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Showing posts from February 4, 2018

It is time to end the child soldier stereotype

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Endre Vestvik/Flickr From Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Myanmar and Nigeria, countless children remain trapped in armed conflict. The  UN Secretary General’s 2017 Report  on Children and Armed Conflict names 56 non-state armed groups and seven state armed forces in 14 countries that recruit children. Escalating conflicts have led to a spike in child recruitment in several regions. Deepening  unrest in Congo  saw more than 3,000  child soldiers  recruited in 2017,  levels in the Middle East  have doubled, while the shocking scale of recruitment in South Sudan was laid bare again this month by  Human Rights Watch . “In conflicts around the world, children have become frontline targets, used as human shields, killed, maimed and recruited to fight. Rape, forced marriage, abduction and enslavement have become standard tactics,” a  UNICEF statement declared in December.  Child soldier myths Sadly, the use of child soldiers is nothing new, but the recent spotl

Child soldier: ‘They told me to kill my mother. I had no option’

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YAMBIO, South Sudan — More than 300 child soldiers have been released by armed groups in South Sudan, the second-largest such release since civil war began five years ago. Over 19,000 children are thought to have been recruited by all sides. The “laying down of the guns” ceremony for 87 girls and 224 boys on Wednesday was the first step in a process that should see at least 700 child soldiers freed in the coming weeks, the United Nations said. Putting down weapons and rejoining normal life is just the “beginning of the journey,” said the head of the UN mission in South Sudan, David Shearer. The UN has released almost 2,000 child soldiers so far. More than 10 percent of them have been under age 13. One 17-year-old who had been abducted and forced to fight attended Wednesday’s ceremony while clasping his arms around his stomach and staring at the ground. He gave only his first name, Christopher. “They told me to kill my mother,” he said, his voice barely audible. After bei

Muslim Singer Forced to Quit French Show Over Comments on Terror Attacks

Mennel Ibtissem, a 22-year-old student who wears a head wrap, was one of the top contestants on The Voice, where her English and Arabic version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah caused a sensation. Paris:  A French Muslim singer who became an overnight star after dazzling judges on a TV talent show quit the contest on Friday after coming under fire for past Facebook comments about terror attacks. Mennel Ibtissem, a 22-year-old student who wears a head wrap, was one of the top contestants on The Voice, where her English and Arabic version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah caused a sensation. But within days of Saturday's performance, she was under pressure to bow out over old Facebook messages that appeared to question the terrorist nature of attacks that claimed scores of lives in France in 2016. The posts have been deleted but screen grabs of the remarks have been circulated on far-right websites. In one post after the July 2016 truck attack in the city of Nice, in which 86 peo

Israel downs Iranian drone and strikes Syria, F-16 crashes

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FILE - In this Monday, Nov 25, 2013, file photo, technicians inspect an Israeli air force F-16 jet at the Ovda airbase near Eilat, southern Israel. The Israeli military says it has shot down an Iranian drone that infiltrated the country and has struck Iranian targets in Syria that launched it. The military says that as part of the unusual event one of its F-16 jets crashed in northern Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File) JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military shot down an Iranian drone that infiltrated the country early Saturday and struck Iranian targets in Syria that launched it, in what the military called a "severe and irregular violation of Israeli sovereignty." The military said its planes faced heavy anti-aircraft counter fire from Syria that forced Israeli pilots to abandon an F-16 jet that crashed in northern Israel. It said the pilots were injured and evacuated to a hospital. Sirens sounded in northern Israel as a result of massive Syrian fire. Explosio

Pak army chief confirms death for 'hardcore terrorists'

ISLAMABAD:  Pakistan army chief  general  Qamar Javed Bajwa  on Friday confirmed the death sentences for seven "hardcore terrorists", the military said.  They were awarded capital punishment by the special military courts set up for speedy trial of militants, following the  Peshawar  school attack of December 2014 that killed 150 people, mostly schoolchildren.  The army said in a statement that those convicted "were involved in heinous offences related to terrorism, including killing of innocent civilians, attacking law enforcement agencies and armed forces of  Pakistan ".  "On the whole, they (the seven convicted men) were involved in killing of 85 persons and injuring 109 others. Arms and explosives were also recovered from their possession," it said.  The convicts were tried by military courts but the place and duration of the trials was not revealed due to security reasons.  The army said another five militants were handed down jail terms of varying d

Egypt launches massive security operation against militants

EL-ARISH:  Egypt  began a massive security operation Friday involving land, sea and air forces in areas including the restive northern  Sinai Peninsula , the epicenter of an Islamic insurgency spearheaded by a local affiliate of the  Islamic State  group.  The operation, announced in a televised statement by army spokesman Col. Tamer el-Rifaai, began early Friday and covers central Sinai and areas in Egypt's  Nile Delta and Western Desert. He said the operation is targeting "terrorist and criminal elements and organizations." There was no indication how long the operation would last.  In a subsequent statement, el-Rifaai said the air force carried out airstrikes on militant hideouts in north and central Sinai. He added that naval forces were deployed to cut off their supply lines and that security has been boosted around the country's border crossings, shipping routes and vital facilities.  Security officials said the forces killed at least 20 militants in the north

