China is planning to install new propulsion technology on its newest classes of submarines, making them much harder for American sonar systems to detect and track.
According to a Chinese media report, Beijing is developing pump-jet propulsion for its subs. The system has been widely used on American and British submarines since it offers much more noise reduction than conventional submarine propellers.
One of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s top engineers, Rear Adm. Ma Weiming, told China Central Television that the Chinese propulsion technology "is now way ahead of the United States, which has also been developing similar technology." Probably due to a combination of us connecting design servers to the internet where they can be hacked, allowing Chinese nationals and sympathizers to work with our military where they can steal stuff, and training their citizens in sensitive fields in our universities because they magically come up with the money to pay out-of-state tuition without much fuss. Surely it was worth it.
Ma is said to be held in very high regard by navy brass. At one point, a photo posted on social media showed the commander of the People’s Liberation Army Navy holding an umbrella over Ma’s head, a sure sign his expertise is revered in Beijing.
The Chinese are reportedly slated to introduce the technology on some of their Type 095 submarines, known to NATO as the Sui-class, as well as the Type 096 class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. According to GlobalSecurity.org, the Type 095 displaces about 7,900 tons, and is armed with a number of 21-inch torpedo tubes, and the ability to fire land-attack cruise missiles and YJ-83 anti-ship missiles. Not that they really need it given they seem to have a penchant for popping up in the middle of our carrier attack groups with impunity.
China’s current nuclear submarine fleet includes a mix of Type 091 Han-class and Type 093 Shang-class attack submarines and Type 092 Xia-class and Type 094 Jin-class attach submarines. The Han-class submarines were particularly noted for their noisiness while operating, while the Shang-class submarines are considered to be comparable to the Soviet-era Victor III-class vessels.
#7
Goes to show how good our boats are, we know they are there and let them trail right over our seabed sensors. Not to mention the drones that can last at sea for months at a time. they don't use props or jets, they fly in the water.
An Iraqi commander says he believes some 300 Islamic State fighters remain in the small patch of territory still controlled by the group in Mosul's Old City.
Lt. Gen. Sami al-Aridi of Iraq's special forces said Wednesday that the militants are confined to a 500 square meter (600 square yard or about 5,300 square feet) area. I'd like to just bomb it, but that conflicts with my desire to make these ba$tards pay. And to set an example for how any and all folks who belong/belonged to ISIS need to be treated.
He spoke the day after Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated the armed forces on a "big victory" in Mosul, despite ongoing clashes.
About 900,000 people, or nearly half of the city's population prior to the fighting, have been displaced amid the battle with ISIS in the city, fleeing to camps or staying with relatives or friends.
Doctors without Borders has warned that trauma cases have risen sharply during the final stages of the battle.
"Really, (there is) a huge level of human suffering," said Jonathan Henry, MSF emergency coordinator in West Mosul, who recently spent six weeks in Iraq. "This is a massive population that has been traumatized from a very brutal and horrific conflict," he said.
Tens of thousands of civilians are still stuck in and around ISIS' redoubt among the rubble of Mosul's Old City.
IS captured Mosul in a matter of days when it swept across northern and central Iraq in the summer of 2014. Iraqi forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition launched a major operation to retake the city in October.
Posted by: gorb ||
07/05/2017
15:04 ||
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[NYP] After leading police on a chase through Nebraska, DUI suspect Brian Davis crashed his car and found himself facing two officers. After he allegedly failed to comply with their orders, dashcam footage shows that he was struck in the head by Trooper Lindsey Bixby, which apparently contradicts Bixby's later testimony.
[WSJ] WARSAW--Like many of his fellow Polish pro-government lawmakers, Dominik Tarczynski is sending a busload of constituents to Warsaw on Thursday to cheer for President Donald Trump. The buses are being provided by a foundation close to the governing party.
"It’s going to be huge--absolutely huge," Mr. Tarczynski said of the coming welcome for Mr. Trump. "They just love him, the people in Poland--they just really love him."
Poland is working to put on a hero’s welcome for Mr. Trump as he prepares to give a major speech to thousand of Poles in a Warsaw square. Behind that effort is a recognition across the continent that Mr. Trump has the potential to change the balance of power in Europe.
President Barack Obama formed a close bond with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and backed her liberal worldview, her acceptance of immigrants, and her support for a deeply integrated European Union. Now it is nationalist governments such as Poland’s that hope Mr. Trump will see them as ideological kindred spirits and back their push to loosen the European Union and rebalance it away from Berlin.
"There’s this new success--Trump’s visit," Jaroslaw Kaczynski, chairman of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, said at a party congress over the weekend. Tweaking European officials who are nervous that Mr. Trump’s visit could deepen the divide on the continent, Mr. Kaczynski went on: "They’re envious of it!"
Poland, where the conservative Law and Justice government took over in 2015, is locked in an escalating feud with the EU’s executive body in Brussels and with Western European capitals. The European Commission has said the government’s changes to the Polish judicial system, including appointing its own judges to the Constitutional Court, undermine the rule of law.
French President Emmanuel Macron suggested Poland was rejecting European democratic principles and treating the bloc like “a supermarket,” implying it is taking advantage of the EU without following all of its norms.
German politicians often slam Poland for failing to take in refugees and for reducing press freedoms.
In Mr. Trump, some Polish politicians and commentators see a leader who has campaigned against accepting refugees and criticized the EU and Germany’s influence in the bloc.
“Regarding refugees, the Polish government has the same position as Americans—we want strict restrictions on refugees,” said Krzysztof Mróz, a Law and Justice lawmaker who plans to dispatch two buses full of Trump fans—98 people—from his district at 2 a.m. on Thursday morning for the 300-mile drive to Warsaw.
[TownHall] Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (BfV) acknowledged Tuesday that hundreds of jihadists were among the million-plus migrants that came to Germany over the last two years.
There were five Islamic terror attacks in the country last year, while at least seven other attempted attacks failed or were thwarted. This trend will likely continue, the agency argued.
"We have to assume that we can expect further attacks by individuals or terror commandos in Germany too," BfV chief Hans-Georg Maassen said at a press conference Tuesday. "Islamist terrorism is the biggest challenge facing the BfV and we see it as one of the biggest threats facing the internal security of Germany."
The agency's annual report for 2016 said there were 24,400 Islamists in Germany, including around 9,700 Salafists, and the number of Salafists had increased to 10,100 this year. The total also includes some 10,000 members of the Turkish Islamist Milliu Gorus movement, the report showed.
The total number of suspected Islamists marks a drop from the year earlier, but the report said that did not mean the threat had diminished.
"In fact the opposite is the case," the report said, citing a shift toward "a more violence-prone and terrorist spectrum ..." (Reuters)
According to Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, Germany has ramped up its efforts to combat Islamic terrorism, particularly over the last year when there was a record number of arrests, prosecutions and deportations.
Security officials are currently monitoring roughly 680 potential Islamic terror threats, he said.
[WSJ] The U.S. warned North Korea that it is ready to fight if provoked, as Pyongyang claimed another weapons-development breakthrough following its launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile a day earlier.
The regime, having demonstrated its capacity to reach the U.S. with a missile, on Wednesday touted another achievement of the test launch: It claimed that its missile warhead--the forward section, which carries the explosive--can withstand the extreme heat and pressure of re-entering the earth's atmosphere.
If true--the claim couldn't be independently verified--that would clear another hurdle in developing a nuclear-tipped missile that can reach American cities.
As tensions between Washington and Pyongyang rose, Gen. Vincent Brooks, the top American military commander in South Korea, said in a statement Wednesday that the U.S. and South Korea are prepared to go to war with the North if given the order.
"Self restraint, which is a choice, is all that separates armistice and war," Gen. Brooks said. "We are able to change our choice when so ordered....It would be a grave mistake for anyone to believe anything to the contrary."
Earlier in the day, allied armies conducted a rare live-fire drill, launching tactical surface-to-surface missiles off the east coast of Korea--an action they said was aimed directly at "countering North Korea's destabilizing and unlawful actions on July 4."
The drill and tough language appeared meant to reassure Seoul after North Korea's successful ICBM test, a significant advance.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson described the development as an escalation of the threat to the U.S. It came despite years of sanctions and warnings aimed at preventing Kim Jong Un's regime from reaching the milestone.
#1
Yeah and just wIT TILL WE GET THEM WALKERS AND 3 POINTED CANES UP TO THE FRONT LiNES AND DENTURES AND POLY GRIP YOUZ A GONNA GET A tuunge lashing and just way til we get the ben gay and adult diapers on youz bastards is gonna pay we been here for over 6 decades cuz of them damn french stinky bo bastards youz just wait north korea we mean it this time will someone change my diapy and get me my bingo cards and marker the North Koreans have started up the bingo game over the loud speakers on the DMZ and imzzz gonna win this time!
#5
North Korea has announced that it will no longer abide by the armistice at least 6 times, in the years 1994, 1996, 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2013.[46][47] - wiki
#10
...Something that would get their attention - and right quickly at that - would be not showing up at the next meeting of the armistice commission, and with no warning. Just let the Norks sit there for an hour or so with no explanation.
