Live! US security chief warns of 'new phase' in terror threat

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Sun, 10 May 2015

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21:20 US security chief warns of 'new phase' in terror threat

The global terrorist threat has entered a "new phase", where media-savvy Islamist extremists are successfully drawing lone wolf attackers to their cause, the US secretary of Homeland Security warned Sunday.

In an interview with ABC News, Jeh Johnson said the Islamic State group's influence was spreading far beyond the battlegrounds of the Middle East.

"We're very definitely in a new environment, because of ISIL's (IS's) effective use of social media, the Internet, which has the ability to reach into the homeland and possibly inspire others," Johnson said.

"We're very definitely in a new phase in the global terrorist threat, where the so-called lone wolf could strike at any moment." FBI Director James Comey last week said authorities were concerned about the IS group encouraging attacks on "the uniformed military and law enforcement" via online propaganda.

Read full story HERE.

Dozens of prisoners -- including some facing terrorism charges -- were able to break out after deadly clashes with prison guards in the town of Al-Khalis, north of Baghdad, on Friday, Iraq's Ministry of Interior spokesman told CNN.

Two versions emerged regarding how the breakout happened. According to Brig. Gen. Saad Maan, the prison break began when prisoners were able to seize a weapon from a guard and clashed with other guards.

ISIS, however, said it was responsible for the prison break, saying its fighters on the outside coordinated with its members who were inside the facility.

Read full story HERE.

20:14 Will not contest elections again: Kiran Bedi

Former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, who was BJP's chief ministerial candidate for Delhi Assembly polls held earlier this year, today said that she will not contest elections again.

"I am not inclined towards active politics but I am certainly inclined for active public service which I am back into. I am not an active politician because politics is not my language. I will not contest elections again," Bedi told PTI when questioned about her life after Delhi polls.

She was here to participate in the ongoing 'Women Economic Forum'.

"My life is much more richer, much experienced and much knowledgeable and much more insightful. Now I have insight into certain things which I never had," she added.

Bedi termed experience of Delhi elections as "finest experience of her life."

19:55 45 AAP volunteers resign

Claiming to be dissatisfied with functioning of the Aam Aadmi Party, 45 "active" AAP volunteers today resigned from the party's Panchkula unit in Haryana.

The decision to move out of AAP has been taken after a

string of incidents that have shaken their faith in the functioning of the party, they said.

"The volunteers expressed discontent over the various developments in the party lately," they said.

These volunteers include Anand Parkash, the activist who stood for justice for Ruchika Girhotra in the molestation case by the erstwhile DGP SPS Rathore. Parkash is also one of the "founding" members of the Panchkula unit.

A detailed resignation letter jointly issued by them listing many reasons has been forwarded to Delhi chief minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal.

The export of buffalo meat from India to Russia has commenced while the shipment of milk products is expected to begin soon.

The issue was discussed during the bilateral meeting between President Pranab Mukherjee and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said yesterday.

"Bovine meat export to Russia has commenced while export of milk products from India will begin soon," he said at a press conference here.

The decision to export buffalo meat to Russia bears significance as cow slaughter is banned in Maharashtra but there is no restriction on export of buffalo meat.

Only 3.3 per cent rape accused in Pakistan have been convicted in the last 20 months, reflecting ill-defined and vague colonial era laws and taboos associated

with reporting such cases.

Between June 2013 and February 2015, about 4,960 cases of rape were registered all over the country, and only 219 people of a total of 6,632 booked in these cases have been convicted, according to official figures.

Punjab, which is the most populated province (90 million), has topped the list with 4,322 rape cases.

Due to taboos associated with the reporting of rape cases, a large number of them are never brought to the notice of the police.

"The actual number of rape cases is much higher as most victims do not report the crime to the police believing that their lives will become more miserable if they do so," says advocate Atif Sultan who is associated with an NGO Sahil.

He said the country's criminal justice system discourages rape victims and benefits perpetrators only.

