[Libya Herald] At the end of last week and earlier this week military activity intensified in the western region of Greater 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... tania between the controlling GNC-Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... forces and the forces of the Libyan National Army (LNA), the army of the only internationally recognized parliament in Libya, the House of Representatives (HoR).
The air strikes and land-based battles by both sides increased with the LNA penetrating for the first time for months as far north as the outskirts of Tripoli airport. The increased military activity as well as increased propaganda suggested an all-out attack to retake Tripoli was on the cards.
However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... the planned attack on Tripoli, whether a real or an imaginary attack and whether possible or not, never materialized -- with no proper explanation given by the HoR side for the abandonment of the Tripoli attack.
In his interview with the Alhadath News in Tunis earlier this week, Prime Minister Thinni briefly addressed the issue of military operations in the western region.
''The Western region is a vast area and our forces could not cover this space and therefore'', he admitted, ''the entry into Tripoli was disrupted".
"We hope that the Libya Dawn militias would leave the capital without any fighting especially since the situation is very fraught amid numerous (human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... ) violations against citizens and the tightening of control over citizens and their views with some being liquidated'', claimed Thinni.
Thinni further explained that "the entry of (pro HoR) forces to the outskirts of the airport and their departure (last week) led to the liquidation of some citizens after their arrest for sympathizing with the (official HoR) army and government''.
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04/02/2015 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] Prime Minister Abdullah Thinni has claimed that he does not and has never had any desire to be Prime Minister and cannot wait for the day that he is relieved of his position as head of government.
Thinni, the head of the government based in the eastern city of Al-Beida appointed by the only internationally recognized parliament in Libya, the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR), says that he has ''no desire or hope to be in government''.
Speaking during an interview with Alhadath News in Tunis early this week, Thinni said that he wished that ''they (the opposing political forces in the UN-led dialogue currently in the Moroccan city of Skhirat) would form a national unity government or a dialogue government and they handover the government to any other person so that it is not recorded by history that I abandoned my responsibility''.
''But if confidence is withdrawn from me I swear to god that that would be a happy day for me'', Thinni claimed.
''The HoR, which accuses the government of failure: I ask them what have they presented to the government so that it can accuse it of failure. Until this moment I wish that the HoR would choose another person as prime minister and withdraw confidence in me'', Thinni reiterated.
''In all honesty I never though one day that I would be a politician and I never hoped for that and it means nothing to me. Those who seek the position are the ones who are bargaining with me. My positions are clear. What I find to be right I do and what I see as incorrect I do not do'', concluded Thinni on the topic of wanting to do the job of prime minister.
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04/02/2015 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] Libya’s already farcical political scene took a further step towards the absurd last night with Omar Al-Hassi refusing to accept the continuing General National Congress’ decision to sack him. He said he would go only if the country’s “revolutionary fighters” (the thuwar) agreed he should go.
“I will comply with this decision if my revolutionary partners agree,” he declared on TV following yesterday evening.
In a press conference yesterday evening, Hassi, who described the decision as a surprising, challenged the GNC’s right to sack him without first questioning him, adding that it could not question him without a budget being passed. He also complained that he had repeatedly requested Congress to allow him to reshuffle his cabinet but that it had not responded. He said he was taking legal advice as to the situation.
His dismissal yesterday on ground of financial mismanagement followed a threat by 14 of his ministers and two deputy ministers to resign if Congress did not sack him.
Opening up the prospect of a power struggle in Tripoli, the revolutionaries to whom Hassi has appealed have rallied behind him. The Libyan Revolutionaries Operations Room has rejected the GNC decision claiming that it alone is the sole legitimate authority in Libya. It also threatened to “eliminate” anyone in the GNC who was against Hassi.
The split reflects a similar one taking place within Libya Dawn, the real arbiter of power in Tripoli, between pragmatists, particularly from Misrata, and revolutionary militants whose ideology is increasingly Islamist.
For its part, Libya Dawn, in a statement published on its Facebook page, says said that while it does not question Hassi’s integrity, he has to go and should not make a fuss about it.
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04/02/2015 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... has confirmed that the House of Representatives (HoR) is a legitimate body and the product of a fair election.
Ban and his special representative, Bernadino Leon met House of Representatives President Ageela Salah, Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Dairi on the sidelines of the Arab Summit in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday.
The Libyan delegation stressed that it still believes in a political solution to the crisis but spoke of "constraints" one of which was the UN's refusal to lift the arms embargo. Ban was told that the government does not see any linkage between the dialogue and its being enabled to buy arms. The Libyan National Army's fight against terrorism and extremism was a separate issue.
There has been much anger from the Libyan government over the UN's unwillingness to lift the arms embargo, to the point that information minister Omar Gawairi has accused the international community of "trying to make Libyans pay the price for its own failures".
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04/02/2015 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] Nigeria's newly-elected President Muhammadu Buhari said on Wednesday his government would "spare no effort" to defeat krazed killer group Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... "Boko Haram will soon know the strength of our collective will. We should spare no effort," Buhari said in his first formal speech since winning the election. "In tackling the insurgency, we have a tough and urgent job to do."
