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Today: 74 articles and 188 comments as of 13:30.
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Turks Use Drones in Tear Gas Attacks on Greek Border Guards
Today's Headlines
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 6: Politix
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Africa North
Egypt's parliament approves new amendments to anti-money laundering law
[AlAhram] MPs said 80 percent of terrorist crimes were funded through money laundering activities

Egypt's House of Representatives approved on Sunday new amendments to the anti-money laundering law (80/2002).

Parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal said the amendments are necessary and aim to dry up the sources of funding for terrorist and organised crime. He explained that the approved amendments will be referred to the State Council to be revised in constitutional and legal terms before they are put up for a final vote.

MP Osama Sharshar said the amendments come at the right time to target terrorist militias, which resort to money laundering activities to commit their crimes.

The majority speaker Abdel-Hadi El-Qasabi said money laundering has become a major source of funding for terrorist activities in recent years.

"These amendments target these crimes and implement Egypt’s commitments in line with the Middle East and North Africa Financial Task Force in this respect," said El-Qasabi.

Adel Nasser, the parliamentary spokesperson of the Future of a Homeland Party, said the amendments are necessary as 80 percent of terrorist crimes were funded by money laundering operations, said Nasser.

A report prepared by the House's constitutional and legislative affairs committee said amendments to the 16-article law are part of a wider effort to crack down on terrorism funding.

"Amendments to laws on anti-terror and terrorist entities were amended and approved by the House last month in a bid to tighten the grip on terrorism funding, and the amendments to the anti-money laundering law serve this objective and go in line with new developments in the area of terrorist crimes over 18 years," said the report.

"Besides, the amendments come at a time when Egypt's legal framework against money laundering and terrorism financing has become subject to review by the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force," added the report.

Bahaaeddin Abu Shoka, chairperson of the legislative and constitutional affairs committee and leader of the opposition Wafd Party, told MPs that the amendments, approved by the committee on 2 March, generally aim to update the law in terms of widening the scope of the definition of money laundering to include the selling and smuggling of oil, natural resources, securities and cryptocurrency, among other assets.

"The amendments will also toughen penalties in the form of a seven-year prison sentence and hefty fines will be imposed on those convicted of laundering any of the above assets," said Abu Shoka.

The report explains that three main articles of the anti-money laundering law will be amended.

"Article 16 will be amended to give greater powers to the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Funding Unit, with the objective of expediting the necessary measures in this respect, primarily freezing the assets and cash of those suspected of funding terrorist crimes," said the report.

Article 18 will be amended to make it compulsory for local authorities and the anti-money laundering unit to reinforce cooperation and exchange information with international organizations focused on fighting money laundering and the funding of terrorism.

Article 9 will be amended to require the anti-money laundering unit to publish up-to-date and comprehensive statistics and figures on its activities and operations in tracking the illegal funding of terrorist crimes.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/09/2020 00:36 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:


#2  American paper money can be washed in laundry detergent — I’ve done it.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/09/2020 17:59 Comments || Top||

#3  We had no idea your talents extended to money-laundering, tw. Truly a remarkable woman.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/09/2020 18:25 Comments || Top||


Al-Mismari: The GNA militias, supported by Turkey are planning a wide attack on our forces in Tripoli
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 03/09/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Arabia
KSA Releases King's Photos after Purge over 'Coup Plot'
[AnNahar] 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...
released images of King Salman
...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Lord of Most of the Arabians...
carrying out his royal duties on Sunday, after a stunning purge of at least three princes including his brother and nephew for allegedly plotting a coup.

Saudi royal guards on Friday detained the trio, multiple sources told AFP, in a move that signals Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
...Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia as of 2016. The Turks hate him, so he must be all right, despite the occasional brutal murder of Qatar-owned journalists...
's tightening grip on power.

The detentions also raised speculation about the health of the 84-year-old king and whether Prince Mohammed's succession to the Arab world's most powerful throne was imminent.

But the official Saudi Press Agency posted photos of the king presiding over the swearing-in ceremony of newly appointed Saudi ambassadors to Ukraine and Uruguay.

