Free Republic

The vast majority of the population of Pakistan – about 220 million of 240 million people – was left without electricity on Monday after a “widespread breakdown in the power system,” according to the Ministry of Energy. Pakistan is one of the world’s most densely populated countries and boasts a stable of six operable nuclear reactors in addition to a power grid largely supplied by coal and other fossil fuels. It experiences routine regional blackouts, particularly in more remote regions, but Monday’s total collapse presents a new level of severity in infrastructure malfunction. The blackout, which persisted in much of...

First, the data on what's happening in Iran. Start with the count:Days: 121 Protests: 282 citiesFatalities: 750+ estimated deaths, 627 identified by MEKDetentions: 30,000 Now here's the latest news:Iran’s nationwide uprising entered its fifth month following a day of major rallies and demonstrations against the mullahs’ regime in various cities of what's known as Sistan and Baluchistan province, especially the provincial capital of Zahedan. A large number of locals took to the streets on Friday in the Baluch cities of Zahedan, Rask, and Khash, chanting slogans specifically targeting regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), the paramilitary Basij...

While turning a blind eye to the starving Afghan population, on Jan. 4, a Taliban senior leader professed the group has an "obligation" to protect Chinese nationals looking to invest in the country’s mineral and oil wealth. The comment comes on the heels of a December attack that targeted Chinese investors who frequent Kabul’s Longan Hotel. The Islamic State – Khorasan Province, ISIS-K, claimed responsibility for the assault. On Jan. 5, the Taliban announced it had killed eight ISIS-K members, including those responsible for the hotel attack. The following day, China’s Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas signed a significant...

TO augment antiterrorism efforts on the battlefield, the religious argument is now being used — with apparent backing from the state — to take the wind out of the militants’ sails. In this regard, 16 scholars representing religious institutions in KP issued a fatwa on Monday declaring that only the head of an Islamic country had the right to call for jihad, while also urging the faithful to follow the leadership and the Constitution. While the fatwa’s signatories represent all major Muslim denominations, most of them seem to be from the Deobandi and Ahle Hadith schools, including some of the...

Counter-terrorism authorities are investigating after a bulk shipment of unregistered—and potentially lethal—nuclear material was ferried off of an airplane at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 4 on Dec. 29. The cargo, which originated in Pakistan and was smuggled into London from Oman aboard the hold of a passenger flight, was intended for Iranian nationals in the U.K., according to The Sun. “The race is on to trace everyone involved,” said an unidentified Heathrow source who spoke with the newspaper. “Security bosses are treating this with the seriousness it deserves. Protocol was not followed and this is now an anti-terror operation. There are...

(excerpt) "If someone does not accept the accusation, they torture him to accept it. Confessions under coercion and the beating of the accused have no place in sharia (Islamic law) and our country's Constitution," Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi said in a Friday prayers sermon, according to his website. Ismaeelzahi is based in Zahedan, capital of the impoverished Sistan-Baluchistan province, home to Iran's Baluch minority. Authorities have reportedly pressured him by banning him from traveling abroad and restricting his travels and contacts within Iran.

Part Eight of the Twitter Files came out this afternoon... "a trillion dollars more in deficit spending" US Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, speaking out about the massive spending bill... A Democrat-run US House committee voting to release President Trump's tax returns... Preparations underway in Washington for a previously undisclosed visit by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky... The United States calling for a political accord in Haiti ahead of a UN Security Council session... The Taliban in Afghanistan releasing two Americans as a "Goodwill Gesture"... The Russian military in Syria says last night's Israeli strikes in Syria... "I know they...

A loud blast and gunfire were heard in the Afghan capital Monday near a guest house popular with Chinese business visitors. AFP, Kabul Published: 12 December ,2022: 02:32 PM GST Updated: A loud blast and gunfire were heard in the Afghan capital Monday near a guest house popular with Chinese business visitors, a witness said. Although the Taliban claim to have improved national security since storming back to power in August last year, there have been scores of bomb blasts and attacks -- many claimed by the local chapter of the ISIS group. Advertisement For all the latest headlines follow...

The Da Bank of Afghanistan, the Taliban-controlled central bank of Afghanistan, tweeted images of the cash A large package containing around $40 million in cash for "humanitarian aid" was seen on an airport tarmac in Afghanistan, officials there said last week. The money was handed over to the Da Bank of Afghanistan, the Taliban-controlled central bank of Afghanistan, which is headquartered in Kabul. The bank tweeted several images of the cash. One shows packages of U.S. $100 notes bound in plastic... ...In September, the Biden administration announced the creation of a fund to assist the people of Afghanistan, apart from...

Reparations, or “loss and damage” funding, are seen as a fundamental question of climate justice. The hot-button issue made history on Sunday at the opening of the COP27 climate summit by being formally adopted onto the agenda for the first time. The decision to include loss and damage funding as an agenda item, which was proposed by Pakistan, was preceded by 48 hours of talks. Climate envoys gathered in Egypt’s Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh will now discuss a deal on a funding facility that would see wealthy nations provide loss and damage cash to vulnerable countries. Pakistan’s...

