An elder says Kenyan police arrested 10 Somali nationals at villages located near the border and taken into custody for interrogations.
Mr Idriss has confirmed the detention of the local residents, saying Kenyan police raided houses and detained the people, accusing them of having links with Al shabaab militants.
Kenyan security officials accuse the detained residents of being Al shabaab sympathizers, an allegation that community elders denied.
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11/11/2015 00:00 ||
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MUMBAI: One of the 120 alleged Somali pirates nabbed in four operations died of natural causes at JJ Hospital on Sunday. The 28-year-old undertrial, Abdi Chama, had tuberculosis and suffered from other lung-related ailments.
That's one way of doing it...
A native of Mogadishu, Chama was arrested on March 16, 2011. He was lodged at Taloja jail. Official documents list his relative as his mother, Bargi.
Officials said it was difficult to say who would receive the body as there was no contact with the next of kin. The Somalian embassy in Delhi was informed and it was learnt to be making arrangements for the body to be received from the JJ Hospital.
“We are ensuring that the body will be handed over to the embassy in full consciousness of the human rights of undertrials and honourably,” special public prosecutor Ranjit Sangle said.
The death comes soon after the accused expressing their intention to plead guilty. The intention of the accused was communicated to visiting officials of the Somalian embassy last week and was in turn relayed in writing to the state home department.
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11/11/2015 00:00 ||
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The United Nations Security Council today renewed for another year its authorization for international naval forces to join in fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia, stressing that while the threat from Somali pirates has declined, it still remains a matter of “grave concern.”
Adopting a unanimous resolution, the 15-member body highlighted the important role played by ships from regional organizations such as the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Operation (NATO) Ocean Shield, but noted that the primary responsibility lies with the Somalia, a country torn apart by 25 years of strife.
“While noting improvements in Somalia, [the Council] recognizes that piracy exacerbates instability in Somalia by introducing large amounts of illicit cash that fuels additional crime and corruption,” the resolution declared, stressing “the need for a comprehensive response to prevent and suppress piracy and tackle its underlying causes by the international community.”
It called on States and regional organizations to deploy naval vessels, arms, and military aircraft, and provide logistical support for counter-piracy forces.
At its height piracy off Somalia’s coasts netted scores of vessels, from large container ships to small leisure yachts, resulting in hundreds of people being held hostage and millions of dollars being paid in ransom.
Since the UN first authorized international naval intervention in 2008, the rate of seizures has gradually declined. In February this year a mission under the auspices of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) freed four Thai nationals after nearly five years in captivity, the longest held hostage ordeal in the battle against the pirates.
By that time six of the original 24 crew members of the Taiwanese-flagged FV Prantalay 12, who were held on land, died from illness while 14 Myanmar crewmen were released to police in northern Somalia.
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11/11/2015 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government is offering new rewards for information on the whereabouts of six leaders of the Somali militant group al-Shabab.
So what. Where will be put them when we catch them, Gitmo?
A reward of up to $6 million is being offered for information on al-Shabab’s top leader, Abu Ubaidah. He was named head of al-Shabab in September of last year, after the group’s longtime emir, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in a U.S. drone strike.
Rewards of up to $5 million have been authorized for three other high-ranking leaders – Mahad Karate, Ma’Alim Daud and Hassan Afgooye. Karate, also known as Abdirahman Mohamed Warsame, allegedly played a key role in the April 2 assault that killed 148 people at Kenya’s Garissa University College.
How big a reward are the Kenyans offering? Isn't that enough?
Daud is said to be responsible for al-Shabab’s operations against the Somali government and Western targets, while Afgooye oversees a fundraising network for al-Shabab activities.
The United States is offering rewards of up to $3 million for information on Maalim Salman and Ahmed Iman Ali. Salman is said to lead al-Shabab’s African foreign terrorist fighters, while Ali has allegedly recruited Kenyan youth and raised funds for the group.
The offers are part of the U.S. State Department’s Rewards for Justice program. According to its website, the program has paid out $125 million to more than 80 people who provided information that prevented international terrorist attacks or helped bring perpetrators of previous attacks to justice.
That's nice, but after all that money we still have terrorists to catch...
The U.S. continues to offer rewards for other wanted al-Shabab leaders, including Mukhtar Robow and Abdullahi Yare.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/11/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Apparently Obama replaced gitmo with drone strikes.
