Judge Fuller must resign ( Beat his wife )

Judge Fuller must resign

Federal Judge Mark Fuller was arrested for domestic violence last month after his wife called 911 during the attack.
But rather than face trial, Fuller agreed to an intervention program. He will spend no time behind bars--he's set to return to the bench--and his record will be expunged.
Fuller has completely lost the public trust. Men who beat their wives should have no place in deciding justice for others. And right now, there's a ton of attention on domestic violence. It has even forced Alabama's senators to call on Fuller to step down. If we all call for his resignation now, the public outcry will force him out of the judgeship.Will you add your name?

Tell Judge Fuller:

Domestic abusers should have no place in making justice decisions. Resign immediately.

IS calls on “Lone Wolves” in U.S. to Attack New York and Las Vegas

IS calls on “Lone Wolves” in U.S. to Attack New York and Las Vegas

WASHINGTON – Authorities in New York City and Las Vegas have beefed up security at major tourist sites after the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group issued online threats to “lone wolves” in the United States to attack these cities with improvised weapons.

“This is the first time the IS has used this medium to inspire a “lone wolf” type attack,” New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton told reporters on Wednesday.

“We are quite concerned, as you would expect, with the capabilities of IS much more than Al Qaeda ever was able to project their ability to use social media to try and spread their recruitment efforts and try to inspire,” he said.

Bratton noted that New York City is only a plane trip away for IS militants in Syria and Iraq with Western passports.

One of the messages that alarmed authorities was an Internet post entitled: “To the Lone Wolves in the United States: How to Make a Bomb from the Kitchen of Your Mom, to Create Scenes of Horror in Tourist Spots and Other Targets.”

“We take this all very, very seriously. It is part of a continuum, whether we like it or not in this city, it is part of a continuum we’ve been living with. There is no specific credible threat and that is an important fact,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said in an interview with the publication Politico.

The Democratic politician argued that for the city’s security it is necessary that the United States keeps President Barack Obama’s promise of not sending combat troops to Iraq and Syria to fight against the IS.

“It would be absolutely counterproductive for New York City to have American troops involved in this conflict,” he said.

Faced with the IS threat, which explicitly mentioned a potential attack on the iconic Times Square in New York City, the municipal police tightened security on Wednesday, but said they had no evidence of an imminent attack.
Las Vegas is the other target city that appeared in the jihadists’ Internet forums, where they actively attempt to recruit new members which has led local police to increase surveillance in the gambling mecca.

The recruitment of western citizens to fight alongside the IS is of great concern to the U.S. and European governments as those with Western passports could easily return to their homelands to carry out attacks.

Earlier this week, federal officials arrested a U.S. citizen of Yemeni origin on charges of recruiting for the IS and planning attacks on U.S. military personnel and Shiite Muslims in New York state.

Death toll in Ebola epidemic reaches 2,622

LONDON: At least 2,622 people have died in the worst outbreak of Ebola virus in history, which has so far infected at least 5,335 people in West Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
In an update on the epidemic, which is raging through Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and has spread into Nigeria and Senegal, the WHO said there were no signs yet of it slowing.
“The upward epidemic trend continues in the three countries that have widespread and intense transmission — Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone,” the United Nations health agency said.
It added that a surge in Ebola in Liberia is being driven primarily by a continued increase in the number of cases reported in the capital, Monrovia.
Meanwhile, Liberia’s president has welcomed promised US military aid to fight Ebola, saying she hopes it spurs the international community into further action.
President Barrack Obama announced Tuesday he will order 3,000 US military personnel to West Africa to help contain the disease. The US is also planning 17 treatment centers of 100 beds each in Liberia.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf called that commitment significant and said she hopes it will only be the beginning.
“We hope this decision by the United States will spur the rest of the international community into action,” she said in a statement read by a spokesman.
She said the world community has a stake in ending the outbreak that’s affected five nations.

