World events

ISIS on doorstep of Syrian capital

Civilians trapped in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria's capital sought safety Saturday amid intense shelling and clashes between Palestinian factions and Islamist terrorists who took over most of the camp, Syrian activists said.


The Islamic State group's presence in Yarmouk gives it an important foothold only a few miles away from President Bashar Assad's seat of power. It also gives the group a possible sanctuary where U.S.-led coalition forces are unlikely to strike because of the camp's proximity to Damascus.

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An epic evil returns: ISIS resurrects crucifixtion

4-3-2015
Horror of biblical proportions: A Lebanese Christian reenact the crucifixion of Christ on Friday but ISIS's butchers carry out the real thing.

American believers and non-believers consider this an historical event. But in the Middle East, crucifixion is a current affair.

ISIS has resurrected crucifixion building a bridge to the Fourth Decade AD. The only way to top this would be to feed Christians to lions this evening at Rome’s Coliseum.

By prying this ancient practice from the history books and returning it to modern life, ISIS has re-confirmed its epic evil.

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Kremlin documents leak?

4-5-2015
Government instructions to media reportedly available online
Global Voices on April 4 reported that a a Russian Internet group called "Anonymous International" leaked a list of prepackaged news stories prepared by the Kremlin for Russia's central television news stations. Links in the article no longer work, and alleged copies of the documents are circulating on the Internet.

The briefs reportedly 'instruct' TV journalists to justify Russia's recent annexation of Crimea, to laud President Putin's efforts to develop the region, and even to advertise Crimea's tourist season.

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Trolling for Vladimir Putin: Russia's Information War Explained

4-5-2015
SAINT PETERSBURG: Lyudmila Savchuk says it was money that wooed her into the ranks of the Kremlin's online army, where she bombarded website comment pages with eulogies of President Vladimir Putin, while mocking his adversaries.


"Putin is great," "Ukrainians are Fascists," "Europe is decadent": Savchuk, 34, listed the main messages she was told to put out on Internet forums after responding to a job advertisement online.


"Our job was to write in a pro-government way, to interpret all events in a way that glorifies the government's politics and Putin personally," she said.

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Houthis make gains in Yemen's Aden, approach port

4-5-2015
Yemen's Houthi militiamen, supported by army units, gained ground in the southern city of Aden on Sunday, pushing back loyalists of the Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Residents took refuge in their homes and reported hearing sporadic gunfire and blasts of rocket-propelled grenades, and one witness saw a Houthi tank in the downtown Mualla district, which sits astride Aden's main commercial port.

Houthi forces have inched forward in street-fighting in the city despite an 11-day nationwide bombing campaign by a Saudi-led coalition aimed at halting the Iran-allied group and protecting Hadi's last bastion of support in the country.

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Four killed in suicide bombing near Libya's Misrata – agency

TRIPOLI
(Reuters) - Four people were killed and more than 20 wounded by a suicide bomb attack on security checkpoint east of the Libyan city of Misrata, a local official news agency reported on Sunday.

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Boko Haram, 'Islam's worst enemy,' will be beaten: Niger president

Militant group Boko Haram is "the worst enemy of Islam" and will be defeated because West African Muslims reject its violent actions and harsh interpretation of the Koran, Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou said on Friday.

"There is nothing Islamic about Boko Haram," Issoufou told students and faculty at the Harvard Institute of Politics John F. Kennedy Forum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, during a trip to the United States.

"Abducting and raping women, killing innocent people, drinking human blood ... these are not the most efficient ways of spreading Islam," he said. "Boko Haram has no future, Boko Haram will be defeated, God willing."

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No peace for Iraqi Christians this Easter

4-5-2015
In light of the tragic massacre of Christian college students in Kenya on Thursday, and the ongoing threat against Christians in other nations, this Holy Week we are calling upon Christians to also reflect upon the crucifixion, beheading, stoning, enforced slavery, sexual abuse, human trafficking, harassment, bombing and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Christians -- and others -- whose faith alone has made them a target of religious extremists.

Countless lives have been utterly destroyed in nations such as Iraq, Syria, Libya, Pakistan, India, Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria.

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U.S., allies conduct air strikes in Syria and Iraq against Islamic State militants

WASHINGTON

4-5-2015
(Reuters) - U.S. and allied forces conducted 15 air strikes in Syria and Iraq against Islamic State militants during the past 24 hours, the combined joint task force said on Sunday.