A source close to the Saudi leadership told AFP on Saturday the "king is healthy and fine" and the detentions were meant to enforce "discipline" within the royal family.

The crown prince is "in control" and the purge was carried out "after an accumulation of negative behavior by the two princes", this source added without elaborating.

Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, a brother of King Salman, and the monarch's nephew Prince Mohammed bin Nayef were detained after they were accused of plotting a palace coup aimed at unseating the crown prince, heir to the Saudi throne, sources said.

Prince Nayef's younger brother, Prince Nawaf bin Nayef, was also detained, they added.

The detentions mark the latest crackdown by Prince Mohammed, the king's son who has consolidated his grip on power with the imprisonment of prominent holy mans and activists as well as princes and businessmen.

He is already viewed as the de facto ruler, controlling all the major levers of government, from defense to the economy.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/09/2020 00:36 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia

#1  ...E's not passed on, e's pining for the fjords...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 03/09/2020 4:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Rumoured last words:

"I long for the gardens of Cordoba
Or someplace, perhaps, less affordable...
To lie harum-scarum
With Abdul and Karim...
If only my wealth were more portable!"
Posted by: Albemarle Omearong7627 || 03/09/2020 12:17 Comments || Top||


Britain
Human traffickers exploiting 'easy-peasy' route into Britain by flying illegal migrants to Ireland with fake IDs and driving them over the border for £2,000-a-go
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Britain-based Albanian Kledjan Kurtaj, 20, helps organise fake IDs and flights for migrants

  • He boasted that he could get migrants false European ID cards in Albania

  • Kurtaj touts for business on a Facebook page and said it would be ‘easy-peasy'
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/09/2020 03:19 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Human Trafficking

#1  My question is, where do these "migrants" get this money?
Posted by: Chris || 03/09/2020 9:06 Comments || Top||

#2  It is probable that Muslims in the UK are financing them. The C virus is probably going to explode in the UK.
Posted by: Thaith Elmeresing6163 || 03/09/2020 12:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Financed by the coyotes.
Payback in future wages.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/09/2020 14:45 Comments || Top||

#4  agree skid
Posted by: Chris || 03/09/2020 18:30 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Erdogan says he will hold talks in Brussels with European Union officials to discuss the migration issue
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 03/09/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


India-Pakistan
Disruption at Islamabad's International Women's Day march as throw stones
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Happy International Women's Day.
Posted by: Fred || 03/09/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


International-UN-NGOs
DGCX Brent Crude Drops More Than 31% After OPEC Collapse
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]




Posted by: Fred || 03/09/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia



#3  this is a mess
Posted by: newc || 03/09/2020 4:09 Comments || Top||

#4 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/09/2020 4:19 Comments || Top||

#5  From Twitter: Timur Kuran @timurkuran

This oil-price plunge poses an existential threat to several unpopular autocracies, including Iran, KSA, and Venezuela. They will have to cut subsidies, which means trouble—trouble in the midst of a pandemic. We’re in uncharted territory.

Posted by: 3dc || 03/09/2020 6:53 Comments || Top||

#6  I take it there's been a serious drop in demand from China?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/09/2020 7:47 Comments || Top||

#7  And why will low oil prices mean a recession?

I can see some stock mkt. problems for the big boys on the indices but overall I would think it would help most everyone else.

Of course if the lack of demand is totally driven by corona fears........that would make some sense.
Posted by: AlanC || 03/09/2020 8:24 Comments || Top||

#8  Panic = time to make $$$

The economy will boomerang back quickly. This is ridiculously overblown.
Posted by: Lex || 03/09/2020 8:25 Comments || Top||

#9  ^^^ this
Posted by: Chris || 03/09/2020 9:11 Comments || Top||

#10  40 some years ago I watched a show on PBS called "Wall Street Week in Review" with Louis Rukyser.

He started one show with the line: "Wall Street did what it does best this week, it panicked."

That has stayed with me as received wisdom ever since.
Posted by: AlanC || 03/09/2020 11:15 Comments || Top||

#11  Since Trump's election the MSM (by which I mean the Democratic Party) has been playing the stock market boom as just rich guys getting richer. They will now seamlessly pivot to "small investors losing gazillions" (until the market recovers, when rich guys will resume getting richer.)

The person I would least like to be this morning is a manager for one of the large underfunded pension plans.
Posted by: Matt || 03/09/2020 12:29 Comments || Top||

#12  but overall I would think it would help most everyone else.

It’ll be tough on our frackers, too.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/09/2020 13:10 Comments || Top||

#13  at $30/bar, it would make sense to fill the strategic reserve with as much as it can take

I think there is about 300 Million barrels of storage capacity that is currently unused.
Posted by: lord garth || 03/09/2020 13:26 Comments || Top||

#14  My stock is dropping,
calves!
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/09/2020 14:47 Comments || Top||

#15  Congrats Skid, may they come out the right direction and be loved by their mommas.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/09/2020 15:21 Comments || Top||

#16  I was thinking the same thing garth
Posted by: Chris || 03/09/2020 18:31 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iran ‘appreciates’ Iraqi efforts to expel US troops: advisor
Isn’t that lovely. They make it so interesting for their satraps.
[Rudaw] Two months after the death of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, a top advisor to Iran’s Supreme leader told news hounds in Baghdad on Sunday that 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 Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
"appreciates" Iraqi efforts to expel US troops.

Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Shamkhani arrived to Baghdad on Saturday in an official visit to discuss the formation of the next Iraqi cabinet with Iraqi president Barham Salih, Speaker of the parliament Mohammed al-Halbousi and Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/09/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Ayatollah Sayed Hadi al-Modaressi in Iraq diagnosed with the novel coronavirus
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 03/09/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

#1  Lick the shrine.
Posted by: Ulump Splat4660 || 03/09/2020 5:09 Comments || Top||

#2  should've moved that turban wrap a few inches down.
Posted by: Bob Grorong1136 || 03/09/2020 8:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Austere Religious Contagious Scholar
Posted by: Lex || 03/09/2020 8:19 Comments || Top||

#4  As opposed to the novella coronavirus, the short story coronavirus or the dreaded Cliffs Notes coronavirus...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/09/2020 9:40 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm tellin' ya, people, we're fecked.
My wife has no fever. I checked!
Infectious? Not limericks!
No prodding or pinpricks...
A limerick don't get no respect.
Posted by: Albemarle Omearong7627 || 03/09/2020 12:33 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Dodged the bullet?
[JPost] - Blue and White leader Benny Gantz's chances of forming a government took a hit on Monday, when Blue and White MKs Tzvi Hauser and Yoaz Hendel ruled out backing a minority government backed from outside the coalition by the Joint List of Arab parties.

MKs Gabi Ashkenazi and Chili Tropper also oppose a minority government but have not joined Hauser and Hendel's rebellion. Without Hendel and Hauser, Gantz's majority over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing bloc would fall to 60-58 and make Gantz reliant on the three MKs of Balad, the most extreme Arab party in the Knesset, whose past MKs have been convicted of aiding terrorist groups.
Actually, without these two, he doesn't have 61 even with Balad. Jurnos can't do arithmetic 120 - 58 = 62 - 2 = 60 < 61.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/09/2020 16:55 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran’s former deputy of the IRGC Ferzad Tazari died of the coronavirus
[Twitter]


Ferzad Tazari, IRGC
Posted by: 3dc || 03/09/2020 06:10 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  good
Posted by: Chris || 03/09/2020 9:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Wonder what's he been licking?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 03/09/2020 12:46 Comments || Top||

#3  And Epstein killed himself. I wonder if we're seeing the Funeral Games of Soleimani.
Posted by: Matt || 03/09/2020 13:00 Comments || Top||


Coronavirus claims lives of two Iranian clerics, former prosecutor
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iranian holy mans Reza Modarresi and Ali Hosseini, as well as former prosecutor Mousa Torabzadeh, have died from coronavirus, according to the Iranian media.

Iran’s health ministry on Sunday reported 49 new deaths from coronavirus, the highest toll within 24 hours since the start of the outbreak in the Islamic Theocratic Republic.

The virus has spread to all of Iran’s 31 provinces with 6,566 confirmed cases.

Reza Modarresi, a holy man from Qom, died from coronavirus, the semi-official Khabar Online news agency reported.

Cleric Ali Hosseini, the head of the Islamic Development Organization in the city of Aliabad-e-Katul in Golestan province, died on Thursday, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Friday.

While Mehr did not cite the cause of death, other Iranian media outlets reported that Hosseini died from coronavirus.

The Islamic Development Organization is a religious and cultural organization created by former Supreme Leader and founder of the Islamic Theocratic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after the 1979 Revolution in Iran. The goal of this organization is to promote the ideologies of the Islamic Theocratic Republic.

Hosseini had also served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Two other Iranian holy mans, Mostafa Amini and Nematollah Javadi Bamiani, have also died from coronavirus, according to unconfirmed reports.

Mousa Torabzadeh, the former prosecutor of Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh, a city in Gilan province, has also died from coronavirus, according to a Telegram channel affiliated with the Iranian judiciary.

Iran’s northern province of Gilan is one of the epicenters of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Coronavirus has infected and killed several other politicians and military and religious figures in Iran.

Posted by: Fred || 03/09/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


#2  Ahura Mazda's patience has run out?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/09/2020 4:11 Comments || Top||

#3  The Juices are having their DIRE™ revenge!!!!!!

(or these are just some nasty, dirty and un-healthy motherfuckers)
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/09/2020 9:31 Comments || Top||

#4  former prosecutor Mousa Torabzadeh

Always remember - Prosecutors will be violated.
Posted by: Mercutio || 03/09/2020 9:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Insh'Allah
Posted by: Fat Bob Javish1936 || 03/09/2020 11:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Time t lick more religious artefacts.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/09/2020 12:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Swine flu to please Allah
Posted by: Woodrow || 03/09/2020 19:16 Comments || Top||


Negotiations to restructure #Lebanon’s foreign currency debt should not last more than nine months
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 03/09/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Actual repayment of the debt, however
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/09/2020 5:19 Comments || Top||


Man suspected of having coronavirus in #Iran’s northern city of Rasht in Gilan province collapsed outside a hospital
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 03/09/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Saudis. Takfiris, Wahabis, Daesh are all the same. They are all plans of the great Satan
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 03/09/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran



Who's in the News
38[untagged]
7Sublime Porte
6Commies
5Govt of Iran
3Govt of Saudi Arabia
2Hezbollah
2Taliban
2Govt of Iran Proxies
1Arab Spring
1Govt of Sudan
1Human Trafficking
1Islamic State
1Moslem Colonists
1al-Shabaab (AQ)
1Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,
1Govt of Iraq
1Govt of Pakistan

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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2020-03-09
  Turks Use Drones in Tear Gas Attacks on Greek Border Guards
Sun 2020-03-08
  Leb defaults
Sat 2020-03-07
  Saudis reportedly detain three royal princes over ‘coup plot’
Fri 2020-03-06
  Tunis: suicide bomber explodes near U.S. embassy
Thu 2020-03-05
  Russia sends reinforcements through the Bosporus
Wed 2020-03-04
  4 L-39's and 18 Su-24's left in Syrian Airforce
Tue 2020-03-03
  Taliban Orders Resumed Attacks on Govt Forces
Mon 2020-03-02
  Turkey shoots down two Syrian fighter jets over Idlib
Sun 2020-03-01
  Iraq's PM-designate Allawi withdraws, prolonging deadlock
Sat 2020-02-29
  U.S. and Taliban sign troop withdrawal deal
Fri 2020-02-28
  Rouhani and his VP both reported to have coronavirus
Thu 2020-02-27
  Hezbollah operative killed in drone strike in southern Syria
Wed 2020-02-26
  Gulf Cartel Border City Turf War Kills at Least 20 Gunmen, Innocents in Week
Tue 2020-02-25
  Hosni Mubarak sleeps with the pharaohs
Mon 2020-02-24
  Car drives into German carnival parade, around 30 injured
Sun 2020-02-23
  Last year Hezbollah received ~$700 million in funding


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