[NPR] United Airlines is apologizing once again for giving up a passenger's paid seat in another embarrassing incident for an airline that had promised to do better by customers.
Shirley Yamauchi told Hawaii News Now that she was headed to a teachers' conference in Boston last week and took her son along, paying nearly $1,000 for his ticket.
Things went smoothly on the first leg of the trip from Hawaii to Houston. But as they awaited takeoff to Boston, a passenger who had been on standby approached her, saying her son was in his seat.
Yamauchi said she alerted a flight attendant about the issue, but the woman just shrugged and said it was a full flight.
#2
I believe its within the FAA or FTC's authority to suspend further issuing of 'standby' ticketing, at least on interstate flights. A contract made, is a contract made. It would eliminate the problem.
[Wash Times] President Trump’s sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t getting any easier.
Russia on Thursday blocked a U.N. Security Council Resolution drafted by the U.S. that called for "significant measures" in response to North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The U.S. circulated the statement among the 15-member council after announcing plans for a new sanctions resolution against the nuclear-armed regime in North Korea. But an objection by Russia killed the statement, said a U.N. diplomat.
Russian officials argued that the missile launch Tuesday had not been verified as an intercontinental missile.
North Korea claimed it was an ICBM. The U.S. and U.N. also determined that Hwasong-14 missile launched by North Korea was of intercontinental range.
#2
Russian officials argued that the missile launch Tuesday had not been verified as an intercontinental missile.
That's a weak excuse. Does this mean that if the missile turns out to be an ICBM that Russia will suddenly be for sanctions? I don't think so. Especially since nothing can be proven until California disappears. Russia always seems to be on the side of evil!
[ZDNet] Three days after announcing internally its latest reorg, Microsoft has announced the resulting layoffs that have been rumored for the past week.
On July 6, Microsoft officials said they were notifying employees whose jobs were being cut.
One source close to the company said Microsoft would be cutting "several thousands" of employees. CNBC said Microsoft would be shedding up to 3,000 employees, but didn't cite the source of that number.
Some of those whose jobs are cut may be reassigned to other posts in the company, I'm hearing.
Microsoft officials declined to specify which groups will take the brunt, but given the July 3 reorg was all about Microsoft's sales organization, it's a safe bet most are coming from field sales, marketing, and other related teams.
I'm hearing these cuts are not meant primarily to be a cost-cutting measure; instead, Microsoft is redefining some of its sales roles in a more technical way, given the company's focus on pushing the digital transformation concept.
At the end of March 2017, Microsoft employed 121,567 worldwide. A year ago, approximately 50,000 of Microsoft's employees were engaged in sales, marketing, and services jobs.
"On July 4th, CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski bragged how the news organization hunted down and threatened to "dox" a Reddit user in retaliation for his GIF of President Trump body slamming a CNN logo to the ground at a WWE event.
Now, in an exclusive report, The Daily Caller reveals:
Several anchors and reporters at CNN have had their home addresses published and have received threats of rape and other violence . . . . Anti-network trolls are encouraging viewers to wrongly accuse CNN staffers of pedophilia and child pornography. There is also "tons of anti-Semitism."
Condemnation of CNN’s tactics and editorial process is coming from both right-wing bloggers as well as liberal sites like Vox.
And if CNN’s jackboot tactics weren’t enough bad karma, Project Veritas’ ongoing undercover video series "American Pravada" is revealing just how low some CNN employees are willing to go to push its biased agenda for ratings.
James O’Keefe, Founder and CEO of Project Veritas, commented on the video:
"We believe Jimmy Carr, John Bonifield and Van Jones were just telling the truth about what is going on in CNN newsrooms across the country. It is a toxic culture of Trump bashing, ratings grabbing and just plain lazy journalism."
#2
Most Dems have never taken the time to actually learn about the interwebs. Like most things in their life, they sit back on their hands and demand things go their way. Starting an internet war with 4chan and Reddit was pure stupidity. I can confirm that as of yesterday, personal info of Kaczynski, as well as some family members and colleagues were being distributed. This is war, bullets or bytes, makes no difference - both have already been deployed by the Left. What remains to be seen is whether the Leftist tail wagging the Dem dog is capable of sustaining this effort.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/06/2017 16:19
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#3
is revealing just how low some CNN employees are willing to go
"Welcome to Baton Rouge, where the Louisiana Purchase is apparently related to welfare.
Local gang-bangers say they’ll kill the President over their food stamps.
It might be easier to just pawn the gold necklaces for grocery money.
Or here’s a novel idea: they could get jobs. Trump has certainly created enough of them."
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
07/06/2017
10:45 ||
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#1
hmmm, went to their FB page and no video. Most likely taken down after complaint filed. Either way, a good thing. We're already drowning in assassination prOn, although I would have loved to have seen Walton and Johnson's commentary
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/06/2017 16:44
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#2
@#1: I tried also at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s30FQkXzV6Y. Got "This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated."
I guess YouTube doesn't accept food stamps either.
[OPB] Insurance companies in Oregon would be required to cover abortions and a variety of other reproductive services at no cost to the patient under a $10 million reproductive health bill approved by the state Legislature.
Oregon already has among the most liberal abortion laws in the nation, which are absent of otherwise common requirements for waiting periods or spending limits on taxpayer funds, among others.
House Bill 3391 was approved by the Oregon Senate Wednesday in a 17-13 vote along party lines. The bill heads to Gov. Kate Brown. The measure requires reproductive health be covered in all insurance plans at no cost to the patient regardless of income, citizenship status or gender identity.
The bill would also allocate almost $500,000 over the next two years to expand cost-free reproductive health coverage, including abortions, to immigrants who are otherwise ineligible for Medicaid.
#4
Hard to say whether the complete lack of morals or the ignorance of cost accounting should be the subject of my comment. I guess I'll go with both. Though I remain horrified that killing a little baby continues to be euphemized as "reproductive services."
Posted by: Tom ||
07/06/2017 11:31
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#5
Oregon vying with Washington and California as the "most progressive state" in the country? What is the trophy for winning? Going broker.
[NYT] MOSCOW -- The Kremlin is bringing a new weapon to the fight against the Islamic State militant group in Syria, using market-based incentives tied to oil and mining rights to reward private security contractors who secure territory from the extremists, Russian news outlets have reported.
So far, two Russian companies are known to have received contracts under the new policy, according to the reports: Evro Polis, which is set to receive profits from oil and gas wells it seizes from the Islamic State using contract soldiers, and Stroytransgaz, which signed a phosphate-mining deal for a site that was under militant control at the time.
The agreements, made with the Syrian government, are seen as incentives for companies affiliated with Russian security contractors, who reportedly employ about 2,500 soldiers in the country, to push the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, out of territory near Palmyra, in central Syria.
Most Middle Eastern wars are suspected of having some variant of this deal, but it is seldom made as explicit as in the Russian contracts.
"It’s all very simple," Ivan P. Konovalov, director of the Center for Strategic Trends Studies, said by telephone of the deals, struck in December but just recently reported. "If a company provides security, then the country getting that service should pay. It doesn’t matter how the payment is made."
In the petroleum deal, Evro Polis, a corporation formed last summer, will receive a 25 percent share of oil and natural gas produced on territory it captures from the Islamic State, the news site Fontanka.ru reported.
"Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) visited U.S. forces deployed in Afghanistan during the July 4th holiday, sharing photos of her visit on Twitter."
...
"Warren was joined by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) during her trip." Warren/McCain 2018!
...
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
07/06/2017
08:23 ||
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#1
Both of them need to be sent for a foreign visit...
#10
She's running if she's trying to suck up to the troops and play the patriot card. That reads like such a Hillary election trick. I'm only surprised she didn't don her Fauxcahontas native garb during her visit to Afghanistan. There's nothing that's going to make Warren electable.
#11
Bern vs Faux primary cage match. Forget the popcorn, I want unlimited Cajun crawfish tails!
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/06/2017 12:46
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#12
Lone Waddle: They sneaked up on us and they
told us we wouldn't be happy at the university.
They said we would be happier
in the Senate.
So they took away our tenure...
...and sent us here.
I am a fine woman...
...and my planet has two suns.
But my reputation died on the Trail of Smears.
And now the right-wing white man
is sneaking up on me.
Again.
#15
She's running if she's trying to suck up to the troops
I don't think this will work. She hasn't done much for them yet. Why would the troops believe she's been on their side suddenly? Has she done anything meaningful to fix the VA or anything else other than vote for the obvious and safe stuff?
Besides, I think it's more likely she's trying to look good to the voters by trying to stand near the troops rather than just woo troops who aren't already Donks.
I will be looking for imagess with crossed fingers.
#19
The real question is - were the troops in the area required to disarm, or to remove all ammunition from their weapons, as was the case when Ash Carter "visited troops".
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/06/2017 21:47
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#21
Whoops. Sorry about that.
Too excited, I guess.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/06/2017 21:47
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#22
Fixed. The occasional space, reoresenting a pause for breath, is highly recommended, Mullah Richard dear. Otherwise turning blue and falling down occur.
#3
Jihad - glad to see they are finally saying publicly what they've always believed - it will make it much easier to deliver the beat-down they are begging for
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/06/2017 10:44
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#4
She is an enemy of human rights--I cannot believe the left has drifted so far during my lifetime.
#5
Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the European Union, Canada, Israel, Egypt, Japan, and the United States. Australia and the UK have labeled the military branch of Hamas as a terrorist group. I thought it was illegal to raise funds for terrorist groups. FVck em if Muslims don't want to assimilate.
[Right Scoop] Former Congressguy Jason Chaffetz says that the GOP doesn’t even have a real plan to pass their health care bill.
He kinda sums up a lot of frustration that people have with the GOP right now, and highlights why Chaffetz is leaving. He literally says that he’s grown too pessimistic about the ability for anything to get done in politics. Health care is a fantastic example. As much as Trump seems to be completely useless in the effort, it should be a grand slam touchdown for the Republicans if they had actually done any *planning* in all the years that they were whining and pretending to be against Obamacare....
#4
Really don't have any interest in hearing the Tim Curry look-alike who investigated everything and prosecuted nothing throughout his grand-standing career analyse anything. Even if he's correct, he's still part of the problem. Can we set him and Trey Gowdy adrift on the same raft with no food, mid-Pacific?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/06/2017 13:14
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#5
If they do nothing, Obamacare will die anyway.
While dying, it will jack up premiums for tens of millions causing them them to drop coverage and be fined for not having coverage. Which will cause many of formerly GOP voters to fail to vote in 2018 or vote for the Democrats. The GOP needs to either repeal or replace. If it doesn't, it will lose bigly in 2018.
#6
While dying, it will jack up premiums for tens of millions causing them them to drop coverage and be fined for not having coverage. Which will cause many of formerly GOP voters to fail to vote in 2018 or vote for the Democrats. The GOP needs to either repeal or replace. If it doesn't, it will lose bigly in 2018.
And knowing GOP, we can all predict what it'll do.
