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Showing posts from April 27, 2014

Al-Qaeda Declares 'We Must Eliminate the Cross'

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This follows sharia doctrine that says Christianity's ultimate elimination will be carried out by Jesus,who is really an Islamist. Al Qaeda recently released a  video  of a large meeting in Yemen showing senior leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi preaching, “We must eliminate the cross” and explained that, “The bearer of the cross is America.” Al-Wuhayshi was referencing  sharia doctrine about the ultimate elimination of Christianity at the hands of the Islamist version of Jesus. It couldn’t be clearer: Their jihad  is not about Western foreign policy. It’s about global conquest. The Al Qaeda leader’s comment is important because it displays the end goal of even the “moderate” Islamists who insist that  sharia  governance is tolerant to Christians and Jews because it does not require a change in faith. In truth, the system is designed to contain  Christianity and Judaism and minimize their sustainability, but even this modicum of acceptance is not permanent. Mainstream  sharia  doctrine holds

Egypt court sentences 100 Brotherhood backers

CAIRO -- Reflecting the Egyptian judiciary’s growing role in a wide-ranging crackdown against opponents of the interim government, a criminal court on Saturday sentenced more than 100 alleged supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood to 10 years in prison. Across town in another Cairo courtroom, three journalists for the international broadcaster Al Jazeera English, jailed for more than four months on terror-related charges, made yet another appearance in a caged defendants’ dock. One of the accused, Australian correspondent Peter Greste, described their imprisonment and prosecution as a “massive injustice.” Supporters noted that Saturday’s hearing, the seventh in the journalists’ case, fell on World Press Freedom Day, established by the United Nations two decades ago. The trial was adjourned until May 15. International rights groups and Western governments have declared themselves troubled by Egypt’s now-routine use of mass trials in which defendants have little or no access to due process

Explosion in temple town of Chidambaram, one injured

One person was injured when a suspected country-made bomb exploded in this temple town. Quoting preliminary reports, police said the explosion occurred near a medical shop. The injured, said to be an employee of a prominent university here, has been admitted to a hospital. Police have cordoned off the area. Further investigation is on.  Source  http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-explosion-in-temple-town-of-chidambaram-one-injured-1984608

Nigerian military mobilized for raid on terrorists holding 276 abductedschoolgirls #bringbackourgirls

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A major military operation is expected to begin near the Sambisa Forest in Nigeria, where the Nigerian government believes terrorists are holding some 276 young girls, two Nigerian newspapers reported Friday. There are conflicting reports on how many girls were abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, in northeast Nigeria, but Borno State Police released new figures Friday, saying that at least 276 girls have been held for 17 days, the Vanguard newspaper  reported.  Their captors are believed to be from the Boko Haram terror group, which is known to hideout in the Sambisa Forest. Borno police say they believe 276 young women were snatched, while 53 others escaped, but it’s difficult to confirm numbers on the missing girls because they depend on parents claiming their daughters missing, and some may not have come forward yet. Both the Vanguard and the  Nigerian Tribune  reported that four battalions from various national military divisions are expecte

Uncomfortable truths: how free is the press?

  Global watchdog says world press freedom has hit its lowest level in a decade.  The UN has been drawing attention to the role of journalists as the World marks Press Freedom Day.   Speaking in New York, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that every day of the year “the fundamental freedom to receive and impart information and ideas through any media is under assault, to the detriment of us all.".   Ban also gave details of the dangers faced by journalists. He said more than a thousand had been killed since 1992, 70 were killed last year, while 14 journalists had died so far this year.   A report by the US-based rights watchdog Freedom House said that world press freedom had hit its lowest level in a decade.   It found that the percentage of the world's population living with free media fell to 14 percent last year, 42 percent of people lived in areas where media were considered only partly free, with 44 percent in places where the media were not free.   It cited efforts to c

