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Showing posts from June 22, 2014

Iraq launches push for militant-held northern city

BAGHDAD: Iraqi troops backed by helicopter gunships launched an operation early Saturday aimed at dislodging Sunni militants from the northern city of Tikrit, one of two major urban centers they seized in recent weeks in a dramatic blitz across the country.  After watching much of Iraq slip out of government hands, military officials sought to portray the push that began before dawn as a significant step that puts the army back on the offensive. They said the operation includes commandos, tanks and helicopters, as well as pro-government Sunni fighters and Shiite volunteers.  Tikrit  residents reported clashes in the city, but the extent of the fighting was unclear.  Jawad al-Bolani, a security official in the  Salahuddin Operation Command , said the immediate objective is Tikrit, the hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein and one of two major cities to fall in recent weeks to the al-Qaida breakaway Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and allied Sunni militants. He said there was n

Ukraine crisis: Ceasefire between Government forces and rebels extended over weekend

The fragile ceasefire between Government forces and pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine has been extended until Monday evening. The President, Petro Poroshenko, announced the change on his website after signing a  landmark free trade deal  at a European Union summit – the very agreement that triggered the protests against former President Viktor Yanukovych. The ceasefire was due to end on Friday night but will now last until 10pm on Monday. Battles intensified in May after the newly-elected President vowed to crush the "terrorist" rebellion and civilians were among the casualties in the army's assault on rebel-held areas on Donetsk. A statement from Mr Poroshenko’s office said the extension was in line with a deadline set by EU leaders for separatists to agree to ceasefire arrangements, return border checkpoints to Government authorities and free hostages including detained international observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). At a separa

The new Godzilla film is yet another example of Hollywood's military fetishism

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“Hollywood is a fundamental cog in the propaganda machine” The most recent film of Godzilla only serves to highlight Hollywood's fetishism of military hardware and glorify an expansionist militarism. A gargantuan, lizard-like specimen lumbers around hungrily, trampling over the population and laying waste to one of the world’s great cities. No, it’s not a long-awaited Boris Johnson biopic but the latest incarnation of Godzilla. I’ve always had a thing for the Big G, regularly staying up late as a kid to watch 3am screenings of the Japanese b-movies on Channel 4 and revelling wide-eyed in the spectacle of actors in rubber suits rolling around over model buildings. Best of all was that piercing shriek, the one that says “I’m here, humanity. Let’s play.” Wikipedia/Toho Company Ltd. Some rights reserved But Godzilla was far more than simply watching giant creatures beat the hell out of each across ruined urban landscapes. There was the political allegory of the original 1954 film, in w

Clashes kill 20 troops in E Ukraine

More than 20 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed during clashes with pro-Russia activists in the troubled eastern regions, despite an ongoing ceasefire between the two sides.   The fighting took place near a government checkpoint around the flashpoint city of Slavyansk. Reports say two Ukrainian armored vehicles were also destroyed during the clashes.     Armed men said Ukrainian troops were forced out of the area, but Kiev officials say government troops repelled the attack. The renewed fighting comes despite an ongoing truce between Kiev and pro-Russia activists in the country’s troubled southeastern regions. Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking parts in the east have been the scene of deadly clashes between pro-Russia activists and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations in mid-April in a bid to crush the pro-Russia protests. The violence intensified after the Donetsk and Lugansk regions held local referendums on May 11, in which their residents voted overwhelmingly

US vows to reduce landmine stockpiles

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The United States says it will adopt measures to reduce and eventually eliminate its stockpiles of deadly landmines designed to target people, moving closer to joining a 15-year-old global treaty banning the use of antipersonnel landmines. US officials made the announcement on Friday at an anti-landmine conference in Maputo, Mozambique, US National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement. Hayden said that "our delegation in Maputo made clear that we are diligently pursuing solutions that would be compliant with and ultimately allow the United States to accede to the Ottawa Convention." However, the American observer delegation at the conference failed to declare when Washington would join the treaty, known as the Ottawa Convention, which most nations have signed, but major powers including the US, China and Russia are not parties to it. Human rights activists have long pressured the US to join the ban on a weapon that kills more than 15,000 people a ye

