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Today: 67 articles and 208 comments as of 9:28.
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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Iran seizes foreign tanker with 12 crew accused of smuggling oil
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
El Chapo is sentenced to life
  • [Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] El Chapo - aka Joaquin Guzman - was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years

  • He was also ordered to forfeit $12.6 billion in restitution to the US government

  • Guzman, 62, was convicted in February of a slew of drug trafficking charges

  • He denied them all, claiming he was being framed by the Mexican cartel

  • On Wednesday, he spoke for the first time throughout the trial to thank his wife and his legal team for their support

  • His wife will not be allowed to visit him behind bars and Wednesday was likely the last time they will ever see each other

  • María Consuelo Loera Pérez, his mother, was denied a humanitarian visa by the US government so could not attend the hearing

  • He also complained about the 'torturous' conditions in the prison where he has been since January 2017

  • Guzman will now be sent to a supermax prison to live out his days

  • He famously escaped Mexican prison twice before being extradited to the US
Posted by: Fred || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos

#1  was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years





Guzman going for his ABA approved annual medical assessment.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/18/2019 3:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Wife and Huma are mates apparently.
Huma introduced Guzman's wife to a new BF.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/18/2019 5:48 Comments || Top||

#3  So that 12.6 billion that he has to forfeit- that would be a nice down payment on a wall.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 07/18/2019 7:20 Comments || Top||

#4  ^ THIS!
Posted by: Frank G || 07/18/2019 7:37 Comments || Top||

#5  just how are they make him forfeit that money though?
Posted by: chris || 07/18/2019 8:24 Comments || Top||

#6  Hopefully he'll be in a prison with members of rival cartels, so we won't have to feed him another 20 years...
Posted by: Mercutio || 07/18/2019 9:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Chris, they will never see that $12.6 billion. There would be very little in his name. Apparently, he was struggling over the past few years to pay his debts.
Posted by: BernardZ || 07/18/2019 10:08 Comments || Top||

#8  Heard that too, Bernard. Perhaps that's why the Mex government actually caught and held him (again).

Check didn't clear.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 07/18/2019 10:29 Comments || Top||

#9  May his sentence be served in full and short.
Posted by: AlanC || 07/18/2019 11:04 Comments || Top||

#10  So long, Shorty!
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 07/18/2019 12:42 Comments || Top||

#11  sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years

When life isn't long enough.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/18/2019 17:44 Comments || Top||

#12  Meskin Presidente condemns sentence as inhumane.
Posted by: Phaick Uneretle6310 || 07/18/2019 18:17 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghan forces conduct 110 joint, special ops and 29 airstrikes in past 24 hours: MoD
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan forces conducted 110 Joint and Special Operations against the hard boy groups in the past 24 hours.

The Ministry of Defense in a statement said the security forces conducted 13 joint and 97 special operations to suppress the hard boy groups.

Furthermore, the Afghan Air Force conducted 29 Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s to support the ground forces during the operations.

The statement further added that the security forces conducted the operations in Faryab, Badghis, Kandahar, Ghazni, Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
, Zabul, Maidan Wardak, Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
, 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..
, Balkh, Sar-e-Pul
...a city and eponymous province in northern Afghanistan, population about 500,000. Demographically it is majority Tadjik and Uzbek. There are small Pashtun, Arab, and Hazara communities, of which the Hazaras mostly don't bother anyone...
, Kunduz and Takhar provinces.

Meanwhile,
...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter awoke groggily, his hand still stuck in the Ming vase...
the defense ministry said the security forces killed 110 turbans and maimed 59 others during the same operations.

The security forces also arrested 3 suspected turbans during the operations, the Ministry of Defense added.

The Ministry of Defense also added that the coalition forces also provided support to the Afghan cops during the operations.

The anti-government armed elements have not commented regarding the operations so far.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Lapis Lazuli Deposit In Badakhshan Falls To Militants
[ToloNews] A lapis lazuli deposit in Keran Wa Manjan district in the northeastern province of Badakhshan fell to the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
after a clash between the security forces and the bully boyz on Monday evening, multiple sources from the province confirmed on Wednesday.