Terrorists attack Army camp in Jammu's Sunjwan, JCO and a girl injured

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NEW DELHI: Two Army officers were martyred in a terrorist attack on the  Sunjuwan Army camp  in Jammu in the early hours of Saturday.  Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO) M Ashraf Mir and Madan Lal lost their lives in the attack launched by a group of four-five heavily-armed Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists. Another officer and a civilian are among the six injured and have been moved to the military hospital.  The terrorists breached the rear side of the camp of the 36 Army Brigade, barged into the JCO family quarters in the garrison and opened fire.  "Around 4.55am, suspicious movement was noticed by the santri. The santri bunker was fired upon and they retaliated. The number of terrorists isn't known, they've been cornered in one of the family quarters. The operation is on," Jammu IGP SD Singh Jamwal said.  It is believed that the terrorists have been isolated in one of the buildings.  "Room-to-room intervention is now going on to pin down the terrorists inside the

Amid political crisis, Indian, British journalists detained in Maldives

Male:  Two foreign journalists, including an Indian national, have been detained in the Maldives for working in the country in violation of its immigration rules, the Maldivian police said on Friday amid political turmoil in the island nation. "Two journalists (a British national and an Indian national) have been handed over to @ImmigrationMV to take action against them for working in Maldives against Maldives Immigration Act and Regulations," Maldives police tweeted, without naming them. The action against the two journalists came as a privately-owned television station in the Maldives went off the air, citing threats during the country's current state of emergency. Rajje TV, which highlights the views of the political opposition, said in a statement that it stopped broadcasting because the country's environment does not allow journalists to report freely and independently, the AFP news agency reported. Male, which has seen several political crises since th

Letting the far right in: how Jim Molan helped give extremism a respectable face

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We have danced this tango enough times to know its steps. Call it the social media cycle of shame: public figure gets caught out posting something inappropriate or offensive on their Twitter or Facebook account, he or she is publicly excoriated for it, the public figure apologises, he or she removes the offending material, and public debate moves on. I am not racist: Molan Despite posting anti-Muslim videos from race hate group Britain First on his Facebook page, new senator Jim Molan says he's not racist or anti-Islam. This week, newly appointed Liberal Senator Jim Molan  was exposed by Fairfax Media for posting two offensive, racist propaganda videos  from an extremist, anti-Muslim right-wing group on his Facebook page last March. The creator of the videos, which are pieces of transparent propaganda purporting to show Muslim "thugs" committing various acts of violence, was the UK outfit Britain First. Britain First are part of the global network of whi

The Book Against Transgender Extremism

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When secular leftists express frustration at how practicing Catholics (their humble servants) and evangelicals could have ever voted for Donald Trump, the first thing they refuse to concede is the horror of the alternative. They refuse to admit that Hillary Clinton clearly, forthrightly stood for abortion on demand, at any time, for any reason and even supported having it funded by pro-life taxpayers. It's what she and her husband called "safe, legal and rare." Clinton and her crew even dismissed the videotaped discussion of Planned Parenthood's dead-baby-organ-selling grotesqueries as somehow fictional. And they refuse to admit that Clinton represented the creeping extremism of the LGBT movement, with its emphasis on redesigning all the nation's bathrooms, not to mention human nature. Dr. Ryan Anderson of The Heritage Foundation has a new book called "When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment." He explains that you can se

Indian-American killed, another injured in shootings at US stores

Washington :  An Indian-American was killed and another critically injured when a man opened fire in two convenience stores in the US state of Georgia. Parmjit Singh, a 44-year-old father of two high school students, was shot multiple times on Tuesday evening at the Hi Tech Quick Stop on Burnett Ferry Road, sheriff's officers said. The Floyd County coroner pronounced him dead on the scene. Just 10 minutes after shooting Singh, the gunman entered another convenience store, Elm Street Food and Beverage, and stole money before shooting 30-year-old clerk Parthey Patel, sheriff’s officers said. Patel was in critical condition. The suspect, Lamar Rashad Nicholson, 28, was arrested on multiple charges, including murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm while committing a crime and use of a firearm by a convicted felon. He is being held without bond in the Floyd County jail. Major Jeff Jones with the Floyd County police said officers did recover sec

Religious extremism is the enemy within

Pakistani establishment and society have kept their eyes closed to religious vigilantism too long. Mashal Khan’s brutal lynching and murder show how a handful of manipulators can use blasphemy to rouse crowds to attack and kill any person without giving him a chance to prove his innocence. Four years back a young Christian couple was burnt alive by a violent mob of about 1,000 villagers on the charge of blasphemy. That those who attacked Mashal Khan were students of a university shows that even the educated youth is not immune to extremist religious impulses. Unless urgent and effective measures are taken to curb the trend no individual or institution would be safe in the country. It was proved in the court that Mashal Khan was entirely guiltless and the issue was used by a handful of people to implicate him for sheer personal motives. One person has been sentenced to death, five to life imprisonments, 25 others to four years in jail, and 26 acquitted by an Anti Terrorism Court (AT

How the UK government’s 'extremism' strategy targets Muslims

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None of us have the faintest excuse for feeling surprised at the intervention by new Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman over the hijab ban at St Stephen's primary school in Newham. Spielman's defence of "muscular liberalism" is another manifestation of the approach that produced Sara Khan as Britain’s first extremism commissioner. Ofsted’s successful High Court appeal to ban gender segregation in Birmingham's Al-Hijrah School forms part of the same pattern. How can we be so certain these three events are connected? Try reading the 2017 Conservative Party manifesto. Spielman is implementing government policy.  Promoting 'British values' The manifesto states that one of Prime Minister Theresa May's core objectives is "confronting the menace of extremism". It notes: "Extremism, especially Islamist extremism, strips some British people, especially women, of the freedoms they should enjoy, undermines the cohesion of our society and can