#9
Fokkin' BS. Single Payer is coming. The GOP is already setting the plate for the Turtle Gambit, "We tried and tried and tried, but we just couldn't get the votes". The shit has already been canned and is just waiting for distribution. Too much money and power to be had, don't ya know. I'm sure you'll all understand.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/06/2017 16:47
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#11
RINOs have been lying for 7 years. There is no room for doubt. They never intended to repeal, but were happy to lie about it thinking the day would never come.
#14
And now turtle neck et al are saying they 'may need Dem support'? If a meteor were to strike Congress while in session, would we care at all? Not I. I pray for such.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/06/2017 21:08
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[Right Scoop] Ralph Peters made it pretty clear this morning that anyone who thinks that China is actually going to help with the N. Korea problem is delusional. He said they’ve never done it before and given the choice now between American good will and the N. Korean regime, China will ALWAYS choose N. Korea.
Peters points out that China doesn’t see N. Korea as a problem, but rather as a "very valuable ally" during both peace and war. In fact he argues that China likes that the US is focused and distracted by the Korean peninsula, so that they can make mischief elsewhere.
China will never help us and he hopes that Trump is finally coming around to realizing this with this latest tweets on the issue:
#1
This is a typical Russian-China proxy action. All NORK hardware comes from these bastids or Pakistan. Take it to them. Delay or close down entirely, shipping from China to the Ports of Long Beach and Savannah. Provide Japan and South Korea a nuclear capability. Continue to strengthen ties with Poland and other former Soviet satellite states. Bolster ties with India. Sell Europe more LNG and crude oil, undercutting Russian prices. Increase the Political-Military footprint in key African states. Target for destruction Iranian troops in Syria. Oh, we're already doing that, ok then please continue and add the reactivation of the 'Northern No Fly Zone' to Iraq to non-Iraqi aircraft. Put a U.S. tactical fighter squadron at Al Sahra Airfield (the old Camp Speicher) near Tikrit, Iraqi.
#5
Delay or close down entirely, shipping from China to the Ports of Long Beach and Savannah.
Can't understand why this wasn't done a long, long time ago unless it has something to do with all the corporations that make big bucks selling cheap plastic crap from China. They'd scream bloody murder but some of those jobs might start finding their way back to America.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/06/2017 12:26
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#6
given the choice now between American good will and the N. Korean regime, China will ALWAYS choose N. Korea.
True. But more than American good will was involved in the offer. Stuff like a nuclear-armed Japan, missile defense systems with radars that can peer into China, some trade action, military assistance to countries like Japan and Viet Nam that are worried about Chinese expansion, chaos at the NKor-China border if something jumps off.
The Chinese have gotten a lot of mileage out of their vicious little pet. Trump's negotiation is in one sense a test of how much future value the Chinese place on that.
[Daily Caller] The of numbers of individuals in different states on food stamps have dropped precipitously after certain counties in different states decided to re-establish work requirements for food stamp government benefits that ballooned under the Obama administration, Fox News reported Tuesday.
A 2009 congressional economic stimulus package did away with previous work requirements in the states for able-bodied adults and the rolls of those on food stamps spiked to 48 million people across the country by 2013. Preliminary figures for Fiscal Year 2017 show that the number of recipients on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is in a downward trend.
Other ways are being explored to cut the number of SNAP recipients.
After re-instituting the work requirement in 21 more counties in Georgia, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported a 62 percent drop in SNAP participants.
Thirteen counties in Alabama began to mandate that able-bodied adults without children must either find work or engage in a work training program as a requirement for their benefits. Last month, AL.com reported an 85 percent drop in food stamp participation in those 13 counties.
#3
Seems to be a common theme among the states that do this. One would think people were milking the system to say at home and wank off like a wild monkey instead of working or something.
Project Veritas sends in a girl in this segment, who OMG gets the goods. People will be falling on their swords over there. Four-plus minutes of jaw-dropping obliviousness on video. There has to be an award for this, because they're beating the professionals at their own game like they were recalcitrant galley slaves.
#1
I'm finding the whole CNN trainwreck hugely entertaining. Not least because CNN is trying to go back to the 20th century when the media could manage the news.
[Ynet] An unidentified assailant rubbed out a police officer and maimed a lawyer in a court house in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's northwestern province of Bursa on Tuesday, then took one person hostage, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.
Hurriyet's website said special police teams were sent to the building in Bursa's Gemlik district. Police were not immediately available for comment.
Kurds, ISIS, Gulenists finally rising up against their oppressors? So many possibilities!
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/06/2017
00:01 ||
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[TheHill] Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) ripped into Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson in a speech Saturday, saying Carson "doesn’t care about people in public housing." Waters has visited Cuba a number of times, praised Fidel Castro, and demanded an end to the U.S. trade embargo. In 1998 Waters wrote a letter to Castro citing the 1960s and 1970s as "a sad and shameful chapter of our history," and thanked Castro for providing help to those who needed to "flee political persecution." In 1998, Waters wrote an open letter to Fidel Castro asking him not to extradite African-American activist Assata Shakur. After a woman drowned during an attempted escape from Cuba to the U.S. in 1999, leaving a six-year-old son, Elian Gonzales, who survived and requested asylum in the U.S., Waters called on President Bill Clinton to return him at once to Cuba.
"[Carson] knows nothing about the mission of HUD," Waters said in a speech at the Essence Festival in New Orleans. "He doesn’t care about people in public housing. He believes that if you are poor, it is your own fault. And he doesn’t know the difference between an immigrant and a slave."
Waters was referring to Carson’s remarks at a March event for HUD employees in which he referred to slaves brought to America as "immigrants."
"That’s what America is about. A land of dreams and opportunity," Carson had said. "There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less."
Carson also said in May that poverty was "a state of mind."
"You take somebody that has the right mindset, you take everything from them and put them on the street and I guarantee in a little while they’ll be right back up there," he said in a SiriusXM radio interview in May. "And you take somebody with the wrong mindset, you can give them everything in the world, they’ll work their way right back down to the bottom."
Waters also warned Carson that she would be tough on him when he testifies before the House Financial Services Committee, of which she is the ranking member.
"[If he] thinks that I am going to give him a pass, I am going to take his ass apart," Waters said.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2017 7:04
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#2
"In 1998 Waters wrote a letter to Castro citing the 1960s and 1970s as "a sad and shameful chapter of our history,"
Maybe Mad Maxine would be willing to move to this communist paradise (sarc). Getting her out of Kalifornia would be good for everyone. BTW, no one has suggested a psychiatric test for her to determine whether she is fit to serve. Maybe it is just apparent to everyone that she is not "fit" and does not "serve."
#10
One of Carson's problems is he doesn't speak in sound bites like a politician so most of what he says can easily be cherry-picked to twist what he says. Someone should teach a course on that sort of stuff for newbies to Politics.
#11
Waters also warned Carson that she would be tough on him when he testifies before the House Financial Services Committee, of which she is the ranking member.
"[If he] thinks that I am going to give him a pass, I am going to take his ass apart," Waters said.
Exhibit #2,473 of everything that is wrong with the mindset of the typical Congress critter.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/06/2017 11:51
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#13
Tucker Carlson last might eviscerated her:
"onsider where she lives," Carlson said of Waters," in a "6,000 square foot, $4.3 million mansion in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Los Angeles."
"How did she afford a place like that after having spent the last 40 years working in government?" Carlson asked. "We hate to speculate."
Congress has the second highest percentage of African-American residents in the state of California," Carlson said. "Now the neighborhood where Waters actually lives is just six percent black, or as she might put it herself if she didn't live there, ‘it's segregated, like 1950s level segregated.'"
#17
Looks like she has her own plantation now and has to protect her district from the influence of smarter black Americans. Aka black on black verbal violance.
[AlAhram] The US military conducted an Arclight airstrike against a group of Shabaab gunnies in Somalia early Wednesday, officials said, the third such action in a month.
The military's Africa Command said the strike occurred at about 1:30 am local time (2230 GMT) some 300 miles (480 kilometers) southwest of Mogadishu.
"Working from actionable intelligence, the Department of Defense conducted a successful collective self-defense strike operation against an al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... troop concentration," Africom said in a statement.
It was the third US strike on Shabaab Islamist gunnies since 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... authorized the Pentagon in March to take counter-terrorism actions -- whether Arclight airstrikes or ground raids -- when it deems them necessary to support the Somali government.
Wednesday's strike follows a July 2 attack on Shabaab gunnies and a June 11 raid of a training center.
It was within the Pentagon's "parameters of authority to engage in collective self-defense of our Somali partners," Pentagon front man Navy Captain Jeff Davis said.
Before Trump broadened the Pentagon's authorities, US military actions in the eastern African country each required high-level review by different agencies.
US special forces have been deployed in Somalia for years. There are currently about 50 US troops there.
Shabaab, an al-Qaeda linked group, has been fighting since 2007 to overthrow the internationally backed government in Somalia.
The United States Department of Defense (DOD) or Pentagon has confirmed the death of a US soldier in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan.
According to a statement by Pentagon “The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Freedom Sentinel.”
The statement further added “Pfc. Hansen B. Kirkpatrick, 19, of Wasilla, Alaska, died July 3, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, from wounds received during an indirect fire attack. The incident is under investigation.”
“He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas,” Pentagon added.
Helmand is among the relatively volatile provinces in southern Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgents are actively operating in its various districts and often carry out insurgency activities.
The local security officials said Tuesday that more 60 Taliban insurgents were killed during the counter-terrorism and clearance operations in this province since Sunday.
Provincial police chief Abdul Ghafar Safi told reporters that four airstrikes were conducted in different areas of Nawa in the past 48 hours.
He said at least 62 insurgents have been killed during the operations so far, including some of their important commanders and around 40 more have been wounded.
Safi further added that the operations are being conducted with the support of the foreign forces based in the country, who are mainly providing air support to the Afghan troops and Special Forces on the ground.
Some members of Kunduz provincial council said Taliban has built ‘main strongholds’ on the outskirts of Kunduz city and that the group has reached areas close to the center of the city in the past three days. “The security forces launched an operation and cleared Talawka area (in the outskirts of Kunduz city) in 15 days.
But unfortunately the militants captured the area in a few hours,” said Khosh Mohammad Nasiryar, member of the provincial council. Kunduz residents said they are concerned about the war on the outskirts of the city.
“Government should come and have a look at the situation closely,” said Hamza, a resident of Kunduz. “The war is ongoing for the past three days. Taliban has entered our house. We left our house but we left our goods there,” said Abdul Alim, another resident of the province.
However, Kunduz police chief Abdul Hamid Hamidi said security forces have repelled all Taliban attacks and that the group has suffered heavy losses in the battle. “The militants do not have the ability to stand against the security forces who have gathered from different provinces,” he said.
Kunduz provincial council says Taliban has physical presence in many villages of Taloka area. According to the provincial council, Taliban has control over Shinwari and Naseriha villages in eastern parts of Kunduz city, the Omarkhail, Madrassa, Shna Tepa in south of the city, and Kanam, Hazrat Sultan, Mullah Sardar, Orta Blaqiha and Doblola villages in northern parts of Kunduz city.
