[The Sun UK] A BRITISH oil tanker with 23 crew on board has been seized by Iranian troops in the Gulf, the country's state TV said.
The Government's Cobra committee is holding an emergency meeting in Whitehall tonight after the Stena Impero was halted in the Strait of Hormuz by what the ship's owners called a "hostile action".
A second oil tanker, the the British-operated, Liberian-flagged Mesdar, turned sharply north towards Iran's coast on Friday afternoon after passing westward through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf, according to Refinitiv tracking data.
There was no immediate word from the Guards about the second tanker or from the operator of the second tanker on what had prompted the change in direction along the vital international oil shipping route.
Ship tracking data showed the Impero changed course while sailing to Saudi Arabia. Shipping line Northern Marine said it had lost contact with the crew as reports claimed it was now heading to an Revolutionary Guard base in Iran.
Iranian state-controlled TV claimed its had seized the ship because it was "violating international maritime rules".
Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt has been briefed, Sky News reports.
The Ministry of Defence said: "We are urgently seeking further information and assessing the situation following reports of an incident in the Gulf."
Iran has also seized a second tanker, the Liberian-flagged MV Mesdar, according to a US official. Two more US officials tell CNN that, according to maritime intelligence reports, the indication is the Mesdar has been seized.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced earlier that its navy has captured a British-flagged tanker ‘Stena Impero’ in the Strait of Hormuz.
The order of seizure of the two ships isn’t clear at this time.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2019
15:21 ||
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#1
The British are no longer what they used to be. The only person left from the days of old who could effectively possibly deal with this is Queen Elizabeth II who is in her 90's.
#3
If they're not returned quickly - if they in effect become hostages, and a standoff results that lasts, oh, I dunno, let's say... 444 days - then this will likely help Trump's re-election.
He need not solve the UK's problem - that's up to them - but he can use this as a foil to get independent voters to recognize the danger that smelly little islamists pose to us, both abroad and at home. Can't wait to see Ilhan Omar's tweets.
#5
Don't worry the EU has your back. All those stand up guys from Germany, France and Belgium.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
07/19/2019 18:04
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#6
It's the Brits' problem. Let them solve it. They, France, and Germany want to get around sanctions and play footsie with the MMs, then let them deal with these psychos.
We stay out of it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/19/2019 18:45
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#7
Convoy time doncha think pig pen?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
07/19/2019 20:28
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#4
A few days ago, Mrs. Bobby's newspaper had a front-page article about global warming. All 12 models agreed the 2050s were gonna be the hottest since - of, I don't know - since lava covered the planet.
I scanned the article until I found this gem: All the models start in 1950.
Climate, indeed!
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/19/2019 19:09
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[USAToday] Iran denied Friday it lost a drone in the Strait of Hormuz after the United States said it had "destroyed" an Iranian drone that was threatening a U.S. ship.
"We have not lost any drone in the Strait of Hormuz nor anywhere else. I am worried that USS Boxer has shot down their own UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) by mistake!," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Twitter.
Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted military spokesman Gen. Abolfazl Shekari as saying that "all Iranian drones that are in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, including the one which the U.S. president mentioned, after carrying out scheduled identification and control missions, have returned to their bases."
The Strait of Hormuz is a strategic waterway for the seaborne transportation of about a fifth of the world's global crude oil exports.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the drone was threatening a U.S. ship and was "immediately destroyed." He said the drone came within 1,000 yards and ignored "multiple calls to stand down."
"This is the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters," the president said. "The United States reserves the right to defend our personnel, facilities, and interests."
He called on other countries to condemn Iran's "attempts to disrupt freedom of navigation and global commerce."
"I also call on other nations to protect their ships as they go through the strait and to work with us in the future," Trump said.
Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, was in international waters in the Strait at roughly 10 a.m. local time when a drone approached and "closed within a threatening range."
"The ship took defensive action against the (drone) to ensure the safety of the ship and its crew," he said.
The apparent downing of the drone followed Iran's apparent seizure of an oil tanker, the nation's state media announced Thursday. Twelve crew members were on the Panamanian-flagged vessel when it was taken near the Strait of Hormuz. The Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps, a powerful organization with links to the military and business, said the tanker tried to smuggle a million liters of oil.
Tensions have escalated since the United States pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and reimposed sweeping economic sanctions.
Iran shot down a U.S. drone in June, claiming it had violated Iranian airspace, an assertion U.S. officials said was false. The president pulled back on a planned retaliatory strike against Iranian targets at the last minute. U.S. officials at the time cautioned the move should not be interpreted as weakness.
"Neither Iran nor any other hostile actor should mistake U.S. prudence and discretion for weakness," National Security Adviser John Bolton said during a trip to Jerusalem. "No one has granted them a hunting license in the Middle East. As President Trump said Friday, our military is rebuilt, new and ready to go."
On Tuesday, Trump's nominee to be the next defense secretary, Army Secretary Mark Esper, told lawmakers the United States is pursuing a strategy of "passive patrolling" in the area with coalition partners as part of an initiative dubbed "Operation Sentinel."
He said the goal was to deter further provocative actions by Iran.
"At the same time, from the highest levels of government from the president himself, we said we will meet anytime, anywhere, without precondition to discuss issues with the Iranians to get us on the diplomatic path," he said.
Iran’s Foreign Minster Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters in New York on Thursday that Iran would offer a deal to the U.S. in which it would offer it enhanced inspections of its nuclear facilities in return for the permanent lifting of economic sanctions.
Posted by: gorb ||
07/19/2019
12:47 ||
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#1
Zarif: Nope, uh-uh, not ours, (aside: did those dam Houthis lose ANOTHER one?) dunno how you got such an ideer, nyet, non, nein, nullo, nada, minime, nichevo.
...and if you can't believe a rigged poll, who can you believe?
[NY Daily News] - To some, she’s the "Forever First Lady" but across the world, Michelle Obama is the "most admired."
According to a recent YouGov.com poll, which surveyed 42,000 people in 41 countries, the former First Lady topped the list as the "Most Admired Woman in the World."
Mrs. O even beat out her pal, media mogul Oprah Winfrey, who came in second.
Academy Award-winning actress and human rights activist Angelina Jolie landed in third place, while Queen Elizabeth II was fourth on the list.
#10
I have accumulated over 150,000 points in YouGov surveys over the past few years (earning me a total of $150 in Lowes gift card, but - somehow - I missed that survey.
My profile does indicate I am 'male', however, so that probably disqualified me.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/19/2019 19:13
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For the last few days BBC news has been wildly ranting against Trump with this issue. News reports have all sorts of expert interviews with NO NAMES or origin of most of the "EXPERTS" ranting. The BBC interviewers have been spewing anti-Trump bullshit too. Perhaps it is time to officially consider BBC to be an enemy combatant source of FAKE NEWS? Even more than RT and the Russian's were in the 2016 election?
#1
I don't think there's any need to 'consider' them fake news, mate - to me the BBC makes the New York Times look like Fox News from ten years ago. Throw the flippin' Guardian in there as well.
#5
Golly — “the most powerful woman in the world” equates herself to a couple of little first year congresswomen out of about 450, whose biggest audience is on Twitter? How she has become diminished.
I stand with @PoliticalKathy, a Chinese-American immigrant, Trump supporter, and a powerful voice against discrimination who was wrongly stripped of her Miss Michigan title. pic.twitter.com/wEPc6p4bap
Suggestion: reach out to Lee Plakas, the super-lawyer in Canton, OH who successfully pulled off a miracle and won a defamation lawsuit against the Oberlin thugs.
[Wash Times] A judge has awarded about $6.5 million in attorney's fees and court costs to Gibson's Bakery, the family-owned Ohio doughnut shop that won a $25 million judgment against Oberlin College over protests accusing the business of racism.
Lorain County Judge John Miraldi made the ruling on fees Wednesday, bringing the total award against Oberlin to nearly $32 million. Oberlin attorneys have indicated that they plan to appeal, according to the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram.
Last month, Gibson's Bakery won a $44 million jury verdict for libel and wrongful business interference over Oberlin's involvement in student protests that labeled the bakery racist after three black students were arrested for shoplifting in November 2016.
The $44 million judgment was later reduced to $25 million under Ohio's tort-cap law, but the enormous award has fueled a debate over the responsibility of colleges in protecting student free speech versus promoting an overheated social-justice protest narrative.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2019
11:45 ||
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#1
Oberlin is finished.
$32m will eat up most of their operating budget. Note that you can't use the endowment to fund operations because the endowment has strings attached by the donors: "use my money ONLY for research," or to build science labs or engineering buildings etc.
This means Oberlin won't be able to offer financial aid to would-be SJW applicants to Oberlin, which means that the only way out of Oberlin's financial hole is to attract super-wealthy applicants willing to drop nearly half a million $$$$ on a buttwipe BA gained through 4+ years of SJW nonsense.