See, we ALWAYS go to the meetings. Never missed one. If we didn't show up, that would set off some serious alarm bells.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/05/2017 18:17
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Can anyone confirm this? Seems like it would be a bad thing for Pamela if this turned out to be untrue.
The three Muslim refugee boys who plead guilty to the heinous sexual assault of a five-year-old girl in Idaho received no jail time in their sentencing yesterday (Tuesday), according to Pamela Geller, President of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI). The judge barred everyone in the courtroom, including the victim’s own parents, from speaking about the case and threatened anyone with serious consequences if they violated his directive, Geller reported.
The rape occurred at Fawnbrook Apartments, in Twin Falls, when the three Muslims lured a 5-year-old girl into a laundry room and there committed upon her the most infamous acts of cruelty and barbarism, while the oldest boy filmed the entire incident.
Following a sentencing hearing Monday at the Snake River Juvenile Detention Center in Twin Falls, Judge Thomas Borresen of Idaho’s 5th Judicial District issued a gag order barring those present in the courtroom from discussing it.
Geller says that the victim’s lawyer is facing contempt charges because of a benign comment he made to the Idaho Statesman about the parents’ unhappiness with the verdict.
WorldNetDaily consulted with Mathew Staver, chairman and co-founder of the nonprofit legal assistance agency Liberty Counsel, about the legality of issuing such a gag order after the fact in a criminal case: "It’s unconstitutional for the judge to do that. There are gag orders that can be put on people during a jury trial, or if it’s a minor they can prohibit you from mentioning the name of the minor, but they can’t gag you after the fact," Staver said. "This is public at this point. This judge, it just seems like he’s forgotten about the First Amendment in this case. He has no authority to do this, he can’t hold someone in contempt to keep them from speaking out about their displeasure with the case after the fact."
Staver said case law is clear on the subject of gag orders.
"The travesty of justice in Idaho is now complete," wrote Geller. "In the summer of 2016, a 5-year-old girl was sexually assaulted and urinated upon by three Muslim migrant boys in Twin Falls, Idaho. Since then, instead of getting justice, the victim’s family has been abused by law enforcement and governing authorities as if they were the criminals ‐ because what happened to their little girl contradicts the politically correct narrative about Muslim migrants. On Monday, the perpetrators were sentenced, and the final injustice was done to this poor girl.
"The injustice began in the proceedings at the Snake River Juvenile Detention Center in Twin Falls when Judge Thomas Borreson of Idaho’s 5th Judicial District ordered the little victim’s parents to say nothing to anyone ‐ ever ‐ about what was said in the courtroom Monday, or to disclose the sentence he gave to the savage attackers. He did allow them to say that they were unhappy with the sentencing, but threatened to jail them for contempt of court if they disclosed why they were unhappy with it.
"But even though the victim’s parents were not allowed to talk to me, there were 12 to 15 people in the courtroom who saw and heard the whole sorry business. I was informed of what happened by an anonymous source inside the courtroom ‐ and the more I heard, the more I understood why this judge wanted to keep all the proceedings secret.
"Janice Kroeger, the senior deputy prosecuting attorney, who was supposed to be trying these boys for their crimes, defended the boys and repeatedly attacked Lacy, the victim’s mother. A therapist for the boys was present, as well as a parole officer and a detective. Everything that was said was designed to portray the perpetrators as victims. Throughout the proceedings, they were repeatedly called victims, and the youngest one was called ’the biggest victim of them all.’
"The court heard all about how the attackers are doing well in school, and about how smart they are. They were praised for the supposed ordeal they had to go through. It was claimed that all three are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from having to go through courtroom proceedings.
"After this lovefest, which lasted for five hours in the courtroom, all three boys were sentenced, one after the other. All three were given probation. They were not found guilty of rape, but of sexually lewd conduct.
"In the midst of this judicial mugging, every time Lacy’s lawyer tried to speak up, he was silenced. The little victim, Jayla, was never even mentioned once by Kroeger or the judge ‐ or by the police or anyone else. Only Lacy mentioned her, when she made her statement. Lacy detailed how the poor girl is still suffering the effects of this attack...
"Yet when Lacy completed her statement, Kroeger lashed out not at the perpetrators or their parents, but at Lacy. She viciously tongue-lashed Lacy for a full 15 minutes, until finally Judge Borreson had to stop her.
"Understandably, the parents of the victim were and are devastated. Back in April, when the attackers initially pleaded guilty, Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs said: ’I am pleased that we were able to resolve this case in a way that was approved and agreed to by the victim’s family. This continues to be a serious and sad case, but it was resolved properly.’
"Nothing could be further from the truth. The resolution of the case was not accepted by the victim’s family, and it was not resolved properly.
"From the beginning to the end, for Idaho officials this case was about one thing, and one thing only: not justice for this poor little girl who was brutalized and abused, but about making sure that Americans don’t start to realize what is happening and oppose the Muslim migrant influx. Idaho officials were willing to sacrifice this girl’s well-being for that goal ‐ to their everlasting shame," wrote Pamela Geller.
#1
I had previously heard of this outcome. There's a lot in this article that needs to be unraveled. The gag order itself is a major red flag. Justice is blind - it is not mute. Something stinks here
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/05/2017 13:17
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#2
The Idaho Statesman wrote about the sentencing on June 6 here. Key bits from the article:
With the proceedings sealed from the public, like most juvenile court records in Idaho, the specifics of the recent sentencing are unavailable.
Prosecutors and police said a sexual assault did occur at the Fawnbrook Apartments, but many of the details — the knife, that it was a rape, sharing the video, even the defendants’ ethnicities — were wrong.
Sealed cases are especially common in incidents involving minors who commit sexual assaults, said Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs, who handled the Fawnbrook case.
Some small updates have been released over time, and Loebs’ office announced in April that the boys had reached plea agreements and admitted their guilt.
Three boys, ages 14, 10, and 7, were charged in the case. The older boys, brothers, are from Eritrea, an African country, while the younger boy is from Iraq. The boys are from refugee families, but it is unclear how long they had been in the community.
What is known is that one of the boys touched the girl inappropriately inside the apartment complex’s laundry facilities. Another boy recorded the assault on a phone.
One boy pleaded guilty to felony exploitation of a child and misdemeanor battery. A second boy pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting felony lewd conduct and aiding and abetting misdemeanor battery. The third boy pleaded guilty to accessory to the commission of a felony.
#2
As the research shows, the tradition of close cousin marriage leads to a much higher rate of mental as well as physical disabilities in the population. And those with mental problems intrepret the thoughts that appear in their brains the way their culture teaches.
In the old days we locked such people up before they committed crimes; nowadays we say they have a right to their delusions if they don't want to be medicated, unless they are in the process of harming themselves or others.
[HuffingtonPost] Soon after two Silicon Valley billionaires launched an online initiative to rejuvenate the Democratic Party Monday night, veteran progressive political operatives began mocking it as an out-of-touch vanity project.
Mark Pincus, co-founder of online gaming company Zynga, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman created Win The Future, or "WTF," [you have to wonder if someone told them to use this acronym as a self sabotaging joke]
a platform for crowd sourcing ideas that can sway the party in a new direction, according to Recode, which first reported the organization's launch.
The premise of the group, based at a website of the same name, is that Democratic politicians haven't been responsive enough to ordinary Americans.
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/05/2017
09:13 ||
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#1
If they were smart, they'd try for setting up a third party.
[Zero Hedge] The South African rand has tumbled following a report confirming recent speculation that South Africa’s ruling African National Congress will propose that the country's central bank, the Reserve Bank be nationalized and wholly owned by the state, according to three people familiar with the discussions quoted by Bloomberg.
S. AFRICA'S ANC SAID TO PROPOSE CENTRAL BANK BE STATE-OWNED
S. AFRICA'S CENTRAL BANK CURRENTLY HAS PRIVATE SHAREHOLDERS
S. AFRICA CENTRAL BANK'S SHAREHOLDERS HAVE NO SAY ON POLICY
Bloomberg adds that the proposal which will surely have negative consequences on the country's financial stability was approved in plenary session of the party’s policy conference taking place in Johannesburg. However, the decision still to be ratified at the ANC electoral conference in December, so nothing is imminent. By way of background, Bloomberg reminds us that the central bank’s currently has about 600 private shareholders who have no say over the setting of monetary policy.
Furthermore, Citi cautions that it would not chase the move as "these headlines are citing unnamed sources and have not been confirmed official. We will publish the details when released. Indeed such a proposal seems at odds with the last we heard from the ANC. The Treasurer General Mkhize spoke on Tuesday saying that most members of the ANC favor an independent central bank."
For now, however, the news has impacted the ZAR, with the USDZAR spiking as much as 2.1% intraday.
#4
Need to start using the swirling drain graphic for SA, eh Besoeker?
It was my hope to make a serious guided photo safari in Kruger National Park someday (especially the southern area where there aren't as many tourists). Probably sooner rather than later might be better.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/05/2017 9:27
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[LI] The Illinois Senate has just approved the massive income tax hike, two days after the House approved it. This bill will permanently raise the income tax 32% from 3.75% to a little under 5%. It also raises the corporate tax rate from 5% to 7%.
