Author Archives: Pat Turnbaugh

Pentagon: Islamic State’s Presence in Afghanistan Growing

Islamic State militants are engaged in a turf war with the Taliban as it tries to establish a “safe haven” in Afghanistan, according a new report released this week by the Department of Defense.

The Pentagon report indicates the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province, a branch of the terrorist organization, is becoming “more operationally active” in Afghanistan.

The Islamic State branch “has progressed from its initial exploratory phase to a point where they are openly fighting the Taliban for the establishment of a safe haven,” the report indicates, adding that the branch has captured some land from the Taliban in the province of Nangarhar.

The report also says that the Islamic State branch is recruiting Taliban defectors who no longer wished to support the group, and that the Afghanistan government was “particularly concerned” about the branch’s rise. The group is viewed as a “serious looming threat,” the report indicates.

The branch claimed responsibility for an improvised explosive device attack against a United Nations vehicle in September, the report says. It also attacked up to 10 checkpoints in a day later that month.

“(The Islamic State branch) represents an emergent competitor to other violent extremist groups that have traditionally operated in Afghanistan; this may result in increased violence among the various extremist groups in 2016,” the Pentagon report states.

The report comes on the heels of President Barack Obama doubling down on his strategy to defeat the Islamic State, which focuses on airstrikes, training and equipping Iraqi and Syrian forces, disrupting the group’s finances and finding a diplomatic solution to the Syrian civil war.

But this offers evidence that shows the group appears to be growing in strength and influence outside its strongholds of Iraq and Syria, where much of the global anti-ISIS efforts are focused.

In October, President Barack Obama announced that 9,800 American troops would remain in Afghanistan for most of 2016. That number is slated to drop to 5,500 by the end of next year. Their main missions are training and assisting Afghanistan forces, as well as counterrorism.

The State Department warns Americans not to visit Afghanistan, citing an “extremely unstable” security situation. The Pentagon report says the situation worsened in the second half of this year, as various insurgents executed more effective attacks against Afghanistan forces, or ANDSF.

“Although the ANDSF maintain a significant capability advantage over the insurgency, insurgents are improving in their ability to find and exploit ANDSF vulnerabilities, making the security situation still fragile in key areas and at risk of deterioration in other places,” the report says.

FBI: Chattanooga Shooter Motivated By Terrorist Propaganda

The man who killed five people in shootings this summer in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was inspired by foreign terrorist propaganda, FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday.

Comey made the comments while speaking at a news conference in New York.

“We have concluded that the Chattanooga killer was inspired by a foreign terrorist organization’s propaganda,” Comey told reporters, though he added the source of the propaganda couldn’t be determined and stopped short of mentioning a specific group.

“There’s competing foreign terrorist poison out there,” Comey said at the news conference. “But, to my mind, there’s no doubt that the Chattanooga killer was inspired and motivated by foreign terrorist organization propaganda. We’ve investigated it from the beginning as a terrorist case.”

Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez opened fire at two military locations on July 16.

The Kuwait native and naturalized U.S. citizen first fired upon a recruiting center, then drove seven miles to a Naval reserve facility and opened fire again. The 24-year-old killed four Marines and a sailor, all of them located at the reserve, before he was killed in a shootout with police.

In a televised address to the nation from the Oval Office on Dec. 6, President Barack Obama called the Chattanooga shooting an act of terrorism. But authorities had offered little public detail about why they believed it was terrorism-related until Comey’s comments Wednesday.

Terrorist groups often use social media to spread propaganda and communicate, and federal lawmakers have proposed new bills to combat that in the wake of the Dec. 2 mass shooting that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Obama has also called that an act of terrorism.

New Guidelines Could Force Israeli Paramedics to Treat Terrorists Before Victims

The former Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister has criticized controversial new health guidelines that could, in theory, lead to Israeli paramedics treating wounded terrorists before their victims.

Avigdor Liberman called the Israeli Medical Association’s reported decision “shameful” in a translated posting on his Facebook page and said those behind it “just don’t live in reality.”

He was reacting to an article in the Israel Hayom newspaper that said the Israeli Medical Association’s Ethics Committee issued a new directive that revised the guidelines for triage.

The new rules, the newspaper reported, instruct paramedics to treat patients solely based on the severity of their injuries. Previously, there was a provision called “charity begins at home” that allowed paramedics to delay treating perpetrators even if their victims were less seriously hurt.