Buhari hailed his historic election victory after Nigerians broke the cycle of one-party government and military rule with a democratic transfer of power at the ballot box.
The 72-year-old defeated incumbent Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau... by 2.57 million votes in a win described by UN Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... as "testament to the maturity of Nigeria's democracy."
Buhari also singled out Jonathan for statesmanship in conceding defeat, which was hailed as an example for the rest of Africa, where leaders have all too often sought to cling to power at any cost.
"Our country has now joined the community of nations that have used the ballot box to peacefully change an incumbent president in a free and fair election," Buhari said in a speech in Abuja.
"To me this is indeed historic," the former military ruler-turned-democrat told supporters, adding: "We have put the one-party state behind us."
State assembly and gubernatorial elections are still due on April 11 before Jonathan's mandate expires on April 30 and Buhari is sworn in on May 29.
Philip Hammond, foreign minister for Nigeria's former colonial master Britannia, said: "It is now important for both parties to ensure the transition to a new government remains peaceful."
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04/02/2015 00:00 ||
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[Jerusalem Post] A nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers could lead to increased Arab action to counter the expansionist Shi'ite regime, before it attains nuclear weapons.
It may or may not have been a coincidence that the Sunni regional powers' united military action to counter the Iranian-backed Houthi rebel forces in Yemen occurred as the Iranian nuclear talks reach zero hour, but, either way, it sends Iran a warning message not to interfere with Arab affairs.
Interestingly, US backing for the Saudi-led alliance in Yemen could have been "a harsh blow" for Iranian leaders and "could cement the Iranians' belief that the US can never be trusted and that Tehran must obtain all of its demands," said a report by MEMRI (the Middle East Media Research Institute) on Tuesday.
In any case, Arab states in the region are sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting for results from the talks.
The next World War will start with a nuclear exchange in the Middle East just like Alas Babylon predicted.
The problem is that such an exchange would quickly metastasize with Pakistan using it as an excuse to take out some frustrations on India and maybe Syria or Turkey really do have a couple of old cold war Soviet nukes lying around after all...you can see where this is going.
I have a glimpse of the Apocalypse and it is a nuclear Iran vs. a nuclear Saudi Arabia.
My question is: Are the risks of such an alignment of nuclear weapons in the ME enough to get Vlad to impose his rather heavy handed style of diplomacy in the region?
#2
Are the risks of such an alignment of nuclear weapons in the ME enough to get Vlad to impose his rather heavy handed style of diplomacy in the region?
How does a nuclear exchange in ME affects the price of Russian oil?
#3
See also RELATED TOPIX > [CNS.COM] MILITARY HISTORIAN [Max Boot] ON IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL: "WOULD BE SEEN AS A STUNNING CAPITULATION", by the US-West/Allies to Iran, poten leading the "nuclearization" of the entire ME.
and
* SAME > "BIZARRE": US STATE DEPARTMENT DISMISSES SUGGESTION THAT ANOTHER ROGUE STATE [e.g. North Korea] COULD HELP IRAN BUILD NUKES, even iff a Nuclear Deal was actually reached between Iran + US-West/Allies, IIUC via so-called Third-Party, covert "Franchising".
#5
What's coming out left field is, the Saudi forces will get smashed in Yemen, and Egypt will take a greater role in Saudi, perhaps to the point of a complete takeover.
They have the military wherewithal and the cannon fodder.
#6
A nuclear arms race in the mideast is very bad thing. There are too many itchy trigger fingers. There are too many loony groups such as ISIS. Iran and every other mideast Muslim country or non-state group wants to do destroy Israel and then Europe and the U.S. Obozo has sped a nuclear arms race rather than controlled or impeded it.
[ARABNEWS] Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, chairman of the board of senior scholars, has urged journalists to report the truth and defend the country against rumor-mongering and attempts to undermine state security.
"Journalists have a huge responsibility on their shoulders. It is to highlight and defend the position of the Kingdom as the land of Islam and Moslems, and the two holy mosques ..."
Speaking to journalists at his home on Monday night, he said media people have to be especially careful now that the country was involved in the operation in Yemen, which was aimed at "defending our country, Moslem territories, its rulers and the people."
He said journalists must ensure that they report the truth at all times, and work to ensure the community is unified as the country aims to "rescue our brothers 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... from the brutalities of the misguided Houthis."
The grand mufti said the operation launched by King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... has "divine blessing" and was "an act of piety" because it was aimed at helping a neighbor and defending the Kingdom.
The mufti said media people must not be tools for those seeking to spread false information to "stir up discord and sow dissension in the community.
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04/02/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Journalists have a huge responsibility on their shoulders--he urged journalists to report the truth
[ARABNEWS] Yemeni Foreign Minister Riad Yassine has called for an Arab ground intervention in the country "as soon as possible."
Asked by an interviewer on Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath whether he sought an Arab ground intervention, Yassine responded: "Yes, we are asking for that, and as soon as possible, in order to save our infrastructure and save Yemenis under siege in many cities."
Saudi officials have stressed that the current operation against Houthis is aimed at restoring the legitimate government in Yemen.
Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf, Saudi ambassador to the UK, said 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... will negate Iran's policy and influence in the Arab world.
