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Showing posts from October 18, 2020

Libya: Warring parties agree to immediate ceasefire

 The Libyan factions signed a permanent ceasefire agreement on Friday, after five days of talks sponsored by the United Nations (UN) in Geneva. The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) stated on its Facebook page: “The talks of the 5 + 5 Joint Military Committee in Geneva today culminate in a historic achievement as Libyan teams reach a permanent ceasefire. This achievement is an important turning point towards peace and stability in Libya.” The mission aired a live broadcast of the signing ceremony on its Facebook page. Head of the UNSMIL Stephanie Williams confirmed that the agreement , which will take effect immediately, “does not apply to terrorist groups designated by the United Nations,” adding that the accord binds all military units on the battlefronts to return to their barracks. OPINION: Three women, loads of lies and the destruction of Libya Williams added: “The agreement stipulated that all mercenary groups leave the Libyan territory within th

Arab coalition destroys Houthi drone targeting Saudi Arabia

 RIYADH: The Arab coalition intercepted and destroyed a drone launched by the Houthis toward Saudi Arabia's southern region on Saturday.  The armed drone which targeted civilians was destroyed on Saturday afternoon, coalition spokesman Col. Turki Al-Maliki said.  Source:  https://www.arabnews.com/node/1753466/saudi-arabia

Suicide bombing in Kabul kills ten, including children

 A suicide attack Saturday in Afghanistan’s capital killed at least ten people and wounded 20 others, including schoolchildren, the interior ministry said. The explosion struck outside an education center in a heavily Shiite neighborhood of western Kabul. The interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian says that the attacker was trying to enter the center when he was stopped by security guards. No group claimed immediate responsibility for the bombing. The Taliban rejected any connection with the attack. An Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for a similar suicide attack at an education center in August 2018, in which 34 students were killed. Within Afghanistan, IS has launched large-scale attacks on minority Shiites, whom it views as apostates. The U.S. signed a peace deal with the Taliban in February, opening up a path toward withdrawing American troops from the conflict. U.S. officials said the deal would also help refocus security efforts on fighting the Islam

Clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh after Washington talks

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 Azerbaijan reported fighting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh despite Pompeo holding talks with both sides in Washington, DC. Clashes broke out between Azerbaijani and ethnic Armenian forces over Nagorno-Karabakh a day after talks in Washington, DC to try to end the deadliest fighting in the mountain enclave in more than a quarter of a century. Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defence reported on Friday that there was fighting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, a part of Azerbaijan that is populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians. On October 23 and 24, operations continued in the Aghdere, Khojavend, Fizuli, Hadrut, and Gubadli directions, the ministry was quoted as saying by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency. The defence ministry of Nagorno-Karabakh said on Saturday that the number of Armenian troops killed in the latest conflict in the region that began on September 27 had risen by 36 to 963, the Interfax news agency reported. The latest heavy shelling forced residents o

Turkey arrests 14 Daesh/ISIS terror suspects

  ISTANBUL  Security forces in Istanbul have arrested 14 people with suspected links to the terror group Daesh/ISIS, the Turkish police said Thursday. The suspects were arrested at 20 different venues in the early morning in simultaneous anti-terror operations by police and intelligence teams. Among the suspects are 13 foreign nationals -- some of whom are suspected of being active in Syria -- and their deportation procedures have started, the Istanbul Police Department said in a statement. A number of documents and digital materials were also seized in the operations, it added. In 2013, Turkey became one of the first countries to declare Daesh/ISIS a terrorist group. The country has since been attacked by Daesh/ISIS terrorists multiple times, with at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks, and four armed attacks that killed 315 people and injured hundreds more. In response, Turkey launched anti-terror operations at home and abroad to prevent further attacks. Source: 

Russia: Kurds would not have released Daesh militants without pressure from the US

