[ToloNews] Kabul residents complained about the lack of water. They said that despite their economic challenges, they are compelled to buy water.
Residents of Kabul urged the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to work on supplying water to the capital.
"We used to have water in our well at seven meters when the Kabul River had water, but now that the water level has dropped to about eighty or ninety meters, we have no water, and the well has dried up," said Baz Mohammad, a resident of Kabul.
"I have a state faucet which has been dry for nine months. Tankers are currently coming to the streets and we buy one barrel for 10 afghani," said Ketab Khan, another resident of Kabul.
According to some environmentalists, the excessive use of underground water has caused the reduction of water in the capital.
"The indiscriminate consumption of water happens in the commercial centers that wash cars, carpets, bathrooms and swimming pools," said Sayed Qayum Hashemi, an environmental expert.
However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... the Afghanistan Urban Water Supply and Sewage Corporation (AUWSSC), said that Kabul City's supply of water has been reduced by 50% due to the lack of rainfall, and, as a result, the majority of residents buy the water they need from private companies.
"Canals used to provide water in quantities between 2,000 and 2,400 cubic meters, but they currently only provide 800 to 900 cubic meters. The water level has dropped due to the decrease in rainfall and snow," said Shafiullah Zahedi, head of the Kabul City Sewage Water Supply Corporation.
According to the Ministry of Energy and Water, Kabul city is currently facing a severe water scarcity due to a number of factors including an increase in population, the usage of subsurface water, and climate change.
Or it could be that Allah is showing his disapproval of the new rulers. That one’s got my vote.
[TotoiseMedia] Two of the most prominent United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... organizations have bowed to Taliban ...Arabic for students... pressure for male-only offices in Afghanistan, Tortoise has learnt. Unesco and Unicef have outraged fellow aid workers in Kabul who fear the organizations are normalising the Taliban’s extreme gender restrictions.
No women allowed. In early April, the Taliban banned Afghan women from working for the global body. Initially, the aid organizations presented a united front — everyone sent all their male and female Afghan staff home while they weighed their options until 5 May.
But Tortoise understands that the UN culture and education body, and the fund for children, have bowed to the Taliban’s demands.
Afghan men working for the organizations on local contracts have been told to come back to work.
Their work has been deemed ’critical’;
while women have been told to stay at home.
Fragmented response. The news comes as at least 125 UN staff members signed an anonymous internal letter saying that the dangerously fragmented and "incoherent" response to the ban on female staff risked undermining the entire humanitarian response to the country of 40 million.
"One agency has since deemed all male staff ’critical’ and offered female staff to return to work without any assurances for their safety, against the recommendation of the UN country team," the letter said, although it did not mention agencies by name.
The agency which offered female staff to return to work with no safety assurances is Unicef, Tortoise understands.
"Through its incoherent approach, the United Nations is sending the message to all its staff that female staff do not matter," the letter continues.
"It is sending a message to the world that gender apartheid is merely an inconvenient operational environment or a simple cultural difference."
What does this all mean for the millions of Afghan women who desperately need help? It will be even harder to get them aid. Given the Taliban’s restrictions on gender, it is almost impossible to reach half the Afghani population without female aid workers.
The UN said in a statement from Kabul late on Friday that the Taliban’s de facto ban on women working for its agencies "seriously undermines our work, including our ability to reach people in need". The statement condemned the ban as unlawful under international law but insisted the agencies’ work had to continue, adding: "We cannot disengage despite the challenges."
[KhaamaPress] On Thursday, Shahabuddin Delawar, the acting minister of mines and petroleum, met with Cihad Erginay, the Ottoman Turkish ambassador to Kabul, to discuss various issues, including investment opportunities.
Both sides of the discussion talked about the Afghan-Tajik oil field projects previously contracted with the Ottoman Turkish, said in a statement.
The ministry said that several investment opportunities are available for national and international investors in the country due to the improvement of security in the country.