"We will not stop until the legitimate government is back," he said in a media interview.
He added: "We support the people of Yemen, regardless of their sect."
The envoy also said: "Iran is behaving in a manner that does not help the stability of the region."
The UN is backing embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi as Yemen's legitimate leader.
A front man in New York said the UN relocated its peace envoy for 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... to Jordan and pulled its last 13 foreign employees from the country. Envoy Jamal Benomar left Yemen along with some 200 UN staff.
The international staff will go back to Yemen "as soon as circumstances permit," said UN front man Farhan Haq.
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04/02/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Tehran wants all parties 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... to return to talks, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has said, adding the Islamic Theocratic Republic and 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... can work together to end the conflict there.
"Iran and Saudi Arabia can cooperate to solve the Yemeni crisis," Mr Abdollahian told news hounds in Kuwait on Tuesday, speaking through a translator.
"We recommend all parties in Yemen return to calm and dialogue."
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04/02/2015 00:00 ||
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A Belgian company has refused to keep providing insurance to a Jewish kindergarten in Brussels, the European Jewish Association reported on Wednesday.
The company claims the risk of insuring the European Jewish Kindergarten, which is found in the same district of Bruseels as European Union headquarters, is too high given the rise of anti-Semitic attacks across Europe.
[AnNahar] A Spanish court on Wednesday remanded in jug a Moroccan woman suspected of trying to send her twin 16-year-old sons to Syria to become jihadi fighters, a year after her other son was killed there.
Spain's National Court, which is charged with terrorism cases, ordered that the woman be held in jail for the suspected crime of cooperation with a terrorist organization.
Police tossed in the clink Book 'im, Mahmoud! the woman along with her husband and two sons on Tuesday in the northeastern city of Badalona near Barcelona.
The teenagers had been in contact with jihadist recruitment networks and were believed to be on the verge of leaving for Syria via The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , the interior ministry said.
The National Court said the woman had "organized for her children the necessary steps to travel to a conflict zone."
The court also accused the woman's husband of "cooperating with a terrorist organization" but released him on condition that he turn in his passport and present himself to a cop shoppe every week while the investigation is carried out.
A juvenile court accused the two teenagers of "membership in a terrorist organization" and ordered that they be held in a youth detention facility for six months while the investigation continues. The boys will be kept apart from the other youths at the detention center.
The interior ministry said the brothers had been under surveillance since a third brother had traveled to Syria, where he is believed to have "joined jihadist groups linked to Daesh", using an acronym for 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.
That brother died in 2014.
The 16-year-olds had left public school in Spain to study the Koran in Morocco and were "immersed in a process of radicalization," according to the interior ministry.
Several cells accused of recruiting fighters for the Islamic State group have been dismantled in recent months in Spain, particularly in the Spanish north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
Since the beginning of the year, 29 suspected jihadists have been arrested in Spain and the authorities have prevented "around 50 imported muscle" from departing the country, Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said Tuesday.
According to Spanish authorities, around 100 Spaniards have joined jihadist groups in Iraq or Syria, a relatively small number compared to the thousands of French, British, Belgian and German nationals who have traveled to the Middle East to wage jihad.
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04/02/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Bulgaria's government proposed on Wednesday new anti-terrorism laws to stem the wave of would-be jihadists crossing its territory to join 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.... fighters in Syria and Iraq via The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... Bulgaria currently has no legislation to stop suspected imported muscle from entering or leaving the Balkan country, unless an international arrest warrant has been issued.
In response, the government said it planned to amend the law to "limit the free movement of persons traveling to prepare, plan or participate in terrorist acts, or terrorist training."
The new legislation, which still requires parliamentary approval, would criminalize the crossing of the Bulgarian border with the intent to commit acts of terrorism abroad.
The proposal also includes the possibility to put on trial any person suspected of funding or aiding in any way the preparation of terrorist acts.
The legal changes would "limit the possibility for terrorist groups to find a safe haven" in Bulgaria, the government said.
Over the past year, hundreds of Europeans have traveled unhindered through the Balkan country in their quest to reach its 275-kilometer (170-mile) border with Turkey and join bully boy groups, interior ministry data shows.
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[Hurriyet Daily News] The Turkish government vowed to fight against terrorism on April 1, a day after an Istanbul prosecutor and two hostage takers were killed in an operation in Istanbul's Caglayan courthouse after a six-hour crisis.
Safak Yayla and Bahtiyar Dogruyol of the outlawed far-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP/C) took prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz, 46, hostage in his office in Istanbul on March 31. All three were killed in a shootout with police that began at around 8:30 p.m.
Kiraz was laid to rest on April 1 after a ceremony in the courthouse where he was taken hostage, followed by funeral prayers in Istanbul's Eyup district.
"We don't see this as an attack on our deceased prosecutor, but on the whole justice system. It is a gun directed at our nation," Justice Minister Kenan Ipek told mourners at a ceremony attended by hundreds of lawyers and judges.
"Our state is powerful enough to track down those behind these lowlifes. The fact that these assassins are dead shouldn't put those nefarious and dark forces at ease," he said, as Kiraz's coffin, draped with the Turkish flag, stood on display in the courthouse foyer.