But the watchdog group Physicians for Human Rights filed a petition that sought to abandon that policy, Israel Hayom reported. The major argument for the change is that it’s not up to the health professionals to levy guilt in an emergency situation; that duty lies with the legal system.

“Doctors are not judges. Leaving the directive as it is means doctors have to determine guilt and penalize the guilty party by withholding medical care,” the association’s ethics director, Tammy Karni, told Israel Hayom, noting it would be easy for someone to mistake a victim as an attacker.

Some critics, though, believe that the new rule — if followed by the letter — may create situations where severely injured terrorists will receive treatment before their less-severely injured victims. In extreme cases, a terrorist’s life may be saved and a victim may die because of treatment order.

Rav Yuval Cherlow, who heads the Ethics Committee of Israel’s Tzohar Rabbinical Organization, told the Jewish news agency JNS.org that victims should always be treated before terrorists, unless there are some circumstances where it’s not easy to determine who was the assailant. In those cases, Cherlow said emergency personnel should treat victims based on wound severity.

But Israel Hayom reported that all Israeli emergency personnel are now required to follow the rules set by the Israeli Medical Association, which governs medical ethics throughout the nation.

North Korea Sentences Canadian Pastor to Life of Hard Labor

A Canadian pastor was sentenced to a life of compulsory labor for “subversive plots and activities” against North Korea, the nation’s state-run KCNA news agency reported Wednesday.

The news agency reported Hyeon Soo Lim “confessed to all heinous crimes he had committed.”

According to a CNN report, Lim is a pastor at the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto. Family members have told CNN that the South Korean-born pastor, in his early 60s, has frequently traveled to North Korea over the past 18 years for various humanitarian efforts. This time, they said he planned to support church projects like an orphanage and nursing home.

North Korea didn’t see it that way. According to KCNA, Lim’s trips were far more political.

He was accused of hurting the dignity of North Korea’s leadership, committing anti-North Korean religious activities and spreading false propaganda about North Korea overseas. He also allegedly helped U.S. and South Korean programs “lure and abduct” North Korean defectors.

Lim left for North Korea in January and had been detained since February, CNN reported.

The United States and Canadian governments both caution their citizens not to travel to North Korea, with both citing that unsanctioned religious activity can lead to detainment. The U.S. Department of State warns that North Korea isn’t known for consistently applying its strict laws, and that visitors could be arrested or detained for things that might not seem criminal — like disrespecting the country’s former leaders or bringing photographs into the nation. The State Department also warns violating laws there can result in long sentences of hard labor or death.

While Lim reportedly confessed to the crimes, CNN reported that other citizens of Western nations have previously stated they were forced into confessing by North Korean officials.

Canadian officials released a statement to multiple media outlets that criticized the sentence.

Canadian news agency CTV reported the statement said the government was “dismayed at the unduly harsh sentence,” especially because of Lim’s age and health, and that North Korean officials have not approved “repeated requests” to let Canadian authorities visit with the pastor.

Austrian Authorities Arrest 2 With Suspected Ties to Paris Attacks

Two people believed to be connected to last month’s terrorist attacks in Paris were arrested over the weekend at a refugee encampment in Austria, according to multiple media published reports.

A spokesperson for prosecutors in Salzburg, the city where the arrests occurred, told Reuters that the men arrived from the Middle East and were arrested “in accommodation for refugees on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organization.” The spokesperson told the news agency that “evidence suggesting a connection with the Paris attacks is being verified,” but did not elaborate.

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Nov. 13 Paris terrorist attacks, in which gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people at various venues throughout the city.

Local newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten, citing security sources, reported the two men entered Austria using fake passports and allegedly had contact with the Paris attackers while in Austria. The pair was found “based on information of a foreign intelligence service,” the paper reported.

It’s been widely reported that one of the Paris attackers had a fake Syrian passport, and there are concerns that he posed as a refugee to enter France before ultimately carrying out the attacks.

FBI Director James Comey has told U.S. lawmakers that the intelligence community is worried that the Islamic State has the ability to forge passports. Last week, ABC News cited a Homeland Security report that indicated the Islamic State could have accessed a passport printing machine and boxes of blank passports after it captured a Syrian city that housed a passport office in 2014.

Rare Tornado Brings Record Winds to Australia

A rare tornado ripped through Sydney on Wednesday morning, reportedly bringing the fastest winds ever recorded in that region of Australia and leaving a wake of destruction in its path.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported the storm featured wind gusts of 132 mph, which smashed the record for the state of New South Wales. The previous high of 106 mph was set back in 1974.

