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Showing posts from October 19, 2014

IAF personnel told not to use Xiaomi devices, scandals that have rocked the Chinese brand

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The Indian Air Force (IAF) has indirectly accused Xiaomi of spying and asked its personnel and their family members to stop using phones from the Chinese brand. This is not the first time such allegations are being leveled against the company which has now pledged to move user data to Amazon AWS data centers situated in California and Singapore for starters. You’re probably wondering what exactly Xiaomi has done to invite such criticism and whether it’s a plot by rival mobile vendors. So let’s take a look at all the privacy scandals which have rocked the Chinese brand since it started becoming a threat to competitors in the market. That’s right, Counterpoint Research named the Hongmi Red Rice and Mi 3 in the list of top 10 smartphones, in a February 2014 report. Samsung and Apple were the only other companies on the aforesaid list. Back in July,  a story broke out  about a Redmi Note user Kenny Li, noticing that his device was transferring his data to a server in China when it connecte

Thousands Of Women Fighting ISIS On Front Lines In Syria And Iraq

ELENA BECATOROS and BASSEM MROUE   AP   10/25/14 09:53 AM ET SURUC, Turkey (AP) — Just over a year ago, Afshin Kobani was a teacher. Now, the Kurdish Syrian woman has traded the classroom for the front lines in the battle for Kobani, a town besieged by fighters from the Islamic State extremist group. The 28-year-old Kurdish fighter, who uses a nom de guerre, said she decided to join the fight in her hometown when she saw IS advances in Syria. "I lost many friends to this, and I decided there was a need to join up," said Kobani, who declined to reveal her birth name. "This is our land — our own — and if we don't do it, who else will?" Perched on the other side of the Turkish border, the Syrian town of Kobani has been under an intense assault by IS for more than a month. The town — surrounded on the east, south and west by IS — is being defended by Kurdish forces in Syria. Among those fighters are thousands of women, an unusual phenomenon in the Muslim world in wh

2 Die, Including Gunman, in Shooting at Washington State High School

MARYSVILLE, Wash. — The students and teachers at Marysville-Pilchuck High School knew a shooting was possible — they had seen the news from other schools, and they had trained for lockdowns.  But when the alarms started ringing at the school about 35 miles north of Seattle just after 10:39 a.m. Friday, many still thought it was a drill. Some instinctively rushed into the halls, before teachers and staff members said this one was real, and they bolted back inside, blocking the doors, lying on the floor, and texting one another for information. Some heard the gunshots, and some saw the bloodshed. A young classmate had opened fire in the cafeteria, killing a girl and striking two boys and two other girls in the head before turning his gun on himself and committing suicide. The students hit by gunfire were seriously injured. Hundreds of students were trapped in classrooms for nearly three hours, as law enforcement officers combed through the sprawling campus, making sure there were no othe

Daniel Pearl beheading: Suspect released by Pakistan anti -terror court

One of the men suspected of being involved in the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl has been released by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan. Mr Pearl, who was the South Asia bureau chief at the  Wall Street Journal , was kidnapped in Karachi in 2002. Authorities were sent a video allegedly showing his beheading and a decapitated body was subsequently found in May. DNA tests later proved the body was that of Mr Pearl. Qari Hashim was arrested in connection with his death in 2007. He was being held in Hyderabad, a jail in the southern city in Pakistan, during his trial until the Pakistani anti terrorist Court ordered his release on Friday. Mr Hashim’s lawyers say he was acquitted because of a lack of evidence,  the BBC  reports. Court official Abdul Samih told the BBC that Justice Abdul Ghafoor Memon ordered Mr Hashim's immediate release. Omar Sheik, the man convicted of masterminding the murder, was sentenced to death in 2002. Three other men received life

Deal to free girls from Boko Haram still on, Chad says #bringbackourgirls

Chad said it believed Nigeria’s secret deal with Boko Haram Islamists to free more than 200 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls would go ahead despite the breakdown of a truce, and revealed that the key to the agreement was a prisoner swap. The accord mediated by Chad for the release of the girls seized from Chibok in northeast Nigeria in April has been called into question since it was announced by the Nigerian military last week. A ceasefire supposed to be part of the agreement has been broken, and a further 25 girls were abducted this week. Moussa Mahamat Dago, the No. 2 official at Chad’s foreign ministry, said it appeared some Boko Haram factions were refusing to abide by the deal, brokered by the Chadian foreign minister with two representatives of the Islamist group and two Nigerian negotiators at meetings in Chad on Sept. 14 and 30. “Quite possibly those who are fighting are dissidents that even they [Boko Haram] aren’t able to control. So far, there is no reason for others

