[SPUTNIKNEWS] Deaths caused by terrorist attacks around the world fell dramatically in the last few years, but with the world’s largest terrorist group, ISIS, removed from the equation, Afghanistan’s Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... once again tops the list as the world’s deadliest non-state organization.
For four years, ISIS topped the Global Terrorism Index, compiled annually by the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). However,
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[DAWN] Police on Wednesday claimed to have arrested a suspected hitman for his alleged involvement in killings of 96 persons.
"The anti-street crime squad and Soldier Bazaar police arrested Yusuf alias Thelewala and seized a TT pistol, grenade and a cycle of violence from him," said SSP East Azfar Mahesar.
The held suspect belonged to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... -London and he had revealed to have killed 96 persons, he added.
Speaking at a presser at his office, the SSP said that the held suspect joined the MQM in 1995 and started assassinations the same year.
"He along with his other accomplices was directly involved in killing of 30 people. He had also disposed 66 bodies," he said.
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The tribal sheikhs of the holy city of #Karbala unanimously declare their total rejection to Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi's call, confirming their support to the demonstrations nationwide.#BaghdadPost#IraqProtestspic.twitter.com/tBgtGEroSe
[THEBAGHDADPOST] Our worst fears about Iranian dominance of Iraq have been proven true in the form of large quantities of leaked Iranian intelligence documents. These materials pertain to Iraq, yet provide insights into the nature of Tehran’s clandestine activities in Syria, Leb, 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 elsewhere.
These documents demonstrate that almost every senior Iraqi official is in Tehran’s pocket.
Oh dear.
Current Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi is characterized as having a "special relationship" with Iran. Former PMs Nouri al-Maliki and Ibrahim al-Jaafari were wholly under Iran’s sway. Even Haider Abadi, who is usually portrayed as pro-West, held regular private meetings with Iranian intelligence personnel. Most of Abadi’s ministers were likewise assessed to be beholden to Tehran. In the context of the fight against ISIS, one Iranian agent told Abadi: "The Sunnis are vagrants, their cities are destroyed," adding that Iran
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[THEBAGHDADPOST] Iraq’s Commission of Integrity COI said on Thursday it had issued arrest warrants for several officials, including Kirkuk’s deputy governor for technical affairs.
The Commission said in a statement that it had also issued arrest warrants for Kirkuk University’s assistant director for scientific affairs, the former head of the college of law, and the head of the law section in accordance with Article 331 of Iraqi Penal Code.
Arrest warrants were issued for ten former secretaries of the Kirkuk-branch oil storage facility for allegedly violating Article 349. The officials were in charge there from 2015 until 2018.
It also ordered the arrest of the former mayor of Dubis on charges related to Article 322.
Kirkuk is an oil-rich and multi-ethnic province that sits within a belt of territory known as the "disputed areas," which is claimed both by the Kurdistan Regional Government and the federal government.
The province was largely controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government before 2017. In October of that year, Kurdish forces were pushed out of the city by the Iraqi Army in response to the Kurdistan region’s controversial independence referendum.
The federal government is under intense pressure from massive street protests to crack down on corruption, which is endemic in Iraq and the Kurdistan region.
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[THEBAGHDADPOST] Despite measures taken by the Iraqi parliament, anti-government protests raged in the country for the fifth week in a row. Parliamentary decisions included stripping bigwigs from benefits they enjoyed.
Among the benefits abolished by parliament were financial preferences granted to senior civil servants such as the president, prime minister, and politicians.
The move towards reform, however, failed to quell demonstrations, with protestors saying that such solutions no longer meet their demands which include the total overthrow of government, parliament and the entire country’s political infrastructure.
Many of the statements put out by protestors cite the death of fellow marchers so as to say that matters have spiraled out of hand for the incumbent government.
Demonstrations in Iraq entered their 27th day, taking place in Baghdad and nine other provinces. It is worth noting that the Iraqi government and parliament are seeking to meet the demands of the demonstrators.
Moreover, a number of political blocs withdrew a day after representatives signed a document at National Wisdom Movement leader Ammar al-Hakim’s house which gave Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi 45 days to implement the promised reforms.
Reforms cited by the document included establishing a special court for corruption, changing the electoral law and electoral commission, reshuffling the Cabinet, prosecuting the forces who targeted the protesters and passing several pending proposals on oil and gas, social security, and other issues.
The Nasr Coalition and Hikma Movement warned that they will form an opposition bloc in the parliament and move to withdraw confidence in Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi if he does not proceed with the reform proposal within 40 days.
Speaking about the document signing, Member of the Iraqi Center for Political and Legal Development Hisham al-Shammae said it sent negative signals to people demanding the dissolution of parliament and resignation of the government.
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[Rudaw] The financial burden of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) on the Kurdistan Region costs the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) $1.5 billion a year, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said on Wednesday.