Republican Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed the bill this afternoon. The Senate voted to override Rauner’s veto 36-18. Now the bills go back to the House, which will vote tomorrow. As predicted right here, and across the globe.
State and national constitutions need a clause that if the legislature is unable to balance the budget, outside of extreme circumstance (ie a state of war), all members of the body are barred for 10 years of any elected or appointed governmental position. You better believe they'll start compromising way before things like this occur.
Erbil- The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps heavy artillery and rockets targeted on Monday wide regions of Iraqi Kurdistan, injuring four and displacing hundreds, as well as damaging agricultural lands.
Farzang Ahmad, the local administrator of the Haji Omaran, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the “Iranian artillery continued on targeting a village in Haji Omaran until the evening, leading to the injury of a woman, who was among the region’s residents and working in the agriculture.”
He added that the attack caused material losses in farms, but no accurate data was yet available because of the continuous shelling.
“The continuous Iranian shelling causes damage to the agricultural sector and economy in Kurdistan. It also displaces hundreds of civilians,” he stated.
Ahmad stressed: “Since the beginning of the shelling, we sought through the border guards in Kurdistan to contact the Iranian border guards to resolve this problem and cease the attack to avoid a high number of victims and losses. Our efforts were vain however because Iran did not respond to us.”
Iran claims that it is shelling Iraqi Kurdistan because the Iranian Kurdish opposition is based there.
Kurdish parties have repeatedly said that they are not using Iraqi Kurdistan land to target neighboring Iran. They instead confirmed that they are using land from within the border and the mountain regions in Iranian Kurdistan to carry out operations against Tehran.
Posted by: badanov ||
07/05/2017
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) One civilian was wounded Tuesday when his car was hit by an explosive device in northern Baghdad, police sources were quoted saying.
Alsumaria News quoted the source saying that the civilian was on his way out of his home in Rashidya, north of the capital, when a bomb fitted beneath his car went off, causing him injuries.
Violence and armed conflicts left more than 700 Iraqis dead and wounded during the month of June, according to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq which excludes security members deaths. Baghdad came second in terms of casualties, with 22 deaths and 88 injuries.
Baghdad has seen almost daily bombings and armed attacks against security members, paramilitary groups and civilians since the Iraqi government launched a wide-scale campaign to retake IS-occupied areas in 2016. While most of of the explosions attacks went without a claim of responsibility, Islamic State has claimed several incidents.
The Iraqi government, currently focused on ousting the group from Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, is expected to aim at other IS holdouts afterwards.
Some security observers believe that even after IS’s main havens across Iraqi provinces are conquered, the group may still constitute a security threat through sleeper cells and lone wolf attacks. They believe attacks outside Mosul are designed to make up for the group’s losses there.
[Breitbart] A repeatedly deported criminal alien from Mexico allegedly ran down three women with his car because he was "upset with women in general."
Police in the border town of Laredo, Texas, arrested 24-year-old Lorenzo Alonso Romero on May 28 for allegedly running down three women with his car, the Laredo Morning-Times reported. Despite the date of the attacks, police are just now releasing Romero’s motivation behind the assaults.
"Lorenzo indicated that he was upset over the fact that approximately two years ago, his neighbor had filed a report against him, in which he was arrested for an aggravated assault, claiming the allegations to have been false," the criminal complaint stated.
The document explains that Romero wanted to retaliate against the woman who filed the report, but also took out his frustrations on other women as well.
On May 27, Romero reportedly struck three women with a 2001 black Oldsmobile Aurora he borrowed from his place of work.
Castrate him, cut one Achilles tendon, then send him home to live out his life at a pace that lends itself to thoughtfulness rather than impulsivity.
[IsraelTimes] Security forces seize a bag of knives, stun grenades and Molotov cocktails from six Paleostinians in a vehicle heading to the capital.
Border police said they foiled a terror attack Tuesday after finding a bag of knives, stun grenades and Molotov cocktail materials during the search of a Paleostinian vehicle at a checkpoint near East Jerusalem.
The car was heading into the Jerusalem side of the Mizmoriya checkpoint, outside Bethlehem, when it was stopped after security forces noticed that its front and back license plates did not match.
The officers ordered the six riders, who also lacked entry permits, to exit the vehicle for it to be examined.
According to the police spokesperson, the suspects admitted during initial questioning to planning to carry out a terror attack in Jerusalem.
[Ynet] A Paleostinian vehicle was stopped near the Tekoa checkpoint in Gush Etzion where police discovered Molotov cocktails and knives. The occupants of the vehicle were taken for questioning by police.
[IsraelTimes] Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan tells mayors of Arab councils in the Galilee that a new drive to remove illegal firearms from the streets of Arab towns will include the granting of amnesty to anyone giving up their guns.
At a meeting in the Galilee with Arab mayors, Erdan says that despite tensions between Arabs and Jews, rates of interethnic crimes -- where Jews attack Arabs or vice versa -- are actually quite low.
Just five to six percent of murders nationwide involve a member of one ethnicity killing a member of the other, he says.
[CreepngSharia] The city of Minneapolis has set up a hotline for residents to report suspected hate crimes, including "speech and actions," according to statements on the city’s website.
The city, which will operate the "service" through its 3-1-1 helpline, is targeting any "harassing behaviors motivated by prejudice," according to a press release. Those wishing to report a hate crime from outside the city may dial 612-673-3000.
According to the local newspaper, the Star-Tribune, "the announcement comes amid signs of a recent surge of such incidents affecting Muslims and Jews across the country, many of which go unreported."
The city’s Department of Civil Rights clearly states on its website that it only enforces hate crimes against certain "protected classes."
A city official further indicated the impetus for the hate-crimes hotline was the election of President Trump and that the targets would be his supporters.
"Since the general election, many of us have experienced, witnessed firsthand or heard of actions of: racism, xenophobia, sexism and bigotry directed at people here and in cities across the United States," Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights Director Velma Korbel wrote in a statement posted on the city’s website. "In no uncertain terms, hate-motivated speech and actions have no place in Minneapolis nor will they be tolerated."
Korbel said the city’s tough stance on "hate" is reflected in the views of its mayor, Betsy Hodges. Korbel states on the city website: Continues...
[Dawn] In a recent op-ed published by the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , former US national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley and I argued for a US approach to Pakistain that centred on understanding Pakistain’s strategic anxieties. We argued that encouraging an India-Pakistain dialogue, including on how to coexist in Afghanistan, and efforts for a political settlement in Afghanistan offer the best hope for the US to get greater Pak support in Afghanistan.
Expectedly, a fair share of American policy readers didn’t bite. These voices much rather see the US punish Pakistain to coerce a change in its attitude. Of course, on the Pak side, you can always trust some to read too much into everything: for many here, the op-ed was a camouflaged attempt to blame Pakistain for sheltering the Afghan Taliban
Continued on Page 49
#1
The problem is a third-world shit hole wants to play the Great Game when they can't even stop bombings and killing of polio-workers and cholera. Islamists with bigger ambitions than brains or dicks
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2017 9:19
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[Breitbart] Microsoft founder Bill Gates has warned that Africa’s population explosion will overwhelm Europe unless the continent makes it more difficult for migrants to reach its shores.
The American billionaire’s comments come as European leaders discuss what to do about the surging number of Africans arriving in Italy each week, with Rome calling for other European Union (EU) nations to open their ports to docking migrants so as to ease pressure on the Mediterranean nation.
In an interview with the German Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Gates said massive population growth in Africa will result in "enormous [migratory] pressure" on Europe unless countries increase overseas development aid payments.
He has his verb tense wrong. He meant has resulted in.
Praising Germany having achieved its commitment to devote 0.7 per cent of GDP to foreign aid as "phenomenal", the 61-year-old called on "other European nations to follow its example".
But Gates also spoke of a dilemma caused by ’the German attitude to refugees’, referring to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open Europe’s borders to illegal migrants arriving from the third world.
#2
Maybe Bill finally got around to reading The Camp of the Saints, a French novel from the 70s about a catastrophic Third World mass migration to Europe.
#3
Here's an idea Bill, why not go back and review those preconceived notions that colonialism was an 'evil'. See - What have the Romans ever done for us. Maybe, just maybe, if it wasn't so bad at home, they wouldn't leave.
We believe that solutions to Africa’s greatest challenges can come from within Africa. Our role is to support African partners whose bold ideas and creative approaches have the potential to save lives, improve health, and help farming families all across the continent. We devote half of the foundation’s resources to projects in Africa and to helping African countries learn from one another.
My emphasis added.
#7
Perhaps if folks stopped telling the third world that western democracy was evil, dictatorships were natural for poor nations, and socialism was dandy Africa could have a first world nation or two to hire all of these prospective migrants and turn the whole continent around.
What Africa needs is for a nation or two to pick a coastal city and replicate Hong Kong's laws and economic policies and see what happens.
Curious. Perhaps eventually we'll be informed what this was all about.
[IsraelTimes] Defense Ministry limits movement in Israeli airspace for what it calls ’routine scheduled activities’.
A Defense Ministry decision to restrict Israel’s airspace Tuesday forced planes to wait longer than normal between takeoffs, causing a cascade of delays at Ben-Gurion Airport.
The measure was put in place Monday night and again on Tuesday afternoon, and was expected to last until evening, the ministry said.