The tornado occurred as the Australian Bureau of Meteorology issued severe thunderstorm warnings for the region surrounding Sydney, Australia’s largest and perhaps most famous city.

Westpac Life Saver, a search and rescue helicopter service in New South Wales, shared photos on social media that showed the damage in Kurnell, a Sydney suburb. The pictures showed numerous downed trees, widespread debris and several homes that were missing roof shingles.

Other photographs shared on social media showed large hailstones, some the size of golf balls.

The Bureau of Meteorology reported the thunderstorms dumped more than three inches of rain in one hour in Nowra, about four hours south of Sydney. The precipitation in Sydney was significant enough to trigger some flash flooding, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The BBC reported no one was significantly injured in the tornado, though some properties were so severely damaged that authorities deemed them unlivable. Australian media outlet 9News reported officials are warning of the threat of asbestos in debris, particularly from older homes.

Crews were working to restore power to about 20,000 customers, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Federal Reserve Expected to Raise Interest Rates Wednesday

The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to vote to raise a key interest rate for the first time in nearly a decade when it meets on Wednesday, according to multiple published reports.

The effects of such a vote could have wide-ranging implications throughout the economy, affecting things like interest on savings accounts, mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.

The rate the Federal Reserve is considering raising is called the effective federal funds rate. It deals with how banks borrow money from one another, thus setting a bar for all other lending.

The rate has been close to nothing since 2008, during the Great Recession. The rate was at 5.26 percent in July 2007, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, but the bank lowered the rate nearly every month through the end of 2008 to help jumpstart a struggling economy.

The rate has not been raised since that. In fact, it hasn’t been raised at all since June 2006, when the Federal Reserve raised it to the 5.26 percent level at which it stood until the recession.

But the economy is in better shape than it was during the recession. The civilian unemployment rate is down to 5 percent, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. In 2009, after the fallout from the financial crisis, it reached 10 percent. That was its highest level in 27 years.

Why is the Federal Reserve even considering raising the rate again? Essentially, the bank needs to find a balance that ensures the economy stays stable and healthy.

The Washington Post reported that if the Federal Reserve waits too long to raise the rate, it could create bubbles in the stock market or rampant inflation, where prices rise at a rate that employee wages aren’t able to match. But if the Federal Reserve hikes the rate too early, it could jeopardize the recovery — especially if people can’t obtain affordable loans for what they need.

A vote to raise the rate is seen as a vote of confidence for the economy. CBS News reported if the Federal Reserve doesn’t act Wednesday, especially because just about everyone on Wall Street is expecting it to, it could lead to a decline in the stock market because it would suggest the bank’s policymakers think the economy couldn’t cope with a rate increase, even one that’s fractional.

And any rate increase is expected to be slight. CNN reported that the Federal Reserve is expected to raise rates slowly, from its current level of about .12 percent to a new level near .25 percent. Any effects on the economy aren’t expected to be felt for several months, according to the report.

Still, some question the timing of the increase and whether the economy is truly as healthy as evidence suggests.

Kerry Working With Russians to Fuel Syrian Peace Talks

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with key Russian leaders on Tuesday in an attempt to work past their philosophical differences and find a diplomatic solution to the Syrian civil war.

Kerry met with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov.

The talks came ahead of a planned meeting of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), a collection of countries looking to put an end to the ongoing conflict in Syria. The nations, which include the United States and Russia, are scheduled to meet this coming Friday in New York.

Russia and the United States haven’t been on the same page about how to end the conflict, particularly about the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The controversial leader has been the main point of contention in the conflict, which began with an uprising in 2011 and subsequently led to millions of Syrians fleeing their homes to escape the war-torn nation.

U.S. President Barack Obama has publicly said Assad must be out of office before the war can end. It’s been widely reported that Russia is one of Assad’s biggest allies, and Moscow believes Syria’s residents — and not any other nation — should ultimately get to determine what happens.

Complicating the issue is the fact that the Islamic State terrorist organization has taken control of territory in both Syria and Iraq, and the United States is leading a 65-nation coalition that is conducting airstrikes in the region. Russia has also been carrying out some airstrikes on its own.

Speaking to reporters at a joint news conference with Lavrov, Kerry said the two nations “did reach some common ground today,” but it wasn’t appropriate for him to elaborate further because they ultimately needed the entire ISSG to come together to discuss the future of Syria.

“We are cooperating now in Syria because (the Islamic State) is a threat to all of us,” Kerry told reporters, adding he expected Friday’s ISSG meeting in New York to proceed as scheduled.

