[TheScottishSun] It comes after experts warn biggest Pacific land and sea grabs since the Japanese invasions of 1930s and 1940s ’almost complete’ as Beijing packs artificial islands with game-changing military hardware.
The tense naval drama unfolded after the American warships sailed near South China Sea islands claimed by China. The presence of the US warships was slammed by Beijing just as President Donald Trump seeks to make peace with North Korea to avoid a serious war breaking out.
The operation in the South China Sea was the latest bid to counter what Washington condemns as brazen efforts to take control of the strategical important seas.
US officials arrive in North Korea after Donald Trump reveals plans for weapons summit on June 12 are going ahead
The hotly contested region is also rich in fossil fuels which China desperately needs to feed is industrialising economy with cheap energy.
While this naval drills had been planned months in advance, and similar operations have become routine, it comes at a particularly sensitive time.
It comes just days after the Pentagon uninvited China from a major US-hosted naval drill. Yeah, the butthurt is strong
The American officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Higgins guided-missile destroyer and the Antietam, a guided-missile cruiser, came within 12 nautical miles of the Paracel Islands.
This spot is among a string of islets, reefs and shoals over which China has territorial disputes with its neighbours.
The US military vessels carried out manoeuvring operations near Tree, Lincoln, Triton and Woody islands in the Paracels, one of the officials said.
China's Defence Ministry expressed its anger at the presence today of the American ships, saying it had sent its own vessels and aircraft to intercept them.
The move "contravened Chinese and relevant international law, seriously infringed upon Chinese sovereignty and harmed strategic mutual trust between the two militaries," it said. Chinese complaining about international law. That's rich
In a separate statement, China's Foreign Ministry urged the United States to stop such actions.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2018
14:42 ||
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It's appropriate this Memorial Day weekend to salute the retiring NSA director, Admiral Mike Rogers, for courageously standing up against the Obama Administration and the intelligence apparatus, risking all to blow the whistle on the illegal sharing of FISA information on the part of those working to aid Hillary and defeat Trump. A full timeline of his actions is detailed here:
November 2015-April 2016 -; The FBI and DOJ's National Security Division (NSD) uses private contractors to access raw FISA information using "To" and "From" FISA- 702(16) & "About" FISA-702(17) queries.
March 2016 - NSA Director Rogers becomes aware of improper access to raw FISA data.
April 2016 - Rogers orders the NSA compliance officer to run a full audit on 702 NSA compliance.
April 18 2016 - Rogers shuts down FBI/NSD contractor access to the FISA Search System.
April-September 2016 - Rogers continues his investigation.
September 26 2016 - DOJ's NSD Head John Carlin files the Government's proposed 2016 Section 702 certifications. The filing does not disclose the FISA Abuses. Carlin is aware of Rogers' compliance review. The 2016 certifications are scheduled for Court approval on October 26, 2016.
September 27 2016 - Carlin announces he is resigning. Mary McCord will later assume his position.
October 15, 2016 - Carlin formally leaves the NSD.
Mid-October 2016 - DNI Clapper submits a recommendation to the White House that Director Rogers be removed from the NSA. Clapper's effort fails.
October 20 2016 - Rogers is briefed by the NSA compliance officer on the Section 702 NSA compliance audit and "About" query violations.
October 21 2016 - Rogers shuts down all "About Query" activity. Rogers reports the activity to DOJ and prepares to go before the FISA Court.
October 21 2016 - DOJ & FBI seek and receive a Title I FISA probable cause order authorizing electronic surveillance on Carter Page from the FISC. At this point, the FISA Court is unaware of the Section 702 violations.
October 24 2016 - Rogers verbally informs the FISA Court of Section 702(17) violations.
October 26 2016 - Rogers formally informs the FISA Court of 702(17) violations in writing.
October 26, 2016 - The FISA Court refuses to formalize the 2016 Section 702 certifications. A complete overhaul of Section 702 processes ensues.
November 17 2016 (morning) - Rogers travels to meet President-Elect Trump and his Transition Team in Trump Tower. Rogers does not inform DNI James Clapper.
November 17 2016 (evening) - Trump Transition Team announces they are moving all transition activity to Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey.
The author, Jeff Carlson, is quite obviously correct in his conclusions: "we will never understand what Rogers did for our country," and we would never have known of the spying and FISA violations without him as the intelligence community was caught unaware by the upset presidential race and was working hard to cover up its illegal conduct.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2018
12:59 ||
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#1
Well Done a y! You honored your oath, one of the few during the Obama miasma.
Interesting spin: "Vote for me to run this State, even though I can't run my own finances"
[Fortune] "One of the traditional rites of passage for political candidates is the revelation of financial status–a catechism-like recital of money mistakes made and debts owed. As a candidate for governor of Georgia, I have spent the past few weeks dealing with the fallout from my personal financial disclosure report. As everyone following the race now knows, I owe the IRS over $50,000 in deferred tax payments (I am currently on a repayment plan) and hold more than $170,000 in credit card and student loan debt.
I am in debt, but I am not alone. Debt is a millstone that weighs down more than three-quarters of Americans. It can determine whether we are able to run for office, to launch a business, to quit a job we hate. But it should not‐and cannot‐be a disqualification for ambition. However, ambition without qualifications = political hack
I grew up one of six children with working class parents in the Deep South. My mother was a college librarian and my father worked in a shipyard. I never saw them balance a checkbook, but they kept a roof over our heads and got all six of us into college. I went on to Yale Law School, and eventually landed my first law firm job, where I made $95,000‐three times what my parents made, combined.
But despite earning nearly six figures, my financial situation was fraught. I had racked up student loans, and throughout college and beyond, I'd swiftly turned every credit card application into those magical slivers of plastic that allowed me to pay for daily necessities. I finished my higher education deeply in debt and with seven years of bad credit in my future. Using my law firm salary, I started to pay down my credit cards and make student loan payments." Of course, she plays the race and gender cards
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2018
10:22 ||
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#1
....Give her this - this is how you take lemons and make lemonade.
Lousy lemonade, true, but lemonade nevertheless.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/27/2018 10:32
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Shit tainted lemonade.
But given how our government runs its finances, she would fit right in.
Tarry here for a moment. My words shall be few and simple. The solemn rites of this hour and place call for no lengthened speech. There is, in the very air of this resting-ground of the unknown dead a silent, subtle and all-pervading eloquence, far more touching, impressive, and thrilling than living lips have ever uttered. Into the measureless depths of every loyal soul it is now whispering lessons of all that is precious, priceless, holiest, and most enduring in human existence.
Dark and sad will be the hour to this nation when it forgets to pay grateful homage to its greatest benefactors. The offering we bring today is due alike to the patriot soldiers dead and their noble comrades who still live; for, whether living or dead, whether in time or eternity, the loyal soldiers who imperiled all for country and freedom are one and inseparable.
Those unknown heroes whose whitened bones have been piously gathered here, and whose green graves we now strew with sweet and beautiful flowers, choice emblems alike of pure hearts and brave spirits, reached, in their glorious career that last highest point of nobleness beyond which human power cannot go. They died for their country.
...
If we ought to forget a war which has filled our land with widows and orphans; which has made stumps of men of the very flower of our youth; which has sent them on the journey of life armless, legless, maimed and mutilated; which has piled up a debt heavier than a mountain of gold, swept uncounted thousands of men into bloody graves and planted agony at a million hearthstones ‐ I say, if this war is to be forgotten, I ask, in the name of all things sacred, what shall men remember? People don't speak as eloquently, anymore. Read the rest of the whole thing.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/27/2018
09:49 ||
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#1
nice catch, Bobby
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2018 10:20
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#2
Of course, statues remembering the war should be torn down and smashed because they are offensive. When you forget history, you run the risk of repeating it.
Hopin' for one last, desperate shot at the big chair, isn't she? LOL...
[Hot Air] - Using the occasion of receiving this year’s Harvard’s Radcliffe Medal, Hillary Clinton once again launched an attack on our country’s Electoral College. You may remember an interview in 2017 when she voiced her opinion that the Electoral College should be eliminated.
"I think it needs to be eliminated. I’d like to see us move beyond it, yes," she told CNN host Anderson Cooper.
Friday at Harvard Clinton said its roots are "troubling" and she’s been against the system since 2000. Hmm. How convenient. You will recall that election in 2000 when her husband’s vice-president, Al Gore lost to George W. Bush. For the first time since 1888, the losing candidate (Gore) had more popular votes than the winner (Bush).
#1
I think people like swil and algore are precisely why the founders came up with the Electoral College.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/27/2018 9:28
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#2
No Electoral College, no United States. Clear and Simple. Then the smaller states were not going to give up their sovereignty to 4 or 5 big states. No more than nearly 2/3rd of today's states want to give up their sovereignty to 10 major metropolitan areas.