Many of Kiraz's colleagues across The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... released statements or held protests condemning the attack. Funeral prayers were held in many cities across Turkey for the slain prosecutor.
The Caglayan Courthouse where the attack took place will be renamed the Mehmet Selim Kiraz Courthouse in memory of the prosecutor, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced in a presser on April 1 in Ankara.
Davutoglu also praised the coppers who conducted the operation during the hostage crisis, saying they had applied the instructions they had been given. Davutoglu said the police were told to rescue the prosecutor alive from the attack but also to use every measure if they feared for his life.
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[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkey hopes re-elected Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will take steps to both mend ties with Turkey and pursue a sustainable peace with Palestine, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç told Israeli broadcaster Channel 2, in a rare interview following a rupture due to the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010.
Describing the election of Netanyahu as a “success,” Arınç said in a video broadcast on the website of the channel that “Turkey expects and hopes the Israeli government will express its strong political will to end strife with Palestine.”
“Thus, if Netanyahu is to make a new start, if he will make a gesture to Turkey to boost confidence in terms of restoring relations, we think that it would be right that he expresses that his will for peace is strong,” he said.
"Pay the blood price. Humiliate yourselves before us and the world. Give us everything and get nothing in return... and then we'll think about softening our stance."
Arınç also said removing the blockade on Gaza and choosing Turkey as a good partner would help maintain peace in the Middle East and correspondingly help guarantee Israel’s security, he said.
Trade between Israel and Turkey quietly continues to grow, as does Turkish tourism to the Holy Land.
It is not right for Turkey to comment negatively or positively about the elections in Israel as that it is a matter only for the Israeli people, Arınç said.
Turkey is not a home for anti-Semitic thoughts and the country is proud of this, he added.
...For a given definition of not antisemitic that causes Turkish Jews to be very circumspect and publically silent, and sends President Erdogan regularly into frothing fits...
“The Turkish people can react strongly to the actions of the Israeli state, not Jews,” he added. “And we think that we are right in such a reaction.”
Of course you do. But y'all think you're important, too.
Ties between Turkey and Israel have been tense since May 2010, when Israeli commandos killed eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish origin in a raid on the ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla.”
The Hurriyet journalist here carefully neglected to mention the ties the dead had to both listed jihadi groups and the Erdogan government.
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[AnNahar] Lawyers for alleged Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev quickly wrapped up their defense case on Tuesday as the four-week old trial entered its final stages.
Attorneys for Tsarnaev, who faces the death penalty if convicted of the April 2013 Boston Marathon attack that killed three people and maimed 264, called only four witnesses after prosecutors wrapped their case on Monday.
"That is all the witnesses that the defense will present," lawyer Tim Watkins informed the court, following the testimony of an FBI fingerprint expert.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys will make their closing arguments on Monday, federal judge George O'Toole said. After that, jury deliberations will begin.
Tsarnaev's lawyers have already admitted the 21-year-old Moslem was responsible for the bombings, telling jurors in their opening statement: "It was him."
However the defense have sought to portray Tsarnaev's elder brother Tamerlan -- rubbed out by police in the days following the attacks -- as the architect of the bombings, arguing that his younger sibling had fallen helplessly under his influence.
Under questioning Tuesday, FBI fingerprint expert Elaina Graff acknowledged that only Tamerlan Tsarnaev's fingerprints had been found on many items of evidence including materials used to manufacture bombs. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's fingerprints were absent.
- Computer search clue -
A computer expert, Mark Spencer, meanwhile said that a search of the hard drives of three computers belonging to the Tsarnaev brothers had found more than five million documents.
Searches using terms including "Boston Marathon", "gun stores", "detonator", "fireworks firing system" were all carried out on a computer belonging to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, he said. No similar search terms had been found on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's computer, the expert testified.
An entire issue of the al-Qaeda propaganda magazine Inspire was found downloaded on Tamerlan Tsarnaev's computer, the expert added. The documents were later copied via a USB key and stored on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's laptop, he said.
Spencer said the most popular pages visited online by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev prior to the bombings appeared to be Facebook and its Russian equivalent.
His brother, meanwhile, was visiting pages detailing how to make homemade bombs while watching online sermons by U.S.-born al-Qaeda preacher Anwar Al-Awlaki, killed by a drone strike 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 2011.
On Monday, prosecutors closed their case with gruesome testimony about the youngest fatality in the bombings that left some jurors in tears.
Chief medical examiner Henry Nields recounted in graphic detail the injuries suffered by eight-year-old Martin Richard, who was torn apart by one of the pressure-cooker bombs planted by the brothers.
The child's blood-stained clothing was shown to jurors, some of whom were unable to hold back tears. The boy suffered a massive wound to the abdomen, along with burns.
Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to 30 charges linked to the attacks and to the murder of a police officer, a carjacking and the shootout with police while on the run.
Seventeen of those charges carry the possibility of the death penalty under federal law.
If convicted, jurors will weigh whether to condemn him to death or life in prison without the possibility of parole, the only two sentencing options available.
[DAWN] An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Wednesday issued death warrants for seven individuals convicted for being part of the mob that lynched two brothers in Sialkot in 2010.