There are plenty such people, but they will not be going to Oberlin - they can go to any of 20+ little liberal arts colleges that are more financially-stable than Oberlin.
#2
For the curious, a Q&A with Lee Plakas, super-lawyer who won the suit for defamation (and tortious interference in their business) on behalf of the shopkeepers, the Gibson family of Oberlin:
http://www.lawlion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/FAQs-re-Gibsons-Bakery-v.-Oberlin-College.pdf
Posted by: Skidmark ||
07/19/2019
10:20 ||
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#1
Earlier today, it was claimed that an unmanned Iranian bomb boat was discovered lying in wait for the Duncan in the Red Sea.
The remote-controlled Blowfish' was reportedly spotted by Saudi forces in the destroyer's path as it headed south from the Suez Canal to protect Gulf shipping lanes.
The small vessel was laden with explosives, enough to blow a hole in the side of the destroyer, and steered from up to four miles away, sources told the Mirror.
Former naval officer Simon Warrington said: 'The threat from the Houthis, who as Iran's proxy militia do Tehran's dirty work, is very real.''
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2019 10:44
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#2
Blow up the bomb boat and any small boat/aircraft that is 4 miles away.
#2
That paratrooper should be ecstatic about putting his knees in the breeze and leaving a Russian aircraft. He's obviously not studied the safety stats.
#3
That is one thing they told us before our first jump. Once you get on the plane and it takes off, there is only one way you are exiting the aircraft.
One lady did panic at the door. She stopped and put her arms out to brace on either side of the door. The sergeant airborne just gave her a power kick on her backside and she went out right quick.
#4
What I wonder is if the guy that panicked and screamed will be one of those who'll end up wanting to be the first to go jump again. I noticed one of the cadets appeared to be female. I had a dream that to graduate from Harvard you had to go through that Russian Jump.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2019 11:49
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#3
Gosh, it's almost as if facial recognition is an over-hyped, lame-ass technology that shouldn't be let loose outside the lab. Prolly good money in sales, though. And I say that as a machine-learning fanboi.
#4
Actually facial recognition is very easy to do.
Most of the algorithms are now open source. The quality of the predictions/outputs of these algos depends mainly on the quality of the data, ie the # and variety of the facial image inputs.
The field is just an offshoot of computer graphics, with relies on solutions to a set of math problems involving topology, parametric surfaces and other branches of geometry that have been well understood by the industry for decades.
All that was missing was a reliably large data set of facial images.
If the input variables now include billions, or even trillions, of facial images, then it's a certainty that we will get to 99.9% reliable facial recognition for most of the population in the near term.
#5
I didn't say it was hard to do. I'm questioning the accuracy of the implementations. There is no question the algorithms are well known, but you still have to train the model. And there, the devil is in the details.
There is a big difference between finding a face in an image and recognizing a specific face. While we have lots of data in terms of pictures of faces, we don't have lots of data for a specific face. And lots of data is the key for training neural networks.
#7
SteveS - I am indeed saying it is easy to train models that ACCURATELY predict the face owner's identity. Especially if the prediction need not be processed in near-real time.
This is entirely a data quantity problem, not a hard data science or data engineering problem.
#1
Whaaaa.... keep your trap shut before we block all traffic heading north, cancel the trade deal and build a real wall and stop all remittances from people in the US to Mexico.
Your economy and country would collapse within a week.
#4
Inhumane? A generation ago we would have hung him by the neck or fried him in the electric chair but too many of us think that's inhumane these days. But I dunno. That way it's all over in the blink of an eye. Now he gets to spend the rest of his life in a little concrete cell with nothing but a bunk and a toilet. Oh well. Cost of doing business...
I think there must be a whole bunch of Mexican politicians who are just as guilty as El Chapo and that's why Mexican jails couldn't hold him. So now we have him here. I bet we still have room for AMLO if he doesn't behave himself.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/19/2019 11:43
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#7
Is Obrador virtue-signaling, or is he thinking of the people ElChapo will still be controlling from inside the Supermax (and hoping for a shorter life sentence)?
Posted by: james ||
07/19/2019 14:47
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[NYP] A South Carolina woman died this week during a family vacation in the Bahamas, according to a report.
Molly F. Greene, who is the co-founder of Water Mission, drowned on Wednesday, news station WCBD reported.
Through her nonprofit, Greene was dedicated to supplying clean drinking water in disaster areas and developing countries.
She and her husband, George, founded Water Mission in 2001 after learning of the conditions in Honduras following Hurricane Mitch.
"In the aftermath of their Honduras trip, Molly and George discovered the sad truth about the global water crisis ‐ that billions are forced to drink dirty water every day," the nonprofit said. "In 2001, the Greenes took action to combat this reality and founded Water Mission."
The Diocese of South Carolina in Charleston confirmed Greene’s death Wednesday in a statement.
"Please pray for George Greene and family on the death of his wife Molly," the church said. "Molly, Co-founder of Water Mission, died in an accidental drowning earlier today in the Bahamas. Many in our Diocesan community know the Greenes."
[C4ISRNET] NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. ― A U.S. Marine Corps experiment that has deployed a counter-drone system on a Polaris MRZR all-terrain vehicle to the Mideast is winding down, according to a Corps official.
The Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or LMADIS, comprises two MRZR vehicles, a command node and a sensor vehicle, that uses RF to jam flying drones. The capability has been deployed by U.S. Central Command, though the Marine Corps is not disclosing exactly where the system is operating or how many are deployed.
It’s an offshoot of the MADIS program of record, which is expected to support the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, with counter-UAS and a "hard kill" weapons systems. The highly mobile "gap-filler" LMADIS can be carried on a CH-53 or V-22 Osprey to detect, track, and defeat drones via an electronic warfare system.
"We’re aligned with a deployment schedule so they go out with certain units at a certain point in time," Capt. Forrest Williams, LMADIS project officer for the Program Executive Office for Land Systems said of the capability. "This effort ends by the end of FY19, but it’s going to be sustained, not by money, but by the amount of equipment that we have. As long as Marines are using the equipment, the program office will supply them."
PEO Land Systems displayed the LMADIS system at the Sea Air Space show here.
Increasingly, drone technology has found its way into the hands of terrorist groups and ragtag militias. ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria have been known to weaponize small commercial quadcopter drones, dropping small munitions and hand grenades on Iraqi and partner nation forces. Even the Taliban in Afghanistan have gotten in the game, using small drones to film attacks on remote Afghan army outposts.
In U.S. Central Command, Marines are using LMADIS on-the-move to protect convoys or provide a forward operating base with protection from unmanned aerial systems, according to Williams.
[PJ] Appearing on CNBC Wednesday, Canadian businessman and television personality Kevin O’Leary raved about the state of the U.S. economy, based on his more than 50 "Shark Tank" companies.
"Most of the Sharks have a similar portfolio," O’Leary told CNBC on Wednesday. "It’s an amazing index on America’s economy because they’re almost in every state, in every sector."
O’Leary along with investors Mark Cuban, Robert Herjavec, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner and Daymond John put up their own money on "Shark Tank" to buy stakes in start-ups looking for capital and influential business partners.
"I can report to you, on a private basis, I’ve never seen a stronger economy in my life," contended the 65-year-old O’Leary. "This is fantastic with what’s going on."
Trump has repeatedly acknowledged the strength of the economy on his watch, but 2020 Democrats have been working overtime to convince voters that the economy isn’t doing well at all. Since Democrats are having a harder time denying the strength of the economy, they’ve been attempting to push the narrative that it’s only working for the super rich, which is completely false.
[Aljazeera] Multinational corporations are increasingly encroaching on the functions of sovereign states.
"There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today ... The world is a collage of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable by-laws of business."
The famous monologue from the film Network delivered by actor Ned Beatty in 1976 reflected growing anxiety at the time that corporate power could eventually overturn democracy. Today, what was feared 40 years ago is becoming a reality. Corporations have become the nations of the world and they increasingly act as such.
Last month, Facebook announced that it is introducing its own currency, Libra, which the more than two billion users (or "citizens") of the platform will be able to use to pay for goods and services.
The announcement comes at a time when the monetary policies of countries across the world have increasingly accommodated the interests of big corporations and the wealthy at the expense of ordinary people. This has led to both unprecedented deregulation, which has caused repeated economic crises, and the subsequent imposition of severe austerity measures hurting the livelihoods of millions of citizens.
Facebook's cryptocurrency initiative signals that this issue will assume even bigger proportions. For millennia, one of the defining features of sovereignty has been the minting and circulation of state-specific currency. Corporations like Facebook are now taking over this prerogative from governments. But monetary policy isn't neutral: It is one of the main levers for the distribution of wealth and privilege.
Facebook has given its assurances to US lawmakers, claiming the company wants to "do this right". Libra will initially be just a payment method, anchored to a basket of hard currencies, and not an autonomous coin - or so has been promised. But during a July 16 congressional hearing, Facebook executive David Marcus struggled to answer questions about how this new currency would be regulated.
