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Showing posts from February 23, 2020

Why Portland Police Stand By Passively When Leftists Riot

"This is the Portland Police Bureau. Stop throwing things at officers," blasted the command from the Portland, Oregon, police bureau's "LRAD" sound system in downtown Portland earlier this month. "If it continues, this event will be declared a civil disturbance." In response, the crowd of several hundred left-wing protesters—many of them masked—laughed and chanted, "ACAB! All cops are bastards!" A group of them continued to hurl projectiles like rocks, concrete and food at police. Some vehicles driving by had incendiary devices thrown at them. A nearby war memorial was vandalized with antifa symbols and messages urging people to "kill cops." Videographers at the scene were attacked and chased away for filming . Police made only three arrests. The protest by antifa in Portland on Feb. 8 , organized to counter alleged Ku Klux Klan members who never showed up, received little media attention. And why should it? In a ci

"Epicentre Of Terrorism": Pak Minorities Put Up Posters Outside UN Office

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 The minorities said that Pak was a threat to world security and thus they protested during the ongoing 43rd session of the UNHRC. New Delhi: With posters demanding strict action against their country for allegedly abetting terrorism, Pakistan minorities staged a protest at the United Nations Human Rights Council. The minorities said their country was a threat to world security and thus they protested during the ongoing 43rd session of the UNHRC. "Since 9/11, Pakistan has been the epicentre of International Terrorism. The region of North Waziristan which borders Afghanistan used to be a hub of local and international terrorists linked to groups, including Al-Qaeda and Taliban as well as other terrorist networks," states the statement made by NGO in Geneva. According to the NGO, the illegal contribution of the Pakistani Army to the International terrorist organisations is being protested with a banner in front of the United Nations Office of Geneva at Br

US and Taliban ink Afghanistan peace agreement, set conditions for troop withdrawal

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    Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the leader of the Taliban delegation, and Zalmay Khalilzad, US envoy for peace in Afghanistan, shake hands after signing a peace agreement in Doha, Qatar. February 29, 2020. © Ibraheem al Omari / Reuters Washington and the Taliban movement have signed a deal that lays out conditions for the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan. The agreement was signed by US peace envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and one of the Taliban's senior leaders, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in Qatar’s capital Doha on Saturday. The deal will see Washington and its allies withdrawing their troops from five bases in Afghanistan within the next 135 days. The remaining American soldiers will leave the country in 14 months if the Taliban fulfills its commitments. The document lays the groundwork for future negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government, aimed at bringing a lasting peace to the country. The US

Naxal who wanted to quit arms beaten up in Chhattisgarh

Kothagudem:  A naxal in neighbouring Chhattisgarh was reportedly beaten up severely by his comrades-in-arms for expressing his desire to quit the outlawed CPI (Maoist) Party and join the mainstream life. According to the police, the naxal who wanted to straighten out his life was identified as Sannu Mandvi. He was said to have worked as a Maoist Bairamgarh area committee member in Bijapur district and used to carry an INSAS assault rifle with him. It was said that he recently shared his idea of quitting the movement and underground life and surrender to the police. The local leaders who came to know this beat him up and warned that he would be punished in ‘Janatan Adalat’. Fearing for his life, Mandvi managed to escape from the forests and approached the Bijapur police for help. The police admitted him to District General Hospital where he is undergoing treatment, said Superintendent of Police Divyang Patel. Mandvi has many criminal cases booked against him, he adde

Corona-fear: France bans all mass public gatherings in confined spaces as German, Swiss fairs canceled

No gatherings of more than 5,000 people in confined spaces will be allowed in France due to fears of the coronavirus epidemic, Paris has announced, as neighboring nations have canceled mass events, bracing for an outbreak. The French authorities announced the restrictions as the number of confirmed cases in the country climbed to 73. Fifty-nine people remain in the hospital after testing positive for the infection, Health Minister Olivier Veran said at a press conference on Saturday. Twelve people have successfully recovered while two died from the disease: a 60-year-old French teacher and an 80-year-old Chinese tourist. The minister spoke after emergency meetings of the French cabinet and National Security Council to assess the epidemics. The ban on mass gatherings will remain in place until further notice. Among the scheduled events affected by it are a half-marathon run in Paris and an agriculture show, both of which were supposed to take place on Sun