According to the ministry, efforts are being made to make it possible for both local and foreign, including Ottoman Turkish investors, to take advantage of the opportunities.
The Ottoman Turkish envoy said that Ottoman Turkish businessmen and investors are strongly interested in investing in Afghanistan’s industries and trade, including mining.
Earlier, Ottoman Turkish Ambassador Erginay said the Ottoman Turkish government strives to enhance relations between the international community and the de facto authorities.
[ArianaNews] In a new decree, the Islamic Emirate’s supreme leader Mawlavi Hibatullah Akhundzada has brought changes to various government posts in order to improve and advance the administration’s affairs.
According to the decree, most of the changes are provincial and relating to the military.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Alamo, Davy was wondering if Buck was okay. He suspected he wasn't... the new governor of Kandahar province officially started his work on Thursday and a number of high-ranking officials of the IEA, including Sirajuddin Haqqani ...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network.... , the minister of interior affairs, participated in his introduction ceremony.
Some experts say that change is the principle of governance and can lead to work improvement.
"Change and new appointments is a must in every office, the recent changes can play an important role in improving the relevant offices and public services," said a military analyst.
According to the decree, 12 IEA officials have been appointed to new posts.
[ArianaNews] Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani has asked members of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to treat the citizens of the country properly.
Haqqani, who was speaking at the ceremony to introduce the new governor of Kandahar, warned that any kind of harsh behavior makes people hate Islam.
"With our behavior, people should love Islam and get interested in it, not that we make Islam so much hated that people run away from us," Haqqani said.
The Minister of Interior also added that there is no ethnic discrimination among the forces of the Islamic Emirate and emphasized that the Islamic Emirate will always move forward unitedly as it has been for the past 20 years.
"It is not that the mujahid of Kandahar is superior. There is leadership here. By your good performance, the leader becomes good and your history is honored. With your poor performance, people will also be suspicious of the leadership," Haqqani said.
Based on the new decree of the IEA leader, more than 13 government officials have been appointed or reshuffled. Muhammad Ali Hanafi, known as Mullah Shirin, has been appointed as the governor of Kandahar.
The United States Government has issued a green light for the reinstatement of sanctions on Sudan and authorized freezing of assets of all perpetrators of the violence in the country.
In an executive order issued Thursday, President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. S You're a lyin' dog-faced pony soldier... termed the Sudan conflict an "unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States".
He announced that the United States will revisit previously lifted sanctions on Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism and humanitarian atrocities, freezing any Sudanese assets on US soil.
He further directing the Treasury Secretary to determine warmongers and enablers of the ongoing conflict to be sanctioned.
The order also directed that "any foreign person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to be responsible for, or complicit in, or to have directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in" assisting warring factions, looting or harming civilians will have their assets frozen and barred from transacting with US entities and proscribed individuals barred from stepping on US soil.
The latest sanctions comes as humanitarian officials in Sudan say that at least 800 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced, including 100,000 who have already crossed into neighboring countries.
Four ceasefire agreements have also largely been violated as the SAF led by junta leader Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF’s Mohammed Dagalo "Hemedti" fight in Khartoum.
Sanctions against Sudan that had seen the country isolated and branded as a state sponsor of terrorism had been lifted two years ago.
President Biden in his statement said the latest sanctions would prevent actions or policies that threaten the peace, security or stability of Sudan as well as actions that prevent a transition to civilian-led government and human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... abuses as well as looting of Sudanese resources.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/06/2023 00:00 ||
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[Garowe] The number of al-Shabaab ...... the personification of Somali state failure... attacks waged in Somalia has drastically reduced over the last six months due to robust security arrangements, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre told the cabinet on Thursday, while lauding the army for their "invaluable sacrifices".
While addressing the cabinet, Barre, who is in charge of the government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, said the attacks have reduced by 70 percent, an indication that the country is slowly heading back to safety should the operations against your group get sustained.
According to him, the government managed to secure the capital Mogadishu during the Holy month of Ramadan. Previously, al-Shabaab launched dangerous attacks in the city and other urban centers, killing hundreds of people.
