
Members of Al Shabaab, a Somali terrorist group traditionally allied with Al Qaeda, have released a video on social media in which they are seen pledging allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Reports indicate Al Shabaab leadership is looking to find and kills its pro-ISIS members.
by Frances Martel9 Nov 2015, 7:10 AM PST0

Police found a “suspicious artifact” designed to look like a bomb near the Israeli Embassy in Montevideo, Uruguay this week, the fourth such item found and the third this year. Officials found the item on the same day as a scheduled anti-Israel BDS rally before the embassy took place.
by Frances Martel6 Nov 2015, 10:58 AM PST0

After a potato shortage forced McDonald’s to remove them from menus, Venezuelans will now once again be able to purchase French fries at local franchises — made using only local ingredients, and costing about $133 for a large serving.
by Frances Martel6 Nov 2015, 8:43 AM PST0

Yazidi militias organized to fight the Islamic State in Sinjar, northern Iraq are protesting that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Marxist terrorist group operating out of Syria and Turkey, have prevented them from launching a mission to recapture Sinjar City after the terrorists stormed the region in 2014.
by Frances Martel6 Nov 2015, 7:33 AM PST0

The Turkish government is looking to increase its military cooperation with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq, particularly in the fight against ISIS.
by Frances Martel5 Nov 2015, 11:23 AM PST0

The Department of Transportation of the Philippines is under fire after more than 20 people have come forward claiming airport officials planted bullets in their luggage to prevent them from boarding flights unless they paid a bribe.
by Frances Martel5 Nov 2015, 10:04 AM PST0

As the United States takes the lead in challenging China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, the Chinese government has begun to warn off Japan from assuming a role in the matter. While Japan has no territorial interests in the South China Sea, it continues to disregard China’s claim to the entirety of the East China Sea, much of which Japan claims as its own.
by Frances Martel5 Nov 2015, 8:39 AM PST0

After stating last week that, despite Chinese objections, American naval ships will “fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows,” Defense Secretary Ashton Carter personally made good on that promise by joining the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the South China Sea today.
by Frances Martel5 Nov 2015, 7:58 AM PST0

The Australian Public Service Commission is warning its employees to be “mindful” of not buying humorous Secret Santa gifts for coworkers, a year after the story of a man’s gag Secret Santa gift costing him his job went viral in the country.
by Frances Martel4 Nov 2015, 10:00 PM PST0

Somali al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab has released a new video calling for Muslims to engage in “tourism” in “the land of Islam,” consisting of killing kufr (infidels) and eating exotic animals. The jihadis show off their latest catch, a butchered giraffe.
by Frances Martel4 Nov 2015, 11:25 AM PST0

Those who suspect the surprise victory of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey’s national elections Sunday was fraudulent may have more evidence to support their theory: the astronomical increase in registered voters between the last election in June and Sunday’s referendum.
by Frances Martel4 Nov 2015, 10:08 AM PST0

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou and the head of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, will meet in person in Singapore on Saturday, the first time a meeting between these nations’ heads of state has occurred since 1949.
by Frances Martel4 Nov 2015, 8:00 AM PST0

The editor-in-chief of the Communist Party’s largest publication in western Xinjiang province, China, was dismissed from his job and will be prosecuted for “serious discipline breaches” that include questioning China’s policy to combat Islamist Uyghur terrorism in the region.
by Frances Martel3 Nov 2015, 7:15 PM PST0

Members of the ISIS-affiliated Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram have sent media outlets photos they claim prove the group is running a rocket factory deep in northeast Nigeria. The Nigerian military has dismissed the images as fabricated.
by Frances Martel3 Nov 2015, 12:00 PM PST0

An American defense official said this week that the U.S. Navy is planning to navigate through disputed waters in the South China Sea “about twice a quarter or a little more than that,” activity likely to irritate China, which claims complete control over the sea, even further.
by Frances Martel3 Nov 2015, 8:10 AM PST0

The White House had stern words for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) this week following the dramatic crackdown on a media conglomerate that temporarily shut down two newspapers and two television stations just days before the November 1 election.
by Frances Martel3 Nov 2015, 7:23 AM PST0

With the Chinese government’s announcement last week that it would modify its decades-old one-child family policy and allow couples to have two children, parents of undocumented “black children” are wondering whether the law will apply to them, too.
by Frances Martel2 Nov 2015, 12:51 PM PST0

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced last week he intends to sue the United States government in an American court over sanctions placed on his regime due to human rights violations in March.
by Frances Martel2 Nov 2015, 8:47 AM PST0

At least one man is being prosecuted in Zimbabwe after calling for an end to dictator Robert Mugabe’s regime, following an embarrassing stumble in India in which Indian head of state Narendra Modi had to help the 91-year-old walk toward him.
by Frances Martel2 Nov 2015, 7:10 AM PST0

With 95 percent of the vote in, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) appear to have solidified their control of the nation’s Parliament, with significant losses for Kurd-friendly leftist People’s Democratic Party (HDP) and main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
by Frances Martel1 Nov 2015, 10:55 AM PST0

The head of the Syrian rebel group the Raqqa Revolutionaries Front has announced in a video uploaded to YouTube that his group will “soon” announce a military offensive on Raqqa, the “capital” of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) terrorist group.
by Frances Martel30 Oct 2015, 10:33 AM PST0

The heads of state of China, Japan, and South Korea are scheduled to meet Sunday for the first trilateral talks in three years. They are expected to focus on trade, their relationships with North Korea, and war history that has long divided Japan from the other two nations.
by Frances Martel30 Oct 2015, 10:33 AM PST0

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the Kurd-friendly opposition People’s Democratic Party (HDP) of using the “top minds” of both Barack Obama presidential campaigns to spread “lies” intended to win them parliamentary seats in Sunday’s election.
by Frances Martel30 Oct 2015, 7:10 AM PST0

In a report released Thursday, the African Union has accused soldiers in South Sudan’s civil war of a harrowing list of atrocities against civilians, including rape, mutilation, burning alive, and forced cannibalism.
by Frances Martel29 Oct 2015, 11:32 AM PST0

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told the Syrian Kurdish PYD forces, who have worked with the United States in the past, “Pull yourself together” and keep east of the Euphrates River–or face military attack by Turkish forces.
by Frances Martel29 Oct 2015, 10:06 AM PST0