"Putin has died on purpose to distract attention from the murder of Nemtsov", tweeted Putin#Vor (Putin#Thief). - Putin disappears from public view, satirists run riot online
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A wave of savage mockery broke over Russian President Vladimir Putin across the Internet on Friday, sparked by days of absence from public view, despite official insistence it was business as usual in the Kremlin.
State television footage of Putin working at his residence failed to quell the tide of fantastical theories circulating online that the 62-year-old Kremlin leader had died, been deposed, or travelled to Switzerland to watch his girlfriend give birth.
Ukrainian children produced a cartoon showing Putin abducted from the Kremlin by aliens.
The hashtag #putinumer (putin died) began trending on Twitter, and a website, <a href="http://putinumer.com" rel="nofollow">putinumer.com</a>, offered readers advice on how to gauge whether the rumours were true.
"Look out the window," it advised. "Are people rejoicing, dancing, letting off fireworks? No? That means he hasn't died yet."
Putin is normally ubiquitous in state media, but his silence in the past week has fed rumours of a threat to his grip on power. While hard facts are scarce, there has been speculation of a split between rival Kremlin camps since the killing of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov near Red Square on Feb. 27.
"Putin has died on purpose to distract attention from the murder of Nemtsov", tweeted Putin#Vor (Putin#Thief).
A Ukrainian website carried a cartoon of Putin lying alongside Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin in his Red Square mausoleum, and mocked-up pictures of Putin on his deathbed or lying in an open coffin.
Kremlin not amused
While Putin is a target of satire, he remains by far Russia's most popular politician and has enjoyed a surge in patriotic support since annexing Crimea from Ukraine last year.
The head of pro-Kremlin pollster VTSIOM said on Friday that his approval rating had hit an all-time high of 88 percent.
Asked by Reuters to confirm that the president was in good health, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Yes. We've already said this a hundred times. This isn't funny any more."
RIA news agency separately quoted Peskov as denying that Putin had become a father again -- a response to a flurry of speculation that former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva had given birth in Switzerland. The Kremlin has regularly denied speculation of a romantic relationship between Kabayeva and Putin, who formally divorced his wife Lyudmila in 2014.
"Putin really does have a packed timetable: yesterday he died, today he gave birth," suggested one Twitter user.
In a country where the president dominates state media, demonstrations are tightly controlled and Kremlin opponents risk arrest, fines, prosecution or, in Nemtsov's case, death, the Internet has become the most effective outlet for dissent.
In a surreal YouTube video which had been watched more than 93,000 times by Friday evening, two men in camouflage uniform are shown walking through a rubble-strewn landscape past Putin's gravestone, carrying a TV screen showing wild Cossack dancing.
"Unbelievable things happen in the world," they sing. "You would think the people will mourn/But the earthlings celebrate/All the continents conduct parades/America is happy, Europe is happy.
Theories sprang up to explain why the president this week postponed a meeting with the leader of Kazakhstan -- one suggested he was meeting Muammar Gaddafi and Hugo Chavez, the deceased Libyan and Venezuelan leaders.
A spokesman for President Barack Obama was asked aboard Air Force One whether the US government had any information on Putin's whereabouts or whether Obama had been briefed.
"I have enough trouble keeping track of the whereabouts of one world leader," White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters. "I would refer you to the Russians for questions on theirs. I'm sure they'll be very responsive."
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Putin disappears from public view, satirists run riot online
Hindustan Times A wave of savage mockery broke over Russian President Vladimir Putin across the Internet on Friday, sparked by days of absence from public view, despite official insistence it was business as usual in the Kremlin. State television footage of Putin working at ... and more » |
Artist Paul Harfleet’s family had always accepted his sexuality, but it was a different story outside the home – like many young gay people, he often faced abuse. Now he’s created the Pansy Project as a way to deal with the bad memories in a positive way
From an early age, Paul Harfleet knew he was different. He spoke in a very particular way, he looked like a girl and he was perceptive enough to realise that his little peculiarities set him apart from everyone else. “I was just very aware that my sexuality, my identity was different,” he says. “I was the first male grandchild in my family and from the age of about five I remember noticing the emphasis on me representing the continuation of the family name. It was a weird pressure to feel at such an early age, but I did feel it. Even at that point, I knew it probably wasn’t going to happen.”
