Argentine President Receives another Threat from Islamic State

BUENOS AIRES – Argentine police and prosecutors are investigating a threatening email sent to Argentine President Cristina Fernandez allegedly from jihadist group Islamic State, Clarin reported Sunday.

The message, received on April 26, also mentions Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and Argentine Police Chief Roman Di Santo, according to official sources cited by the daily.

“Satan KFK (Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner), Roman Di Santo, and now Bachelet in place of Alberto Nisman, are our targets in countries that clash with our aims. Di Santo has been in danger on two occasions, though he has yet to pay the highest price,” says the main paragraph of the email.

During an official visit to the Vatican in September last year, Fernandez revealed she had received threatening messages from the Islamic State, allegedly because of her friendship with Pope Francis and Argentina’s recognition of both Israel and Palestine.

Subsequent local media reports said intelligence agencies were investigating a Tunisian businessman for his contacts with the Islamic State.

However, Fernandez denied the veracity of these reports and asked media to refrain from playing up the issue of threats against her.

IS bombs second Saudi Shiite mosque, killing 3

An Islamic State jihadist killed three people Friday when he blew himself up in a car outside a Shiite mosque in Saudi Arabia, the second such attack in a week.
The bombing, again coinciding with weekly Friday prayers, took place in the oil-rich Eastern Province where most of the predominantly Sunni kingdom’s Shiites live.

It killed three people and wounded four, the interior ministry said.
The suicide bomber -- disguised in women’s clothing -- detonated his device at the entrance to the mosque, said the official Saudi Press Agency, citing a ministry spokesman.
'Authorities have managed to foil a terrorist crime targeting people performing the Friday prayers at Al-Anoud mosque in Dammam,' the provincial capital, he said.
The bomber 'detonated the explosive belt he was wearing at the mosque entrance as security officials were on their way to inspect him', he said, citing preliminary results of the investigation.
The explosion happened just as the attacker’s vehicle stopped at a car park near the mosque, the spokesman said.
Friday’s blast came exactly seven days after the jihadist group sent a suicide bomber into another Shiite mosque in Eastern Province, an attack which cost 21 lives.
After the May 22 attack, residents had set up security committees to search those entering mosques during prayers, witnesses said.

UN Nuke agency report: Iran probe essentially stalled

Amid nuclear negociations between the six world powers and the Iranian regime, the U.N. atomic agency on Friday reported that work on a key element — an assessment of allegations that Tehran worked on atomic arms — remains essentially stalled, The Associated Press reported from Vienna.

The report from the International Atomic Energy Agency also reiterated that more cooperation is needed by Tehran for full clarity on its present activities.
Without it, the IAEA said it cannot "conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities."

Diplomats in Vienna view Iran's reluctance to open up to investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency as a sign of its reluctance to cooperate fully until punitive sanctions imposed on it are lifted as part of any settlement with the powers, Reuters reported.

The IAEA is focused on 12 activities that point to clerical regime’s attempts to make nuclear weapons, including activities related to work on the development on a nuclear payload for missiles.

The IAEA relaunched its probe two years ago by asking for information on less sensitive work related to nuclear arms that may have been carried out by Tehran, with hopes of moving to larger issues later.

Since August, "Iran has yet to propose any new practical measures" to bring the investigation forward, said the report.

The IAEA report, issued to the agency's 35-nation board and the U.N. Security Council, said it remains "concerned about the possible existence in Iran of undisclosed nuclear-related activities involving military-related organizations, including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for missiles."

"Iran is required to cooperate fully with the Agency on all outstanding issues."

The Vienna-based IAEA also said it remained vital that Iran respond to the agency's questions on and access to the Parchin military base, where Western officials suspect Tehran conducted explosives tests relevant to nuclear bombs.

"The (IAEA) remains ready to accelerate the resolution of all outstanding issues under the Framework for Cooperation. This can be realised by increased cooperation by Iran and by the timely provision of access to all relevant information, documentation, sites, material and personnel in Iran as requested by the agency," the report said.

A tentative agreement was reached between the Iranian regime, the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China on April 2.

But pivotal issues remain unresolved, including the pace of easing Western sanctions and the extent of monitoring and verification measures to ensure Tehran honours any agreement.

The Iranian regime has ruled out any nuclear inspector access to its military bases, a position rejected by the Western powers.

#Iran #IranTalks #Irandeal #Nuclear

IS Executes 20 Men in Palmyra’s Roman Amphitheater

BEIRUT – Islamic State on Wednesday executed 20 accused supporters of the Bashar Assad government in the Roman amphitheater of Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The men were shot in front of a crowd of residents, the observatory said, citing sources in the area.

Wednesday’s killings brought to 237 the number of people executed by IS since May 16 in the course of an offensive in the eastern part of the central Syrian province of Homs, according to data from the observatory, which is based in Britain.

That figure includes 67 civilians – 14 of them children – who were accused of collaborating with the regime and hiding pro-government fighters in their homes.

Syrian authorities said IS has beheaded at least 400 people, mostly women, children and the elderly, in Palmyra since seizing control of the city on May 20.

Palmyra, an oasis in the Syrian desert, was a leading cultural center in the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. and later became an important stop for Silk Road caravans.

Prior to the start of Syria’s civil war, in March 2011, the Palmyra ruins were one of the country’s foremost tourist attractions. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has designated the ruins as a World Heritage Site.

Soldiers Kill 5 Gunmen in Shootout in Northeastern Mexico

MEXICO CITY – Five suspected gunmen died in a shootout with soldiers in Rio Bravo, a city in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, officials told Efe.

The shootout occurred on Tuesday at the Rio Bravo-Nuevo Progreso crossroads and involved army troops on a routine patrol, a Tamaulipas Attorney General’s office agent said.

The gunmen fired at the soldiers, who returned fire, killing all five of the subjects.

Several firearms, tactical gear and an SUV that had been reported stolen were seized.

Tamaulipas has been a battleground between the Gulf and Los Zetas drug cartels for years, and the state is regularly among those with the highest number of homicides.

President Enrique Peña Nieto sent additional Federal Police and military personnel to Tamaulipas in May 2014 and ordered a thorough vetting of the state and municipal police forces to root out corrupt officers.

Iran: 4000 truck drivers go on strike

About 4000 truck drivers in Bandar Abbas protested on May 27, 2015 against the rise diesel fuel prices.
The drivers at Babagholam Terminal in Bandar Abbas disconnect the speakers in the terminal and broke the glasses of the cargo building to voice their protest.
This strike began on the evening of Tuesday May 26, 2015 and continued untill Wednesday afternoon, May 27, 2015.

Iran news in brief, 26 May 2015