[USA Today] Avoid Big Penis supplements, the Food and Drug Administration again urged consumers this week.
The product promoted for sexual enhancement violates FDA regulations by containing a prescription drug without clearly disclosing it does, according to a public notification issued Wednesday.
Regulators previously advised consumers not to purchase or use Big Penis Male Sexual Stimulant three years ago. The FDA also identified the supplement while examining international mail shipments then.
The supplement contains sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra and other erectile dysfunction medications, according to the FDA. The drug can lower blood pressure to "dangerous levels" when taken with prescription drugs containing certain nitrates, including nitroglycerin, the FDA said in its notice.
Doctors and patients who experience side effects from the product can report the issues to the FDA's MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program.
[WISH8tv] BOONE COUNTY, W. Va. (WFLA/CNN) ‐ Police in West Virginia say they’re seeing a dangerous trend in Boone county.
Authorities say some drug abusers are using wasp spray as an alternative form of meth and the practice may have contributed to several overdoses.
On Friday, stores in Boone County reported selling nearly 30 cans of the spray.
Physical effects of using wasp spray include erratic behavior and extreme swelling and redness of the hands and feet.
"From what we’re being told, if you use it, you know, you might use it one or twice and be fine, but the third time when your body hits that allergic reaction, it can kill you," Sgt. Charles Sutphin said.
The challenge is how to treat these symptoms and prevent the use of this legal, cheap product for harm.
"It’s a cheap fix, and you don’t know what their overall result of their usage of this is going to be," Sutphin said.
[Townhall] Reverend Patrick Conroy serves as the House of Representatives Chaplain in Washington, D.C. and regularly starts the day off for lawmakers with prayer. Thursday's invocation was a little more serious than most days for Rev. Conroy. The Roman Catholic Priest prayed specifically to cast out the demons inside Capitol Hill.
As reported by Fox News, Rev. Conroy said, "This has been a difficult and contentious week in which darker spirits seem to have been at play in the people’s House."
Then, in a dramatic moment, Conroy raised both hands and said, 'In Your most holy name, I cast out all spirits of darkness from this chamber. Spirits not from You. I cast out the spirit of discouragement which deadens the hope of those who are of goodwill.'"
"I cast out the spirit of petty divisiveness which clouds the sense and the desire to be of fruitful productivity and addressing the issues more appropriately before this House," he prayed. "I cast out any sadness brought on by the frustration of dealing with matters detrimental to the honorable work each member has been called to engage in."
Rev. Conroy is a Jesuit priest, an order of the Catholic Church. He has been serving as House Chaplain since 2011. He attempted to resign in 2018, but, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle asked him not to. He withdrew his resignation.
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan forces arrested the security guard of a senior ISIS leader before he manages to carry out targeted liquidations in Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province.
The Nangarahr Governor’s Office in a statement said the security forces arrested Abdul Wajid, the security guard of Omar Khurasani, one of the big shots of ISIS Khurasan.
The statement further added that the terror group had recently deployed Wajid to Nangarhar to carry out targeted liquidations.
Furthermore, the statement added that Wajid is originally a resident of Haska Mina district. He joined ISIS ranks two years ago.
The Governor’s Office also added that the security forces arrested Wajid in Tangi area of Behsud district as he was attempting to carry out a targeted liquidation.
The anti-government armed elements including ISIS sympathizers have not commented in this regard so far.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/19/2019
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Trump administration says it has brought home for prosecution a US national suspected of fighting alongside the ISIS group in Syria.
The Pentagon said in a statement on Thursday that the individual had previously been held by Syrian Democratic Forces as a suspected member of ISIS.
The identity of the person was not immediately disclosed, and it wasn’t immediately clear where in the US the individual had been brought.
US officials have been encouraging other nations, including in Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... , to bring home their citizens who fought in Syria. They see prosecutions in American courts as an example that could be set for other countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2019
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#1
They see prosecutions in American courts as an example that could be set for other countries.
Really? Are they so stupid they can't figure it out for themselves?
Personally I think they're keeping them over there for a reason.
I also think we'll fuc& it up somehow, and end up setting a bad example. Unless he disappears from the military transport plane on the way home, then I think we can call that a success.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A passenger accused of misbehavior on a Jet2 flight that had to return to London’s Stansted Airport in June has received a huge bill from the airline.
The airline has accused Chloe Haines of "aggressive, abusive and dangerous behavior" on a flight and sent her a bill for $106,000.
Officials say the plane bound for The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... had to return to Stansted Airport escorted by two Royal Air Force jets.
Jet2’s CEO Steve Heapy said Thursday that the airline will try to recover the costs incurred as a result of the diversion.
Heapy said Haines’ actions were "one of the most serious cases of disruptive passenger behavior that we have experienced."
The 25-year-old British woman was arrested by Essex Police when the plane landed and is free on bail.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2019
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#1
Which drug?
Powerful stuff if she was able to convince an ex-bouncer that she had the strength of a large man.
[ToloNews] Attack on Kandahar police headquarters ended after two hours of festivities which left 12 dead and 60 maimed.
At least 12 people, including seven civilians, were killed in Taliban ...Arabic for students... ’s attack on Kandahar police headquarters on Thursday, officials from provincial hospital said.
The hospital officials also said that 60 others including 40 security force members were maimed in the attack.
Kandahar police headquarters came under attack at around 4:40pm on Thursday when a boom-mobileexploded outside the headquarters and button men started firing at security forces.
Kandahar police at around 7:00pm said the attack has ended.
Kandahar governor office meanwhile said two police members were killed in festivities with the Taliban fighters and three others were maimed.
The governor’s office also said that nine civilians, including women and kiddies, were killed and 80 others were maimed.
President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money... in a statement condemned the attack and said the Afghan government is seeking ways for peace but the Taliban by such attacks shows that they do not want peace and stability.
[RADIOSHABELLE] Jubaland state forces were reported to have detained a leading Somali traditional elder in the coastal city of Kismayo ...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region... , the regional capital of Lower Jubba on Wednesday.
Suldan Mohammed Osman Yusuf known as [Kuyow] was arrested at the city’s cop shoppe with no charges, according to local residents, who spoke to Radio Shabelle over the phone.
President Ahmed Madobe has been blamed for being behind the detention of the famous clan chief in order to replace him with another elder for picking the next politicians.
The arrest of the elder comes as Jubaland is set to hold parliamentary and presidential elections next month despite accusations of irregularities committing by current leadership.
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07/19/2019
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[DAWN] The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday announced that Pakistain will grant consular access to Indian spy Kulbushan Jadhav.
"As a responsible state, Pakistain will grant consular access to Commander Kulbushan Jadhav according to Pak laws, for which modalities are being worked out," a blurb issued by the FO read.
According to the statement, the decision was made in pursuant to the verdict of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
"Commander Kulbushan Jadhav has been informed of his rights under Article 36, paragraph 1(b) of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations," the FO added.
In its verdict, the ICJ had ruled that Jadhav be allowed consular access immediately and asked Pakistain to ensure "effective review and reconsideration of his conviction and sentences".
The ICJ, however, had rejected all other remedies sought by India, which included the annulment of the military court decision convicting Jadhav, restricting Pakistain from executing the sentence, securing Jadhav's release and ordering his return to India.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2019
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[DAWN] Nearly 300 migrants colonists from sub-Saharan Africa were rescued at sea overnight between Spain and Morocco, while a woman was found dead on one of the four boats, Spain’s maritime rescue service said on Wednesday.
The service saved 220 people, including 57 women and four minors, in the Alboran Sea, the stretch of the western Mediterranean between the two countries, a spokeswoman said.
The woman’s body was found aboard one of the boats, she added. The cause of her death is unknown, she said.
Moroccan authorities meanwhile rescued another 57 migrants colonists from another boat in the Alboran Sea, the spokeswoman said, without detailing their ages or gender.
Around 11,000 migrants colonists have arrived in Spain by sea so far this year, and 203 have died attempting the crossing from North Africa, according to the latest figures from the International Organisation for Migration, issued on Wednesday.
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[DAWN] A four-year-old child who survived sexual assault and attempted murder has been moved from the paediatric intensive care unit at the Pakistain Institute of Medical Sciences to a ward.
The hospital’s spokesperson Dr Wasim Khawaja told Dawn that the child is in far better condition than she was when she was brought to the hospital last week, adding: "She is out of danger."
However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... he said, it would take time for her to recover from the trauma and that would depend on the manner in which she is treated and the atmosphere in which she lives.
He said she is still weak, and is having difficulty with speaking and movement.
He said a team of doctors are observing the child and she is receiving treatment for the trauma.
Her ward is also under surveillance, and security is in place in and around the ward and outside her room, he said. Hospital security, police and Counter Terrorism Force personnel are providing security.
The team of doctors treating the child have permitted the police to speak to her, but only in the presence of medical professionals, he said.