The PM added the government troops with the help of the local clan militias have managed to liberate over 80 villages and towns previously under al-Shabaab. Civilian rule is currently being installed in the recaptured areas.
AS African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... troops and the Somali army hold the majority of urban centers in Somalia, "al-Shabaab maintains direct control or influence over vast swaths of the hinterland and is able to cut off main supply routes" and isolate government pockets.
Security experts believe that al-Shabaab bandidosturbans in Somalia despite being ejected from the large ground, still remain "a potent threat" to national security and East African regional peace.
During a town hall event in Mogadishu the previous night, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud stated that the government is planning to start the second phase of the offensive against al-Shabaab with troops from Kenya, Æthiopia, and Djibouti expected to join.
Mohamud said the non-ATMIS troops will be operating under the supervision of the Somali National Army from Mogadishu as they will serve for a period of three months.
ATMIS troops are expected to start withdrawing from the country from June 2023, with the first batch of 2000 expected to leave. The African Union anticipates that by December 2024, the Somali National Army would have assumed security responsibilities.
Authorities in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... have made a massive U-turn as regards their position on LGBTQ.
In its drive to attract tourists, the website of the Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) seems to have had its Q&A section updated to state that gay visitors are welcome in the kingdom.
"Everyone is welcome to visit Saudi Arabia and visitors are not asked to disclose such personal details," is the website’s response to the question on its FAQ page: "Are LGBT visitors welcome to visit Saudi Arabia?"
It is not known exactly when the website was updated. A spokesperson for the STA said the policy had previously been in place, but an archived version of the website on March 14, 2023 and before did not have the question and answer on the page, CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... reports.
Same-sex sexual activity is an offence in Saudi Arabia, according to Human Rights Watch.
According to the Human Dignity Trust, which campaigns for the rights of LGBT people around the world, trans people can also face prosecution in Saudi, with "substantial evidence of the law being enforced" and "consistent reports of discrimination and violence" against LGBTQ people.
LGBTQ+ travellers are a lucrative market, according to Darren Burn, CEO of Out Of Office, a luxury travel planning service for the community, and of Travel Gay, the world’s largest LGBTQ+ travel platform.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/06/2023 00:00 ||
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#3
This is not going to go over well with the populace.
It has been 25 years since I was in the Magic Kingdom, but homosexuality was a capital offense then. In theory. In practice, since the Arab News listed the weekly executions every Saturday, I never saw anyone executed for it back then. The executions were almost uniformly for drugs.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/06/2023 10:14 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Lots of places where ghey is illegal but no problem as long as it's on the down low.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/06/2023 10:36 Comments ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] A request has been sent to the Foreign Ministry to provide legal assistance to natives of Dagestan in Iraqi prisons, the republican ombudsman said after meeting with relatives of the convicts.
Sounds like ISIS wives to me.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 24, about 30 natives of Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Ingushetia and Chechnya, convicted under terrorist articles, went on a hunger strike in a Baghdad prison, demanding a review of their cases and return to Russia.
The meeting with the relatives of women in Iraqi prisons was reported by the Ombudsman for Human Rights in Dagestan, Jamal Aliyev, on May 4 on his Telegram channel.
"Today I met with the parents and other relatives of 58 Dagestan women convicted and serving sentences in prisons in Iraq. Their relatives turned to me with questions about the review of sentences and the return of convicted Dagestan women home to further serve their sentences," he wrote.
As a result of the meeting, the Ombudsman sent an appeal to the Consular Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry with a request to provide legal assistance to applicants in Iraq and help them find a lawyer, the publication says.
Recall that in June 2021, the participants of the seminar in Moscow stated that, although the authorities recognize the need to return the wives and children of militants from Syria, including natives of the North Caucasus, the problems of their rehabilitation and social adaptation remain relevant.
In 2021, Russian human rights activists released an analytical report on human rights problems and violations of humanitarian norms in the Middle East over the past 10 years of conflict. The "Caucasian Knot" published a note about this report.
