what happened recently, when a 15-year-old boy in a village close to Lahore in the Hujra Shah Muqeem district, cut off his own hand believing he had committed blasphemy.
As reports claim, the youngster was at a mosque when the imam asked the worshipers who among them wasn't offering prayers regularly. This was after he had stated that those who love the Prophet (PTUI!) don't miss out on their prayers.
When the boy raised his hand after mishearing the question, the imam, alongside the attendees around him, shamed the 15-year-old for committing blasphemy. Some reports even state that the boy was beaten by the holy man for his 'sin'.
The psychological impact of the public disgrace propelled the child. He wanted to prove beyond doubt that he was not a blasphemer.
So much so that to punish himself, using a fodder cutting machine, he sliced off the very hand he had raised at the mosque.
Then, the child presented his appendage to the preacher on a plate.
Rather than be appalled at the sight of a child's bloody hand, the neighbourhood cheered the youngster, hailing him a hero. His parents, too, beamed with pride.
Once you absorb the disturbing nature of this incident, you have to take pause.
You have to wonder about the established set of attitudes of the boy, his parents, the holy man, and the people of the entire village.
What kind of a people respond to such a gruesome act in a celebratory fashion?
Are we all OK with the way this boy was treated?
Clearly, we are.
More importantly, if the boy was so desperate to prove that he wasn't a blasphemer that he was willing to part with his own hand, what else was he prepared to do?
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2016
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#1
And yet we are asked, no demanded, to full embrace this culture and celebrate it in the name of multiculturism. We are encouraged to celebrate with the parents.
#8
He can't stop "going to the bathroom," though excreting may be the more correct term. Whether he can "clean himself" is absolutely a question to be asked.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/17/2016 13:24
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#9
The question goes to whether he now will be able to feed himself or go to the bathroom...
Now that you bring this up, it makes me think maybe the kid should have thought about this more than he did.
[DAWN] At least two people were killed and three injured after a passenger van was ambushed near Chontra on Friday, the police said.
The van carrying 15 passengers was on its way to Chontra from Rawalpindi when it was attacked by two men on cycle of violences near the Dehri Village of Chontra.
A local of the area, Chaudhry Shaukat Ali, told Dawn: "One of the attackers looked like he was in his 30s and his accomplice, who was carrying a kalashnikov, looked to be in his 40s."
The attackers are believed to have been waiting for the van in which their rivals were travelling. After stopping the vehicle, they first asked the driver to step down. They broke a window on the left side of the van and aimed at their rivals. You're driving a van and two men try to stop you, one of them carrying a Kalashnikov. Do you
a.) Stop.
b.) Turn around and go back the way you were coming.
c.) Speed up and run them down.
d.) Call a Pakistained policeman.
A police official said the men then opened fire, killing their rivals, Fazal Dad and Mohammad Ashraf, who were sitting in the front seat, on the spot
"Which spot?"
"THAT spot!"
and injured three others, including two women.
The dead and injured were moved to the District Headquarters Hospital.
"The two men who were targeted were returning to their village after sitting in on a murder trial in Rawalpindi."
A senior police official said: "The two men who were targeted were returning to their village after sitting in on a murder trial in Rawalpindi."
City Police Officer (CPO) Israr Ahmed Abbasi told Dawn the motive behind the murder was old enmity.
"The attackers have been identified and live in the same village. Police reinforcements have been sent there to avoid festivities between the two families," CPO Israr said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2016
00:00 ||
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[NRTTV] The United States said it has not committed to pay the Iraqi security forces, including Peshmerga forces, fighting 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) bad boys.
A U.S. State Department official told NRT on Friday (Jan. 15) that nearly $2.3 billion dollars has been spent to support the military fight against IS, quoting the total amount from the U.S.-led Coalition.
"Equipping is another component of enhancing our combat effectiveness. There's been approximately $2.3 billion total from the Coalition allocated to equipping the Iraqi Security Forces. Of that, $1.6 billion is U.S. funding and is done through the Iraq Train and Equip fund, or ITAF," the US official told NRT.
The statement continued, "The vast majority of our energy goes to training Iraqi army formations, whether those are Peshmerga -- of which we've trained about 6,000 or regular Iraqi army in the south -- that's where the majority of our training is focused. We've also trained several thousand Sunni tribal fighters."
The U.S. agreed to keep in touch with the Iraqi government and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over the financial crisis in the future, the official said.
"We have met with both Iraqi and Kurdish delegations over the financial crisis and its impact on the battlefield, we agreed to stay in close contact with them in the future. The US government has not committed to pay ISF forces, the Iraqi Government pays them all," the U.S. State Department confirmed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2016
00:00 ||
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[7 views]
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#1
Why do we have to fund their security forces? Maybe they should learn to take care of themselves sooner or later.