At least 20 security force members were deployed to protect the deposit but there is no report on their fate following the holy warriors' attack.

Many mineral deposits are located in disputed areas between the security forces and the Taliban in different parts of the country. Reports indicate that the Taliban receive a big amount of income from illegal mining.

The Taliban and local strongmen earn up to $20 million per year from the lapis lazuli deposits.
"A mafia circle has been formed in Badakhshan which has handed the lapis lazuli deposits to the Taliban," a politician, Hujatullah Kheradmand, said.

"The lapis lazuli deposit will be a good source of income for the Taliban. The government should not remain silent," said Raees Khaliq, an MP.

Meanwhile,
...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout Montefiore's foot was still stuck and the hound had completely soaked his uniform with slobber...
President Ghani’s front man Sediq Seddiqi said that
protecting mineral deposits in the country is the priority of the Afghan forces.

"[Afghanistan’s] natural resources are the main target for not only the Taliban, but also a big number of other terrorist groups," Sediqqi said. "We have been protecting our national treasury."

The incident happens three years after the Global Witness in a report in 2016 revealed the control of gangs on Badakhshan’s lapis lazuli deposits and also said that the Taliban benefits from the illegal mining of the deposit.

The report said the Taliban and local strongmen earn up to $20 million per year from the lapis lazuli deposits.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Afghan Army Commander Killed In Insider Attack
[ToloNews] Commander of the Third Regiment of the Afghan National Army in the central province of Ghazni, Colonel Abdul Mubin Mujtaba, was killed in an attack by two Army soldiers, affiliated to the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
, in Qarabagh district of the province on Wednesday afternoon, a front man for Ministry of Defense Fawad Aman said.

Aman said that Colonel Mujtaba and other security officials were assessing the security situation of checkpoints along the Ghazni-Kandahar Highway when he came under attack by the suspected army soldiers.

One of the attackers was killed and another was maimed, Aman said.
President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money...
in a statement condemned the attack and said "terrorists" cannot weaken the morale of the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces by such heinous attacks.
Khaama Press adds that the colonel was the commander of the 3rd Brigade of 203rd Thunder Corps. The photo at the link shows a clean shaven gentleman with Special Forces and Commando patches on his left arm.
An Nahar adds:
The Taliban claimed the attack, saying U.S. soldiers had also been killed.

Resolute Support, the U.S.-led NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure....
mission in Afghanistan, said no U.S. or coalition troops had been killed or maimed, but declined to comment further.

According to Amanullah Kamrani, a member of the Ghazni provincial council, Mateen was boarding a helicopter after a meeting with U.S. advisers when he was attacked.

"The attacker was killed when Americans returned fire," Kamrani told AFP.

Insider attacks, sometimes referred to as "green on green," are a constant threat in Afghanistan.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Special Forces kill, detain 6 Taliban militants, rescue 3 civilians in Pul-e Khumri city
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan Special Forces killed 4 Talibs during an operation in Pul-e Khumri city, the lovely provincial capital of Baghlan province.

The informed military sources said Wednesday that the Special Forces also arrested 2 Talibs during the same operation.

Furthermore, the sources said the Special Forces rescued 3 civilians and destroyed a small cache of weapons during the raid.

The anti-government armed bandidos murderous Moslems have not commented regarding the operation so far.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Taliban militants suffer heavy casualties in Kandahar operations in past 4 days: 205th Atal Corps
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan forces inflicted heavy casualties on Talibs during the operations in southern Kandahar province which kicked off four days ago.

The 205th Atal Corps in a statement said the security forces killed 27 turbans during the operations in Shahwali Kot district.

The statement further added that the security forces also killed Bilal, one of the commanders of Taliban
...Arabic for students...
group.

Furthermore, the 205th Atal Corps said the security forces maimed 12 Talibs and destroyed 25 weapons, a Dshk heavy machine gun and vehicle.

The 205th Atal Corps also added that the security forces discovered and defused 13 improvised bombs during the operations.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Senior presidential guard commander succumbs to injuries he had sustained in Kabul blast
[KhaamaPress] A senior commander of presidential security guards departed this vale of tears he had sustained in a kaboom in Kabul city.