Gunmen kidnap Nigeria oil minister's sister: Police

Port Harcourt: The sister of Nigeria's powerful petroleum minister has been kidnapped in the oil hub of Port Harcourt, police said on Friday, in the latest abduction targeting a prominent political family. Osio Agama, whose sister Diezani Alison-Madueke leads Africa's largest oil industry, was seized at gunpoint as she approached her car on Tuesday night, Rivers state police spokesman Ahmad Muhammad said. Muhammad said police "were not aware if any ransom demand had been made" and the motive for the abduction was unknown but the southern oil-producing Niger Delta region has seen waves of ransom kidnappings in recent years. One of the most prominent cases came in December 2012, when Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's 82-year-old mother Kamene Okonjo was abducted from her home, in neighbouring Delta state. Okonjo-Iweala and Alison-Madueke are widely seen as the two most powerful members of President Goodluck Jonathan's cabinet. Jonathan's 70-y

France Says It Destroyed Weapons Arsenal for ISIL in Iraq

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France said on Friday its fighter jets destroyed 12 buildings in Iraq holding an arsenal of weapons under control of ISIL militants. "Tonight we undertook a big operation in Iraq in which we destroyed buildings in which Daesh (ISIL) was producing traps, bombs, arms to attack the Iraqi forces, chief of staff of armed forces Pierre de Villiers told Europe 1 radio. France was the first country to join the US-led coalition in air strikes on ISIL insurgents in Iraq in September and has stepped up the pace of its air strikes this month. Besides air strikes and reconnaissance missions, operations have also included training local Iraqi forces and delivering equipment to Kurdish fighters in the country's north. Coalition forces dropped 70 bombs, including 12 dropped by France which completely destroyed its targets, de Villiers said, without specifying the location of the operation Source:  http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?fromval=1&cid=22&frid=22&e

'Pak to launch campaign against Kashmir rights 'violations''

Islamabad: Pakistan will launch a campaign internationally against the human rights "violations" by the Indian army in Kashmir, the country's Adviser on Foreign Affairs said on Friday. Giving a statement in the Senate, the Upper House of the Parliament, on the recent incidents of ceasefire violations, Sartaj Aziz said, "700,000 Indian troops are responsible for human rights violations in occupied Kashmir and Pakistan will launch a campaign to highlight these abuses at the international level." Radio Pakistan quoted the adviser as saying that the violations were a reflection of the "election manifesto" of Narendra Modi, who he claimed had said that his government would "get tough" on Pakistan. Aziz has said that India carried out 224 ceasefire violations on the Line of Control (LoC) and Working Boundary this year and their intensity has been more than the previous violations. He also said that Pakistan always tried to resolve the iss

Canada seeks to beef up security after attacks

Ottawa: In the aftermath of two deadly attacks on Canadian soil this week and amid growing concerns over the radicalization of local youths,  Ottawa  is quickly moving to bolster its surveillance capabilities. The new laws would give authorities more powers to track terror suspects abroad and detain persons at home suspected of plotting attacks. The attacks on soldiers outside Montreal on Monday and in Ottawa on Wednesday came just days after Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney announced draft legislation to give new powers to Canada`s spy agency. The legislation was to be unveiled in parliament on Wednesday, when a gunman fatally shot a soldier at Ottawa`s war memorial before storming the halls of parliament, where he himself was shot dead. The proposed amendment to the 1984 Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Act will be "unveiled soon," Blaney`s spokesman told AFP "Our laws and police powers need to be strengthened in the area of surveillance, d

Militant Group Said to Be Using Chlorine Bombs

New allegations have emerged that Islamic State extremists have expanded their arsenal with chlorine bombs and captured fighter jets — weapons that could help the militants in Iraq and Syria. Kurdish fighters in the key Syrian border town of Kobani have held off a month-long offensive by the Islamic State group with the help of a U.S.-led campaign of airstrikes. Turkey's president said he will allow Syrian rebels to transit through his country to help the town's beleaguered defenders, but both the Kurds and the rebels denied any such plan was in the works, underscoring differences over strategy that are hindering efforts to roll back the extremists. In Iraq, officials said Islamic State militants used chlorine gas during fighting with security forces and Shiite militiamen last month north of Baghdad. If the reports are confirmed, it would be the first time the Sunni extremists tried to use chlorine since their seizure of large parts of Syria and northern Iraq earlier th

Motive sought in hatchet attack on NYPD officers

NEW YORK CITY --  Investigators are trying to determine why a man attacked a group of New York City police officers with a hatchet,  CBS New York reports . Police obtained a warrant to search 32-year-old Zale Thompson's computer for clues about Thursday's daytime assault, which left one officer with a serious head injury. Thompson's activity on social media indicated he was a convert to Islam and included rants about injustices in American society and oppression abroad but offered no clear evidence of any affiliation with terror groups, police said. Security video and witness accounts appeared to leave no doubt that Thompson purposely targeted four rookie officers, police said. The attack occurred at about 2 p.m. Thursday while the officers were standing together on foot patrol in Queens. Without a word,  Thompson swung  at an officer who blocked the blow with his arm. Another officer was hit in the back of the head and fell to the ground. "Nothing was sa