The war in the outskirts of Kunduz city erupted on Sunday when groups of Taliban fighters attacked government forces’ outposts in the outskirts of Kunduz city as well as in Ali Abad district along the Baghlan-Kunduz highway.
The Afghan army announced on Tuesday evening that they have cleared the Baghlan-Kunduz of militants.
Duffel Blog
WASHINGTON — After weeks of testing and analysis, Lockheed engineers have been unable to determine the reason why some F-35 pilots have experienced hypoxia-like symptoms during flight, though some believe the problem could be that pilots have become far too reliant on oxygen, sources confirmed today.
Earlier this month, officials at Luke Air Force base halted all F-35 flights after five separate incidents were recorded in which pilots were unable to magically convert carbon dioxide into oxygen in order to survive.
“This is something we’re looking into,” said Brig. Gen. Brook Leonard, 56th Fighter Wing commander, “and if necessary, there will be disciplinary proceedings for pilots who cannot perform maneuvers at 30,000 feet without whining that they don’t have enough O2.”
According to senior defense officials, the issue could be related to the F-35’s On-Board Oxygen Generating System, or OBOGS, because there aren’t enough goddamn acronyms in the military and Lockheed decided we needed one more.
Leonard believes it’s most likely pilot error making some pass out and dream of their past experience flying aircraft that flew from point A to point B without killing them.
“We have received some reports from the engineers that some pilots were taking breaths into their masks,” Leonard told reporters. “Additionally, we’re investigating some disturbing reports that some of our fliers were also handling the flight controls while in the air.”
Shirqat (IraqiNews.com) Four Islamic State militants were killed when government and tribal forces repelled an attack by the group on villages in Salahuddin province, an official said on Wednesday.
Ali al-Dawdah, mayor of Shirqat (55 Km north of Salahuddin), was quoted by Alsumaria News saying that the militants sneaked into the western side of the town to the villages of Khadraniya, Houriya and al-Suwaidan.
Dawdah said four attackers, two pro-government tribal fighters and one civilian were killed in the turmoil. Army warplanes intervened and bombarded the attackers’ locations, he noted.
Islamic State militants have been in control over the eastern side of Shirqat since 2014, when they took over a third of Iraq and Syria. The group has recently stepped up attacks across Iraqi provinces, and an increasing activity on the group’s behalf has been detected at Salahuddin’s borders with neighboring provinces.
The Iraqi government, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary forces, is expected to move towards clearing IS pockets across Iraq once its eight-month-old campaign against the group in Mosul, the militants’ largest stronghold in Iraq, finishes. The fall of Mosul could mean a collapse of the group’s self-styled “Islamic Caliphate” declared in 2014.
Posted by: badanov ||
07/06/2017
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Mitiga airport has been shut today as fighting rages between rival members of the same militia.
Yesterday an RPG fired during the violence killed a family of five on the beach.
The health ministry said this morning that 32 people had so far been injured.
The fighting is between rival members of the Buni Brigade which controls the airport terminal building. It is understood that there had been a falling out over the distribution of the income the militia earns from goods and passengers passing through the terminal.
The original dispute started when one Buni Brigade member was killed by another, at which point the two different factions set on each other.
Yesterday it was reported that men from the Haytham Tajouri’s Tripoli Revolutionaries’ Brigade had been sent to Mitiga. It is now being said that forces from Abdul Rauf Kara’s Rada Special Deterrence Force were seeking to intervene.
Tripoli’s Mitiga airport closed by fighting among militiamen this morning has now reopened.
The RADA Special Deterrence Force said its men had arrived and that they had arrested “most of the criminals” who were behind the security breaches, which caused passengers at the airport to take cover.
Aircraft movements have resumed with an Afriqiyah flight from Labraq landing this evening and the airline also sending off two delayed Airbus A320s to Tobruk.
The death toll of the Taliban insurgents has exceeded 60 as the counter-terrorism and clearance operations are underway in southern Helmand province.
The local security officials are saying that the operations are currently being conducted in the vicinity of Nawa district, which were launched 48 hours ago.
Provincial police chief Abdul Ghafar Safi told reporters that four airstrikes were conducted in different areas of Nawa in the past 48 hours.
He said at least 62 insurgents have been killed during the operations so far, including some of their important commanders and around 40 more have been wounded.
Safi further added that the operations are being conducted with the support of the foreign forces based in the country, who are mainly providing air support to the Afghan troops and Special Forces on the ground.
The Helmand police chief also added that vast swaths of Loy Kali, Zhar Sahib, Mir Salim, and Ainak Kali have been cleared from the presence of the Taliban insurgents.
According to Safi, besides suffer loss of lives, dozens of vehicles and weapons belonging to the Taliban insurgents were also destroyed.
The anti-government armed militant groups have not commented regarding the report so far.
The serial criminal who rubbed out a female NYPD cop in a cold-blooded ambush early Wednesday morning was a paranoid schizophrenic who was 'off his meds' in the hours leading up to the shooting, it was claimed Wednesday afternoon.
The girlfriend of Alexander Bonds, 34, told Sherlocks that he was 'irrational and erratic' just before he fatally shot Officer Miosotis Familia, 48, after midnight on Wednesday, the New York Post reported.
She also told police that she called 911 three times to report Bonds as they walked around the Bronx on Tuesday evening.
But when police responded to one of the calls, Bonds was nowhere to be found.
'Every time he saw a cop car go down the block he would go and hide,' she told law enforcement officials.
Bonds' girlfriend also says that she tried to have him committed to a local hospital on Saturday, but medical officials discharged him after he noticeably calmed down.
[Ynet] Tajik police potted four relatives of a former elite police force commander who defected to 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.... two years ago, two security sources told Rooters on Wednesday, during a raid on a house near the Afghan border.
The United States last August offered up to $3 million for information about Colonel Gulmurod Khalimov, whom it trained in counter-terrorism before he joined Islamic State.
Washington has described Khalimov as "a key leader" of Islamic State, which has seized parts of Syria and Iraq and staged or inspired deadly bully boy attacks around the world.
According to the security sources, police suspected that some of Khalimov's relatives were also linked to the bully boy group and were about to cross the border into Afghanistan.
When police raided a house in the Ibrat village in southern Tajikistan late on Tuesday, the suspects resisted and maimed at least one policeman, the sources said. Police killed two of Khalimov's brothers and two of his nephews, and detained several people.
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07/06/2017
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Aleppo (Syria News) Ongoing and violent clashes took place in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo, between the “Euphrates Wrath” troops and the Syrian Democratic Forces, while regime forces carried out an artillery shelling, northeast of Latakia Province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported, on Wednesday, that continuous clashes broke out, late on Tuesday, in the villages of al-Sajor and al-Halawanji, in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo, between the Islamic factions fighting within Turkey-backed operation of the “Euphrates Wrath” and the Syrian Democratic Forces; however, no casualties were reported.
Meanwhile, Syrian government forces shelled, this morning, several areas in the mountains of Turkmen and Kurds in the northeastern countryside of Latakia Province, without causing any casualties.
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[ARA News] The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have liberated 18% of Raqqa city since the launch of a major operation to liberate Raqqa from Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants, officials told ARA News on Wednesday.
On June 6, the Syrian Democratic Forces announced the official start of the battle for Raqqa city.
In an exclusive interview with ARA News, Col. Joe Scrocca, the US-led coalition’s Director of Public Affairs, confirmed that until now 18 per cent of the city of Raqqa has been liberated by the SDF troops.
“The SDF is making significant progress on several axes against heavy ISIS resistance in Raqqa and has liberated approximately 18% of the city thus far,” said Col. Joe Scrocca.
“The SDF liberation of Raqqa will be a significant achievement in the Coalition’s mission to defeat Da’esh by, with, and through our partner forces. We are not going to put a timeline on these efforts,” the coalition’s official told ARA News on Wednesday.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the commander of the U.S.-led coalition to fight ISIS, said the fight is just getting started.
“I think we’re in the first 25 or 30 percent of the campaign for Raqqa,” Townsend told CBS News. “We’re just getting started good in Raqqa.”
On 3 July, the Syrian Democratic Forces breached the Old City of Raqqa by opening two small gaps in the Rafiqah Wall that surrounds the Old City.
“ISIS fighters were using the historic wall as a fighting position and planted mines and improvised explosive devices at several of the breaks in the wall,” the coalition said in a statement.
“SDF fighters would have been channeled through these locations and were extremely vulnerable as they were targeted with vehicle-borne IEDs and indirect fire as well as direct fire from heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and snipers as they tried to breach the Old City.”
“Unlike ISIS who deliberately destroyed the ruins of Palmyra and the Al-Nuri mosque and uses sites such as the Rafiqa Wall, hospitals, schools and mosques as weapons storage facilities and fighting positions, Coalition forces are making a great effort to protect civilians and preserve these sites for future generations,” said Coalition Spokesman, Col. Ryan Dillon.
“The most humane way to save the people of Raqqah is to swiftly and decisively defeat ISIS, who have terrorized the people of Raqqah for more than three years. Only this way, can the people of Raqqa be saved and city return to peace.”
Raqqa has been known as a de facto capital for the ISIS self-proclaimed Caliphate since the summer of 2014.
The Kurdish-Arab-Christian alliance of SDF has been isolating Raqqa since November 2016, when the US-backed alliance launched the so-called Euphrates Wrath Operation.
On 13 April, the Syrian Democratic Forces launched the fourth phase of the Euphrates Wrath Operation against Islamic State’s extremists to clear out the northern countryside of Raqqa.
During the first phase of Euphrates Wrath, which began on November 6, 2016, the SDF liberated roughly 560 km² in Northern Raqqa.
On 10 December, 2016, the SDF launched the second phase of the Euphrates Wrath, during which it captured over 2500 km² in Western Raqqa.
On 4 February, 2017, the Syrian Democratic Forces launched the third phase of the Euphrates Wrath Operation, and liberated dozens of villages in Eastern Raqqa from ISIS jihadists.
The campaign is ultimately aimed at liberating the city of Raqqa from ISIS extremists.
[AlManar] US-backed fighters inched forwards in Raqa’s Old City against fierce resistance Wednesday, after penetrating the heart of the ISIL Takfiri group’s Syrian bastion, a spokesman and a monitor said.
The Syrian Democratic Forces — an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters — entered the historical quarter after air strikes by the US-led coalition punched two holes in its ramparts late on Monday.
The Takfiri insurgents deployed four weaponized drones and several suicide bombers in vehicles against the advancing fighters, said a spokesman for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which makes up a bulk of the SDF.
“The SDF advanced and captured the strategic Saif al-Dawlah road leading towards the Old Mosque,” Nuri Al-Mahmoud told AFP.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the SDF had pushed forwards about 200 meters (yards) by midday (0900 GMT) on Wednesday.
