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Showing posts from July 14, 2019

Yemeni drones raid Saudi air base after Sana'a bombed

Yemeni armed forces have conducted drone strikes on King Khalid air base in Saudi Arabia's southwestern Asir Province in retaliation for the kingdom’s massive bombing of Sana'a early Saturday.  The al-Masirah TV channel reported that Yemeni army soldiers and allied fighters from Popular Committees used Qasif-K2 combat drones to target the air base near the city of Khamis Mushait. It quoted Yemen’s armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Sare'e as saying that the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs) had accurately hit radar and military sites at the Saudi base. The retaliation came after Saudi warplanes carried out airstrikes on Sana'a's September 21 park and the Ministry of Media Affairs earlier in the day, al-Masirah reported. Saudi air raids, it added, also targeted Farijah Camp in the Arhab district of Sana'a Province. Saudi-led coalition spokesperson Colonel Turki al-Maliki said warplan

Australian troops training Filipino forces to combat ISIS threat

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Australian troops deployed to the Philippines say the threat of ISIS is now on Australia’s doorstep, as the terror group moves closer to home. More than 100 Australian troops from the army, air force and navy are currently based in the southern Philippines, training local forces in combat techniques they learnt on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq. Their mission - known officially as Operation Augury - is not only to equip Filipino forces with new battle techniques, but to also help safeguard Australia’s own regional security. Australian troops deployed to the Philippines say the threat of ISIS is now on Australia’s doorstep, as the terror group moves closer to home. (60 Minutes) “We just need to be ready and make sure we can counter it,” Group Captain John Young tells 60 Minutes reporter Liam Bartlett. “It may not be in Australia, but this part of the world is in our backyard… they’re our neighbours.” This Sunday, 60 Minutes is the first television prog

Hafiz Saeed's Arrest Is "Window Dressing", Made No Difference Before: US

"The previous arrest of Hafiz Muhammed Saeed hasn't made a difference," a US official said (File Photo) Washington:  The Trump administration on Friday expressed doubts over Pakistan's intentions in arresting terrorist Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 2001 parliament attack and the 2008 Mumbai attack, saying his previous arrests made no difference either to his activities or that of his terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba. "We've seen this happen in the past. And we have been looking for sustained and concrete steps, not just window dressing," a senior administration official told reporters Friday, ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to the US next week. Hafiz Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist, was arrested on Wednesday - the seventh time since December 2001, when he was arrested in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack on the parliament. "Let me reassure you, we are clear eyed about the history here. We'

‘Unidentified drones attack Hashd al-Sha’abi base in Iraq’

Unidentified drones have reportedly attacked a base belonging to Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU) in the Arab country’s Salahudin Province. The attack killed one PMU member and injured another four, Iraq’s al-Ahad television network reported on Friday. Footage later released by Iraqi media from the assault’s aftermath showed a large flame in what was reportedly a PMU base near the town of Amerli. It is yet unclear who orchestrated the operation. Meanwhile, the Iraqi al-Etejah television network reported that an American B350 reconnaissance plane had flown over the region a few days earlier. The PMU — better known as Hashd al-Sha’abi — was formed by popular volunteer forces in 2014 after the Daesh Takfiri terror group launched a campaign of bloodshed and destruction against the nation. It joined forces with the national army and effectively contributed to its anti-terror operations. The combined push, whic

Hezbollah chief warns US against waging war on Iran

The secretary general of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement has warned the US that any military aggression against Iran will drag the entire Middle East into disarray, stressing that Washington will definitely not be the one who determines the end of such a scenario. “As Leader of the Islamic Revolution (Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei) has said, the US is not capable of imposing a military war on Iran. The White House knows that if a war against Iran happens, the entire region will get entangled, and the US will not be the one who finishes it,” Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a meeting with the visiting Iranian parliament speaker’s special advisor on international affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in Beirut on Friday. Tensions have been running high between Tehran and Washington since last year, when US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal, officially known a

