(Reuters) - More than two dozen people whom the U.S. government says are current or past members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua have been charged with murder, sex trafficking and other crimes under a federal law created to combat organized crime, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday.
The Justice Department said in a written statement that it was the first time alleged members of the criminal gang that originated in Venezuelan prisons had faced charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.
U.S. President Donald Trump was elected last November in part because of his anti-immigration stance. The charges against the 27 people are part of a broader push by the president to prosecute and deport alleged members of foreign criminal gangs operating in the country.
Trump's administration has designated Tren de Aragua and other criminal gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.
In March Trump invoked a seldom-used wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport hundreds of alleged Tren de Aragua members to a notoriously brutal prison in El Salvador without going through normal deportation procedures.
#2
The FISA courts have a 99% conviction rate, operate in secrecy, difficult to appeal and have jurisdiction if the words “foreign spy” are liberally interpreted. Worst case the courts get some much needed oversight
[ENGLISH.NEWS.CN] One soldier was killed by an improvised explosive device and 13 terrorists arrested during military operations carried out between Thursday and Saturday within the national territory, the Nigerien army confirmed on Saturday.
A notorious gang leader known for his atrocities against civilians, dangerous armed bandits, and individuals formally identified as members of criminal groups are among the terrorists arrested, the army specified in its information bulletin.
Niger continues to face attacks at the border areas by armed groups controlling southern Libya, including terror groups linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and the Boko Haram militant group.
[SAHARAREPORTERS] Militants from 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.... -backed faction of Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... , the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), formerly known as Jam%u0101'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jih%u0101d have attacked Buni Yadi, killing three soldiers.
The attackers also carted away foodstuffs and livestock, sources told SaharaReporters.
Buni Yadi, in Gujba Local Government Area, located 54 kilometres away from Damaturu, the state capital, was one of the worst-hit local communities in Yobe State under the control of the Boko Haram turbans for two years.
''My home town came under attack overnight by Boko Haram terrorists. Three soldiers were killed, and foodstuffs and livestock were carted away. However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... the army collected three cars from the terrorists. The attack started around 11 pm on Sunday till 4 am this morning (Monday),'' a resident told SaharaReporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2025 00:00 ||
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#1
Three soldiers were killed
Week in Progress (4/20- 4/26)
Shot & Killed: 4
Shot & Wounded: 4
Total Shot: 8
Total Homicides: 4
[PUNCHNG] A security analyst and senior fellow of the Extremism Policy Unit at Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Bulama Bukarti, on Sunday, warned that the activities of the dreaded terrorist group, Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... , have started gaining ground on major social media platforms like TikTok.
Bukarti spoke when he was featured as a guest on Channels Television's Politics Today.
The revelation comes barely one week after the senator for Borno South District, Ali Ndume, lamented that Borno State lost 100 soldiers and 280 civilians to the onslaught carried out by Boko Haram bully boyz in six months.
But Bukarti, who has researched the bully boy group for many years, raised a fresh alarm that the bully boyz are now propagating their ideology on social media amid video clips and live streaming.
[REUTERS] The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks targeting Nigerian security forces as well as Christian civilians in Nigeria's northeastern regions earlier this month.
Through seven messages posted on its news agency "Amaq," ISWAP claimed it conducted these operations, backing up the statements with a video depicting one of the assaults and two photo albums documenting two other operations.
The attacks in Borno state targeted a Nigerian army barracks in Yamtage town where it claimed it killed three soldiers and set the barracks ablaze.
ISWAP also claimed that its fighters captured and subsequently killed four members of pro-government militias loyal to the Nigerian army in the same state.
In Adamawa state, the group claimed responsibility for two attacks on Banga village, a Christian community.
The first, on April 15, allegedly resulted in the deaths of two Christians and the torching of over 30 houses and a church, with "Amaq" publishing photographs of the assault.
The second attack on Banga, on April 16, targeted a Nigerian police patrol in the village, damaging a vehicle and wounding several officers.
It also released a photo album depicting an assault on Lareh village in Adamawa, showing houses belonging to Christians and a church being set on fire but it was not accompanied with a claim.
Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters have mainly operated in northeastern Nigeria and targeted security forces and civilians, killing or displacing tens of thousands of people.
The Nigerian government has said it will "crush" the groups, increasing this year's defence budget by over 40%.
[HodhodYemenNews] The Yemeni Armed Forces have announced the launch of a precise military operation targeting a vital Israeli site in the city of Ashkelon and a military site in the Umm al-Rashrash area (Eilat).
Neither the Times of Israel nor the Jerusalem Post have anything about this as of 1:40 a.m ET.