According to reports, General Abdul Ghafr Ahmadzai, the commander of Presidential Security Guards departed this vale of tears in Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan hospital.

The Taliban
...Arabic for students...
group front man Zabiullah Mujahid claimed in a statement that an attack carried out by the group maimed Gen. Ahmadzai in 16th district of Kabul city last Thursday.

The statement further added that the group carried out the attack in Sarak-e Bala area of Kabul city.

Meanwhile,
...back at the comedy club, Boogie was cracking himself up, but nobody else seemed to be getting the non-stop jokes...
the Office of the President (ARG Palace) in a statement said President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money...
visited Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Hospital earlier today to pay tribute to the services of Gen. Ahmadzai.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghan Special Forces detain 3 Taliban militants, destroy weapons cache in Faryab and Logar
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan Special Forces detained three Talibs and destroyed a weapons cache in Faryab and Pashtun-infested Logar operations.

The military officials said Tuesday that Special Forces conducted a raid in Kharwar district detaining 3 Taliban
...Arabic for students...
fighters and destroying a large Weapons cache.

The officials further added that the Special Forces conducted an operation in Tagab district and destroyed a small weapons cache.

The Taliban group has not commented regarding the operations so far.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Airstrikes kill 7 Taliban militants, destroy car bomb in Helmand, Zabul, Wardak, Nangarhar
[KhaamaPress] The security forces conducted a series of Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s in four provinces in the past 24 killing at least 7 Talibs.

The informed military sources said Wednesday that airstrikes killed 5 Talibs and maimed another murderous Moslem in Kajaki district of Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
The sources further added that an airstrike killed another Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
murderous Moslem in Shah Joy district of Zabul.

Furthermore, the sources said an airstrike killed a Taliban fighter in Chak-e Wardak district of Wardak province.

The sources also added that an airstrike destroyed a Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) in Khugyani district of Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Dadullah alias Surkhabi, one of the most dangerous leaders of Taliban killed in Jawzjan
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan cops killed one of the most dangerous leaders of Taliban
...Arabic for students...
group during an operation in Jawzjan province.

The 209th Shaheen Corps in a statement said the security forces killed Dadullah alias Surkhabai, one of the most dangerous leaders of Taliban during operation in Jawzjan.

The statement further added that the security forces killed Dadullah and his 3 companions i Shorabi Village of Qarqin district.

Teh 209th Shaheen Corps also added that the security forces also destroyed a Taliban compound and cleared several villages during the same operation.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Afghan Special Forces arrest ISIS Khurasan militant in Kabul
[KhaamaPress] The security arrested a bad boy affiliated with the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and Syria Khurqasan (ISIS-K) in Kabul.

The informed military officials confirmed that the Special Forces arrested the ISIS-K bad boy during a Special Operation in Kabul.

The officials did not disclose further information regarding the operation.

This comes as the Afghan Special Forces arrested 5 faceless myrmidons of the terror group during a similar operation in Kabul last week.

The security forces also arrested another suspected bad boy who was facilitating weapons supply to ISIS holy warriors in Kabul.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) in a statement said Sunday the Special Operations Unit of the Afghan National Police arrested the suspect during an operation earlier today.

The statement further added that the Special Force detained the suspect from the 16th district of Kabul city.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Interior said the detained individual has been identified as Juma Khan.

The anti-government armed elements including ISIS sympathizers have not commented regarding the operations so far.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa Horn
Sudan protesters, army rulers ink power sharing deal
[DAWN] Sudan's protesters and ruling generals on Wednesday inked a power sharing deal that aims to install a civilian administration, a key demand of demonstrators since president Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
was deposed three months ago.

The move loosens a deadlock that has gripped the country, following months of nationwide mass protests that began against Bashir but then continued after a military council deposed him in a palace coup on April 11.

The deputy chief of the military council General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo ‐ who initialled the deal on behalf of the generals on Wednesday ‐ told AFP the agreement was a "historic moment" for Sudan.

It has "opened a new and promising era of partnership between the armed forces, RSF (Rapid Support Forces) and leaders of the glorious Sudanese revolution," Dagalo said after he had put pen to paper.

Alongside his position as deputy of the military council, Dagalo heads the RSF, a feared paramilitary organization. Ibrahim al-Amin, a key protest leader, confirmed "today, we completed the political declaration".

Posted by: Fred || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Africa North
Suspected jihadists behead 4 in northern Sinai
[IsraelTimes] Egyptian security officials say forces of Evil have beheaded four people in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula.

The officials say the forces of Evil attacked a group of people in the small town of Bir al-Abd earlier today, beheading four and kidnapping a fifth after accusing them of cooperating with security forces.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Update from An Nahar at 6:50 p.m. EDT: ISIS in the Sinai (Ansar Beit al Maqdis) said they dunnit ‘cause they don’t like tattle tails.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Britain
UK Arrests Manchester Bomber's Brother After Libya Extradition
[Jpost] The brother of a jacket wallah who attacked a concert in the British city of Manchester in 2017 was extradited from Libya on Wednesday and arrested in London on suspicion of helping plan the blast, police said.

Salman Abedi,
...one of the more notable members of the Manchester Libyan jihadi crowd. The parental generation ties back to the al-Qaeda-aligned Libyan Islamic Fighting Group in the 1990s, while the kids pledged to the even more romantic ISIS. Not that it makes much difference in the end — the networks overlap personnel-wise, it’s just a matter of the name on the checking account paying their expenses...
a 22-year-old Briton born to Libyan parents, went kaboom! at the end of a show by U.S. singer Ariana Grande in the deadliest bully boy attack in Britannia for 12 years. The explosion killed 22 people and injured more than 500.

London had sought the extradition of his brother Hashem after police issued an arrest warrant for murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to cause a kaboom. But 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...
had long stalled on the request, made in November 2017.

"He has today been successfully extradited, for offenses relating to the Manchester Arena attack," Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said in a statement.

"He was handed over by Libyan authorities to British coppers this morning. They escorted him on the flight back and he landed in the UK a short while ago."

Police said Hashem Abedi,
...a would-be assassin, little bro Hashem was involved in planning the operation. He was also active on ISIS websites and toddled back and forth to the radical Libyan moneymen in Weissenfels, East Germany, a varied enough program that he was never bored...
22, would appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday.

A front man for the Tripoli-based Special Deterrence Force (Rada), who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the case, said he was extradited in accordance with a court verdict.

Rada, a counter-terrorism and anti-crime group aligned with the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, arrested Hashem shortly after the Manchester bombing on suspicion he had helped coordinate the attack.

Rada said at the time that Salman and Hashem flew together to Libya in April 2017, before Salman returned to Britannia to carry out the attack at the Manchester Arena in May of that year.

British members of parliament last year found that the M15 security service missed potential opportunities to prevent the bombing.

Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
said it was responsible in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, but security services have always treated the claim with skepticism.

The Abedi family emigrated to Britannia during the rule of late Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy
...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland and was then murdered by his indignant subjects 42 years later...
, moving from London to the Fallowfield area of south Manchester. The brothers' parents returned to Libya after Qadaffy was toppled in 2011.
An Nahar adds:
Manchester police said Abedi was also being arrested for attempted murder and "conspiracy to cause a kaboom likely to endanger life."

Ahmed Ben Salem of the Special Deterrence Force (Radaa), an gang which serves as the capital's police, said he was being extradited in line with a decision of the Libyan judiciary following a request from Britannia.

According to Radaa, the brother has allegedly acknowledged that he was in Britannia as the attack was being prepared and was "fully aware of the details".

His father was also detained in Libya but released a few weeks later.
And Deutsche Welle points out:
Security services, including domestic intelligence MI5, and London's Metropolitan Police counterterrorism unit had flagged Salman Abedi as early as 2010. He was later investigated in 2014, but authorities decided against handing his case over to a counterextremism program.
This article starring:
Hashem Abedi
Salman Abedi
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  > M15 security service missed potential opportunities to prevent the bombing.

That's because it's not a priority. Defending the establishment from people looking at their little child-sex rings is though as there's just not enough time to do both.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/18/2019 11:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Wouldn't it be better to have him killed in Libya ?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/18/2019 12:38 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkish journalists acquitted of terrorist propaganda charges
[DW] Erol Onderoglu, the national representative for Reporters Without Borders, was one of three facing 14 years in jail. 140 journalists are currently in prison in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
, despite international demands that they be set free.

The Ottoman Turkish representative for advocacy group Reporters Without Borders has been acquitted in a national court, after facing charges of spreading terrorist propaganda.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) representative Erol Onderoglu faced 14 years in jail. He was acquitted alongside author Ahmet Nesin and Human Rights Foundation of Turkey president Sebnem Korur Fincanci on Wednesday. They had faced similar allegations.

The three press freedom campaigners were accused of spreading terrorist propaganda and incitement to crime, in the Caglayan courthouse in Istanbul.

"I warmly thank all those who supported us during the trial," Onderoglu told the AFP news agency in a text message.

'THE FIGHT CONTINUES'
"The fight continues for all our colleagues unjustly on trial or imprisoned," he added. The three defendants had already served time in 2016 when they were initially arrested, and are now able to apply for financial compensation for that time spent in jail.

Onderoglu also faces another legal case in November, for supporting Ottoman Turkish academics, who had signed a letter asking for an end to the fighting between Ottoman Turkish armed forces, and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Along with his two colleagues, Onderoglu was on trial for guest editing the Ozgur Gundem, a newspaper focusing on Kurdish events.

They had also campaigned to keep the publication afloat after the Ottoman Turkish government closed it in 2016. Ottoman Turkish president His Enormity, 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. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
had alleged the paper was a propaganda outlet for the Kurdish PKK political party.

He closed the newspaper after the failed coup attempted in the same year. At least 250 people were killed after the military revolted against him.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Iraq
Turkish diplomat gunned down in Iraq's Arbil
[DAWN] At least one gunman killed the Ottoman Turkish vice-consul to Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region in an attack on Wednesday in the regional capital of Arbil, a police source told AFP.

"Three people, including the Ottoman Turkish vice consul, were killed in an armed attack targeting the consul and the consulate's employees in a restaurant in Arbil," the source said, adding the attackers had expeditiously departed at a goodly pace.

Witnesses in the city said checkpoints had been quickly set up inside and around the neighbourhood of Ainkawa, which hosts numerous restaurants and the Ottoman Turkish consulate.

The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
confirmed that an "employee" at its Arbil consulate was killed in a shooting.

The attack was not immediately claimed.

Turkey is waging a major military offensive in Iraq's mountainous northern region to root out pockets of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK, seen as a "terrorist" group by Turkey, the United States and the Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
an Union, has waged an insurgency against the Ottoman Turkish state since 1984 and operates rear bases in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

Several rocket attacks have targeted diplomatic missions in Iraq in recent months, including rockets near the US and the UK embassies in Baghdad's "Green Zone."

Posted by: Fred || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Security forces dismantle IED near Antar Square in Baghdad
Baghdad (IraqiNews) A police source informed, on Wednesday, that security forces dismantled an improvised bomb (IED) near Antar Square, in Azamiyah area in the capital, Baghdad. He also pointed out that the operation did not result in any casualties.

The source said in a press statement that security forces from the Bomb Squad dismantled a local-made improvised bomb, which was emplaced near Antar Square, in Azamiyah area, in Baghdad.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IDF arrests 19 Suspects Overnight
[Jpost] IDF and Police forces arrested 19 suspects overnight in the West Bank for involvement in terror activities, according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.

During their arrests, the forces found weapons, pipe bombs and military uniforms. The items were taken by the security forces.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Army says Gaza-West Bank terror funding network exposed
[IsraelTimes] The IDF said Wednesday it arrested Hamas, a regional Iranian catspaw, members linked to a money transfer network that funneled cash from the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip to the West Bank for terror purposes.

The network was operated by a passport-issuing agency named "Al-Haramain" in the Gaza Strip, the army said.