#5
Do we want the Governors of California, Texas, Florida, and New York forming a cabal that rotates the Presidency among them? Kill the Electoral College and usher in the Oligarchy assuming that it isn't here already.
#7
First they gut the Electoral College, then they will gut the powers of the Senate, and finally they will gut the powers of the Presidency. Sic transit Republic. They want a Parliamentary Tyranny of the Majority.
Do you really want a "Democracy"? The Ancient Greeks came to the opinion that when approx. 3,000 Voters are in a city Democracy, Pure Democracy, becomes unworkable. Their only solution was Oligarchy, they just called it prettier names.
#10
She has a law degree, and according to her husband was a brilliant student of the subject — Yale, if I recall correctly.. The United States Constitution is one of the topics she was required to study, so she has been aware of the Electoral College for about half a century.
The federal government has placed thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children in the homes of sponsors, but last year it couldn't account for nearly 1,500 of them.
Steven Wagner, a top official with the Department of Health and Human Services, disclosed the number to a Senate subcommittee last month while discussing the state of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) that oversees the care of unaccompanied immigrant children.
Wagner is the acting assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. ORR is a program of the Administration for Children and Families.
CNN reported earlier this month that, in his testimony, Wagner said during the last three months of 2017, the ORR lost track of nearly 1,500 immigrant children it had placed in the homes of sponsors.
Wagner's statement has attracted more attention amid reports that immigrant children are being separated from their parents at the US border.
Wagner said the Department of Homeland Security referred more than 40,000 immigrant children to the ORR during the 2017 fiscal year.
After a stay in an ORR shelter, the majority of children are sent to live with sponsors who have close ties to the children -- typically a parent or close relative, Wagner said, though some end up living with "other-than-close relatives or non-relatives."
Between October and December 2017, Wagner told the subcommittee, the ORR reached out to 7,635 unaccompanied children to check on them. But the ORR "was unable to determine with certainty the whereabouts of 1,475 children," Wagner testified. An additional 28 had run away.
That's more than 19% of the children that were placed by the ORR. But Wagner said HHS is not responsible for the children.
"I understand that it has been HHS's long-standing interpretation of the law that ORR is not legally responsible for children after they are released from ORR care," Wagner said.
The office is "taking a fresh look at that question," he added. But if the ORR were to be legally responsible for the well-being of unaccompanied immigrant children, it would need a significant increase in resources.
A request for comment from HHS on Saturday has not been returned.
The ORR has a series of evaluations to determine if a sponsor is suitable to provide and care for a child. Those policies have also been enhanced since February 2016. Among the ORR's practices, it evaluates potential sponsors' relationship with the children and conducts background checks to ensure children are protected from human traffickers or smugglers, Wagner said.
HT Don Surber
[Der Spiegel] Following diplomatic discord between Berlin and Riyadh, contracts for German businesses in Saudi Arabia have been drying up. Is the crown prince punishing them? Yes. Frau Merkel is facilitating Iran's armament for German economic reasons
Detlef Daues is a pioneer of the German small- and medium-sized companies that have made Germany what it is today: a prosperous nation with good international relations that stretch to even the farthest-flung corners of the world.
His Hannover-based virtual department store for original replacement parts, V-Line GmbH, services customers in countries like Mexico, the United States, Qatar and Oman in addition to others in East Asia. But 65 percent of Daues' revenues come from Saudi Arabia. "Came"
But currently, the once-positive relationship between Saudi Arabia and Germany has worsened. Six months ago, Riyadh withdrew its ambassador from Germany and he still hasn't returned. There has been little open discussion of the reasons behind the conflict, but for people like Daues in the business community, the rift is as plain as day. "For Germans, the doors in Riyadh have suddenly been closed," says one experienced businessman in the Saudi capital. Meetings with delegations from Germany that were set up before the crisis are being canceled. "Ooooh! That hurts," says Oliver Oehms of the German-Saudi Arabian Liaison Office for Economic Affairs in Riyadh.
Young crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS for short, appears to be "deeply offended" by the German government, says Daues, who adds that his information comes from confidants in Riyadh. Relations between the two countries began souring last November when then-German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel spoke of spreading "political adventurism" in the Middle East, a remark many thought was aimed at Saudi Arabia. The impression was widespread at the time that Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was being held against his will in Riyadh and that he was being strong-armed by the rulers there to step down.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2018
08:38 ||
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#1
Surber: "Old Europe's embrace of Iran has consequences. I believe the anti-Semitism inherent in socialism has much to do with this enabling of Iranist terrorism through Hamas and the like.
At any rate, the new leadership in Saudi Arabia, which supports Israel, will have none of this.
Which side are we on?
U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grennell tweeted on May 8, "As @realDonaldTrump said, US sanctions will target critical sectors of Iran’s economy. German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately."
Germans can trade with Iran or Saudi Arabia, but they no longer can do both."
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2018 8:47
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#2
And Germany granted asylum to one of Salman's detractors.
And Germany seems to be a friend of the Turk.
And Merkel is a toad. I know I wouldn't want to do business with a German company when Germans don't want to be Germans anymore.
[BizPacReview] White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley had a disappointing response for unhinged liberal actor Robert De Niro, who said recently President Donald Trump is banned from the Nobu restaurant chain he co-owns.
Appearing Friday on the Fox Business Network, Gidley informed the virulent anti-Trump thespian not to hold is breath waiting on the president to appear at one of his restaurants ‐ De Niro and chef Nobu Matsuhisa own 39 Nobu restaurant and hotels.
"I don’t think the President is planning on attending a dinner at Nobu anytime soon," Gidley said.
"Look, Hollywood people grandstand all the time, they’re elitists," he added. "They don’t know anything about what this president is doing for the American people and they couldn’t care less.”
Not only did De Niro say Trump’s not welcome in any of his establishments, he went so far as to say that he would walk out of any restaurant the president enters.
"If he walked into a restaurant I was in ‐ I’d walk out," the actor said, according to the Daily Mail.
But, as Gidley told Fox Business host Dagen McDowell, Trump’s dining options aren’t likely places the actor can expected to be seen in any time soon.
"The president has great dinners here at the White House," he explained. "And quite frankly, he can go to many of his properties around the country and globe. He won’t be stopping at Nobu anytime soon."
#8
He probably didn't move to Canada 'cuz he couldn't compete with Tim Horton's.
Canada is lucky not to have him. And Spain is lucky not to have Amy Shumer. As for the US, however....
#10
DeNiro isn't as awesome as he thinks he is and banning a man like Trump just shows how petty and pathetic his attempt at relevancy and attention is.
#11
I read where DeNiro is a minor partner in the resturants and the majority owner (Chef Nobu Matsuhisa?) is a Trump fan and would welcome him at any time.
#14
It would be funny if Trump bought a larger stake in the restaurant chain. Might have to wait until his 8 years or up, but it would be great to have him show up any time DeNiro was enjoying a meal.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) command has allowed soldiers serving since 2010 to return home after eight years of service.
All soldiers part of Recruitment Class 102 will be honorably discharged at the end of the month and allowed to return to civilian life.
Most of the soldiers part from this recruitment class had served in the provinces of Homs, Damascus, and Aleppo, which have been declared militarily safe.
With the latest victories in Homs and Damascus, the Syrian Army can now afford to discharge these soldiers from Class 102.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018
00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
An amphibious corps of the GSDF for recapturing a solitary island and the MSDF staged joint drills in the waters off Tanekashima, Kagoshima Prefecture on May 8-24 for the first time. During the period there were madcap drills for the rapid movement and deployment of AAV-7 amphibians from a MSDF transport ship and landing and air transport under the pretext of increasing the SDF operational capability.
It shows that the Abe group is going reckless in making Japan a military giant and realizing the ambition for overseas expansion.
The scenario of the Japanese militarists to carry out the overseas aggression is fraught with a very great risk. Japan has already and almost assumed full aspects as a militarist state and it is fully ready for reinvasion.
The current constitution only remains a hurdle in the scenario.
The chief executive of Japan seeks to revise the constitution at any cost so as to stipulate the SDF as the offensive armed forces and remove the legal obstacle to reinvasion.
It is crystal clear to all why Japan's ruling quarters are running high fever for the constitutional revision. They want to legalize the overseas aggression. In other words, they are keen on making Japan a country which can conduct a war so as to realize the old dream of the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere".
Such moves will bring Japan nothing good, and the militarist war chariot will be led only to the abyss of ruin.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018
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#1
"...and the militarist war chariot will be led only to the abyss of ruin."
[All Africa] Angola's ruling MPLA party president, José Eduardo dos Santos, reaffirmed Friday in Luanda that he is leaving his political life in 2018 of his own free will.
The confirmation was communicated Friday, in Luanda, in the opening address of the second extraordinary session of the MPLA Central Committee, which took place on Friday.