Putin lashes out at U.S. as warmonger that has 'deformed' world order

Russian President Vladimir Putin lashed out at the United States on Friday, accusing Washington of provoking armed conflicts and undermining global security in a quest to lord its power over the rest of the world. In a 40-minute speech that mixed harsh criticism with veiled warnings against trying to oust the Russian bear from its role as “master of the taiga,” or boreal forest, Putin cast his nation's former Cold War nemesis as an aggressive force responsible for much of the violence racking the world today. They are throwing their might to remove the risks they have created themselves, and they are paying an increasing price,” Putin said, referring to conflicts in Libya, Syria and Iraq that have flared with new intensity. At an annual dialogue with Russian scholars known as the Valdai International Discussion Club, Putin told the gathering in the Black Sea resort of Sochi that Washington also provoked the conflict ravaging eastern Ukraine by ignoring Russia’s legitimate in

‘World’s wealthiest terror org’: US vows to cut ISIS revenue sources

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Oil sales, ransoms and extortions help ISIS “generate tens of millions of dollars” monthly, the US Treasury estimates, promising to undermine the group’s finances and to impose sanctions on anyone attempting to do business with the extremists. The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) has “ amassed wealth at an unprecedented pace ” and is now “ probably the best-funded terrorist organization ” the US has confronted, according to Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, David Cohen. READ MORE: Pentagon admits weapons-drop fail as anti-ISIS operation hits $424mn The bulk of the group’s wealth comes from oilfields in Syria and Iraq that are under the IS control, with oil sales earning the group “ approximately $1 million a day ,” the official said on Thursday, speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The vice-president for the Endowment, Marwan Muasher, said the Islamic State is now " considered the world's wealthiest and most fin

Attack on Egypt Army Post Kills 30

A coordinated assault on an army checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula killed 30 Egyptian troops on Friday, making it the deadliest single attack in decades on the military, which has been struggling to stem a wave of violence by Islamic extremists since the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Officials described it as "well-planned" attack that began with a car bomb which may have been set off by a suicide attacker. Other militants then fired rocket-propelled grenades, striking a tank carrying ammunition and igniting a secondary explosion. Roadside bombs intended to target rescuers struck two army vehicles, seriously wounding a senior officer. State-run TV said there was an explosion followed by clashes between troops and militants, without providing further details. The attack took place some 15 kilometers from the northern Sinai city of el-Arish, in an area called Karm el-Qawadees. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the country's most a

'Hatred' Developer Creative Destruction Denies Accusations That Some Studio Members Are 'Neo Nazis'

On Friday a story by  F*ck No Videogames  alleged that the some of the developers behind the "mass murder" action game Hatred might be tied to extremist groups in Poland. Another report from  Player Attack  reiterates these allegations and expands on much of the information contained in the first report. We reached out to Poland-based developer Creative Destruction on early Friday afternoon and CEO Jarosław Zieliński responded this morning, calling the accusation that members of his team were extreme-right and Neo-Nazis "simply really stupid." Before we give you that statement, here's a little background on why the two aforementioned publications have reported that Creative Destruction has ties to an extremist and racist group; according to both reports, a group photo of the studio shows one member wearing a  Żołnierze wyklęci  (also called "cursed soldiers") t-shirt. The "cursed soldiers" were an anti-communist military group formed during W

Neo-Nazi claims "f¥£€#*g ridiculous" – Hatred CEO

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The  CEO of the studio developing isometric mass murder sim  Hatred has called claims he is a neo-Nazi "fucking ridiculous". On Friday,  several sites reported that Destructive Creations CEO Jarosław Zieliński is a Facebook fan of the  Polska Liga Obrony (Polish Defence League), an Islamophobic, anti-immigration, nationalist group in Poland. FX artist Marcin Kaźmierczak was also found to be a supporter of the Młodzież Wszechpolska (All-Polish Youth), another right-wing nationalist group. Today,  Zielinski told Polygon  that liking a group on Facebook was not an endorsement of its activities. "I've liked this page, because it's source of an information what is going on right now in the middle-east and Europe (and a lot of evil shit is going on — those are REAL problems, not our game),” he said. “Some things media would not show, nor tell. So: no, I'm not any kind of 'supporter.' "I don't watch TV, I don't have time to follow all the news.

Putin Warns of Neo-Nazism in Ukraine and Europe Ahead of WW2 Memorial

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that a trend of “open neo-Nazism” has become “commonplace” in Latvia and the Baltic states as well as Ukraine, singling out Kiev’s revolution as a “particularly troubling example” while speaking to Serbian media on Wednesday, ahead of his visit to Belgrade, Serbia, this week.  “What went on in Ukraine in February is particularly troubling in this respect, as an unconstitutional government coup occurred, driven by nationalist and other radical groups,” Putin told  Serbian daily newspaper  Politika . The Russian president spoke ahead of Thursday’s military parade in Belgrade, which commemorates the 70th anniversary of the city’s liberation from Nazi occupation at the hands of the Soviet Red Army, and which Putin will attend in person. Newsweek Magazine is  Back In Print In the interview the Russian president went on to praise the efforts of the Russian and Serbian peoples in jointly defeating, the “criminal, inhumane ideology” of Nazism, “which