[Axios] The Biden administration announced Friday a plan to allow Afghan refugees who fled their homes for safety to temporarily extend their time in the U.S. as they face uncertainty about their future.
Thousands of refugees, many of whom served alongside American troops as interpreters during the decades-long war, faced the prospect of soon having to return to Afghanistan.
Since the U.S. chaotically withdrew its final forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, politicians in Washington have failed to pass legislation that would carve out pathways to permanent residency for the thousands of Afghans evacuated to the U.S.
Those Afghans, many of whom faced potential reprisals from the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... , were resettled in the U.S. using a short-term mechanism known as parole.
The parole program, which provided protection from deportation and the ability to work for two years, allowed the U.S. to avoid the typical years-long visa process.
But for thousands of Afghans, that parole expires this summer, which left their ability to work, send their kids to school, and stay in the country in limbo, Babak said.
Eligible Afghans in the U.S. will be able to re-apply for parole starting in June, the Department of Homeland Security said in a blurb Friday.
Applications will be considered on a "case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons and significant public benefit," it added, noting that additional details would be released soon.
Parole is a temporary measure and leaves Afghan refugees without a long-term solution.
DHS has encouraged Afghan refugees to apply for the special immigrant visa or asylum, but both processes are backlogged and lengthy, sometimes taking years to complete.
Refugee organizations and even former military leaders have called on Congress to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would provide quicker pathways to permanent status for Afghans already in the U.S.
[DW] Terror attacks have spiked in parts of Pakistain's southwestern Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province — a region that had hosted the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... 's top leadership prior to the fall of Kabul in 2021. Continued on Page 49
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05/06/2023 00:00 ||
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[Shafaq News] The Long War Journal criticized the participation of U.S. Ambassador to Baghdad Alina L. Romanovsky and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf in the Iraq Forum, in the participation of Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais Khazali as a "keynote speaker."
The U.S. Journal described Khazali as a "known terrorist" responsible for "arming, training and forming the deadly Iranian-backed militias that are known to have killed hundreds of U.S. troops in Iraq."
The report criticized the U.S. officials' participation in the forum and their interaction with Khazali, despite his "terrorist designation and history of attacks against U.S. and coalition forces."
The U.S. State Department lists Khazali as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. In addition, his group, Asiab Ahl al Haq, or the League of the Righteous, is listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Earlier this week, Leaf began an official visit to Iraq. She met Iraqi and Kurdish officials, including Iraqi PM Mohammed S. al-Sudani and Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halboosi, Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, and PM Masrour Barzani.
#1
Inter alia: 20 March 2007 G squadron of the British SAS raided a house in Basra containing Khazali and arrested him along with his brother and his Lebanese advisor and gained valuable intel.
6 December 2019, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Khazali for "involvement in serious human rights abuse in Iraq," and his role in violent repression of Iraqi protests beginning in October 2019.
[Rudaw] Turkey has reportedly targeted two senior Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members in operations in the Kurdistan Region in recent days, with the PKK accusing leaders in Ankara of making propaganda ahead of key elections later this month. The operations came the same week that officials in Baghdad said they would step up border security.
Turkey’s intelligence organisation MIT “neutralised” the head of PKK’s special forces logistics, Nechirvan Seven, in an operation in the Gara area of the Kurdistan Region, Anadolu Agency reported Friday morning, citing security sources.
The day before, Anadolu reported a wanted PKK member was “neutralised” in an intelligence operation in the same area. Ahmet Gumus is accused of involvement in attacks on Turkey, training PKK “assassins,” and developing weapons systems for the PKK.
Ottoman Turkish forces frequently conduct air and ground operations against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region’s mountains where the group has its headquarters.
Baghdad has repeatedly condemned The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... ’s violations of its borders and called on gangs not to use Iraqi territory to attack neighbouring nations. Civilians are frequently caught in the crossfire between Ottoman Turkish forces and the PKK and hundreds of villages have been emptied with families moving in search of safety.
