Six In The Morning

ISIS Extremists Claim to Behead British Hostage David Haines

 

 By Phil Helsel

Terrorist group ISIS released a video Saturday purportedly showing the execution of British aid worker David Cawthorne Haines.

If confirmed, it is the third time the organization, which has seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria, beheaded a captive and released a video of the execution, intending to send a message to Western nations. Britain recently said it would send machine guns and ammunition to Iraq to help that government battle the militants, and it is weighing whether to participate along with the U.S. in possible airstrikes in Syria against the terror group.

Haines, 44, like others in taped executions by the terror group, is forced in the new video to read a script in which he blamed his death on British Prime Minister David Cameron and the British government’s decision to join the U.S. in its battle against ISIS.

Pakistan floods: military blows up dikes to save cities from floodwaters

Civil and military officials evacuate residents and air-drop food as floods that have killed hundreds continue to pose threat in Pakistan and Indian Kashmir

Reuters theguardian.com, Sunday 14 September 2014 05.22 BST

Military specialists have blown up dikes in central Pakistan to divert swollen rivers and save cities from raging floods that have killed hundreds of people, authorities said on Saturday, as officials stepped up efforts in India’s part of Kashmir to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases there.

In Pakistan, the breaches at the overflowing Chenab River were performed overnight as floodwaters reached Multan, a city famous for its Sufi saints. Pakistani news channels showed pictures of floodwaters gushing through the blown-up dikes.

Social media heats up Scottish referendum

Social networkers know it’s not long until the Scottish referendum. Just days before the vote, activity on Facebook, Twitter and co. has reached a new high for British politics. DW takes a look at the trends.

 DW

In the run-up to the vote, social networks are bubbling with activity, both in Scotland and the United Kingdom. As has been the case for nearly every major election since the advent of Facebook and Twitter, campaigners in both camps have utilized social media platforms as a direct channel to their voters. With hashtags such as #indyref, #VoteYes, #LetsStayTogether or #BetterTogether, politicians and their supporters express their – at times emotional – views.

Even celebrities are joining the debate, alienating or adding fans depending on their position. Campaign adverts created for viral effectiveness have launched entirely new trends as they stir up controversy along the way.

Here’s a look at the different views expressed through social media in the lead up to the vote on September 18, 2014.

‘Turkey directly supported al-Qaeda in Syria

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      September 13, 2014 – 11:07PM

Turkey has directly supported al-Qaeda’s wing in Syria, in defiance of America, the former US ambassador has disclosed.

The Turkish authorities thought they could work with extremist Islamist groups in the Syrian civil war and at the same time push them to become more moderate, Francis Ricciardone, who was until late June the US ambassador to Ankara, told journalists in a briefing. That led them to work with Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda offshoot, as well as hardline Salafi Islamist groups such as Ahrar al-Sham. Mr Ricciardone said that he tried to persuade the Turks to close their borders to the groups, but to no avail.

‘SA spooks fixed Guinea poll’

Top politicians and businesspeople have been cited in a US court case over disputed mining rights in Guinea.

12 Sep 2014 00:00Craig McKune, Stefaans Brümmer

Claims festering for two years that South African business and ­intelligence interests rigged elections in Guinea have burst into the open in a New York court battle over the Eldorado of iron mining.

At stake is the ore mass that is the Simandou mountain range in the West African country’s forested south, thought to be the world’s richest iron deposit.

In a court filing last week, mining dynast Beny Steinmetz named 83 individuals and companies – key among them South African politicians, businesspeople and spooks – he said may have evidence of the “corrupt rigging” that culminated in the “unlawful misappropriation” of his company’s stake in Simandou.

 Mystery, beauty, and a dash of menace: Twin volcanoes in Lake Nicaragua are little known adventure destination

  A small isthmus connects the skirts of two volcanos to form Ometepe Island, one of the Western Hemisphere’s emerging adventure destinations. President Ortega’s plan to challenge the Panama Canal would cut across Lake Nicaragua, just south of the island.

 By Tim Johnson, McClatchy

Ometepe Island, Nicaragua – Gaze eastward from the shores of huge Lake Nicaragua, and they seem almost like a mirage: Twin volcanoes thrusting out of the water, one of them a towering cone of cinder and ash, the other jacketed in verdant jungle.

Perhaps it was the clouds that shrouded the twin peaks. Or the majestic sunset behind our ferryboat. Whatever, as we approached on a late afternoon the setting seemed primordial, a place of mystery and beauty with a dash of menace.