Posted by: chris ||
01/17/2016 10:39
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[Iran Press TV] Amnesia Amnesty International says new evidence confirms that 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... has used US-manufactured cluster munitions in a recent Arclight airstrike on the Yemeni capital of Sana'a.
On Friday, the London-based rights group said Riyadh dropped the internationally banned cluster munitions on Sana'a in an air attack on January 6, which killed a 16-year-old boy and injured at least six other civilians.
The organization also said the attack scattered submunitions in at least four different residential neighborhoods.
Amnesty also urged the Persian Gulf kingdom to immediately stop using the weapons.
This comes as Saudi Arabia admitted on January 12 that its military had used cluster bombs in the aggression against Yemen.
The front man for the Saudi military, Ahmad al-Asiri, claimed that Riyadh had used cluster bombs just once in an Arclight airstrike on the northwestern province of Hajjah to attack cars belonging to Yemeni fighters nearly nine months ago.
Earlier this month, the UN human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. office said it had received reports that Saudi forces had used cluster bombs in Hajjah, adding that a UN team found remnants of 29 cluster submunitions in the village of al-Odair. Local sources in Hajjah also confirmed the repeated use of the bombs in attacks against villages, saying the Arclight airstrikes had caused significant loss of life among the civilians.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2016
00:00 ||
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[6 views]
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#2
News flash to Amnesia, unlike you, cluster bombs work.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/17/2016 6:03
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#3
internationally banned cluster munitions
But if any of the 98 idiots sovereign nations that signed the treaty ever need us to defend their sorry asses, they'll be first in line screaming for us to use everything we got and SCREW the convention...
Mik
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/17/2016 10:54
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#4
Exactly what was the reason for banning "cluster Bombs"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/17/2016 15:03
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#6
Exactly what was the reason for banning "cluster Bombs"?
They're effective against masses of troops, which was the primary Soviet strategy. Same with mines, as the Soviets expected to be attacking Western Europe.
Pretty much all western "peace" movements from the start of the Soviet Union to its fall can be considered strategic maneuvering for them to gain an advantage. Their puppets even defended Hitler, up to the moment he attacked the Soviets.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/17/2016 17:44
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Three Americans have been kidnapped in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad by "militias," according to Arab news channel Al Arabiya, citing its own sources.
[Breitbart] Mystery still surrounds the couple that carried out the Islamic terror attacks in San Bernardino that killed 14, and the FBI is still haunted by questions. Were there accomplices and what was planned for unused bombs found in the couple's apartment?
[Iran Press TV] Thousands of Greek people have once again taken to the streets in the capital, Athens, to protest against planned modifications of the country's pension system demanded by international lenders in return for rescue funds.
[Dhaka Tribune] Police last night recovered five of a family with throats slit in a house in Baburail area of Narayanganj sadar upazila.
A group of armed insurgents launched an attack on a micro finance bank in northern Parwan province of Afghanistan, local officials said Saturday.
...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in 
[IN.REUTERS] German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has proposed the introduction of a special tax on gasoline in 
ALEPPO – Russian fighter jets conducted fierce airstrikes in Syria’s northeastern city of Raqqa, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, activists reported on Saturday.
[DAWN] LAHORE: Okara police on Saturday 
[EXPRESS.CO.UK] Dr Amnon Eden said more needs to be done to look at the risks of continuing towards an AI world.
[Iran Press TV] Hawkish American commentator Bill O'Reilly has vowed to flee to Ireland if Democratic presidential candidate 
[REUTERS] Two Swedish citizens who U.S. prosecutors said fought alongside the Islamist
[Iran Press TV] The Syrian army, backed by fighters from allied popular forces, has launched a massive operation to retake the strategic town of Aqrab in the central province of Homs from 
[ALMANAR.LB] The 
[DAWN] "IN the recent history of relations between India and Pakistain, it has seemed an immutable law: that any apparent political breakthrough will be followed by a terrorist atrocity in India blamed on agents of the Pakistain state." Further, "to call off the dialogue gives the 
There is, however, a marked difference between the reaction to the Pathankot incident and the one to the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The consensus is in favour of proceeding with that process while seeking redress for the wrongs; by making an end to terrorism the first item on the agenda of the talks.
Pervez 
[ALMANAR.LB] Malaysian police said Saturday they had 
[DAWN] At least two people were killed and three injured after a passenger van was ambushed near Chontra on Friday, the police said.