18:20 ISIS comes out with bizarre recruitment video

A new goofy Islamic State recruitment video has emerged that shows terrorists performing bizarre training drills like jumping through flaming hoops in a bid to lure impressionable minds.

In the terror group's latest propaganda video, posted on YouTube, the Islamist fighters are depicted doing training drills some of which are edited to make them look extra quick and slick.

Dressed head to toe in black, the jihadists lift each other up, do somersaults and jump through windows with AK-47 assault rifles in the 10-minute video, one of at least five low-budget training clips put out by the group in the past year.

The video was reportedly shot outside Homs, Syria, the New York Post reported.

Jihadists bearing Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles are also shown trying their hand at military manoeuvres.

Certain sections of the film, such as when a group of men seem to imitate a Hollywood action film by storming a house, have been sped up to look more impressive.

17:23 Sixth police officer dies in Macedonia clashes

A policeman injured in clashes with unidentified gunmen in northern Macedonia died of his wounds today, a hospital source said, raising the number of officers killed in the violence to six.

"(A) policeman has died while another one is in critical condition," a source at a Skopje hospital told AFP on condition of anonymity as Macedonia began two days of official mourning for victims of the violence.

The government said earlier that five policemen had been killed and some 30 injured in clashes with unidentified gunmen in Kumanovo that erupted yesterday at dawn.

"There are victims among the terrorists but for the time being we cannot give the exact number," Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska told reporters late yesterday.

A Thai soldier has been charged with murder after shooting dead two of his colleagues at an army barracks in the insurgency-battered south, police said today.

More than 6,300 people, the majority of them civilians, have died in over a decade of conflict pitting troops and police against rebels seeking greater autonomy for the Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia.

A 57-year-old soldier from the southern province of Phatthalung opened fire late on Friday at a barracks in the Yaring district of Pattani province, killing two other soldiers, local police chief Montri Kongwatmai told AFP.

"The soldier killed two other soldiers and then surrendered himself," he said. "Our investigation shows he had a personal conflict with them."

The soldier has been charged with murder and will face trial in a military court, Montri added.

Last November the nation's army chief warned that under pressure troops in the south need better support after a conscript shot dead four officers before turning the gun on himself.

A Thai soldier has been charged with murder after shooting dead two of his colleagues at an army barracks in the insurgency-battered south, police said on Sunday.

Read full story HERE.

A transformer failure at the Indian Point nuclear power plant caused an explosion and fire at the facility Saturday evening, sending billows of black smoke into the air near Buchanan, New York.

The fire broke out on the non-nuclear side of the plant, about 200 yards away from the reactor building, according to Entergy spokesman Jerry Nappi.

"The fire is out and the plant is safe and stable," Nappi said. Federal officials said one reactor unit automatically shut down.

No one was injured in the blaze.

There was "no threat to public safety at any time," the facility said in a tweet. "All Indian Point emergency systems worked as designed."

Read full story HERE.

Britain's Labour Party must return to the political centre ground if it is to rebuild support after suffering a crushing defeat in Thursday's general election, former Labour prime minister Tony Blair said in an article published on Sunday.

The Conservatives won a surprise overall majority, gaining almost 100 more parliamentary seats than Labour, and are forming a single-party government.

Labour leader Ed Miliband, widely seen as having steered the party leftwards after a more centrist period under Blair's "New Labour", resigned on Friday, blaming himself for the defeat.

Read full story HERE.

A 94-year-old US man will finally graduate from college this month after working on his degree on and off for more than 75 years.

Anthony Brutto of Morgantown enrolled at West Virginia University in 1939 and started studying engineering, physical education and industrial arts before being drafted into World War II.

He first majored in engineering, which he figured matched well with his passion for design and creating.

It proved difficult, though, and he felt as if he did not have adequate guidance, the university said.

"So, I switched to physical education and industrial arts," said Brutto.