Additionally, the Armed Forces also confirmed direct strikes on the US aircraft carriers USS Truman and USS Vinson, along with their accompanying naval units in the Red Sea, using advanced naval missiles and drones.
The Yemeni Armed Forces issued the following statement:
“In support of the oppressed Palestinian people and in rejection of the crime of genocide being waged by the Israeli enemy, with American support, against our people in Gaza.
The UAV force of Yemeni Armed Forces carried out two military operations.
The first targeted a vital Israeli enemy target in the occupied Ashkelon area using a Yaffa drone, while the second targeted an Israeli military target in the Umm al-Rashrash area in southern occupied Palestine using a Sammad-1 drone.
In retaliation to the American aggression against our country and its massacres against our people, the latest of which was the massacre in the capital, Sana’a, which left dozens of martyrs and wounded, the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out two specific military operations.
The first was carried out by the missile force and UAV force against the US aircraft carrier Truman and its affiliated vessels in the northern Red Sea, using two cruise missiles and two drones.
The second was carried out by the naval, the UAV , and the missile forces, targeting the US aircraft carrier Vinson and its affiliated vessels in the Arabian Sea, using three cruise missiles and four drones.
The military operations have successfully achieved their objectives.
The Yemeni Armed Forces will persist their support operations deep within the Zionist entity in occupied Palestine at an escalating pace over the coming period.
They will also continue their military operations in the Red and Arabian Seas, targeting all hostile forces. Dozens of US airstrikes will not deter them from their supportive stance toward the oppressed Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip until the aggression against them stops and the siege is lifted.”
[HodhodYemenNews] A 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... i Airlines plane was exposed to significant risks as it approached Sana’a International Airport on Sunday evening, coinciding with Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s carried out by US warplanes targeting several areas in the capital, Sanaa.
US bombers launched intensive airstrikes on Sunday evening, targeting the Farwah neighborhood and a popular market in the Shu’ub district, resulting in 43 deaths and injuries, according to statements by the Health Ministry.
The airstrikes also targeted the Attan area and the cleaning program project in the Asr area.
Despite the air strikes, the Yemeni Airlines plane coming from the Jordanian capital, Amman, managed to safely land at Sana’a International Airport. There were more than 300 passengers on board, most of them women and kiddies.
#1
Why is Sana’a International Airport still in operation? All means of transport in or out of Houthiland should have been rendered impossible a long time ago.
[GEO.TV] At least six bad boyz were potted during two separate intelligence-based operations (IBOs) by security forces in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Monday.
According to the military's media wing, security forces conducted an operation in the general area of Razmak in North Wazoo district on the reported presence of terrorists.
"During the conduct of operation, own troops effectively engaged the khwarij location, resultantly, five khwarij were sent to hell," the ISPR said.
In another IBO in South Waziristan District, security forces neutralised ring leader Zabi Ullah Zakran, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against security forces as well as in murder of innocent civilians.
It noted the slain ring leader was "highly wanted" by the law enforcement agencies.
Meanwhile,
...back at the laboratory the smoke and fumes had dispersed, to reveal an ominous sight... sanitisation operations were being conducted to eliminate any other holy warriors found in the area as the "security forces are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country".
[IsraelTimes] Army reports airstrikes hit over 200 targets in Gaza over weekend, including terrorist cells and weapons depots
An Israeli strike in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... killed a terrorist who took part in the October 7, 2023, invasion, the military said Monday, announcing hundreds of strikes on targets in the Paleostinian enclave over the past three days.
The Israel Defense Forces did not detail when or where the strike that killed Ahmad Mansour took place, announcing the killing after Gazooks said 43 people were killed in attacks on Friday.
According to the IDF, Mansour was a member of the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... terror group’s rocket unit. The army said he was among the thousands of bully boyz who infiltrated southern Israel from Gaza on October 7.
During the Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... -led attack, which included members of other terror groups, 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage, of whom 59 remain in captivity. Twenty-four are believed to be alive.
There was no immediate confirmation from PIJ, which has fired a number of rockets at Israel over the course of the war, though the Iran-backed group was considered to have a smaller arsenal than Hamas.
In March, PIJ grabbed credit for two rockets that were launched at the city of Sderot in southern Israel.
The IDF also said Monday morning that the Israeli Air Force had struck over 200 targets over the last 72 hours, including terrorist cells, weapons depots, rocket launchpads, sniper outposts, and other structures used for terrorist activity.
The army said troops killed an unspecified number of bully boyz during ground operations near the southern city of Rafah.
Additionally, the IDF said recent ground operations saw the dismantling of an "underground infrastructure site" in the northern Gaza Strip from which it identified terrorist activity, as well as several sniper posts that posed a threat to Israeli troops in the area.
Fighting in the Strip resumed in mid-March following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which saw the release of 33 hostages.
The army had faced relatively light resistance in the renewed offensive until Saturday, when the IDF announced that an Israeli soldier was killed and five others were maimed, three of them seriously, in a Hamas attack in northern Gaza.
The slain soldier was named as Warrant Officer G’haleb Sliman Alnasasra, 35, a tracker in the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, from Rahat.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, some 1,600 deaths have been reported as a result of IDF actions since the end of the ceasefire, including 43 people reported killed on Friday, according to Rooters.
The ministry claims over 50,000 Gazooks have been killed in the war, though its tolls cannot be verified and do not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel estimated in January that it had killed some 20,000 combatants in Gaza.
Talks for a new ceasefire have reportedly been deadlocked over Israel’s demand that Hamas free 11 living hostages in exchange for an extended ceasefire, while Hamas has offered to release five.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a pre-recorded statement that Israel would not end the war in Gaza until Hamas had been completely dismantled, dampening hopes for a ceasefire.
He accused the terror group of rejecting a proposal for the return of half of the remaining living hostages and many of the slain hostages it holds in Gaza, and said Israel could not agree to Hamas’s demands to end the war and withdraw militarily from Gaza.
"If we capitulate to the dictates of Hamas now, all the great achievements of the war, which we achieved with the merit of our soldiers and our fallen and our heroic injured, all these achievements will disappear," Netanyahu said.
”Mostly peaceful”, no doubt. Tiresome, definitely. And probably between half and an order of magnitude fewer protesters than claimed.
[IsraelTimes] “Thousands”
…scare quotes mine…
gather in Tel Aviv, say Netanyahu ‘unfit’ to serve after Ronin Bar said premier urged him to curb protesters; mounted police whip photojournalist, allegedly hurt protest leader.
Thousands of anti-government protesters rallied at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square Monday night in an impromptu demonstration called after Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a court filing of having sought to use the domestic security agency against activists opposed to the premier.
“The Shin Bet chief revealed today a dangerous attempt by Netanyahu to turn the Shin Bet into a tyrannical tool for persecuting Israeli citizens. He ordered monitoring of citizens, asked for information about them, and in secret talks demanded that the Shin Bet head obey him rather than the law,” a statement from protest leaders said, summing up some of the details included in Bar’s court submission.
“This is a clear and immediate danger to Israeli democracy, posed by someone whose office received money from Qatar, Hamas’s chief sponsor, during wartime,” they argued, echoing suspicions at the basis of the Qatargate affair.
“Netanyahu has lost all legitimacy to lead,” they charged. “He’s unfit to serve.”
Speakers at the event included The Democrats party leader Yair Golan, former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon, and various protest leaders.
A group of lawyers who give pro bono representation to anti-government activists said two protesters were arrested at the Begin-HaHashmonaim intersection and taken to central Tel Aviv’s Lev police station.
According to Haaretz, they were among a group of protesters who marched from Habima toward the Ayalon Highway. The two were detained after sitting down on the street and refusing police orders to clear the road, Haaretz reported.
A mounted police officer appeared to whip a Haaretz photojournalist during the stormy protest. Several videos uploaded to social media showed a policeman on horseback hitting Itai Ron with his riding crop, causing Ron to lurch backwards.
Footage showed mounted officers bumping up against protesters who had already vacated the road and were standing on the sidewalk, in compliance with the police orders.
When marchers reached Begin Road, Lev Tel Aviv station chief Deputy Superintendent Micha Gafni declared the demonstration illegal and called for the “arrests of the protest leaders” through a megaphone.
A police horse also trampled on the foot of prominent anti-Netanyahu activist Moshe Radman, who required treatment from a volunteer medic, organizers said.
Bar was fired in a cabinet decision on March 21 at Netanyahu’s recommendation after the prime minister said he had lost faith in Bar’s ability to do his job.
The High Court of Justice froze Bar’s dismissal and told the government and the Attorney General’s Office to work out a solution for resolving the procedural failures, while also inviting Bar to submit his version of events to the court.
Bar submitted an eight-page public statement on Monday via the State Attorney’s Office, along with a 31-page classified statement with five appendices providing greater detail and documentation of his claims.
Mr. Bar was clearly insubordinate, and should have been fired for that alone, never mind compounding factors.
#1
I'm still curious about the funding - pretty extensive: going by professionally printed signs, anti-Bibi posters on every bus station, etc.. - of these protests.
#2
Grom, do you remember during the anti-judicial reform protests (same people, different putative cause) when the protest leaders flew to America to meet with a group of rich Progressive donors to work out approaches and funding? One of them was Daniel Lubetzky, who founded PeaceWorks in the 1990s and the OneVoice Movement in 2002, and I believe went on to support the anti-Bibi Victory2015 effort. He’s apparently been quietly advocating here at home against the Hamas protesters since 10/7. He and a group of his friends helped New York City’s Mayor Adams see that what was going on at Columbia U is unacceptable.
[GEO.TV] A teenager has been maimed by Israeli live fire during a military raid on the town of Idhna, west of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera reported, citing a report.
The Wafa news agency reported that Israeli forces stormed Idhna, firing live ammunition, stun grenades and tear gas canisters.
As a result of the attack, a 16-year-old boy was shot in the abdomen and transferred to hospital while several other people suffered from tear gas inhalation and were treated at the scene.
Israeli soldiers also detained a young man after he was maimed.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says it carried out a series of counterterrorism operations overnight across the West Bank, arresting 20 wanted suspects.
As part of an ongoing counterterrorism operation in the northern West Bank, IDF troops discovered and destroyed a cache of explosive devices in the Nur Shams refugee camp, according to a military statement.
Meanwhile, in the refugee camp of Al-Arroub north of Hebron, security forces say they arrested six suspects accused of throwing stones.
The IDF says the suspects have been transferred for further questioning.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2025 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
Said a back-alley kid, Khaled Khaled,
"My neighborhood could be called squalid,
But now that I'm grown..."
[stoops to pick up a stone]
"I'm convinced Allah did me a solid."
[GEO.TV] At least two people have been killed by overnight Israeli fire in the north of Rafah, southern Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , and the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported, citing local media reports.
The al-Aqsa TV news outlet also reported that two people were killed as a result of Israeli air strikes on the Bakr family home west of Gaza City.
At the same time, an Israeli drone attack on a tent housing displaced people in the al-Katiba neighbourhood of Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, injured several people, including women and kiddies.
How the Times of Israel reported it a few hours later:
“The occupation launched violent airstrikes on Gaza City and the towns of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Khan Younis, killing seven civilians,” civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal tells AFP. Hamas’s casualty figures consistently conflate civilians with terror operatives.
Four people are killed in the Al-Rimal area near Gaza City, two in Al-Sabra west of Gaza City and one in Khan Younis, he asserts.
“The occupation also destroyed more than 10 homes east of Gaza City and in Rafah,” he adds.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2025 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
Darwin is winning. Next time don't start a war with Israel, O Gazans, and magically you won’t be killed.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip reported on Monday that the death toll from the ongoing Israeli military operations against Palestinians has risen to 51,240, with 116,931 wounded since October 7, 2023.
In its daily statement, the ministry confirmed that hospitals in the Gaza Strip received 39 martyrs and 62 wounded over the past 24 hours due to the ongoing operations.
The ministry also clarified that the numbers since the resumption of these operations on March 18 reached 1,864 martyrs and 4,860 wounded.
It noted that some victims are still under the rubble of destroyed homes and in the streets, where ambulance and civil defense teams are facing difficulty reaching them.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2025 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Headline corrected ☺
Death toll due to the HAMAS STARTED genocidal War against Israel & Infidels rises to 51,240 GAZA Supporters — Hodhod Yemen News Agency
Israel is defending itself remarkably well, given IRAN and other radical Islamic nations have poured 100's of 1000's of terrorists and $100's of billions in to destroying Israel.
Reports from Gaza describe thunderous blasts echoing all the way to the north as the IDF pounds targets in Rafah.
Gazan journalists say the Shabura neighborhood has been leveled—reduced to rubble—while over 70 Israeli bulldozers and engineering vehicles work by day to flatten… pic.twitter.com/FvYCf6QDTe
There have been discussions of Israel having many robot D9 dozers that can be driven remotely from anywhere on the planet. This makes it pain free to have dozers lead the way in attacks.
It’s happening…the Palestinians have begun leaving Gaza:
Palestinian in Gaza: “Many people I know personally are migrating through Kerem Shalom! The idea started to come to our minds.” pic.twitter.com/AU9CycMwtR
[IsraelTimes] Palestinian media reports that the new Syrian regime has arrested Khaled Khaled,
…an imaginative name — his parents are to be congratulated…
...or even khailed.
in charge of the Syrian arena in the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... terror organization, and Abu Ali Yasser, responsible for the organization’s executive committee in Syria.
There is no official confirmation from Syrian authorities on the matter.
Until the fall of the Assad regime, senior PIJ officials including leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah were based in Syria. Shortly before the regime’s fall, al-Nakhalah fled the country, but according to Arab media reports, some operatives remain active in the country.
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.
...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 
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
....png "Wazoo")
Wazoo
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