Over 500k displaced in Pakistan: UN

Over half a million people in Pakistan have been displaced due to recent military operations against pro-Taliban militants in the country’s North Waziristan region. The displaced people include more than 11,000 families with many escaping to neighboring cities like Bannu, and tens of thousands of people crossing over to Afghanistan's border provinces, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Thursday. “The displacement began in mid-June and until now, some 11,100 families have entered Afghan provinces of Khost and Paktika…. [A total of] 9,100 families have been settled in Khost Province and 2,000 others are living in Paktika,” said Bo Schack, head of the UNHCR office in Afghanistan. Aid groups have condemned the Pakistani government for failing to set up appropriate infrastructure and provide relief for displaced groups, despite support coming in from the World Food Program, UNICEF and the World Health Organization. Meanwhile, Pakistani soldiers have fire

‘Bahrain judiciary hides torture crimes’

A group of political prisoners in Bahrain says the country’s judiciary is used to covering up torture crimes against thousands of inmates. The inmates in Bahrain’s Dry Dock prison made the announcement in a Thursday statement, calling for the boycott of the judiciary system. The statement said that the judiciary covers up “torture crimes perpetrated against at least 4,000 prisoners and detainees in Bahrain.” The prisoners added that their ordeal from systematic torture is made tougher with the harsh sentences handed down by the ‘injustice system’ in Bahrain. Meanwhile, the Bahraini inmates stressed that the use of systematic torture and cruel treatment of the prisoners in the country in some cases resulted in permanent deformities as many international human rights organizations have confirmed. They issued the statement to mark the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which is held annually on June 26. Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have hel

Won't Treat Afghan Govt On Par With Taliban, India Tells UN

UNITED NATIONS: India has stressed that it will not "endorse" treating the Afghan government on par with elements of the Taliban, even as it reiterated that terrorism and not ethnicity is the greatest threat to peace in an Afghanistan on the verge of a historic transition. "Treating the Government of Afghanistan on par with elements of the erstwhile Taliban regime is something we will never endorse," Ambassador Bhagwant Singh Bishnoi, the acting Permanent Representative of India to the UN, said at a Security Council debate on the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) here. Bishnoi underscored India's "unwavering" commitment to assist the Afghan people and government as they build a "peaceful, pluralistic, democratic and prosperous" nation. "India does not have an 'exit strategy' in Afghanistan with whom we share civilisational linkages spanning hundreds of years," he said. He said India believes the reconciliation pro

India, US Working Together to Track and Disrupt Terror Networks

WASHINGTON: India and the US are working together to track and disrupt transnational terrorism networks including those responsible for the attack on Indian consulate in Herat, a senior US official said, reiterating that the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was to be blamed for the attack. "We will continue to work together to track and disrupt transnational terrorism, including those responsible for the Indian consulate attack in Herat," the official said, a day after the United States publicly blamed LeT for the attack. "India remains an active and strong counter terrorism partner of the United States, and we will continue to share information with the Government of India on counter terrorism issues," the official said on the condition of anonymity. On Wednesday, the US had re-designated LeT and several of its alias as a terrorist organization and had slapped sanctions against two of its leaders. "While we cannot publicly comment on the specific deliberations related to

NGOs' Foreign Funds Fuel Terror

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NEW DELHI: Foreign funding of NGOs, especially under the garb of ‘development aid’, seems to be posing a grave threat to the country. Intelligence officials examining such funding patterns are shocked as Netherlands-based Landlijke India Werkgroep (LIW) was found to be assisting the insurgent groups in the Northeast. LIW, based in Utrecht city and funded by CORDAID which is “planning to bring down the development projects in the Northeast”, claims to be one of the largest Dutch development aid organisations with presence in 38 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. On the face of it, the donation appears to be routine and a normal transaction between donor and recipient. However, the fund transfers have sent shockwaves among the agencies monitoring the function of suspicious social organisations in the troubled parts of India. An input of external spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) suggests that LIW, which claims to have been working in the field of child labo