In 1942, as he was nearing graduation, Brutto was drafted and had to leave school, serving in the Army Air Corps until the end of World War II three and a half years later.

For the majority of that time, he was stationed in Venice, Florida, where he worked on aircraft, using what he had learned in his WVU metalworking classes.

14:19 Yemen: 130 airstrikes in 24 hours

A Saudi-led coalition rained down missiles in Yemen from Friday into Saturday, an intense attack that a U.N. official called a breach of international humanitarian law.

The Saudis admitted that the latest attack against Houthi rebels in Yemen -- 130 airstrikes in a 24-hour period -- included the targeting of schools and hospitals.

The hospitals and schools that were hit functioned as weapons storage sites, coalition spokesman Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri said in a statement.

The operations were "targeting headquarters of the Houthi leaders," Asiri said.

Civilians had been warned ahead of time to leave the cities of Sadaa, Maran, Albiqaa and the border area between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, Asiri said.

Read full story HERE.

Cuban President Raul Castro will meet Pope Francis at the Vatican on Sunday to thank the pontiff for his role in brokering the rapprochement between Havana and Washington.

The first South American pope played a key role in secret negotiations between the United States and Cuba that led to the surprise announcement in December that they would seek to restore diplomatic ties after more than 50 years of tensions.

The Holy See has said the Argentine pope personally mediated between the two sides, and the Vatican hosted delegations from the two countries in October.

The Vatican said Sunday's meeting would be "strictly private" while a US theologian said Francis would reprise the words of Polish pope John Paul II, who made a historic first papal visit to Cuba in 1998.

Three fresh tremors today jolted Nepal, triggering panic among the people already battered by the devastating earthquake and over 150 aftershocks as the death toll crossed 8,000.

Massive landslide and avalanche also forced suspension of rescue works in the popular trekking area of Langtang, where Nepal Army's rescue team has taken out 90 dead bodies, including nine foreigners, so far.

According to some media reports, as many as 120 bodies have been pulled out and rescuers who were searching for bodies have moved to safe places.

Lieutenant Colonel Anup Jung Thapa said the rescue works was disrupted due to huge piles of frequent avalanche in and around the area.

Meanwhile, three tremors jolted the Himalayan nation today, bringing the total number of aftershocks with 4 or more magnitude on the Richter Scale to over 156.

A 4.2-magnitude tremor was recorded at 1.50 AM with its epicentre at Sindhupalchowk district, 100 km east of Kathmandu, one of the worst-affected districts.

Another 4-magnitude tremor was recorded at 2.44 AM with epicentre at Udaypur district.

The third tremor was of 4.4-magnitude which struck at 6.34 AM with epicentre at Sindhupalchowk/Tibet, according to the National Seismological Centre, Kathmandu.

No damage due to the tremors was reported so far. However, they sent a fresh wave of fear and panic among the people who have been forced to stay in open spaces for the past two weeks.

A Budgam resident, who managed to get hall ticket for his Brown Cow to write a professional entrance examination, today did not turn up with the bovine for the paper at the allocated centre here, saying he only wanted to convey a message about the "flaw" in the system.

"I only wanted to convey a message to the authorities about the flaw in the system. I never wanted to make a mockery of the system," Abdul Rashid Bhat, the owner of the now-famous cow, told PTI.

Mediapersons had gathered outside the Government Degree College at Bemina here where the paper was scheduled to take place at 10.00 AM, but returned disappointed when Bhat and his cow did not turn up for the examination.

In an attempt to expose the loopholes in Jammu and Kashmir Board of Professional Entrance Examination's (BOPEE) online registration system, Bhat had managed to acquire an admit card for his cow to write the paper for admission to Diploma in polytechnical college.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan today released a video of its militants holding a Shoulder Launch Missile, which the militant group claimed to have used in downing a Pakistan military helicopter killing ambassadors of the Philippines and Norway and five others in the PoK.