Three of the strikes, part of a continuing operation against Islamic State, targeted militants in Syria. Twelve strikes were aimed at targets in Iraq, including five near the city of Mosul, the joint task force said in a statement.

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Kenya says government official's son was among gunmen in Garissa attack

4-5-2015
The son of a Kenyan government official was one of the masked gunmen who killed nearly 150 people at a university last week, as Kenyan churches hired armed guards to protect their Easter congregations.

Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka said Abdirahim Abdullahi was one of four gunmen who stormed the college campus in Garissa.

An ethnic Somali with Kenyan nationality, his father is a government official in the northern Mandera county bordering Somalia.

"The father had reported to security agents that his son had disappeared from home...

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British teenagers arrested on terrorism offences: police


4-5-2015

Two teenagers from northern England have been arrested on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism.


A 14-year-old boy from Blackburn and a 16-year-old girl from Manchester were arrested on Thursday and Friday respectively as part of an ongoing investigation and have both been bailed until May 28.


The boy was arrested on "suspicion of preparing for an act of terrorism" following the examination of several electronic devices, police said, while the girl was arrested "on suspicion of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism".

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Yemen's Houthis ready for talks if air strikes stop: senior member

4-5-2015
Yemen's Houthis are ready to sit down for peace talks as long as a Saudi-led air campaign is halted and the negotiations are overseen by "non-aggressive" parties.
Saleh al-Sammad, who was an adviser to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, also told Reuters in emailed answers that Yemenis reject the return of Hadi, who escaped to Saudi Arabia after Shi'ite Houthi fighters edged closer to his southern base of Aden last month.

Warplanes and ships from a Saudi-led coalition have been bombing the Iran-allied Houthi forces for 11 days.

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Bomb kills policeman in Cairo, militant leader dies in firefight: security sources

A policeman was killed in a second straight day of bombings in Cairo, and the leader of a militant group that has targeted police and soldiers around the capital died in a separate incident.

Militants based in North Sinai have killed hundreds of soldiers and police since the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013.

A policeman was killed when a bomb exploded on a bridge leading to the upscale Cairo district of Zamalek. Two of the wounded were also policemen, the third was a civilian.

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Government names Kenya attack mastermind

4-5-2015
The Kenyan government says Mohamed Mohamud, also known by aliases Dulyadin and Gamadhere, is the mastermind of Thursday's Kenya university terror attack, according to a tweet from the country's Interior Ministry.

Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked militant group based in Somalia, took responsibility for the attack, according to the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

Mohamud is "credited with having an extensive terrorist network within Kenya," Earlier the ministry posted a "Most Wanted" notice for Mohamud in connection with the attack. It offers a reward of 20 million Kenyan shillings, which is about $215,000.

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Red Cross gets approval from Saudi-led coalition for Yemen aid

4-5-2015
The International Committee Red Cross hopes to bring vital medical supplies and aid workers into Yemen on Monday after receiving approval from the Saudi-led military coalition.

The aid agency has been negotiating for nearly a week to deliver life-saving supplies and equipment to Yemen, where the coalition has conducted 11 days of air strikes against Iran-backed Shi'ite Houthis. The coalition now controls the country's ports and air space.

"We have received permission from the coalition for two planes now, one carrying supplies and one with staff".

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Dozens killed in fighting near Yemen's Aden port

4-5-2015
Houthi fighters clash with militias in the southern Yemeni city of Aden and eyewitnesses said gun battles and heavy shelling ripped through a downtown district near the city's port.

The air and sea campaign has targeted Houthi convoys, missiles and weapons stores and cut off any possible outside reinforcements - Houthis deny Saudi accusations that they are armed by Tehran.

The fighting has failed to inflict any decisive defeat on the Houthis, or supporters of Ali Abdullah Saleh but the growing death toll and humanitarian suffering has alarmed aid groups.

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Indian marine police rescue 17 sailors from sinking Yemeni ships

BY Reuters | Apr. 5, 2015 | 1:05
Video shows marine police in India's Gujarat state rescuing 17 sailors from two sinking Yemeni ships. Rough Cut.


Marine police in India's western Gujarat state rescued 17 sailors from two sinking Yemeni ships near Pipavav port from Amreli coast on Saturday (April 04).

The incident happened in the morning when a ship named 'Amanna' while hauling another ship named 'Abdullah' to a dockyard hit the coast. One of the crew members managed to send out a message to marine police.

Of 17 sailors, 10 were from Pakistan, five from Yemen, one was from Iraq and one other was from India

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