He urged the international community to help "alleviate the burden" on the KRG, which has increased since the Ottoman Turkish offensive in Northern Syria began on October 9.
"Currently we are hosting about 1.5 million IDPs and refugees. So far I believe somewhere around 16,000 people have crossed the [Syrian] border and are settled in the camps," PM Barzani said during the Middle East Peace and Security Forum organized by the American University of Duhok.
Two camps on the Syrian border have been re-opened following the Ottoman Turkish incursion in the Kurdish enclave of Rojava.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... , along with its Syrian proxy forces, began Operation Peace Spring in a bid to create a 'safe zone' free of the US-backed, Kurdish-led People's Protection Units (YPG), considered by Ankara to be linked to the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK). The latter is deemed a terrorist group by Turkey and various other countries, including many Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... an states.
The safe zone is to be resettled with 3,000,000 Syrian refugees, which Kurdish leaders say amounts to forced demographic change in the mixed Kurdish, Arab and Christian area.
The Kurdistan Region is expecting to receive more than 250,000 refugees from northern Syria if the conflict continues.
Barzani considers refugees and IDPs a "huge responsibility and a huge burden" on the KRG's shoulders given the government’s limited resources.
He cited a lack of assistance from the Iraqi government and the international community as the reason for the KRG’s inability to "alleviate the burden" of the ongoing influx.
"We are calling on the international community to help us, to first help us take care of the refugees that are in Kurdistan. But also help us to help them return to where they came from.
"That will not happen if they are not engaged in reconstructing and providing the services that they need," he added.
He added that the reconstruction of war-torn areas is the responsibility of both the Iraqi federal government and those of countries from which the refugees have fled, but little help has been received so far.
"We have been taking care of refugees for many years and we were hoping that the federal government of Iraq and the international community would come to the assistance of the KRG,"Barzani said.
The PM said the situation will further deteriorate if a swift solution is not provided.
"This will continue unless there are solutions and ways to help these people return to their original homes. They will not go home if there is no security. They will not go home if they do not have a safe place to live in. They will not go home if they do not have access to basic services, no schools, no hospitals, no jobs, no salaries."
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.... (ISIS) is also a source of further displacement, according to the Prime Minister.
PM Barzani described the defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS) as a "partial defeat" and said that many who had returned to their homes elsewhere have now been pushed back into the KRI due to ISIS activity.
"Kurdistan is a much safer place. It respects and protects people who are fleeing from the threat of terror."
The Prime Minister visited camps in recent weeks, telling arrivals that that the KRI is "their home."
'We welcome you with open arms," he told the new arrivals from Rojava.
Former IDF chief of staff Eisenkot unveiled Hezbollah's operational plan, which was planned together with IRGC Quds Force, for the "Occupation of the Gallilee": A raid of 6,000 Hezbollah operatives designated to pass through ten border-crossing tunnels into Israeli territory pic.twitter.com/QBdkHhn37Y
[DAWN] On one of Beirut’s main commercial streets, store owners are cutting salaries by half or considering shutting down. Shops advertise sales, but still can’t draw in customers. The only place doing a thriving business: the store that sells safes, as Lebanese increasingly stash their cash at home.
It’s a sign Lebanese fear their country’s financial crisis, which has been worsening for months, could tip over into disaster.
Banks have clamped limits on withdrawals of US dollars. The Central Bank’s sources for dollars are waning. Politicians are paralysed, struggling to form a new government in the face of tens of thousands of protesters in the streets for the past month in an unprecedented uprising demanding the entire leadership go.
"People are scared," said Khalil Chehab, owner of Shehab Security, a store selling safes on Beirut’s Hamra Street. "Since the middle of last month, business rose about 30%."
As he spoke to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, three customers were in his shop. Clients of all economic levels have been coming, he said ‐ and the shop has safes for any budget, with prices from $35 to $15,000.
A jewelry shop nearby has also seen a bump in business from people in need of cash coming in to sell their valuables, said its owner, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Nabil.
Businesses and households have been thrown into disarray. Residents say they don’t know how they will come up with dollar payments needed to pay for tuition, health insurance and housing loans. Companies are struggling to transfer salaries to staff, others have cut salaries or are simply laying off employees.
Leb has one of the highest debt ratios in the world, at around $86 billion or 150% of GDP. Much of the government’s budget is sucked up by salaries in the sprawling public sector, while infrastructure has gone undeveloped for years. Struggling with the broken economy, the government began hiking taxes and taking other measures, prompting small protests early in the year.
But the protests went kaboom! across the country on October 17 in response to a new round of proposed taxes and evolved into a revolt against the country’s entire political elite. Protesters blame the politicians for decades of systematic corruption and mismanagement that brought the country into its dire economic straits. The prime minister stepped down on Oct 29, but political parties have been unable to agree on a government since.
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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 
