Intel news

10122014

Afghan Taliban storms Kandahar police station, killing 5

A suicide bomber and Taliban fighters attacked a police headquarters in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing five people, Reuters said. A policeman and four civilians died in the attack that started when a suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform detonated a carload of explosives at the main gate of the compound in Kandahar’s Maiwand district. Four gunmen then forced their way inside, and the fighting in Maiwand lasted for two hours, before security forces killed the attackers. The latest attack on Afghan security forces was in the southern province of Kandahar, the cradle of the Taliban.

UN declares current year ‘devastating’ for millions of children

The UN agency UNICEF on Monday declared 2014 a devastating year for children. As many as 15 million are caught in conflicts in Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and the Palestinian territories, Reuters reported. An estimated 230 million children live in countries and areas affected by armed conflicts. The high number of crises meant many of children were quickly forgotten or failed to capture global headlines, such as in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, according to Executive Director of the children’s agency, Anthony Lake.

Amazon Germany workers go on pre-Christmas season strike

Workers went on strike at a German site of Amazon on Monday, aiming to hit the US online retail giant in the pre-Christmas season, AFP said. Services sector union Verdi said workers had walked out at 23:00 GMT at one of the company’s nine distribution centers in Germany, in the central city of Bad Hersfeld in Hesse state, amid a long-running pay dispute. The union wants Amazon to bring the pay of its some 9,000 workers in Germany in line with wages in the mail order and retail industries. Amazon has described its centers as logistics sites, saying that it pays its staff accordingly.

Either delivery or compensation for Mistral would suit Russia

Any decision on the French helicopter carriers, be it delivery or compensation, will suit Russia, TASS quoted Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov as saying on Monday. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Francois Hollande did not discuss the issue during their meeting in Moscow on Saturday, he said.

Donetsk, Lugansk, ask Russia not to sell their type of coal to Ukraine

The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics have asked Russia not to sell Ukraine the type of coal produced in their regions, TASS news agency said. The heads of the republics said this would “force Kiev to lift an economic blockade” of the two regions. Otherwise, hundreds of enterprises will be destroyed and people will be doomed to hunger, their statement said.

Canada closes embassy in Cairo over security concerns

Canada’s embassy in Cairo was closed on Monday because of security concerns, Reuters reported. “The ability to provide consular services may occasionally be limited for short periods due to unsettled security conditions,”the embassy said on its website. On Sunday, the British embassy in Cairo announced it was temporarily closing to the public, also citing similar concerns.

US ‘did not know about talks’ on freeing S. African who died in Yemen raid – envoy

The US did not know about talks on the reportedly imminent release of a South African hostage who died in a US raid on Al-Qaeda militants in Yemen, AP quoted the US ambassador in South Africa, Patrick Gaspard, as saying Monday. The South African humanitarian relief group Gift of the Givers had been acting on behalf of the family of hostage Pierre Korkie. American hostage Luke Somers and Korkie were killed Saturday during a US-led rescue attempt, Gaspard said. According to Ambassador Patrick Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers, Korkie was supposed to be released Sunday under a deal struck with Al-Qaeda. The US carried out the raid because the militants had threatened to kill Somers, Gaspard said. Officials indicated that the US would continue to conduct such operations.

Half of $8bn climate finance went to 10 countries

Half of nearly $8 billion in climate finance given to the developing world since 2003 went to just 10 countries, AFP said, citing a report of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). The top recipients were Morocco, Mexico and Brazil, which each got more than $500 million of the $7.6 billion total, according to the UK think-tank’s analysis of spending over the last decade in 135 countries. Many of the poorest countries were left behind, and such conflict-affected states as Cote d’Ivoire and South Sudan received less than $350,000 and $700,000 respectively. The report was released ahead of the second and final week of UN talks in Lima for a world pact to curb potentially disastrous global warming.

Boat with Ethiopian migrants capsizes off Yemen coast, 70 drown

A boat with Ethiopian migrants sank near the entrance to the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, and 70 people have drowned, AFP reported, citing the Yemeni Interior Ministry. The boat capsized in bad weather off the port city of Al-Makha, near the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, the ministry said on Sunday. Thousands of people fleeing countries in the Horn of Africa try to reach Yemen in the hope of making their way on to Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf.

​17 killed, 50 injured in bus crash in Nepal

At least 17 people were killed and over 50 passengers injured when an overcrowded bus plunged off a mountain road in Nepal, local police said. The incident happened near Pokharakada village where the vehicle rolled 600 meters down a slope. Rescuers pulled out 14 bodies while three others died at a hospital. Police say 67 people were traveling on the bus, which had 38 seats.

​N. Korea replaces air force chief

Lt. Gen. Choe Yong-ho has been named North Korea’s air force chief, replacing his predecessor Col. Gen. Ri Pyong-chol, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reports. The switch happened after the country’s leader Kim Jong-un inspected a major aviation unit and launched military exercises. Kim had a number of generals of his fathers’ generation replaced in an apparent bid to consolidate his power base.

Moroccan minister and party leader killed by train

Abdellah Baha, Moroccan Minister of State, right hand of Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane, and leader of the Party of Justice and Development was killed on Sunday by a passing train in Bouznika, a town some 33 km southwest of capital Rabat, the country’s Interior Ministry reported. Ironically, Baha was hit almost at the place, where his fellow party official Ahmed Zaidi died last month when his car plunged into water. The Interior Ministry said it was opening an investigation to determine all circumstances of the death.