Al Qaeda in Yemen Denies Government Claim 70 percent of Fighters

Sanaa:   Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has denied a claim by Yemen's president that 70 percent of its fighters in Yemen are foreigners, according to SITE Intelligence Group which monitors radical websites. President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi said on Tuesday that 70 percent of al Qaeda fighters in Yemen were foreigners naming Brazil, the Netherlands, Australia and France among the countries where militants came from. Yemen launched a new military offensive this week against Islamist militants in the south of the country. At least 13 militants, including a commander from Uzbekistan, were killed on Thursday, the third day of the offensive, security sources said. "The vast majority of the mujahideen are from the sons of this Muslim country, where they were brought together by the brotherhood of faith, and they, with grace from Allah, are rooted in their tribes and among their Muslim brothers," al Qaeda's Yemeni wing said in a statement, translated by SITE. The sta

Dozens Die in Odessa Blaze as Ukraine Violence Spreads

Slavyansk, Ukraine:  More than 30 people were killed in a "criminal" blaze in Ukraine's southern city of Odessa, as violence spread across the country on Friday during the bloodiest day since Kiev's Western-backed government took power. Ukraine's interior ministry said at least 31 people had died in the fire with local media reporting that pro-Russian militants were believed to have been in the building at the time. Most of those who were killed died from smoke inhalation, while others perished trying to escape by jumping out of windows. News of the deaths came after a day of violent clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian militants, with reports of renewed fighting in Slavyansk late on Friday leading to the death of two more Ukrainian soldiers, meaning at least nine people had been killed in clashes in the flashpoint town throughout the day. The diplomatic war of words also intensified as the United States threatened to hit Russia with new sanctions within

Report Uncovers Alleged Sex Abuse of US Students

Los Angeles:  A law enforcement report has revealed allegations of sexual abuse of elementary school students by a former Los Angeles teacher who previously pleaded no contest to committing lewd acts on children. The Los Angeles Times reported today that a two-year sheriff's inquiry involving Mark Berndt found more than 100 possible victims, including some children who said he molested them. Berndt, who taught at Miramonte Elementary School, was given a 25-year sentence after entering his no contest plea. Prosecutors said Berndt fed his semen to students. The newspaper says the allegations in the new report are the first to be made public that Berndt sexually abused students. The 512-page report is confidential but was summarized by a judge during a hearing. Wiley indicated that Berndt touched students in a sexual manner and exposed himself, while also urging students to touch him. Source  http://ndtv.com/article/world/report-uncovers-alleged-sex-abuse-of-us-students-517612

27 People Killed by Militants in Assam, Curfew Imposed

Kokrajhar:  Seven more bodies have been found in the Baksa district in Assam, taking the number of people killed in the violence in the state to 27 in the last 36 hours. A curfew has been imposed, and shoot at sight orders have been given in the Kokrajhar, Chirang and Baksa districts in Assam, after killings by suspected Bodo rebels. The region was witness to widespread ethnic violence two years ago too. Seven bodies were found overnight in Shalbari in Baksa district. Five of them were children.  Curfew has been imposed in the three districts.  The Army has been called in , and its teams staged flag marches in troubled areas. The Union home ministry has sent 10 companies of central para-military forces to Kokrajhar and Baksa. Six companies of central security forces have reached Kokrajhar. ( Read: 11 Dead in Targeted Killings in 12 Hours in Kokrajhar ) The killings took place in two separate attacks in the last 24 hours in the areas falling under the Bodoland Territorial Council. A gro