A video released by a jihadist media forum shows at least four masked militants with the surface-to-air missile (SAM-7 B) allegedly used in hitting the Mi-17 that crashed in Naltar valley of Gilgit-Baltisitan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

In a written message in Urdu just before the start of the video, the militant group claimed that the helicopter was turning due to which the missile hit the tail rotor of the helicopter so it did not get destroyed fully in the air.

The message claimed that the missile was fired from a distance of 3 kilometers to down the helicopter on Friday.

The Russian SAM-7 Model or SAM-7 B can hit a target up to a distance of 3 kilometres.

Police say that have found several people dead after shots were heard in a town in northern Switzerland.

Police in canton of Aargau canton said residents heard shots in the town of Wuerenlingen late Saturday night. They alerted police, who found several dead people lying outside and in a house.

All the dead were adults.

Police said Sunday that they are working to identify them and that the circumstances of and possible motive for the shooting remain unclear.

Read full story HERE.

12:52 Symbolic burning of 'Mangalsutra' in Kerala

Protesting against moral policing and religious strictures against expression of love, a cultural group burnt a symbolic 'Thali' (mangalsutra) at nearby Fort Kochi.

The protest by activists of 'Njattuvela' cultural workers forum, took place at Fort Kochi yesterday, amidst heavy police presence.

About 100 activists, including women, took out a procession from Fort Kochi bus stand and gathered at the Vascoda Gama square where a huge 'mangalsutra' made of paper and firecrackers stuffed in it, was burnt.

Swapnesh Nanu, secretary of the forum said the event was held to 'free love from the shackles of institutionalisation'.

"Love is not something which can be confined in the institution of heterosexual marriage, made holy and perfect by the 'thali', an activist said. It can also happen between same genders and even outside marriage.

This protest comes close on the heels of the 'Kiss of Love', a kissing agitation launched by some activists against moral policing in November last year in various parts of Kerala which later spread to other states.

Two police officers were shot in the line of duty in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, late Saturday, according to state public safety spokesman Warren Strain.

Citing Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict, CNN affiliate WDAM reported that the two died from their wounds. They had been taken to a local hospital.

Police are seeking two suspects who are at large, WDAM reported.

A police vehicle was used in fleeing. It was later found abandoned, WDAM reported.

Police in Oxford, Mississippi, sent out condolences in a tweet.

"Both Hattiesburg Police Officers have died. Terrible. Prayers to the entire community and families," it read.

"Thanks Shashi ji for being just who you are. A compassionate person, wonderful colleague and a generous friend," said actor Amitabh Bachchan at Prithvi Theatre, where veteran actor Shashi Kapoor was given the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award.

Union I&B minister Arun Jaitley said, "You represent the great legacy, it is the third award being conferred in your family. The way your family produces talent, Im sure its not the last one."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the modernised IISCO Steel Plant at Burnpur in West Bengal.

The plant, worth Rs.18,000 crore, is part of the PM's vision of increasing domestic steel output.

IISCO modernised at a cost of Rs 16,000 crore to raise production capacity from 0.85 mtpa to 2.9 mtpa.

Union I&B Minister Arun Jaitley confers Dadasaheb Phalke Award on Veteran Actor Shashi Kapoor.

Shashi Kapoor is the third member of his family to have received the prestigious award.

The entire Kapoor family is present in attendance the ceremony besides several celebrities from the film industry.

Born in 1938, Kapoor hit the spotlight from the age of four acting in plays directed and produced by his father, while travelling with Prithvi Theatre.

11:33 Body of Indian techie found in US river

US authorities have recovered a body believed to be that of an Indian IT professional who went missing last week after a suspected drunken driver knocked him into a river when he tried to help the victims of a car crash.

Divers with Texas EquuSearch yesterday recovered a body, thought to be Puneet Nehra, from a stretch of the Brazos River in Brazoria County, Fort Bend County sheriff's officials said.