​Nigeria releases detained Russian cargo plane

The Nigerian authorities have released a Russian transport plane, which was previously detained on suspicion of transporting arms, RIA Novosti reported citing France’s ambassador to the country, Jacques Champagne de Labriolle. The plane was hired by the French peacekeeping mission in Chad for a delivery, but had to land in Nigeria on Saturday, because the Chad airport it was heading to closed down.

Mi-8 helicopter crashes in Northern Russia

A Mi-8 helicopter has crashed near Naryan Mar city in Nenets autonomous region Sunday. There were three crew and four Bashneft oil company employees aboard. Two people died, five others are in grave condition, according to medics. The cause of the crash could be bad weather or engine failure, officials say.

2nd senior Al-Qaeda member in 2 days killed in Pakistan

A US drone has killed a senior member of Al-Qaeda and three other militants in Pakistan on Sunday, according to local officials and Taliban. He was identified as Omar Farooq, who was close to the former and current al Qaeda heads and was in charge for Al-Qaeda’s activity in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Earlier, on Saturday, the Pakistani military killed Adnan Shukrijumah, Al-Qaeda’s chief of global operations, who was wanted by US intelligence for plotting to attack the New York subway.

US hands over detained Taliban chief to Pakistan

US forces have handed a senior member of the Taliban and two his guards to Pakistan’s authorities on Saturday. Pakistani citizen Latif Mehsud was captured by US forces in October 2013 and was kept in a detention center in Bagram military base in Afghanistan. As the US mission ends this month, US forces will not be able to hold prisoners at the base and return all third-country nationals detained in Afghanistan to their country of origin, Reuters says.

UK embassy in Cairo suspends work, issues travel warnings

The British Embassy in Cairo has temporarily suspended its public services and issued a special travel warning to UK citizens, it announced Sunday. The travel advice recommends British nationals to avoid visiting some districts of Egypt, except tourist resorts, due to “heightened threat of terrorist attacks globally against UK interests and British nationals from groups or individuals motivated by the conflict in Iraq and Syria.” The UK consulate in Alexandria and visa application centers will remain open, although no new visa applications will be accepted for the time being.

​11 arrested after rioters throw firebombs at Stockholm police

A group of at least 30 protesters have thrown stones and firebombs at police in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, and set about 10 cars on fire on Saturday. “A witness saw a large gathering of younger individuals who marched towards the center of Rågsved, where the school is,” police spokeswoman Elisabeth Wernsten told Swedish Radio News. “The witness suspected that the youths were going to smash the school up.” At least 11 protesters were arrested by the authorities. “This gang simply decided to get together to commit crime,”Wernsten said. “There is no good reason for wanting to attack the police in this way. Nothing provoked the incident.”

​Russian plane detained in Nigeria contains French peacekeepers’ cargo

A cargo plane detained at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, in Nigeria, is Russian but its cargo is French, said the attaché of Russia’s embassy in Nigeria, Artyom Romanov. “The plane detained in the airport of Nigerian town of Kano is Russian, but the cargo on board is military equipment and [it] belongs to the French peacekeeping mission,” he said. The plane was bound for Chad when it made an emergency landing in Kano on Saturday.

​6.8-magnitude earthquake strikes Papua New Guinea

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 hit off the coast of Papua New Guineaat a depth of 10 kilometers, the US Geological Survey reported. The quake, which struck at 0122 GMT, was followed by two aftershocks with 5.2 and 5.0 magnitude, respectively. “Any tsunami generated is going to be very local… and about half-a-meter in size,” Mark Leonard, a senior seismologist for the government agency Geoscience Australia, told AFP.

07:49

China to help Maldives with water following fire at capital’s only sewage plant

China is taking part in a relief operation in the Maldives, sending a military vessel with 960 tons of fresh water to the islands, after a fire took out the only sewage treatment plant in the capital Male, China’s Xinhua agency reports. The incident left some 150,000 people without safe drinking tap water. India, Sri Lanka, Canada and the US have also been contacted by the Maldives government for help. The first will be sending five planes with water and two ships with parts to be used in fixing the broken sewage plant.

​US Republicans expand Senate majority with Louisiana win

Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu conceded defeat to Republican Bill Cassidy in a runoff election on Saturday. The contender’s campaign focused on linking Landrieu to President Barack Obama, whose Louisiana approval ratings are very low. Cassidy’s victory solidifies the Republican majority on the Hill, giving the party its 54th seat in the Senate.

​Carbon monoxide kills 2, poisons dozens in New Jersey

Two people have died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a recording studio in Passaic, New Jersey, city’s mayor announced. Dozens others have been sickened and are being treated at local hospitals. Police responded to a 911 call at about 1:30 pm local time and found the two dead on the second floor of the three-story building.

Missing Mexican student’s remains identified

One of the bodies found in Mexico near a rubbish plant was positively identified as Alexander Mora Venancio, local sources said on Saturday. He was one of 43 trainee teachers, who were allegedly captured by police in Guerrero on September 26 and handed over to drug gang members and massacred. The students’ disappearance sparked outrage throughout Mexico and triggered the worst political crisis the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto faced.

​All Aussie victims of MH17 crash identified

The remains of all 38 Australian citizens, who were killed in July after a Malaysian Airlines plane crashed over eastern Ukraine amid an armed conflict between the government and rebels, have been identified, the Australian government said. The last three sets of remains were identified in the Netherlands this week. A total of 292 of the 298 people killed in the tragedy have been identified so far.

Human Rights Watch urges CIA Torture Report’s timely release

The Human Rights Watch is urging the US government to release “Torture Report” on the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)’s detention and interrogation program without delay and on schedule. HRW statement comes as statements from the State Department raised concerns over the timing of the release and foreign policy that US Secretary of State voiced Friday. The Senate Committee on Intelligence is due to release the report early next week. Media agency