Five kidnapped at gunpoint by KPLT in Assam

At least five employees of a petrol pump were kidnapped at gunpoint by suspected members of Karbi Peoples Liberation Tiger (KPLT) in Bokakhat police station area in Golaghat district, police said today. Senior police officers said 10 to 12 motorcycle-borne youths came from the adjacent Karbi-Anglong side last night and forced the five employees sleeping inside a truck parked on the premises of the petrol pump beside NH-37 to get on their bikes. They took the employees towards Karbi Anglong hill side. Extensive search operation had been launched to rescue the kidnapped persons, the officials said, adding that the outfit had served an extortion notice to several small and medium business establishments along the NH-37, claiming they were functioning on their land and periodically demanded money from them. The kidnapped employees are Kulandar Singh, Dharmendra Singh (both from Uttar Pradesh), Boloram Das, Mithu Das, Sunny Das (all from Assam), the officials said. Source  http://www.dnaind

From his Pakistan hideout, Uighur leader vows revenge on China

Entrenched in secret mountain bases on Pakistan's border with  Afghanistan , Uighur fighters are gearing up for retribution against  China  to avenge the deaths of comrades in Beijing's crackdown on a separatist movement, their leader told Reuters. China , Pakistan's only major ally in the region, has long urged Islamabad to weed out what it says are militants from its western region of Xinjiang, who are holed up in a lawless tribal belt, home to a lethal mix of militant groups, including the Taliban and al Qaeda. A mass stabbing at a train station in the Chinese city of Kunming two weeks ago, in which at least 29 people were killed, has put a new spotlight on the largely Muslim Uighur ethnic minority from Xinjiang, where Beijing says armed groups seek to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. Beijing has called the Kunming bloodshed a "terrorist attack" carried out by militants, and says separatists operate training camps across the rugged b

In Iraq and Syria, a resurgence of foreign suicide bombers

WASHINGTON: Shortly before Abdul Waheed Majeed, a 41-year-old British truck driver, blew himself up in an attack on a Syrian prison, he brushed aside a question in Arabic. “I’m sorry, I can’t speak it,” he said in a video. “My tongue bro’… it’s got like a knot in it.” That suicide-bomb attack on Feb 6 by the Pakistani-born Majeed, appeared to be part of a resurgence of such attacks that represented a disturbing shift in tactics among radical jihadists in the sectarian killing grounds of Syria and Iraq. Many of them have been carried out by foreigners drawn to the conflicts from across the region and from Europe, US and European security and intelligence officials say. Will McCants, an expert at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, said given the rapid increase of foreign fighters in Syria ”if the war drags on, the number of fighters will far eclipse those we saw in Afghanistan.” The security officials estimated that several thousand foreign nationals are acti

North Korea releases list of U.S. ‘human rights abuses’: ‘The U.S. is a living hell’

In February, the United Nations released a remarkably comprehensive report on North Korea's human rights abuses. The report interviewed 320 people, including a number of survivors from the notorious secret political system, and  concluded that the country was committing  human rights violations “without any parallel in the contemporary world.” So how did North Korea respond? With indignant anger. For weeks now, North Korean state media has been offering various retorts to the U.N. In April, a North Korean spokesman argued that the United States and  its allies were running a "human rights racket."  Then, a few weeks later, KCNA published a commentary questioning  how a gay man could lead an investigation into human rights . This week, however, North Korea unveiled a new strategy: Releasing its own human rights reports on the West. On Wednesday, state news agency KCNA released an article titled " News Analysis on Poor Human Rights Records in U.S ." It bro

Turkey Discriminates Against Kurds Fleeing Syrian War

LONDON -- Turkey has been accused of discriminating against Kurds trying to flee the civil war in neighboring Syria, including Kurdish casualties of the fighting there, according to the influential International Crisis Group (ICG). The Brussels-based organization this week published its latest update on the Syria crisis, a 48-page report ominously entitled "The Rising Costs of Turkey's Syrian Quagmire." Among its findings, based in part on first-hand interviews in the Turkey-Syria border region, the ICG cited complaints from Kurds in Turkey that their Syrian brethren were being treated differently from Syrian Arabs. It quoted an unnamed official of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) as claiming that wounded Kurds had been turned away from the main crossing point at Gaziantep on the suspicion that they were members of the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD). In contrast, according to the informant, the crossing was not only open t