“They are now approximately 300 meters from the Old Mosque — within firing range of it,” said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
The US envoy to the coalition, Brett McGurk, hailed the SDF’s entry into the Old City as a “key milestone” in the campaign to defeat ISIL in its de facto Syrian capital.
Raqa earned notoriety as the scene of some of the group’s worst atrocities, including public beheadings, and is thought to have been a hub for planning attacks overseas.
Tens of thousands of civilians are believed to be trapped inside the city, with warnings that the terrorists are using them as human shields.
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At least two children were killed and a woman was wounded when one of two rockets landed on their house in PD5 of Kabul city on Wednesday afternoon, eyewitnesses said.
A second rocket landed in the same area - in Neyazbek - but no casualties were reported.
The police confirmed the incident but said five people were wounded. They have not provided further details but stated they are investigating the incident.
No group including the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the blast yet
Swedish comedian Emma Knyckare proposed festival on Twitter on Sunday
Idea has since gained support and she pledged to make it a reality next summer
Knyckare said festival will run until 'all men learn how to behave themselves'
Comes after dozens of claims of sexual assault and rape at Bråvalla festival by gangs of 'foreign youths', leading to cancellation of festival going forward
#5
After appropriate training, just arm (packing heat) the ladies while disarming any male wanting to attend. Just to reduce the number of accidental discharges.
#8
Profiling! Womyn can also grope and sexually assault other womyn. As Groucho said: I won't belong to any organization that would have me as a member.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/06/2017 21:11
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#11
Wouldn't it be much simpler and more economical for all Swedish to convert to Islam and/or accept Dhimmitude status ?
It is already "De Facto" happening there anyhow.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
07/06/2017 21:30
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#12
Isn't that already the problem? Sweden has been man-free for decades.
[CreepingSharia] A Muslim student union leader has claimed she would like to ’oppress white people’ and has suggested there would be an Islamic takeover if more people read the Koran.
Zamzam Ibrahim, who was elected President of Salford University’s Student Union in March, also suggested friendship between men and women is un-Islamic and is opposed to the government’s anti-radicalisation strategy.
The Swedish-Somali student officer also described the government’s Prevent strategy as ’disastrous’ and ’racist’.
In one message she responded to a question on AskFM on what book everyone should read. She said: ’The Quaraan. We would have an Islamic takeover!’
In another message on the topic of the possibility of friendship between a man and a woman, she replied: ’I’ve had this debate with many friends! Maybe in some cases but Islamically it’s incorrect for girls to be friends with a guy anyway!
’So I’m gonna say NO not the kind of friendship they can have with the same gender there is always boundaries.’
In one tweet from May 9, 2012 under the hashtag #ifIwasPresident, she wrote: ’I’d oppress white people just to give them a taste of what they put us through!’
Ms Ibrahim was also recently elected to the National Union of Students Block of 15 committee.
She has also completed a BSc in Business and Financial Management.
During her campaign for election with the NUS, Ms Ibrahim, who is a Muslim, claimed: ’Since Brexit referendum result, there has been a rise in hate crime by 41 per cent. NUS needs to continue the great work on combating racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, homophobic and ableist hate crime.
’If elected, I will continue to work with NUS Officers and ARAF campaigns to develop networks to support students and activists affected by Hate Crime, to fight against the disastrous racist PREVENT strategy and support international students and migrant communities.’
The student union at the college ‐ where Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi attended ‐ is opposed to the government’s PREVENT strategy.
According to The Spectator, Ms Ibrahim has deleted a large number of messages form her social media accounts.
According to the Student’s Union: ’The government’s Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 places a statutory requirement on public bodies ‐ including universities ‐ to "prevent people being drawn into terrorism".
One college source told MailOnline: ’Given that as Student Union President involved working with students of all all walks of life its a bit inappropriate for someone like her to hold the role of representing students.’
Salford Student’s Union said: ’There have been reports in the media this weekend related to comments made by the Union President, Zamzam Ibrahim.
’It is disappointing to see that comments from a number of years ago have been taken out of context, and used in a sensationalised story with no clear public interest. The Students’ Union is confident that the comments published this weekend are not a fair or true reflection of Zamzam’s current opinions or views, written when she was a young teenager, and were not intended to cause offence.
’Nevertheless, the Union takes all issues related to equality and diversity seriously and wishes to reassure students that the Union is committed to an inclusive and accessible campus environment for all, regardless of race, religion, gender or other personal characteristic. The Union ensures all student leaders and volunteers are trained and guided by our Equality and Diversity Policy and that all events, activities and projects are designed with this ethos in mind.’
#1
amusing the way the 'Salford Union' speaks in the 3rd person and assures people that Ibrahim doesn't believe the things she said.
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/06/2017 8:14
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#2
She is a Swedish-Somali student. Perhaps Sweden or Somali would like to have her. Maybe the "The government’s Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 places a statutory requirement on public bodies – including universities – to “prevent people being drawn into terrorism” would justify her deportation.
[DW] Three men accused of plotting a killing spree in the German city of Dusseldorf have appeared in court. The attack, using explosive vests and bullets, was to be financed with money extorted from the Vatican.
The three defendants, identified as Saleh A., Mahood B. and Hamza C., appeared in the dock on Wednesday, accused of plotting suicide kabooms and shootings in the western city of Dusseldorf.
The three were "believed to have plotted to have two jacket wallahs set off explosive vests and then open fire on passers-by with automatic rifles," the Dusseldorf court said in a statement.
The case was brought after 25-year-old Syrian Saleh A. went to a cop shoppe in Gay Paree in February last year and told police he "had a certain amount of information about a sleeper cell that was read to strike in Germany." A. was extradited to Germany in October.
German authorities believe Saleh A. and Hamza C., 27, joined the myrmidon group "Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... " (IS) in Syria in early 2014. It is there that A. was said to have been given orders for the attack from the leadership level of IS. They crossed from Syria to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... in 2014 and were said to have reached Germany, traveling separately via Greece, between March and July 2015.
Massacre planned in the old town
Saleh A. was then believed to have drawn up plans for the attack in which two of the jihadis would detonate explosive vests in Dusseldorf's historic old town. Another attacker would then have been placed at the old town's exit, where he would have been tasked with killing as many of those fleeing the scene as possible with automatic weapons.
The two were then said to have convinced co-defendant Mahood B., 25, to join them in the plan.
The three hoped to finance their plot by selling to the Vatican a video showing proof of life of a priest who was kidnapped by IS in Syria.
All three men are accused of planning a terror attack and of being members of IS. Two of the three men were to be assessed psychologically to assess their capacity for criminal responsibility. It is unclear as to why A. had made his confession and the German newspaper "Welt am Sonntag" has reported that his statements to police appeared to be fraught with contradictions. He had also implicated a fourth man who did not appear on Wednesday.
The case is to be held over 36 days in total between June and December.
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[AnNahar] Four people have been tossed in the calaboose Please don't kill me! and an arms cache found after overnight terror raids in Brussels linked to a bikers' club called the Kamikaze Riders
...a Salafist motorcycle gang inspired by ISIS, several of whose members were arrested in the final days of 2015 for planning a Paris-style mass attack on Brussels' Grand Place and the nearby police station...
federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
"During one of the house searches, various weapons were found. In all, four persons were arrested and taken in for questioning," prosecutors said in a statement.
A front man said the raids were linked to the Kamikaze Riders, which has been implicated in terror offences.
A source close to the investigation said the raids in the gritty Anderlecht district found at least two Kalashnikov assault rifles while reports spoke of explosives also being discovered.
The statement from prosecutors said the raids were "completely independent" from the probe into the deadly November 2015 Gay Paree and March 2016 Brussels attacks, which were claimed by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... and carried out by jihadi cells based in the Belgian capital.
Meanwhile in northern La Belle France, a joint Franco-Belgian anti-terrorist operation picked up a man on suspicion of having links to the Kamikaze Riders.
The 42-year-old, arrested in a suburb of the northern city of Lille, is suspected of plotting a "violent action", a source close to the case said.
The Kamikazes Riders, formed in 2003, are suspected of links to foiled attacks in Brussels in late 2015.
In October 2016, two members of the group were convicted of belonging to a terrorist group. One was enjugged ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... for six years, the other for three. They were suspected of plotting an attack similar to the November 2015 jihadist rampage in Gay Paree that left 130 people dead.
At least two of the suspects placed in durance vile Please don't kill me! in Brussels terror raids overnight were suspected of planning an attack, a source close to the investigation says.
The source, who asked not to be named, confirms media reports saying the two were brothers of Said Saouti, a member of the Kamikaze Bikers club who was tossed in the calaboose Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! for six years in 2016 for belonging to a terrorist group.
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[IsraelTimes] PA’s envoy to Cairo says leaders to discuss efforts to mend Fatah-Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", rift, amid talk of deal between terror group and PA president’s rival Dahlan.
Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... will travel to Cairo over the weekend to meet with Egyptian leader Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi for "urgent" talks, the PA’s envoy to Egypt said Tuesday, amid tensions over Egypt’s involvement in an internal Paleostinian rift.
In addition, Jamal al-Shobaki said that the two leaders will discuss US efforts to revive peace talks between Israel and the Paleostinians, as well Egyptian efforts to end the ongoing internal "Paleostinian division."
"[Abbas and Sissi] will discuss during the meeting the Paleostinian issue in all of its aspects, in addition to the current conditions the Middle East is going through, as well as the dangerous escalation in settlements in East Jerusalem and the rest of the Paleostinian territories," Shobaki said, according to the PA’s official Wafa news agency.
It was unclear what prompted the need for the talks, but they came on the heels of 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.
[DetroitNews] Flint — The terror suspect accused in the stabbing of a police officer last month at Bishop International Airport was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges that could send him to prison for life.
Amor M. Ftouhi, a 49-year-old Tunisian national
...he does not also have Canadian citizenship?
who resides in Montreal, injected a bit of drama into a brief appearance in federal court after the indictment, chanting “Allahu Akbar” five times while shuffling into the courtroom, wearing a white T-shirt, orange pants, handcuffs and ankle chains.
Then, he stood mute on charges in the latest terror investigation in a region that has seen a handful of terrorism prosecutions in recent years, including underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
The indictment Wednesday did not charge Ftouhi with terrorism.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie Dawkins Davis entered a not-guilty plea on Ftouhi’s behalf to charges stemming from what the FBI describes as an attack in the Flint airport last month.
There was an unusually heavy security presence inside a federal courtroom filled with at least seven news reporters, a sketch artist and an Arabic interpreter. Ftouhi was encircled by five security officers while being escorted back to an undisclosed correctional facility.
Very heavy if it was not a terror attack.
The indictment adds one new charge: using a dangerous weapon to interfere with airport security and comes two weeks after Ftouhi was arrested in what is being investigated as a possible terror attack. He is being held without bond on a charge of violence at an international airport, which is punishable by up to 20 years behind bars.
Ftouhi is accused of stabbing Bishop airport police Lt. Jeff Neville with a 12-inch knife.
A witness said Ftouhi walked up to the airport police officer, yelled “Allahu Akbar,” pulled out a knife, stabbed the officer in the neck and said, ‘You have killed people in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die,’ ” according to the federal criminal complaint against Ftouhi.
He has not been arraigned.
The wounded officer has been released from the hospital. Ftouhi also allegedly asked another officer who came to the assistance of Neville and subdued Ftouhi why the officer did not kill him, according to the federal complaint.
Federal authorities say Ftouhi acted alone.
The suspect allegedly unsuccessfully tried to buy a firearm in the United States. Ftouhi is a married father of three and worked as a trucker until two weeks ago.
Taiz – Clashes intensified in Maerib and al-Jawf fronts as the Yemeni National Army continues to advance backed by the air force of the coalition forces amid besiege enforced by the insurgents in Serwah, their last stronghold in the region.
Yemeni army retrieved new sites on different fronts of Jawf as troops have achieved a major advance in the area, a field official told Asharq Al-Awsat.
These developments occurred as Arab League (AL) Chief Ahmad Abul Gheit warned that about seven million civilians could face an internationally unprecedented famine.
Yemeni military sources told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the national army troops thwarted an insurgency attack on its sites and succeeded in destroying many of their equipment and kill several fighters. The army also captured one of the insurgents during the clashes in Masloub district.
Mazweya front also witnessed intensified fights between the national army and insurgency militias.
In Taiz, clashes were centered in Dabab and Maafer fronts, and Tashrifat military camp and presidential palace as insurgency militias tried to advance towards the army’s sites.
In retaliation to all its losses, Houthi and Saleh militias heavily targeted towns of al-Maafer.
Number of casualties was not determined, if there were any to begin with.
The militias bombed the city hysterically and snipers targeted civilians killing on Tuesday a citizen on his motorcycle in Kalabah neighborhood, two days after a child was killed in the same neighborhood.
Informed sources in Taiz reported a disagreement between Houthis and Saleh militias near al-Mahareeb mosque which resulted in a fight killing a commander from Dhamar district and three of his companions. Six militants were injured of both parties.
Commander of Taiz front, Major General Khalid Fadel reiterated during a meeting with officials and commanders the importance of training and increasing the combat readiness among soldiers. He praised the efforts of soldiers and commanders on the different fronts in the country.
Media Center of Popular Resistance in Ibb reported that the insurgents had 95 violations during June ranging between murder, theft, armed robbery and trespassing among other crimes.
In related news, AL Chief Ahmad Abul Gheit stressed Tuesday the importance of mobilizing international efforts to tackle challenges to water and food security in the Arab region.
“Nearly seven million persons in Yemen, which has been experiencing a fierce civil war, are facing the dangers of famine, which made the country a base for the severest food security crisis in the modern history,” Abul-Gheit said in his speech at the 40th Session of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations Conference, in Rome.
The AL Chief highlighted “the region is subject to water scarcity, drought and food insecurity, which are all phenomenons that have been growing since civil wars erupted in some Arab countries after 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.”
Aboul gheit reviewed the major initiatives executed on the Arab level to deal with these crisis and the different strategies set to help overcome the problems.
He hailed the efforts of the crucial collaboration between AL and FAO and stressed the importance of setting policies and joint programs between the two institutions to achieve food security.
[RealClearDefense] President Trump should carefully review, and summarily reject, the recommendations laid out in a letter from six self-described "experts with decades of military, political, and technical involvement with North Korean issues."
The experts (some of whom I have worked with or under, directly or indirectly, in government or academia, and greatly respect), are well-regarded in their fields and as well-meaning and patriotic as any of the rest of us.
But their call for the immediate and unconditional opening of talks with North Korea defies the history in which they have been involved. They state something they know to be refuted by experience, their own and others’:
"Talking is not a reward or a concession to Pyongyang and should not be construed as signaling acceptance of a nuclear-armed North Korea."
Yet, that is precisely how it will be seen by Pyongyang and its supporters (Beijing and Moscow), collaborators (Iran, Syria, Pakistan) and other rogue states and parties who defy and undermine the international order (Cuba, Hamas, Hezbollah et al.)
The writers believe it is incumbent on the United States "to show good faith ... and make clear that Washington does not have hostile intentions toward North Korea and wants to explore peaceful paths forward." This after sixty-four years of North Korean aggression, insults, and provocations, American restraint in declining to resort to it its overwhelming military power, and endless appeals for a peaceful resolution accompanied by generous economic rewards to North Korea.
"In return," they write, " Pyongyang could announce a freeze on tests of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. We expect China would support such talks and help to bring them about." (my emphasis).
As the authors know from their own painful dealings with the regime’s negotiators, they have previously announced good things only to cheat and renege at the earliest opportunity. And China is only too happy to go along with the charade.
Nevertheless, the experts argue: "[S]anctions alone will not solve the problem. Pyongyang has shown it can make progress on missile and nuclear technology despite its isolation."
But that is only because serious, biting sanctions have never truly been tried. Beijing, and Moscow to a lesser extent, have consistently opposed, undermined, circumvented, or simply ignored previous sanctions regimes, doing just enough to show the West their own "good faith" but never enough to actually incentivize North Korea to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Indeed, China now openly says it fears North Korean regime collapse more than a nuclear North Korea and that collapse would occur if it imposed substantial economic pain on the regime with tightened sanctions.
In other words, the Kim family dynasty would choose regime suicide rather than give up deliverable nuclear weapons--and China cares more about the regime’s survival than does the regime itself!
Yet, the experts tell us : "Kim Jong Un is not irrational and highly values preserving his regime."
"Instead the primary danger is a miscalculation or mistake that could lead to war". True, and such miscalculation can arise precisely from a perception that the West lacks the will to confront the danger: "there are no good military options." There rarely are, but dangers only increase when allowed to by indecision and self-delusion. As Henry Kissinger said of the Korean War: "We did not expect the invasion, China did not expect our response".
President Trump has made it clear he is not deceived by China’s protestations of innocence and impotence regarding the growing North Korean threat to South Korea, Japan, and the United States.
At some point, Washington policy-makers will come to the full realization that Beijing has all along colluded with and "enabled" North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. They have provided a major diplomatic distraction and resource diversion for the West and a great strategic advantage for China, allowing it to pose as a responsible stakeholder and good-faith negotiating partner.
Successive presidents, including this one up to a point, have made preemptive concessions to Beijing on trade, human rights, Taiwan, the South China Sea because "we need China on North Korea."
President Trump is well-positioned to put an end to that destructive dynamic and has given signs he intends to do just that.
#1
I'm thinking assasinating Kim is the best way forward. With no obvious heir, any military response would soon peter out, as the factions fight each other.
It is said that instead of all agricultural produce being required by the state, he is allowing up to 40-60 percent to be kept by the farmer.
Kim has set up economic enrichment zones in every region that allows successful enterprises to actually make money for themselves, unlike his father and grandfather.
What he has done militarily is to have removed those loyal to his father and replaced them with younger more innovative military people. Thus the progress with ICBM development.
He is worshiped by his people as a custom and they are conditioned to cheer, applaud and show tears of joy when he enters the presence. His ruthlessness has created extreme fear of him.
Even though Kim is young, he has mastered acting much older than his age when in the company of his top loyalists.
He intends to leverage nuclear military capability as a tool that is to inflict fear in the world and he intends to do so very effectively.
This situation will be a major challenge for the rest of the world to try to deal with.
#5
Just publicity notify both the Chinese and the Russians, the other players in the region will get their nukes and delivery systems. When everyone screams, just put a deadline that the other parties denuclearize the Norks or game over. If the Norks can play by their own rules, so can we.
#6
"The letter was co–written by former US Defence Secretary William J Perry, US Senator Richard Lugar, Nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, Governor Bill Richardson, former Secretary of State George Shultz and diplomat Robert Gallucci."
#9
"The letter was co–written by former US Defence Secretary William J Perry, US Senator Richard Lugar, Nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, Governor Bill Richardson, former Secretary of State George Shultz and diplomat Robert Gallucci."
Looks like the same gang of idiots who have been wringing their hands for the last several decades, appeasing the NORKS and their Chicom sponsors and allowing the situation to degenerate as far as it has.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/06/2017 12:36
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#10
They inadvertently left off Dennis Rodman
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2017 13:53
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#11
"Do not under estimate this young Dictator. ...
[DW] In the first official visit of an Indian prime minister to Israel, the two countries have signed multiple bilateral deals. For decades during the Cold War, New Delhi was a steadfast supporter of Paleostine.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu signed a raft of bilateral agreements on Wednesday, covering everything from agriculture and water to technology. Modi was in the middle of a three-day trip to Israel that was meant to mark 25 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
"Our goal is to build a relationship that reflects our shared priorities and draws on enduring bonds between our peoples," said Modi at a joint presser. He said the two had "a greed to do much more together to protect our strategic interests and also cooperate to combat growing radicalization and terrorism, including in cyberspace."
Netanyahu, for his part, called their strengthened ties a "marriage made in heaven."
"I have a feeling that today India and Israel are changing our world and maybe changing parts of the world," he said.
Modi avoids meetings with Paleostine
The two countries did not establish ties until after the Cold War, after decades of New Delhi standing firmly in support of Paleostine. However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... in recent years the two have developed increasingly closer cooperation on defense. This week's trip marked the first time an Indian leader has made an official visit to Israel.
Aside from meeting with Netanyahu, Modi spent his trip visiting tech firms and talking with leaders from the Indian Jewish community. He also stopped by the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, and met Moshe Holtzberg, whose parents were killed in Mumbai in 2008 during a massacre carried out by Islamist krazed killers.
While Modi did not have any meetings with Paleostinian officials on his schedule, as is customary for foreign dignitaries, though he did meet with President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... in New Delhi in May.
[IsraelTimes] Mohammed Chebab, who said he planned to ’smoke some Jews’ at the Grand Synagogue of Marseille, sentenced to to two years in prison
A Moslem man who said he was planning to attack the main synagogue of Marseille was sentenced to two years in prison.
A Marseille court sentenced Mohammed Chebab, 33, on Tuesday, a little over a year after he was tossed in the clink Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! for praising the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... terrorist group, l’Express news site reported. He was convicted of supporting acts of terrorism.
Counterterrorism researchers monitoring jihadist circles in Marseille, a city in southern La Belle France, flagged Chebab, according to the report. After his arrest in May 2016, Chebab told law enforcement that he had been planning to travel to Syria to fight with jihadists there and to Belgium, to the heavily Moslem Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels, to meet "brothers" there.
He also said he was planning to "smoke some Jews, at least three" at the Grand Synagogue of Marseille, l’Express reported. At the time of his arrest, Chebab cried out for "Allah" and yelled slogans supportive of the Islamic State, promising the coppers who seized him that he would behead their children.
Separately, a 23-year-old man was charged with plotting to assassinate French President Emmanuel Macron at La Belle France’s Bastille Day parade in Gay Paree, a judicial source told the AFP news agency on Monday.
