New York bombings suspect portrayed as jihadist who praised Laden

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged the Afghan-born man suspected of weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey with 10 counts including use of weapons of mass destruction, portraying him as a jihadist who begged for martyrdom and praised Osama bin Laden.

The suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, bought bomb components on eBay, made a video of himself testing out homemade explosives, and kept a journal expressing outrage at the US ‘slaughter’ of mujahideen in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Palestine, federal officials allege.

“Inshallah (God willing), the sounds of bombs will be heard in the streets. Gun shots to your police. Death to your oppression,” Rahami, who came to the United States at age 7, wrote in a journal he was carrying when arrested.


Source:-indianexpress
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US investigators seek motive for New York, New Jersey attacks

Investigators were searching on Tuesday for clues to the motive behind the bombings and attempted bombings in New York and New Jersey over the weekend and to determine whether the Afghanistan-born suspect had accomplices or was radicalized overseas. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was arrested on Monday in Linden, New Jersey following a dramatic gun battle with police after they were summoned by a neighborhood bar owner who thought the bearded man sleeping against his closed tavern’s front door in the pouring rain resembled the bombing suspect.


Rahami and two police officers were wounded in the exchange of gunfire. Authorities did not offer any immediate information on the possible motives of Rahami, who was charged by Union County prosecutors with five counts of attempted murder in the first degree and two second-degree weapons charges.



Source:-indianexpress
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A look at North Korea’s nuclear, missile developments in 2016

North Korea has conducted its fifth nuclear test on Friday, just eight months after it claimed it successfully detonated a small hydrogen bomb. Analysts say that the North’s newest test, which South Korea says produced its biggest-ever explosive yield, shows Pyongyang’s stubborn determination in face of sanctions to create smaller and lighter nuclear weapons that could be fit on future missiles capable of striking the US mainland.

Some of the notable developments in North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs in 2016:

Source:-indianexpress
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North Korea fires 3 ballistic missiles off east coast: Reports

North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Monday, said South Korea, as the leaders of the G20 major economies held a summit in China, the North’s main diplomatic ally. The missiles were fired from a western region south of the capital Pyongyang, just after noon local time (0300 GMT), South Korea’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The missile launches were the latest in a series of launches by the isolated North this year in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. The South’s military was trying to determine the type of missiles launched, a military official said. No other details were immediately available.

The missiles were launched from a region called Hwangju and came just hours after the leaders of South Korea and China met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 leaders’ meeting in Hangzhou, China. South Korean President Park Geun-hye told Chinese President Xi Jinping that the North’s fourth nuclear test and its ballistic missile launches this year threatened regional peace and posed a challenge to South Korea’s ties with China, Yonhap news agency reported earlier.
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During the meeting, Xi reaffirmed China’s commitment to realising the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday. Xi also told Park that Beijing opposed the proposed deployment of a THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea, which Seoul and the United States have said is designed to counter an increasing threat from North Korea.

Park said that a THAAD deployment would not threaten any other country’s security interests and would not be needed if the North’s nuclear issue was resolved, Yonhap news agency said.

In July, the North launched three missiles in a single day from the western region that flew across the country and into the sea off its east coast, flying about 500 km and 600 km (300-360 miles). In 2014, the North fired two Rodong medium-range missiles just as Park and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were sitting down with US President Barack Obama at the Hague to discuss responding to the North’s arms programme.


Source:-indianexpress
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Iran executes nuclear scientist who returned from US

Iran has executed a nuclear scientist convicted of handing over "confidential and vital" information to the United States, a judicial spokesman said on Sunday.

"Shahram Amiri was hanged for revealing the country's top secrets to the enemy," Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeie told reporters in Tehran.

Amiri disappeared in Saudi Arabia in June 2009 and resurfaced a year later in the United States.

Conflicting accounts said he had either been abducted or had defected at a time when international tensions over Iran's nuclear programme were at their peak.

In a surprise move, Amiri then returned to Tehran in July 2010, saying he had been kidnapped at gunpoint by two Farsi-speaking CIA agents in the Saudi city of Medina.

At first he was greeted as a hero, telling reporters as he stepped off the plane at Tehran airport that he had resisted pressure from his US captors to pretend he was a defector.

He denied he was a nuclear scientist and said US officials wanted him to tell the media he had "defected on his own and was carrying important documents and a laptop which contained classified secrets of Iran's military nuclear programme."