In the session that aimed to approve the resolution on the holding of the sixth Extraordinary Congress of the MPLA, to be held in September, José Eduardo dos Santos said that the transition should be smooth and that the process should show the ruling party's political maturity, as a force with more than 60 years.
During the speech, José Eduardo dos Santos, who did not run for the general elections last August, recalled that the transition at the party level will culminate in the election of a new president as a result of his expressed desire to abandon political life in the year of 2018, despite his regular term expiring in 2021, under the MPLA statutes.
"I remember saying in broad outlines that everything that has a beginning has an end. Because that is the dialectic of life, "he said during an improvised speech.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018
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[Dhaka Tribune] In one of the biggest law enforcement drives in recent times, hundreds of RAB personnel surrounded the Geneva Camp in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur on Saturday and detained over a 100 people suspected of involvement in drug dealing, as well as recovering massive amounts of yaba and marijuana. "Into da paddy wagon wit' yez! Youse too, Scarface!"
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) descended upon Geneva Camp around 10:30am on Saturday. At the beginning of the two-hour raid, a drone was flown over the 300 by 200 meter area. RAB teams took position at the six gates of the camp as well as some smaller exits, sealing the residents in. There were over 150 personnel in the 36 teams. "It's da RAB!"
"Oh, noze! Don't let 'em get me, Mahmoud!"
Describing the operation, RAB sources said they had prepared for maximum resistance at the Geneva Camp. RAB’s bomb disposal unit and dog squad also took part in the operation. "Hrarrr! Sniff! Sniff!"
"N-n-n-n-nize doggy!"
Inhabited since 1971 by an Urdu-speaking population - called Biharis or stranded Pakistanis - who were stateless until a 2008 High Court order, the refugee camp in Mohammadpur has long been a hub of crime and drugs. Kind of like Pakistain...
RAB Legal and Media Wing Director Mufti Mahmud Khan told the Dhaka Tribune that they did not face any obstacles during their raid. "Stick 'em up or you'll have an encounter!"
"Hokay! [Reaches for the sky]"
“The detainees, numbering more than a hundred people, will be interrogated,” Mufti said. “Legal action will be taken against those found to be involved in the illegal drug business.” "Ow! Ow! I confess! I killed Jon Binet! Just make him stop!"
Suspects were detained from inside and outside the camp. Inhabitants came down to the streets and alleyways to witness the proceedings. There were no major incidents during the raid. Initially the officials detained almost 500 people, according to RAB 2 Commanding Officer (CO) Anwar Uz Zaman. "You too, Handsome! Into da paddy wagon!"
"Dere's no more room! I don't fit!"
"Tie him to the roof, Sergeant Shafiq!"
The detained individuals were brought to Agargaon RAB 2 headquarters, from where many were released after questioning. "Ow! Ow! That hurt so bad!"
"Ow! Ow! At least you can still reproduce!"
“We released over 350 people after scrutiny and 153 people remain in custody. Four of them are women. We have also recovered 13,000 yaba pills and 30kg of marijuana,” Anwar Uz Zaman said. "Smoke 'em if you got 'em!"
"Like, wow, man!"
In front of this RAB 2 headquarters, hundreds of women and men gathered to search for their relatives. "Alas, poor Mahmoud! Snatched in his prime!" Kingpins elude capture CO Anwar Uz Zaman said many of those detained were involved in the drug trade. However, RAB has not found the ring leaders who run the operations in the camp. "How about you, Fatty? Are youse Mister Big?"
"No! Not me! I'm Mister Large!" Among the 153 detainees, 77 have already been handed out different sentences by RAB mobile court. A case has been filed against the rest, the RAB CO added. "Thirty years!"
"Next!"
"Thirty years!"
"Next!"
So far, more than 70 suspected drug peddlers have been killed in alleged gunfights with the law enforcement agencies since the launch of an aggressive anti-narcotics campaign in early May. "Open indiscriminate fire, men!"
"Against who, Chief?"
"How about those guys over there?"
[Bang! Bang! Bangetty bang]
"Aaaaiiieee! I am undone!"
Inhabitants of Geneva Camp told this reporter the camp’s top drug dealers had already left the capital for various remote areas across the country. Among them were Ishtiaq, Pachish alias Nadim, Saju, Imran, Sohel and Arman. [Ring! Ring!]
"Hello?"
"Is dis Mister Big?"
"Yeah. Whaddya want?"
"Lissen, dis is Mahmoud da Weasel! Dere's a big raid comin' down! You and Ishtiaq and Pachish alias Nadim, Saju, Imran, Sohel and Arman should head for parts unknown!"
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018
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Top|| File under: Narcos
#1
Delightfully done, Fred. I laughed all the way through two readings — the first of your in-lines, the second of the article and the in-lines responding.
[DAWN] Pakistain’s former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... has said had he been the president now, he would have released Dr Shakil Afridi in a "give and take" deal.
In an interview to Voice of America’s Greta Van Susteren, Musharraf also noted that relations between the United States and Pakistain were at their "lowest ebb" now.
"Well, with a deal, yes. With a deal," said the retired general when asked if he was the president now, would he release Afridi. "A deal, is a give and take. Yes, indeed it can be resolved. I don’t think it is such a serious thing that it cannot be resolved," he added.
Dr Afridi, who helped the CIA locate the late Osama bin Laden ... who used to be alive but now he's not... in Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... , has been in prison in Pakistain since 2011. On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged before a congressional committee that he would continue to work "diligently" to get Afridi out of prison.
US politicians have urged the Trump administration to bring Afridi to the United States where he is considered a hero.
Defending Pakistain’s position on Afridi, Musharraf said every nation had to make policies in accordance with its interests.
He acknowledged that Pakistain’s policy in this case was an "irritant to the United States but Washington would have probably done the same if faced with a similar situation. "Purely on the merits of the case, ... would you allow... a US citizen dealing with the ISI on a very, very sensitive issue of national importance to the United States?" he asked.
One possibility Musharraf indicated in the interview was exchanging Afridi for Mullah Fazlullah ...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... . "We can resolve this irritant and exchange more accommodating stance from the United States... and Afghanistan because we have a terrorist sitting there, Fazlullah," he said.
"I suppose the United States also knows that he’s there."
Further exploring the possibilities for improving America’s relations with Pakistain, he urged Washington to listen to Islamabad’s grievances and advised Islamabad to pay attention to America’s complaints about the Haqqani network. "We need to sit down and resolve these issues," he said.
Washington claims that Pakistain has allowed the Haqqani network to use its territories for carrying out operations in Afghanistan and has greatly reduced its financial assistance to Pakistain over this issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] Pakistain Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Friday banned TV host and Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... member Dr Amir Liaquat from appearing on any TV channel in Pakistain for thirty days after ruling that he had violated several sections of Pemra Ordinance in a TV programme a day ago.
The media regulator, in a notification issued on May 25, stated that Liaquat, during his channel's Ramazan transmission on May 24, had "aired live, un-edited and without any delay" a video call from Gujrat wherein the caller had raised a controversial religious question.
Pemra notes that Dr Liaquat "merely for creating sensation and in order to achieve maximum rating", created "unwarranted drama on the basis of religion and hurt the sentiments of different sects and public on the lam".
After this incident, Dr Liaquat "quit the show, leaving the live platform for the guest Ulemas who exchanged quite harsh arguments," the notification adds.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Libya Observer] The front man for the Special Deterrence Force (SDF), Ahmed Bin Salem, confirmed that the SDF intervened to resolve an armed conflict that took place between Bab Tajoura Brigade and a group of men from Ras Hassan district of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... Bin Salem stated in a press statement on Thursday that two residents from Ras Hassan were killed during the conflict.
A number of young men from Ras Hassan took part in a protest demanding that Bab Tajoura Brigade of the Presidential Council leave their location in the district as they have become the cause of many problems, especially the one that took place on Thursday, resulting in the killing of the two young men.
Local sources said the two non-combatants were killed during a shootout between the brigade and gunnies; one of them is wanted for the brigade.
The protesters closed a number of roads before the situation was brought under control by the Special Deterrence Force.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018
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#1
Kathleen is a quack of Kilpatrick
Whose practice is pre-pediatric.
She'll prey on your giblets:
"Bejaysus, it's triplets!
Quick, brace yourself, Bridget." A hat-trick!
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi military intelligence department has announced foiling a terrorist scheme against troops in the desert of Anbar province.
In a statement on Friday, the department said "the troops of the 10th division carried out an operation that managed to thwart a scheme planned by Lions of Islam who were going to target the security forces."
Moreover, the department said "an operation was launched that raided two rest houses 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.... , north of al-Thirthar desert in Anbar." Huge amounts of weapons were seized inside them.
Earlier Friday, a paramilitary leader was quoted saying that Iraqi army warplanes killed seven Islamic State snuffies after bombarding their locations in Wadi Jaal in Hit, west of Anbar.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/27/2018
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[DAWN] The Foreign Office dismissed on Friday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s allegation about American diplomats being "treated badly" in Pakistain and noted that no specific complaints had been made by Washington.