The self-described nationalist, who was arrested last week, told Sherlocks he wanted to kill Macron at the July 14 national day march, a source close to the investigation said. He said he also wanted to attack "Moslems, Jews, blacks, homosexuals," the source added.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/06/2017
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The Syrian Army and Armed Forces units, in cooperation with allies, achieved a new advance in pursuing the ISIL terrorists in the depth of the Syrian Badiya desert by establishing a perimeter around al-Hael oil field in the eastern countryside of Palmyra in Homs province.
A military source told SANA on Wednesday that army units are now 1 km away from al-Hael field in the countryside of Palmyra, and are encircling the hideouts of ISIL terrorists in the field from the west, south, and southeast.
Deir Ezzor
An Army and Armed Forces unit targeted with artillery fire ISIL gatherings and movements in al-Bghiliyeh village in the western countryside of Deir Ezzor, killing a number of terrorists from ISIL and destroying one of their vehicles.
SANA’s reporter in Deir Ezzor said that the Syrian Air Force carried out a number of airstrikes targeting ISIL positions in al-Thardeh area, al-Taim Badia and the neighborhoods of al-Rashdiyeh, al-Hamidiyeh, al-Howeiqa, Howeijet Katea, and the villages of al-Jneineh and al-Bghiliyeh, leaving many terrorists dead or injured and destroying an artillery piece.
Source: SANA
Posted by: badanov ||
07/06/2017
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[Al Jazeera] At least 78 people were killed and dozens more were injured when a truck heavily loaded with goods and passengers crashed in the Central African Republic, a doctor said on Wednesday.
The accident occurred on Tuesday around 10 kilometres outside the town of Bambari, around 300 km northeast of the capital Bangui, as the truck was travelling to a weekly market day in the village of Maloum.
"At the moment, we have counted 78 dead and 72 wounded. Some wounded were taken directly to their homes from the accident scene and died there some time after, but most died here," said Chamberlain Bama, chief doctor at the university hospital in Bambari, according to Reuters news agency.
A member of parliament from Bambari said the truck was overloaded and travelling faster than normal.
"They were driving fast to make it to the market on time. That's what probably caused the accident," Amaseka Topi told Reuters.
Most of the people killed were travelling on the back of the lorry, local trader Oumar Tidjani told the DPA news agency.
Decades of neglect have left the landlocked country's road system in ruins and safety regulations are rarely enforced.
Due to lack of other transportation, people in the Central African Republic regularly resort to travelling in overloaded trucks, which are often in a poor condition.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"At the moment, we have counted 78 dead and 72 wounded. Some wounded were taken directly to their homes from the accident scene and died there some time after, but most died here,"
So, minimum 150 +/- killed or injured. probably not a F-150. Drink up!
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2017 15:06
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#2
So, not terrorism related, just another day in the Central African Republic.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
07/06/2017 20:25
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[Proncipia-Scientific] Penn State climate scientist, Michael ‘hockey stick’ Mann commits contempt of court in the ‘climate science trial of the century.’ Prominent alarmist shockingly defies judge and refuses to surrender data for open court examination. Only possible outcome: Mann’s humiliation, defeat and likely criminal investigation in the U.S.
The defendant in the libel trial, the 79-year-old Canadian climatologist, Dr Tim Ball (above, right) is expected to instruct his British Columbia attorneys to trigger mandatory punitive court sanctions, including a ruling that Mann did act with criminal intent when using public funds to commit climate data fraud. Mann’s imminent defeat is set to send shock waves worldwide within the climate science community as the outcome will be both a legal and scientific vindication of U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims that climate scare stories are a “hoax.”
As can be seen from the graphs below; Mann’s cherry-picked version of science makes the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) disappear and shows a pronounced upward ‘tick’ in the late 20th century (the blade of his ‘hockey stick’). But below that, Ball’s graph, using more reliable and widely available public data, shows a much warmer MWP, with temperatures hotter than today, and showing current temperatures well within natural variation.
Michael Mann, who chose to file what many consider to be a cynical SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) libel suit in the British Columbia Supreme Court, Vancouver six long years ago, has astonished legal experts by refusing to comply with the court direction to hand over all his disputed graph’s data. Mann’s iconic hockey stick has been relied upon by the UN’s IPCC and western governments as crucial evidence for the science of ‘man-made global warming.’
As first reported in Principia Scientific International (February 1, 2017), the defendant in the case, Canadian climatologist Dr. Tim Ball, had won “concessions” against Mann, but at the time the details were kept confidential, pending Mann’s response.
The negative and unresponsive actions of Dr Mann and his lawyer, Roger McConchie, are expected to infuriate the judge and be the signal for the collapse of Mann’s multi-million dollar libel suit against Dr Ball. It will be music to the ears of so-called ‘climate deniers’ like President Donald Trump and his EPA Chief, Scott Pruitt.
As Dr Ball explains:
“Michael Mann moved for an adjournment of the trial scheduled for February 20, 2017. We had little choice because Canadian courts always grant adjournments before a trial in their belief that an out of court settlement is preferable. We agreed to an adjournment with conditions. The major one was that he [Mann] produce all documents including computer codes by February 20th, 2017. He failed to meet the deadline.”
#1
1) I bet Mark Steyn is one happy camper all of a sudden.
2) This Feb. 20th 'deadline' was missed over four months ago, and we're just hearing about it now?
#2
Prominent alarmist shockingly defies judge and refuses to surrender data for open court examination.
Back in 10th grade Chemistry, our teacher Mr G taught us that when we wrote a paper, we needed to present not just our conclusions but *all* our data and calculations. Not exactly revolutionary stuff, it was just the way science was done. Anyone who said, as Mr. Mann has, "I can't show you the data, you'll just try to find something wrong with it" would have been laughed out of class.
It warms my heart to see this fraudulent climate nonsense unraveling. One day, "global warming" will be recognized as the biggest scam since the Piltdown Man.
The term Lysenkoism can also be used metaphorically to describe the manipulation or distortion of the scientific process as a way to reach a predetermined conclusion as dictated by an ideological bias, often related to social or political objectives.
#6
although the PS post is recent, there is no actual event that I can see
Mann may have committed contempt and he may be contemptible but no court has yet found him 'in contempt'.
So this is actually a prediction not a report.
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/06/2017 7:43
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The Medieval Warm Period has always been an inconvenient truth
Posted by: European Conservative ||
07/06/2017 8:14
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Same Canadian court system that just gave Omar Khadr over $10 million? Watch them lock Dr. Ball up and award Mann some sort of medal along with enormous damages...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/06/2017 8:34
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you'll just try to find something wrong with it
I'm no scientist but that sounds like peer review to me.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/06/2017 12:51
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Isn't that the whole point of 'peer review'?
I often participate in 'code reviews' where we 'peer review' each others code. Even though it can be painful and embarrassing it is exceedingly beneficial to all.
I've also seen code reviews used as a bludgeon to force people to one way of thinking. Even had one manager tell me "Nobody uses Object Oriented Programming" and I was forced to rewrite it using non-OO techniques. I think that is the kind of thing going on in some of these pro-climate-change 'peer-reviewsbullying'....
[AlAhram] Russia, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and Iran failed in talks on Wednesday to finalise an agreement on creating four de-escalation zones in Syria after Ankara raised objections, diplomats said.
Russia and Iran, which back Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... 's government, and Turkey, which supports some of the rebels, aim to reach a consensus on the zones by the end of August, when their delegations are set to meet again in the Kazakh capital.
The failure is a setback for Moscow, the main architect of the plan, as it seeks to take the lead in global efforts to settle the Syrian civil war.
"During these consultations the Ottoman Turkish side said it needed more time in order ... to make an appropriate decision," said senior Russian negotiator Alexander Lavrentyev.
Bashar al-Ja'afari, the lead negotiator from the Damascus government, was more direct.
"The Ottoman Turkish delegation objected to the adoption of any documents related to the implementation of mechanisms of the agreement on the de-escalation zones," he said.
Russia, Turkey and Iran have set up a working group to reconcile their positions before the next Astana meeting set for the final week of August.
Lavrentyev said details related to the southern de-escalation zone needed to be agreed with the United States and Jordan, who support the rebels based there.
Ottoman Turkish delegates made no statement to the media after the talks.
The Kazakh talks, which began in January, come at a time when Turkey and Russia each want to disentangle themselves from the fighting. This has led them into an ad-hoc alliance, though they still trade barbs.
Since the May agreement was announced, the rebel-held stronghold of Idlib province in the northwest of Syria has been mostly calm.
But fighting has continued on other frontlines in western Syria, including Eastern Ghouta of Damascus and the southwestern city of Deraa, where government forces and their allies are trying to crush remaining pockets of rebellion.
If the agreement on de-escalation zones is finalised, Russia, Iran and Turkey will be able to quickly - within weeks - deploy forces such as military police on the borders of those zones, Lavrentyev has said.
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[Al Jazeera] A series of raging gun battles between two drug gangs left at least 14 people dead on Wednesday in the mountains of the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua.
Authorities said the number of dead could rise. Initial reports from the relatively isolated region had put the death toll as high as 26 but officials said later that only 14 bodies had been recovered.
Oscar Alberto Aparicio, the Chihuahua state security commissioner, said security forces came under fire when they arrived at the scene of the clash in Las Varas, a town about 300 kilometres northwest of the state capital.
Soldiers and police "were met with gunfire, but they managed to beat back the attack and only one patrol vehicle was hit by gunfire," Aparicio said.
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Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Around sixty Islamic State militants were killed while combing Mosul’s Old City, Federal Police have announced.
In a statement, Lt.Gen.Shaker Jawdat, Federal Police chief, said troops resume combing the remaining regions in the Old City.
Fifty-seven militants and four snipers were killed, according to the statement. Eplosive belts, missiles and weapons were found.
On Saturday, Jawdat said four regions including al-Nujeifi, al-Sarai and parts of Lakash and Bab Jadid were still held by IS. Once liberated, Federal Police will announce accomplishing its goals there.
Earlier this week,Counter-Terrorism Service Commander Abdul-Ghani al-Assadi expected the final liberation of Mosul to be achieved within a few days. Only between 200 and 300 IS fighters are cornered at areas overseeing the western bank of the Tigris River.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi special forces are fighting 100 Islamic State suicide bombers remaining in western Mosul’s Old City district as operations continue to clear the last few kilometers held by the extremist group, according to a senior commander.
Abdul-Wahab al-Saidi, a senior commander of the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service, said in press statements Wednesday that only 150 meters remained in IS grip in the Old City, adding that 90 percent of the remaining militants were foreigners.
Major Ali Mohsen, a member of the CTS, was also quoted by BasNews saying that troops took over 90 percent of al-Midan area, which he said hosted the group’s incarceration units and ammunition reservoirs. He added that 40 persons detained by the group at one of its underground tunnels were set free, but were in poor health conditions.
Iraq’s state TV also quoted Abdul-Amir Yarallah, head of the Joint Operation Command’s Nineveh Operations, saying that troops recaptured Khatouniya and Tawaleb, two of the last remaining IS-held areas in the Old City.