South Sudan's former child soldiers try to rebuild their lives

As South Sudan has just formed a long delayed unity government, the country still has a long way to recover from more than five years of civil war. Some 4 million people are still refugees in neighbouring countries or internally displaced. The trauma is deep, especially among the most vulnerable. Tens of thousands of children were subjected to grave violations - among them, former child soldiers, who suffered from, and often inflicted, extreme violence and abuse. Near the town of Yambio, capital of the state of western Equatoria in the south of the country, recently demobilised youths are trying to rebuild their lives at the Tindoka vocational training centre. Many, like 19-year-old Christian*, were forcibly enrolled. Captured by an armed group at the age of 13, he suffered a hellish existence for two years. "We were sleeping just under the trees,” he told euronews reporter Valerie Gauriat. “To get food, it was difficult. Unless you went and attacked people. “They

Daniel Davis: All US troops should leave Syria – we shouldn’t get sucked into war

After an airstrike ordered by the Syrian government killed at least 33 Turkish troops in Syria’s Idlib province Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is renewing calls for U.S. and NATO military assistance. The Trump administration should turn down the request. Involving the United States in what is likely to be the final act of the Syrian civil war would be an enormous mistake. The action the Trump administration should take, however, is to condemn Turkey’s recklessness and worsening of the humanitarian crisis in northwest Syria. We should also withdraw the contingent of U.S. troops still operating in Syria. DAVID ADESNIK: IN SYRIA, TRUMP SHOULD ACT TO SAVE THOUSANDS OF LIVES Neglecting these options risks getting the U.S. more deeply entangled in a broader war. On Feb. 20, as Turkish troops closed in on Syrian military locations in Idlib province, Erdogan made a direct request for U.S. combat air patrols and for American anti-aircraft missile batteries t

Polisario Continues to Conscript Child Soldiers, Defies UN Conventions

Rabat – A spanish online news outlet has called out the Polisario Front for its continued use of underage soldiers in defiance of the UN’s conventions on children’ rights, including their exploitation for political gains. In an article titled “Polisario’s Child Soldiers,” Spanish online outlet Tribunalibre.info suggested that the breakaway group a was blatantly violating human rights conventions and the UN’s stance on the “illegal” use of children as soldiers.  The article argued that the practice of “child soldiers” has long been decried because it strips the children of their youthful innocence. “War is not fun. We should educate and teach our children about peace and peaceful coexistence, not war,” wrote Tribunalibre.info.  The report added that in addition to stripping the conscripted children of their “innocence and youthful insouciance,” Polisario leadership is using the “innocent children” as “human shields” to appeal to the sympathy and solidarity of the interna

Minorities in Pak: Pakistani woman accused of blasphemy seeks asylum in France

PARIS: A Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row in Pakistan , and who faced death threats from Islamic extremists, said she is going to request asylum in France. Asia Bibi will receive her diploma on Tuesday as a Citizen of Honor of the city of Paris , a title she was awarded in 2015. Bibi has lived in Canada since she was released by Pakistan last year. She expressed her desire to live in France in an interview on French radio RTL on Monday. Macron's office said French authorities are ``ready to welcome Asia Bibi and her family in France if this is what they wish to do.`` Bibi was convicted of blasphemy in 2009 after a quarrel with two fellow farm workers, who refused to drink from the same water container as a Christian. Five days later, the women said Bibi had insulted Islam , a crime punishable by death. Bibi was charged with blasphemy despite repeatedly denying the accusation. The Supreme Court overturned her conviction l

US set to withdraw ALL troops from Afghanistan in 14 months if deal with Taliban is upheld – statement

Washington and its allies plan to pull all of their troops out of Afghanistan within 14 months if commitments under the planned US-Taliban deal are implemented in full, the joint US-Afghan document says. According to the statement by the US and Afghan governments, the US will first scale down the number of soldiers it has currently stationed in Afghanistan, from 13,000 to 8,600, within the first 135 days following an agreement with the Taliban, which is expected to be signed later on Saturday. The remaining US and NATO troops will withdraw from the country within 14 months, clearing all of their bases. The withdrawal process is conditional on the Taliban fulfilling its commitments under the deal. The peace agreement will include guarantees “to prevent the use of Afghan soil by any international terrorist groups or individuals [working] against the security of the United States and its allies.” US President Donald Trump said earlier that the agreement m

‘Get out of the way, let us deal with Assad regime’, Erdogan says he told Putin regarding Idlib, Syria

As tensions in Idlib province reach the boiling point, Turkey has asked Russia to let it fight the Syrian government face-to-face, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed. Erdogan asked Putin  “to get out of the way”  and let the Turkish troops deal with Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Turkish leader told his AK Party on Saturday. Erdogan was explaining to lawmakers his government’s handling of the escalation in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, where Turkish and Syrian troops have engaged in several clashes over the past weeks. The hostilities have all but ruined Turkey’s 2018 agreement with Russia on de-escalating the violence in the area, which remains the last major stronghold of anti-government forces in Syria. Describing his phone conversation with Putin, Erdogan said if Russia’s interest in Syria was to keep a military presence there, Turkey, a NATO member, does not object to it. I asked Mr Putin: What's your business there? If yo

