Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education on Saturday issued a new decree banning female students from taking university entrance exams (Kankor) this year in all public and private universities in Afghanistan.https://t.co/Htt64Ew6Rv
The prime minister of Somalia Hamza Abdi Barre hosted the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates [UAE] Ahmed Jumah Alromaith in Mogadishu.
The office of the prime minister said Barre and Alromaith discussed the bilateral relations between Somalia and UAE as well as other key issues pertaining to the cooperation.
The PM has thanked the UAE for its humanitarian role in Somalia and contribution to the state-building process. Abu Dhabi sent aid to Mogadishu to assist drought victims.
In the past days, Barre has been meeting with foreign diplomats based in Mogadishu, including Saud and Qatari ambassadors.
UAE disbanded its military training mission in Somalia in 2018 following the seizure of $9.6 million cash from Abu Dhabi at Mogadishu airport by NISA during Farmajo’s leadership.
Qatar dominated the country’s politics for five years, thanks to the close ties with former leader whose election in 2017 was reportedly funded by Doha.
[Garowe] al-Shabaab ...... Somalia's version of the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... , functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... has moved swiftly to safeguard their sources of income by warning local banks and other money transfer firms from "exposing" their clients, in an apparent response to Somalia's government decision to put emphasis on the group's source of revenue.
The government of Somalia, which is now embracing ideological tactics and financial control on top of military fronts in tackling al-Shabaab, put on notice rogue money transfer firms which are associated with the group, noting that their operations would be completely shut down for the sake of security.
Already, the government announced closing over 250 bank accounts associated with al-Shabaab and 70 mobile money transfer firms as announced by Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre. The government did not, however, provide adequate proof to support their allegations.
Sheikh Ali Dheere, the group's official spokesperson, on Saturday said al-Shabaab won't "accept" the habit of some banks of giving "information" about their customers to strangers [government]. According to him, such acts are not only "unethical" but also "punishable".
The banks, the group added, "should either safe-keep customers’ money or refund". This is the first time al-Shabaab faceless myrmidons are firing warning shots at a financial institution in Somalia where most of their revenue is channeled on a daily basis according to multiple UN reports.
Al-Shabaab usually subjects traders to punitive taxation failure to which Business people are compelled to pay double. The group gets most of the money from local businesses that are required to pay a certain amount of money besides also generating income through ransoms which are channeled through some proxies.
A report published by the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... shows that the group runs an annual budget of $100 million of which $24 million is used for the purchase of sophisticated weapons used against peacekeepers and other allied troops. The group has, however, released its balance sheet on many occasions.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud believes that targeting the bank accounts would easily reduce the group's activities in central and southern Somalia. al-Shabaab uses also part of the revenue to pay over 5000 active fighters who have lost significant territories to government troops.
The group uses threats and intimidation against perceived "saboteurs" and it's not clear how banks will manage to stay afloat. The institutions will not choose between the government of the republic of Somalia and the al-Shabaab, with both parties battling to take control of the banks and mobile banking firms across the country.
[Garowe] Over 300 Islamic holy mans from Somalia and the diaspora have issued a fatwa denouncing religious extremism in all its forms and urged the public to support the ongoing Federal Government of Somalia (FGS)—led an offensive against al-Shabaab ...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... and other terror groups.
The holy mans issued the edict on Thursday in the capital, Mogadishu, after four days of deliberating on religious extremism.
The 14-point declaration emphatically denounced al-Shabaab, 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 (ISIS) and other like-minded groups saying their murderous Moslem ideology had no religious basis and branded them enemies of Islam.
"The conference unanimously agrees that al-Shabaab, ISIS and other like-minded groups have deviated from the true teachings of Islam and that they are considered enemies of the Islamic religion and the Somali population," said Dr Osman Maalim Mohamud from Saudi 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. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century... who read the declaration in the company of other holy mans.
They also warned against financing murderous Moslem groups, providing them refuge and seeking justice in their courts.
"Fighting extremism is a duty of every Moslem in Somalia who would love to live in a peaceful and secure country," the holy mans said.
The religious scholars thanked individuals who share information about the Lions of Islam with the authorities. They described them as nationalists who had the best interest of the country.
The four-day conference opened on 23rd January and was facilitated by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Endowment of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS).
Religious Affairs Federal Minister, Sheikh Mukhtar Roobow Ali, thanked the holy mans for heeding the government’s call to attend the conference and give their verdict on extremism in accordance with the true teachings of Islam.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, Prime Minister, H.E. Hamza Abdi Bare, welcomed the declaration and thanked the holy mans for their selfless service to the country, promising full implementation of the fatwa.
He urged the Somali population to heed the holy mans’ clarion call so the country can enjoy peace, prosperity, and development.
"I welcome the conference and the outcome. The declaration issued was carefully thought through and indeed addresses the many challenges our people face today. It was important for the holy mans to clarify the truth," said the Prime Minister.
"I want to promise here since this conference was also officially opened by the President, that the government will implement the outcome of this conference. As Head of the Executive, I promise you all that we will fully implement decisions reached here," he added.
The Chairman of the Somalia Religious Scholars Council, Sheikh Bashir Ahmed Salaad, urged the youth who are still fighting against the terror groups to lay down their arms and stop shedding the blood of their fellow countrymen and women.
"I want to tell the brainwashed youth to stop destroying your own people’s properties, maiming and killing them. You still have a chance in the sight of God to seek forgiveness. We, the public, are ready to forgive you," Sheikh Bashir said.
The declaration also had specific recommendations for the government, politicians, Somali security forces, business people and the public.
Among the recommendations is the creation of a religious council, financial support for religious programmes to effectively fight extremism and proper Federal and State government support for reconciliation and peacebuilding initiatives.
The holy mans also called for similar events every year to provide guidance on religious matters and other issues that impact the public.
Representatives from various Somali women groups participated in the deliberations and shared their perspectives on the challenges facing women in the country.
UPDATE: Somali MP @KhadarGulaid condemns the use of excessive force by the Somaliland authorities against civilians in Las'anod after 20 people were killed in the recent weeks of protests. pic.twitter.com/h7c2hzOIkr
An armed group in Mali that signed a major peace deal in 2015 said this week it was pulling out of efforts to draft a new constitution.
The new constitution is a key part of a peace and reconciliation process designed to return the country from military to civilian rule by March 2024.
The Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) – a predominantly Tuareg alliance that fought the state for years before signing the peace deal in Algiers in 2015 – blamed the ruling military junta for foot-dragging.
In a statement seen by AFP on Saturday, the CMA pointed out that it – and almost all the other armed groups that signed the peace deal – had in December suspended participation in the peace process because of the junta’s “lack of political will to uphold it.”
The decision to go further and boycott the work of rewriting the constitution came just hours after Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop accused the armed groups of “hampering.” efforts to put the peace process in place.
On the contrary, the “obvious deterioration.” in moves towards peace was due to the government’s “clear decline in interest,” said the statement, which was issued on Friday.
The CMA repeated its request for a meeting with international mediators to discuss the viability of the peace deal, which it had said in December was close to breaking down.
Mali saw two military coups, in August 2020 and May 2021.
Under international pressure, the current military government has agreed to allow a return to civilian rule in March 2024.
We probably should be paying closer attention to the Moslem colonist situation in South Africa — though far away, they do have connections to jihadis elsewhere, and from time to time something interesting is seen above the surface.
[Dawn] A councillor from a small Moslem party was elected mayor of Johannesburg on Friday after months of political manoeuvring and legal battles for control of South Africa’s business capital.
Thapelo Amad, of the Al Jama-ah party,
...lit. 'the Congregation', it was formed in 2007. The party aims to support Muslim interests and uphold Shari'a law — not a comforting thought for those not Muslim, or even not quite the right kind of Muslim...
was voted in by the city council to replace mayor Mpho Phalatse, a member of South Africa’s largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA).
Amad, 41, said he was "humbled" and "overwhelmed" at being the first Moslem to helm the country’s biggest metropolis. "It marks history in South Africa," he told the council after the vote. He vowed to make the fight against graft his top priority.
Amad was elected with the support of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, which holds the most seats in the council but fell short of an outright majority at the 2021 city elections.