Posted by: Boss Crose1118 ||
11/11/2015 15:08 Comments ||
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[AnNahar] Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... 's President Macky Sall has called for African countries to promote a "tolerant Islam" and share intelligence to combat jihadist groups, while acknowledging recent arrests of preachers.
"We must develop a philosophical and theological discourse, training imams with a sense of a tolerant Islam," he said, speaking late Monday at the Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security in the Senegalese capital.
"We have just incarcerated Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! imams in Senegal, a few of them," the president added, warning against any political exploitation of events in the national media, which reported that five people have been charged and taken into custody, including two women.
"We cannot allow them to impose another form of religion" with practices that "do not correspond to our traditions or our conceptions of Islam", he said, citing any obligation to wear the full Islamic veil as an example of extremism.
"We must have the courage to fight this excessive form" of Islam, Sall added.
Senegal is a secular state in west Africa where more than 92 percent of an estimated population of 14 million are Muslims.
The president's remarks echoed those made by French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who also called for the promotion of moderate interpretations of Islam and for radical Islamist propaganda over social media to be fought.
Sall also pushed for better intelligence sharing between the countries of the Sahel on the southern edge of the Sahara in an effort to combat armed jihadist groups that operate across borders.
[AlAhram] Britannia pointed the finger at shortcomings in Egyptian airport security on Tuesday after blaming last month's Russian plane crash on a bomb smuggled on board.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the most likely cause of the disaster was a bomb planted by someone working for or inspired by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group.
But, he said Tuesday, failures in security at Sharm El-Sheikh airport may have enabled the first successful bombing of a jet since the 1988 Lockerbie attack.
"I don't really think there's anyone left around who doesn't recognize that this is more than likely a bomb," Hammond told news hounds in Washington.
"You don't need a sophisticated capability to get a small bomb, and that's all you need to bring down an aircraft, a small bomb with a straightforward timer.
"Sadly there are many, many people who can do that. The issue is about getting it air side in an airport that is supposed to be secure," he warned.
"Where this points the finger is at the capability of the security on the ground at Sharm El-Sheikh."
Hammond said Britannia sent a security team to the airport in the immediate aftermath of the October 31 crash that had killed all 224 mainly-Russian people on board.
"They looked back on CCTV footage of the search areas and things over the previous couple of days," he said.
"On the basis of what we saw we decided that we had to stop flying until we'd sorted out, until the Egyptians had sorted it out," he added.
Britannia has begun flying thousands of tourists home from the Egyptian resort, but there have been delays as they are screened and separated from their luggage.
Amid fears that other attacks might have been planned, passenger baggage is being searched separately and flown home by cargo jet.
In comments that may further anger Egyptian officials, Hammond suggested some countries have a problem with training and motivation of security staff.
"There's a cultural problem here, and I'm not pointing the finger at the Egyptians -- this is the case in a large part of the world," he said.
"There'll be countries in this hemisphere that suffer from it as well: The idea that security is about installing some new machines and writing up a manual."
Instead, he said, the problem was properly training airport staff to be attentive to the risks.
The minister said that after the immediate crisis is past Britannia could work with Egypt to improve procedures, but the priority is getting Britons home.
Egypt's military released a leading investigative journalist and human rights advocate on Tuesday who had been detained under accusations of spreading "false news," although it was unclear what charges he may face.
Just another reminder that the current Egyptian government is far better than the last one but isn't especially "democratic"...
Hossam Bahgat, detained Sunday after being summoned to an intelligence building in Cairo, was released after signing a document saying that he would abide by the law when writing about the military, wrote Mada Masr, the news website that has published his work.
Gasser Abdel-Razeq, head of The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, which Bahgat founded in 2002, said colleagues and lawyers were awaiting news from the army regarding any charges or investigation.
"We do not know now," he said. "We will ask the military prosecutor for an update tomorrow."
Bahgat is one of Egypt's best-known rights advocates, honored with a Human Rights Watch Alison Des Forges Award in 2011.
The army had said he was referred to military trial for "compromising national security" and writing about the military without its written permission, while lawyers said he faced charges of spreading "false news."
A day earlier, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed concern over the detention, with his spokesman calling it "the latest of a series of detentions of human rights defenders and others that is profoundly worrying."
Egypt's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denounced Ban's concerns, saying his statement had "jumped to conclusions" over press freedoms while the Bahgat investigation was clearly related to possible violations of the penal code.
The detention, which caused a wave of uproar on social media and among activists, is part of a sweeping crackdown on critical media launched in the aftermath of the military overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.