The police have attempted a few times to record her statement, but Dr Khawaja said her condition deteriorated every time. He said she is also failing to recall and narrate what happened.
The child’s father also said that although she is behaving normally, her condition deteriorates whenever the incident is brought up. He said the police had tried to speak to her three times.
He said that she has so far told family and police that a man approached her when she was playing outside and told her her brothers were playing near the bushes and asked her to accompany him to join them.
The child’s father said that the man then took her to the bushes and began to strangle her. He quoted his daughter as saying that she heard her mother shouting for her when she was lying in the bushes but could not answer, despite trying.
Police officers told Dawn the case is being investigated, with assistance from various departments and agencies. Geo-fencing is almost complete and suspicious numbers are being selected so the status of their users can be verified and checked, they said.
Investigators are also collecting details from family and neighbours regarding their suspicions and children have been asked about people who have ever teased them or offered them anything.
DNA profiling of suspects picked up by Sherlocks is also in progress, they said.
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#1
Geo-fencing is almost complete and suspicious numbers are being selected
Looks like those Feeb trips to Islamabad weren't wasted.
[DAWN] The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a notice to Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistain (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi with regards to a petition filed by the Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... government challenging a Lahore High Court (LHC) decision to grant bail to Rizvi.
The firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... holy man was booked for launching violent protests against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi last year.
A two-member bench of the apex court, comprising Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik and Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin Ahmed, took up the provincial government's petition at the Supreme Court Lahore registry.
The bench asked the Additional Prosecutor General Mazhar Sher Awan what Rizvi's main crime was.
Awan responded that the TLP chief had given speeches against the judiciary and riled up people.
"These are the facts of the case, speak about the law and tells us Khadim Hussain Rizvi's crime," said Judge Malik.
"What is wrong with the high court's decision to release Khadim Hussain Rizvi on bail?" he asked.
The apex court expressed displeasure with the additional prosecutor general for being unable to provide the court with proper assistance.
"You don't know the merits of the case; who drafted it?" Judge Malik asked, adding: "How many individuals' bail do you want to have cancelled?"
Awan said that they had only submitted a petition for the cancellation of bail for Rizi and Ata Mohammad.
The judge asked if Awan had read the case file, as Mohammad was the complainant of the case and the additional prosecutor general was referring to him as a suspect.
The SC issued notices to the TLP chief on the Punjab government's appeal and adjourned proceedings.
Rizvi and the then TLP patron-in-chief, Pir Afzal Qadri ‐ who is also nominated in the same case ‐ were granted bail in May this year. Qadri's bail expired on July 15 but was extended on medical grounds.
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Follow up to this and this from yesterday. Videos can be seen at the link.
[IsraelTimes] Footage broadcast on state TV comes hours after Tehran admits capturing a foreign vessel, claiming it was involved in smuggling fuel out of country.
Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... on Thursday released a video showing a United Arab Emirates-based oil tanker that vanished in Iranian waters over the weekend, hours after admitting its Revolutionary Guard had seized a foreign vessel and its crew of 12 for smuggling fuel out of the country.
Iranian TV released footage of the ship surrounded by Guard vessels and showed the registration number painted on its bridge, matching that of the UAE-based MT Riah.
The Panamanian-flagged tanker stopped transmitting its location early Sunday near Qeshm Island, according to data on the tracking site Maritime Traffic.
However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... it often did so over the past two years when nearing Iranian waters, other tracking data shows.
US Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, declined to comment.
Iran earlier said the tanker was seized south of its Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Neighboring Qeshm Island has a Revolutionary Guard base on it.
Iranian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
did not at first identify the seized vessel but said it was intercepted on Sunday and was involved in smuggling some 1 million liters (264,000 gallons) of Iranian fuel. Iran did not identify the nationalities of the crew.
The announcement solved one mystery ‐ the fate of the missing ship ‐ but raised a host of other questions and heightened worries about the free flow of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical petroleum shipping routes. One-fifth of global crude exports passes through the strait.
Crude prices, which had been falling since last week, ticked higher almost immediately after the announcement.
It was not immediately clear whether the seizure was a straightforward attempt by Iran to curb oil smuggling or also an effort to assert its authority in the strait and send a message to its rivals in the region. The UAE has long lobbied for tougher US policy toward Iran, though more recently it has called for deescalation.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the seized vessel was at best a "small tanker" and that Iranian forces are cracking down on fuel smuggling daily.
"We live in a very dangerous environment. The United States has pushed itself and the rest of the world into probably the brink of an abyss," he told news hounds at the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... in New York. Zarif accused the Trump administration of "trying to starve our people" and "deplete our treasury" through sanctions.
Iranian media reported earlier this month that some 8 million liters of government-subsidized Iranian fuel are smuggled daily through Iran’s borders to other countries where prices are much higher.
Analysts at the Israeli-based maritime risk analytics company Windward said that the Riah has been at sea for the past two years and has a pattern of turning off its location transmitters for days at a time, particularly when entering Iranian waters.
The firm said data suggests that for more than two years that the 58-meter (190-foot) Riah had been clandestinely receiving fuel from an unknown source off the UAE coast and delivering it to other tankers, which then take it to Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... and Somalia.
No distress calls were made from the Riah, and no ship owner reported a missing vessel.
The ship’s registered owner, Dubai-based Prime Tankers LLC, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named it had sold the vessel to another company, Mouj al-Bahar. A man who answered a telephone number registered to the company told the AP it didn’t own any ships.
Officials in the UAE said the ship was neither UAE-owned nor operated and carried no Emirati personnel.
Update: President Trump calls on other countries to condemn what he says are Iran’s attempts to disrupt the freedom of navigation and global commerce in the strategic waterway in the Gulf region.https://t.co/2lEAF2mi5Xpic.twitter.com/HiFjWhWCw3
[THEGATEWAYPUNDIT] Joe Lockhart, press secretary to President Bill Clinton ...former Democratic president of the U.S. Bill was the second U.S. president to be impeached, the first to deny that oral sex was sex, the first to have difficulty with the definition of the word is... during his second term impeachment, went on an epic 21 tweet meltdown over President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... Wednesday afternoon. Lockhart calls his anti-Trump Twitter tantrums "shadow briefings" in lieu of the Trump administration cancelling daily briefings by the press secretary. Wednesday’s shadow briefing was insane. Republicans, you know, use the blood of progressive babies to make meatloaf.
Lockahart not only attacked Trump and his administration, he also viciously attacked Trump supporters attending Wednesday night’s reelection campaign rally in Greenville, North Carolina, calling them an "angry crowd of resentful, uneducated people screaming for blood from the people of color who are stealing everything from them."
"1. Welcome to the WH #shadowbriefing where all the questions get asked and a few actually get answered. Since @PressSec has not done a single briefing yet, only the shadow briefing is here for the American public. To quote @ChrisCuomo let’s get after it."
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#1
Private practice with Robinson, Lake followed, where he handled publicity for the Al Nahayan family during parts of the BCCI scandal.
#3
Early life and career
Born in The Bronx,[4] Lockhart is the son of Raymond Lockhart, a longtime NBC producer associated with the Huntley-Brinkley Report and special-events coverage. He grew up in Suffern, New York. In 1978 he moved to Washington D.C. to attend Georgetown University where he received a BA in History. In 1980, he worked on Jimmy Carter's presidential reelection campaign.
He was press secretary for the 1984 presidential campaign of Walter Mondale, then worked for Paul Simon in the Senate. Stints with ABC and CNN followed, then the Michael Dukakis campaign. He moved to Robinson, Lake, Lerer & Montgomery with Mike McCurry, then back to ABC when they hired his (former) wife and colleague from the Mondale campaign Laura Logan. Another gig with NBC covering the Romanian Revolution of 1989 preceded his first on-air job with Sky News reporting on the Gulf War and then business. Private practice with Robinson, Lake followed, where he handled publicity for the Al Nahayan family during parts of the BCCI scandal.
Clinton presidential campaign and the White House
At a time when Lockhart was considering working for AOL,[1] Mike McCurry recruited Lockhart back into politics, and he joined the 1996 Clinton re-election campaign.[5] He served as the campaign spokesman and, following President Clinton's successful reelection, as Deputy Press Secretary to McCurry. After standing in for him on occasion to brief the press, Lockhart eventually succeeded McCurry and delivered his first briefing as Press Secretary on October 5, 1998.[6]
Lockhart handled the press during Clinton's impeachment and the 2000 Camp David Summit.
After the White House
Lockhart was brought on to the John Kerry presidential campaign as a senior advisor in September 2004.[7]
On September 8, 2004, CBS News aired a controversial report on presidential candidate George W. Bush's military record. The authenticity of the Killian documents used in that report are under scrutiny. In the course of the next few days, it was discovered that Joseph Lockhart, then senior advisor to presidential candidate John Kerry, had made a phone call to Texas National Guard officer, Bill Burkett on September 4, 2004.[8][9] Lockhart stated later that an unnamed female CBS producer asked him to contact Burkett.[8][9] Lockhart has denied that the call with Burkett had anything to do with the National Guard issue.[9]
Lockhart co-founded the consulting firm Glover Park Group, becoming its Managing Director.[10]
In June 2011, he joined Facebook as the head of the company's corporate, policy and international communications team. Not wanting to relocate to the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, he left the company in October 2012.[11]
On February 15, 2016, Lockhart was introduced as the new executive vice president of communications and top public relations official for the National Football League; he left the job after the 2018 Super Bowl to spend time with his family.[12][3]
Personal life
Lockhart was previously married to Laura Logan, Deputy Press Secretary for John Glenn's 1984 presidential run and a longtime ABC News producer.[13] In 2013, Lockhart married Giovanna Gray. [14]
In 2016, it was announced that President Obama and his family planned to rent Lockhart's Kalorama home after he left office.[15] It was later revealed that the Obamas purchased the house from the Lockharts in May 2017, saying that it made sense to own the property since they would remain in Washington for at least another two years. [16]
#5
A true operative of the Democratic party invasively infiltrating the Press, Facebook and the NFL while supporting a BCCI insider family. For those too young - BCCI, Pakistani Bank helped collapse US Savings and Loans in the 80s with the money financing Pakistan's nuclear bomb and certain key Democratic Party Insiders ...
#9
The incessant prating about the isms has left me saying "I don't care if you call me rayciss or sexiss or whatever. I. Just. Don't. Care." Like the race card it's overplayed and tapped out.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/19/2019 7:08
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#10
I myself have been a fascist and racist since the Oslo accords.
#11
Joe Lockhart, a luminary "no-nothing" in a party of no-nothings. "In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king…" He continues to carry water for the Donks. To think, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski embodied in one person--who'd a thought it possible?
#16
These days the words racist and nazi are used for anyone who doesn't agree with the left. These words have lost their original meaning. But now, I think people who use these words with utter thoughtlessness should try to understand that, as such, these words have become every bit as offensive as the slurs that are used by real racists.
There are no gas chambers, no lynchings and the only Brown Shirts are Antifa who hate Trump. This is real hate with real violence and Democrats condone it.
These are incendiary words that Lockhart is using against a whole class of people who he does not know. That is the very definition of prejudice.
You can't resolve any issues with someone who calls you a racist or a nazi because right off the bat you're so pissed off that all you want to do is punch them out. Even when you try to calm down and reason with them they shout you down. Their minds are closed and there is no reasoning with them. It is a dangerous situation.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/19/2019 12:21
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#17
Methinks his former boss is egging him on. Note that the frenzied & frothing former shill for Clinton accuses Trump (in Tweet # 347) of raping children with Epstein.
Smells like an attempt at a pre-emptive redirect away from Epstein-related charges that will soon come out against his former boss...
[AlAhram] A woman who died this month of Ebola may have carried the disease into Rwanda, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, a day after it declared an outbreak in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... an international health emergency.
The Congolese woman was a fishmonger who vomited multiple times at a market in Uganda on July 11, a few days before she died, a Ugandan Health Ministry report published by the WHO said on Wednesday.
The WHO said on Thursday that the ministry suspected that, while infected, the woman had also gone to the Congolese city of Goma and Gisenyi in Rwanda on business. Rwanda has never had a recorded case of Ebola.
Three people died in Uganda last month during the current epidemic, which has killed almost 1,700 people in 11 months. But they did not spread the disease further in Uganda, and the rest all died in Congo.
Labelling the outbreak an international emergency is a rare designation through which the WHO aims to galvanise global support to stop it from spreading further.
The move was prompted in part by the case of the fishmonger and by that of a pastor who died of Ebola after going to Goma, a city of 2 million on the Rwandan border.
Rwanda's health minister was not immediately available for comment. "I can say no more!" while Ugandan Health Ministry front man Emmanuel Ainebyona said Ugandan and Congolese health workers were trying to find people at risk following the market episode.
"The team from Uganda has visited Mpondwe Market (where the fishmonger vomited) and carried out tests on the traders, but no one has been found to be positive of the Ebola virus," he said.
The team was still monitoring the traders who had been tested.
#1
People vomiting at fish markets? Lovely. In what parallel universe is that acceptable, among any local group? They just let her walk around throwing up? I'll add that to my list of things (of things I never thought I'd have to itemize) to watch out for while out shopping.
[BREITBART] A politician who pushed for the introduction of "gender neutral" toilets shortly after his election has been charged with nine counts of sexual touching of a child.
David Smith successfully petitioned the Mayor of Middlesborough to trial gender neutral toilets at Middlesbrough Council shortly after his election to the local authority in Teeside, Yorkshire, as a politician representing the Conservative Party, according to the BBC.
Councillor Smith resigned from the notionally right-leaning party ‐ described as "not really conservative" by Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage in a recent interview with Breitbart News ‐ with "immediate effect in light of the allegations" against him.
He added that he "completely reject[s]" the "spurious allegations", however, claiming that he was only "removing myself from the party [to] ensure I can focus all my efforts on fighting to clear my name."
Nevertheless, reports suggest he intends to remain on the council ‐ allowing him to continue receiving a reported £6,378 in basic allowance ‐ for the time being.
Smith said he had "worked hard to ensure I serve the people of Coulby Newham" ‐ the ward to which he was elected only around two months ago ‐ "to the best of my ability."
The 30-year-old claimed "tackling the issue of pot holes", "ordering bollards to be installed", and "being a very proud advocate of the local LGBTQ community" as career highlights.
"This is who I am as a person and a community activist," he said, insisting that "The allegations made against my character are nothing more than damaging lies and moving forward, I will seek to prove this is the case in a court of law."
Smith was previously the subject of controversy when it emerged that he had suggested the country has issues with "rotten pond life families that should be sterilised and washed" while posting on an association football forum under the moniker "Smoggy89".
A front man for Cleveland, kept in touch with the world by Obamaphone, ...was ruled by a Democrat machine from 1942 through 1971. After the river caught fire during the administration of Carl Stokes they tried a Republican, then went back to being Democrats when the party hacked up Dennis Kucinich ... Police confirmed that Smith it "due to appear at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 7 August."
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#1
Oh, bollards will be installed alright. Just wait till he gets to prison.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Russia has sent special forces in recent days to fight alongside Syrian army troops struggling to make gains in a more than two-month assault in northwestern Syria to seize the last opposition bastion, senior rebel commanders said.
They said although Russian officers and troops had been behind front lines directing the operations, using snipers and firing anti-tank missiles, this was the first time Moscow had sent ground troops on the battlefield in the campaign that began at the end of April.
"These special Russian forces are now present on the battlefield. The Russians are intervening directly now," said Captain Naji Mustafa, front man for the The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... -backed National Liberation Front ...the Turkic paramilitaries intended to replace with their native jihadi ferocity all the highly trained Turkish soldiers Sultan Erdogan I the much beloved has jailed in the last few years for not worshipping the ground he walks upon. The Uighurs and so forth who did not join Al Nusra or ISIS seem to have ended up here... (NLF) coalition of rebel factions.
Russian ground forces entered the battle with government forces to seize the strategic Humaymat hilltops in northern Hama that fell into rebel hands last week, regaining it after previous successive attempts by the army failed.
"When (Syrian President Bashar) al-Assad’s forces failed to advance, Russia then intervened directly ... after bombing the area with more than 200 sorties," Mustafa said.
Russian defense ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.
More than two months of Russian-backed operations in and around Idlib province have yielded little or nothing for Russia and its ally President Bashar al Assad.
It is a rare case of a military campaign that has not gone in Russia’s favor since it intervened in 2015.
"Russia did not only fail but has been exposed to defeat," Mustafa said.
The head of a major rebel group said Moscow’s deployment of undisclosed numbers of ground forces came only after elite Syrian troops known as the Tiger Forces and allied militias were unable to make "any significant territorial gains."
"The Syrian army found itself in a crisis and were forced to ask for Russian troops on the battlefield," said Jamil al-Saleh, the head of Jaish al Izza rebel group.
Rebels contacted by Rooters said supplies of weapons including guided anti-tank missiles by Turkey had not only made it a costly battle for the Russians and their allies but repelled ground assaults.
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Just DO IT
[NY Post] Three jihadists were sentenced to death in Morocco for butchering two female Scandinavian backpackers in an ISIS-inspired execution.
Ringleader Abdessamad Ejjoud,
...a street vendor and ‘underground imam’ with jihadi ambitions who lived near Marrakech, led the hunt for killable foreign tourists around the village of Imlil in the Atlas Mountains. He and his friends are the kind of self-actualized jihadis both Al Qaeda and ISIS have been seeking for years. The wonder, honestly, is that this kind of thing hasn’t been happening weekly...
Younes Ouaziyad and Rachid Afatti were convicted of terror charges Thursday in the trial over the grisly slaughterings back in December.
...Mr. Ouaziyad has been identified as a carpenter, which would make Mr. Afatti either the plumber or the other street vendor, while Abderrahim Khayali, the fourth plotter who walked away before the kill, will be whatever is left. The miscreants were quickly scooped up following the murders because one of the group left his ID behind, and the clever lads were recorded on CCTV...
...all the articles on the subject in our archives mention the murdered girls, so this link is an easy way to find them...
28, and Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, were fatally wounded Dec. 17 in a tent on a Christmas camping trip near Mount Toubkal, one of Morocco's highest peaks.
Prosecutors allege that Ejjoud, 25, and Ouaziyad, 27, beheaded the hikers while Afatti, 33, recorded the slayings on his phone. All three men pledged allegiance to ISIS in a video before the murders.
The trio was sentenced along with 20 other accomplices who received jail terms ranging from five to 30 years.
At least three of the twenty are reportedly known jihadi wolves. Kevin P., not mentioned here by name, but likely one of the 20 other convicted accomplices, is a Swiss-Spaniard convert to Islam accused of teaching some of the suspects social media skills and archery, and of recruiting Moroccans and sub-Saharan Africans for jihad. The Local - Denmark adds:
The defence team argued there were "mitigating circumstances on account of their precarious social conditions and psychological disequilibrium".
Most poor people — or rich people, for that matter — do not go looking for innocents to murder. So their precarious social condition is no excuse. If, on the other hand, psychological disequilibrium is meant to say they are not sane, then clearly they need to be locked up until they can be brought to sanity, as they are a danger to all in the vicinity.
Coming from modest backgrounds, with a "very low" level of education, the defendants lived for the most part in low-income areas of Marrakesh.
Jespersen's lawyers have accused authorities of having failed to monitor the activities of some of the suspects before the murders.
This article starring:
Maren Ueland
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#1
Justice seems swift and permanent in Morocco. I'm kind of envious.
#2
Morocco has been trying to establish a tourism economy with some success.
Keeping tourists from being killed would help this effort.
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/19/2019 5:19
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#3
Take the train from Casablanca going south
Blowing smoke rings from the corners of my my, my, my, my mouth
Colored cottons hang in air
Charming cobras in the square
Striped Djellebas we can wear at home
Don't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express
Don't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express
They're taking me to Marrakesh
Somehow CS&N seem a bit naive and dated right about now.
#5
Blackbeard, a technical q: assuming you care about either your clothes or your alibi, how does the head-sawing murderer prevent all that blood spurting all over him?
[Bangkok Post] A bomb in a cooking gas cylinder placed under a roadside stall exploded and severely wounded three paramilitary rangers on foot patrol in Narathiwat provnince on Wednesday morning. The blast was reported on the Phetkasem Highway in Bacho district.
The explosion demolished the stall and left a 30-centimeter-deep crater. Blood stains, along with rangers' bullet-proof vests and helmets, were scattered at the scene. The injured rangers received severe shrapnel wounds.
Police said the three rangers were walking close to the stall, which was under construction, when the bomb was detonated. They blamed southern insurgents.
[RADIOSHABELLE] Unknown button men have shot and killed a tribal elder in central Somalia on Wednesday night, police and witnesses said.
The elder, Abdullahi Abdirahman was bumped off by assailants armed with pistols in the troubled southern Galkayo town, the regional capital of Mudug.
The killers managed to escape the scene before the arrival of the local security forces. No group has yet grabbed credit for the apparent liquidation.
The town which straddles the border between Galmudug ...a semiautonomous region in central Somalia, bordering Puntland on the north. Galmudug is not trying to obtain international recognition as a separate nation, but rather considers itself autonomous within the larger Somali federalism, for what that's worth... and Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... has been the scene of rising killings and frequent rape in the past few months.
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[Jpost] The United States said on Thursday that a U.S. Navy ship had "destroyed" an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz after the aircraft threatened the vessel, but Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... said it had no information about losing a drone.
In the latest episode to stir tensions in the Gulf, U.S. President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... told an event at the White House that the drone had flown to within 1,000 yards (metres) of the USS Boxer and had ignored "multiple calls to stand down."
"This is the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters. The United States reserves the right to defend our personnel, facilities and interests," Trump said.
"The drone was immediately destroyed," he added.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told news hounds at the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... : "We have no information about losing a drone today." "We do have a brand new autonomous submersible vehicle"
The Pentagon said in a statement that the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, had taken "defensive action" against a drone on Thursday morning as the Boxer was moving into the Strait of Hormuz.
"We do assess it was an Iranian drone," said Commander Rebecca Rebarich, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
Iran in June shot down a U.S. military surveillance drone in the Gulf with a surface-to-air missile. Iran says the drone was in its airspace, but Washington says it was in international skies.
Trump said at the time the United States had come close to launching a military strike on Iran in retaliation for the downing of the U.S. drone.
The increased use of drones by Iran and its allies for surveillance and attacks across the Middle East is raising alarms in Washington.
The United States believes that Iran-linked militia in Iraq have recently increased their surveillance of American troops and bases in the country by using off-the-shelf, commercially available drones, U.S. officials say.
Oil prices jumped on Thursday after news of the ship seizure. They later fell, however, on weakness in U.S. equities markets and an expectation that crude output would rise in the Gulf of Mexico following last week's hurricane in the region.
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on an international network of companies and their agents it said were involved in the procurement of materials for Iran's nuclear program.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru ||
07/19/2019
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#5
I'm getting the feeling that everyone, media, politicians, generals, etc., involved in this shit seems to think that it's all a video game with no real consequences.
No harm, no foul, just another blip or bleep and the score goes up or down. This is worrisome.
#7
No harm, no foul, just another blip or bleep and the score goes up or down
Yes and no, AlanC. It is serious, but the smarter people are trying to prevent it from erupting into a full-blown confrontation.
I don't want a war with Iran, and no sane person does. Maybe we should bring our existing war on the Asian landmass to a conclusion before we contemplate launching another Asian land-based war, no?
#8
Another thought. Trump was elected because of popular disgust with the political class's handling of two issues: illegal immigration and the Swamp's forever wars against everybody or nearly everyone across SW Asia and N. Africa.
If Trump cannot prevent yet another war breaking out, this time with Iran, then it is a near-certainty that a Democrat will be elected in 2020.
It isn't 1980 anymore. We've had 20 years of inconclusive wars prosecuted by incompetent political leaders from both parties. Enough.
#9
Lex - any war with Iran was predicated on their nuke program being accepted (tacitly) by Oblahblah but rejected by Trump (which is in America's interest), as well as their long campaign of terror following the taking of American hostages in Carter's era. Most Americans won't like it but will understand why it happened - cowardice and weakness in the face of the Ayatollah's reign of terror
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2019 12:04
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#10
Disagree. Nothing is more likely to push Trump below 270 electoral votes than another war.
#11
Hopefully there won't be a war. Iran is full of assholes and idiots but even they would know what it means for them. Rubble and ruin, and the ayatollah hanged in Tehran a couple of years from now.
[ToloNews] Local officials in Badghis said there is a lack of coordination between security forces which increases their casualties.
The Afghan commando forces sustained heavy losses during an anti-terror operation in Aab Kamari district of Badghis province in an attack by the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... when the forces were evacuating a military helicopter in the area.
Badghis governor Abdul Ghaffar Malikzai said that lack of coordination from the center is as the main reason for the casualties.
"Over 25 Taliban fighters were eliminated, we also had some deaders, but the regrettable issue is that we had no coordination," he said.
But the Ministry of Defense (MoD) came up with a different logic, saying casualties among the commando forces were caused due to the complex nature of the area.
Reports say that over 30 members of the well-trained Afghan elite commandos including a commander were killed during the operation after the Taliban fighters launched a preemptive ambush on these forces while they were evacuating a military helicopter in the area.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the space pirate fleet to attack Zemblonia... the body of a prominent Afghan National Army Brigadier General Abdul Mubin Mohabati was laid to rest in his hometown in the northeastern province of Panjshir after he was killed alongside several other members of the Afghan army and foreigners by a Taliban intruder in the central province of Ghazni.
The attack in Ghazni took place after a high-level delegation comprising Afghan and foreign military officials were visiting Ghani to asses the security situation in the area.
Reports say that the intruder was serving in the ranks of the ANA over the past four years and was bumped off after they opened fire on members of Afghan National Army.
"Whenever our special force are carrying out operations somewhere, it should be carried out with full information in hand, they should deal blows to the enemy rather than becoming the victims," said Ziauddin Akazai, MP.
"They also take secrecy into consideration and then enter into the operation phase. I told you about the reasons that we sustained casualties, the reason is that the area is very complicated, there are hillsides and forests," said MoD front man Rohullah Ahmadzai.
Mohabati had a central role in the recent anti-Taliban operations in Ghazni which helped to recapture several key areas from the Taliban including the recapturing of Deh Yak and Khawja Omari districts which had been overruled by the holy warriors.
Fresh waves of violence grip Afghanistan at a time that the warring sides have also extended their efforts in the diplomatic front aimed at finding a political settlement to the ongoing bloody conflict.
Analysts, however, say that it is difficult to predict something correct about Afghanistan’s peace and war in the wake of complexity which exists on the battlefields.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on five people and an international network of companies the US Treasury said are involved in the procurement of materials for Iran’s nuclear program.
They are the first punitive steps by Washington since Tehran announced earlier this month it would increase its levels of enriched uranium that can be used for bomb fuel.
Tehran announced on July 1 that it had amassed more low-enriched uranium than permitted under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, marking its first major step beyond the terms of the pact since the United States withdrew more than a year ago.
"Treasury is taking action to shut down an Iranian nuclear procurement network that leverages Chinese- and Belgium-based front companies to acquire critical nuclear materials and benefit the regime’s malignambitions," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
"Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... cannot claim benign intent on the world stage while it purchases and stockpiled products for centrifuges," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2019
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Argentinian authorities designated Hezbollah, which it blames for two attacks on its soil, a terrorist organization and ordered the freezing of the Lebanese group’s assets in the country.https://t.co/T0PqktOxct
BREAKING: Peace must be returned to Yemen in accordance with the UN council’s resolutions, the United Nations envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths says. https://t.co/8lmZF2xnN5pic.twitter.com/21Q2CL6ksm
The US House of Representatives voted to sideline an impeachment resolution against President Donald Trump, effectively killing the measure for now but not burying the issue that has divided Democrats. https://t.co/2rmgXg2Zhh
[KhaamaPress] A Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) went off prematurely in Balkh province of Afghanistan earlier today.
The 209th Shaheen Corps in statement said the earth-shattering kaboom took place in Zekzayak Village of Chahar Bolak district.
The statement further added that a Toyota Corolla type vehicle packed with explosives went off prematurely before the jacket wallahs manage to detonate it in the area of their target.
The anti-government armed elements including Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... have not commented regarding the incident so far.
[ToloNews] Mohib says the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... wanted to overrun several provinces but they failed.
The National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib on Thursday said the Talibs had plotted major attacks on the start of the current year to occupy Kabul, but the group failed to take over a single district in the country.
While assessing the security situation in the northern province of Parwan on Thursday, Mohib said that the Afghan cops managed to recapture several areas which had fallen to the Taliban in the past.
"This year, the enemy was looking to enter Kabul or at least take over several provinces," Mohib said.
He said that Afghan people will not accept the peace in which they do not see the interests of their country.
"If the peace comes in the shape of a project or conspiracy in which our system will be disrupted, we all will retaliate against it," added
"We want peace, but a dignified peace, a peace which is lasting, a peace which comes on behalf of the people of Afghanistan," said Ghulam Bahauddin Jailani, head of Parwan Provincial Council.
Mohib pledged to work together with the security institutions to improve security in some restive regions of the province.
[Business World] Nine Abu Sayyaf militants surrendered to Philippine troops in Sulu on July 15, the military reported late Wednesday. Upon surrender, they also turned over their weapons consisting of seven high-powered and two low-powered firearms.
Military spokesman Cirilito Sobejana said in a statement, “I would like to attribute this success to the loving people of Sulu who continuously support us in our campaign against the Abu Sayyaf. We anticipate that in the coming days, the remaining bandits will opt to lay down their arms and choose to live a peaceful life,”
Also last Monday, a high-ranking member of the rebel group was killed in Basilan after attempting to evade arrest by government troops. Military spokesman Fernando Reyeg said, “Arod Wahing pulled his gun and grenade when security forces raided his safe house.”
Wahing was one of the suspects in the kidnappings of Dutch Ewold Horn in 2012 and a German couple in 2014. “He is a trusted follower of Abu Sayyaf top leader Radullan Sahiron in Sulu,” Reyeg said, “He, however, fled to Basilan to escape the series of armed engagements with military forces in Sulu.”
Posted by: ryuge ||
07/19/2019
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[AMP.USATODAY] Florida’s new so-called "sanctuary cities" law, which prohibits local governments from enacting sanctuary policies and requires local law enforcement to help ICE detain immigrants colonists without warrants, is being challenged as unconstitutional.
A coalition of immigrant rights groups, including Florida Immigrant Coalition, Farmworker Association of Florida, WeCount!, Americans for Immigrant Justice, Hope Community Center, QLatinx, and the City of Miami filed the suit in federal court in Miami this morning. The injunction request is the first lawsuit to target the controversial law.
Rather than make Florida communities more secure, the lawsuit said, the law will lead to "the erosion of trust in law enforcement, racial profiling, and the violation of the constitutional rights of hundreds of thousands of Floridians."
The lawsuit also contends that hate groups drafted the original version of SB 168 and recruited state politicians "to turn their anti-immigrant agenda into state law."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2019
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[IsraelTimes] Israel’s EMT service Magen David Adom this week carried out a training seminar in Milwaukee on response to attacks on public religious institutions.
The training session was held in response to recent attacks in schools and houses of worship in the US.
Magend David Adom says it is uniquely trained in responding to such attacks due to its experience with terror attacks in Israel.
Organizers say over 150 people from dozens of faith-based groups completed the course.
"Unfortunately, over the years, we had a lot of experience with terrible events and one of the things that we saw is everybody can save lives," MDA paramedic Raphael Herbst tells ABC News. "It doesn’t matter if you’re Christian, Moslem, religious, nonreligious, it’s for everyone. Every human being should be able to know how to save people’s lives."
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan and coalition forces conducted separate operations in Ghazni and central Pashtun-infested Logar provinces killing or wounding at least 19 Talibs.
The 203rd Thunder Corps in a statement said the Afghan artillery units conducted strikes against Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... positions in Nogha area of Ghazni city.
The statement further added that the artillery strikes killed 4 Talibs and maimed 3 others.
Furthermore, the Afghan Air Force conducted Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in Rawza area of Ghazni city killing 4 Talibs.
The 203rd Thunder Corps also added that the Afghan forces killed 3 Talibs and maimed 2 others in Khwaja Omari district of Ghazni.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Alamo, Davy was wondering if Buck was okay. He suspected he wasn't... the U.S. forces conducted airstrike in Azra district of Pashtun-infested Logar which killed 3 Talibs.
[DAWN] The US House voted Wednesday to block $8.1 billion in arms sales to 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... and other allies, a rebuke of Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... that will likely lead to a veto by the president.
Lawmakers, many of whom are outraged with the kingdom over Riyadh's role in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year, approved three resolutions that would prevent the controversial sales announced under emergency measures earlier this year by Trump.
The resolutions blocking the sales have already cleared the US Senate, and now go to the White House, where Trump is expected to issue a veto, the third of his presidency.
While the House blocked the sales with a comfortable majority, it was about 50 votes shy of the two-thirds needed to override Trump's veto.
Trump is seeking 22 separate sales of aircraft support maintenance, precision-guided munitions and other weapons and equipment to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan at a moment of heightened tensions in the Middle East.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2019
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#1
Where is their damn outrage about illegal immigrants coming here raping and murdering and only God knows what else.
Posted by: chris ||
07/19/2019 10:09
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#2
Opposition Party Kabuki Theater™ in the Democratic Party controlled US House of Representatives...
[SultanKnish] Politics has its style and its substance. Style requires the 2020 candidates to stump in New Hampshire diners and eat corn dogs at Iowa fairs. These stylistic rites of passage in American politics are on the verge of irrelevance as the kingmakers in California push up their primary and as the effort to eliminate the electoral college gains traction among the 2020 Democrats and, more importantly, their donors.
Forget the New Hampshire diners and Iowa corn dogs, the truth can be found if you follow the money.
The 2020 race is all about touting the democracy of small donors with a 130,000 donor threshold for the third Democrat debate. But certain zip codes keep coming up for the top Democrat candidates. The 100XX zip codes of Manhattan, the 90XXX zip codes of Los Angeles, the 94XXX zip codes of San Francisco, the 98XXX zip codes of Seattle, the 20XXX zip codes of D.C. and the 02XXX zip codes of Boston.
These are the core zip codes of the Democrat donor base. They are the pattern that recur in the campaign contributions lists of the top Democrats. And they explain the politics of the 2020 race.
Providing free health care for illegal aliens at taxpayer expense may not be very popular nationwide, but is commonplace in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Boston. Gun control is a loser nationwide, but a sure thing in the big blue cities. Even proposals to take away private health plans, allow rapists and terrorists to vote from prison, and open the border pick up more support there.
The 2020 Democrats aren’t speaking to Americans as a whole. Instead they’re addressing wealthy donors from 6 major cities, and some of their satellite areas, whose money they need to be able to buy teams, ads and consultants to help them win in places like New Hampshire and Iowa.
New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles show up in the top 5 donor cities for most of the top 2020 candidates, including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Pete Buttigieg. Boston shows up in the top 10, not only for Bernie and Warren, but for Kamala and Buttigieg. Seattle appears in the top 10 for Bernie, Warren, and Buttigieg. Washington D.C. features in the top 10 for Bernie, Booker, Warren, Kamala, and Buttigieg. And the rest of America doesn’t really matter.
#1
These donors come from the two groups in our society that are most estranged from social reality: techies and university employees.
People working in these two environments live in a fairyland of virtue signaling.
Their disdain for the military and for manufacturing physical things is grounded in almost total ignorance.
They loathe religion, sneer at traditional European and western culture, hate Israel and think "white supremacy" lurks behind any opposition to identity politics idiocy.
At the same time they are a protected class that offers our politicians a cushy and lucrative landing pad after their Washington tour's finished.
A suicide kaboom claimed by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group in North Sinai killed two people including a civilian Thursday, a day after the hard boyz beheaded four people there, medical and security sources said.
The bombing hit security forces stationed near a parking lot in the city of Sheikh Zuweid, the sources told AFP.
One member of the security forces was killed and three others maimed, they said, adding that a civilian was also killed in the blast.
Egypt's military confirmed in a statement that a soldier was killed in the assault.
Thursday's bombing comes a day after gunnies beheaded four civilians in the same area, according to the sources, after they allegedly collaborated with the Egyptian military.
In online statements, the Islamic State group grabbed credit for the attack and the beheadings.
[Ynet] The Islamic State group has grabbed credit for a suicide kaboom that killed two people, including a civilian, and maimed three in Egypt's restive northern Sinai Peninsula.
The Death Eater group says in a statement on an IS-affiliate website that an IS Death Eater named Abu Omar El-Seedy had detonated his boom vest near a military checkpoint at dawn on Thursday.
Egyptian security officials had said the bomber targeted an armored vehicle near the local market of the northern Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid, killing a soldier and a civilian and wounding three soldiers.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/19/2019
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[KhaamaPress] The security forces killed a prominent Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... commander Mawlavi Junudullah during an operation in northern Faryab province.
The Special Operations Corps in a statement said the Special Forces conducted an operation against a Taliban hideout in Kolian area of Bulchiragh district.
The statement further added that the security forces killed Mawlavi Jundullah, one of the prominent commanders of Taliban during the raid.
Furthermore, the Special Forces also killed 18 fighters of Jundullah during the same operations.
The Special Operations Corps also added that the security forces also maimed 9 Talibs during the raid.
The Taliban group has not commented in this regard so far.
[MSN] At a Tuesday night city council meeting, Berkeley became the first city in America to ban the use of natural gas piping in new construction. But that was not the only utility-related issue they saw fit to attend to. No, there was another matter on deck: Eliminating the gendered connotations of words like "manhole" in the city municipal code.
No longer will the streets of fair Berkeley be dotted with manholes, nary a womanhole or nonbinaryhole in sight. With Tuesday night's vote, they have all been transmuted into "maintenance holes," that highest, hardest glass manhole-cover finally shattered.
The item, originally on the council agenda for March 12, was sponsored by councilmembers Rigel Robinson, Cheryl Davila, Ben Bartlett and Lori Droste, reports Berkeleyside. The ordinance eliminates all gendered pronouns from the city code, replacing "she" and "he" with "they." City Council to be referred to as "Jackholes"
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2019
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#1
Banning new natural gas piping. Go ahead. Go back to the 19th century. Grab the popcorn.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/19/2019 0:14
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#2
Fortunately, "$hithole" is still allowed. Would be hard to describe Berkeley if it weren't.
#5
Nothing new. Back in the mid-90's when I was working at Oak Ridge we got instructions to call manways person access, man hours person effort, and anything gender specific changed to gender neutral.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/19/2019 8:25
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Thousands marched in Puerto Rico for a fifth day on Wednesday demanding the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rossello, following corruption accusations and the leak of text chats in which he made sexist and homophobic remarks.
To the chant of "Ricky, renuncia!" ("Ricky, resign!") large crowds gathered in the capital San Juan clamoring for Rossello to leave office -- which he is refusing to do.
Local celebrity performers such as rapper Benito Martinez ("Bad Bunny"), pop icon Ricky Martin and Rene Perez ("Residente") had urged their fellow Puerto Ricans to demonstrate.
"Not just me, but many Puerto Ricans will hit the streets to demonstrate for what is correct," rapper Martinez told the Spanish-language Telemundo network before heading to the march.
Police fired tear gas at the crowd on Monday after a fire broke out near the government headquarters. Five protesters were arrested.
The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico is a US territory and residents are American citizens, but it does not have the same congressional representation accorded to states.
Rossello is under pressure after US federal agents arrested contractors and government officials -- including former education secretary Julia Keleher -- on corruption charges.
The protests erupted after the Center for Investigative Journalism on Saturday released 889 pages of text chats on the encrypted messaging app Telegram in which Rossello and 12 other male administration members criticize officials, politicians and journalists.
They shared memes, jokes and crude sexual insults, according to the Center and an excerpt published by local daily El Nuevo Dia.
In one exchange, chief financial officer Christian Sobrino makes homophobic references to Latin superstar Martin.
Martin, of "Livin’ la Vida Loca" and "She Bangs" fame, vented his fury in a video posted on Twitter.
"They mocked our dead, they mocked women, they mocked the LGBT community, they made fun of people with physical and mental disabilities, they made fun of obesity," he said. "It’s enough -- this cannot be."
Demonstrators are also angry over Rossello’s handling of the Hurricane Maria emergency in 2017, which left nearly 3,000 dead, and the island in financial crisis.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2019
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#1
not just the executive branch
officials in the legislative branch and many municipal officials have been charged over the past year
and not just this year, corruption is endemic in PR, almost everyone has to pay a bribe at some point and sometimes you have to pay twice because the first guy wasn't the right guy to bribe
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/19/2019 1:12
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#2
Trump:"Told ya so. You're welcome"
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/19/2019 1:22
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Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/19/2019 13:14
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#5
A friend (originally from Puerto Rico) just got back from visiting family there and said he didn't see a lot of significant problems, and that the worst ones were the same as before the hurricane.
[KhaamaPress] The security forces conducted a series of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... and Badghis provinces killing more than 20 Talibs.
The military officials said Thursday that airstrikes killed 20 Talibs in Kajaki district of Helmand province.
The officials further added that an airstrike killed 2 Talibs in Ab-e Kamari district of Badghis.
The Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... group has not commented regarding the airstrikes so far.
The security situation in Helmand and Badghis provinces has tanked during the recent months.
Talibs are active in some districts of the two provinces and often conduct terrorist related activities.
Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Standing Buffalo watched the circling Commanches and asked himself What would Geronimo do?... the Afghan forces routinely conduct counter-terrorism operations against the anti-government gangs in the two provinces.
The U.S. forces also conduct regular airstrikes in restive parts of the country to suppress Taliban and other anti-government bully boys.
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.
[The Sun UK] A BRITISH oil tanker with 23 crew on board has been seized by Iranian troops in the Gulf, the country's state TV said.
[Wash Times] A judge has awarded about $6.5 million in attorney's fees and court costs to Gibson's Bakery, the family-owned Ohio doughnut shop that won a $25 million judgment against Oberlin College over protests accusing the business of racism.
[WISH8tv] BOONE COUNTY, W. Va. (WFLA/CNN) ‐ Police in West Virginia say they’re seeing a dangerous trend in Boone county.
[Townhall] Reverend Patrick Conroy serves as the House of Representatives Chaplain in Washington, D.C. and regularly starts the day off for lawmakers with prayer. Thursday's invocation was a little more serious than most days for Rev. Conroy. The Roman Catholic Priest prayed specifically to cast out the demons inside Capitol Hill. .gif)
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
...Arabic for 
...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region...
[DAWN] Nearly 300 
[DAWN] A four-year-old child who survived sexual assault and attempted murder has been moved from the paediatric intensive care unit at the Pakistain Institute of Medical Sciences to a ward.
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka 
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
[Bangkok Post] A bomb in a cooking gas cylinder placed under a roadside stall exploded and severely wounded three paramilitary rangers on foot patrol in Narathiwat provnince on Wednesday morning. The blast was reported on the Phetkasem Highway in Bacho district.
[RADIOSHABELLE] Unknown 
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
[Business World] Nine Abu Sayyaf militants surrendered to Philippine troops in Sulu on July 15, the military reported late Wednesday. Upon surrender, they also turned over their weapons consisting of seven high-powered and two low-powered firearms. 
[AMP.USATODAY] Florida’s new so-called "sanctuary cities" law, which prohibits local governments from enacting sanctuary policies and requires local law enforcement to help ICE detain im
...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
[MSN] At a Tuesday night city council meeting, Berkeley became the first city in America to ban the use of natural gas piping in new construction. But that was not the only utility-related issue they saw fit to attend to. No, there was another matter on deck: Eliminating the gendered connotations of words like "manhole" in the city municipal code.
...