"Due to routine scheduled activities by the Defense Ministry, during the afternoon and evening there will possibly be occasional limitations on movement in Israeli airspace," the ministry said in a statement. "The activities have been coordinated with all of the appropriate authorities."
The ministry did not elaborate on the nature of the "routine scheduled activities."
The announcement came as the airplane of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched down in Israel for a three-day visit.
According to Channel 2 news, the restriction forced a larger gap between takeoffs.
Some 13 flights were delayed or canceled at the airport as of 5 p.m. Tuesday.
On Monday the ministry reportedly ordered the Israel Airports Authority to impose intermittent closures of the airspace above the airport, following what some Hebrew media described as a "security incident."
As a result of the order, which was said to be in effect for three hours, a large number of flights were delayed and passengers were advised to check their departure times before arriving at the airport.
No details of the reason behind the unusual measure were given. Channel 10 reported that an expected event that led to the closure order did not end up taking place.
The IAA later denied that there was any closure of the airspace.
The battle between security forces and the Taliban continued Tuesday along the Kabul-Kunduz highway in the volatile Ali Abad district – which connects northern Baghlan province with Kunduz.
The battle has in the past three days left more than 40 insurgents dead, local officials claim. Ali Abad district is just a few kilometers to the east of Kunduz city.
Local officials meanwhile said the Taliban have been stopping motorists and their passengers traveling along the highway. They said the insurgents have so far killed three of them, and simply left their bodies on the side of the road. Madrassa and Omarkhail villages in Ali Abad are main strongholds of the Taliban in the battle, the Ali Abad district governor Faqiri told TOLOnews.
“They (Taliban) established check points (on the highway) to identify government officials and security force members, to kill them and to threaten the area,” Faqiri said.
TOLOnews reporter Hamid Shirzai said the Taliban’s check posts were visible on the Baghlan-Kunduz highway from the security forces’ frontline. Police soldiers said they need reinforcements ‘to push back the militants’.
“The enemy has been pushed back. We are committed to defending our soil with our hearts and souls,” police soldier Fazl-ul-Haq said. “I assure the Kunduz residents that your sons (security forces) are ready to defend the residents of Kunduz. We are ready to defend Kunduz province with our blood,” said Sayed Qurban Musawi, the executive officer of Pamir 20th Division in Kunduz.
Taliban attacked security check posts in Talulka area in the outskirts of Kunduz city, the Aljeen Bridge in Kunduz city and Ali Abad district along Kabul-Kunduz highway on Sunday.
Boko Haram terrorists have kidnapped 37 women and slit the throats of nine other people at a village in southeastern Niger, the regional governor said Tuesday.
The attack happened on Sunday near the border with Nigeria, the governor of Diffa region, Laouali Mahamane Dan Dano, told state TV.
Raqqa (Syria News) The US-led coalition announced on Monday that the Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by Washington, managed to penetrate the old city in Syrian Raqqa.
Qasioun News reported that the Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by U.S. troops, managed to penetrate the old city in Syrian Raqqa, after the coalition air force struck the archeological wall of al-Rafekah, allowing security forces to bring down the Islamic State defenses.
Meanwhile, international coalition said in a statement, on Wednesday, that it killed members belonging to the Revolution Commando Forces, who were stationed in al-Tanf border crossing.
It is noteworthy that the operation of the Syrian Democratic Forces to penetrate the old city was conducted in preparation to liberate the town of Markada and the northern countryside of Deir Ezzor
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The Rafiqah Wall -- which is 3 kilometers from the city center -- is approximately 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) long, 3.8 meters (12.4 feet) high and 1 meter thick, Syrian state media reported in 2009.
ISIS fighters had planted mines and improvised explosive devices at several [other] breaks in the wall, a US Central Command (CENTCOM) statement said.
In a CENTCOM statement, the US added: "Coalition forces supported the SDF advance into the most heavily fortified portion of Raqqa by opening two small gaps in the Rafiqah Wall that surrounds the Old City."
In recent months, the Chinese-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has left Pakistanis emboldened, Indians angry, and US analysts worried. Ostensibly, CPEC will connect Pakistan to China’s western Xinjiang province through the development of vast new transportation and energy infrastructure.
The project is part of China’s much-hyped Belt and Road Initiative, a grand, increasingly vague geopolitical plan bridging Eurasia that China’s powerful President Xi Jinping has promoted heavily. Pakistani and Chinese officials boast that CPEC will help address Pakistan’s electricity generation problem, bolster its road and rail networks, and shore up the economy through the construction of special economic zones.
Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership alike have told the public that CPEC will solve Pakistan’s chronic electricity shortages, improve an aging road and rail infrastructure, provide a fillip to Pakistan’s economy, knit an increasingly pariah state to a new Chinese-led geopolitical order, and diminish the role of the much-reviled United States in the region.
Despite the bold claims made by China and Pakistan, there are many reasons to be dubious about the purported promises of CPEC.
There’s already violence all along the corridor. The north-most part of CPEC is the Karakoram Highway (KKH), which gashes through the Karakoram Mountain Range to connect Kashgar in Xinjiang with Pakistan’s troubled province of Gilgit-Baltistan. The project is more inclined to leave Pakistan burdened with unserviceable debt while further exposing the fissures in its internal security. There’s also the stubborn problem of economic competitiveness.
For CPEC to be more competitive than the North-South Corridor that is rooted to the Iranian port of Chabahar, Gwador needs to offer a safer and shorter route from the Arabian Sea to Central Asia. For that to happen, Gwador needs to be connected by road to the Afghan Ring Road in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, which is under sustained attacks by the Afghan Taliban. Alternatively, a new route could connect Gwador with the border crossing at Torkham (near Peshawar) by traveling up Balochistan, with its own active ethnic insurgency, through or adjacent to Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which is the epicenter of Islamist terrorism and insurgency throughout Pakistan. It takes great faith — or idiocy, or greed, or all of the above — to believe that this is possible.
Analyst Andrew Small, among others, has argued that CPEC is, in reality, a redundant supply route for China should it face an embargo during a military conflict. It’s also possible that if the port at Gwador is not economically sustainable the real goal is the creation of a Chinese naval outpost. Many in India, Pakistan’s historic rival, have also come to this conclusion. They may well be correct, according to recent Chinese reports indicating that China may "expand its marine corps and may station new marine brigades in Gwadar."
Meanwhile, Pakistanis have learned that the current Chinese development model will do little for their economy. China prefers to use its own companies and employees rather than hire locally.
Pakistanis should be worried about the way CPEC is shaping up. If it is even partially executed, Pakistan would be indebted to China as never before. And unlike Pakistan’s other traditional allies, such as the United States, China will probably use its leverage to obtain greater compliance from its problematic client.
Posted by: Pappy ||
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#1
And the rest of the World can't afford Pakistan.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Two Islamic State leaders were arrested fleeing western Mosul to its south, military media said Tuesday as operations continue to eliminate the last few hundred militants in the city.
The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said the pair was arrested fleeing from Yarmouk district in the western region to the town of Qayyara in the south. One of them was the group’s general administrative official, while the other was a top booby-trapping expert, said the statement.
Iraqi security Services have occasionally arrested several militants hiding in the middle of civilians fleeing the battle fields. Many were arrested as security combed areas recaptured in the eastern side of the city which government troops took over late January.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi army has invaded Ras al-Kour in Mosul’s Old City, a security source said.
Speaking to Shafaq News, the source said “the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service destroyed the Islamic State’s front defense line in Ras al-Kour region, located in the Old City in western Mosul.”
The troops, according to the source, killed 13 IS fighters and are resuming their advance in the Old City.
Meanwhile, a CTS officer declared on Tuesday invading the last regions still held by IS in the Old City.
“Our troops stormed al-Midan, al-Kawazeen and Qulai’at regions, located on the Tigris River bank,” Col.Youness al-Sherifi told BasNews.
The forces, according to Sherifi, said that confrontations are ongoing against IS, adding that many of them were killed.
Lt.Gen.Ali Mohsen, of the CTS, told BasNews, that troops killed six suicide attackers at the front defense lines while invading al-Midan region.
Moreover, an officer from the Joint Operations Command, revealed that the U.S.-led coalition jets shelled si houses in the western bank of Tigris River.
“U.S.-led coalition jets launched airstrike against six houses inhabited by IS militants, killing 14 of them, including leaders,” Cap. Ahmed al-Obeidi told BasNews.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi troops have rescued civilians who were under the rubble of a shelled house in Mosul’s Old City, Sputnik reported.
Hakam al-Dulaimi, founder of Nineveh youth cell, indicated coordination between the cell and military troops affiliated to the Counter-Terrorism Service, which resulted in rescuing 22 persons from under the rubble at Nabi Girguis in the Old City. Most of the rescued civilians, according to Dulaimi, were children and women from one family. Most of them were alive, despite spending hours under the debris.
In related news, security sources said Iraqi forces killed eight Islamic State militants as they were trying to flee the Old City.
A source from the Tribal Mobilization Forces told Shafaq News said the troops shot seven IS militants dead as they were trying to infiltrate from the Old City to al-Jawsaq district through Tigris River.