Money was transferred by offsetting debts between a number of independent money exchangers while using a minimal amount of cash. Hence it did not require registration in the world banking systems, the IDF said.
A neat description of a standard hawala network.
The large amounts of money transferred through this method were used for organizational terror activity and for funding the salaries of Hamas operatives.

The army said it had arrested Hamas members Mohammad Abu Salim, Ibrahim Muzaffar and Khaled Muzaffar in the central West Bank on Tuesday as part of the operation to uncover the funding network, but did not say what their role in the scheme was.

The Mazaris both served time in Israeli prison in the past for security-related offenses.

The IDF said it was bolstering "enforcement measures against civilian companies cooperating with terror organizations in the area and in the Gaza Strip."
The Jerusalem Post adds:
The IDF has confiscated half a million shekels in terror funds since the beginning of the year.

Al-Haramain agency is owned by the Hani brothers and Firas Blbiesi, along with a money exchanger named Mohammad Swesi, all of whom operated from the Gaza Strip.

Those arrested in the West Bank are Ibrahim Mzfr-A Mazari and his brother Khaled from the village of Al-Nubani near Ariel, and Mohammad Abu Salim from Rantis.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Suspected drug smuggler killed in shootout with IDF on Egypt border
[IsraelTimes] Two additional suspects injured in exchange, while Israeli security forces unhurt.

One suspected drug smuggler was killed and two others were maimed in a shootout with IDF troops along the Egyptian border, the Israeli army said Wednesday.

Upon being spotted, the group of suspects shot up the IDF and Border Police troops, who shot back in accordance with live-fire regulations, the army said.

None of the Israeli security forces were maimed in the exchange of fire.

There was no comment from Egyptian authorities.

The rugged desert border between Israel and Egypt is notorious as a drug smuggling route. Earlier this year, police released footage showing an attempt to smuggle around 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of drugs into Israel across the Egyptian border. The footage, captured in January 2018, showed several dozen smugglers congregating near the border fence while, unbeknownst to them, an Israel Border Police force lay in ambush nearby. The smugglers were eventually caught and arrested, and their drug haul was confiscated, police said.
The half-minute long video can be seen at the link, demonstrating why even a basic fence is helpful at the border.
The Jerusalem Post adds that these events took place Tuesday night.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran admits seizure of foreign tanker, 12 crew members in Strait of Hormuz
[FoxNews] Iran’s state television said Thursday that regime forces captured a foreign tanker with a crew of 12 accused of smuggling oil.

Hours later, it was announced the USS Boxer, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, loaded with 2,000 Marines and dozens of helicopters entered the Persian Gulf.

The tanker was seized by Revolutionary Guard forces on July 14 after getting intercepted south of Iran’s Larak Island in the strategic Strait of Hormuz amid allegations that the tanker was smuggling fuel from Iranian smugglers to foreign customers.

It remains unclear to which country or company the tanker belongs but a tanker based in the United Arab Emirates disappeared earlier this week.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/18/2019 10:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  And let me guess.... the world price of crude's gonna drop as a result?

Can't those Iranians do anything right?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 07/18/2019 13:39 Comments || Top||

#2  ZH will have another of their hilarious articles about what crude is doing today. It will be essentially an acid-driven free association thing.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/18/2019 14:25 Comments || Top||


Iran seizes foreign tanker with 12 crew accused of smuggling oil
How... convenient it was smuggling
[SkyNews] The report added that the oil tanker had 12 foreign crew members on board and was involved in smuggling around one million litres of fuel from Iranian smugglers to foreign customers.
"Iranian smugglers" - Uh huh
"The vessel that Iran towed to its waters after receiving a distress call, was later seized with the order from the court as we found out that it was smuggling fuel," the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement quoted by state TV.

The Guards said they had seized no other ship in the Gulf.
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/18/2019 08:37 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Is this the one that went missing in the Straits of Hormuz a few days ago?
Posted by: Bobby || 07/18/2019 9:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Different one according to the article.
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/18/2019 10:19 Comments || Top||


Widow of Suicide Bomber Held Trying to Sneak into Lebanon
[AnNahar] The army on Wednesday announced the arrest of the widow of Mohammed al-Satem, an Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
holy warrior who carried out a deadly 2014 suicide kaboom in Haret Hreik.