The warrants were issued by the ATC after the Lahore High Court rejected appeals submitted by the seven convicts Ali Raza alias Peter, Muhammad Iqbal, Jameel alias Jeela, Shafeeq alias Foji, Sarfraz Ahmad, Rashid and Muhammad Amin.
The court also set the date of their hanging for April 8. However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... the convicts have the right to appeal in the Supreme Court.
In August 2010, dozens of people clubbed to death Hafiz Mohammad Mughees Sajjad, 18, and Mohammad Muneeb Sajjad, 15, in the presence of eight coppers and also allegedly of former district police chief Waqar Chauhan. The bodies were later hung upside down at a chowk.
The incident sparked shock and horror across the country as cellphone footage of the heinous murders was uploaded to video-sharing sites and caused a viral stir.
Justice (retd) Kazim Malik who investigated the case had said in his report in 2010 that the boys were not robbers or hardened criminals and not a single case of mobile phone snatching or robbery was ever reported against them.
A local ATC in 2011 had sentenced the seven of the convicts to death on four counts, gave life-term on four counts to six of them and jugged You have the right to remain silent... nine coppers, including a former district police officer, for three years.
The court had acquitted five co-accused on grounds of insufficient evidence.
ATC judge Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmad had sentenced to death the seven convicts on four counts under section 302 of the PPC and 7ATA. They were also fined Rs500,000 each.
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[DAWN] Repatriation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to North Wazoo started on Tuesday.
A caravan of 26 vehicles carrying 219 IDPs belonging to 62 families left Bannu for Spin Wam and Shahmeri in North Waziristan on the first day. Stringent security arrangements were made on the Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... road from the Mirzail checkpost to North Waziristan.
Political Agent Atifur Rehman and other government functionaries saw the families off at Mirzail near Bakkakhel IDP camp in Bannu and Maj Gen Jamil Akhtar Rao and other military officers received them at the historical Babul Islam near Kajuri checkpost.
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[DAWN] The judge at the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) of Rawalpindi has been changed at a time when trial for Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... murder case is in its final stages.
Rai Mohammad Ayub Marth is the seventh judge appointed to head the ATC and his predecessor Pervez Ismail Joeya was posted as district and sessions judge Chakwal.
Since 2008, six different judges have headed the Benazir Bhutto trial and the prosecution has filed eight separate challans since the proceeding started on February 29, 2008.
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[DAWN] The Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... staged a rally to express solidarity with 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... on Tuesday and praised the government as well as the armed forces for pledging support for the brother Islamic country. Harmain Sharifain = "Noble Sanctuaries," i.e., the Two Holy Mosques in the Soddy king's title.
The rally -- "Harmain Sharifain March" -- was organised from Safari Park to the Nipa traffic intersection. Jamaat ud-Dawa = a "banned" organization. which means precisely squat.
Waving party flags and holding banners and placards, participants in the rally held hands to form a human chain in front of Markaz Motamar Al-Alam Islami.
Speakers paid tribute to the Pakistain army and termed it the "army of Islam".
The chief of the JuD's Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... chapter, Dr Muzammil Iqbal Hashmi, said on the occasion that Saudi Arabia was the spiritual centre of the Moslem world and every Moslem considered its protection his obligation.
He said the uprising 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... was a conspiracy against Harmain Sharifain.
He recalled that Saudi Arabia had always sided with Pakistain and now the entire Pak nation was ready to sacrifice everything for their Islamic brethren.
He suggested Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... convene a summit of Moslem rulers in Islamabad to chalk out a strategy to deal with the situation. The PM would find the entire Moslem world standing shoulder to shoulder with him, he added.
Other speakers observed that the present situation in Yemen was the outcome of the conspiracies of anti-Islam forces.
Such forces were using Yemen to tighten the noose around Saudi Arabia to harm the spiritual centre of the Moslem world, they added.
Protecting Harmain Sharifain was not the protection of Saudi Arabia but of the Islamic world and there could be no compromise on its defence.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2015 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
#1
shows how dangerous Saudis influence has been in Pakistan.
do they fund most of the radical groups in Pakistan?
Posted by: paul ||
04/02/2015 5:31 Comments ||
Top||
[Ynet] Syria's state news agency said Jordanian authorities had closed the main border crossing between the two countries on Wednesday, citing a source in the Syrian foreign ministry.
The source said Syria held Jordan responsible for the social and economic impact of the closure of Nasib crossing, which had blocked traffic.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had reported earlier on Wednesday heavy festivities between forces of Evil and Syrian forces near Nasib after the forces of Evil encircled the crossing area.
A monitoring group said earlier that heavy fighting had erupted Wednesday when Syrian rebels including Islamists launched an attack on the border crossing, known as the Nasib post on the Syrian side.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels had besieged the post and were facing air raids and rocket fire from regime forces.
The post is the last remaining border crossing with Jordan still in the hands of Syria's regime, as it battles rebels who launched an uprising against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... in 2011.
#1
See also JERUSALEM POST > "IRAN IS PLACING GUIDED WARHEADS ON [Unguided] HEZBOLLAH ROCKETS", effect converting them into guided missles wid a higher degree of CEP accuracy.