US court to rule on sanctions in terror financing case

Arab Bank alleged to have transferred funds to Hamas; Shurat Hadin seeks to seize Iran’s Internet assets.  The US Supreme Court is expected to decide as early as Friday or Monday whether to save Arab Bank from a lower court sanctions decision that could seriously hurt its chances of fending off a blockbuster terror finance case by the families of terror victims. The decision will come following a major decision by the US government on May 28 to advise the US Supreme Court that it supports sending the Arab Bank case to trial, while also potentially undermining the case’s strength. The context of the decision was Arab Bank’s interim June 2013 appeal to the Supreme Court to reverse an April 2013 and earlier lower US court decisions, which significantly penalized the bank for refusing to turnover key documents the plaintiffs said they need to prove their case. The case itself, which has been featured on CBS News’s Sunday Morning program, involves allegations that Arab Bank facilitated mass

UN: Ivory, charcoal funds criminal, terror groups

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- The United Nations Environment Program says that environmental crime is helping to finance criminal, militia and terrorists groups. A new report released Tuesday said that the terror group al-Shabab makes between $38 million and $56 million per year in illegal charcoal. Other groups make between $4 million and $12 million a year by trafficking elephant ivory. And the most lucrative environmental crime is illegal logging, which the report said is worth between $30 billion and $100 billion annually. Achim Steiner, the head of UNEP, called the report a "sad story" that threatens communities and economies. He said a more systematic and systemic response is needed because of the transnational nature of the threat. The report was released during the first ever United Nations Environmental Assembly, a weeklong conference in Kenya. Source  https://uk.news.yahoo.com/un-ivory-charcoal-funds-criminal-144613344.html

Hafiz Saeed- hitting him where it hurts

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Pic:  http://www.mfs-theothernews.com India may never be able to get Hafiz Saeed, but today it is our best chance to break his financial network. The recent sanctions imposed by the United States of America on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa is considered to be much better than the one that was imposed on the Lashkar-e-Tayiba a couple of years back. The reason being the Jamaat-ud-Dawa or the JuD is the financial wing of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. Contrary to the argument by Pakistan that JuD is a charity outfit and helps carry out relief activities any child on the road would confirm that this is just a garb to bring in the funds. Millions of dollars are sent as charity to the JuD and while a chunk of this actually does go into relief work the other source of money also being pumped into the same outfit has gone unaccounted. The money that the JuD gets runs into at least Rs 400 crore each year. Last year out of this amount Rs 61 crore was contributed by the Pakistan government itself. Apart from this th

US funds 'terror studies' to dissect and neutralize social movements

Since the meltdown of 2008, U.S. universities have collaborated with the Pentagon to study dynamics of social movements, worldwide. The goal of “terrorism studies” is “to find possible vectors of resistance, which are to be identified and eradicated, like a disease.” The Minerva Initiative, like NSA spying, sees the entire planet as “enemy territory.” The U.S. Department of Defense is immersed in studies about...people like you. The Pentagon wants to know why folks who don’t themselves engage in violence to overthrow the prevailing order become, what the military calls, “supporters of political violence.” And by that they mean, everyone who opposes U.S military policy in the world, or the repressive policies of U.S. allies and proxies, or who opposes the racially repressive U.S. criminal justice system, or who wants to push the One Percent off their economic and political pedestals so they can’t lord it over the rest of us. (I’m sure you recognize yourself somewhere in that list.) The

Centre to fund special force to tackle Naxal problem: Rajnath Singh

Zee Media Bureau/Ritesh K Srivastava   New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday spelled out the anti-Maoist policy of the Narendra Modi government, saying there will be no talks with the left-wing ultras.  After meeting Chief Secretaries and DGPs of 10 Naxal-infested states here, Singh said that the government will adopt a balanced approach to resolve the Maoist problem.  He further announced central funding for a special force to tackle the Naxal menace. Greyhound-like forces will be deployed in states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Odisha, the minister informed.  Today's meet was called to review the progress of anti-Naxal operations being undertaken in states.  The meeting was attended by Chief Secretaries and DGPs of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.  June 27, 2014 Source  http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/centre-to-fund-special-force-to-tackle-naxal-problem-ra

Snakes and bees 'flush out' Boko Haram fighters

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26 June 2014  Last updated at 11:28 The Nigerian Army is struggling to flush Boko Haram Islamist fighters out of their forest fastness, but it seems snakes may be doing the job for them. Two suspected Boko Haram gunmen captured by local volunteers in Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria, said they had fled the Sambisa Forest because of "incessant snake bites", the  Vanguard  newspaper reports. One of the suspects, Kolo Mustapha, said bees have also been known to join in the attacks, often leaving their victims fatally injured. Some of his fellow-fighters think there is a supernatural aspect to the attacks, fearing that Boko Haram's victims are wreaking vengeance on their killers. Mustapha said he was caught because, like many others, he was trying to sneak back into town "as we have nowhere else to go". "Our leaders have fled to Cameroon," he added, saying they had forced local youths to join the group. The other captive, Umar Abor, said "almost all ou

Mass arrests in Pakistan after plane shooting

Pakistani police have arrested hundreds of people after gunmen opened fire on a passenger plane during its landing approach, as fighter jets hit militant targets in the latest round of an anti-Taliban offensive. The attack at Peshawar airport in the country's northwest killed a woman passenger and wounded two crew and will raise further questions about aircraft safety in Pakistan. The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight, landing in Peshawar from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, came under fire on Tuesday as it descended with more than 170 passengers on board. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but attention turned to the Pakistani Taliban, who have promised a bloody response to the army's assault on their strongholds in North Waziristan. Authorities said the Airbus A310 landed safely but a catastrophe was only narrowly avoided when it was hit by eight AK-47 bullets from the unidentified attackers. PIA spokesman Mashud Tajwar said the plane was between 200 and 300 fe

Death Toll Rises in Southern Afghanistan Battle

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The death toll from a week of fighting between Afghan forces and hundreds of Taliban militants in a southern province rose above 100, officials said Thursday, while the U.N. called on all parties to protect civilians who are increasingly caught in the crossfire. The battle is shaping up as a major test of the government's ability to maintain security in volatile areas after foreign combat troops leave by the end of 2014, increasing the urgency for the government to sign a security pact with the United States that would allow nearly 10,000 American forces to stay in the country for two more years. Outgoing President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign the deal, saying he would leave it to his successor after results are announced in the recent presidential election. Both candidates vying to replace Karzai, who is constitutionally barred from a third term, have promised to sign the pact. But the process has been stalled by fraud allegation in the June 14 runoff v

Iraq crisis forces old battle lines to be redrawn

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26 June 2014  Last updated at 20:36 Government forces have lost control of virtually all the main Sunni-populated parts of Iraq The spectacular eruption of Isis in Iraq has turned the country upside down with unimaginable speed, posing not only Iraqis but regional and international powers a challenge that has already upset parts of the regional order. With Sunni militants and rebels gradually moving in around the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, there is a dramatic race going on between slow-moving efforts to defuse the crisis politically and rapid developments on the ground. The latter could lead to a sectarian bloodbath in the capital and elsewhere, leaving Iraq in tatters. The tough position taken by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki - stressing military options and insisting on standing for a third term of office - is likely to slow down the political rescue effort, and risks aggravating the conflict. Confirmation that Syrian air force jets have been bombing Isis targets on Iraq's western bor