"In the Akkar region of Wadi Khaled, the Intelligence Directorate arrested Ghinwa al-Ahmed, who is accused of belonging to the terrorist IS group and is the widow of slain terrorist Mohammed Ahmed al-Satem, a top official of the aforementioned group who went under the nom de guerre Abu Moaz," an army statement said.

Al-Ahmed was arrested as she was trying to enter Leb illegally, the statement added.

A probe has since been launched under the supervision of the relevant judicial authorities.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Explosion in South Syria Kills Four Soldiers, Monitor Says
[AnNahar] A blast killed four soldiers in southern Syria Wednesday in a rare such deadly attack in the defeated cradle of the eight-year uprising, a war monitor said.

"The bomb was aimed at a convoy transporting members of the Fourth Division" in the southern province of Daraa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Nine others were also maimed in the attack near Yadud village, some seven kilometres (four miles) outside the bucolic provincial capital of Daraa city, the Britannia-based monitor said.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the blast, but loyalists in the province face explosions and gunfire on a near daily basis, although they are usually not deadly, it said.

"Previous rebel fighters who call themselves the Popular Resistance usually carry out these types of attacks against the regime," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

State news agency SANA said "hard boyz targeted a military vehicle on the Yaduda road", reporting an undefined number of "dead and maimed".

Russia-backed government forces last summer retook the province, following a deadly bombardment campaign and surrender deals that saw part of the population board buses to an opposition holdout region in the northwest.

Government institutions have since returned, but army forces have not deployed in all of the province.

And local anger has grown after hundreds were detained despite the so-called "reconciliation deals", and many others forcibly conscripted into Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
's army.

In March, dozens of people took part in a hasty protest against a statue of the late father of the president being reinstated eight years after protesters demolished it.

The civil war has killed more than 370,000 people since it started with anti-government protests in Damascus and Daraa in March 2011, before their brutal repression triggered conflict.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Jihadists rape, stone Christian woman to death in Syria
[Jpost] Islamic turbans from the Jihadist organization 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 .. ...
stoned to death an Armenian Christian woman living in the Syrian province of Idlib.

Christian and human rights
...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you...
groups reported over the last week that the 60-year-old Suzan Der Kirkour was found dead outside of her village, al-Yaqoubiyeh.

According to the website of International Christian Concern (ICC), "An autopsy revealed that Suzan was tortured and repeatedly raped over an estimated period of nine hours. She was then stoned to death."

The French Christian humanitarian organization SOS Chrétien’s d’Orient, wrote that "cruel was her ordeal. The reality is just as much... (a) virgin at sixty, she died under the repeated assaults of the jihadists of al-Nusra."

"The autopsy reveals that Suzan had been subjected to repeated rape since the afternoon of Monday (the 8th) until early Tuesday morning, only hours before her discovery. As a martyr, she is joined in heaven by thousands of Christian brothers, who died in the arena of barbarism," SOS Chrétien’s d’Orient added.

SOS Chrétiens d’Orient describes itself as a non-political NGO that works "in the heart of the secured areas of the Middle East. It’s young and dynamic members, work on a 24/7 basis the field supporting the Christians of the East, whether Orthodox or Catholic, providing concrete and humanitarian material aid."

ICC wrote that Suzan worked as a gardener and Arabic teacher. After her retirement, she was a volunteer at the Kneye Village Church "where she helped youth achieve their baccalaureate."

Gay Pareehioners of Kneye Village Church discovered Suzan’s body.

Claire Evans, ICC’s Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, "Suzan was a pillar in her community. Her untimely death and the manner of her murder is horrifying. It further deepens the shadow which has fallen upon any Christians who have remained in Syria throughout nearly a decade of violent conflict. Rule of law, justice, and accountability must be restored in Syria. Otherwise, we are witness to the slow, but fierce, extermination of Christianity from a country where it has existed for over 2,000 years."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights wrote on its website that it "learned that the body of a citizen woman in her fifties was found on Tuesday, the 9th of July, 2019, and it was revealed later that she is a Christian woman... Her body was found with marks of torture on it and, according to forensic medicine, the woman had been tortured for about 9 hours before she was stoned to death by unidentified persons."