Kerry’s visit to Russia came days after a collection of Assad’s critics gathered in Saudi Arabia to and developed a unified vision as to how they could politically resolve the multi-year conflict.

The Syrian Coalition said it’s seeking a new democracy built upon equality, transparency, law and accountability, but took a firm stance that neither Assad nor the members of his current regime could take part in any transitional government “or any future political settlement.”

That coalition wants to meet Assad’s government for peace talks, potentially next month.

34 Islamic Nations Team Up to Fight Terrorism

A group of 34 Islamic nations have formed a military alliance to fight terrorist organizations.

​Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Defense, confirmed the announcement at a news conference Monday night in Riyadh, where the alliance will be based.

Operating out of a room in the Saudi capital, the group will “coordinate and support efforts to fight terrorism in all countries and parts of the Islamic world,” according to a news release.

Perhaps the most notable Islamic terrorist group is the Islamic State, which has seized territory in Iraq and Syria as it tries to spread its radical interpretations of the religion through violence.

At the news conference, Abdulaziz said the new military alliance won’t just fight the Islamic State, but will take action “against any terrorist organization (that) emerges before us.” He called Islamic extremism a “disease which infected the Islamic world first” and spread internationally.

The Saudi Arabian news release did not specify the 33 other nations that joined the anti-terrorism alliance. Reuters reported those countries included Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and multiple nations in Africa.

Abdulaziz said each country will contribute according to its capabilities and that he hoped more nations would join soon. While he offered concrete little details on how exactly the alliance would work, he stressed that collaboration and coordination would be important pillars.

“Today, every Islamic country is fighting terrorism individually,” Abdulaziz told reporters at the news conference. “The coordination of efforts is very important; and through this room, means and efforts will be developed for fighting terrorism all over the Islamic world.”

The United States is currently providing equipment and training to forces in Iraq and Syria that are fighting the Islamic State, and have urged for more help in the fight against the group. The U.S. also heads a 65-nation coalition that carries out airstrikes against ISIS-linked targets there.

Before Saudi Arabia’s announcement, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter was travelling to Turkey as part of a plan to get other countries to boost their efforts to defeat the Islamic State.

According to Reuters, Carter told reporters at the Incirlik airbase that he wanted to learn more about Saudi Arabia’s alliance, but more anti-ISIS involvement from Islamic nations generally appears to be “very much in line with something we’ve been urging for quite some time.”

Winter Storm Echo’s Heavy Snow Shuts Down Flights, Closes Roads

Parts of eight Western states were under winter storm warnings on Tuesday morning as a powerful winter storm continued to travel across the United States.

The National Weather Service issued the warnings in Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska as Winter Storm Echo moved east.

Meteorologists warned the storm would bring more heavy snowfall and high wind gusts, and could spur hazardous travel conditions. It’s already dumped lots of snow in the states it passed.

The National Weather Service reported the storm brought 28.1 inches of snow to Bountiful, Utah, between 6 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Tuesday, and more snow was expected to fall later Tuesday. About 26.3 inches were recorded near Atlanta, Idaho, and 23.3 inches were observed near Corbin, Montana. Double-digit totals were also seen in parts of Colorado and Wyoming.

In some cases, the snowfall totals were record.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that 6.9 inches of snow fell at the city’s airport Sunday, smashing the previous single-day record of 5.8 inches. The previous mark was set in 1922.

Winter Storm Echo was also snarling travel, including some significant developments.

The snow forced the cancellation of 315 flights to and from Denver International Airport on Tuesday, according to the flight monitoring website FlightAware. Another 212 were delayed.

In Wyoming, the state Department of Transportation shut down a roughly 108-mile eastbound stretch of Interstate 80 between Rock Springs and Rawlins due to “winter conditions.” The road was also closed in both directions between Cheyenne and Laramie, some 50 miles apart.

While the storm was no longer pummeling the West Coast, it certainly made an impact.

The storm’s highest recorded snowfall total was 33 inches in Willamette Pass, Oregon. Echo also deposited 20-plus inches in mountainous California and Nevada, and a foot in Jacob Lake, Arizona. The storm dropped rain on warmer areas, including 8.71 inches in parts of California.

That rain was being blamed for at least two deaths.

In California, CBS San Francisco reported that the parents of two young children died when their car rolled over multiple times and tumbled down an embankment off Interstate 580 on Saturday. Fire officials reportedly said the vehicle might have hydroplaned on slick roads there.