Five Gov't Officials Killed in Helicopter Crash in E Sudan

According to state news agency SUNA, a helicopter crashed in al-Qadarif, a state in eastern Sudan. Social media users claim that at least 11 were killed in the plane crash.

At least five local government officials were killed in a plane crash, including the state's governor and the Sudanese minister of agriculture, according to media reports.he cause of the crash is currently unknown. 

There's no official statement from authorities. According to social media users, at least 11 were killed in the helicopter crash. Earlier State TV reported that an airplane, not a helicopter, had crashed.

Such crashes have happened in Sudan in the last several years. In September, an aircraft en route from Juba, South Sudan's capital, to the city of Yirol crashed, killing some 17 people. Only 3 people managed to survive and were sent to a hospital.

U.S.-led aircraft hit IS hostage killer in Syria-coalition envoy

U.S.-led war planes targeted an Islamic State leader on Sunday in Syria responsible for killing hostages including an American, Washington’s envoy to the coalition fighting the jihadist group said. 

 “Earlier today, coalition air forces conducted precision strikes against a number of ISIS leaders in southeast Syria. Those targeted included Abu al-Umarayn,” said Brett McGurk in a Tweet late on Sunday. Abu al-Umarayn was responsible for killing several prisoners including the U.S. 

citizen Peter Kassig, an aid worker who was captured by the group in Syria and beheaded in 2014, McGurk said. Islamic State has lost almost all the territory in Iraq and Syria where it once declared a caliphate, including its two main cities of Mosul and Raqqa last year. 

 The U.S.-led coalition is supporting a group of Kurdish and Arab militias assaulting the last Islamic State territory in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border. Late on Sunday Syrian state media reported that the United States had fired missiles at Syrian government positions in the desert in eastern Syria. 

The Syrian army last month said it had completed its own operation against an Islamic State pocket in the south.

American Jewish Synagogue Shooting Gunman

The shooting in the Jewish synagogue in Pennsylvania in the United States killed 11 people and injured 6 people. 

The wounded included 4 police officers and the gunmen were charged with 29 counts. US President Trump described the incident as an anti-Semitic evil, and the murderer should be sentenced to death. 

He ordered the lower half of the federal building to mourn. After the police blocked the scene near the scene, the special police with heavy firepower rushed to the reinforcements. 

During this period, the gunmen fired at the police officers. The two sides once refute the fire. The police officers used the car as a barrier cover. 

The gunmen were arrested and sent to the hospital for treatment. The attacked Jewish synagogue was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During the incident, religious ceremonies were held in the synagogue, and a large number of believers gathered. 

The gunman broke into the AR-15 automatic rifle and three pistols, shot at the crowd, and many of them shot down. It was reported that the gunmen had shouted that all Jews would die. 

 According to local media reports, the gunman is 46-year-old Bowers, an ultra-rightist who supports white supremacy. He once published a statement on the Internet that hates Jews, saying that the Jews are children of Satan. 

 Two hours before the shooting, he filed an online attack on the Internet to assist immigrants and refugees, the Hebrew Immigration Aid Association, which refers to the association’s aggressors who brought murder to the United States. He could not sit and watch the nationals being slaughtered. And predict that there will be action. 

Some American Jewish organizations said that the shooting may be the bloodiest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States. The authorities are investigating the motives of the gunmen, the FBI is also involved in assisting the investigation, and the Ministry of Justice issued a statement that it will not tolerate hateful and violent crimes involving religion. 

The authorities sued the gunmen for 29 counts, including the use of firearms to murder and obstruction of religious beliefs, and the maximum penalty was punishable by death. President Trump ordered the lower half of the national federal building to mourn the death of the shooting, he described the incident as an evil massacre of anti-Semitism. 

 However, Trump did not respond positively to support the adoption of the strengthening of the barrel control legislation to prevent similar shootings. It is considered that the two have little to do with the fact that if there is a gun guard station in the synagogue, the situation may be different. 

He also believes that the law should be tightened to impose the death penalty on the perpetrators of the shootings.

Trump alleges censorship of social media against conservatives

The United States President, Donald Trump on Saturday pointed accusing finger at social media platforms for alleged discrimination against users who have right-wing views. 

He called mainstream news organizations like CNN and MSNBC “sick.” “Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices,” Trump said in a sequence of posts on Twitter. 

“Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won’t let that happen. They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others.” 

Trump called the censorship “a very dangerous thing and absolutely impossible to police,” adding that “if you are weeding out Fake News, there is nothing so Fake as CNN and MSNBC, and yet I do not ask that their sick behavior be removed.” 

“Let everybody participate, good & bad, and we will all just have to figure it out!” This came on backdrop of Jones, the owner of a site called InfoWars who accused victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting of being “actors” in a plot to discredit the gun lobby. 

Facebook says Jones violated the hate speech rules. Facebook alluded that the page was shut down due to “glorifying violence, which violates our graphic violence policy, and using dehumanizing language to describe people who are transgender, Muslims and immigrants, which violates our hate speech policies.” 

However, Twitter, the main platform Trump uses with over 53.8 million followers allowed Jones to continue to use the platform but he won’t be allowed to tweet on for an indefinite period of time.

[Shame] Nigerian Woman FIight and Tear Their Clothes In London

What a disgrace, two Nigerian women in Stratford, London who are fans of two Nigerian Facebook personalities, Tolulope Bashirat Adeoye aka Abike Jagaban (Omo Aye) and Tokunbo Aboderin (Omo Ewe) threw caution to the wind yesterday as they engaged in a free for all fight.

 According to reports, the fight was as a result of the contents from each of the Facebook personalities post on their walls.

Also Read:Life Returns To Lake Chad Island Despite Boko Haram Threat

The women fought and ripped their clothes off themselves in public. The police later came in to mainatian law and order.

A facebook user, who shared the videos, wrote ;

Stratford London Shocking, unbelievable I just don’t get it. How can they tell their kids not to join gangs. I think it’s time someone calls them all to order.

What are they teaching their children at home?
A total disgrace to the Nigerian.

Fifteen Children Killed In Somalia Flooding

children's fund warns that heavy rains and flooding in Somalia are putting hundreds of thousands of children at high risk of disease and death.

The 230,000 people who have been displaced by floods since April are living in congested, unsanitary conditions that breed disease, according to UNICEF, and about half of that number are children.

"The rains spread diseases that are particularly deadly for malnourished children with exhausted, fragile immune systems," said UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac. "While we have not seen a spike yet, the risk of further outbreaks is high and compounded by flooding."

Also Read: 45 People Died Of Thirst Including Babies, In Sahara Desert.

Acute malnutrition rates among displaced children have exceeded the emergency threshold of 15 percent and have reached as high as 21 percent, UNICEF reports. The agency has treated more than 88,000 severely acutely malnourished children with special life-saving therapeutic feeding this year.

Trump Craters In Polls As Republicans Finally Realize He’s A Fraud

The conventional wisdom says if any issue is going to doom Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress at the ballot box, it will be health care. They have tried over and over to ram through massively unpopular Obamacare repeal bills and failed in spectacular fashion.

But new polling shows Trump’s dismal record on the economy is also contributing to a significant drop in his approval ratings — including from his own supporters.

A poll from Associated Press-NORC shows Trump’s net popularity has plummeted 19 points since March, with his approval rating at a dismally low 32 percent. And even support among his Republican base has cratered from 80 percent to 67 percent.

And while Trump’s approval ratings on health care have fallen from 36 percent to 32 percent, his numbers on the economy have dropped even more substantially.

Trump began his presidency slightly above water on the economy. In March, AP-NORC found 50 percent approved of him on economic policy, versus 48 percent disapproved.

Now, his numbers have dropped to 42 percent approval, versus 56 percent disapproval.

Job growth has slowed, and last month saw the first net private sector job loss since 2010, breaking President Barack Obama’s historic 7-year streak.

Also Read: Trump Might Be About To Launch His Dumbest Gambit Yet To Save His Presidency

Nevertheless, we are nowhere near a recession. But the answer to Trump’s drop in approval on economic matters may simply be that it’s a problem of his own making: He made big promises about the economy which he has not kept.

Despite his long record of bankruptcies, consumer fraud, and refusal to pay his contractors, Trump has spent decades cultivating an image of himself as a successful, brilliant businessman, and this was how he sold himself on the campaign trail.

But nine months into his presidency, Trump has failed to deliver on any of his promises about the economy.

His huge infrastructure plan — which was really just a tax cut for the rich — never happened. His and Ivanka’s childcare plan — which was also really just a tax cut for the rich — never happened. Even if we stretch definitions to the point of absurdity and call his border wall an economic promise, that hasn’t happened either.

The upshot is that for all of Trump’s boasts of his dealmaking prowess, he failed to cut a single deal for the American people. And his worsening poll numbers prove that the American people know it.

Source:shareblue

Will There Be Elections In Thailand In 2018?

BANGKOK (THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A mini-storm brewing over what Premier Prayut Chan-o-cha actually told US President Donald Trump about Thailand's road map to elections compelled me to read the three-page joint statement issued after Monday's visit to the White House.

Prayut, without Trump's raising the question, was expected to offer assurances that he was following international democratic norms with a timeline that would result in "announcing an election date next year".

That's what prompted the debate on what was actually said on Monday.

Some observers here suggested that General Prayut (whose military title for the Washington trip was given the qualification "retired") deliberately gave a loose promise that didn't commit him to holding an election in 2018.

According to this line of analysis, Trump was merely told that the current government would announce an election timetable in 2018 - but that didn't necessarily mean that the ballot-casting would take place by the end of next year.

Also Read: Here's Why Egypt's Nile River Is In Danger

Others reckon the message was official and clear: Thailand will organise an election by the end of next year. There should be no doubt about that.

Verbal discussions can often be interpreted in more than one way - and there were no reports that President Trump was keen to pressure the Thai leader for a definite election date.

But Item 8 in the joint statement reads: "Recognising Thailand's strategic importance to the United States and the region, the President welcomed Thailand's commitment to the road map, which, upon completion of relevant organic laws as stipulated by the Constitution, will lead to free and fair elections in 2018. The two leaders also recognised the importance of protecting and promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms."

Isn't that clear beyond all doubt? Those who think the "commitment" was crystal clear say the "free and fair elections" will be held in 2018. That's the exact wording of the joint pledge in writing.

But there is never a shortage of doubters in Thai political circles. Some of them promptly pointed out the "conditional qualifier" - "upon completion of relevant organic laws as stipulated by the Constitution".

Prayut, in his interview with reporters in Washington, stressed that he had clearly communicated the timeline to Trump, adding that ballot-casting would take place 150 days after the legislative process is completed. Isn't that convincing enough?

Not really. Sceptics are posing the big "what if" questions: What if the relevant organic laws aren't completed by the end of the year? What if the National Legislative Assembly rejects some of the related organic draft bills?

Well, the charter doesn't hold any specific provisions for a case in which one or more of the proposed organic bills fail to pass in the NLA. The assumption, of course, is that the rejected bill would have to be rewritten - and things would go back to square one.

Would that mean the road map would be torn up? Not necessarily. Prayut has insisted all along that the road map remains unchanged. But then, there has never actually been a fixed timeframe for the road map. In other words, no matter what happens along the way, the powers-that-be can always claim that things are proceeding nicely according to the road map.

Of course, the Prayut-Trump joint statement isn't cast in stone. Nor is it supposed to be the "last word" in Thailand's political landscape.

After all is said and done, it's the Thai people who have to decide whether General Prayut's "commitment" to move the country "back to democracy" after the coup three years ago is being honoured through his actions. His promises are irrelevant.

Political pundits continue to debate what the premier's road map means. Ask the man on the street, though, and responses will range from demanding an election tomorrow to doubting whether an elected government will be in place three years from now.

Prayut's declared intention to draw up a 20-year National Strategy tells a story: Either he is seriously concerned that the next government won't be visionary enough, or he is determined to be at the country's helm for much of that two-decade mission.

Source:straitstimes

Woman 'Gang-Raped By Up To 20 Men' After They Beat Her Boyfriend For Being With A 'Tribal Woman' In India

A woman has been raped by up to 20 men near a university campus in India. 

The attack took place near a university campus in Jharkhand, with the suspects reportedly aged between 18 and 22. 

A total of 16 people have been arrested so far in connection with the crime and investigations are still ongoing. 

Also Read: HOW I SLEPT WITH MY WIFE’S COUSIN

Police said approximately seven of the arrests were due to direct involvement with the assault while the others were for abetting the crime, the Indian Express reported.  

The woman, who has not been named, was returning home on a motorcycle with her boyfriend when they were reportedly stopped by six men on an abandoned road.

The group apparently attacked the boyfriend for having a relationship with the woman, as she is part of a tribal society, and then demanded he hand over his phone and 5,000 rupees (£60). 

Also Read: SEE HOW THIRTEEN SOLDIERS RAPE FOREIGN AID WORKERS IN SOUTH SUDANESE...

After calling some friends to join them, the attackers allegedly held the couple at knifepoint before forcing them to strip. 

The group of men then reportedly made the boyfriend rape the woman before taking turns to attack her themselves. 

In an attempt to destroy the evidence, the attackers then forced the victim to bathe in a nearby pond, the Times of India reported.

Source:independent

Los Angeles La Tuna Wildfire: Evacuations Ended as Crews Make Gains

Crews fighting Los Angeles' largest wildfire on record made major progess Sunday, allowing hundreds of people to return home.

The so-called La Tuna fire was holding steady at about 5,865 acres in the San Fernando Valley, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. Mandatory evacuation orders that gad been in place for the cities of Glendale and Burbank and parts of Los Angeles were lifted Sunday night.

Interstate 210, one of the major arteries through the traffic-choked Los Angeles area, was reopened in all directions as containment estimates jumped from about 10 percent to about 25 percent in just a few hours Sunday afternoon, fire officials said.

Earlier, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County.

The fire burned three homes and damaged another, Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said Sunday. Four firefighters were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, the fire department said.

Terrazas said he expected cooler weather and possible showers to aid the more than 1,000 firefighters who were battling the blaze, although he cautioned at a news conference: "There is a lot of fuel out there left to burn."

The fire, which was threatening thousands of homes in Glendale, Burbank and Los Angeles, started Friday afternoon north of the 210 Freeway during a heat wave baking much of the state. Erratic winds helped it quickly spread. The Los Angeles Fire Department said Sunday that the cause was under investigation.

Residents described a restless night as they watched flames and smoke approaching from the valley's surrounding hillsides overnight Saturday. Giovanni Dal Monte, a Sun Valley resident, recalled just how close the fire was to his home.

"It came all the way down to the fence," Dal Monte told NBC Los Angeles.

Burbank resident Tracy Goldman, whose home sits at the base of the Verdugo Mountains, told NBC that she saw her worst fears materializing with the descending flames.

"Everything was on fire," she said Sunday. "This was like something I've never seen before."

But by Saturday afternoon, she said, a break in the brush helped the flames fizzle about 150 feet from her home.

"There was no vegetation left to burn," she said. 

Source:nbcnews

Youth Orchestra Eyed To Keep Kids Off Lipa Streets

MUSIC THERAPY. Project Gifted members play the violin for some out-of-school youth in Cavite. Photo by Project Gifted

MANILA, Philippines – A dream literally started it all for a youth organization helping their less fortunate peers.

In October 2016, medical student Jon Sergei Aclan was thinking about how to celebrate his birthday.

"One time, I had a dream. I was giving teddy bears and I'm teaching kids how to play the violin and I was playing the violin for them, too," he told Rappler in Filipino.

By January 2017, Aclan's birth month, he and his friends formed Project Gifted, an organization "with the passion to use their God-given talents and gifts to help and inspire others, most especially children, to develop their own."

The organization is mostly composed of students from the Adventist University of the Philippines in Silang, Cavite. In just 7 months, they were able to raise around P100,000 that benefited more than 460 individuals, mostly youth, through medical missions and music fests.

HEALTH CHECK. A kid receives a free check-up from during a medical mission by Project Gifted. Photo by Project Gifted

Project Gifted has always been on the lookout to expand their reach. So when the Office of the Vice President (OVP) made a call out for youth organizations to pitch projects for the Angat Buhay Youth Summit, Project Gifted took the chance.

They proposed using music therapy to keep children with mental health issues and out-of-school youth off the streets of Lipa City. (READ: Oyayi: Healing through music)

"So we decided to put up the Lipa City Youth Orchestra. We are going to use music as their hobby, instead of them just staying on the streets or doing drugs," said Aclan.

"First, they can develop a hobby. At the same time, they can gain friends… Then they can acquire skills that hopefully they can use to teach others how to make music as well," he added.

Project Gifted's music therapy plan emerged as the best one out of the 10 winning project proposals chosen by Angat Buhay, Vice President Leni Robredo's flagship anti-poverty program. The awarding ceremony was held at the end of the two-day Angat Buhay Youth Summit held last Wednesday, August 16.

Each of the 10 winning groups was given P25,000 by the San Miguel Corporation in partnership with the OVP to implement their projects.

ADVOCATES. Project Gifted's Jon Sergie Aclan and Reiner Lorenzo Tamayo are both looking forward to turn their proposal into reality. Photo by Mara Cepeda/Rappler

But Project Gifted received another perk. Aclan and the organization's advocacy officer Reiner Lorenzo Tamayo are heading to Hanyang University in November to represent the Philippines in an international youth summit, where they will pitch the Lipa City Youth Orchestra to get more funding. Hanyang University is a partner school of Angat Buhay.

"I am happy because at least now, Project Gifted has been given recognition. What started out as a simple birthday celebration is now on its way to help more people," he said.

Youth for the youth

Robredo's spokesperson, Georgina Hernandez, said the Angat Buhay Youth Summit was launched to expand the coverage of the Vice President’s anti-poverty program.

"VP Leni realizes that the youth has so much to give, so much passion, so much energy, so many innovative ideas that we can actually tap in terms of addressing systemic problems that have long been there but we have not actually found a sustainable and effective solution," said Hernandez.

"We wanted to do this two-day fellowship program where we train them on project development, starting from having a clear understanding of who they are, where they are coming from, what their skills are. And from there, they develop a project idea as concrete as they can in terms of community development and initiatives," she added.

Apart from Project Gifted, the other winners of the Angat Buhay Youth Summit are as follows:

• Koalisyon ng Demokratikong Mag-aaral Para sa Sambayanan's umamBAG Tayo! A diploma for every student
• AO Creative Innovations' Ideas to Impact: Project Monitoring Tool
• Keep Hope Alive's Bantay Kalusugan
• Oro Youth Development Council's KA'YO Anti-Human Trafficking Challenge
• Youth for Sustainable Change’s The Manika Challenge
• MyPEACE, Inc University of Southern Mindanao Chapter's Creation of Youth Reconciliation Council
• Youth for Mental Health Coalition’s SPROUT: Speak Out, Reach Out! A Mental Health Mission in Conflict, Geographically-isolated & Disadvantaged Areas
• Batiti Ground’s Made in IP
• Iriga City Youth Development Council, Inc’s TULONG-DUNONG: Enhanced Learning Environment for Low Performers

Hernandez said winners were chosen based on their readiness to implement their respective projects, impact to address specific poverty issues, project sustainability, and clarity of presentation.

POWER UP. Vice President Leni Robredo (3rd from left), her spokesperson Georgina Hernandez (2nd from right) award the prize to Project Gifted on August 16, 2017. Photo by Mara Cepeda/Rappler

"But our commitment really does not end here – that's the most important thing. This is the launching of the Angat Buhay Youth, but we will continue to match them with partners for additional resources. We will continue to mentor them and monitor their projects," said Hernandez.

She said the OVP will also look for partner organizations for the other youth groups that did not win during the summit.

Aclan appreciated the OVP’s efforts because it gave groups like Project Gifted the chance to help more people.
Source:rappler

Kim Jong-un Has Male Heir To Brutal Regime As Son Is Revealed After North Korea Tests "Advanced" Nuclear Bomb

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has a male heir to his brutal regime, it has been revealed.

The dictator has three children with his wife Ri Sol-ju but the gender of the couple’s first - who was born seven years ago - has only just been admitted.

Following the birth of their son - the couple had a baby girl in 2013 and another child just six months ago , according to previous reports from South Korea’s intelligence agency.

The first lady had disappeared for an extended period last year, raising speculation that she could be pregnant.

Ri is believed to have married Kim in 2009 and gave birth to their first child the following year, with their second arriving three years later.

Kim is the third generation of his dynasty to rule North Korea, but little has been revealed about the country’s first family.

The revelation comes as Donald Trump today refused to rule out an attack on North Korea as US intelligence officials say there are no doubts an "advanced nuclear device" was tested overnight.

The US President said "we'll see" when asked if the US was planning to launch an offensive on North Korea in the wake of a hydrogen bomb test carried out this weekend.

He made the remark after he attended a church service on a National Day of Prayer for Hurricane Harvey victims at St John's Church, an Episcopal church near the White House.

A reporter asked: "Will you attack North Korea?" to which Trump replied: "We'll see."

The President is due to meet with his Generals later to chair a meeting of his security council to discuss possible options.

Source:mirror