"The Foreign Office has not received any specific complaints from the US side after establishment of the mechanism to resolve the issue, on treatment of the US diplomats in Pakistain," FO front man Dr Muhammad Faisal said at the weekly media briefing.
Secretary Pompeo had, while testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, said: "My officers, our State Department officers, are being treated badly as well, folks working in the embassies and consulates [and] in other places are not being treated well by the Pak government either."
Responding to these allegations, Dr Faisal said that all Pakistain-based foreign diplomats were being extended diplomatic privileges without any discrimination and were being facilitated as per international laws and norms as well as reciprocity.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018
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#1
Yah, we treat them just like we treat everybody
[Jpost] Cooperation with Israel, or Assad's propaganda?
Talal Naji, assistant secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine, accused Syrian rebels of collaborating with Israel during an interview Saturday with Hezbollah’s al-Mayadeen news network. The PFLP is allied with Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... According to Naji, after Assad’s forces overtook the Yarmouk Paleostinian refugee camp from rebels associated with Jabhat al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... and ISIS, it was discovered that the rebels had dug out old graves with the intent of locating the bodies of three Israeli soldiers who went missing during the 1982 battle of Sultan Yacoub and are presumed dead: Zachary Baumel, Yehuda Katz and Zvi Feldman.
The battle was between Israeli and Syrian forces during the first Leb war, and the bodies remained in the hands of the Syrian fighters. The battle took place when Israel tried to gain a foothold on the Beirut-Damascus highway before a cease-fire went into effect.
This is not the first time that Assad’s supporters have accused Syrian rebels of receiving support from Israel in an attempt to undermine their legitimacy. Pictures of Syrian rebels carrying medical supplies with Hebrew letters on them were published in the past, and The Wall Street Journal has even published an interview with Syrian rebels who admitted to having ties with Israel.
[Ynet] The Ottoman Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Saturday it condemned as a "double standard" a decision by Germany to allow a rally by the pro-Kurdish opposition HDP party in Cologne ...the largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth populated city in Germany.... , having previously prevented ruling party politicians from campaigning there.
"This two-faced approach, which we condemn strongly, cannot be reconciled with democracy, the fight against terrorism and expectations of a normalization in Ottoman Turkish-Germany relations," the ministry statement said.
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05/27/2018
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[Libya Observer] A car went off in Jamal Abdel Nasser Street in Benghazi on Thursday night killing 7 people and wounding 20.
Local sources said the car went kaboom! near Tibisti hotel at around 1:15 am.
Among the deaths was the notorious militiaman Ezzo Raslan, who appeared in videos taking Selfies with dead bodies of women and men from Ganfouda district during Benghazi war.
Ezzo’s brother was also killed in the kaboom.
There are conflicting reports on how the car went kaboom!.
Authorities in eastern Libya said it was a "terrorist boom-mobilekaboom carried out by sleeper cells", but local residents reported another story. They said "the car belongs to militiaman Ezzo Raslan and it was full of ammunition."
"A quarrel occurred between Ezzo and other button men over the ammunition; then one of them took his rifle and opened fire and threw a hand grenade at the car, which led to the car kaboom," a local resident said.
The kaboom was denounced by Benghazi Municipality, House of Representatives and Presidential Council.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018
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#1
"Hey Ezzo, you should replace these shocks"
"Nahhhh"
*Boom*
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2018 8:02
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[IsraelTimes] Government outlets loyal to reformist crown prince Mohammed bin Salman paint a rosy picture of Israeli ties, but despite Iranian threat many citizens use Twitter to loudly disagree
A recent headline in the Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat asked readers, "Do you stand with Iran or Israel?"
The writer, Abd al-Rahman al-Rashid, is a seasoned editor of Saudi Arabia’s government-sponsored publications, and al-Sharq al-Awsat is among the Arab world’s most prestigious newspapers.
Continued on Page 49
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) An 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.... member was tossed in the clink ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... , while huge some of money was confiscated, west of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , the Nineveh Police Command said on Friday.
In a statement, Brig. Gen. Hamad Names al-Jabouri, the commander, said information indicated presence of "huge amount of money for Islamic State members inside a house of one of the hard boys."
"The hard boy called Jasim Ali Ghazal was arrested in his house in al-Gamasa village in Badush region, west of Mosul," the statement said. "A sum of 43 million Iraqi dinars were found inside his house."
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05/27/2018
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[Al Jazeera] At the end of a volatile week for the embattled Ottoman Turkish lira, President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... has called on Turks to convert to convert foreign currency savings into the country's currency.
The lira, which has fallen about 20 percent this year, hit a low of 4.93 against the US dollar on Wednesday, before The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... 's central bank raised its top interest rate by three percentage points to 16.5 percent in an attempt to help stabilise the currency.
The emergency rate hike, which helped reduce some of the losses, was followed up by the central bank also saying on Friday that it would allow some foreign currency debt to be repaid at fixed lira rates.
Speaking to supporters in the eastern city of Erzurum on Saturday, about one month before Turkey heads to the polls, Erdogan said: "My brothers who have dollars or euros under their pillow. Go and convert your money into lira. We will thwart this game together."
Ankara has repeatedly said the lira's fall was a "conspiracy" by unnamed foreign powers to weaken Turkey.
"If the financial sector plays such games to work against our investors and entrepreneurs, know that you will pay a steep price," Erdogan said on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018
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#1
Next up? Confiscation of foreign currency.
"Dollars are Gulenist"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2018 8:27
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#2
'Down with the Gulenist hoarders and wreckers, comrades!" Erdogan is following the Fascist model: you don't have to nationalize 'the means of production' if you can control it. Let the peasants believe that they have private property rights.
Not even close, Procopius2k. America has a national highway system, Adolf Hitler established the autobahn system. That does not mean that a national highway system is a mark of fascism. The key to fascism is that it is totalitarian. All, both high and low, feel the weight of the state on their necks, the scrutiny of their every move; under President Obama and the social justice warriors they did and do try to tend more in that direction than it used to, but on the other hand, there are now more outlets for free thought, free association, and free enterprise than there were a generation or two ago. Remember when the New York Times defined both what was reported and how? When books only came from the traditionally Progressive publishing houses? But now we have the entire range of political opinion and news available on the internet, and the following actually haooened:
[PowerLine] Shocking because it comes from the editors of the Harvard Crimson, and because the diversity they call for is ideological. The context is the release of a report by Harvard’s Presidential Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging. The report, predictably, was all about race and gender. The Crimson’s editors write:
[M]uch more work is needed in expanding the conversation and prioritizing ideological diversity on campus. Startlingly, just around 1.5 percent of respondents to The Crimson news staff’s survey of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences identify as conservative or very conservative, compared to 83.2 percent who identify as liberal or very liberal.
These statistics do not reflect America: 35 percent of Americans identify as conservative, 23 times the fraction of the faculty survey’s respondents, and 26 percent identify as liberal. This stark divide has harmful effects on the University’s ability to train our nation’s leaders, and it risks alienating current and potential conservative students. It has also likely contributed to the declining trust of Americans in higher education, which has deleterious effects.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Saudi-led coalition said it has foiled an attempted attack by an unmanned drone in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... ’s southern city of Abha, the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television channel reported on Saturday.
The coalition said it has destroyed the drone as it attempted to approach Abha airport, which was operating normally, according to Arabiya.
The attack was carried out by the Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... forces, who have been recently launching several missiles strikes against the Saudi Coalition.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Special Forces of the Afghan Intelligence, National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS), have foiled Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... ’s bid to carry out a coordinated attack in western Farah province.
The National Directorate of Security (NDS) in a statement said the Special Forces of the directorate targeted a large compound of the Taliban group in Farah Rod district which the Taliban wanted to use for the attack.
The statement further added that the group’s shadow district governor for Khak-e-Safid Mullah Abdul Bari and two other senior commanders in charge of a group of 100 snuffies were using the compound to mobilize forces for the attack.
According to NDS, the bully boyz were looking to target several check posts located along the Farah and Farah Rod highway.
At least fifteen Taliban snuffies were killed during the operation including a commander of the group identified as Lawang, NDS added.
NDS also added in its statement that NDS Special Forces also confiscated six tons of explosives along with several weapons and ammunition during the operation.
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05/27/2018
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The US forces carried out Arclight airstrikes on Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... hideouts in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province of Afghanistan leaving at least three members of the group dead.
The 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan Military in the East said the airstrikes were carried out late on Friday night in the vicinity of Surkh Rod district.
The source further added that the US forces unmanned aerial vehicles pounded the Taliban hideouts in the district that left at least three Talibs dead.
This comes as counter-terrorism operations are underway against the Taliban and other faceless myrmidons in this province.