According To UN Report, Afghan Taliban Continues To Sponsor Al-Qaeda And Other Foreign Jihadi Organizations Such As Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), And East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM); French Justice Inbox MEMRI memri@memri.org via mta-bbcspool.convio.net 3:10 PM (13 minutes ago) to me Having trouble with this message? View it online. memri_CUBEd Arabic1.jpg The Middle East Media Research Institute Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter YouTube vimeo image.JPG vimeo image.JPG TikTok icon.png The MEMRI Daily: June 17, 2022 According To UN Report, Afghan Taliban Continues To Sponsor Al-Qaeda And Other Foreign Jihadi Organizations Such As Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan...

ISIS claims responsibility for attack on Pakistan envoy in Kabul : ISIS claimed responsibility Saturday for an attack on Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul, which Islamabad decried as an “assassination attempt.” A security guard was wounded in the attack Friday in the Afghan capital. Advertisement For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app. In a statement cited by terrorism monitor SITE, the ISIS’s regional chapter said it had “attacked the apostate Pakistani ambassador and his guards.” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called it “an assassination attempt” on the head of the mission, and demanded...

Two ISIS officials were killed in a US military operation in eastern Syria, US officials confirmed Sunday. The “successful helicopter raid” executed by US military forces followed “extensive planning” and resulted in no civilian deaths or injuries, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM) press release. Officials confirmed the identity of one of the two terrorists as Anas, an ISIS Syrian province official with involvement “in the group’s deadly plotting and facilitation operations in eastern Syria.” “The death of these ISIS officials will disrupt the terrorist organization’s ability to further plot and carry out destabilizing attacks in the Middle East,” said...

The Taliban have not reached beyond their own ranks to fill government positions and are reportedly staffing ministries with military and/or religious figures with little relevant experience, exacerbating the group’s administrative challenges and some internal tensions.The Taliban’s victory may provide a morale and perhaps material boost to Pakistan- based Islamist terrorist groups, including the so-called Pakistani Taliban (Tehreek-i Taliban-i Pakistan, or TTP, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization). TTP attacks against Pakistani security forces increased after August 2021, reportedly prompting the Pakistani government to seek the Afghan Taliban’s mediation of several ceasefires, which appear to have broken down in late 2022.26...

Researchers from several institutions, led by Ernst Pernicka, scientific director of the Curt-Engelhorn Center for Archaeometry (CEZA) at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums in Mannheim and director of the University of Tübingen’s Troy project, applied a portable laser ablation system (pLA) to analyse samples of Bronze Age jewellery found in Troy and Poliochni...Poliochne, often cited under its modern name Poliochni, was an ancient settlement on the east coast of the island of Lemnos. It was settled in the Late Chalcolithic and earliest Aegean Bronze Age, and is believed to be one of the most ancient towns in Europe, preceding the construction of...

The theory: a cargo ship with a "dirty bomb" was just outside of Charleston, South Carolina. The notion came to life during a live YouTube broadcast Wednesday evening. During the broadcast, conspiracy theorist George Webb initially claimed a "source" had told him that there was "a dirty bomb planned for a major city." Based on the information from the "source," Webb said he believed Memphis might be the target. The Coast Guard said in a further statement provided to CNN that the source of the threat had been detained by authorities for further questioning. The statement did not mention Webb's...

MOUNT PLEASANT, SC (WCSC) - Officials with the Coast Guard say federal and state authorities are continuing to investigate a potential threat which was reported at the Wando Terminal Wednesday night. Coast Guard officials say the FBI is investigating a report of a "dirty bomb" aboard a vessel.

Saudi Arabia has executed 12 people in 10 days despite the Crown Prince's promise to cut down on such form of punishment, according to a human rights organisation. Reprieve said the defendants, all males, were sentenced to death after being imprisoned for non-violent drug offences. According to the non-profit organisation, which gathered data on this week's executions, most of the defendants were beheaded with a sword. Three of the men executed were Pakistani, four Syrian, two Jordanian and three Saudi, Reprieve said. Another man from Jordan was reportedly transferred to a prison wing and is due to be executed on...

Islamists would have you believe their religion unites them. It is false, it only Unites the "Ummah," against the [dhimmi] infidels [kuffars], but not among tnemselves. Though ethnic bigotry existed and exist, Islamizatiom of ethnic frictions perpetuates ever more and "elevates" it as a "holy war," Jihad. Which is why the 2.7 Million Christians: Armenian (1.5), Greek & Assyrians (700,000) were slaughtered [though the Young Turks were Lefty pro secularism, Jihadism was still played.Andrew G. Bostom, The Legacy of Jihad, Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims, 2010, p.667)]. "On November 14, 1914, in Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman...