[CNN] A series of deadly package bombs delivered to homes in Austin has shaken residents and cast suspicion on one of life's common occurrences -- getting a package delivered to your doorstep.
Three package bombs have exploded at homes in the Texas capital over 10 days -- including two Monday -- killing two people and injuring two others. Investigators say they believe the incidents are related, and residents have responded anxiously in the past day.
Austin police have received 150 calls about suspicious packages, Chief Brian Manley said Tuesday on Twitter, though police haven't indicated any subsequent check revealing anything alarming.
Here's what we know so far
• The first blast happened March 2, killing Anthony Stephan House, a 39-year-old African-American man.
• A bombing early Monday killed a 17-year-old African-American male, whom CNN is not naming because authorities haven't identified him yet. A woman was also hurt in that blast with injuries not considered life-threatening, police said.
• Both House and the slain teenager are relatives of prominent members of Austin's African-American community, The Washington Post reported. House was the stepson of Freddie Dixon, a former pastor at a historic black church in Austin, the Post said. Dixon is friends with the grandfather of the teen who was killed Monday, according to the newspaper.
• Another explosion around noon Monday severely wounded a 75-year-old Hispanic woman. She was in critical condition Tuesday morning, Manley told KXAN, the CNN affiliate.
• Police have not decided if these are hate crimes but said that's considered a possibility because the victims are African-American and Hispanic. Adler said it is still too early to know the motive.
• The residents found the packages outside their houses, but none was delivered by the US Postal Service or delivery services such as UPS or FedEx, police said.
• The explosions were not in the immediate vicinity of the ongoing South by Southwest festival, and authorities said the bombings don't appear connected to that event.
[BBC] Stephen Hawking has died at the age of 76, his family has said.
The British theoretical physicist was known for his groundbreaking work with black holes and relativity, and was the author of several popular science books including A Brief History of Time.
His children, Lucy, Robert and Tim, said: "We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today.
"He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years."
Obituary: Stephen Hawking
They praised his "courage and persistence" and said his "brilliance and humour" inspired people across the world.
"He once said, 'It would not be much of a universe if it wasn't home to the people you love.' We will miss him forever," they said.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
[Norsk Hydro] Preliminary findings from internal task force:
The internal expert task force established to review the Alunorte alumina refinery after the flooding in February has reported preliminary findings.
The status report has the following main findings:
Discharge of water overflowing from the adjacent waste-water holding pond into the internal open drain, Canal Velho, in addition to the already communicated rainwater release.
A release of diluted caustic soda inside the plant due to a power failure on February 17. This was mixed with rain water from the factory area before entering the waste-water holding pond, with overflow into Canal Velho.
Based on the preliminary findings of the task force, Hydro has no indications of leaks or overflow from the bauxite residue deposit areas.
In addition, an inspection has detected cracks in a pipeline, leading effluent from the DRS1 deposit area to the water treatment station. Current information indicates that the effluent was contained in a containment box.
Hydro has been ordered by the public prosecutor of Pará to within 48 hours take measures, including repairing the cracks and to block the entrance to Canal Velho. Corrective actions are being taken within the deadline.
“The preliminary findings from the internal task force show that we do not have the full overview of the situation and the course of events. I will evaluate the situation thoroughly and revert with more information in due time,” says Hydro’s President & CEO Svein Richard Brandtzæg.
The full report, together with findings from the first phase of the independent review conducted by the environmental consultancy SGW Services, will be presented first week of April.
Hydro is South America’s biggest aluminium company after acquiring Brazilian mining company Vale’s aluminium assets in the northern state of Pará in 2011. Alunorte is the world’s largest alumina refinery, employs around 2,000 people and has a nameplate capacity of an annual 6.3 million tonnes. Hydro owns 92.1 percent of Alunorte.
[FOX] Tragedy struck on a United flight from Houston to New York City, when a dog in a TSA-compliant pet carrier died after a flight attendant forced its owner to store the animal and its carrier in an overhead bin for the duration of the four-hour Monday flight.
First reported by travel blogger The Points Guy, United has since claimed full responsibility for the "tragic accident."
According to passenger Maggie Gremminger, she and others heard the black French bulldog barking initially during the flight, and were horrified to learn the animal had passed away later in the trip, she told People.
#5
If the dog is in a carrier in the seat next to the owner the dog has the same amount of space as if the dog is in the overhead bin. There isn't much light and the air circulation isn't as good but usually those things don't kill dogs.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/14/2018 13:54 Comments ||
Top||
The great Green Weenies can't come up with 'alternative' disposal of their waste, so they just dump on everyone else. Maybe its a indication you have stuffed too many people into one spot.
#5
Since New York City pays for dumping it's waste in Alabama it was considered a money maker for the state of Alabama. Mo money in the state coffers, dontcha know.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/14/2018 11:12 Comments ||
Top||
[Dhaka Tribune] Six officers stationed at the Air Traffic Control Tower who witnessed the US-Bangla plane crash in Kathmandu have been shifted to another department to "minimize shock of the accident," reports Nepali newspaper My Republica.
A flight of US-Bangla aircraft carrying 67 passengers and four flight crew crashed outside Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday. It was flying from Dhaka to Kathmandu.
"This is a standard procedure to release stress after fateful incident. They witnessed a huge disaster and they are shocked. Hence, we’ve transferred them to other departments to reduce their stress post-crash," Rajan Pokharel, Deputy Director General of Civil Aviation Authority said.
Pokharel clarified that the transfer was not due to the leak of audio talk between ATC and the pilot before the impact.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
The Shield Act does not cost much money and we need to be serious about securing our critical infrastructure as our Logistics and much more is tied to it.
We are complacent and do not even shield critical power stations from EMP or even hacking attacks for that matter. It is the most pressing issue aside from the debt. And it will hit home one day if we keep ignoring it. Not all sunspots can be controlled away from this dear planet.
[Breitbart London] Emigration from countries of Sub-Saharan Africa has risen dramatically in recent years and the region currently accounts for eight of the 10 fastest growing international migrant populations, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center.
Analyzing the latest United Nations data on the number of people living outside their country of birth, Pew found that the rate of emigration from these eight African nations‐South Sudan, Central African Republic, Sao Tome and Principe, Eritrea, Namibia, Rwanda, Botswana, and Burundi‐grew by more than 50 percent, and in some cases as much as 200-300 percent. The number rises to 9 of the top 10 if Sudan‐much of which is sub-Saharan‐is included.
As Pew notes, sub-Saharan Africa comprises all countries and territories in continental Africa except Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and Western Sahara. Sub-Saharan Africa also includes a number of islands: Cape Verde, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Reunion, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, and St. Helena.
The worldwide average increase in international migration for the same seven-year period was 17 percent, just over half the average increase in emigration among all sub-Saharan African nations (31 percent).
[Dhaka Tribune] The court has also acquitted 16 others, including prime accused BNP leader Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury Minar. A Feni court sentenced 39 people to death on Tuesday for the audacious 2014 killing of Fulgazi upazila chairman, Ekramul Haque.
The verdicts were handed down at the District and Sessions Judge Court in Dhaka by Judge Aminul Haque, who acquitted 16 others including the prime accused BNP leader, Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury Minar.
Ekramul was rubbed out in broad daylight in Feni town on May 20, 2014, while travelling to his upazila office from his Masterpara residence.
His attackers intercepted the microbus he was on and fired at him from close range before setting the vehicle on fire. They expeditiously departed at a goodly pace only after confirming the death of Ekramul, who was also the president of the local Awami League unit.
The next day his brother, Rezaul Haque Jasim, filed a murder case against BNP leader Minar and 30-35 unidentified people with Feni model cop shoppe.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
[Guardian] Insiders say all trails lead back to Moscow, suggesting a deliberate act to incite row with UK
The response from the Kremlin has been uncompromising. The foreign ministry described Theresa May’s accusation against Moscow as a "circus show". Its boss Sergei Lavrov said there was no proof the poison used against Sergei Skripal came from Russia. And the embassy in London promised an "equal and opposite reaction" to any UK measures.
Beneath this bluster, however, is cool calculation. Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in Salisbury with a Moscow-made military nerve agent, developed during the 1970s and 1980s during the cold war. Whoever wanted to murder him might have used a subtler weapon. Instead, his assassins picked novichok. How it was deployed remains unclear.
One former employee of the Russian special services said nerve agents were used only if the goal was to draw attention. "This is a very dirty method. There’s a risk of contaminating other people, which creates additional difficulties," he told the Kommersant newspaper, adding: "There are far more delicate methods that professionals use."
In other words, novichok was a gruesome calling card. As those who organised the hit must have known, the trail goes directly back to Moscow. The incident even took place down the road from Porton Down, the government’s military research base, which swiftly tested and identified the toxin.
All of which means Vladimir Putin and his FSB spy agency have probably sought to engineer a confrontation with the UK. Why now?
[MAIL] Whitehall sources last night said Mr Skripal was poisoned when he touched the door handle of his car, which had been smeared with a deadly nerve agent.
Detectives said the pair arrived in the city at about 1.40pm but officers want CCTV from 1pm.
Mr Skripal’s home is a ten-minute drive from where he parked, raising questions about what they were doing in the meantime.
Speaking at Scotland Yard, Mr Basu said: 'The public are going to continue to see a great deal of police activity in and around the city, including potentially more cordons being erected, but please don't be alarmed.
On Twitter: Russian writer & dissident Boris Akunin lays out a theory gaining traction with some Russian observers: Moscow sees the wealthy & independent Russian community in London as a threat & Skripal attack was designed to goad UK into destroying it: Facebook story in Russian
#2
Spy poisoning: why Putin may have engineered gruesome calling card
Because he became an idiot - I see no other reason I find convincing.
On the other hand, I just wonder: would Ukrainians, or Baltics, or anybody else wishing Russia to look bad (like certain people in, ahem) have Soviet nerve agents from 50 years ago?
p.s. What really worries me about the whole story is Muzzies getting ideas.
#3
Spy poisoning: why Putin may have engineered gruesome calling card
Most tyrants have their own brand of Jim and Susan McDougal, Arkansas real estate scandal. Fraudulent gains, stolen money, people in need of becoming dead, that sort of thing.
#4
Because he could, he did. And the West will show once again how impotent they are. The same West that welcomes the Islamic threat into their own living rooms.
#5
I dunno. Somehow the pieces don't seem to fit together quite so tidy, not the least of which is the way Teresa May has jumped right into it. Makes me feel like someone is trying to sell me something.
I do like the last para in the article: Anyone thinking of cooperating with Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating collusion, will think twice. Well, sure.
Because RUSSIANS!
The reason I don’t write much about Russia’s demographics nowadays is that there isn’t much point to it.
Up until the early 2010s, the Western media was brimming with misinformation about the subject – what we now call #fakenews – so refuting it was both profitable and easy. Incredibly easy. You didn’t really have to do anything much more complicated than taking a few minutes to browse through Russia’s national statistics database, but apparently that was beyond the capabilities of most Russia journalists.
However, by now a critical number of Western pundits have apparently acquainted themselves with at least the Wikipedia article on Russia’s demographics. In the longterm, reality wins out, and so with a lag time of about a decade, references to Russia’s “plummeting population” and “sixth wave of emigration” have steadily petered out (the last major holdouts of Russia demographic doomerism was Barack Obama in this 2014 interview with The Economist, and Michael Rubin for Commentary in 2015,).
We can now finally say that the “Dying Bear” meme has fulfilled lived up to its own name.
#4
Russia had a good decade of high oil prices before their invasion of Ukraine. That's done with for the foreseeable future. Sanctions will only get tighter w/ trade and technology cut off. The people will respond by pulling in their heads (big and little) as KGB Poisoner Putin kills off Cuddle-Me Putin.
[Bloomberg] Backed by a Russian billionaire, Anthony Milewski started stockpiling the metal in 2015.
Anthony Milewski was among the first investors to realize that if electric-vehicle sales take off the way automakers expect, the world is going to need a lot more cobalt—an essential ingredient in lithium-ion batteries.
But the market for cobalt isn’t very big, and there aren’t many easy ways for investors to bet on prices. The metal is a minor byproduct of copper and nickel mining, and only a few places produce meaningful quantities. More than half the world’s supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, an impoverished country in central Africa mired in corruption scandals and political unrest.
So, in 2015, backed by a Russian billionaire, Milewski started buying metal from mining companies and putting it in warehouses. At the time, it was cheap because most industrial commodities were stuck in long slumps. Today, the company Milewski runs, Cobalt 27 Capital Corp., holds almost 3,000 metric tons, the largest private stockpile on the planet. (Only China has more.)
Cobalt traded on the London Metal Exchange has gone from $21,750 a ton in February 2016 to a record $84,250 on March 8.
[Daily Caller] Massachusetts’ anti-fossil-fuel policies are the primary reason why the state has relied on natural gas imports from a Russian oil company the Department of State sanctioned during the Obama-era.
Officials in Massachusetts and neighboring New Hampshire blocked financing in 2016 for the $3 billion Access Northeast Pipeline, which would have helped the state weather an energy crunch this winter. The state’s decision to rely principally on green energy hiked gas prices and forced it turn to Russian oil imports.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey concluded in 2016 that "no new pipelines are needed" and that we "can maintain electric reliability through 2030 even without additional new natural gas pipelines" Healey also joined New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s investigation into ExxonMobil’s alleged willingness to hide internal documents about climate change.
#13
"no new pipelines are needed"
Only a few small parts of Mass. can use natural gas due to lack of pipelines. The rest of them need to burn $$$$ No. 2 fuel oil to keep warm every winter. They could save a huge amount of $$$ by allowing pipelines built, but they are too stupid to do that. This is the key part of this issue which is seldom made clear in articles like this one.
Question for the 'Burg - if this happens, how much of his pension will he get? Please tell me it's 0%...
[Zero Hedge] - Cruel and unusual? Perhaps. But The NY Times reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reviewing a recommendation to fire the former F.B.I. deputy director, Andrew G. McCabe, just days before he is scheduled to retire on Sunday.
As a reminder, McCabe stepped down in late January, though reports suggested McCabe was reportedly forced to step down. According to Fox News, McCabe was "removed" from his post as deputy director, "leaving the bureau after months of conflict-of-interest complaints from Republicans including President Trump."
[Daily Caller] State Department employees were seen crying in their cars after hearing the news President Donald Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Tuesday, according to a report.
The morale was reportedly so low after the announcement that many employees, including "seasoned diplomats," were seen crying in their cars outside of the building, CNN State Department correspondent Michelle Kosinski reported.
The news comes as Tillerson’s tensions between the two continued to rise since Tillerson took the job in 2017. The secretary of state was reportedly asked Friday to return to Washington from a trip abroad and told he would be fired.
#2
The morale was reportedly so low after the announcement that many employees, including "seasoned diplomats," were seen crying in their cars outside of the building
#12
Were they weeping because Rex Tillerson is out, or because of the man who chosen to replace him, a man who will, from their perspective, be even worse?
Mr. Tillerson’s mandate was to downsize and refocus the state department. The incoming gentleman will not be a return to historic practices, so there should be even more retirements in the near future.
[Townhall] Gina Haspel, Trump's new nominee for CIA director, was a key figure in former President George W. Bush's enhanced interrogation program.
Haspel's leading role in the program was first spotlighted last year after she was named as the CIA's deputy director. The New York Times reported on how she supposedly helped torture two people suspected of terrorism.
As a clandestine officer at the Central Intelligence Agency in 2002, Gina Haspel oversaw the torture of two terrorism suspects and later took part in an order to destroy videotapes documenting their brutal interrogations at a secret prison in Thailand.
The New Yorker published a similar profile, with additional details about the techniques she helped employ against suspected terrorists.
From 2003 to 2005, Gina Haspel was a senior official overseeing a top-secret C.I.A. program that subjected dozens of suspected terrorists to savage interrogations, which included depriving them of sleep, squeezing them into coffins, and forcing water down their throats. In 2002, Haspel was among the C.I.A. officers present at the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, an Al Qaeda suspect who was tortured so brutally that at one point he appeared to be dead.
Her participation in that program is an area of great concern for Edward Snowden. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor notorious for exposing information about U.S. surveillance programs and living in exile in Russia because of it, is asking the Trump administration how they can live with themselves over this choice.
#4
I was unaware we were signatories to any treaties that made al'Qaeda anything but unlawful combatants unprotected by any law. They chose to fight in ways that exempted them from all protections.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/14/2018 6:28 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Oh Christ, now we have to relive all that BS from post 9/11 proggie traitors.
I've already given up sports because of the politics. I gave up the MSM decades ago. Am I going to be forced to give up blogs now?
[DAWN] A seven-year-old boy's post-mortem examination report — a copy of which is available with DawnNewsTV — confirmed that he had been raped before being killed. Police officials at Shaikh Maltoon Police Station said that they have launched an investigation and taken some suspects into custody.
The boy was last seen playing in front of his house in the Tambulk area on Saturday before he went missing. Early on Sunday morning, an unidentified suspect dumped a gunny sack with the child's body in the fields behind the family's home and fled.
The boy was the son of a labourer who earns daily wages by loading and unloading vehicles at a nearby vegetable market, police said.
When the child's body was returned to his family after post-mortem, residents of the area blocked the Mardan-Nowshera Road with the body in protest, demanding the suspect's arrest.
The incident has caused a wave of fear, anger and grief to spread through locals. At least two similar cases have already been reported in Mardan this year, in which minors who went missing and were recovered dead were believed to have been subjected to sexual assault.
As many as 17,862 cases of sexual assault against children have been reported throughout the country in the last five years, according to data presented to lawmakers in the National Assembly.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11124 views]
Top|| File under:
[DAWN] An eight-year-old hearing-impaired girl was raped in Bakshally area of Mardan, family and police said on Tuesday.
Police said a case has been registered and the nominated suspect has been locked away Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! .
The father of the victim accused his neighbour of raping his daughter. He told the media at a local hospital that he had brought his daughter for treatment a few days ago after he found her bleeding. Subsequent medical tests confirmed that she had been raped, said the father.
The victim, he said, had pointed to one of the neighbours.
The father, a farmer, demanded the government to provide him justice. According to him, police were reluctant to file a case and only took action after the media approached them for their version on the case.
A doctor at the hospital, requesting anonymity, confirmed to DawnNewsTV that the girl had been raped.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
[DAWN] A woman gave birth to a baby in her home's bathroom after she was refused entry at a hospital in Punjab's Raiwind area on Tuesday, DawnNewsTV reported.
The woman, wife of a labourer, was taken to the Rural Health Centre Raiwind on Monday evening after she started experiencing labour pains, her relatives said.
But the staff at the health centre refused to admit her, reportedly because of a lack of facilities, and told the woman to return to the hospital in the morning, saying she would not give birth until then.
The family requested the staff to allow them to spend the night at the hospital as they could not afford the transportation cost of coming back. But the staff refused and forced them to leave the hospital.
The woman was then taken home where she ended up giving birth in a bathroom.
The baby boy born fell ill soon after birth and the family had to bring him to the hospital again. He was admitted and is recovering at the health centre.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] Justice Sajjad Ali Shah of the Supreme Court on Tuesday remarked that "verbal divorce" has no legal value and a divorce is only finalised after completion of the due procedure.
"Divorce is a sensitive issue; how can it be finalised verbally?" Justice Shah asked while hearing a case at the Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... SC registry against a woman seeking expenditure from her former husband. The husband had approached the apex court to turn down an earlier ruling ordering him to pay monthly expenditures to his ex-wife.
"Divorce can't be finalised without fulfilling legal prerequisites," said the judge upon finding out that the man had divorced his wife only verbally and did not have any documents to prove the dissolution of marriage.
The SC rejected the man's petition, saying that receiving monthly expenditure after divorce is the woman's right.
Divorce process
Senior lawyer Liaquat Ali told Dawn.com that as per Moslem family laws of the country, a husband, who wants to end the marriage contract, is bound to send a "written divorce" or Talaq Nama, bearing his and two witnesses' signatures, to his former wife. He is also bound to utter the verbal divorce in the presence of two witnesses, the lawyer said.
As per the law, the husband will also intimate the relevant union council about his decision. "According to section 7 of the Moslem Family Law Ordinance 1961, the husband must mention the address of the woman, so the council could approach the woman and subsequently issue a certificate of divorce."
He said that the divorce takes effect after completion of iddat. Liaquat Ali said that the law is aimed at securing the rights of women.
"At least two witnesses are mandatory for divorce, according to both the law and Sharia," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Security researchers said Tuesday they discovered flaws in chips made by Advanced Micro Devices that could allow hackers to take over computers and networks.
Israeli-based security firm CTS Labs published its research showing "multiple critical security vulnerabilities and exploitable manufacturer backdoors" in AMD chips.
CTS itemized 13 flaws, saying they "have the potential to put organizations at significantly increased risk of cyberattacks."
The report comes weeks after Intel disclosed similar hardware-based flaws dubbed Meltdown and Spectre, sparking widespread computer security concerns and a congressional inquiry.
CTS said the newly discovered flaws could compromise AMD's new chips that handle applications in the enterprise, industrial and aerospace sectors, as well as consumer products.
In a 20-page white paper, the researchers said the AMD Secure Processor, the gatekeeper responsible for the security of AMD processors, contains "critical vulnerabilities" that "could allow malicious actors to permanently install malicious code inside the Secure Processor itself."
#3
The four classes of vulnerabilities—dubbed Masterkey, Ryzenfall, Fallout, and Chimera—were described in a 20-page report headlined "Severe Security Advisory on AMD Processors." The advisory came with its own disclaimer that CTS—the Israeli research organization that published the report—"may have, either directly or indirectly, an economic interest in the performance" of the stock of AMD or other companies. It also discloses that its contents were all statements of opinion and "not statements of fact." Critics have said the disclaimers, which are highly unusual in security reports, are signs that the report is exaggerating the severity of the vulnerabilities in a blatant attempt to influence the stock price of AMD and possibly other companies. Critics also faulted the researchers for giving AMD just 24 hours to review the report before it went public and using a dedicated-website to bring attention to the flaws.
#6
There has been a lot of unusual AMD puts buying the last few days. We now know why. If the SEC is not asleep, an investigation of CTS Labs and friends should lead to a lot of fines and indictments.
BTW, the only way to exploit these flaws is to first have the root password. In that case, you are already F'd.
[twitter] New test video of Blue’s 550K lbf thrust, ox-rich staged combustion, LNG-fueled BE-4 rocket engine. The test is a mixture ratio sweep at 65% power level and 114 seconds in duration. Methane (or LNG) has proved to be an outstanding fuel choice.
#1
Exciting, it looks cool but the burn is in an O2 rich environment.
First the methane burns: CH4+O2⟶CO2+2H2
Then the hydrogen burns: 2H2+O2⟶2H2O
I think in a sparse or forced oxygen environment the primary reaction will complete but the competing secondary reaction will have insufficient O to complete resulting in an overall reaction of CH4+O2⟶CO2+H2O+H with hydrogen as a unregulated waste product.
[CNBC] Malaysia and Indonesia both have upcoming elections, and Islamic parties could play a central role in both.
The two countries boast significant Muslim populations — Indonesia has the world's largest — and they have histories of pluralism and tolerance. But some political candidates are catering to Islamists in order to win over conservative voters, a move that could grant hard-liners greater influence in the future. If extremists are emboldened politically, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur risk endangering democratic norms as well as their strategic ties with the United States.
A growing belief that Muslims are "victims of economic and political injustice" has empowered Islamist entities lately, risk consultancy Eurasia Group said in a brief. Represented by names such as Indonesia's Islamic Defenders Front (FDI) and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), those factions advocate Sharia law, and seek to roll back protections for minorities.
Indonesia's vote — scheduled for 2019 — will likely see incumbent President Joko Widodo , or Jokowi, face off against former Lieutenant General Prabowo Subianto for the second consecutive time. Anthony Nelson, director at consultancy Albright Stonebridge Group's East Asia and Pacific practice, explained, "Prabowo was defeated by Jokowi in 2014, so he has begun to lay the groundwork for expanding his coalition by reaching out to Islamist groups."