A senior Taliban leader in charge of the military commission of the group for the 14 districts of eastern Nangarhar province was killed during an operation of the Afghan Intelligence, National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS).
The governor’s office in Nangarhar in a statement said the senior Taliban leader Gul Mohammmad was killed late on Thursday night in the vicinity of Surkh Rod district.
The statement further added that Gul Mohammad was also famous Sangari and was attempting to flee the area when he was rubbed out by the NDS Special Forces.
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[DAWN] IT is, unfortunately, all too easy in this country to work up people’s religious feelings and then direct these zealous sentiments in a destructive direction. The latest example of this negative trend was witnessed in Sialkot on Wednesday when a mob descended upon an Ahmadi place of worship and proceeded to destroy it. According to reports, the building in question was said to be an ’illegal construction’; however, regardless of its status, there can be no justification for the assault by a mob of hundreds, reportedly including members of the local government, political workers and seminary students. As per some reports, a local PTI leader was part of the mob; the PTI has condemned the attack, with its front man correctly saying that no one has the right to instigate violence against minority communities.
Religious issues must always be handled delicately; however, in these tense times with elections around the corner, all political parties have a duty to ensure that matters of faith are not included in political narratives. In the run-up to the polls, there will be candidates who will try and play to the gallery by raising sectarian and communal issues. In fact, some sectarian groups have formed political fronts and intend to run in the polls. Therefore, political parties, the state and the ECP must all work together to isolate such hatemongers; the ECP in particular has a duty to keep an eye on rabble-rousers. Politicians, in their parties’ manifestos as well as on the campaign trail, must promote tolerance and inclusion, instead of focusing on exclusivity and parochialism. As it is, there have been plenty of bitter exchanges between major political players, including the PML-N, PPP and PTI. Exploiting religious or communal issues will further poison the atmosphere. As for the Sialkot incident, a thorough probe should be conducted and the guilty brought to justice. The Constitution guarantees minorities freedom of worship; therefore; there can be no tolerance for such acts of violence.
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[DAWN] At least eight infants reportedly died of malnutrition and water-borne diseases in the desert region of Mithi during the past two days, parents of the dear departed children told Dawn.
The infants died at Mithi's Civil Hospital where they were brought from remote villages for treatment. With these deaths, the toll rose to 235 infant casualties during the first five months of this year.
The health officials told Dawn that 62 children below five years of age were admitted to the hospital during the past two days and many of them were in very critical condition.
The parents of the dear departed and ailing children lamented that they neither had healthcare facilities nor safe drinking water in their villages. People are mostly suffering from water-borne diseases as they have no other option but to drink contaminated water from wells, they said.
The parents also complained against the alleged indifferent attitude of doctors and paramedics when they insist for proper treatment of their children.
Despite repeated attempts, neither the District Health Officer (DHO) nor other concerned officials could be reached for comment on the unabated deaths of infants.
Moreover, the health and nutrition experts working in Thar urged the government to provide safe drinking water and ensure basic healthcare facilities in every village to prevent such deaths.
The Chief Justice in a recent hearing on the deaths of the children had rejected the detailed report submitted to him by the Sindh health secretary.
Here it is pertinent to note that after the suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... notice taken by the chief justice in April last year, the health officials instead of ensuring the provision of the best possible healthcare facilities, stopped sharing data with the local media persons.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2018
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#1
"It's Allan's Will™"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2018 9:32
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[SABANEWS.NET] Nine non-combatants were killed and eight injured when the US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition launched 64 Arclight airstrikes and ground attacks on several districts of Yemen’s provinces over the past 24 hours, according to reports combined by Saba News Agency.
In Saada province, six non-combatants were killed and four injured in the airstrikes which targeted tents of Bedouins in Hajr area of Majz district.
Also in Saada, the warplanes launched 10 air strikes on Atfin area and four airstrikes on Aal-Abo-Jubarah of Kutaf district.
Meanwhile, ...back at the hoedown, the fiddler suddenly struck a sour note. The dancing stopped abruptly. Everyone looked at Bob... a civilian was injured in missile shelling hit several areas of Razih district as well as artillery and missile shells were fired toward Ghur area of Ghamer border district and several areas of Munabeh border district of Saada.
In Hodeidah province, two non-combatants were killed in an airstrike hit a main road in Zabid district, while a civilian’s a bulldozer was destroyed in an airstrike on Zuraibh area of Zabid district.
In Taiz province, a civilian was killed and another injured in Saudi-led airstrike on a home in Barh area of Maqbanh district, as well as a woman and a child were maimed when the Saudi-paid mercenaries targeted Hamim area of Qubaita district.
Also in Taiz, dozens of non-combatants were killed and injured by the fires of the mercenaries in Bir-Bash market and Dar area.
In Yemen’s Jawf province, an airstrike was waged on Mutun district.
In Hajjah province, over 35 airstrikes were launched on Haradh and Medi districts.
In Najran a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen. It is the capital of Najran Province and a favored target of Houthirocket forces.... border province, seven Saudi-led aggression airstrikes were waged on Talat-Rejla and another on Makharoq site.
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[All Africa] A court in Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... has sentenced seven activists from the country's Anglophone minority to 10 to 15 years in jail on terrorism and rebellion charges, a defense lawyer said on Friday.
Among those charged was Mancho Bibixy, a radio presenter in the English-speaking Northwest Region. Bibixy was handed a 15-year prison term for "acts of terrorism, hostility against the homeland, secession, revolution and insurrection."
Bibixy and fellow activists were jugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! last year as part of a crackdown on an Anglophone independence movement by President Paul Biya's French-speaking government.
Bibixy's lawyer, Claude Assira, said the convictions "would only worsen the... Anglophone crisis."
'Targeted killings'
The convictions come a week after the US ambassador to Cameroon, Peter Barlerin, accused government forces of "assassinations, arson and looting" in the fight against Anglophone separatists. He called for a dialogue to end the 18-month separatist crisis in the country's English-speaking regions.
The Cameroonian government summoned Barlerin earlier this week to protest his remarks.
Cameroon's English-speaking population has long complained of discrimination in the majority French-speaking country.
In 2016, English-speaking teachers and lawyers in the two main English-speaking provinces -- the northwest and the southwest -- launched a peaceful movement to demand for reforms and greater autonomy.
The movement became an armed conflict last year following violent crackdowns by government forces.
The separatists want to turn the provinces into an independent nation named Ambazonia. They even declared independence in October 2017 after President Biya rejected demands for greater autonomy.
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[Jpost] The Moslem month of Ramadan that began in fierce heat last week is not good for health, according to researchers who found an increased occurrence of kidney stones and strokes among those who fast every day from dawn to sunset, as their religion requires.
"There is a high frequency of patients arriving at the emergency room with kidney stones, especially among the first two weeks that Moslems fast for Ramadan," said Dr. Yiftah Sagi, an internal medicine specialist at Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba. The prevalence is 27% higher than when it is not Ramadan. "Increased drinking of water during the evening hours when it is permitted, or permission from doctors and clergymen to drink even during the fast because of health problems may, however, reduce the appearance of stones," added Sagi.
Stones in urinary tracts can cause pain and suffering and may even lead to chronic renal injury. They are also a common cause of referral to hospital emergency rooms. Among the causes are the "hard water," which is common to Israel, hot temperatures and inadequate consumption of water.
Also during Ramadan, the danger of stroke among Beduin who fast is some 1.5 times greater than during the rest of the year, according to Soroka Neurology Department director Prof. Gal Ifergan. "Toward Ramadan, it is recommended to consult with the family doctor, update medication and learn how to take it during fasting, drink during the permitted hours and maintain a balanced sugar/insulin state in diabetics."
[Ynet] The start-up of the Arab world's first nuclear reactor‐in the United Arab Emirates‐has been delayed and should start operations between the end of 2019 and early 2020, the plant's operator said on Saturday.
Nawah Energy Company, the operator of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in the al-Dhafra Region of Abu Dhabi, said it "has completed a comprehensive operational readiness review" for an updated start-up schedule for the reactor.
The $24.4 billion Barakah power plant is the world's largest nuclear project under construction and will be the first in the Arab world.
"The results of Nawah's review forecast that the loading of nuclear fuel assemblies required to commence nuclear operations at Barakah Unit 1 will occur between the end of 2019 and early 2020," it said in a statement.
That much longer until radioactive materials are available in that part if the world, and radioactive waste generated and needing disposal.
[ENGLISH.YONHAPNEWS.CO.KR] North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... has reaffirmed his willingness to denuclearize and hold a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... , South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Sunday.
"Chairman Kim Jong-un has once again clearly expressed his commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula following his pledge in the Panmunjom Declaration and expressed his willingness to end the history of war and confrontation through the success of the North Korea-U.S. summit," Moon said of his latest summit with the North Korean leader held Saturday.
"We two leaders agreed the June 12 North Korea-U.S. summit must be successfully held," he told a nationally televised presser.
The latest inter-Korean summit was held on the North Korean side of Panmunjom, a border village that sits directly on the Military Demarcation Line that divides the two Koreas. The first Moon-Kim summit was held on the South Korean side of Panmunjom on April 27.
Trump on Thursday (Washington time) called off his scheduled summit with Kim, citing the North's tremendous anger and open hostility, only to suggest later the meeting would go ahead as planned.
"While explaining the outcome of my summit with U.S. President Trump held last week, I relayed the message that President Trump is firmly willing to end his country's hostile relationship with North Korea and enhance economic cooperation should Chairman Kim make a decision on complete denuclearization and implements it," Moon said.
The South Korean president visited Washington on Monday-Wednesday. He said his surprise meeting with Kim came at a suggestion from the North Korean leader, who on Friday expressed hope to meet for candid dialogue.
"Also, as both Chairman Kim and President Trump sincerely wish for the success of the North-U.S. summit, I stressed the need for the two sides to remove any misunderstanding through direct communication and to hold enough dialogue on agenda issues that need to be addressed at their summit," President Moon said, adding, "Chairman Kim also agreed."
Moon insisted the U.S. must have independently confirmed the North's willingness to denuclearize, saying that otherwise the U.S. president would not have agreed to a summit with Kim.
What caused the latest dispute may have been lingering uncertainties felt by Pyongyang about the U.S.' security guarantee, he noted.
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#1
A brute who respects only strength, biting off the hand reached out to show good faith.
[IsraelTimes] White Helmet humanitarian aid group says gunnies stormed its al-Hader center during pre-dawn hours and fired on first responders inside
Five Syrian rescue workers were killed in an attack by masked assailants Saturday on one of their centers in the northern province of Aleppo, the White Helmets said.
The White Helmets said gunnies stormed the al-Hader center in a pre-dawn attack and fired on the first responders inside.
Four volunteers were killed on the spot and a fifth died later in hospital, it wrote on Twitter.
Founded in 2013, the White Helmets are a network of first responders who rescue maimed in the aftermath of air strikes, shelling or blasts in rebel-held territory.
The al-Hader center lies in a part of Aleppo province controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a jihadist organization whose main component was once al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria.
"At around 2:00 a.m., an gang stormed the al-Hader center, blindfolded the staff members who were on the night shift, and killed five of them," said Ahmad al-Hamish, who heads the center.
"Two others were maimed and another two were able to flee. The attackers were masked and escaped after stealing some equipment and generators," he said.
It was unclear whether the attack was a robbery-gone-wrong or if the center and its crew had been specifically targeted.
More than 200 White Helmets rescuers have been killed in Syria’s seven-year war, usually in bombing raids or shelling on their centers.
While attacks like the one on Saturday are rare, they have happened before.
In August, seven White Helmets members were killed in a similar attack in the town of Sarmin, in neighboring Idlib province.
Most of Idlib is held by HTS, as well as a part of Aleppo and the adjacent province of Hama.
Tensions are on the rise there, with a wave of intra-opposition liquidations and festivities leaving at least 20 rebels dead in 48 hours, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"You cannot separate the al-Hader incident from the liquidations and other killings that have been happening more and more in recent weeks in areas under HTS control," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
The population of Idlib province has swelled to more than 2 million people as a result of massive transfers of rebels and civilians from onetime opposition zones elsewhere in the country.
The killings come as the White Helmets are facing a "freeze" on funding from the United States, which is still reviewing over $200 million earmarked for stabilization in Syria.
[IsraelTimes] Air force conducts raids in southern Strip in response to four Paleostinian suspects who breached fence, threw Molotov cocktail
Israeli aircraft carried out a series of strikes against Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, positions in the southern Gazoo Strip late Saturday night, following a border breach earlier in the day, the army said.
"The Israel Defense Forces, using fighter jets, attacked a number of terror targets in an military compound belonging to the Hamas terror group in the southern Gazoo Strip," the army said in a statement.
Paleostinian media reported that the Arclight airstrikes hit a number of Hamas positions in the areas of Rafah and Khan Younis.
The Hamas-run Gazoo health ministry said it had not received any reports of injuries.
The army said its airstrikes were in response to the infiltration earlier in the day.
"The IDF takes seriously the continued daily attempts by the Hamas terror group to damage the security infrastructure in Israel, while threatening the security of residents and soldiers," the army said.
As a matter of policy, the Israeli army considers Hamas, which rules Gazoo, to be responsible for any attack emanating from the beleaguered coastal enclave.
On Saturday morning, IDF soldiers spotted four Paleostinians who crossed the security fence into Israel from the southern Gazoo Strip.
According to the army, the four threw a petrol bomb, and left a tent inside Israel with the message: "March of Return: Returning to the lands of Paleostine."
The soldiers arrived to the scene moments later and shot up the individuals, who in turn fled back to the Paleostinian side of the fence. No injuries were reported in the Saturday morning incident.
The infiltration was one of numerous attempts over the weekend to breach and damage the border fence, the IDF said.
Dozens of burning kites were flown from Gazoo across the border over the weekend, sparking several fires in Israeli fields, Hadashot TV news reported Saturday night. In the past month, 300 "attack" kites have been flown across the border, the report said, setting off 100 fires.
In recent weeks, Gazooks have been flying kites into Israel outfitted with Molotov cocktails and containers of burning fuel, setting fire to large swaths of fields.
On Friday, strong winds hampered efforts to control fires which broke out at three points near Kibbutz Kissufim along the Gazoo border, after incendiary kites were flown into Israel from the Paleostinian coastal enclave.
Military planners have begun implementing new measures to combat the assaults, including options drawn from the IDF’s responses to rocket launches and other terror attacks.
#1
Dozens of burning kites were flown from Gazoo across the border over the weekend, sparking several fires in Israeli fields, Hadashot TV news reported Saturday night. In the past month, 300 "attack" kites have been flown across the border, the report said, setting off 100 fires.
In recent weeks, Gazooks have been flying kites into Israel outfitted with Molotov cocktails and containers of burning fuel, setting fire to large swaths of fields.
Yeah, but it's still spring, and any fires can only affect the fallow sections of fields. Which would normally be a benefit, except for the gasoline contamination.
#2
Several articles on the subject of incendiary kites have mentioned that it is close to harvest time, Fairbanks, and Israeli farmers at the receiving end of the things have been claiming losses on the order of well over $1 million. Their grain planting season starts in November for wheat and barley.
[Ynet] Abandoning limitations on operating only in southern Syria, Jerusalem reportedly notifies Moscow it will now operate all across its northern neighbor; Arabic Sky News reports 21 people killed in Homs strike Thursday, 9 of them Iranian; Islamic republic's official press agency denies claim.
Israel has notified Russia of its decision to expand its "red lines"‐as it pertains to operations against Iran in Syria‐to the entirety of its northern neighbor's territory rather than just the southern portion of the country as it had so far, the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Saturday evening.
Israel initially offered no comment on the report by the London-based pan-Arab paper.
On a possibly related matter, Arabic-language Sky News reported that in the strike in the Homs province of Syria earlier this week‐attributed to the Israeli Air Force‐21 people were killed, nine of whom were Iranian. Sky News was the only outlet reporting the figures.
The claim was later refuted by Iran's official news agency IRNA, which stated the strike led to no Iranian casualties.
British-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Friday that the overnight strike‐seemingly by Israel‐targeted a base occupied by Hezbollah operatives and weapons caches.
The Dabaa base, according to the Observatory's report, also housed combatants belonging to other militias allied to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... , and that it was unclear whether the strike caused any deaths.
The pro-Hezbollah Lebanese daily al-Akhbar, meanwhile, reported that the strike was the most significant since the so-called "Night of Missiles"‐when 32 missiles were launched by the elite Iranian Quds Force earlier in the month, prompting a crushing Israeli response that reportedly left eleven Iranians dead.
Despite the Syrian army's claim that its aerial defense systems shot back at the missiles and jets, several hits to the airfield were documented, the paper further reported.
Al-Akhbar then went on to say no operational airborne activities were being launched from the base, but that it did house several storerooms and command centers. The region of the base was previously targeted by a tripartite American-British-French assault recently, after allegations it was being used to manufacture chemical weapons.
Rami Abdurrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Thursday that six missiles were fired at the Dabaa military airbase and its vicinity in southwestern Homs, hitting Hezbollah weapons caches.
The base is just north of the city of al-Qusayr, which Hezbollah overtook in 2013 from Syrian rebel forces. The city's capture marked a turning point in the Shiite terror group's involvement in the years' long Syrian civil war.
[PRESSTV] Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says Leb stands at the forefront of the fight against the Israeli regime's extremism.
Rouhani on Saturday extended his congratulations to Lebanese President Michel Aoun ...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... ... on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of Leb’s Resistance and Liberation Day, which marks the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Arab country’s southern territory.
"Undoubtedly, Leb stands at the forefront of the fight against the Zionist regime’s extremism," the Iranian president said, adding that "convergence and unity in the golden triangle of the [Lebanese] government, army and resistance [front] have played a leading role in achieving this big victory."
He once again expressed Iran's strong support for the establishment of stability and peace in Leb.
The Israeli regime first invaded Leb in 1978 and later escalated the military operation into a full-scale offensive in 1982.
Following the 1982 offensive, known as the First Leb War, Tel Aviv refused to leave southern Leb and kept its military presence there in defiance of UN Security Council Resolution 425 that called on the regime to immediately withdraw.
However, ars longa, vita brevis... the Zionist enemy eventually buckled under the resistance put up by Hezbollah fighters and pulled out its forces from the occupied areas overnight on May 24, 2000, in what observers call a humiliating defeat for the regime in Tel Aviv and a glorious victory for Hezbollah.
During the 22-year entanglement with Leb, the Israeli military took heavy blows from Lebanese resistance fighters and reportedly lost some 900 of its soldiers. That works out to an average of 41 a year...
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[DAWN] A school teacher in Gujjar Khan was incarcerated Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! on Friday for attempting to rape a nine-year-old girl, police said on Saturday.
The 20-year-old teacher was arrested after the father of the victim filed a first information report (FIR) with Gujjar Khan police about the incident.
According to the FIR, the girl was returning home after visiting a nearby shop when the accused molested her and tried to take her with him with the intent of rape.
It added that the girl was able to escape after a motorcyclist entered the street and the accused let her go.
The FIR was registered under Sections 376 [punishment of rape] and 511 [punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or for a shorter terms].
The investigating officer in the case, Sub-inspector Nazar Mohammad, said that the accused was arrested within hours of the incident as he did not expect that the victim's father would file a case against him.
He said that the medical examination of the victim had not taken place as her father had not consented to it, arguing that the victim escaped before being subjected to rape.
Police said the accused would be presented before a judicial magistrate today.
Since the beginning of 2018, there has been a marked upsurge in the reporting of sexual abuse cases across Pakistain. The brutal rape and murder of Zainab Ansari in Kasur earlier this year in particular shocked the entire country, with #JusticeforZainab becoming the rallying cry in a nationwide drive to end violence against children.
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi parliament will discuss in today’s session suggestions to cancel the results of the recent parliament elections and withdrawing confidence from the commission that ran them.
Baghdad Today quoted Jassem al-Bayyati, a parliamentarian described as "close" to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, saying Saturday that the chamber, based on an invitation by its chief for an extraordinary session on electoral breaches, will discuss revoking the election results and totally, or partially, withdrawing confidence from the High Electoral Commission.
He added that other suggestions on the table are limiting cancellations to the refugee and expatriate votes.
The parliament failed to convene for the same purpose last Thursday for lack of quorum.
Accusations of forgery flew after the end of votes on May 12th. Abadi’s office said the prime minister had referred to the Integrity Authority a violation by the High Electoral Commission related to its failure to hire a specialized firm to check and verify the soundness of electronic vote counters.
According to official result, Abadi’s al-Nasr list came third. First came Saeroon list, sponsored by Shia leader, Moqtada Tater al-Sadr ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah... , a populist seeking to break away from Iranian influence and scathingly opposed to foreign military presence in Iraq. Second came al-Fatah, an alliance of former leaders of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces, the Shia-led troops that backed government forces campaign, under Abadi, to drive out 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.... holy warriors since 2014.
[IsraelTimes] Military official dismisses as 'sheer lie' report that 9 Iranians among 21 killed in Thursday raid on alleged Hezbollah weapons depot
Iran on Saturday denied any of its troops were killed in a suspected Israeli Arclight airstrike in Syria, after a report said nine Iranians were among the dead.
Reports that Iranians were killed in Thursday’s strike are "a sheer lie and quite baseless," the official IRNA news agency quoted an unnamed military official as saying.
The targets of the strike, which sparked large kabooms, were munitions depots belonging to the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group, located on an air base south of the city of Homs, according to the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, which also said the strikes were most likely carried out by Israel.
Sky News Arabic reported Saturday that 21 people were killed in the strike, including nine Iranians.
"Six missiles were fired at the Daba’a military airport and surrounding area in the western sector of Homs province, targeting Lebanese Hezbollah weapons warehouses," Rami Abd el-Rahman, director of the Observatory, told AFP.
The Observatory identified Israel as the likely perpetrator. "The missiles would have been fired by Israel," el-Rahman said.
The Israel Defense Forces refused to comment on the attack.
The Daba’a air base, also known as al-Qusair air base, and the surrounding area are known to be a stronghold for Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias. It was also reportedly struck by Israel in skirmishes against Syrian and Iranian forces on May 10.
A military source told state media that the incoming missile attack was intercepted. This is a common claim by SANA, including in cases where the outlet later acknowledged that strikes hit their target.
Conflicting accounts emerged about the exact number of missiles fired at the Syrian air base. Various Syrian and Lebanese outlets reported that it was between two and eight.
The military source did not identify who Syria believed had carried out the attack, though some Syrian media outlets assumed it was Israel, which has been conducting regular airstrikes in the country in recent years, more in the past few months.
[DAWN] Five police officials have reportedly been found involved in extorting money from businessmen in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , West Zone Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Amir Farooqi said on Friday.
Of these, three coppers namely Liaquatabad SHO Rao Shabbir, Pak Colony's Constable Rana Saleem and Surjani's Constable Farzand Ali have been suspended pending an inquiry into their conduct.
Sharing details of the case, DIG West said that Super Market police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) under Sections 385 (putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion), 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistain Penal Code and Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti Terrorism Act on the complaint of Syed Tabish Ejaz, an owner of a rent-a-car business.
Recently, four suspects repeatedly visited his shop, blackmailing him and threatening to destroy his business if he did not pay Rs25,000 to them on a monthly basis as bhatta (extortion).
In this regard, the accused persons received bhatta twice from him.
On May 21, one accused Rana Saleem sent a Whatsapp message to him and demanded extortion. When the complainant was paying him the extortion money near APWA Girls School at Dak Khana Liaquatabad, a police party reached there and enjugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! the suspect red-handed.
During interrogation, the arrested accused, Rana Saleem reportedly disclosed that "DSP Mehmood Khan is supporting such illegal activities."
DIG Amir Farooqi said that the role of DSP Mehmood Khan in supporting criminals in illegal activities was "gross misconduct." Therefore, he has recommended to Additional Inspector General (AIG) Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar to remove him from the position.
Moreover, DIG Farooqi revealed that one inspector posted at Kharadar in South Zone was also allegedly involved in the extortion racket.
The senior officer said that during the initial probe, the held suspect Rana Saleem told the Sherlocks that his relative, also named Rana Saleem, and constable Farzand were taking bhatta from businessmen and others by threatening them.
Rana Saleem revealed that SHO Kharadar Rana Khushi is also a relative of his and has been running his ’special party’ there. Moreover, Inspector Rana Naveed and Liaquatabad SHO Rao Shabbir, also his relatives, were supporting Khushi, the interrogation report states.
The police investigation report also revealed that absconder policeman, Rana Saleem was also allegedly running a drug business in the SITE area.
The DIG West said that the arrested accused was running a gang in which girls were also being used for criminal activities.
"The held accused is running a network of criminals in which five coppers were also involved," said the DIG, adding that a "special party of police" was being used for criminal activities.
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[IsraelTimes] Former 'The Voice' contestant Bethlehem Endale is bringing her unique story and powerful pipes to Russian Taglit-Birthright groups in Israel.
Video of the lady competing on The Voice at the link, presumably the Ukrainian version of the show.
[DAWN] Italia’s foreign minister proudly announced the return to the country on Thursday of a Pak woman who it claimed had been taken by her family to Pakistain to have an abortion against her will after she got pregnant by her Italian boyfriend.
The case of young Farah attracted a lot of interest in Italia following the recent strangulation in Pakistain of Sana Cheema, an Italian of Pak origin who police suspect was killed by her family because she refused an arranged marriage.
Farah, 19, didn’t have Italian citizenship, only a residency permit. Nevertheless, the foreign ministry activated Italia’s embassy in Islamabad after Verona authorities heard from Farah’s friends that she had been tricked into going home and was forced to have an abortion.
Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano tweeted on Thursday that Farah was safely back in Italia, and he thanked Pak authorities who had removed Farah from her family’s home in a Lahore area and brought her to the Italian embassy in Islamabad.
Alfano had previously said that Italia acted in Farah’s defence as a matter of respecting her human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... and "fundamental rights based on the equality of men and women."
According to Italian news reports, Farah managed to sneak text and audio messages to her friends in Italia, recounting that her parents had tricked her into returning to Pakistain for her brother’s wedding and then forced her to abort her child. She wrote of being afraid for her life.