ICC noted that "It is widely reported among locals that Suzan’s attackers were members of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group, which maintains a strong presence in the Idlib governorate. al-Yaqoubiyeh is a Christian village, but most of the women have left because of violent aggression from the terrorists. Some estimate that only 18 women, including Suzan, were living in the village."
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra

#1  Gay Pareehioners of Kneye Village

I can't stop giggling at the evil audacity of Fred's little runaway code. wink
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/18/2019 4:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Paris politicians vilify and shun the SOS Chrétiens d'Orient, because it 'provides medical and food assistance to christian militia' in Iraq and Syria.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/18/2019 5:50 Comments || Top||

#3  A Christian, not black nor a mom,
Meets Syria's Boko Haram.
How much does she scare 'em?
They make her their harem.
Scream media crickets, "Islam!"
Posted by: Elmomp Thud3088 || 07/18/2019 12:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Too bad Christians don't espouse suicide like Islam. I would love to see the fleeting looks on their faces as the zaftig Christian babe turns out to be very skinny with a very large vest.
Posted by: Mercutio || 07/18/2019 15:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Jihadists rape, stone Christian woman to death in Syria

NPR's audience celebrates.
Posted by: no mo uro || 07/18/2019 15:34 Comments || Top||

#6  Struggling to fit Al Nusra into the rhyme scheme, Zenobia F? Though Boko Haram certainly fits as well when looking at the big picture...
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/18/2019 15:36 Comments || Top||

#7 
Too bad Christians don't espouse suicide like Islam.


Defense of yourself and others is moral for Christians, and doing it so you live and the attackers die is better than a brainless "suicide bomb".
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 07/18/2019 20:55 Comments || Top||

#8  Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!
Posted by: SteveS || 07/18/2019 21:15 Comments || Top||

#9  tw, sorry to say, rhyming "Nusra" didn't even occur to me. I'd just been listening to an NPR bit -- one of the ripest, plummiest voices ever heard on NPR waxing rhapsodic about the Chibok girls. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but it strukc me how much more ink and handwringing they'd gotten, relative to all the other victims. Ack... rollover.
Posted by: Elmomp Thud3088 || 07/18/2019 23:59 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
32[untagged]
8Taliban
6Sublime Porte
5Islamic State
4Govt of Iran
2Narcos
2Moslem Colonists
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Palestinian Authority
1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1al-Nusra
1Govt of Pakistan
1Govt of Sudan
1Govt of Syria
1Hamas

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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2019-07-18
  Iran seizes foreign tanker with 12 crew accused of smuggling oil
Wed 2019-07-17
  Pakistani police arrest Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed (again)
Tue 2019-07-16
  United Arab Emirates oil tanker vanishes after drifting into Iranian waters
Mon 2019-07-15
  Car bomb and all-night hotel siege kill 26 in Somalia's Kismayo
Sun 2019-07-14
  African Migrants Turned Church Into Base to Deal Heroin
Sat 2019-07-13
  Kismayo attack: 26 dead as gunmen storm Somali hotel
Fri 2019-07-12
  Labor Sec. Alex Acosta Resigns Amid Pall of Jeffrey Epstein Investigation
Thu 2019-07-11
  Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boats tried, failed to seize British oil tanker in Persian Gulf
Wed 2019-07-10
  Egyptian Court Convicts Al-Azhar Professor, Others For Spying For Iran
Tue 2019-07-09
  Hafiz Multan, Taliban’s deputy Red Unit commander killed in Kandahar
Mon 2019-07-08
  Bouteflika’s ex-party chief detained in Algeria corruption probe
Sun 2019-07-07
  Radioactive material worth $72m seized from car in Turkey
Sat 2019-07-06
  Deal between protest leaders and Sudan’s ruling generals
Fri 2019-07-05
  Second ‘son of Hamas’ leaves terror group, exposing corruption, Turkish spy ring
Thu 2019-07-04
  Wishing all Rantburgers a happy and safe Independence Day!

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