Senior Israeli DM Official Col. Aviran Hassan.
AND
* ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS/ARUTZ SHEVA > CAROLINE GLICK: [Israel should] ANNEX JUDEA AND SAMARIA NOW, in response to POTUS Obama's statement that he may "re-evaluate" US support of Israel at the UN.
ARTIC > GLICK = THE US = POTUS OBAMA IS TRYING TO FORCE ISRAEL INTO "COMPLETELY INDEFENSIBLE BORDERS".
* IIRC WASHINGTON FREE BEACON [paraph?]> ISRAELI ARMY WARNS CIVILIANS TO TAKE SHELTER IN NEXT HEZBOLLAH WAR, as Hezbollah will likely fire hundreds or thousands of Improved Rockets + BMS at Israel, resulting in poten hundreds of Israeli civilian casualties.
[Ynet] The US Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Wednesday it has confirmed that Zulkifli bin Hir, one of its "most wanted terrorists," was killed in a raid in the Philippines in January. The US State Department had offered $5 million for the arrest of bin Hir, a Malaysian member of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah holy warrior group behind numerous bombing attacks in the Philippines.
Investigators said they had a difficult time confirming bin Hir's death because he was killed in a gruesome raid that went awry and left 44 police commandos dead.
From the Economist. An unfortunate accident may be not too far off for Assad. He may get lucky and score a villa on the Caspian Sea, but I doubt it.
FOR the rebels fighting against President Bashar Assad, it was a huge victory. On March 28th a collection of Islamist fighters, including Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliate, captured the city of Idleb. Long contested, it is only the second big one to fall to the rebels in four years of war. The first, Raqqa, was snatched by the jihadists of Islamic State (IS), who made it the capital of their caliphate. Only three days before the rebels won Idleb, they took Bosra, a town in southern Syria famous for its second-century Roman amphitheatre.
This opposition surge suggests that Mr Assad is weaker than he was, not that the rebels are stronger. He and his main allies, Iran and Hizbullah, the Lebanese Shias' party-cum-militia, are struggling to hold their piece of the divided country, despite the West having turned its attention to fighting IS. Disputes within Mr Assad's camp are growing, too. "Militarily and economically the regime is worse off today than a year ago," says Noah Bonsey, who watches Syria for the International Crisis Group, a think-tank based in Brussels.
In Idleb the rain helped the rebels by stopping Mr Assad's regime carrying out air strikes, which it relies on since it has long been short of soldiers on the ground. The embattled president increasingly banks on local and foreign militias. He has had to recruit more widely for the army, yet he cannot trust the conscripts drawn from Syria's Sunni-majority population. It is said that Sunni pilots are not now allowed to fly aircraft. A well-connected man in Damascus says many are flown by Russians, whose government backs Mr Assad.
Elsewhere he is looking no stronger. His much-heralded offensive to take back Aleppo earlier this year seems to have fizzled. His troops are consolidating in the west, but only thanks to Hizbullah. IS fighters are creeping into his territory from the east. In the south he has gradually been losing ground to the most moderate of Syria's rebels, as Hizbullah and Iran focus on securing areas nearer Damascus.
Yet it is unlikely that these victories for the rebels will spur America to increase its modest support for them, especially around Idleb, where Jabhat al-Nusra is the strongest force. The southern rebels have received more help, since they have fewer jihadists in their ranks and are less fragmented. But an American plan to train and equip 5,000 vetted men has still to get going. On March 27th Turkey said that the Americans had delayed their plans to start training there, for unspecified reasons.
So Syria's fate may depend ever more on how well Mr Assad's regime hangs together--and on Iran. His army and paramilitary forces often clash. Hizbullah men talk of Syrian soldiers firing on them. Syrian soldiers, in turn, are annoyed by Iranian and Hizbullah checkpoints set up to ensure that they stay in line. Syrian soldiers have long found understandings with rebels; sometimes they agree not to fight, while the rebels sometimes buy ammunition from the soldiers. Overall, Mr Assad's position is being hollowed out. "The regime is in charge of administrative matters," says the same Damascus man. "But Iran is ever more in control militarily."
That could pave the way to negotiations, since it still seems unlikely that either side will win militarily. Iran's rulers may be more pragmatic than Mr Assad, who wants to cling to power at any cost. There are signs that they see him as a burden; Hizbullah certainly does. If nuclear talks with Iran come good, some Syrians hope for a solution in their own country. "We'll get rid of Mr Assad at some point," says a Hizbullah commander. "I think Iran is just waiting until the right time."
Posted by: phil_b ||
04/02/2015 14:30 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Pro-Sunni Arab wishful thinking or analysis? Idlib has been the center of see-saw battles between the regime and the rebels for years. Rebels have taken it over, lost it and now taken it over again. Who knows what the next roll of the dice brings?
#2
The thing about Idlib is that it's 10-15 miles from the Turkish border, and the rebels' supplies and foreign recruits. That the area isn't securely in rebel hands speaks either to Assad's relative strength, or the rebels' relative weakness.