Scrabble or anti-Semitism? Norwegian ‘Jewish pig’ cartoon courts controversy

A satirical cartoon on Norwegian public television has drawn complaints about anti-Semitism, after it showed a man contemplating a derogatory term in a word puzzle game Scrabble, while playing against a Jew. Part of the NKR Humor series, the cartoon depicts an overweight man dressed as a Haredi Jew, playing Scrabble with a younger man in the park, and berating him for taking too long. “We are clearly on different cognitive levels,” the Jewish man declares. As the camera pans around, the reason becomes obvious: his opponent is pondering whether to reveal the winning eight-letter combination that might win him the round, but is incredibly offensive: “Jødesvin” – “Jewish pig” in Norwegian. Norske Grønnsaker, the animators who created the clip, chose to share it on Facebook with a caption “tag a Jew,” prompting an avalanche of complaints. The video was later re-uploaded without the offending caption. NRK Entertainment editor Charlo Halvorsen defended the vid

Brooklyn Man Charged with Being Islamic State Emir

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WASHINGTON - A 42-year-old man from Brooklyn, New York, is back on U.S. soil, charged with fighting for the Islamic State terror group as a sniper before rising through the ranks to become an emir. Charges against Ruslan Maratovich Asainov were unsealed Friday, a day after U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces handed him over to U.S. law enforcement officials. The U.S. military then flew Asainov to New York, where he appeared before a judge Friday. According to court documents, Asainov, a naturalized citizen who came to the U.S. from Kazakhstan, traveled to Syria in late 2013, where he began fighting with IS as a sniper. Training camps Eventually, he became one of the terror group's emirs, responsible for establishing training camps for IS recruits and for teaching them how to use weapons. He also began communicating with a confidential informant for the FBI, asking for money while periodically sending

Aged yourself on the FaceApp yet? Here's what you need to know about privacy concerns

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The app has gone viral in the last week after hundreds of thousands of users began digitally 'aging' themselves. Friday, July 19, 2019 - 16:37 The internet was filled with pictures of what people would like if they were much older — and all of these pictures had been uploaded to FaceApp, an app developed a team of Russian developers. The app has gained viral fame — for the second time since 2017 — with celebrities jumping on the bandwagon as well. At one point, the app allowed people to switch races, as well as swap genders. However, the sheer number of people posting the picture of what they would look like with wrinkles and gray hair raised a valid concern — what was the app going to do with these pictures and were they any protections for the wealth of data it had procured? Here’s everything you

AQAP responds to Al Jazeera documentary

In a short statement released earlier today via Telegram, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) responded to a recent documentary produced by Qatar’s Al Jazeera news channel. “The Qatari Al Jazeera channel released a film…in which tries to prove relations between al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Bahraini government and that the Bahraini government uses AQAP to liquidate their accounts in regards to politics,” AQAP’s statement reads . AQAP goes on to note that Al Jazeera has reported similar findings in regards to the jihadist group and the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The documentary in question, “ Playing with Fire ,” attests that Bahraini intelligence services, at the direction of Hamid bin Isa Al Khalifa, the King of Bahrain, works with AQAP to target Bahraini opposition figures and dissidents. Al Jazeera interviewed several purported former Bahraini and American intelligence personnel that attest to this secre

US security aid to Pakistan will remain suspended pending 'decisive and irreversible' action against terror groups: Congressional report

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Washington: Ahead of Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to the United States, a Congressional report has said the security assistance to Pakistan would remain suspended pending "decisive and irreversible" action against terrorist groups. At the direction of President Donald Trump, the US had suspended all its security assistance to Pakistan in January 2018. This is the first high-level trip by a Pakistani prime minster to the White House during the Trump administration. File image of Imran Khan. PTI "Pakistan is a haven for numerous Islamist extremist and terrorist groups, and successive Pakistani governments are widely believed to have tolerated and even supported some of these as proxies in Islamabad's historical conflicts with its neighbors," the independent Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in a latest report on Pakistan. The CRS is an independent and bipartisan research win