Iraqi Federal Police forces also deployed snipers on Wednesday to secure their passageway to the last IS hideout on their axis of operations in the Old City.
The service’s chief, Shaker Jawdat, said in a statement that special forces deployed on the rooftop of a so-called “Shawwaf building” as forces advance towards al-Nujaifi area, the last spot held by IS at the police’s scope of operations in the medieval district.
The war against IS has displaced at least 900.000, according to Iraqi and United Nations authorities, and civilians continued to flee as operations reached the last hideouts in the Old City.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Twenty-five tribal forces personnel were killed and injured in an attack launched by the Islamic State against a village in Qayyarah, south of Mosul, DPA reported.
According to sources, IS militants attacked al-Imam village, west of Qayyarah, located south of Mosul city, coming from Shirqat town, north of Salahuddin province. The Tribal Mobilization Forces confronted the fighters, which left two personnel killed and 25 others wounded.
The confrontations, according to the sources, are still ongoing.
Iraqi troops had liberated Qayyarh in August.
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.
Observers argue that attacks outside the city prove that the extremist group can still pose a security threat for all cities.
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Fourteen 14 armed Taliban insurgents were killed on Tuesday night and 15 others were wounded in clashes with Afghan National Police in Zazai Aryoub district in Paktia province, the ministry of interior said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to them the incident took place in Dak region when the group of armed Taliban fighters attacked an Afghan National Police patrol. During the incident, one Afghan National Border Policeman was wounded. No civilians were harmed, read the statement.
Homs (Syria News) Media sources and activists in the countryside of Idlib informed, on Wednesday, that at least ten persons were killed, in a booby-trapped vehicle blast near Hafasraja village, north of Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a booby-trapped vehicle exploded near Hafasraja village, in Idlib Province, north of Syria, killing 10 persons, including seven children and three members of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
In separate news, Syrian army troops shelled locations of the Islamic State group in al-Badiyah area in the city of Palmyra, while advanced into the desert area of Palmyra.
Meanwhile, official source informed that a woman and two children were killed in a Turkish shelling near the area of Azaz, on the Syrian-Turkish borders.
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[AnNahar] Islamist holy warriors have beheaded two Vietnamese sailors held hostage for eight months in the southern Philippines, the military said on Wednesday.
Philippine troops found the remains of the two hostages early Wednesday morning on the island of Basilan ...Basilan is a rugged, jungle-covered island in the southern Philippines. It is a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, bandidos, and maybe even orcs. Most people with any sense travel with armed escorts... , a stronghold of the notorious Abu Sayyaf ...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder... kidnap-for-ransom group, military spokeswoman Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay said.
"This is a desperate measure of the Abu Sayyaf Group because they see they have no gains from their kidnap-for-ransom activity," Petinglay told AFP.
Abu Sayyaf, originally a loose network of holy warriors formed in the 1990s with seed money from the late Osama bin Laden ... who doesn't live anywhere anymore... 's al-Qaeda network, has splintered into factions, with some continuing to engage in banditry and kidnappings.
One faction has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group, with members among those holding parts of Marawi, the largely Catholic nation's most important Islamic city.
Militants continue to occupy parts of Marawi despite a US-backed military offensive there that has claimed more than 460 lives and displaced nearly 400,000 people since it began in May.
The two Vietnamese were seized last November along with four other Vietnamese crew members of a vessel that was boarded by the holy warriors off the southern region of Mindanao, the military said.
One of the six crewmen was rescued last month and three remain in captivity, Petinglay said.
Abu Sayyaf holy warriors are holding a total of 22 hostages, including 16 foreigners, according to Petinglay.
The Abu Sayyaf is known to behead its hostages unless ransom payments are made.
German national Jurgen Kantner, 70, was beheaded in February after the kidnappers' demand for 30 million pesos ($600,000) was not met.
Last year, the group beheaded two Canadian hostages.
[IsraelTimes] Two suspects are relatives of alleged arms smuggler who supplied firearms used by jihadist Ahmed Coulibaly
...who apparently was connected to Al Qaeda in Yemen as well as having recorded a pledge to ISIS...
in January 2015 terror attack.
Three people are in jug on suspicion of supplying the firearms used by Islamist terrorist Amedy Coulibaly in his attack on the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Gay Paree in January 2015, sources told AFP on Wednesday.
Two women, aged 23 and 31, were jugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! in Roubaix in northern La Belle France and a 42-year-old man in the Gay Paree region on the night between Monday and Tuesday by anti-terror police, a source close to the case has said.
According to another source, the two women are close relatives of an alleged smuggler, Samir L., who was indicted in April for suspected links to the weapons used by Coulibaly in the January 9, 2015 attack.
DNA traces of one of the women and the man were allegedly found on one of the weapons.
Investigators can hold the suspects for 96 hours before bringing them before a judge.
The attack on the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket came two days after a jihadist terror rampage at the officers of the Charlie Hebdo ...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe... satirical magazine perpetrated by brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi.
During the Hyper Cacher attack, Coulibaly murdered four people, before being killed in a police raid assault. A day before the attack, Coulibaly killed a municipal police officer in the southern Gay Paree suburb of Montrouge.
According to Sherlocks, the weapons found in Coulibaly’s possession were part of a cache of 200-250 formerly military weapons imported from Slovakia by an ex-mercenary who allegedly sold them to criminal groups, including Samir L., Coulibaly’s supplier.
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[Al Jazeera] Saudi Arabia is for the most part "guilty of advancing extremism" in Britain, a think-tank report has said in claims that were denied by the Saudi government.
"While entities from across the Gulf and Iran have been guilty of advancing extremism, those in Saudi Arabia are undoubtedly at the top of the list," Tom Wilson, a fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, said in a report on Wednesday.
According to the London-based foreign policy think-tank, Saudi Arabia operates several large charities that fund education involved with their ideologies worldwide, including in Britain, spending at least 67 billion pounds ($87bn) on the programmes over the past 50 years.
Funding from Saudi Arabia has primarily taken the form of endowments to mosques, the report said, which have in turn "played host to extremist preachers and the distribution of extremist literature".
The report also flagged that some of Britain's most serious hate preachers have "studied in Saudi Arabia as part of scholarship programmes".
In a statement to the BBC, the Saudi embassy in London said the claims were "categorically false".
"We do not and will not condone the actions or ideology of violent extremism and we will not rest until these deviants and their organisations are destroyed," it added.
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) A soldier was wounded in an armed attack that took place in northern Baghdad, a police source said.
Speaking to AlSumaria News, the anonymous source said, “unknown gunmen opened fire against an army patrol in Ibn Sina region, in Tarmiyah district, north of Baghdad, which left one personnel wounded.
The injured, according to the source, was transferred to hospital for treatment.
On Monday, a security source was quoted as saying that an Iraqi army soldier was killed while another one was wounded Monday when armed attackers shot at their patrol in western Baghdad.
[Ynet] Russian strategic bombers have destroyed three ammunition depots and a command post of Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... in the Syrian province Of Hama, using advanced airborne cruise missiles, Russian agencies reported on Wednesday, citing Russia's Defence Ministry.
The strategic cruise missiles used in the strike from a distance of around 1,000 km (600 miles) were the newest Kh-101 type, the ministry said. Such missiles can hit targets at a distance of up to 4,500 km (2,800 miles) and can carry nuclear warheads, it added.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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#2
Marketing + it's good to take your systems out for a test drive once in a while. Personally, I was a bit disappointed we didn't get to see the legendary S-400 in action back when Russia and Turkey were beefing.
[Ynet] Somali al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... turbans killed two coppers on Wednesday during a raid on a northeastern Kenyan town that sparked a day-long gunbattle, a police official said, the latest in a spate of murderous Moslem attacks on Kenyan security services.
Al-Shabaab gunnies attacked the cop shoppe in the town of Pandanguo in the coastal district of Lamu around 6 a.m. (0300 GMT), forcing villagers to flee, according to residents. The area is near Kenya's long, mostly non-existent border with Somalia.
The turbans raided a dispensary for drugs and houses for food items, clothes and other valuables, witnesses said. Smoke could be seen rising from the village later in the day.
[Al Jazeera] Dozens of pro-government activists have stormed the grounds of Venezuela's National Assembly and attacked lawmakers, leaving several injured.
Intruders brandishing sticks and dressed in red broke through the front gate and set off fireworks in the interior gardens of the building on Wednesday, AFP journalists at the scene said.
The government supporters reached as far as the corridors of the congressional building, striking and injuring at least five lawmakers.
The crowd had gathered just after dawn outside the National Assembly building in downtown Caracas, chanting in favour of President Nicolas Maduro.
The attackers ordered journalists to stop filming and taking photographs and leave the premises.
After the morning attack, a crowd of roughly 100 people, many dressed in red and shouting "Long Live The Revolution!", trapped politicians, reporters and guests inside for hours, witnesses said. Some of those who had been caught inside were able to start leaving at dusk.
The seriously injured lawmakers were taken to hospital once the national guard had secured the grounds.
The opposition-controlled legislature was holding a special session to mark independence day when the government supporters burst in.
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[AlAhram] Three army personnel were killed Wednesday morning when an unknown assailant opened fire on security forces manning a toll booth on al-Ayyat’s International-Regional Road in Giza governorate, an army front man statement read.
The security personnel killed were army personnel and two retired army officers.
The army’s statement mourned the victims and described the act as a terrorist attack by an unknown assailant.
The victims died from multiple gunshot wounds, al-Ayyat prosecution’s preliminary investigations stated.
The investigation has been transferred to the military prosecution.
Attacks against security forces have become common in recent years but are largely concentrated in North Sinai, where Egypt's army and police are battling an entrenched Islamist insurgency.
...suggesting the miscreants were likely Hasm or another of the Muslim Brotherhood's post-Morsi military arms.
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Anbar (IraqiNews) A number of local officials and tribal leaders in Anbar have threatened to declare the province an autonomous region in protest at what they called “humiliation” of civilians at security checkpoints set up on its borders with Baghdad.
Hamid al-Dulaimi, a member of Anbar province council, was quoted by Sky Press saying in press statements on Wednesday that continuing closure of al-Sokour checkpoint on the borders with Baghdad will prompt the council to declare “The Anbar autonomous region”.
“Political and economic circumstances in Anbar are threatening the security of the province and liberated areas due to the closure of al-Sokour checkpoint,” said al-Dulaimi, blaming the closure for hiking prices of food, medicine and building materials.
“The government in Anbar will take urgent measures if the Sokour checkpoint is not opened within 24 hours,” he said, urging Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to “hold accountable the parties responsible for humiliating citizens and denying them entry to the capital of their country.”
Raad al-Suleiman, chief of al-Dulaim tribe, told Rudaw network that excessive security restrictions on Anbar’s borders with Baghdad “encourage an establishment of a Sunni region”, adding that the restrictions are aimed at “isolating Anbar”.