#3
Why would Hizbullah speak out against Assad? Assad was the senior partner in the alliance. Hizbullah was his marionette. Hizbullah presumably fantasizes about becoming the senior partner. The problem here is that Syria has traditionally viewed Lebanon as a lost province, which was in part why Assad pere invaded. If Sunni Arabs win against Assad, Lebanon will once again be under threat, and Hizbullah doubly so.
#4
If the map is correct, and I have no reason to think it isn't, the rebels are around 20 to 30 km from Latakia, the presumed Allawite last bastion, on a fairly broad front.
That Assad can't keep the rebels at bay from the Allawite's heartland, supports the article's contention that he is no longer in charge, and Iran and Hezbollah are focused on securing the Damascus area and contiguous territory to Hezbollah controlled territory in Lebanon.
I'd add that the rebels have no need to take the cities, except for propaganda purposes. My read is that the significance of Idlib, is not that the rebels took it, but the Assad regime gave up trying to retain it.
#5
phil_b, various rebel factions and coalitions have been near Latakia for most of the civil war. At one point, it looked like they were going to cut off Damascus from the Alawi heartland on the coast, with substantial if not monolithic positions in Homs, Hama, and Qusayr as well as in Idlib. In the last two years, they've been driven back or out of most of those positions.
The Islamic State mess relieved a lot of the pressure on the regime, wrecked those rebel factions which aren't al-Nusra or ISIS or the Kurds, and generally made a mess of things. The regime is really weak in the east, and not particularly strong south of Damascus, but those aren't strategically urgent sectors, whereas the spine of the country, from Damascus to Latakia and to a lesser extent, Aleppo, is vital to regime survival, and they've got effective control of that right now.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/02/2015 16:16 Comments ||
Top||
#6
If the map is correct, and I have no reason to think it isn't, the rebels are around 20 to 30 km from Latakia, the presumed Allawite last bastion, on a fairly broad front.
That Assad can't keep the rebels at bay from the Allawite's heartland, supports the article's contention that he is no longer in charge, and Iran and Hezbollah are focused on securing the Damascus area and contiguous territory to Hezbollah controlled territory in Lebanon.
Idlib cannot be held securely by the regime, any more than Guam could be, by the US against Imperial Japan, for the reasons described previously. Its see-saw status speaks to rebel weakness, given that it is a mostly Sunni Arab area and close to supplies from Turkey. Latakia, the traditional homeland of the Alawites, is ~30 miles to the Turkish border, but has never been remotely close to being overrun by the rebels. This, too is a sign of rebel weakness. Why don't the rebels hold a 100-mile belt of positions along the Turkish border, given the proximity to Turkish training facilities and supplies? What will happen to the rebel position in Idlib when it stops raining, and Assad can resume airstrikes?
Given that the east looks like it's mostly barren desert, it's probably not that big a deal. The only important things located there are the border crossings with Iraq. Since ISIS began running wild there, the border crossings have vanished, anyway.
#8
Mitch, I agree the road from Damascus to the coast is key.
But let's say you are sitting in Tehran and discussing how to retain control of the Damascus region and resupply. Thru Hezbollah controlled Lebanon will look a shorter and more secure route.
Losing territory in the north doesn't look that much of a problem.
One other point not brought out by the Economist article is that for a state to fight a war they need the economic resources of the state and for Assad's Syria these are pretty much all gone. He is reliant on money and resources from Iran.
And in war, as in most things, whoever pays the piper calls the tune.
#9
One other point not brought out by the Economist article is that for a state to fight a war they need the economic resources of the state and for Assad's Syria these are pretty much all gone. He is reliant on money and resources from Iran.
And in war, as in most things, whoever pays the piper calls the tune.
That's true for both sides. Could the rebels stay in business without Gulf Arab funding? The difference between Iraq and Syria is 5000 dead GI's and $1T worth of American intervention. Given that Assad is outnumbered 7 to 1 whereas Maliki outnumbered the Sunnis 3 to 1, Assad's continued survival without Uncle Sam as his guardian angel is testament to impressive political and military skills.
#12
One other snippet I caught this week is that Assad relies on allied tribes and militias to guard the roads.
The advance of ISIS is causing some of these militias to return to defend their home villages. No mention whether not getting paid was a factor, but it wouldn't surprise if it was.
#13
The advance of ISIS is causing some of these militias to return to defend their home villages. No mention whether not getting paid was a factor, but it wouldn't surprise if it was.
They need money for food, water and gas. If they're not getting paid, they can't physically stay. The tendency for the media, which hires a lot of Sunni Arab stringers and relies on Sunni Arab media outlets, is to generate or repeat pro-Sunni Arab propaganda. We can't truly know how Assad is doing until the rebels are completely wiped out or Assad's head rests on the pointy end of a pike.
#14
To underline the difficulties facing Assad, he has to ward off a population of 16m Sunni Arabs, whereas Uncle Sam suppressed Iraq's population of 6.6m Sunni Arabs after the expenditure of 5K dead GI's and $1T, with Shiite and Kurd auxiliaries holding the fort. Whatever the issue with Assad, it's not incompetence that's holding him back. The (unspoken) math is implicitly why everyone's been expecting Assad to have caved in by now. Because it would be surprising if Iran has sunk even 1/10 of $1T into Syria, although it's certainly possible that it has lost 5K men.