Terror groups, hacktivists want your money and your life -- Here's how to keep them away from it

Who is the adversary, our cybersecurity “enemy”? Your mind might flash to the visual of a hooded figure with a mask, hacking away on a computer in the shadows of a darkly-lit basement. It sounds pretty scary—if it were only true. Today’s cyber attackers are more sophisticated and corporate in their conduct than ever before. HOW TO SAFELY STORE PERSONAL DATA ON 'THE CLOUD' The reality is, the adversary targeting your money and resources can be anyone or any organization. To protect ourselves against evolving cyberattacks, let’s look at the different types of cybercriminals out there, their preferred targets, the types of ‘loot’ they seek, and their favorite offensive strategies. Terrorist organizations and hacking activists, known as “hacktivists,” are not professional criminal organizations or nation-state attackers, they are a less common type of cyberattacker. Their motivation is to advance religious and political agendas by spreading propaganda an

Ban traumatic ‘shooter drills’ in US schools, urge teachers

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Unions demand end to graphic mock-ups that fuel fear among pupils as young as five   “Shooter drills”, in which masked men carrying assault rifles burst into classrooms and simulate real-life gun attacks, are traumatising children and should be banned, America’s two biggest teachers’ unions have warned. The drills came in after the Columbine shooting in 1999, where 13 students were killed, but they have surged in American schools since the attack at Sandy Hook school in 2012, when a gunman shot dead 26, mostly children in kindergarten. “You have kids wetting their pants, you have kids crying, you have teachers crying and you have everyone saying, ‘this is it – I’m going to die’,” said Lily Eskelsen García, president of the National Education Association. “And when it’s over, it’s like – just kidding!” Talking to children about where to hide in the event of an intruder is one thing, but the graphic nature of the mock-ups is putting children and teachers in “th

UK students trained on how to deal with stab wounds amid knife crime epidemic

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Students in central England are being trained to deal with stab wounds using potentially lifesaving bleed control kits amid the country's  knife crime epidemic . The Midlands Air Ambulance, which services parts of the Midlands area and part of the South West of England, is teaching students and teachers at local schools to use the kits in case of a stabbing. Jim Hancox, the assistant air operations manager, told the BBC that about 60 local schools are doing the first-aid courses continuing through April. UK KNIFE CRIME RATE HITS 10-YEAR HIGH, AVERAGING OVER 60 A DAY, STATS SHOW “We know the care people get in the early minutes and seconds after being injured is crucial to their chances of having a good outcome,” he said. “Unfortunately, the people we see involved in these kinds of injuries are the young people.” Bleed control kits are meant to by time until first responders arrive. (City of London Police) "Whilst I am sure with the grea

Change of status for terror insurer Pool Re triggers anger

The future of Pool Re, the UK’s specialist terrorism insurer, has been thrown into doubt after the government’s Office for National Statistics changed its official status.  Pool Re, which was set up by the industry in 1993, provides back-up cover for insurance companies in case they have to pay out after large-scale terrorist attacks. It is owned by the insurance industry, but in extreme cases it can also call on funding from the government. It pays the state some £200m per year for that ability.  On Friday the Office for National Statistics announced that Pool Re should be classified as a government entity, which means the company’s £6.7bn of assets and liabilities will sit on the government’s balance sheet. The ONS acted on a 2017 query over Pool Re’s status from the Office for Budget Responsibility, the official independent watchdog. Although the sum will not make a significant impact on the national accounts, it will trigger a debate about how the company works in the futu

Tripoli bombardment forces evacuation of patients from hospital

Flights also suspended after Mitiga airport, the only functioning airport in Tripoli, was attacked. The bombardment of Libya 's capital Tripoli intensified on Friday, residents said, forcing the evacuation of some patients from a hospital near the capital's only functioning airport. Residents said the shelling was among the hardest since the two rival governments said they had agreed to a ceasefire in January, as blasts of artillery echoed in the city centre and black smoke billowed near Mitiga airport that is held by the government. The fighting, between the Libyan National Army (LNA) of eastern-based leader Khalifa Haftar and the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli, came as the United Nations tried to hold peace talks in Geneva. The town council of Abu Salim, a Tripoli neighbourhood, posted pictures of damaged houses on Facebook, saying a woman and child had been taken to hospital. Flights suspended