Growing up in Surrey until the age of about eight and then Edinburgh, after his mother remarried, Harfleet quickly learned how to deal with the fact that he was obviously gay.
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 Telegraph.co.uk |
Vladimir Putin's 'girlfriend has given birth'
Telegraph.co.uk Rumours continued to swirl on Friday over the whereabouts of Vladimir Putin, with one newspaper claiming that the Russian president had fathered a child with his long-term girlfriend. Citing local residents, Switzerland's Bick tabloid said on Friday that Mr ... and more » |
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday on the eve of fresh talks with Iran over its nuclear-power program that it was unclear whether an interim could be deal reached by the end of the month.
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 Charlotte Observer |
GOP lawmaker: Clinton email server key to Benghazi inquiry
Charlotte Observer FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2014, file photo, Rep. Susan Brooks, R-Ind. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, during a House Select Committee on Benghazi hearing on the implementation of the Accountability Review Board recommendations. Brooks said ... and more » |
OSCE Official Concerned By Russia's Suspension Of CFE Treaty by noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL)
The chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Political Affairs and Security for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has raised concerns about Russian military support for separatists in eastern Ukraine and its "complete suspension" of work under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE).
VIENNA (AP) -- Long legs crossed, one leopard-skin patterned spike heel dangling, the bearded diva with the expressive brown eyes leans back and laughs a throaty laugh when asked what has changed for her since winning Europe's biggest entertainment contest nearly a year ago....
Hillary Clinton's Arkansas friends reveal a woman wanting to win on her own terms by Ed Pilkington in Fayetteville, Arkansas
Feminist pioneer or self-interested careerist? Her closest friends, who have known her since she was lured to Arkansas by boyfriend Bill, provide clues to the riddle as she prepares her bid to become America’s first female president
On Thanksgiving Day in 1996, when Hillary Clinton was in the White House, she had a long conversation with her best friend, soulmate and confidante, Diane Blair. The two women had forged a relationship in the 1970s when they were both teaching in Fayetteville in Arkansas – Bill’s home state – and would remain close until Blair’s death from cancer in 2000.
With the blunt honesty of a trusted friend, Blair raised with Clinton one of the most vexed problems that has bedevilled her years of public service: her toxic dealings with the press. Couldn’t she avoid a lot of grief, Blair suggested, by developing friendlier relations – even fake ones – with media figures? And shouldn’t she stop changing her hair so often?
[Bill] talked about how if his girlfriend came, she would be giving up a really great political career
I have compromised. I gave up my name, I got contact lenses. But I’m not going to pretend to be somebody that I’m not.
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GOP Lawmaker: Clinton Email Server Key to Benghazi Inquiry
New York Times WASHINGTON — A member of the House committee investigating the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, against Americans in 2012 says Hillary Rodham Clinton's email server may help lawmakers answer vital questions. One question is why security at the ... and more » |
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says it is "unclear" whether an interim agreement on Iran's nuclear-enrichment program can be reached by the end of the month.
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Egypt's government has announced plans to build a new capital adjacent to Cairo, in a massive project meant to include government buildings and residential areas for 7 million people.
Has Putin drawn the Iron Curtain?
The Globe and Mail Pity, if you can, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Over the past 36 hours, he's had to issue some of the most awkward statements of his long career as the other voice of Vladimir Putin. On Thursday, Mr. Peskov had to respond to rumours that his boss was ... and more » |
Identifying as queer or bisexual often means being mistrusted, misunderstood and even mislabeled for the rest of your life
A family member asked me last week why I continue to identify as queer, even though I’m a woman who is in a long-term relationship with a man: “Give me one good reason why you have to call yourself ‘queer.’” She added that I could save myself a lot of trouble if I wore my opposite-sex relationship more openly, like some kind of hetero-veil to block bigots. I explained that I’d signed a contract with some very shady people, and that it said that I would have to publicly identify this way for a certain number of years and, if I said who, they’d have me killed.