Moreover, “a suicide bomber was killed as he was trying to target the tribal fighters. However, the militant was killed before reaching to his target,” the source added.
In related news, Nineveh Police Commander Wathiq al-Hamdani, told Shafaq News that troops killed one of the IS militats who was trying to escape the Old City through the river at Yarimja region, in southeast of Mosul.
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#2
When it comes, the next confrontation is likely to be deadlier and more dangerous for Israel.
True. Back in the day, when the Paleos were launching random rockets that only hit anything of value on the rarest of occasions, Israel could afford to sit back and play Tit-for-Tat. But now that HamAss has a big pile of shiny, dangerous toys, Israel will have to come strong at the first sign that something is jumping off. Given the danger, I'd expect them to take preemptive action despite the resulting howls of international outrage.
[AlAhram] Austria has moved four armoured vehicles close to its border with Italia to guard against migrants colonists and will likely set up controls on a key trade crossing "very soon", defence ministry officials said on Tuesday.
The planned controls will include the busy Alpine Brenner pass, a defence ministry front man said - a move that Italia warned last year would break EU rules on free movement.
"I expect border controls will be introduced very soon," Defence Minister Peter Doskozil told daily newspaper Kronenzeitung in an interview published on Tuesday.
Both Italia and Austria are members of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... 's Schengen open-border zone, but free movement has been jeopardised by the reimposition of controls at many crossings across the bloc since the surge in migrants colonists seen in 2015/16.
There was no immediate comment from Italia or EU officials.
Doskozil's front man said there was no concrete timetable for the new controls. "But we see how the situation in Italia is becoming more acute and we have to be prepared to avoid a situation comparable to summer 2015."
Italia has taken in more than 80,000 refugees and migrants colonists so far this year, most of whom arrived by boat from Africa, making Italia the main point of entry to Europe.
Austria has already moved heavy equipment to the province of Tyrol, which borders Italia, including four armoured vehicles to block roads, the front man said.
"These are not battle tanks. These are armoured vehicles without weapons which could block roads. These were already used during the refugee crisis 201/16 at the Spielfeld border crossing (with Slovenia)."
The army would also be able to send in 750 soldiers within 72 hours to deal with emergencies, the front man added.
Controls at the Brenner pass would be particularly sensitive as the border there cuts across two communities that feel closely connected - Austria's Tyrol and Italia's South Tyrol. South Tyrol was once part of the wider Austro-Hungarian empire but was annexed by Italia in 1918.
The European Commission plans to present a set of measures to reduce the migrant flow across the central Mediterranean later on Tuesday.
[AnNahar] Italy's foreign ministry summoned Austria's ambassador on Tuesday after Vienna said it was considering introducing border controls to block migrants from passing between the two countries.
[AlAhram] A Saudi soldier was killed and three were maimed when suspected bandidosDeath Eaters attacked their convoy in eastern 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... , the interior ministry said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of attacks in the troubled region.
The town of al-Awamiya, located in the oil-producing al-Qatif province, is a flashpoint between the Sunni Moslem government and minority Shia complaining of discrimination.
The soldier was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade in the old part of the town known as al-Musawara and an investigation was underway, the ministry's front man told state news agency SPA, but gave no further details.
Authorities have been bulldozing al-Musawara, a small part of the town with narrow streets which date back more than 200 years, to make way for a new project. Local officials say wanted bandidosDeath Eaters believed to be behind attacks on security forces have been using the narrow streets to escape arrest.
Last month, a Saudi soldier was killed and two members of the security forces were maimed when an bomb went off during a patrol in the same area.
Saudi Shia complain of marginalisation in the birthplace of Islam, which follows the rigid Wahhabi Sunni school that views the minority sect as heretical. Saudi authorities deny the accusations.
Qatif has seen protests for more rights for Shia and these have become more frequent since Nimr al-Nimr, a Shia holy man convicted of involvement in violence, was executed a year ago.
A Saudi policeman was killed Tuesday and three others injured by an bomb in a flashpoint Shiite-dominated city, the interior ministry said.
The coppers were on patrol in the early morning in the Qatif area in Soddy Arabia's Eastern Province when the device blew up, the ministry said, calling the incident a "terrorist" attack.
On June 11 a homemade bomb killed a senior policeman and maimed two officers in Qatif. That blast came almost two weeks after a car went kaboom! in the restive district killing its two occupants. The interior ministry said the pair were wanted suspects.
Eastern Province, where most of Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority live, has been rocked by unrest since 2011.
Authorities have blamed the unrest on "terrorists" or narcos.
[AnNahar] The Philippines' Supreme Court on Tuesday endorsed President Rodrigo Duterte's enforcement of martial law across the southern third of the country, which he said was necessary to defeat Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group-backed Lion of Islams.
Duterte imposed military rule across the insurgency-wracked region of Mindanao on May 23, hours after hundreds of gunnies waving black IS flags occupied parts of Marawi city and triggered deadly festivities that are yet to end.
Opposition politicians questioned why a region of 20 million people had to go under military rule when fighters just struck Marawi, urging the Supreme Court to strike it down for its "utter lack of sufficient factual basis."
An overwhelming majority of the justices dismissed that petition, Supreme Court front man Theodore Te told news hounds, but he did not give reasons for their decision.
Duterte stressed Tuesday he had made the right decision, saying "martial law should have been declared a long time ago" when murderous Moslems began bombings, kidnappings and beheadings across Mindanao.
"For as long as there is one terrorist there in Marawi, this (threat) will not stop," he told news hounds, warning of a potential "spillover" to other areas.
Militants continue to occupy parts of Marawi, the Islamic heartland of the mainly Catholic country, despite a U.S.-backed military offensive there that has claimed more than 460 lives and displaced nearly 400,000 people.
Duterte said when he declared martial law the murderous Moslems had attacked Marawi as part of a plan to establish a province for IS in the southern Philippines, which has endured decades of deadly conflict involving communist and Moslem separatist rebels.
In their court petition, opposition politicians warned martial law would open the door to repression and atrocities seen during the 20-year rule of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos that ended with a "People Power" revolution in 1986.
During the Marcos dictatorship, thousands of suspected communist and Moslem myrmidons, as well as his critics, were tossed in the clink Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! , tortured or killed, according to historians.
- 'Invasion or rebellion' -
When Duterte announced martial law, he praised Marcos's version while vowing his own would be "harsh."
Duterte also warned martial law could be extended beyond 60 days and expanded across the country if he felt it necessary.
"I urge you to remain steadfast and alert as martial law in Mindanao will remain in effect to counter the persistent threat of terrorism and insurgency," he told troops.
As part of his martial law measures, Duterte allowed security forces to detain suspects for up to three days without prior court orders.
The government has detained 66 people using these powers for their links to the Marawi conflict, including the parents of brothers who are key Lion of Islam leaders.
Duterte had repeatedly threatened to ignore the findings of the court if it ruled against him, vowing only to listen to the recommendations of the military.
"They are not soldiers. They do not know what is happening on the ground," Duterte said of the Supreme Court justices, as he also threatened to put martial law critics in jail.
Under the constitution drawn up to prevent a repeat of Marcos-era abuses, the president is allowed to declare martial law only to prevent "invasion or rebellion."
It is limited initially to 60 days, and Duterte must get congressional approval to extend it.
A Taliban commander, Abdul Rahim, has been arrested in PD5 of Kabul city, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The commander is one of the masterminds of terrorist attacks for the Taliban's Quetta Shura which had an active role in launching attacks in Uruzgan province,” the statement read. “He entered (the city) on the orders of the Taliban and tried to launch terrorist attacks in Kabul city during Eid-al-Fitr,” it said.
According to the statement, Rahim was the commander of at least 20 insurgents. However, the statement did not provide more details nor did it stipulate when he was arrested.
At least four civilians were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside mine in Farah province in Monday night, local officials said Tuesday.
Police spokesman Mohammad Aqbal Bahir confirmed the incident and said the blast happened in Pusht Rod district when a vehicle hit a roadside mine.
Two women are among the victims, Bahir added. Bahir said that the mine was recently planted by Taliban insurgents to target security forces. The Taliban has not commented.
Aleppo (Syria News) Turkish army troops, on Tuesday, bombed the locations of the Syrian Democratic Forces, north of Aleppo.
Qasioun News reported that the Turkish troops shelled locations of the Syrian Democratic forces in Bersaya Mountain near the city of Azaz, north of Aleppo, using heavy artillery and rockets.
Meanwhile, fire broke out in several locations, while the losses of the Syrian Democratic Forces haven’t been identified so far.
It is noteworthy that Turkish artillery is frequently shelling locations and headquarters of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the area, while the latter intensified their attacks of the areas held by the Euphrates Shield forces.
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[TheAviationist] You can monitor online the U.S. RC-135S Cobra Ball aircraft used to track ballistic missiles reentry vehicles and warheads during the final phase of flight.
Early in the morning on Jul. 4, North Korea successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time.
The ICBM, referred to as Hwasong-14, reached a height of 2,802 kilometers, according to the state-run Korea Central Television (KCTV). The missile was launched from Panghyon, in North Pyongan province, and flew into waters east of the Korean Peninsula after traveling for about 930 kilometers.