Establishing the Al Nusra brand: they're the kindler, gentler Salafists, unlike that evil ISIS.
[AnNahar] Islamists in Syria's northwestern city of Idlib should set aside their differences and rule the city together, the head of al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate said in an audio message published Wednesday.
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, chief of Syria's al-Nusra ...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant... Front, said his group does not "want to monopolize rule over Idlib city," which was recently taken over by an Islamist coalition.
He also stressed the importance of "quickly establishing a religious court to judge over people and to end disputes," in a speech published by al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-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 .. ... 's official Manara station on YouTube and Twitter.
Jolani's message came four days after al-Nusra and other Islamist groups seized Idlib from regime forces.
It was unclear whether the city would be ruled by religious courts or if the various factions would fight among themselves for control of it.
Jolani called on the Islamist groups to set aside differences and join forces "for the victory of Islam and Moslems."
"Maintaining control over the city is harder than taking it over... Because our enemies and critics are betting on our disputes, our poor behavior and our failure," he said.
Idlib is the second city to fall entirely into rebel hands after the northern city of Raqa, which is now ruled by al-Nusra's jihadist rival, 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.
Al-Nusra and its allies already control a large portion of Idlib province after a November offensive in which they ousted several Western-backed opposition groups.
In July, Jolani announced that al-Nusra sought the establishment of an "emirate" in Syria that would rival IS' "caliphate." Analysts said Idlib city could be the emirate's capital.
In his message, Jolani promised Idlib's residents that they would be treated well, and called for the creation of a "supervisory council" from various factions "to answer the needs of the people."
He said the authority of "jihadists and (local rulers) emirs does not come from scaring the people, but in protecting them, defeating their oppressor and defending the weak."
The al-Nusra chief also lambasted those seeking Western support, saying it was impossible to achieve victory in Syria with the help of "criminal killers or Western agents who stab us in the back to satisfy the Americans."
"This victory has proven to everyone that trying to achieve victory through the West or regional countries is a mirage," he said.
Nusra has emerged as the most powerful jihadist group in northwest Syria after it rose to prominence in 2012.
[IraqiNews.com] A local source in Nineveh province announced on Wednesday, that the leader of the ISIS organization His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... has married German girl in Nineveh court amid intense secrecy.
The source said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, "ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has gotten married to a German girl at the Diwan of judiciary in Nineveh," noting that, "The German girl had first arrived in Syria then moved to Nineveh."
The source, who requested to remain anonymous, added, "Al-Baghdadi tried to keep his marriage a secret," noting that, "The German woman monitors ISIS women's affairs in the organization."
The source stated, "It remains unknown whether al-Baghdadi and his wife are in Nineveh or they've moved to Syria."
It is noteworthy that last June the ISIS organization seized a number of provinces in central and northern Iraq and has committed crimes against humanity in these areas against the population of religious and ethnic minorities, and claimed that it came to restore "the Islamic caliphate" and set its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi himself "Caliph of Islam." And now he's got his Eva Braun.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/02/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] More than 25,000 imported muscle from some 100 countries are linked to al Qaeda and the self-styled 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.... , with Syria and Iraq comprising a "veritable international finishing school for Lion of Islams," United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... experts reported to the UN Security Council.
The experts, who monitor al Qaeda sanctions violations, said in a report seen by Rooters that along with some 22,000 imported muscle in Syria and Iraq, there were also 6,500 in Afghanistan and hundreds more in Yemen, Libya, Pakistain and Somalia.
At a meeting of the 15-member Security Council chaired by US President Barack Obama It’s very rare that I come to an event where I’m like the fifth- or sixth-most interesting person.... in September, the experts were asked to report within six months on the threat from imported muscle joining IS, which has declared a caliphate in Syria and Iraq, Nusra Front in Syria and other al Qaeda-linked groups.
"For the thousands of (imported muscle) who traveled to the Syrian Arab Republic and Iraq ... they live and work in a veritable 'international finishing school' for faceless myrmidons as it was in the case in Afghanistan during the 1990s," the experts wrote in their report submitted to the council late this month.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2015 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.
[Libya Herald] Libya’s already farcical political scene took a further step towards the absurd last night with Omar Al-Hassi refusing to accept the continuing General National Congress’ decision to sack him. He said he would go only if the country’s “revolutionary fighters” (the thuwar) agreed he should go.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh
[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkey hopes re-elected Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will take steps to both mend ties with Turkey and pursue a sustainable peace with Palestine, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç told Israeli broadcaster Channel 2, in a rare interview following a rupture due to the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010.
[AnNahar] Lawyers for alleged Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev quickly wrapped up their defense case on Tuesday as the four-week old trial entered its final stages.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys will make their closing arguments on Monday, federal judge George O'Toole said. After that, jury deliberations will begin..png)
Wazoo
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Ynet] The US Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Wednesday it has confirmed that Zulkifli bin Hir, one of its "most wanted terrorists," was killed in a raid in the Philippines in January. The US State Department had offered $5 million for the arrest of bin Hir, a Malaysian member of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah
[IraqiNews.com] A local source in Nineveh province announced on Wednesday, that the leader of the ISIS organization 