That’s not how being queer actually works; I wish the explanation was as easy to grasp as a contract.
Continue reading...
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke at a conference to convey American support for promises of economic liberalization for Egypt.
Elderly nun gang-raped by robbers in eastern Indiaby Staff and agencies
Police say the nun, who is in her 70s, is in a serious condition in hospital after being attacked when she tried to stop group of men robbing school
A nun in her 70s has been gang-raped by a group of robbers when she tried to prevent them from robbing a Christian missionary school in eastern India.
A police officer says the nun was admitted to hospital in serious condition after the attack, which was committed early on Saturday by seven to eight robbers at the Convent of Jesus and Mary School in West Bengal state’s Nadia district.
Continue reading... CNN |
Kremlin posts images of Vladimir Putin after health rumors swirl
CNN Moscow (CNN) Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared in a series of photos released by the Kremlin on Friday after a week in which canceled engagements led to speculation over his health. The three images showed Putin meeting with the head of the ... Vladimir Putin reappears on television amid claims that he us unwell and under ...Daily Mail Where in the World is Vladimir Putin?Gawker All the rumors behind Vladimir Putin's disappearanceAtlanta Journal Constitution gulfnews.com-BBC News-Sputnik International all 1,909 news articles » |
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The European Commission (EC) plans to tighten its relations with several nations, including Turkey, as a part of the Continent’s effort to lessen its dependence on Russian for its energy security.
In a statement on March 11, the EC said it “intends to strengthen EU-Turkey energy relations by establishing a strategic energy partnership” because “[a] stronger and more united EU can engage more constructively with its partners, to their mutual benefit.”
Two weeks earlier at EC headquarters in Brussels, the commission unveiled its Energy Union Package seeking greater coordination among the European Union’s member states to permit a free exchange of energy from one to another to ensure a secure supply for all citizens of the EU.
Read more: Azerbaijan Eyeing Gas Opportunity In Europe
At that time, the EC specifically spoke of its goal to reduce its reliance on energy from Russia, which has been hit by EU and US sanctions for annexing Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and supporting separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. EU customers get about one-third of their gas supplies from Russia, and half of that flows through pipelines in Ukraine.
“As part of a revitalized European energy and climate diplomacy,” the March 11 statement said, “the EU will use all its foreign policy instruments to establish strategic energy partnerships with increasingly important producing and transit countries or regions such as Algeria and Turkey, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, the Middle East, Africa and other potential suppliers.”
Turkey is the key, however, according to Marco Giuli, who studies energy issues at the European Policy Center, a Brussels think tank. “European policymakers have been trying to find a more diverse gas supplier since the ’90s,” he told the International Business Times, “but right now there is more intense momentum for that to happen. To Eastern Europe especially, it’s absolutely critical.”
Read more: This Is Why The EU Energy Union Will Fail
In fact, despite its wealth of oil and gas, Russia isn’t the only source capable of meeting Europe’s needs. There are generous deposits of the two fuels northeast of Turkey in the Caspian Sea basin and beyond. And coincidentally they provide a kind of balance between supply and demand.
These regions hold about 65 percent of the world’s total known oil and gas reserves, and countries west of Turkey consume 65 percent of the world’s oil and gas. Turkey’s geographical position, combined with its political and military ties to the West, makes it the obvious choice for a stable energy channel.
If the EC’s plans bear fruit, Turkey would become a major transit country for energy because it already is about to begin building the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, which is part of the region’s Southern Gas Corridor. That pathway would carry gas from Azerbaijan in the east to Greece in the west, and eventually to Albania and Italy.
This role may lead Turkey to formally join the Energy Community, which was created in 2005 to extend the EU’s energy market to countries in Southeastern Europe and beyond that aren’t EU members. Turkey has limited its association with the community to observer status because of its concerns about the group’s policies on regulations, competition and trade.
The membership in the Energy Community now includes Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine. Like Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Norway are observers.
This article originally appeared on Oilprice.com.
More from Oilprice.com:
- EU Energy Union Could Start In The North Sea
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Pi Day 2015 Deals: The Best Discounts To Celebrate Math's Biggest Day
Tech Times To the uninitiated, today is just March 14, 2015. It's just another Saturday in March. Nothing special to see here. However, the math lovers of the world know today is their day. It's Pi Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the mathematical constant Pi, the ratio of a ... 3.14.15: Pi of the century, mathematically speakingVincennes Sun Commercial Hap-pi Pi DayPost-Bulletin Pi Day 2015: 3.14 Things to Know About PiNBC4 Washington all 180 news articles » |
ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government said on Saturday it has evidence Islamic State used chlorine gas as a chemical weapon against Kurdish peshmerga forces.
Kurds Battle IS in Syria, US-Led Coalition Jets Strikeby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
U.S.-led coalition jets struck Islamic State positions in northeast Syria for the second day in a row, in an area where the militants are battling Kurdish forces, a Kurdish official and a group monitoring the war said on Saturday. The Kurdish YPG militia, which has emerged as the coalition's main partner fighting Islamic State on the ground in Syria, has made significant gains in recent weeks in the north, cutting an important supply route from Iraq. Last week Islamic State...
 Reuters UK |
Iraqi troops pause, await back-up in battle for Tikrit against militants
Reuters UK 1 of 4. Armored vehicles of Iraqi security forces with militias known as Hashid Shaabi are driven past smoke arising from a clash with Islamic State militants in the town of al-Alam March 10, 2015. Credit: Reuters/Thaier Al-Sudani Thaier Al-Sudani: 'It was me ... and more » |
U.S. unease about nuclear-weapons fuel takes aim at a South African vault by Douglas Birch, R. Jeffrey Smith
PELINDABA, South Africa — Enough nuclear explosive to fuel half-a-dozen bombs, each powerful enough to obliterate central Washington or most of Lower Manhattan, is locked in a former silver vault at a nuclear research center near the South African capital. Read full article >>
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Swedish prosecutors offer to question Assange in Londonby The European Union Times
With Julian Assange’s 1000 days in the Embassy coming up March 16, here’s a reminder of some facts.
Swedish prosecutors have offered to question Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London over allegations of sexual misconduct and rape, Reuters reports. The WikiLeaks founder’s lawyer said he welcomes the request, but the process will take time.
Prosecutors have also asked to carry out a DNA test on Assange.
The offer was made by chief prosecutor Marianne Ny, according to the Swedish Prosecution Authority.
“If Assange gives his consent, the prosecutor will promptly submit a request for legal assistance to the British authorities to further continue the investigation,” the Swedish Prosecution Authority said in a statement.
Assange’s approval is needed for the prosecutors to question him “as English law states that a person being interviewed through the use of international legal assistance in a criminal case must also provide his or her consent.” A request will also be sent to the Ecuadorian government.
“My view has always been that to perform an interview with him at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London would lower the quality of the interview, and that he would need to be present in Sweden in any case should there be a trial in the future,” Ny said.
Assange’s Swedish lawyer welcomed the Swedish prosecutors’ request to interview Assange in London, but added that the whole process of questioning could take time.
“We welcome [this] and see it also as a big victory … for Julian Assange that what we have demanded is finally going to happen,” Per Samuelson, Assange’s lawyer, told Reuters.
However, Samuelson added that the request from Swedish prosecutors was accompanied by a number of formal requirements, which included requests for permission for the questioning from the UK and Ecuadorian authorities.
“That means that could take time, despite the fact that we are in a hurry,” Samuelson said.
Assange has lived inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for over two years while awaiting safe passage to South America, where he has been granted asylum.
The WikiLeaks founder has not been charged with a crime, but is wanted for questioning regarding allegations of sexual misconduct brought against him in Sweden in 2010.
An arrest warrant was issued for Assange in 2010 in the of wake sexual assault allegations leveled against him by two Swedish women. The Wikileaks founder has denied the allegations of sexual misconduct and rape. He managed to avoid extradition to Sweden by seeking refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he has resided since 2012.
If Assange is deported to Sweden, he will likely face espionage charges in America over his role in publishing sensitive, classified US government documents.
In June 2014, 56 international human rights and free media organizations signed a letter addressed to US Attorney General Eric Holder, calling upon the US government to end all criminal investigations into Assange’s actions as editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, and to cease harassing the organization for publishing materials in the public interest.
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MINSK (Reuters) - Pope Francis is ready to help improve ties between Belarus and the European Union, a senior papal official said on Saturday in the latest sign of a developing thaw in relations between Brussels and Minsk.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its coalition partners staged 10 air strikes on Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria in a 24-hour period, the Combined Joint Task Force said on Saturday.
Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana, recently expelled from ruling party, says he made request after soldiers disarmed the security team at his home.
Ebola death toll exceeds 10,000 mark says WHOby The European Union Times
The UN health agency says the death toll from the Ebola epidemic has passed the 10,000 mark, with the three hardest-hit West African countries taking the brunt of the plight.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Thursday that the number of the deaths had hit 10,004 and the total number of cases stood at 24,350.
Almost all of the deaths and cases have occurred in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea.
There have also been six deaths in Mali, one in the United States, and eight in Nigeria, all of which have since been declared Ebola-free.
Spain and Senegal, which have also been declared free of Ebola, had one case each but no deaths.
The WHO on Wednesday said the fight against Ebola was “going in the right direction.”
The United Nations has warned that the spread of the deadly virus is still not fully controlled despite a significant fall in the number of new cases across West Africa.
Ebola is a form of hemorrhagic fever, whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting, and bleeding. The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces, or sweat. It can also be spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.
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The United States, largely because of poor oversight and loose financial controls, has sometimes inadvertently financed the very militants it is fighting.
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CIA inadvertently provided money to Al Qaeda
Boston Globe (subscription) WASHINGTON — In the spring of 2010, Afghan officials struck a deal to free an Afghan diplomat held hostage by Al Qaeda. But the price was steep — $5 million — and senior security officials were scrambling to come up with the money. They first turned to a ... and more » |
Russia Warns “State Of War” Exists As UK Nukes Prepare First Strike by The European Union Times
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) is reporting today that the Federation is now in a “state of war” thus bringing to full activation President Putin’s “Dead Hand” nuclear order issued 29 July 2014 to The Strategic Missile Forces (SMF).
According to this report, the full activation of the much feared “Dead Hand” nuclear option was authorized under President Putin’s previous order due to the discovery that the nuclear forces of the United Kingdom (UK) were preparing a first strike against military and civilian targets located in the Federation.
The intention of the nuclear forces of the UK preparing a first strike against the Federation, this report says, was revealed by Federal Security Services (FSB) electronic intelligence experts working in conjunction with Kaspersky Lab who discovered last month a massive US National Security Agency (NSA) cyber espionage programme targeting not just Russia, but everyone else on Earth.
Both the FSB and Kaspersky Lab experts, the MoD reports, were able to swiftly reverse engineer the computer code(s) involved in this massive NSA spying operation which then enabled them to electronically obtain the launching codes and coordinates of all the UK’s nuclear weapons showing their plan to launch a first strike against the Federation during the week of 15 March.
Though information of this highly successful FSB-Kaspersky Lab intelligence operation has been suppressed in the West, some counter-news of it has been reported by a few technical websites, including The Verge which in their article reported yesterday titled “A Network Error Routed Traffic For The UK’s Nuclear Weapons Agency Through Russian Telecom”, in part, says:
“For the past week, something strange has been going on in the European internet. For five days, web traffic from Texas to certain addresses in the UK has been routed through Ukrainian and Russian telecoms, taking a detour thousands of miles out of the way. Network traffic often takes a circuitous route as a result of network congestion or interconnection difficulties, but neither one would be enough to account for these routes. Instead, this was the result of a bad route announced by Ukraine’s Vega telecom, inserting itself in between.It’s particularly disconcerting because of the sensitive nature of many of the sites involved. Among the dozens of sites involved was the UK’s Atomic Weapons Establishment, which is tasked with managing and delivering the UK’s nuclear warheads, as well as the UK’s official mail service, the Royal Mail. US defense contractor Lockheed Martin was also running a VPN connection that was caught up in the redirection.”
Upon the MoD’s confirmation of the UK’s intention to launch a nuclear first strike against the Federation, this report continues, Russian military forces throughout the country were immediately activated with a special emphasis placed upon massive rocket-artillery maneuvers on the southern borders.
Foreign Minister Lavrov, this report notes, further warned the West this week that Moscow would respond to NATO “in an adequate way” as thousands of Norwegian troops neared the Russian border this week preparing for the influx of a US Marine Expeditionary Brigade, estimated to number between 14-18,000, whose tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, ammunition and battle equipment have flooded into Norway this past year.
The MoD also in this report states that the Ministry for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) previously issued an immediate travel ban on firefighters, ambulance drivers rescue troopers, tens of thousands of police officers, prison guards, and other law enforcement agencies who are deemed critically needed during times of war.
Also to be noted, though not contained in this MoD report, are reports from London that Russian personnel and officers have evacuated their embassy and that a mass of activity is now being reported throughout Moscow, especially in and around Red Square.
As President Putin, top political officials and military leaders are now under MoD “protection”, other reports (of unknown quality) state that the Kremlin has also “advised” journalists not to leave Moscow and to prepare for a “major announcement” over the next few days.
Though not specifically stated in this MoD report, but strongly eluded to, are that crisis negotiations between Moscow and the West are currently ongoing and have led within the past few hours to NATO’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, stating that the alliance does not plan to interfere in the conflict in east Ukraine…”Ukraine is not a member of NATO, so there is a difference between Ukraine and NATO members, because the security guarantee is for NATO allies.”
This NATO “assurance”, however, may do little to calm this crisis and avert nuclear war after the Federation’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case against Robert Scales, a retired US major general and a Fox News military analyst, who said in a live broadcast this week that the only way for the US to turn the tide in Ukraine is to start killing Russians… “It is Game, Set and Match in Ukraine. The only way the US can have any effect in this region and turn the tide is to start killing Russians. Killing so many Russians that even Putin’s media can’t hide the fact that Russians are returning to the Motherland in body bags.”
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Kurdish Authorities Claim IS Used Chlorine Gas In Attackby noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL)
Authorities in Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish Regional Government claim that Islamic State militants used chlorine gas in an attack against Peshmerga forces.
 Firstpost |
Flagging before election, Netanyahu ramps up rhetoric
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Kurds Say ISIS Used Chemical Weapons by Dan Hirschhorn
(BAGHDAD)—The Kurdish government in Iraq said Saturday it has evidence examined by an independent laboratory confirming that the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) used chlorine gas as a chemical weapon against peshmerga fighters.
The allegation by the Kurdistan Region Security Council, stemming from a Jan. 23 suicide truck bomb attack in northern Iraq, did not immediately draw a reaction from ISIS group, which holds a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared caliphate. However, Iraqi officials and Kurds fighting in Syria have made similar allegations about the militants using the low-grade chemical weapons against them.
In a statement, the council said the alleged chemical attack took place on a road between Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, and the Syrian border, as peshmerga forces fought to seize a vital supply line used by the Sunni militants. It said its fighters later found “around 20 gas canisters” that had been loaded onto the truck involved in the attack.
The Kurds say samples of clothing and soil from the site were analyzed by an unnamed lab in an unnamed coalition partner nation, which found chlorine traces.
“The fact ISIS relies on such tactics demonstrates it has lost the initiative and is resorting to desperate measures,” the Kurdish government said in the statement, using an alternate acronym for the Sunni militant group.
Chlorine, an industrial chemical, was first introduced as a chemical weapon at Ypres in World War I with disastrous effects as gas masks were not widely available at the time. While chlorine has many industrial and public uses, as a weapon it chokes victims to death.
In the Syrian civil war, a chlorine gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus in 2013 killed hundreds and nearly drove the U.S. to launch airstrikes against the government of embattled President Bashar Assad. The U.S. and Western allies accused Assad’s government of being responsible for that attack, while Damascus blamed rebels.