'Stain of the Century': Mike Pompeo Slams China Over Treatment of Uighur Muslims

Washington: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday called China's treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority the "stain of the century" and accused Beijing of pressuring countries not to attend a US-hosted conference on religious freedom. "China is home to one of the worst human rights crises of our time; it is truly the stain of the century," Pompeo told the final day of the international conference in Washington. Pompeo said Chinese government officials had sought to discourage countries from attending the three-day event he has hosted. "Is that consistent with the guarantee of religious belief that is found directly in the Chinese constitution?" he asked. Pompeo, who said this week that more than 100 foreign delegations had been invited to the conference, congratulated countries which had defied Chinese pressure, while adding: "If you have declined to attend for the same reason, we take note." Pompeo did not name a

Turkey bombs Kurdish region in Iraq after diplomat killed

Turkey on Thursday launched an air attack on the Kurdish region in northern Iraq in response to the killing of a Turkish diplomat in the region, the country's defence minister said. The Turkish vice consul to Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region was shot dead on Wednesday in the local capital Erbil. Police sources said two other people were also killed. There was no claim of responsibility for the shooting, but many Iraqi experts have pointed to the probability that the Turkish separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party ( PKK ), which Ankara considers a "terrorist" group, was behind the attack. "Following the evil attack in Erbil, we have launched the most comprehensive air operation on Qandil and dealt a heavy blow to the (PKK) terror organisation," Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said in a statement. Targets such as "armaments positions, lodgings, shelters and caves belonging to terrorists" were destroyed. "Our fight against t

Iraqi Kurdish authorities identify suspect behind Erbil shooting

Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has said it identified one of the assailants responsible for the killing of a Turkish diplomat in Erbil . Osman Kose was killed on Wednesday when gunmen opened fire in an upscale restaurant where he was dining in Erbil, the local capital of the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq . Police sources said two other people were also killed. Police shared a photo of the alleged attacker, Mazlum Dag, born in 1992 in Diyarbakir, Turkey , and asked residents to help turn him in. A wanted notice released by the unit showed two photos of a black-haired young man with a close-cut beard, with one image apparently taken from CCTV footage. "We call on all citizens to provide security services with information about this suspect as soon as possible," the counterterrorism unit said. It called the attack a "terrorist" act. According to Anadolu News Agency, Dersim Dag, one of Mazlum's brothers, is a dep

Afghanistan: Kabul University hit by deadly explosion

At least eight people have been killed after a bomb detonated near university premises in Afghanistan 's capital on Friday, officials said. Wahidullah Mayar, the Health Ministry spokesman, wrote on Twitter that another 33 people were wounded in Friday's explosion. Reports said the blast took place near Kabul University's southern entrance. There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The early morning explosion also set two vehicles ablaze, although it was not clear if the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber or a remotely detonated bomb, according to Kabul police spokesman Ferdous Faramarz. The university compound also houses several hostels where many students stay over the summer, attending classes and conducting research. Civilian casualties The attack comes days after intra-Afghan talks in Doha, Qatar,  featuring Afghan leaders and  Taliban  representatives. Both  sides called for the reduction of civilian casu

WATCH: 'I clear landmines' - 24-year-old woman risks her life daily

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1m 0s WATCH: 'I clear landmines' - 24-year-old woman risks her life daily Paola Sanchez is 24 years old and risks her life every day, finding and deactivating landmines after five decades of conflict in Colombia. The Revoluntionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) and the country's government fought for more than 50 years over land and power. Landmines from the conflict still cover the countryside. Paola Sanchez say her job is a "unique task... contributing to the peace process, we are giving back land so that people can work". Source: https://m.news24.com/World/News/watch-i-clear-landmines-24-year-old-woman-risks-her-life-daily-20190713

