terrorism

Tony Blair, Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the (tragic) Middle East Opera is back. A killer without a clue, he can'€™t be blamed for not being consistent. His most recent opus speaks for itself; like a Kabuki mask high on Earl Grey tea, the Phantom is eviscerated by his own mighty pen, actually sword. The fact that the Phantom keeps getting away with his vast desert of convoluted lies – [...]
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Desperate Times! Kerry says US ready to turn to Iran, drone strikes, to fight ISIS
US Secretary of State John Kerry says that Washington is ready to use radical measures to halt the ISIS offensive in Iraq - including enlisting Iran'€™s help and launching air strikes. "We're open to discussions if there is something constructive that can be contributed by Iran, if Iran is prepared to do something that is going to respect the integrity and sovereignty of Iraq," [...]
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Sunni militants seize Tal Afar city of 200k citizens enlarging control of Iraq
The Sunni militants fighting to make an Islamic state in Iraq have scored another victory in their move to control more territory. They captured Tal Afar, a city of 200,000 residents in north-west of the country. The city was taken just before dawn on Monday, Mayor Abdulal Abdoul confirmed to AP. [...]
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ISIS ‘execute’ 1,700 Iraqi soldiers, post gruesome pictures (GRAPHIC)
Radical Sunni militants who have been capturing cities in northwest Iraq claimed on Twitter that they executed 1,700 Iraqi soldiers. The radicals posted graphic photos as evidence. The photographs, which were posted on the Twitter account associated with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS/ISIL), came with captions that described their alleged massacre. [...]
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“€˜Blair Has Finally Gone Mad!” London mayor ridicules ex-PM over Iraq
Tony Blair'€™s essay on how the Middle East should blame its own religious dynamics for its troubles -€“ instead of Western attempts at intervention - has seen London Mayor Boris Johnson launch a scathing attack on the "€œunhinged"€ former PM. Johnson’s strong condemnation is a reaction to the arguments made in the former British Prime Minister’s piece entitled 'Iraq, Syria and the Mi [...]
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State of emergency: ISIL militants overrun Iraq city of 1.8mn, free 2,500 prisoners
Heavily-armed, Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants have seized the Iraqi city of Mosul, driving back government forces. Officials say the Iraqi Army'€™s soldiers are demoralized and are no match for the attacking militant forces. “The city of Mosul is outside the control of the state and at the mercy of the militants,” an Interior Ministry official told AFP on Monday. [...]
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Facecrook: NSA storing your facial web images, millions intercepted daily
The National Security Agency is collecting millions of images of people through its international surveillance network to be implemented in a number of other facial recognition programs, according to documents leaked by Edward Snowden. [...]
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‘Slaughterhouse’: Civilians die in Kiev’s ruthless military attacks (GRAPHIC)
Bodies are piling up in Donetsk morgues after Kiev unleashed fighter jets and artillery on the country'€™s southeast just hours after the presidential election. New leader-elect Petro Poroshenko is pushing for the crackdown to become even "€œmore effective."€ [...]
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Congress reaffirms indefinite detention of Americans under NDAA
The US House of Representatives approved an annual defense spending bill early Thursday after rejecting a proposed amendment that would have prevented the United States government from indefinitely detaining American citizens. [...]
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EU has “€˜blood on its hands”€™ over Ukraine -€“ UKIP leader
The EU has blood on its hands after meddling in the Ukrainian crisis, once again revealing its imperial ambitions, Nigel Farage, leader of the euroskeptic UK Independence Party, said in a TV debate with Britain's deputy PM, Nick Clegg. [...]
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Constitutional collateral damage: Lawsuit over American drone deaths tossed out by US judge
Serious issues regarding constitutional law rose to the surface on Friday as a US federal judge dismissed a court case against the US government by families of three Americans killed in US drone strikes in Yemen. [...]
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CIA lied about torture’€™s effectiveness, according to unreleased Senate report
A Senate report found that CIA officials lied to the government and public about its post-9/11 torture program, most notably by distorting intelligence gleaned from traditional interrogations as that attained by far more brutal methods. [...]
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UN Hammers US Human Rights Record on Spying, Torture, Drones and Death Penalty
A UN report hammers the United States'€™ human rights record, denouncing vast surveillance, ongoing unaccountability for torture, deadly drone strikes, one of the world's highest death penalty counts, and mass incarceration, among other black marks. [...]
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Bomb strikes Libyan capital’€™s international airport
A bomb exploded in the major airport of Libya's capital, Tripoli, sparking further concerns about the widespread violence that has plunged the crisis-torn country into chaos. Unidentified people managed to get onto the runway at Tripoli International Airport, plant an explosive device at dawn and detonate it using a timer, said Transport Minister Abdelqader Mohammed Ahmed. [...]
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“Our views are far apart”€™: German chancellor slams US, UK over spying
Countries spying on their allies sow distrust that could result in less, rather than more security, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned. She particularly referred to the surveillance and spying activities by the US and the UK. [...]
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Independent panel denounces “€˜chilling”€™ NSA program as illegal, demands end
An independent review board has labeled NSA hoarding of phone data "€˜illegal"€™, adding that while it poses a serious threat to civil liberties, it was unable to find a "€œsingle instance"€ of a threat to the US where the program made any difference. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) released an acerbic report stating that the statute upon which the NSA program was [...]
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NSA snooping failing to prevent terrorist attacks, watchdog group says
Out of 225 terrorism cases on the territory of the United States since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the NSA'€™s PRISM program did little to protect the nation from terrorism, according to a new study. The bulk collection of metadata phone records by the National Security Agency “has had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism,” according to a study by the New America Foundati [...]
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Obama 2013: How low can you go?
No doubt 2013 will go down as Barack Obama'€™s annus horribilis. The President of the United States (POTUS) currently faces a 55 percent disapproval rating on "€œthe way he is handling his job,"€ according to the latest Washington Post-ABC poll. [...]
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Confirmed: 2013 deadliest for Iraq since 2008, UN estimates
"A total of 8,868 people, including 7,818 civilians, have been killed in violent attacks across Iraq in 2013, the United Nations reports "€“ the highest annual death toll in the war-torn country in five years. In December alone, at least 759 Iraqis were killed and another 1,345 wounded in terrorist attacks and violence, reports the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNIRAQ), which monitors the impa [...]
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