Nehra, 43, of Sugar Land, went missing on May 3 while he was assisting a motorist involved in a minor wreck at a bridge crossing the Brazos River at the Grand Parkway, ABC news reported.

A passing driver struck the stranded car while Nehra and another person were trying to push it to safety, authorities said. The force of the impact apparently threw Nehra off the bridge and into the fast-moving river, about 50 feet below.

The driver suspected of striking the stranded car, Gregory Lee Kure, 30, of Needville, was arrested and has been charged with intoxication assault, authorities said.

Sheriff's officials said Kure struck the stranded car only a few minutes before any first responders arrived at the accident scene. He was later released after posting a USD 25,000 bond but may face additional charges, officials said.

The Sheriff's Office, along with local fire departments, have been actively searching the river by boat and helicopter for the last one week.

11:32 Jaitley arrives at Prithvi Theatre

I&B Minister Arun Jaitley arrives at Prithvi Theatre,will confer Dadasaheb Phalke Award on Veteran Actor Shashi Kapoor.

11:27 Modi turns emotional as he visits Belurmath

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today made an emotional visit to the Ramakrishna Math and Mission headquarters at Belurmath which had turned down his request to join the monastic order thrice in the past.

The Prime Minister sat near the slippers of Swami Vivekananda to meditate in the 19th century philosopher-saint's room at the math for around 15 minutes.

He looked visibly emotional after reaching the room where Vivekananda's relics are kept.

Modi also stood amongst monks of the monastic order and got himself photographed with them amidst chanting of Vedic 'shanti mantras'.

Before leaving the math where he was there for about an hour, he offered prayers at the temple of Brahmananda, Ma Sarada and Swami Vivekananda.

He was gifted 'dhoti' and shawl by the authorities who also gave him 'prasad' made of Payesh (Bengali sweet dish) and fruits.

The monks gave the Prime Minister memorabilia related to Belurmath and books like Bible, Gospels of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda.

He thanked the authorities for inviting him to visit the math premises.

As a young boy, Modi was deeply influenced by the ideals of Swami Vivekananda and had decided to join the order as a monk. It was during this time that he had first visited Belurmath.

Actor-filmaker Shashi Kapoor is to be presented the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award today by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley.

The veteron actor was unable to attend the award ceremony in Delhi because of his ill-health, therefore he will be handed over the award at a function at Prithvi Theatre in suburban Mumbai.

The entire Kapoor family is present in attendance the ceremony besides several celebrities from the film industry.

Born in 1938, Kapoor hit the spotlight from the age of four acting in plays directed and produced by his father, while travelling with Prithvi Theatre.

He started acting in films as a child in the late 1940s. His best known performances as child artist were in "Aag" (1948) and "Awaara" (1951), where he played the younger version of the character played by Raj Kapoor.

Shashi Kapoor also worked as assistant director in the 1950s.

One of the four injured in the Pingla firecracker unit blast, which claimed 12 lives, testified before a judicial magistrate today even as the officer-in-charge of the police station was put under suspension for alleged inaction.

The injured, Sk Mustaq, was taken to the court of Third Judicial Magistrate Md Moidul from Medinipur Medical College and Hospital and testified before the judge. He was then taken back to hospital and then discharged as his condition was stated to be medically fit by attending doctors, a top district police officer said.

The other three injured were still under treatment, the officer said. Meanwhile, officer-in-charge of the police station Pankaj Mistri has been suspended for alleged delay in action after news of the fire broke out and not allegedly acting upon the complaints by villagers about the illegal fireworks unit in

00:21 Top headlines of the last 24 hours

Maoists abduct villagers, free all but one who is beaten to death
Netaji's kin meet Modi, hopeful about declassification
Media 'over-projecting' attacks on churches: RSS
China's military budget over 3 times that of India: Pentagon
Sit quietly and watch how NDA govt performs: Naidu tells Congress

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