Amad’s appointment came as a surprise, with Al Jama-ah holding only three of the council’s 270 seats, and follows months of coalition horse trading.
His predecessor, Phalatse, 45, was ousted in a vote of no-confidence earlier this week.
[IsraelTimes] Ministers also to reportedly deliberate series of other measures, including legislation to deport terrorists’ families and deploying additional forces to West Bank
In the wake of the Jerusalem terror attacks, ministers were reportedly set to discuss a number of steps at a Saturday evening meeting of the high-level security cabinet, including expediting the issuing of firearms licenses for civilians and providing further funding for the purchase of guns.
A terrorist killed seven people in an attack near a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Neve Ya’akov neighborhood on Friday evening. The shooter, a resident of East Jerusalem, was later killed in a shootout with officers while attempting to flee, according to police.
In a second terror attack on Saturday morning, two men were seriously injured by a 13-year-old shooter near Jerusalem’s Old City. That shooting was brought to an end when two members of the group targeted by the attacker — one of them an Israel Defense Forces officer — returned fire.
A senior political source told the Kan public broadcaster that the cabinet will consider speeding up the permitting process for Israelis who have already applied for gun licenses and insisted ministers were not currently looking to ease the criteria to receive a fireman. However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... the report said ministers will examine the current criteria to possess a pistol and look at a number of ways to make it easier to receive a gun license.
Gun control in Israel is relatively strict, and firearm licenses are generally only granted to those who can show a need for extra security in their line of work or daily life.
According to Hebrew-language media reports, ministers will also discuss the promotion of a law to allow the deportation of the families of terrorists.
Netanyahu’s Likud party previously sought to advance such a measure in a previous government he led, though it was opposed by the then-attorney general, who said the expulsions would violate Israeli and international law.
Ministers will reportedly deliberate permitting the immediate sealing of the homes of terror suspects as well as the arrest of their family members and associates. Police said Saturday morning that they had detained 42 relatives and associates of 21-year-old Alqam Khayri, the terrorist who killed seven in the Neve Ya’akov attack.
Furthermore, ministers will hold a discussion on sending additional military reinforcements to the West Bank and the issuing of work permits for Paleostinians, reports said.
With seven killed, the shooting in Jerusalem was the deadliest terror attack since 2011, when gunnies crossed into Israel from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing eight Israelis. It was the deadliest Paleostinian terror attack since 2008, when a gunman from East Jerusalem killed eight Israeli students at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in the capital.
Tensions were also high in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount on Friday, though Moslem prayers proceeded without issue.
Responding to this story from yesterday. [HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Hezbollah praised the heroic operation carried out by martyr Alqam Kheiri in occupied al-Quds [Jerusalem], which resulted in killing and injuring dozens of "Israeli" settlers.
Yesterday spelt Khairy Alqam. Except it wasn’t him, it was someone else. Perhaps today it will be revealed who.
"This brave operation confused the enemy and exposed the fragility of its security and measures and brought terror and anxiety into the hearts of the "Israeli" entity and its settlers," Hezbollah said in a statement.
Hezbollah considered this operation a swift, decisive and courageous response to the Zionist aggression and massacre in Jenin camp, as well as a strong blow to the corrupt and bad boy "Israeli" government.
Hezbollah expressed its full solidarity with the Paleostinian people, their resistance factions and their honorable Mujahedeen, and absolute support for all the steps taken by the Paleostinian resistance factions to deter aggression and defend the Paleostinian people.
Further, Hezbollah strongly condemned the unjust and double standards practiced by some Western and Arab governments as they remained silent regarding the Zionist enemy’s massacre in Jenin camp which led to the martyrdom of a number of the oppressed Paleostinian people.
In the same time, the same governments rushed to condemn the defensive operation carried out by martyr Alqam and the rest of the operations carried out by the Paleostinian Resistance® which are approved by heavenly laws and international norms in defense of rights, land and illusory sovereignty.
Hezbollah congratulated the Paleostinians and all its resistance factions and mujahedeen for this qualitative operation and believes that the resistance fighters’ rifle and strong arms are the only answer to the enemy’s crimes, which will write Paleostine’s coming victory and glory, God willing.