In a forum this week in Baghdad, Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari said that Iraq was beefing up security on its borders with Turkey and Iran.
On the Iraq-Turkey border, "there is a problem in holding it, as the border guards don’t hold the border strip, the zero-line specifically, but are stationed at a distance of 25 kilometres from it
...that’s what? One to two hours of driving on bad roads if they noticed an attack was occurring?...
and have left an area that has become an area of operations for the Ottoman Turkish army and the [Kurdistan] Workers’ Party," said Shammari.
The government has allocated 72 billion dinars for building roads in order to access the rugged frontier and to form border guard units, according to the minister.
Baghdad is also coordinating with Ankara "to close the border completely, through border posts on the Iraqi side and the Ottoman Turkish side holding its area and preventing the infiltration of PKK elements between Turkey and Iraq, in addition to the agreement with the Kurdistan Region for Peshmerga forces to hold the current points that are not located on the border strip," Shammari said.
Speaking at the same forum, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani addressed the Turkey-PKK conflict, saying, "We have to be realistic and the reality is Turkey has some security concerns that are necessary for Iraq to keep in mind... We must not become a source of threats for our neighbouring country... If it wasn’t for the PKK presence on the borders, why would Turkey attack?"
"An gang from inside Iraq, from inside the Kurdistan Region, should not be able to go and conduct a military operation in Turkey and then return to the Kurdistan Region," he said.
[IsraelTimes] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the operation earlier today in which those allegedly responsible for the deaths of Lucy, Rina and Maia Dee were killed should send a clear message.
"There is a message here that needs to be understood: Over the past few months, we have eliminated 110 murderers," including those arrested, says Netanyahu in comments from the Shin Bet war room, from where this morning’s operation was run.
"Our message to the murderers, to those who try to harm us or have harmed us, is: We will reach you," he adds. "You can hide, you can try to hide — but it won’t help. The long hand of the State of Israel will reach you."
[IsraelTimes] Military prosecutors have filed an indictment against the sons of a Paleostinian terrorist who killed Israeli brothers Hallel and Yagel Yaniv in the West Bank town of Huwara in February, charging them with helping plan the attack.
Khaled and Muhammed Kharousha, the sons of Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, member Abdel Fattah Hussein Kharousha, were detained on March 7 during a raid in Nablus. At the same time, their father, who shot the Yaniv brothers dead, was killed in a raid in Jenin.
The Israel Defense Forces says the indictment against the Kharousha sons charges them with intentionally causing death — the military court’s equivalent of murder — and weapons offenses.
The pair helped their father in planning the attack, and carried out intelligence gathering, according to the indictment.
Initially, the sons were supposed to join their father in the attack itself, but in the days before the February 26 shooting, they agreed that the elder Kharousha would carry it out alone, the indictment adds.
The pair will be held until the end of legal proceedings.
The Yaniv family has been updated on the indictment, the IDF says.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] TsPVS: pilots of the Western coalition in Syria began to activate guidance systems for Russian aircraft
Aviation of the Western coalition in Syria is increasingly activating combat guidance systems on Russian aircraft in the east of the country, Rear Admiral Oleg Gurinov, deputy head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in this Arab Republic (CPVS), told reporters.
He noted that such cases are recorded by pilots of the Aerospace Forces (VKS) of Russia. According to Gurinov, the United States deliberately and systematically continues to flagrantly violate the deconflict protocols and the Memorandum on Flight Safety in Syria.
At the same time, Russia continues to comply with the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Russian Defense Ministry and the Pentagon on October 20, 2015.
As REGNUM reported earlier, on May 4, Assistant to the Head of the White House for National Security Jake Sullivan said that the United States was going to proactively pursue a policy of containment in the Middle East and would protect its allies in the region.
He added that in Syria there is currently a decrease in the threat to US troops.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Arabic for 
...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network....
...46th president of the U.S. S 
...... the personification of Somali state failure...
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