"But with God's will, I resisted," Amiri said as he was welcomed home by his tearful wife and young son.

However, it was soon clear that Iranian authorities had not accepted this version of events and Amiri dropped out of public view. He was probably arrested although it was never officially reported.

Iran's judicial spokesman said Sunday that the Iranian intelligence services had "outsmarted" the US.

"American intelligence services thought Iran has no knowledge of his transfer to Saudi Arabia and what he was doing but we knew all of it and were monitoring," Ejeie told reporters.

"This person, having access to confidential and highly confidential information of the regime, had established a connection to our number one enemy, America, and had provided the enemy with Iran's confidential and vital information," he added.

Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic ties since 1980, when students stormed the US embassy following the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"Shahram Amiri was tried in accordance with law and in the presence of his lawyer. He appealed his death sentence based on judicial process. The Supreme Court... confirmed it after meticulous reviews," he added.

Iran last year signed a landmark deal with world powers, including the US, to place curbs on its controversial nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Numerous media reports in recent years have supported the idea that Amiri was a defector with highly prized information on its nuclear programme.

"Shahram Amiri described to American intelligence officers details of how a university in Tehran became the covert headquarters for the country's nuclear efforts," the New York Times reported in July 2010, citing unnamed US officials.

"While still in Iran, he was also one of the sources for a much-disputed National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's suspected weapons programme, published in 2007," the report said.

Source;-telegraph
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Rouen fire: at least 13 dead in birthday disaster at bar in French city

A fire thought to have been caused by the candles on a birthday cake killed 13 people at a bar in the French city of Rouen and left at least six others injured, one critically.

Reports said the fire broke out in the basement of the Cuba Libre where the private party was being held on Friday night. At least six people were rescued and received treatment for injuries. The victims were described as being aged between 18 and 25.

Authorities were describing the fire as an accident, possibly started by candles on the birthday cake setting fire to flammable material in the ceiling. According to French media, one of the party-goers was said to have stumbled while carrying a cake with lit candles down the stairs to the lower floor. Flames spread quickly to polystyrene ceiling tiles which gave off a cloud of noxious fumes that choked victims, who were unable to escape.

“There was no explosion, but candles used for a birthday party set light to the ceiling made of polystyrene, giving off a gas that poisoned the victims,” a police official told the AFP news agency.

More than 50 firefighters battled the blaze at the bar in the city centre, said the French cabinet minister Bernard Cazeneuve, praising their quick action after they arrived at 12.50am local time.

The secretary general of the prefecture of Seine-Maritime, Yvan Cordier, went to the bar and said emergency services had “intervened very quickly”.

Yvon Robert, the mayor of Rouen, also attended, describing the fire as “the greatest catastrophe”.

Lawrence Labadie, local deputy prosecutor, told Paris-Normandie that the fire appeared to be an accident and residents who thought there was a blast had probably heard glass exploding.

Cazeneuve, France’s minister of the interior, said a judicial inquiry was under way into the cause.

Authorities appeared to set aside the possibility of terrorism.

The deaths came as Rouen mourned the terrorist murder of Father Jacques Hamel who was killed while saying mass in his church at nearby Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray by two terrorists on 26 July. Thousands of mourners turned out for the priest’s funeral at Rouen Cathedral on Tuesday.

The country remains under a state of emergency following Hamel’s murder, the Bastille Day attack in Nice and the Paris attacks.
Source:-theguardian
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Obama boosts Hillary Clinton; Kaine mocks Trump

His own legacy on the line, President Barack obama implored Americans to elect Hillary Clinton to the White House, casting her as a candidate who believes in the nation’s future and warning against the pessimism of Republican Donald Trump.
“America is already great. America is already strong,” he declared to cheering delegates Wednesday night at the Democratic convention. “And I promise you, our strength, our greatness, does not depend on Donald Trump.”
For Democrats, the night was steeped in symbolism, the passing of the baton from a barrier-breaking president to a candidate trying to make history herself. Obama robustly vouched for Clinton’s readiness to be commander in chief, saying “no matter how daunting the odds, no matter how much people try to knock her down, she never, ever quits.”
Earlier Wednesday, Clinton’s running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, introduced himself to the nation as a formidable foil to Republican nominee Donald Trump. With folksy charm, he ridiculed Trump’s list of promises and imitated one of the GOP candidate’s favorite phrases.
“Believe me!” he said mockingly, as the audience boomed back,  “No!
Source:-indianexpress
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