[IsraelTimes] TV investigation last year showed suspect Afsana Mazloumian, an Israeli from Iran, had only casual contact with Tehran agent Rambod Namdar, who often took guise of Jewish man
Prosecutors announced Wednesday that they had withdrawn the allegations against Afsana Mazloumian, an Iranian expatriate who was accused last year, along with four others, of being in contact with an Iranian intelligence operative.
Mazloumian is the second person to be acquitted of all charges in the case.
"Prosecutors announce a withdrawal of charges in the case of the accused after the court’s comments were examined, and after an examination of the decision in the case of another accused individual who was acquitted," the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office said in a statement, referring to a woman known publicly only as "D" who was acquitted of all charges last October.
The Shin Bet security service said last January that they had arrested five Jewish Israelis accused of assisting Iranian operative Rambod Namdar, who often pretended to be a Jewish man, in gathering intelligence and making connections in Israel.
The five suspects — four women and one man — were all Jewish immigrants colonists from Iran ...The nation is noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence... or descendants of Iranian immigrants colonists.
A Channel 12 investigation last year revealed that Mazloumian’s casual correspondence with a stranger on Facebook had formed the basis of the Shin Bet’s investigation into her, and the subsequent charges.
Mazloumian told Channel 12 that she responded to Namdar after seeing she had dozens of mutual friends with him on the social network.
She said she was excited to talk to him after he presented himself as a Hebrew-speaking member of the Jewish community in Iran.
"I was enthusiastic that I was talking to someone from my people, a Jew, who lives [in Iran]," she said.
Mazloumian said it was a "bad dream" when she was arrested, describing how she was blindfolded and taken to a windowless room for long periods of interrogation.
In the wake of the announcement that the charges were dropped, her attorney Sarit Kotlovski told Channel 12 that it marked the end of a long legal battle.
"This means that the prosecution understood that she is not guilty. The indictment was very serious, but Afsana fought for her innocence and I am happy that this is the result," she said.
The Shin Bet alleged the suspects took photographs of strategically significant sites in Israel, including the US embassy branch in Tel Aviv; attempted to form relationships with politicians; provided information about security arrangements at different sites; and committed other offenses — all at the direction of Namdar, in exchange for thousands of dollars.
According to the Shin Bet, none of the suspects allegedly involved in the case had access to significant classified material, and there was no indication that national security was seriously compromised.
The investigation and resulting indictments shed light on the rare and little-discussed phenomenon of Jews from Iran traveling to Israel to visit family.
Namdar was reportedly in contact with around 20 other Israelis, the majority of them women.
One of the accused women reportedly attempted to take her own life in the wake of the accusations. Her husband — who was accused by the Shin Bet of being aware of the connection, speaking with the Iranian operative himself, as well as transporting her to the US Consulate to photograph it — accused the Shin Bet of abuse.
According to him, as soon as his wife became suspicious of Namdar’s intentions, "she cut off contact."
The Shin Bet denied the allegations. No, no! Certainly not! of abuse during the woman’s interrogation.
[IsraelTimes] The second installment of an extraordinary three-part series of animated video interviews in which ordinary, courageous Gazans tell their own harrowing stories
Ewps! Too late!
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Warning about hostile attempts to misuse Friday’s deadly attack on the embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir abdollahian stressed that the incident should not be allowed to affect the friendly ties between the two neighbors.
In a telephone conversation on Friday evening, Amir abdollahian and his Azeri counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov talked about the armed attack that killed a staff member of the Republic of Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran and injured two others in the morning.
Amir abdollahian expressed regret at the incident and offered condolences to the Azerbaijani foreign minister and the family of the dear departed diplomat.
Condemning the attack, the top Iranian diplomat warned that the enemies of the two countries could take advantage of this incident. He said Baku and Tehran should not let their ties be affected by the attack.
The Iranian foreign minister also proposed that the security authorities of Iran ...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979... and Azerbaijan pursue and look into the attack in close cooperation to shed light on all aspects of the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2023 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...... Somalia's version of the 
...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. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century...
Hezbollah
...The nation is noted for 
...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...