Subianto has not yet declared his candidacy, but has reportedly allied with the FDI. The group led 2016 Jakarta protests against Christian politician Basuki Tjahaja Purnama. Subianto, who fronts the Gerindra party, is trying to portray himself as more receptive to poorer Muslims and take advantage of Jokowi's perceived lack of religious credentials, said Vedi Hadiz, professor of Asian Studies at the University of Melbourne.
It's a similiar story in Malaysia, where an election must be called by August 2018. Prime Minister Najib Razak's ruling coalition — the United Malays National Organisation or UMNO — has been warming to PAS, a group that aims to increase the power of Sharia courts and impose Sharia-based punishments for some criminal offenses. The alliance claims to represent Malay Muslims and depict detractors as "anti-Malay, anti-Muslim or foreign puppets," according to Hadiz.
[NYT] WASHINGTON ‐ Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reviewing a recommendation to fire the former F.B.I. deputy director, Andrew G. McCabe, just days before he is scheduled to retire on Sunday, people briefed on the matter said. Mr. McCabe was a frequent target of attack from President Trump, who taunted him both publicly and privately.
Mr. McCabe is ensnared in an internal review that includes an examination of his decision in 2016 to allow F.B.I. officials to speak with reporters about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation. The Justice Department’s inspector general concluded that Mr. McCabe was not forthcoming during the review, according to the people briefed on the matter. That yet-to-be-released report triggered an F.B.I. disciplinary process that recommended his termination ‐ leaving Mr. Sessions to either accept or reverse that decision.
Lack of candor is a fireable offense, but like so much at the F.B.I., Mr. McCabe’s fate is also entangled in presidential politics and the special counsel investigation. He was involved from the beginning in the investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. He is also a potential witness in the inquiry into whether Mr. Trump tried to obstruct justice.
Mr. Trump’s supporters have tried to cast Mr. McCabe as part of a "deep state" that operates in secret to undermine the administration. Mr. Trump has goaded Mr. Sessions into taking action against him.
h/t Instapundit
After six minutes of sustained hissing for everything from economic growth to sanctions, hecklers at the University of California ‐ Los Angeles (UCLA) accused Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin of "bullying North Korea" and sentencing 9 billion children to death.
As Mnuchin gave his prepared remarks about the importance of sanctions for "eliminating nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula," a young woman shot up and started yelling, "What you're doing is bullying North Korea who is developing nuclear weapons for this very purposes!"
"This is what the U.S. does all over the world," the young woman continued. "You're talking about being a beacon for hope and freedom and democracy, that's bullsh*t! We know that's bullsh*t. We know that this tax bill and what that represents is sentencing people to death, including children. Nine billion children who are going to be left without healthcare." (There are fewer than 9 billion people on earth, and approximately 1.9 billion children.)
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.
[Norsk Hydro] Preliminary findings from internal task force:
[Dhaka Tribune] Six officers stationed at the Air Traffic Control Tower who witnessed the US-Bangla plane crash in Kathmandu have been shifted to another department to "minimize shock of the accident," reports Nepali newspaper My Republica.
[Breitbart London] Emigration from countries of Sub-Saharan Africa has risen dramatically in recent years and the region currently accounts for eight of the 10 fastest growing international migrant populations, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center.
[Dhaka Tribune] The court has also acquitted 16 others, including prime accused BNP leader Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury Minar. A Feni court sentenced 39 people to death on Tuesday for the audacious 2014 killing of Fulgazi upazila chairman, Ekramul Haque.
[Townhall] Gina Haspel, Trump's new nominee for CIA director, was a key figure in former President George W. Bush's enhanced interrogation program. 
[DAWN] A seven-year-old boy's post-mortem examination report — a copy of which is available with DawnNewsTV — confirmed that he had been raped before being killed. Police officials at Shaikh Maltoon Police Station said that they have launched an investigation and taken some suspects into custody.
[DAWN] An eight-year-old hearing-impaired girl was raped in Bakshally area of Mardan, family and police said on Tuesday.
[CNBC] Malaysia and Indonesia both have upcoming elections, and Islamic parties could play a central role in both.