Lawyer Adel Ramadan has said military prosecutors asked Bahgat in detail about an article he wrote last month which described the August 2015 conviction of a group of military officers on charges of conspiring with the banned Muslim Brotherhood to plot a coup against President Abdel-Fattah El Sissi.
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11/11/2015 00:00 ||
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A Dhaka court on Sunday issued an arrest warrant against BNP senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman in a sedition case. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lutfor Rahman Shishir issued the warrant after hearing of the case.
Bangabandhu Foundation President Moshiur Malek filed the case on October 19, 2014. In the case, Malek said Tarique had described his father Ziaur Rahman as the first president of Bangladesh in a programme in London on September 29. Malek maintained the claim was 'false and intentional'.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's son Tarique also called the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman a 'Pakbandhu (a friend of Pakistan)'.
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[AnNahar] Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) on Tuesday brought charges against top government officials, accusing them of abusing their office by allowing tens of thousands of migrants to enter the country unrestricted.
Riding high in opinion polls, the populist party filed a 16-page claim against Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner of the conservative OeVP party, as well as against Chancellor Werner Faymann and Defense Minister Gerald Klug, who belong to the Social Democrats (SPOe).
In the claim submitted to prosecutors, the FPOe accused the officials of "willfully" breaking national immigration laws and helping to transport illegal migrants to the German border.
"Tens of thousands of people have been able to cross the border without restrictions since the beginning of September," FPOe leader Heinz-Christian Strache told news hounds in Vienna on Tuesday.
"The deliberate omission of controls... massively endangers the preservation of public order and security in Austria," he added, reiterating his call for a border fence.
The move came as neighboring EU member Slovenia announced on Tuesday it would build "temporary barriers," potentially including fences, on its border with Croatia to help stem the flow of migrants.
Austria has become a key transit country for the migrants -- mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq -- desperately seeking to reach northern Europe through the Balkans before winter sets in.
Like other European far-right parties, the FPOe has been steadily gaining support as the country faces a record 70,000 asylum claims so far this year amid Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II.
Recent national opinion polls have put the party in first place with more than 30 percent of voter intentions, although the next general elections are not due until 2018.
Austria's squabbling coalition government is expected to discuss border measures on Wednesday.
Faymann has repeatedly rejected the interior ministry's suggestion to build a fence to control the influx.
[AnNahar] The U.S. Congress extended a ban Tuesday on the transfer of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay to the United States, in a bid to block any attempt by President Barack Obama Jedi mind meld... to close the military prison.
The Senate voted 91 to 3 to approve the 2016 defense budget bill, which contained the measure extending the ban. The House of Representatives passed the bill last week 370-58.
Obama vetoed an earlier version of the defense bill, largely because on the language on Guantanamo. This time, the White House did not threaten a veto, which would have been futile because there is a two-thirds majority in the Republican-controlled Congress that would override it.
Obama promised to close the scandal-tainted prison upon taking office in 2008, but has been stymied by congressional opposition.
Created in 2002 at a U.S. naval base on the southeastern tip of Cuba, it currently holds 112 "war on terror" prisoners, including the alleged criminal mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The administration has been openly making plans to transfer the 59 most dangerous detainees to the United States. The other 53 have been cleared for transfer to other countries.
Several sites are under consideration, in Colorado, Kansas and South Carolina. The Pentagon is expected to release a report on the subject soon.
Such a move would be in complete defiance of Congress, and Republicans have insisted for several weeks it would be illegal.
"The Senate has voted many times over the years to enact these bipartisan prohibitions," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.
Lawmakers from states with prisons that would house the Guantanamo inmates are particularly incensed by the transfer plans, saying it would make them targets for attack.
The commander of Anbar Operations Maj. Gen. Ismail Mahlawi announced on Tuesday the arrival of military reinforcements to the command, stressing that the battle to break into Ramadi will be launched within the next few days.
Mahlawi said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “Military units, artillery batteries and tanks arrived at Anbar Operations Command.”
Mahlawi added that “our last battle is storming the city of Ramadi, which will be launched in the next few days after the completion of all preparations.”
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/11/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
So what's the over/under on this? They've been talking about doing it for what, half a year now? Urban combat is tough to start with. The baddies know they are coming and have had a long time to prepare. I don't see the Iraqi army as having the spine to do it.
Simplest, safest would be to raze the city and shoot the rats as they scurry out from the rubble, but that has 'humanitarian' implications. Where's Gen. LeMay when you need him?