Once in the embassy, Italia arranged for Farah’s Pak passport to be renewed as her family had destroyed the one she travelled with and issued her a visa to return to Italia.
Farah’s case prompted an outpouring of solidarity from Italian politicians from across the political spectrum eager to prevent a repetition of the Cheema case.
Verona’s social services office, which had received complaints from Farah previously about her abusive father, guaranteed her needs would be met and safety ensured.
Left-leaning politician Laura Boldrini, the former house speaker, praised Farah for raising her voice and "making us understand that when a woman rebels against those who want to oppress her, she will never be left alone". Right-wing leader Giorgia Meloni, who has demanded a harsher crackdown on illegal immigrants colonists, went so far as to call for Italia to grant Farah citizenship.
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[Jpost] Accused of being "infidels," a group of Kurdish asylum-seekers say they were attacked at a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos on Friday.
Local reports on Saturday said six persons were maimed in the festivities. One Syrian Kurdish refugee said four Kurds had been killed when they were set upon due to "sectarian and ethnic hatred against Kurds."
The Moria camp on Lesbos has been the center of brawls before between refugees who are stuffed into a facility of 7,000 inhabitants that has been operating at 300% of capacity for months.
In 2017 there were massive fights in the camp in March and December, and an Afghan migrant was reported killed in November last year. A report earlier this month in the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini said the camp was nearing a "breaking point." Women said they were at risk of sexual violence. One refugee said he was stuck in the shocking conditions for two years.
The latest crisis began on Friday, when riot police and medical units were called to Moria as fights broke out. First aid was provided and migrants colonists were transferred to Mytilene hospital. Moro Tabush, a Syrian Kurdish refugee, told Kurdistan 24 television that Syrian and Arab refugees had attacked Kurdish families. According to the report, two of his cousins were killed as well as another man from Afrin in Syria. He "claimed that Greek authorities in the camp did not intervene."
The Kurdish channel Rudaw interviewed a man named Khalil from Kobane in Syria. He said that he was fasting for Ramadan on Friday, "yet some Arabs from Syria, Iraq, Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... and Algeria came and said, ’Rojava Kurds are infidels and don’t fast.’"
Khalil said this was the cause of the fight. He said no one was killed but that 17 Kurds were maimed, 10 severely.
The attacks on Kurds caused hundreds of Kurdish refugees to flee the camp and head toward the town of Mytilene, the capital of Lesbos. According to tweets by Michael Raber, who posted photos online, the people who fled included secular Kurdish refugees who warned "of rising influence from ISIS [ISIS]."
One of the problems in the refugee camps is that the authorities do not distinguish between the arrivals or take religious and ethnic differences into account. This is difficult, because there are refugees from both sides of the civil war, some of whom had been fighting each other in Syria before arriving in the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... . It’s unclear the degree to which Greeks working at the camp are aware of these tensions and differences or speak the language of the arrivals.
According to Yazda, an organization that works with Yazidis, many of the Yazidi refugees also fled the camp after the fighting. Yazidis were targeted for genocide by ISIS in 2014 and they have suffered attacks before as refugees in Europe ...also known as Moslem Lebensraum... at the hands of Islamist myrmidons.
According to the group Lesbos Solidarity, which has responded to the refugee crises on the Greek island, space is needed to host 120 people who fled Moria and are now in Pikpa, an open refugee camp in Mytilene.
Video from Saturday shows many families with children on roads after having fled Moria.
[PRESSTV] Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... should still remain in hospital despite his "excellent" conditions, officials have said in the wake of rumors about his deteriorating health. If he's in "excellent condition" then why's he in the hospital?
Saed Sarahna, the head of Istishari Arab Hospital, where Abbas is being treated, said Saturday that the president of the Paleostinian Authority (PA) should still stay in the facility, which is located near the city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
"His state of health is excellent but the doctors have not yet decided the date of his release," said Sarahna without elaborating in further details about Abbas’ treatment.
Earlier reports had suggested that Abbas, 83, who was hospitalized last Saturday for follow-ups on an ear surgery, would be discharged on Monday or Tuesday. Doctors, however, have yet to confirm those reports, which were based on statements by PA officials.
Another source close to Abbas said doctors would agree on a discharge date when the Paleostinian president fully recovers.
Paleostinian news agency WAFA said Abbas had resumed his normal activities as president, adding that he had spoken to a number of regional politicians to reassure them of his health. It also said Gong Xiaosheng, China's special envoy to the Middle East, visited Abbas in hospital.
On Monday, official media published pictures showing Abbas reading a newspaper and walking around the wards, an apparent attempt to reject reports suggesting his condition was worse than officially communicated. Some of those reports, which authorities dismissed as rumors, said Abbas had a severe inflammation in his ear while others suggested the PA leader, who is a heavy smoker, may have suffered from a stroke as he had consistent pain in his chest.
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[Libya Observer] The High Council of State (HCS) member Abdelrahman al-Shater said the French initiative to resolve Libya’s political impasse is for the interest of La Belle France and its aim to control Libya through its agents in the country.
Al-Shater told Italian Aki news agency that La Belle France’s initiative is an escalation on its part to conduct acts in Libya that would result in benefits for Gay Paree.
"La Belle France is hindering UNSMIL efforts in Libya, which sees that all Libyan parties should agree on a solution, and if such an act by La Belle France is done in Libya then the country will go for division and civil war." He remarked.
La Belle France proposed last week a new initiative to end Libya’s political crisis and invited Libyan stakeholders to an international conference in Gay Paree to be held on May 29.
La Belle France did not official announce the initiative, but sources disclosed that it would include commitment to Cairo meetings for the unity of the military institution and elections by the end of 2018.
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Baiji (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi forces clashed on Saturday with Islamic State militants at an area in Salahuddin province after embarking on an operation to clear it from reminiscent terrorist cells.
The media service of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces said its troops clashed with Islamic State members near al-Fatha bridge in Hamreen mountains.
It explained that the forces had launched an operation to chase remnant militants in Mutaibija region, east of Salahuddin.
Diyala (IraqiNews.com) A senior policeman and three Islamic State members were killed during security operations, east of Salahuddin province, according to the Iraqi military and sources.
A statement by the Security Media Center said head of al-Alam police station in Salahuddin, Brig, Gen, Mohamed Hammash Khalaf, was killed. “During an operation in Mutaibija region in Salahuddin, a bomb went off targeting a vehicle of Alam police station near Jisr al-Zarka region.”
The blast, according to the statement, left Khalaf and his driver Idris Mohamed Mahmoud killed, while another policeman was injured.
Moreover, a security source told Almaalomah website that “al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) in Diyala killed three Islamic State members in Mutaibija.”
Earlier today, the Iraqi joint forces, backed by the army jets, carried out a wide-scale military operation to purge regions located between Diyala and Salahuddin provinces.
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The United States has increased the number of its troops in Iraq as opposed to a declared reduction of forces, a newspaper has claimed.
Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i newspaper The New Arab quoted Iraqi military officials saying that U.S. forces in Iraq have increased, adding that the declaration of the reduction of those troops was "untrue". The officials said the U.S. has even intensified the presence of its intelligence operators on the Iraqi-Syrian borders, especially at Habbaniya and Ain al-Assad bases (Anbar), as well as in Balad (Salahuddin), Qayyara (djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... ), Erbil and Mosul.
The U.S. forces are now situated in two camps, one at the Iraqi Tanaf crossing, and the other near the phosphate mines south of Qaem, Anbar, the newspaper quoted the officials saying.
Last March, the Iraqi parliament obliged the government to set a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country after the military operations against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... bully boyz ended last December.
The officials noted that those forces contribute to the rehabilitation of Iraqi artillery forces damaged by the war.
According to them, the latest Iraqi Arclight airstrikes on the Islamic State locations in Syria were carried out based on aerial photos provided by the Pentagon.
The U.S. has led an international coalition backing Iraqi forces against IS since 2014. The coalition declared late April the end of its land operations in Iraq, and shifting to training purposes. The Pentagon had said late 2017 it maintained slightly more than 8000 troops in Iraq.
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.
[Dhaka Tribune] In one of the biggest law enforcement drives in recent times, hundreds of RAB personnel surrounded the Geneva Camp in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur on Saturday and detained over a 100 people suspected of involvement in drug dealing, as well as recovering massive amounts of yaba and marijuana.
Among the 153 detainees, 77 have already been handed out different sentences by RAB mobile court. A case has been filed against the rest, the RAB CO added.
Pervez 
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi military intelligence department has announced foiling a terrorist scheme against troops in the desert of Anbar province.
[Jpost] Cooperation with Israel, or Assad's propaganda?
...the largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth populated city in Germany....
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
North Korea
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Michel Aoun
[DAWN] A school teacher in Gujjar Khan was 
Moqtada 
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