Pro-gov't Yemeni forces detonate 600 Houthi-laid mines in Hodeidah

ADEN, Yemen, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Pro-government Yemeni forces detonated nearly 600 landmines that were dismantled from different areas in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Tuesday, a military official told Xinhua. "The experts of the pro-government forces managed to destroy around 600 dismantled landmines and explosive devices that were previously laid by the Houthi rebels in Hodeidah," the official said on condition of anonymity. He said that most of the landmines and explosive devices were dismantled from areas in Durayhmi district, south of Hodeidah, following the withdrawal of the Houthi rebels. The source explained that "the mines were laid by the rebels along the main roads and around key residential areas, endangering lives of many civilians living there." Landmines and explosives of various kinds and sizes are considered a deadly long-standing threat to the lives of millions of Yemenis and have killed and injured hundreds o

BOOMING GUN CULTURE

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Whether it is robbery, snatching, murder or any form of the heinous crime, criminals are not hesitating to use the firearms on the victims. Easy availability of firearms to criminals a cause of worry for city police. "The problem of illicit firearms and their use is becoming worse with every passing year. The reasons why people go in for illegal arms vary from person to person, though most who seek illegal arms are petty criminals or those seeking revenge," reads Delhi Police annual report 2018. Recently the street of the city witnessed several incidents which proved gun culture booming in the National Capital. CCTV footages captured various inexplicable and spine-tingling incidents where trigger-happy criminals strike fear in Delhi. Though police busted several gangs involved in the supply, manufacturing of illicit weapons but the investigation revealed that arms demand still there. Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Madhur Verma said that

Landmine kills 11 pilgrims in southern Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) - At least 11 pilgrims including seven children were killed and on Monday when their vehicle set off a landmine in southern Afghanistan, local government and health officials said. The blast happened in the Khakrez district of Kandahar province at around midday, said Hayatullah Hayat, a spokesman for Kandahar’s governor. A senior health official said 22 children and eight women were among another 34 women and children who were critically wounded. The victims were going on a pilgrimage to a shrine that houses the tomb of Sufi Shah Agha, a companion and relative of the Prophet Mohammad. Zarmina, a 10-year-old girl who was one of the 34 injured, was taken to a government-run hospital. “My sister was among those killed in the blast, my brother, and mother are critically wounded,” said Zarmina, who goes by one name. In Logar province in the south east, a blast inside a mosque in the capital city of Pul-e-Alam led to the death of three Taliban fighters and 1

Army researchers building ‘smart’ landmines for future combat

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Soldiers of the 789th Ordnance Company prepare a cache of landmines, mortars and 107mm rockets to be disposed of by a high explosives charge, near Besmaya region southeast of Baghdad. Army researchers are designing smarter, safer and more mobile landmines for future operations. (Army) FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – Army leaders see a future battlefield with networked minefields a commander can see from across the globe through satellite communications and that can be scattered in minutes but also retrieved and reused when needed. The push is an effort to keep landmines of various types in the weapons portfolio while still meeting the agreements made to get out of the old school “dumb” landmine use. Smart mines being developed now are a way to replace some of the aging stocks in the “Family of Scatterable Mines” run by the Army’s Program Manager Close Combat Systems. The program actually runs nearly half of all munitions from non-lethals to hand g

How Dockworkers Are Fighting the Arms Trade

Across Europe, a series of coordinated actions at shipping ports have challenged Saudi violence against the Yemeni people. A fter President Trump pledged an $8 billion deal to provide Saudi Arabia with weapons last month, the Senate passed three rare bipartisan resolutions intended to prevent the sale from going through . The very same day, the High Court in the United Kingdom—Saudi Arabia’s second-largest arms dealer after the United States—delivered a landmark ruling declaring arms sales to Saudi Arabia illegal on the basis of the Saudi government’s war crimes in Yemen. Meanwhile, a series of actions by trade unions and community organizations in European ports has been blockading arms shipments on the ground. In a political landscape overwhelmed by increasing militarism and right-wing nationalism, the actions in Europe remind us of the possibilities available to us