[IsraelTimes] Decommissioning is required for compliance with nuclear deal, but hardliners object
Iranian media is reporting that the government has stopped taking apart centrifuges in two uranium enrichment plants.
The reported cessation on Tuesday follows the issuing of a letter, drafted by 20 conservative politicians, complaining that the process of complying with the nuclear deal was too rushed, according to Rooters.
The nuclear deal, negotiated between Iran and six world powers, including the United States, lifts economic sanctions in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear program. Israel has staunchly opposed the deal, which was completed in July.
Last week, Iran announced it had begun shutting down inactive centrifuges, a process the country's conservatives oppose.
The dismantling of centrifuges is one of the requirements of the nuclear deal; US Ambassador to Israel dan Shapiro told news hounds on Tuesday that Iran had many steps to take to comply with the deal before sanctions would be lifted, and said this would take several months.
Only inactive centrifuges were being dismantled, according to Iranian reports.
Last week's letter from hardliners to President Hassan Rouhani said that deactivating the centrifuges violated directives of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/11/2015 01:17 ||
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#1
And so it begins...
Iran starts reneging on its commitments, the State department starts making up excuses for them...
Clinging desperately to a deal Iran had no intentions of following in the first place...
And the excuses get more and more shrill.. "We have to bend a little here and there... Go along to get along and all that..."
Meanwhile their Iranian counterparts chant "Death to America!"
[AnNahar] The world powers trying to end the civil war in Syria are drawing up a list of "terrorist" groups, Britannia said Tuesday, warning that some countries may have to drop support for allies on the ground.
"It will require deep breaths on several sides, including the U.S. side," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond warned, speaking to news hounds in Washington.
Around 20 countries and international bodies will meet on Saturday in Vienna to try to push forward a peace plan for Syria that would include a ceasefire between Bashir al-Assad's regime and some opposition groups.
As part of this, Hammond said, the countries backing various factions within the country would have to decide which are moderate enough to be included in the political process and which would be excluded.
"I'm not so sure I would write off the possibility of agreeing on who is a terrorist," he said, in remarks at the British embassy the morning after talks with U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... .
But he warned that there would be horse trading ahead.
"The Saudis are never going to sign up to Ansar al-Sham being categorized as terrorists," he said, citing the example of one Sunni gang reported to receive outside Arab backing.
"So we have to see whether we can reach a pragmatic solution on these areas," Hammond added.
Asked whether Britannia is specifically asking Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... to give up some of the groups it is backing, he said: "Well, we might be, let's explore that."
Russia and Iran, both party to the Vienna negotiations, are supporting Assad against U.S. and Saudi backed rebels, but Hammond denied that the "terrorist list" would give them more leeway to strike the opposition.
"The Russians are already bombing anybody who poses any kind of threat to the regime," he said. "When we talk about terrorist groups what we're tying to do is narrow the Russians' target set."
The U.S., Britannia and their Arab allies want Assad to step down to allow a transitional Syrian government to unite the country behind a reconciliation process and the fight against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist group.
Moscow and Tehran believe Assad is the best bulwark against the Islamic State group, and are supporting his forces against both the jihadists and other factions they deem a threat to his rule.
[AnNahar] Air strikes by Gulf Arab members of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group in Syria have diminished since they launched an air war against Yemeni rebels in March, a U.S. general said Tuesday.
Bahrain, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and the United Arab Emirates have carried out air strikes against IS in Syria but the three Gulf Cooperation Council members are also involved in an air and ground campaign in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... in support of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
"There is a mix of GCC that is participating in Yemen as well as in the operations in Iraq and Syria," said US Air Forces Central Command chief Lieutenant General Charles Q. Brown.
"Less so since March because they've been occupied with the Yemen operation," he told news hounds at the Dubai Airshow.
Washington has been leading mainly Western allies in carrying out air strikes against IS in Iraq since August last year.
In September last year, it launched air strikes against IS in Syria with the support of mainly Arab allies.
In September this year, Russia launched its own separate bombing campaign in Syria in support of its ally Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... .
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/11/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Can't run two programs in the same region?
I'll bet Germany and Japan are a little disappointed.
#2
As I read about the state of the current world and compare it to the state of the world during WWII I can't help feeling that we are witnessing a worldwide regression to the mean.
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.
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government is offering new rewards for information on the whereabouts of six leaders of the Somali militant group al-Shabab.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
