[AlAhram] A Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, delegation arrived in Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian officials on security issues and Cairo’s assistance to the Israeli-besieged Gazoo Strip.
The delegation includes representatives from the interior, health, economic and finance ministries, according to Hamas’s statement, as reported by al-Ahram Arabic website.
"The delegation will discuss security talks on the borders, the Rafah border crossing, electricity and fuel issues," the statement read.
Hamas representatives visited Egypt for talks with officials last month.
Relations between Egypt and the Paleostinian Islamist group with rules the Gazoo Strip were strained in the wake of the ouster of then-president Mohammed Morsi in July 2013.
Cairo had accused Hamas of backing Egypt's banned Moslem Brüderbund organization and of smuggling goods and arms through tunnels under the Gazoo-Sinai border.
In early 2017, Paleostinian Hamas leader Mahmoud El-Zahar said that the movement's relations with Cairo have improved, evidenced by the reaching of an agreement on border control between the Gazoo Strip and Egypt.
In its new manifesto, released in February, Hamas, which was founded in 1989, rebranded itself as an Islamic national liberation movement, rather than a branch of the pan-Arab Moslem Brüderbund, which has been outlawed in Egypt.
In late June, Egypt trucked 1 million litres of cheap diesel fuel to the Gazoo Strip's sole power plant to temporarily eased a crippling electricity crisis in the enclave, according to the AP, which quoted Hamas officials.
The Hamas delegation arrived in Egypt on Sunday via the Rafah border crossing, which was opened specifically for them.
Egypt has kept its border with the Gazoo Strip largely closed since Morsi’s ouster.
The other traditional Muslim method of fundraising, going back to the first Crusade, if not earlier.
[IsraelTimes] Publication of film comes as French president visits country to discuss ongoing fight against jihadists.
Al-Qaeda’s Mali branch has released a proof-of-life video of six foreign hostages, including elderly Australian surgeon Arthur Kenneth Elliott and Frenchwoman Sophie Petronin, US-based monitoring group SITE said.
The 16 minute, 50 second video by Nusrat al-Islam wal Moslemeen, also known as the Group to Support Islam and Moslems, was released on Telegram on Saturday, SITE said.
The other four hostages shown are South African Stephen McGown, Romanian Iulian Ghergut, Swiss missionary Beatrice Stockly and Colombian nun Gloria Cecilia Narvaez Argoti.
No group had previously grabbed credit for kidnapping Frenchwoman Petronin, who was kidnapped in late 2016 by gunnies in the northern Malian town of Gao, where she ran an organization for malnourished children.
After a video clip showing Petronin, the narrator said she was hoping the French president would help return her to her family, according to SITE.
The video was released just before French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Mali on Sunday to consolidate Western backing for a regional anti-jihadist force.
In the video, the hostages are separately introduced by a narrator, who says that so far there have been no negotiations for their release.
The first shown is McGown, who was kidnapped in Timbuktu, northern Mali, in November 2011.
"It’s a long time to be away ... Until when do you think this will come to an end? Now we’re making a new video, but I don’t know what to say. It’s all been said in the past. It’s all been said in previous videos I’ve made," McGowan says, according to a transcription by SITE.
He is followed by Australian Elliott, in his 80s, who, along with his wife Jocelyn, was kidnapped in January 2015 in Djibo, Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... , where the couple had run the sole medical clinic since 1972. Jocelyn was released in February 2016.
Next in the video is Romanian mineworker Ghergut, who says he was captured in Burkina Faso on April 4, 2015.
The women are then shown, including Swiss missionary Stockly, who was kidnapped in Mali in January 2016.
Colombian nun Argoti was seized by gunnies in the Mali village of Karangasso close to the Burkina Faso border in February 2017.
At the end of the undated video, while not spelling out any demands the narrator tells the hostages’ families "no genuine negotiations have begun" for their release but then adds that negotiations are "still active/"
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07/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[All Africa] The wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, left for London on Sunday to visit her husband who is on medical vacation.
According to a statement by her media aide, Mrs. Buhari "will convey to the President the best wishes of Nigerians and their fervent prayers for his quick recovery."
"She is expected to stop over at Addis Ababa, to make a symbolic appearance at the meeting of the Organisation of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) on Monday 3rd July, 2017.
"She will join other members to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the organisation, and use the opportunity to reiterate the voting rights of Nigeria in the upcoming elections of the organisation.
"She will continue her journey to the United Kingdom on Tuesday, 3rd July, 2017."
Mrs. Buhari's return to London comes a few days after the controversial Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, claimed she was not allowed to see the President Muhammadu Buhari during her first visit.
While addressing journalists last week, Mr. Fayose alleged that the president was on life support. He said a cabal had surrounded the president and called for his resignation.
Nigeria's ruling All Progressives Congress has, however, said President Buhari was recovering and not on life support.
The president has been in London for over 50 days for medical treatment, although details and nature of his ill health have not been made public.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2017 01:08 ||
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#1
Sounds like the vacation was from his wife.
And said 'cabal' was actually Muhamuddu's own kinda' domestic 419 thing.
[Al Jazeera] Five African countries have launched a new multinational force to fight armed groups in the Sahel region, which France's President Emmanuel Macron told a summit in Mali should be fully operational "in a matter of weeks".
The new regional anti-terror force is set to include as many as 5,000 soldiers, with one battalion from each of the so-called G5 Sahel countries: Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.
"Our enemies are cowards, but they have determination. They want to destroy us," Macron said on Sunday, in a regional summit with the G5-Sahel leaders in the Malian capital, Bamako.
France's president said his country would contribute $9m to the new force this year. He also mentioned a contribution of 70 vehicles, without saying whether that was included in the sum.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2017 00:57 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] An elderly BNP leader died reportedly while trying to escape arrest by police in Sadar upazila of Jessore on early Sunday. However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... police claimed they had no connection to the death as they did not carry out raids to arrest anyone in the area.
Relatives of the dear departed Motleb Mia, 71, hailing from the upazila’s Panchbaria village, alleged the incident took place when he was fleeing from his home to avoid arrest, after being called by his elder daughter Jasmine Nahar Borsha, who lives with her in-laws in the neighbouring village of Phulbari.
Jasmine called him by phone around 11pm on Saturday, saying police had raided their residence to detain her husband. She also asked Motleb to flee his house, the relatives added.
Nazmun Nahar Poly, Motleb’s younger daughter, said he did indeed try to flee the location after receiving the phone call.
"As my father advanced a little further, he fell on the ground and died," she said, adding that their relatives and neighbours recovered the body and took it back home.
Motleb served as the chairman of Ichhali Union Gay Pareehad (UP) for 27 long years and was actively involved with BNP’s politics.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
"As my father advanced a little further, he fell on the ground and died,"
The authorities did not arrest his body
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2017 9:30 Comments ||
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[YAHOO] Poland has a moral right to say 'no' to refugees, the country's most powerful politician said on Saturday.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of the ruling party Law and Justice (PiS), gave his views on immigration at a party convention in Przysucha, 100 km (60 miles) south of Warsaw.
"We have not exploited the countries from which these refugees are coming to Europe these days, we have not used their labor force and finally we have not invited them to Europe. We have a full moral right to say 'no'," Kaczynski said in a speech broadcast on television.
Last month the European Commission launched a legal case against Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic for refusing to take in asylum seekers, highlighting the feud within the 28-nation bloc over how to deal with migration.
Kaczynski, who has criticized the European Union's relocation schemes for migrants on many occasions, also said that the PiS could not be accused of being anti-European, as it backed Poland's joining the block in 2004 and now appreciates the inflow of EU funds.
"The fact that we appreciate them (the funds), does not mean that we have lost the right to various assessments, including those regarding the historical context," Kaczynski said, adding that Poland has never received any compensation for the losses it suffered during the Second World War.
During his 70-minute speech, the PiS leader suggested the government increase social spending if the economic situation allows. He also said there was a need to reduce the share of foreign capital in the media sector.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2017 01:28 ||
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The food security situation for 3.5 million Iraqis displaced by the war 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.... snuffies remains "fragile", a United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... official in Iraq said Sunday.
Fadel a-Zubi, representative of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, that nearly 3.5 million displaced people, 3 millions repatriated and 250.000 Syrian refugees inside Iraq are experiencing a "fragile" access to food.
He added in press statements that families in the western side of the city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , where Iraqi forces are days away from eliminating the Islamic State, are finding a difficulty in getting foodstuff.
He said FAO continues efforts to rehabilitate damaged irrigation canals in the province so as for farmers to resume work to secure their food needs.
The war against IS in Mosul, now entering its ninth month, has displaced at least 900.000 civilians. The Iraqi government and U.N. agency estimate more than four million people displaced since the emergence of the Islamic State snuffies in 2014.
Adding to medical and foodstuff shortages, refugees have been increasingly targeted by IS snipers or caught and later executed during their attempts to flee battlefields towards areas held by security forces. IS fighters have also reportedly held food supplies for fighters and their families exclusively.
[AA.TR] Iraqi Defense Minister Irfan al-Hayali has apologized for describing detained ISISbully boyz as "war prisoners".
In a statement on Sunday, al-Hayali said he was sorry for "the confusion caused by his speech about the treatment of ISIS members as war prisoners".
"ISIS members are killers and criminals," he said.
"It's a terrorist organization and UN conventions don't apply to it," al-Hayali said, adding that ISISbully boyz "will be treated according to Iraqi laws".
Last week, the Iraqi minister told news hounds that ISISbully boyz held by Iraqi forces will be treated as war prisoners.
Military expert Khalil al-Nuaimi said ISISbully boyz don't fall under Geneva Conventions about the treatment of war prisoners.
"Prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention are those who were detained during military fighting between two states, not between a state and a terrorist organization," he told Anadolu Agency.
The Iraqi military is engaged in a wide-ranging campaign -- launched last October -- to recapture the entire city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , which ISIS overran in mid-2014.
Hundreds of ISISbully boyz have been captured by Iraqi forces during the fighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Democratic Front activists restore stone structure praising Khaled Nazzal, who planned a 1974 attack that killed 26 people, mostly children.
Idiots. This is like President Reagan's Star Wars -- it was expensive for us, but it broke the back of the Soviet Union. But if the Palestinians want to waste their money just when foreign donations are drying up, then clearly it is Allah's will that they begger themselves for his own inscrutable reasons.
Paleostinian activists on Saturday re-erected a monument set up in honor of a Paleostinian terrorist in the town of Jenin, a day after it was bulldozed by the Israeli military.
The Jenin municipality last month named a square after "martyr" Khaled Nazzal, a Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine ... a breakaway faction of the Pöpular Frönt för the Liberation of Paleostine. The are regarded as the most intellectual of Paleostinian fedayeen groups, smoking cheap cigarettes and drawing heavily on Marxist-Leninist theory to explain their crappy lives. They can occasionally be seen strutting through the streets of Paleostine, dressed up like soldiers and lugging firearms, though they seldom manage to hit anything and then usually by accident. This may be because of their habit of wearing black masks that cut off most of their vision. That would also explain their habit of occasionally walking into walls, which is a well-known attribute of those immersed in true understanding of the dialectic... (DFLP) operative who planned a massacre in the northern town of Ma’alot in which Paleostinian holy warriors murdered 22 schoolchildren and four adults. It also erected a monument in Nazzal’s honor.
On Friday Israeli forces entered Jenin and removed the monument. During the operation, festivities broke out between soldiers and locals, during which one Israeli soldier was shot and moderately injured, while six Paleostinian protesters were maimed, one of them seriously.
On Saturday, DFLP activists again restored the monument to its location, images posted to thee group’s Facebook page showed.
Paleostinian media reports said soldiers entered Jenin early Sunday morning to demolish the monument for a second time, but a spokesperson for the Israeli military denied that.
[IsraelTimes] In first such case, prosecutors file suit against family of Fadi al-Qunbar, who killed 4 soldiers in Jerusalem ramming attack.
Israel reportedly will soon launch a slew of lawsuits against the families of snuffies with the aim of recouping outlays on the associated costs of terror attacks.
Last month, prosecutors from the Jerusalem District Court filed the first such damages suit, in which they are seeking NIS 8 million ($2.3 million) from the widow and four children of Fadi al-Qunbar, the Haaretz daily reported Sunday.
Qunbar, a resident of East Jerusalem’s Jabel Mukaber neighborhood, killed four soldiers in January when he rammed his truck into a group of troops getting off a bus at a popular tourist site in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood of the capital before being shot and killed by soldiers.
According to Haaretz, the state is seeking compensation from Qunbar’s family for the costs of the burial of the soldiers and the payments to the bereaved families, as well as for "the loss of earnings for the lost years, loss of pension and pension rights, shortening life expectancy" and "compensation for [the] pain and suffering that reflects the cruelty of the acts and the great suffering of all the murder victims."
In addition to the suit against Qunbar’s widow and children, the state has already filed damages claims against the family of another terrorist and is expected to file additional claims in the coming days, the report said.
Defending its decision to file the lawsuits, the State Prosecutor’s Office said that seeking damages from the families of snuffies would help deter would-be attackers.
"This suit, based on a terror incident in which soldiers were killed, was intended to reimburse to the state’s coffers the expenses connected with events like these and to convey a clear and unequivocal message that the state will [also] settle accounts from a civil perspective with perpetrators of evil acts," Haaretz quoted the prosecutor’s office as saying.
In addition to the lawsuit, Israel has taken a number of other retaliatory steps against Qunbar’s family, including revoking the residency permits of 10 of his relatives and sealing off the family home.
The moves come as Israel, with the help of the US, has been pressuring the Paleostinian Authority to stop paying stipends to attackers and their families. The PA has so far resisted any change to its policy, which Israel charges incentivizes terrorism.
#1
Does Israeli Law recognize the concept of "Deep Pockets" and recognize that the PA, by supporting the families of the terrorists, is an accomplice that can also be sued for damages.
[Al Jazeera] At least one child has died after a big fire engulfed a camp for hundreds of Syrian refugees in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley according to aid workers, who believe that there may be two more victims.
Flames and thick clouds of black smoke rose on Sunday from the site near the town of Qab Elias, which is an hour's drive from the capital, Beirut, while exploding gas canisters could be heard from a distance.
The blaze, which destroyed about 100 tents, also left at least six people injured according to the Red Cross. Emergency workers said the fire had turned the tent camp into "ashes", with only the bathrooms at the edge of the settlement left standing.
Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from the scene, described scenes of "utter devastation".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2017 00:59 ||
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[ARA News] The defense body of the local self-administration in the Cizere canton, northeastern Syria, promises to punish two military conscripts of the Self Defence Forces (HPX) who appeared in a video while torturing ISIS myrmidons.
The video footage spread on social media in the past few days.
"A few days ago, a footage was circulated on social media about two HPX fighters’ bad behavior; torturing a mercenary [ISIS fighter] during the ongoing battles in the area," the Kurdish-led body said in a statement.
"We as Defense and Self-Protection Body in Cizîre canton denounce in strongest terms this act by the HPX fighters, this act is absolutely unacceptable and contradicts our ethical and humanitarian frameworks and values in peace and war," it said.
"We as Defense and Self-Protection Body are committed to international criteria mentioned in the UN charters about dealing with war captives," the self-administration body said.
"Starting from our humanitarian values and social customs, we will bring those two fighters to trial to be justly punished according to Democratic Autonomous Administration laws since they have broken laws and international criteria, and will be held accountable for their irresponsible, individual acts which contradict our ethics and values," the administration said.
The video footage was picked up by pro-Ottoman Turkish government Anadolu News Agency (AA), with the title PYD/PKK torturing civilians in Syria’s Raqqa, in order to damage the image of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD). This while The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... is known for its high number of human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... abuses, especially after the failed Ottoman Turkish coup in July last year.
The Cizire, Kobani and Efrin self-administrations have enacted laws which mandate the conscription of 18-30 year-olds. The conscripts are inducted into the Self-Defence Forces or HPX, which serves as a reserve army.
In February, the local ANHA agency reported that more than 500 HPX soldiers were serving in Operation Euphrates Wrath, which aims to liberate Raqqa city.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/03/2017 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.
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine
[ARA News] The defense body of the local self-administration in the Cizere canton, northeastern Syria, promises to punish two military conscripts of the Self Defence Forces (HPX) who appeared in a video while torturing ISIS