The statements came a few hours after a civilian was reportedly shot dead following a brawl with an army member at the checkpoint. An army official denied personnel involvement, saying the incident took place hundreds of kilometers away from the outpost.
On Monday, head of the army’s Baghdad Operations, Lt. Gen Jalil al-Rubaiy, attributed the intensified security measures at al-Soqour to information that more booby-trapped vehicles run by Islamic State militants were on their way for attacks in Baghdad, noting that 80 percent of cars detonated in the capital came from Anbar.
At least three militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed in airstrikes in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.
The 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces in the East said the airstrikes were carried out on Tuesday in Achin district.
A statement by the 201st Silab Corps said the militants were targeted in Gorgori, Deh Bala, and Momandwach areas of Achin.
The statement further added that two Pakistani insurgents hailing from Orakzai agency of Pakistan were also among those killed.
According to the Silab Corps, the security personnel and local residents did not suffer any casualties during the operations.
The anti-government armed militant groups including the ISIS loyalists have not commented regarding the report so far.
The Afghan forces are busy conducting counter-terrorism and clearance operations in some restive districts of Nangarhar as the ISIS loyalists have been attempting to expand their foothold and activities in certain districts of the during the recent years.
The US forces based in Afghanistan have stepped up airstrikes against the anti-government armed militants in Afghanistan.
The airstrikes were increased particularly after the former US administration granted broader role to the US forces to resume counter-terrorism operations, a step that was taken after growing instability in the country, mainly due to the insurgency led by the Taliban and ISIS militants.
[Al Jazeera] A senior Palestinian official has blasted US President Donald Trump's UN envoy, accusing her of carrying out a "crusade" against the Palestinian people.
Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), said on Wednesday that Nikki Haley was leading a "one-woman crusade... against Palestine and the Palestinian people individually and collectively".
"Through an obsessive and targeted campaign of intimidation and threats, Miss Haley's crusade does not miss an opportunity to put pressure on anyone that seeks to challenge Israeli impunity," she added.
Ashrawi said Haley was echoing remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Small wonder Hanan Ashrawi is unhappy - @nikkihaley fights for a fair treatment of #Israel, exactly what the #Palestinians don't want...," he wrote on Twitter.
Palestinian officials have privately expressed increasing alarm at the Trump administration's pro-Israel stance as the US president seeks to restart peace negotiations.
And so they should be -- President Trump is changing everything.
However, until Wednesday they had publicly refrained from criticising senior US officials.
The Palestinians eagerly grasp the opportunity to lose another opportunity. Like scorpions, they have the virtue of consistency.
Haley visited Israel and the Palestinian territories in June.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2017
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Top|| File under: PLO
#4
"Negotiations" got you lots of stuff. Israel has gotten very little of the peace* they were told they'd get if they compromised. Trump talks about one sided economic deals. He can spot bad deals and dealers. Get a hint.
*one that doesn't require lots a security personnel suppressing the earlier version of 'sudden jihad' syndrome.
#6
Trump's appointment of Haley has proved to be strong on several fronts. It proved that he's not the thin-skinned bully that so many accused him of being (he overlooked Haley's opposition to him during the primaries), and she's done a wonderful job thus far in voicing an America-first policy. Her vocal support of Israel has been refreshing.
#8
I always figured Ashrawi'd die from throat or lung cancer. She sounded like a 3-pack a day smoker back in the '90s. I bet Nikki will lose a lot of sleep over this .....right.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2017 14:07
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#9
Haley is getting the foreign policy cred she didn't have. She was an effective governing executive for 2 terms in SC. She will be the GOP candidate after Trump, and possibly the first female POTUS
[Daily Caller] A Pakistani family under criminal investigation by the U.S. Capitol Police for abusing their access to the House of Representatives information technology (IT) system may have engaged in myriad other questionable schemes besides allegedly placing "ghost employees" on the congressional payroll.
Imran Awan, his wife Hina, and brothers Abid and Jamal collectively netted more than $4 million in salary as IT administrators for House Democrats between 2009 and 2017. Yet the absence of signs of wealth displayed among them raise questions such as was the money sent overseas or did something other than paychecks motivate their actions?
Capitol Police revoked the Awans’ access to the congressional IT system in February 2017 after a major data breach was detected. Their access had allowed them to read emails and files of dozens of members, including many serving on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
House Democrats have been nonchalant about the allegations, with some saying it was just a misunderstanding or the Capitol Police framed the Awans due to Islamophobia. Both lengthy and disgusting.
It is perhaps the key piece of forensic evidence in Russia’s suspected efforts to sway the November presidential election, but federal investigators have yet to get their hands on the hacked computer server that handled email from the Democratic National Committee.
Indeed, the only cybersecurity specialists who have taken a look at the server are from CrowdStrike, the Irvine, California-based private cybersecurity company that the DNC hired to investigate the hack — but which has come under fire itself for its work.
Some critics say CrowdStrike’s evidence for blaming Russia for the hack is thin. Members of Congress say they still believe Russia was responsible but wonder why the DNC has never allowed federal investigators to get a look at the key piece of evidence: the server. Either way, a key “witness” in the political scandal consuming the Trump administration remains beyond the reach of investigators.
“I want to find out from the company [that] did the forensics what their full findings were,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is leading the Judiciary Committee’s inquiry, told The Washington Times.
Scrutinizing the DNC server hack and CrowdStrike’s analysis has not factored heavily in multiple probes exploring the Russia issue. But behind the scenes, discussions are growing louder, congressional sources say.
#5
Members of Congress say they still believe Russia was responsible but wonder why the DNC has never allowed federal investigators to get a look at the key piece of evidence:
#7
At what point does suspicion focus on the Democrat congress critters who hired the Awans? Has it not occurred to anybody that they might be complicit?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/06/2017 12:15
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#8
At what point does suspicion focus on the Democrat congress critters who hired the Awans? Has it not occurred to anybody that they might be complicit?
Hackers i.e., (Alwans) 'cloaking' as Russians, hired to sort out leaks within the DNC? A man some refer to as Soetoro did nothing:
“The Obama administration knew far in advance of November 8th about election meddling by Russia. Did nothing about it. WHY?”
No profit in destroying a very effective cover, or disclosing and thus terminating your own projects.
#10
The Awans first started performing 'IT services' for a Muslim Member of Congress, then moved on to work in other offices.
It's likely that the Congresscritters did this partly because the Awans were already emplaced and it's less work to simply ride on to an existing contract, and partly because it would curry political favor with the Muslim-American community for the Democrats.
Also, factor in that each Congressional office is essentially independent; they do their own hiring of staff (who are not Civil Service) and do not work from GSA or Federal funding. So it's probable that the Congresscritters don't want to answer pointed questions about their financial operations, or have to explain to their constituents at home why they signed on such a dodgy bunch.
The money likely ended up in Pakistan. The question is whether some of that ended up with certain Pakistan-backed groups, or some among certain groups in the U.S., possibly as influence-buying and outright political contributions.
#11
Thanks that excellent synopsis Pappy. This is one of those cases where both malice and stupidity have come in to play. Here, the stoopid belongs to the Dems of course and the malice to the Awans. What remains is peeling back the layers of malice employed them.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/06/2017 16:30
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#12
Here, the stoopid belongs to the Dems of course
Stupidity, indolence, group-think, and political opportunism, Rex.
[Al Jazeera] Libya's eastern commander Khalifa Haftar said on Wednesday his forces had taken full control of Libya's second city Benghazi from rival armed groups after a three-year campaign.
The battle for Benghazi between Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) and an array of rival armed groups has been part of a broader conflict since Libya slipped into turmoil following the 2011 fall of strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
Victory would mark a major advance for the one-time commander in Gaddafi's army, who has slowly gained ground in eastern and southern Libya in defiance of a UN-backed government that is struggling to extend its influence from the capital, Tripoli.
"Your armed forces declare to you the liberation of Benghazi from terrorism, a full liberation and a victory of dignity," Haftar said, wearing a white uniform in a televised speech.
"Benghazi has entered into a new era of safety and peace."
Before he spoke, LNA forces made rapid progress through the seafront district of Sabri, using heavy artillery to blast their way through some of the final pockets of resistance.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2017
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[IsraelTimes] Ottoman Turkish police detained six suspected members of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist group planning a kaboom on an opposition protest march, a provincial governor tells Ottoman Turkish media.
Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu is on the final stage of a 450-kilometer (280-mile) "justice march" from Ankara to Istanbul to protest at the legal system under President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... Suleyman Kamci, who governs the central Anatolian province of Kayseri, said police detained six IS forces of Evil after "acting on a good tip-off," the Hurriyet daily’s website reported.
"They were going to attack the march with a minibus," he said. "A big provocation has been thwarted." There was no immediate confirmation from national officials.
Two of the would-be bombers were detained in Kocaeli in northwestern The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... -- 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Istanbul and four others in Kayseri, Hurriyet said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/06/2017
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
![]("https://ii.yuki.la/3/13/8ddd141053aa4139702bf75a2198fc81d0f8aa6b7fcfcdb77a4afddf0b9b1133.jpg")
[OPB] Insurance companies in Oregon would be required to cover abortions and a variety of other reproductive services at no cost to the patient under a $10 million reproductive health bill approved by the state Legislature.
[Right Scoop] Former Congressguy Jason Chaffetz says that the GOP doesn’t even have a real plan to pass their health care bill.
[Daily Caller] The of numbers of individuals in different states on food stamps have dropped precipitously after certain counties in different states decided to re-establish work requirements for food stamp government benefits that ballooned under the Obama administration, Fox News reported Tuesday.
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
The United States Department of Defense (DOD) or Pentagon has confirmed the death of a US soldier in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan.
The death toll of the Taliban insurgents has exceeded 60 as the counter-terrorism and clearance operations are underway in southern Helmand province.
[ARA News] The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have liberated 18% of Raqqa city since the launch of a major operation to liberate Raqqa from Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants, officials told ARA News on Wednesday.
[DW] In the first official visit of an Indian prime minister to Israel, the two countries have signed multiple bilateral deals. For decades during the Cold War, New Delhi was a steadfast supporter of Paleostine.
[Proncipia-Scientific] Penn State climate scientist, Michael ‘hockey stick’ Mann commits contempt of court in the ‘climate science trial of the century.’ Prominent alarmist shockingly defies judge and refuses to surrender data for open court examination. Only possible outcome: Mann’s humiliation, defeat and likely criminal investigation in the U.S.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
[AlAhram] Three army personnel were killed Wednesday morning when an unknown assailant opened fire on security forces manning a toll booth on al-Ayyat’s International-Regional Road in Giza governorate, an army 
Members of Congress say they still believe Russia was responsible but wonder why the DNC has never allowed federal investigators to get a look at the key piece of evidence: 
At what point does suspicion focus on the Democrat congress critters who hired the Awans? Has it not occurred to anybody that they might be complicit?
[Al Jazeera] Libya's eastern commander Khalifa Haftar said on Wednesday his forces had taken full control of Libya's second city Benghazi from rival armed groups after a three-year campaign.