 Russia’s Foreign Ministry has claimed that the Kurdish militias and administration in north-east Syria would not have released low-level former Daesh fighters without being pressured to do so by the United States. Speaking at a news briefing yesterday, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that the move by Kurdish militias last week to release 600 suspected Daesh militants following a trial confused Russia. This was particularly so as the Kurds were a primary fighting force against Daesh throughout the Syrian conflict. “Obviously, the Kurds would have never done that without being prompted by the Americans,” claimed Zakharova. She criticised the move, claiming that it has contributed to a resurgence in Daesh attacks and activity in Syria. “The dangerous consequences of that hardly explainable step were obvious. They’ve surfaced before long.” She added that Russia maintains its “invariable and fundamental position” in the ongoing conflict, which is “support for Syri

New Daesh threat puts Saudi fight against extremism in the spotlight

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 LONDON: In a cryptic audio message, the extremist group Daesh has called on its followers to launch terrorist attacks against oil pipelines and economic infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia as retaliation for the Kingdom’s support for the UAE and Bahrain’s normalization of ties with Israel. The statement, posted on the group’s Telegram channel, came as the UAE on Monday formally ratified the US-brokered deal, known as the Abraham Accords, which allowed commercial flights between Israel and the Gulf state for the first time. “The Kingdom supported normalization by opening its airspace to Israeli aircraft on their flights to the United Arab Emirates,” a voice purportedly of Daesh spokesperson Abu Hamza Al-Quraishi said in the recording. “The normalization agreements are considered a betrayal of Islam. Our targets are plenty, starting with striking and destroying oil pipelines, factories and facilities that constitute sources of income for the tyrannical government.” D

Mass grave of Daesh/ISIS victims found in Iraq’s Kirkuk

  BAGHDAD, Iraq A mass grave of dozens of Iraqis killed by the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group was unearthed in the northern Kirkuk province, according to a local security officer on Tuesday. The grave in the town of Dawood al-Alouka contains the remains of 45 people killed by Daesh/ISIS terrorists, the officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He said forensic authorities will exhume the bodies for DNA tests to identify them. Daesh/ISIS terrorists gained full control in Mosul, Salahadin and Anbar provinces and seized territories in Diyala and Kirkuk in 2014. But Iraqi security forces managed to regain control in subsequent years. The terror group left tens of mass graves in areas that were under their control in which thousands of opponents were killed and buried. In 2017, Iraq declared victory over Daesh/ISIS by reclaiming all of its territory – about a third of the country’s area – invaded by the terrorist group. However, the

Former FARC Rebels March On Colombian Capital To Demand Protection

  Former left-wing FARC guerrillas began a 10-day march in Colombia on Wednesday to protest the murder of 234 ex-rebels who laid down their arms under the historic 2016 peace accord that ended a half century of conflict. The so-called "pilgrimage" occurred as indigenous people, teachers, students and unions also took to the streets across the country as part of a national strike to demand government action and protest against violence inflicted on indigenous people. The 200-kilometer (125-mile) march began in Mesetas in the south of the country and is due to arrive in the capital Bogota on November 1. It was organized following the death of two former combatants who were gunned down on October 16 near Mesetas. According to FARC, that brought the number of murdered ex-combatants to 234 since the peace deal. Many of the former rebels have become victims rather than perpetrators as other left-wing groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug traffickers vie for ascendancy. "W

Four Mexican drug cartels top buyers and traffickers of Colombian cocaine, official says

  BOGOTA (Reuters) - Mexico's Sinaloa, Jalisco Nueva Generacion, Zetas and Beltran Leyva drug cartels are the top buyers and traffickers of cocaine produced by criminal groups in Colombia, including current and former leftist rebels, according to a high-ranking Colombian security official. The country at the northern tip of South America is one of the world's top producers of cocaine, largely consumed by customers in the United States and Europe. Production provides key income to armed groups and fuels Colombia's five-decade-long internal conflict, which has killed more than 260,000 people. Rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN), ex-members of the FARC guerrillas who reject a 2016 peace deal and criminal gangs formed by right-wing former paramilitaries are all involved in trafficking. "The Mexicans are the principal buyers of the supply of coca produced in Colombia," Rafael Guarin, presidential adviser for security told Reuters on Wednesday, referring to c

Azerbaijan claims that Armenia is using PKK on front lines

  Armenia is using PKK terrorists on the front lines in Nagorno-Karabakh, Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to Azerbaijani president, said at an online meeting organized by the British Foreign Press Association. Hajiyev reiterated that Armenia targets civilians and rejected claims that fighters were brought from Syria to fight for Azerbaijan. “First of all, we don’t need such a thing. We have a very professional army. We also have enough reserve power,” he said. But he indicated that fighters from other countries are in the ranks of Armenia’s armed forces, including from Syria, Lebanon, as well as the US, Canada, and especially France. Hajiyev urged countries, whose Armenian citizens have joined the war and are killing Azerbaijani civilians, to stop the slaughter of ordinary civilians. “We also have concerns about the PKK terrorist organization’s involvement in the war. They are also in the ranks of the Armenian armed forces. Essentially, they are deployed on the front line of the defense of t

Sri Lanka Files Appeal Against UK's Move To Remove LTTE From Terror List

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  Sri Lanka maintains that it has sufficient evidence to prove that the remnants of the LTTE and groups aligned with its terrorist ideology are active in foreign countries, working to incite violence and destabilise the country. The UK listed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a terrorist outfit in 2000. (File) Colombo: Sri Lanka has appealed against a judgement from Britain's Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission, which has delisted the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a proscribed terrorist organisation. A foreign ministry statement said that Sri Lanka has been made aware of the Open Judgement by the Commission on Wednesday. It said the decision of the Commission arises from an appeal filed in May 2019 by an LTTE front organisation challenging the decision of British Secretary of State for Home Affairs dated March 8, 2019, which refused the application by the group to de-proscribe the LTTE from the list of Proscribed Organizations under the UK Terrorism

Day before Imran Khan’s big FATF test, India hammers Pak for terror safe havens

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  External affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said that Pakistan had addressed only 21 of the 27 items in an action plan given by FATF to curb terror financing and money laundering. Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan(AP file photo) Even as the   Financial Action Task Force   (FATF) assesses Islamabad’s compliance with a counter-terror financing action plan, India on Thursday accused Pakistan of continuing to shelter terror groups and failing to act against UN-designated terrorists such as Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told a weekly news briefing that Pakistan had addressed only 21 of the 27 items in an action plan given by   FATF to curb terror financing and money laundering . His remarks came against the backdrop of the multilateral watchdog’s virtual plenary meeting, which is widely expected to decide by Friday on retaining Pakistan in its “grey list”. Watch | India calls Pakistan

Fati receives apology for 'racist insults' in Spanish newspaper

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  Barcelona forward Ansu Fati has received an apology from Spanish newspaper ABC for being racially profiled by one of its journalists. ABC journalist Salvador Sostres wrote of Barcelona's 5-1 Champions League win over Ferencvaros on Tuesday that "Ansu when running has something of a gazelle, or a very young, black street seller running away from police". © Getty   Barcelona forward Ansu Fati was compared to a 'young, black street seller' fleeing from police Barcelona forward Antoine Griezmann was left angered by the report and posted on Twitter: "Ansu is an exceptional guy who deserves respect like all human beings. No to racism and no to ignorance." ABC published an apology from Sostres on Thursday. "My intention was to praise the beauty of Ansu's movement and his talent as a very young player," Sostres wrote. "Some expressions were understood as racist insults. Nothing was further from my intention, nor the very favourable opinion o

Data Of 186 Million US Voters Being Traded On Hacker Forums: Researchers

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  The researchers said they discovered other databases on the entire US consumer population and on residents of Britain, Canada, Ireland and South Africa. The data has "shocking level of detail about citizens", "their political affiliation" (Representational) Washington: A database with information on virtually the entire US voting population has been circulated on hacker forums, opening up the potential for disinformation and scams that could impact the November 3 election, security researchers say. A report released Wednesday by the security firm Trustwave said its researchers "discovered massive databases with detailed information about US voters and consumers offered for sale on several hacker forums." The databases "include a shocking level of detail about citizens including their political affiliation," and the sellers claim to have 186 million records, which would mean nearly all US voters, the security researchers said in a blog post. &qu