There have been several allegations that ISIS has used chlorine as well. In October, Iraqi officials claimed ISIS militants may have used chlorine-filled cylinders during clashes in late September in the towns of Balad and Duluiya. Their disclosures came as reports from the Syrian border town of Kobani indicated that the extremist group added chlorine to an arsenal that already includes heavy weapons and tanks looted from captured military bases.
Insurgents have used chlorine gas in Iraq before. In May 2007, suicide bombers driving chlorine tankers struck three cities in Anbar province, killing two police officers and forcing about 350 Iraqi civilians and six U.S. troops to seek treatment for gas exposure. Those bombers belonged to al-Qaida in Iraq, which later became ISIS.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About $1 million provided by the CIA to a secret Afghan government fund ended up in the hands of al Qaeda in 2010 when it was used to pay a ransom for an Afghan diplomat, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
 Daily Beast |
World?s First Successful Penis Transplant (And Yes, It Works!)
Daily Beast So if indeed the South Africans have taken a step forward in organ transplant—and the first heart transplant was performed there almost 50 years ago, so they do have a track record of surgical audacity—it is difficult to imagine the world not working ... Surgeons announce world's first successful penis transplantWashington Post South African Doctors Perform World's First Penis TransplantU.S. News & World Report S. African surgeon claims world's first penis transplantUSA TODAY The Guardian all 437 news articles » |
Albany Democrat Herald |
Funeral in Wisconsin for 19-year-old fatally shot by police
Albany Democrat Herald A protester hangs a banner reading "Black Lives Matter" on the gate outside of the Governor's Mansion during a protest of the police killing of Tony Robinson in Maple Bluff, Wis., Wednesday, March 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, Michael P. and more » |
 Coos Bay World |
Part-time Ferguson mayor in full-time spotlight
Coos Bay World FILE - In this March 11, 2015 file photo, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III announces the resignation of police chief Thomas Jackson during a news conference in Ferguson, Mo. Despite calls for him to go, Knowles is the last man standing in Ferguson city ... and more » |
CIA money from secret fund ended up in hands of al-Qaida – report by Reuters in Washington
Money used to pay a ransom for an Afghan diplomat reached al-Qaida in 2010, according to Afghan and Western officials, but CIA declined comment
About $1m provided by the CIA to a secret Afghan government fund ended up in the hands of al-Qaida in 2010 when it was used to pay a ransom for an Afghan diplomat, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden had at first been concerned about the payment, fearing the CIA knew about the money and had tainted it with poison, radiation or a tracking device, the Times said,and suggested it be converted to another currency.
Continue reading... CBS Local |
Ferguson Mayor Says He's Not Resigning
CBS Local Ferguson, Missouri Mayor James Knowles announces that Police Chief Thomas Jackson will step down, in Ferguson, Missouri on March 11, 2015. Jacksons departure is being called a mutual separation and will be effective March 19. Jackson is leaving ... and more » |
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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany and other countries want European Union leaders to endorse a declaration saying that EU sanctions on Russia will not be eased unless Moscow complies with a Ukraine ceasefire deal, two officials said on Saturday.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, is to visit Cuba this month in the latest sign of warming relations between the Communist-ruled island and the West.
 CBS News |
Report: CIA money was given to al Qaeda
CBS News Five million dollars -- that's how much an Afghan official was worth in ransom money to al Qaeda. And in 2010, the Afghan government struck a deal with the terror organization, paying the $5 million price tag to free the diplomat. But according to a New York ... and more » |
MOSCOW — Where’s Putin?
The question obsessed Moscow and much of Russia on Friday, as speculation mounted as to why President Vladimir V. Putin had not been seen in public for more than a week.
He abruptly canceled a trip to Kazakhstan and postponed a treaty signing with representatives from South Ossetia who were reportedly told not to bother to fly to Moscow. Most unusually, he was absent from an annual meeting of the top officials from the F.S.B., Russia’s domestic intelligence service.
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