Reports from South Korean intelligence and multiple publications indicate that the government of North Korea attempted to launch a submarine missile on Saturday. Unlike most of its illegal weapons activity, however, this one failed to make it onto the pages of state media, as most observers conclude it was a failure.
Army Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS), said Sunday that jihadists appear to be deserting the group in growing numbers, leaving ISIS strongholds badly secured but prompting new concerns that defecting jihadists will return home battle-hardened and ready to execute “lone wolf” attacks.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro referred to an opposition leader, shot to death in public on Wednesday, as a “gang leader” (“pran”) with a history of “homicide” and “general delinquency,” while on a television program Sunday.
In what is appearing to have been an especially active Sunday for the terrorists of Islamic State-affiliated Boko Haram, two separate groups of jihadis razed as many as 50 homes in Niger while a separate gang stormed a Borno state village, kidnapping dozens of teen girls. Most of the more than 200 girls abducted from Chibok, Borno in April 2012 remain captive.
Anastasia Lin, who was crowned Miss World Canada in May, has been banned from competing for the global beauty pageant title in China. While she was not given a reason for being banned from entering China, she believes her outspoken criticism of the Communist Party has made her a target.
The editor-in-chief of Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, along with that newspaper’s Ankara bureau chief, has been arrested for “divulging state secrets” after publishing a report claiming that Turkey’s intelligence agency has been arming Syrian rebels against dictator Bashar al-Assad.
In a speech on Thursday, Venezuelan head of state Nicolás Maduro claimed the assassination of an opposition legislation candidate Wednesday night was the product of rival gangs “settling scores,” claiming the American government is offering thousands of dollars to “armed men” to “attack the opposition and later show them off around the world.”
A Venezuelan diplomat in hiding is accusing the socialist government of President Nicolás Maduro of selling visas, passports, and even falsified birth certificates out of its embassy in Baghdad to an estimated thousands of Middle Eastern citizens, including at least one confirmed Hezbollah terrorist.
Two months after being declared Ebola-free, the west African nation of Liberia has confirmed the death of a boy who succumbed to the virus, forcing the government to quarantine his family and place hundreds under surveillance.
The Venezuelan government has accused Argentine President-Elect Mauricio Macri of “taking orders from the United States” following the conservative head of state to-be’s proposal to sanction Venezuela economically over human rights abuses against political dissidents.
Iranian media are denying a report circulating in various Arab media sources, which has reached the White House, claiming that General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s notorious special Quds Forces, was injured in Syria by rebel fire while fighting on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad.
Having involved most Middle Eastern nations, Russia, and the United States in its apocalyptic war in Syria, the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS) appears determined to force China to establish a presence in the region, also, threatening the Asian nation in a new video and boasting of the murder of a Chinese citizen last week.
Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani suggested in an interview this week that his forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga, could travel to Raqqa, Syria and participate in an assault to liberate it from the Islamic State (ISIS).
In a seismic defeat for Latin America’s left, conservative Buenos Aires mayor Mauricio Macri has been elected president of Argentina. While the transition out of leftist Cristina Fernández de Kircher’s tenure will hurt many of the nation’s questionable alliances, none appears more fragile now than the ties Kircher fostered with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The scion of one of New York City’s famed Five Families has issued a press release warning the Islamic State terrorist group to stay away from New York, where the Mafia will prevent jihadis from doing any harm to the city’s eight million residents.
As the cheer of victory over the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) begins to dim in newly liberated Sinjar, Iraq, Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have begun the work of rebuilding a city ravaged by the terrorist group. On Thursday, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani announced plans to return electricity to Sinjar.
In an interview with BCC, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos objected to the idea of helping the United States extradite the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Marxist terrorist group responsible for years of drug trafficking and violence that have affected American citizens.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the boos and cries of “allahu akbar” from Turkish fans at a soccer game against Greece this week, chiding fans for booing the Greek national anthem but not mentioning that fans also appeared to boo a moment of silence for the victims of last week’s terror attacks in Paris.
An extensive report in Miami’s El Nuevo Herald claims that the nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, arrested for attempting to traffic 800 kilograms of cocaine into New York, have claimed the drugs belonged to the nation’s second-in-command, National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello.
An Ecuadorian politician has been sentenced to 15 days in jail for tweeting the fact that the niece of the nation’s Labor Minister has been placed in a lucrative government job. Popular Unity national deputy director Sebastián Cevallos has become the first person in Latin America to be sentenced to jail for tweeting.
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad had some harsh words for President Francois Hollande and praise for Russian leader Vladimir Putin in an interview with the conservative French magazine Valeurs Actuelles to be published Thursday. Unfortunately for Putin, Syrian state media omitted Assad’s praise from its official “full” text of the interview.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro blamed the terror attacks in Paris this week on the “irresponsibility” of the United States in the Middle East, asserting that supporting Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is more important now than ever because “if he is taken down, what happened in Paris will be nothing in comparison to what will happen around the world.”
The government of Senegal has just announced a ban on wearing the burqa, or Islamic full-face veil, following mass arrests of individuals with suspected ties to ISIS affiliate Boko Haram. Senegal’s population is 92 percent Muslim.
Nigeria’s former National Security Advisor, Sambo Dasuki, has been detained and formally accused of stealing more than $2 billion from government funds allocated to buy weapons to fight ISIS-affiliated jihadist group Boko Haram.
The Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group has developed a reputation for teaching its recruits well how to use the internet to plan terrorist attacks and spread their jihadi message. In an alarming development, NBC News reports that now ISIS is boasting a 24-hour “help desk” to teach jihadis how to send encrypted messages out of sight of law enforcement.