The latest missile launch, as well as the previous ones, was almost certainly monitored by the U.S. Forces deployed to the region, using a variety of aerial, ground-based, sea-going assets.
The U.S. Air Force relies on its small contingent of RC-135S Cobra Ball missile tracking aircraft. Based at Offutt Air Force Base, outside Omaha, Nebraska, and flown by the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron, these intelligence gathering aircraft are often deployed where needed to track ballistic missiles reentry vehicles and warheads during the final phase of flight. The aircraft is equipped with a powerful radar array on the starboard side of the fuselage, just aft of the cockpit. Several optical quality windows are mounted on the starboard side as well, allowing infrared and visible spectrum cameras to record the warheads during their final moments of flight. A distinctive feature of the Cobra Ball is the black low-glare paint used on the starboard wing, to improve image quality and prevent glare during photography.
Unsurprisingly, two Cobra Ball aircraft (61-2662 and 61-2663) are currently deployed to Yokota Air Base, Japan, from where it is launched when there are signs of an imminent North Korean test. What is far more surprising is the fact that, in spite of their important role, RC-135S aircraft are among the military planes that can be tracked online by exploiting the signals broadcast by their Mode S/ADS-B transponders.
By observing the activities of the RC-135S in Japan you may have a pretty clear idea of what is happening or about to happen in North Korea. For instance, last night, the fact that the Cobra Ball was airborne from Yokota might suggest that the U.S. intelligence had detected activities at the launch site and was preparing to monitor the test. This is the reason why I tweeted the following (later confirmed by the news of the ICBM test):
#1
President Trump a couple of days ago said patience with N. Korea had run out. Apparently he knew what was about to happen. If he has that good intelligence then he can prevent a launch before hand.
[Rooters] North Korea appeared to use a Chinese truck originally sold for hauling timber to transport and erect a ballistic missile that was successfully launched on Tuesday, highlighting the challenge of enforcing sanctions to curb its weapons program.
North Korea state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
showed a large truck painted in military camouflage carrying the missile. It was identical to one a U.N. sanctions panel has said was "most likely" converted from a Chinese timber truck.
In its 2013 report, the U.N. panel of experts said the features of the vehicle in the 2012 parade exactly matched those of a vehicle sold by China's Hubei Sanjiang Space Wanshan Special Vehicle Company. The company is a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, a state-owned company that makes the Shenzhou rocket as well as missiles. A company manager reached by telephone declined to comment citing the sensitivity of the issue.
The vehicle was imported from China and declared for civilian use by the North Korean foreign ministry, according to the U.N. panel. China submitted to the U.N. panel a copy of the end user certificate provided by the North stating that six of the vehicles were being imported for the purpose of transporting timber.
The panel said it "considers it most likely that the (North) deliberately breached" the certificate and converted the trucks into transporter-erector-launchers.
Since 2006, U.N. sanctions have banned the shipment of military hardware to North Korea. But control of equipment and vehicles that have "dual-use" military and civilian applications has been far less stringent.
Tuesday's launch was the first time the truck had been seen in a military field operation in pictures published in state media. Images on the North Korea's state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
showed soldiers working on the vehicle mounted with a missile, which was then erected and off-loaded ahead of the launch at a hillside location. Leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... supervised the test.
Chicago saw one of its most violent Fourth of July weekends in recent years: At least 101 people were shot between Friday afternoon and early Wednesday, nearly half of them over 12 hours as the long holiday drew to a close. Fifteen of the wounded died.
The last time the Fourth holiday spanned four full days was in 2013, when July 4 fell on a Thursday and many people had Friday off. At least 74 people were shot between Wednesday evening and early Monday that year, and 12 of them died, according to Tribune data.
The violence this year was largely confined to the South and West sides, including districts where the department has installed what it calls strategic decisions support centers and predictive technology. Hundreds of officers on overtime were also deployed to those districts.
Shirqat (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State members in Salahuddin were put on a high alert on Tuesday after a woman believed to be one of the group’s supreme leader’s wives was captured.
A local source told Alsumaria News that IS fighters in the western side of the city of Shirqat were put on high alert and reinforced their deployment in the city after a woman with twin children, who claimed to be the wife of IS supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was captured there.
The incident, according to the source, prompted her captors to contact higher ranking leaders. “Senior leaders outside Shirqat returned to the city on hearing the news,” the source added.
An interview run by Arabic satellite channel Alaan on Monday with fugitive wives of IS members in Syria’s Raqqa revealed that Baghdadi maintained four wives in addition to at least 14 sex slaves.
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An armed group has stormed and ransacked the offices of the Zawia traffic police.
The unidentified militia burst through the front entrance and threatened the director and others in the building with their guns.
They stole air conditioning units, computers and several files. They then went to the traffic division’s car park though it is unclear if they seized any vehicles.
There are various militias in Zawia and they sporadically fight each other. Often it is between the rival Ahneish and Khadrawi factions. Last month the Ahneish’s leader was killed, sparking clashes in the centre of of the town.
A family of five were reported killed early late this afternoon while at the beach near Mitiga airport when a rocket-propelled granade exploded beside them. It is believed to have been launched from within the airbase.
Among the family, named as that of Daou Al-Zintani, two children and two women are said to have died. Several others were wounded, seven of whom are said to be in a serious condition, including a woman and a child. They were taken to Abu Sleem hospital. Two others were also taken to the hospital while five people were treated locally for minor injuries.
The incident followed clashes near Mitiga very early this morning between two local families, named as Shadi and Sumbul, in which a member of the former was allegedly killed by the latter. Following the dead man’s funeral after Asr prayers late this afternoon, gunmen from the Shadi family gathered at the roundabout outside Mitiga where the Sumbul fighters are said to be based and started shooting at it.
In response, an unidentified person is said to have launched the RPG which killed the people at the beach.
Clashes between the two groups continued late into the evening.
In a bid to stop them, Haithem Tajouri is said to have moved his forces to the area.
[Twitchy] Even if you’re not a YUGE fan of Donald Trump, you have to admit his ability to make the Left and the media jump is fairly impressive. For example, when he tweeted the animated WWE gif Lefties lost their damn minds.
So of course it should come as no surprise that Hillary’s daughter also lost her marbles ... well, the marbles she had left. Continues humorously...
#1
A muleta is a stick with a red cloth hanging from it that is used in the final third (tercio de muleta or de muerte) of a bullfight. It is different from the cape used by the matador earlier in the fight (capote de brega).
The muleta obscures the sword, and as in his earlier work with the cape, the bullfighter uses it to attract the bull in a series of passes, demonstrating his control over it.
#5
I see where CNN has chased down the identity of the person who created the GIF, but they can't chase down any real facts during their anti-Trump attacks. Curiouser and curiouser.
The younger techie folks here at the office are saying that 4chan and Reddit geeks are starting an offensive against CNN for threating to expose the kid who made the CNN/WWE gif initially.
Could be popcorn time.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/05/2017 13:12
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#8
Love the way that graphic highlights her Arkansas DNA.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/05/2017 15:04
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#9
4Chan has been really ramping up operations. Exposing Antifa members, taking down Shia Labeouf's operations... as they put it, Behold the power of fully weaponized autism!
[AlAhram] Two coppers were killed and 10 were maimed in a bombing attack on a police armoured vehicle on Tuesday in North Sinai, security sources told state news agency MENA.
The coppers were conducting a patrol in the southern part of the scenic provincial capital of El-Arish.
Tal Afar (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State have reportedly killed 200 Turkmens, who were held by the militants in Tal Afar town, west of Mosul.
The Iraqi Turkmens, who included children and women, were held by IS militants two months ago and were killed during their attempt to flee toward safe regions, Nour Eddin Qablan, deputy chief of Nineveh provinvial council, told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.
Tal Afar is one of the important strongholds still held by IS in Nineveh since August 2014.
In related news, a local source from Nineveh province said non-Iraqi IS militants executed the last local leader in Tal Afar
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[AlAhram] East Libyan forces battled to advance into a final area of Benghazi controlled by their opponents on Tuesday, clearing mines and roadblocks and targeting snipers with cover from tank rounds.
Khalifa Haftar ... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... 's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) says it is close to concluding a three-year campaign for control of Libya's second city, having surrounded rival fighters in a strip of the seafront district of Sabri little more than two km wide.
The campaign has been halting, with the LNA suffering high casualties even after gaining the upper hand early last year.
A medical source said at least 16 troops had been killed and at least 36 maimed in fighting since Monday. The LNA said it had killed 19 of its opponents.
"The special forces and supporting units from the army advanced today and tightened the grip on the terrorist groups on the Sabri front, gaining control over important sites," said special forces front man Milad al-Zawi. He said one of the sites was a block that contained a large number of snipers.
Parts of Benghazi have been left in ruins since Haftar launched his "Dignity Operation" against Islamic snuffies and other opponents in May 2014.
Many of the buildings in Sabri and the neighbouring historic neighbourhood of Souq al-Hout have been wrecked by street fighting, shelling and air strikes. Much of the area was heavily mined.
Three years ago Libya split into two broad and shifting rival alliances based in the east and west of the country, loyal to competing governments, worsening the turmoil that followed a 2011 uprising that ousted veteran ruler Muammar Qadaffy ...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... Haftar's LNA has gained ground in Benghazi and other parts of eastern and southern Libya while rejecting a U.N.-backed government that arrived in the capital, Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , in March 2016.
In which a defense lawyer throws something against the wall to see if it will stick, but the little miscreant still spends Independence Day in jail.
[AlAhram] A defense lawyer says an Alabama man charged with terrorism-related activity is being held "illegally and unconstitutionally" without bond in a county jail.
Prosecutors dispute that, saying 22-year-old Aziz Sayyed is dangerous and must remain behind bars with no bond. They say he admitted planning and discussions about planting explosives in a public building, though they didn't say what building was targeted.
A judge is to consider the arguments at a hearing Wednesday.
Sayyed is charged under state law with providing support for an act of terrorism. He was tossed in the slammer Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! on June 15 in Huntsville.
Prosecutors say they searched his residence and found materials and chemicals that could be used to craft an bomb.
Sayyed was born in North Carolina. He's been attending college in Huntsville.
We have nothing about Mr. Sayyed in our archives, so I googled his name and got the following: A report from the date of his arrest, which adds:
The arrest is the result of a tip from a citizen. Sayyed was stopped and taken into custody in the area of Church Street and Clinton Avenue.
Shortly after a news conference announcing the arrest, police confirmed that an active investigation scene at Twickenham Village, an apartment complex just north of University Drive in the area of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, was linked to the charges against Sayyed.
The FBI also confirmed they were on scene at the apartment complex.
Police say they were executing a search warrant at an apartment where Sayyed was allegedly staying.
The Huntsville Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are jointly investigating the case with support from the Madison County Sheriff's Office. No specifics of the threat have been released, but both agencies say the arrest eliminates any threat to the Huntsville/Madison County area, including Redstone Arsenal.
Further details have not been released, as the investigation is ongoing. But authorities stressed that the threat posed by the individual is over.
And from June 29, the prosecutor's response to the defense lawyer's accusation:
Gann's court filing came today in response to a motion filed by Sayyed's lawyer earlier this week. Defense attorney Bruce Gardner, who was hired by Sayyed, claims his client is being held in jail illegally.
"The defendant is not a danger to the community, nor is he a flight risk," Huntsville defense attorney Bruce Gardner wrote in court documents. "He has substantial family ties to the community."
Gardner asked that Madison County District Judge Schuyler Richardson either release Sayyed or set a bail amount that is within the recommended range for a Class C felony. The recommended amount is $2,500-$15,000. But, judges have discretion is setting bond. They can consider things like criminal history, background, character, age and the nature of the alleged crime.
Gann said in his motion that Sayyed is likely to be convicted and sentenced to prison because of his confession to investigators.
"This reality makes any defendant less likely to appear for trial," Gann wrote in the motions.
If the judge grants bond, Gann is asking that Sayyed be placed under "strict conditions." Those could include electronic monitoring.
Police took Sayyed's passport, Gardner said, making it impossible for the man to travel outside the U.S.
The judge has ordered a bond hearing be held on the next available court docket. That date hadn't been officially set as of Tuesday morning.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for August 2 at 1:30 p.m. At that hearing, the judge will be asked to determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence for the charge to remain active until the case is presented to a grand jury.
Sayyed has been jailed since his June 15 arrest on a charge of second-degree soliciting or providing support for terrorism. Huntsville police took him into custody following a traffic stop near downtown. Police said the case was prompted by a citizen tip.
[IsraelTimes] UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee passes a vote condemning Israeli policies in Jerusalem’s Old City. Ten member states vote yes, three no, and three countries abstain.
The Jordanian-sponsored resolution on the "Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls" is much softer than last year’s text, but Israel has rejected any attempt to politicize the issue of the holy sites in its capital in international bodies.
This year’s resolution still calls Israel "the occupying power" in the Old City and reaffirms previous UN resolutions denying the country’s claims to East Jerusalem, echoing a resolution passed in May by UNESCO’s executive board. It also "regrets the failure of the Israeli occupying authorities to cease the persistent excavations, tunneling, works, projects and other illegal practices in East Jerusalem, particularly in and around the Old City of Jerusalem, which are illegal under international law."
However, alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk... Decision 41 COM 7A.36, as it is technically known, stresses "the importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the three monotheistic religions," language not found in last year’s text. It also does not refer to the Temple Mount compound solely by its Moslem names, "Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram al-Sharif," as the 2016 resolution did, calling it simply "a Moslem holy site of worship."
Israel’s Ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama-Hacohen said that two hours before the vote, the Arab states were convinced that they had a consensus on the phrasing of the resolution, but Israeli pressure ultimately proved heavy enough to sabotage their efforts.
According to Shama-Hacohen, despite the significant softening of the text, more nations are identifying with Israel who are no longer prepared to accept what Israel has often considered unquestionable hounding of the Jewish state, even if the resolutions have been diluted.
He also pointed out that for the first time, Israel gained what he described as a moral majority in the body’s cultural committee since eleven countries out of 21 either opposed the proposal or abstained.
The vote came just days after US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley ...first woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina, and the second Indian-American governor in the country, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. At the age of 39, Haley is the youngest current governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems... sent a letter to the Director-General of UNESCO urging her to oppose a resolution to be voted on by the body next week which would recognize Hebron's Old City--and with it the Cave of the Patriarchs--as a Paleostinian World Heritage Site In Danger.
[AnNahar] The German domestic security watchdog warned Tuesday that the country's political system was likely to face cyberattacks from Russia in the run-up to September's general election.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said in its annual report that after suspected manipulation of the U.S. and French elections by Moscow, it was to be expected that Germany would be next.
The report said that German politicians and parties targeted by Russia to spy "on confidential e-mails or other sensitive data must assume that explosive or compromising facts could be made public."
Presenting the findings, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Berlin was girding for a two-pronged attack of embarrassing leaks and fake news allegedly orchestrated by Moscow.
"We saw a probable influence on the election in America, we saw a probable influence on the election in La Belle France," he told news hounds.
"There is every reason to believe that that came from Russia and thus it cannot be ruled out that there will be similar attempts on the election in Germany."
BfV chief Hans-Georg Maassen said while he could imagine that Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... "would be happier with another chancellor" than Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom... , the true target of the cyberattacks was Germans' "faith in democracy."
Merkel, widely seen as the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... 's most powerful leader, is seeking a fourth term in the September 24 poll.
De Maiziere noted that Germany's security services had already observed data from computers at the parliament being scooped up, which he said "could be published in the coming weeks."
He said Berlin was bracing for "a classic disinformation campaign with lies and half truths intended to shape opinions" spread by "bots" -- algorithms with fake profiles on social media networks.
"The only thing that helps against that is staying calm, keeping a cool head, finding out the truth and presenting the facts," he said.
Hillary Clinton ... former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, sometimes described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as a crook... has said that Russian hacking of her campaign's emails was partly to blame for her defeat in last year's U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... And now French President Emmanuel Macron was the victim of a "massive and coordinated" hacking attack blamed on Moscow on the eve of the run-off election.
Russia has steadfastly denied all accusations of state-sponsored cyberattacks.
#1
Is Angela Merkel looking for excuses for why she is going to lose the election in Sept.? Check with Hillary; she has a jillion reasons why she lost the election in 2016.
[IsraelTimes] Prodding Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",, Abbas fires 6,145 PA employees in GazooRamallah spokesperson says measure part of ’national strategy’ to force terror group to cede control of Strip.
The Paleostinian Authority on Tuesday "sent into early retirement" 6,145 employees in the Gazoo Strip, declaring the move part of a strategy to force the Hamas terror group to cede control of the Paleostinian enclave.
"This measure, previous measures, and any other measures that may be taken in this framework, are temporary, and are connected to Hamas abandoning [Paleostinian] division," the spokesperson for the government in Ramalllah, Yusuf al-Mahmoud, said in a statement to the official PA news site Wafa.
Since April, the PA has been carrying out a series of tough measures aimed at forcing Hamas to cede control of the coastal enclave, which it took over in a violent conflict with Fatah in 2007. The measures have included reducing the flow of electricity by 35 percent, and slashing government salaries and medical aid provided to the Strip.
Mahmoud said the firing of the employees was part of the "national strategy to end the division and implement President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... ’s vision to dissolve the so-called Administrative Committee" and allow the Paleostinian government to assume its responsibilities in the Strip and prepare for general elections.
Hamas formed the Administrative Committee in March in order to widen its governance in the Strip.
The PA government spokesperson added that Hamas collects "hundreds of millions of shekels monthly, which it does not return to the government treasury, while at the same time, the PA allocates more than NIS 450 million per month" to Gazoo.
In early April, Abbas reduced by one-third the salaries of tens of thousands of employees of the pre-Hamas government in Gazoo who had been paid for the last decade on condition that they stay home.
In a statement Tuesday, Hamas lashed out at the decision to fire the employees, calling it "immoral, inhuman and having nothing to do with the division."
The terror group asserted the measure was part of a plan by Abbas to "purge the Paleostinian issue in line with the Zionist-American project."
The ongoing salary payments had been intended to ensure loyalty to Abbas, but inadvertently also propped up Hamas by injecting cash into Gazoo’s fragile economy.
The announcement of the decision to fire thousands of employees comes amid developments in Gazoo that point to a new government being formed between Hamas and Abbas’s rival in the Fatah party, Mohammad Dahlan.
Dahlan is a former Fatah leader and strongman in Gazoo, who was expelled from the Paleostinian territories by Abbas in 2011. He was also once considered persona non grata by Hamas and ousted in the coup that put the Islamist terror group in power in the Strip 10 years ago.
But according to Hamas leader Ahmad Yusuf, following meetings between Dahlan, Hamas leaders and Egyptian intelligence in early June, a reconciliation deal is in the works.
Yusuf, who spoke to the Jordanian daily al-Ghad on Monday, said the deal between Dahlan and Hamas would see the establishment of a new "management committee" of Gazoo.
Yusuf added that Samir Mashrawi -- considered Dahlan’s right-hand man -- is expected to return to the enclave in the coming days.
[DAWN] Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met Tuesday against a backdrop of mounting tensions over North Korea ahead of G20 summit talks with US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... The sit-down in Moscow is meant to focus on bolstering trade ties between the two partners, with deals worth billions of dollars expected to be signed.
But the talks were also expected to discuss North Korea after Pyongyang claimed the launch of its first inter-continental ballistic missile, and Trump urged China to "end this nonsense once and for all".
"Economic questions are always at the centre of our attention but we are also engaged in coordinating our efforts on the international arena," Putin told Xi at the start of the talks.
It is their third official meeting this year.
Xi in turn praised the "special character" of China's ties with Russia, He called the two nations "good neighbours, faithful friends and reliable partners" in comments translated into Russian.
Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported earlier that Putin and Xi "agreed to jointly push for a proper settlement of the peninsula issue via dialogue and negotiation" at a closed Kremlin meeting Monday evening on the eve of the official talks.
Beijing -- North Korea's closest diplomatic ally -- and Moscow have called repeatedly for calm on all sides, but Trump has warned Washington's patience with Pyongyang is nearing an end.
Xi and Putin once again slammed the US THAAD missile system installed in South Korea to protect against the North, Xinhua said. Both leaders argue that it threatens the strategic balance in the region.
The Kremlin gave no details on what was discussed at the "informal" tete-a-tete Monday.
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Hasakah (Syria News) Ten civilians were killed, while several others were wounded in an air strike, carried out by the international coalition air force, on the southern countryside of Hasakah.
Qasioun News reported, on Tuesday, that the US-led international coalition carried out an air strike on al-Zayanat Village near Markda Town, in the southern countryside of Hasakah, killing 10 civilians, belonging to one family, and wounding several others.
The international coalition directly bombed the civilians’ houses, causing severe damage to the area.
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Baqubah (IraqiNews.com) An Islamic State militant who was in charge of handling mails belonging to the group’s supreme leader was killed by security forces in Diyala province, local officials said.
Alsumaria News quoted officials at the security committee at Diyala province council saying that IS supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s “mail man”, an Iraqi national, was killed in an ambush set for him in Beldrouz region (30 Km east of Baqubah).
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[Dawn] Research published in the journal Nature has analysed the DNA of 10,503 Pakistanis who were participating in a Pakistan Risk of Myocardial Infarction Study (PROMIS) and discovered 1,317 disabled or “knocked-out” genes.
People who are natural knockouts, that is, they were born missing one or more genes without any obvious medical problems are few and far between.
Humans inherit two copies of every gene – one from the mother and one from the father.
Continued on Page 49
At least 29 Taliban insurgents laid down arms and joined the peace process in western Farah and central Uruzgan provinces this week, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement on Tuesday.
“A group of 18 armed Taliban fighters renounced violence and surrendered to the Afghan National Police after their commander was killed in Tokhi village, Dehrawood district, Uruzgan province,” read the statement.
According to the statement the group was involved in “planning and coordinating suicide attacks, and carrying out other destructive and terrorist activities in Dehrawood.”
This comes after a group of 11 armed Taliban fighters also renounced violence and joined the peace process in Bala Bolok district of Farah after the group handed over their weapons to security forces, the statement read.
“The group handed over 11 weapons and an amount of ammunition,” it added.
[DAWN] Israel backs India's right to defend itself from terrorist attacks, said an Israeli foreign ministry official on Tuesday, the Press Trust of India reported.
"We are both suffering from the same scourge. I really don't see any difference between the Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... and the Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",. I never did and I don't today. A terrorist is a terrorist," said Mark Sofer, the deputy director general of Israel's foreign ministry.
Sofer, who has also served as Israel's ambassador to India, said that Israel's "hook, line and sinker support on the subject of terrorism" for India was a fact never hidden by Israel.
"We are not asking for a quid pro quo. You have suffered from terrorism from inside India, and not just emanating from Pakistain, which has been seen in recent history," he said.
"We feel that India has a right to defend itself against Death Eaters in the same way Israel has a right to defend itself from terrorists," Sofer said in his statement.
"Killing people for some sort of spurious or inexplicable ideological aim is terrorism, however you look at it. And that is what is happening from outside into India and coming from outside into Israel as well," Sofer said, likening the situation in the two countries.
His statement comes ahead of a landmark visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel. It is going to be the first visit ever to the country by an Indian prime minister.
India has repeatedly accused Pakistain of promoting terror in India, an allegation Pakistain strongly denies.
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[DAWN] A US dronezap killed four fighters of the bad boyIslamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) group, including a senior commander, an Afghan official said.
Waheedullah Kalimzai, the governor of the eastern Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... , said the strike on Monday killed Hazrat Gul and three other fighters in a mountainous area controlled by the bad boys.
He said authorities learned of the deaths from intelligence reports.
An IS affiliate drawn largely from disgruntled former Taliban ...Arabic for students... fighters operates in eastern Afghanistan, where it has clashed with Afghan forces as well as the more established Taliban.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a senior police official was killed by a bomb planted in his car in Kabul, according to Basir Mujahid, a police front man.
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[DAWN] The United States is counting on Pakistain’s support to eliminate militancy, in particular the Haqqani network, Senator John Maverick McCain ... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution. As an ordinary citizen he greased the infamous hookers peeing on the Obamabed in Moscow dossier in an attempt to smear President Trump... said during a visit to the Afghan capital on Tuesday.
"We have made it very clear that we expect they (Pakistain) will cooperate with us, particularly against the Haqqani network and against terrorist organizations," said McCain, chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, in Kabul.
"If they don’t change their behaviour, maybe we should change our behaviour towards Pakistain as a nation," he insisted.
The senator’s statement came one day after he led a bipartisan Senate delegation to Islamabad, where Pak officials said he had reaffirmed the country’s role in regional stability.
The senators’ visit to Islamabad and Kabul comes at a time when the US is gearing up to send more troops to Afghanistan to support Afghan forces straining to beat back the resurgent Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... .
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Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army has denied news on murder of a civilian at a security checkpoint, located between Anbar and the capital of Baghdad.
“News that tackled the death of a civilian in al-Soqour checkpoint are untrue,” Maj.Gen. Saad Harbiya, commander of the East Anbar Operations, told AlSumaria News on Tuesday.
Harbia added that the incidents occured one kilometer away from the checkpoint and described them as ‘accidential’.
Earlier on Tuesday, Rajei Barakat, member of the security committee of Anbar provincial council, declared death of a citizen at al-Suqour checkpoint, located southwest of Fallujah city after verbal wrangles occurred between him and the security personnel in charge of the checkpoint.
The victim, according to Barakat, attempted crossing through the checkpoint, along with his parents and family.
On Monday, Maj.Gen. Jalil al-Rubei’y, commander of Baghdad Operations, said the checkpoint will be opened once again after concluding maintenance.
More than 700 Iraqis dead and wounded during the month of June as result of violence and armed conflicts, according to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) which excludes security members deaths. Baghdad ranked the second place with 22 deaths and 88 injuries.
According to a previous count by UNAMI, 824 Iraqis were killed and wounded during the month of May.
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.
China is planning to install new propulsion technology on its newest classes of submarines, making them much harder for American sonar systems to detect and track.
An Iraqi commander says he believes some 300 Islamic State fighters remain in the small patch of territory still controlled by the group in Mosul's Old City. 
[WSJ] WARSAW--Like many of his fellow Polish pro-government lawmakers, Dominik Tarczynski is sending a busload of constituents to Warsaw on Thursday to cheer for President Donald Trump. The buses are being provided by a foundation close to the governing party.
[TownHall] Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (BfV) acknowledged Tuesday that hundreds of jihadists were among the million-plus migrants that came to Germany over the last two years.
[Breitbart] A repeatedly deported criminal alien from Mexico allegedly ran down three women with his car because he was "upset with women in general."
North Korea
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
Hillary Clinton
[IsraelTimes] Prodding 
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
Baqubah (IraqiNews.com) An Islamic State militant who was in charge of handling mails belonging to the group’s supreme leader was killed by security forces in Diyala province, local officials said.
At least 29 Taliban insurgents laid down arms and joined the peace process in western Farah and central Uruzgan provinces this week, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement on Tuesday. 
John 