Australia foils IS plot ‘in largest ever anti-terror raids’

SYDNEY: Australia’s largest ever counterterrorism raids on Thursday detained 15 people and foiled an alleged plot by Islamic State (IS) militants to conduct “demonstration killings,” including beheading a random member of the public.
A major pre-dawn operation was carried out across Sydney and Brisbane by more than 800 officers acting on some 25 search warrants. One person has so far been charged with serious terrorism-related offenses.
At least one gun was seized, along with a sword.
Omarjan Azari, 22, appeared in a Sydney court and was remanded in custody, charged with planning a terrorist act which prosecutors alleged was designed to “shock, horrify and terrify” the community.
The court heard he was instructed in a recent phone call by the most senior Australian member of IS, Afghan-born Mohammad Baryalei, to commit the atrocity.
Prosecutor Michael Allnutt alleged the plan involved the “random selection of persons to rather gruesomely execute” on camera and involved “an unusual level of fanaticism.”
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the video was then to be sent back to IS’s media unit in the Middle East, where it would be released to the public.
The militants have in recent weeks broadcast video footage of three foreign nationals being beheaded in Syria.
The raids, which spanned multiple suburbs, came barely a week after Australia boosted the terror threat level to “high” for the first time in a decade on growing concern about militants returning from fighting in Iraq and Syria.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he had been briefed on intelligence that public beheadings had been ordered by IS militants.
“That’s the intelligence we received,” he said, prompting comparisons to the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby, who was hacked to death in a random attack on a street in England last year by two Muslim converts.
“The exhortations, quite direct exhortations, were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in ISIL to networks of support back in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country,” added the prime minister.
“So this is not just suspicion, this is intent and that’s why the police and security agencies decided to act in the way they have.”
The Australian government believes up to 60 Australians are fighting alongside members for IS, while another 100 were actively working to support the movement at home.
“These people, I regret to say, do not hate us for what we do, they hate us for who we are and how we live. That’s what makes us a target,” said Abbott.
“It’s important our police and security organizations be one step ahead of them and this morning they were.”
The latest raids followed the arrests of two people last week in Brisbane who were charged with allegedly recruiting, funding and sending fighters to Syria.

Child Farah Alswegh campaigns for Gaza kids

In this video, a child named “Farah Alswegh” calls on Nasser Qasabi and Abdullah Al-Sadhan to participate in Sayidaty Magazine’s solidarity campaign, sister publication of Arab News, for the children of Gaza. The campaign seeks to raise funds for children in war-torn Gaza Strip by encouraging members of the public to create a short videoclip of their youngsters gathering donations for the cause.

40 militants killed in northwest Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military said Wednesday it killed 40 insurgents and destroyed five of their hide-outs in fresh air attacks as part of a major offensive against the Taleban in the northwest.
Pakistan began the long-awaited push to clear the bases from North Waziristan district, on the Afghan border, in June after a bloody attack on Karachi airport finally sank faltering peace talks with the rebels.
A military statement said that “in precise aerial strikes” five hide-outs and ammunition dumps were destroyed and forty insurgents including foreigners were killed in the villages of Nawe Kili and Zaram Asar, north of Dattakhel in North Waziristan.

US strikes boost IS; more hostages possible: FBI

WASHINGTON: Support for Islamic State increased after US airstrikes began in Iraq and the militant group may take more hostages to try to force concessions from Washington, the FBI director told Congress on Wednesday.
Islamic State is “committed to instilling fear and attracting recruits” and to drawing public attention, as shown through its use of social media and in videos it released of the beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, said FBI Director James Comey.
“ISIL’s widespread use of social media and growing online support intensified following the commencement of US airstrikes in Iraq,” Comey, using an acronym for the group, said in prepared testimony for a congressional hearing on threats to the US homeland.
Islamic State and other outfits “may continue to try to capture American hostages in an attempt to force the US government and people into making concessions that would only strengthen ISIL and further its terrorist operations,” Comey said.
Islamic State draws an estimated $1 million per day from black market oil sales, smuggling, robberies, and ransom payments for hostages, according to Matt Olsen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
The US and UK, unlike some European nations, do not pay ransom for the release of hostages.
The group’s ability to attack the US homeland relies in part on its widespread and sophisticated use of social media to radicalize Americans, the national security officials told the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee.
The group used these tools as it drew recruits from more than 15,000 foreign fighters in Syria, who may return to their countries “battle-hardened, radicalized and determined to attack us,” Olsen, the top US counterterrorism official, said in prepared testimony.
Syria remains a prime training ground for independent or Al-Qaeda-aligned groups. “The rate of travelers into Syria exceeds the rate of travelers who went into Afghanistan/Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or Somalia at any point in the last 10 years,” he said.
The security officials testified as the US military prepared to expand American-led action against Islamic State to Syria, striking the militant group’s safe havens in that country to knock out infrastructure, logistics and command capabilities.