Convert or die: ISIS chief's former slave says he beat her, raped U.S. hostage
Updated 1257 GMT (1957 HKT) September 9, 2015 | Video Source: CNN
When ISIS came for Zeinat and her family, they ran, terrified, for the safety of the mountains. They had heard the horror stories and knew only too well what might happen to them if they stayed in their home.
But they were too late; stranded at the foot of Iraq's Mount Sinjar by the huge crowds of refugees struggling uphill, they were easy pickings when fighters arrived.
Separated first from her father, and then from her sisters, she was forced -- like thousands of Yazidi women -- into slavery, treated as the property of the so-called "Islamic State."
Zeinat, though, wasn't working for ordinary rank-and-file ISIS militants; instead she was handpicked to serve terror boss Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his family and friends.
Indrani Mukerjea: India gripped by the case of the TV mogul accused of her daughter's murder
Rags-to-riches-to-remand story of Indrani Mukerjea is seen as moral fable about materialism, media and motherhood
Jason Burke in Delhi
Wednesday 9 September 2015 09.39 BST
The story has gripped India for weeks. Each new development prompts a surge of headlines. Every quote tops the TV bulletins. Even in a country which loves a good true crime story, the case is a sensational exception.
The facts appear straightforward. Indrani Mukerjea, India’s first female TV mogul, has been charged with the murder of her 25-year-old daughter, Sheena Bora, whose remains were found on wasteland three years ago but only identified recently. Police have said her two alleged accomplices have confessed, though there is no independent confirmation of this. From prison, Mukerjea maintains her innocence.
Yet the case is about much more than a simple murder investigation. Mukerjea’s rags-to-riches-to-remand story is being seen as a moral fable, underlining deep concerns about materialism, the media and motherhood in the emerging economic power.
IRAQ 09/09/2015Mosul’s pilgrims stopped by Iraqi army on way to Mecca
Intisar al-Jabouri
Hundreds of pilgrims from the Iraqi city of Mosul, which is controlled by the Islamic State group, were stopped by Iraq’s armed forces as they tried to reach the Muslim holy city of Mecca. The pilgrims, who were suspected of being jihadists, were then transferred to a camp by authorities. It’s yet another cause of anguish for pilgrims whose families have already been threatened by the Islamic State group’s regime back home.
The pilgrims left Mosul on board several buses bound for Baghdad on Saturday, August 28. A few hours later, the Iraqi army put a halt to their journey on the outskirts of Karbala, forcing the group to spend several days and nights sleeping outdoors without water or food. The government claims that it wanted to check their identities, in order to be sure that there weren’t potential jihadists lurking amongst them.
Greek elections: Eternal also-ran a joke candidate no more
After many years ranting in the wilderness, Vassilis Leventis is beginning to look viable
in Athens
It’s anything but a snazzy election video, and that perhaps is its strength: an official behind a closed door in some government office leans back on his chair as he nonchalantly chats away on his mobile phone, using particular gestures that in Greek indicates obtaining money in an underhand way.
Suddenly the music switches to Greek rock and the official swings into action as an older man enters the room, somewhat sheepishly, and places a large file titled “reform programme” on the desk. He then places the small Greek and EU table flags upright on the official’s desk.
The visitor is Vassilis Leventis, the leader of the Union of Centrists, one of Greece’s best-known “also-ran” parties that has 14 unsuccessful election bids under its belt.
Turkey sends troops into northern Iraq, pursuing Kurdish rebels
The cross border operations came amid a wave of attacks by the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, that killed at least 31 soldiers and police since Sunday.
ANKARA, TURKEY — Turkey deployed ground forces across the border into northern Iraq on Tuesday for the first time since 2011, stepping up its battle against Kurdish rebels who have stung the Turkish military with a string of attacks in recent weeks.
The move, however, could frustrate the US-led alliance's efforts against the Islamic State group because Turkey is now hunting down the very fighters who are trying to hold back the militant group from taking more territory in Syria and Iraq.
Turkish authorities haven't given a specific time frame for the operation in northern Iraq, although one official said it was a "short-term" offensive to root out rebels. Turkish jets also carried out more airstrikes against rebel camps in the region.
China spacecraft aims to reach 'dark side of the moon'
Space probe slated to launch within five years and become first to land on the part of the moon not visible from earth.
09 Sep 2015 08:39 GMT
China has announced its intent to send a lunar probe to the far side of the moon within the next five years, a senior scientist working on the project said.
Zou Yongliao, from the moon exploration department of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said his country would be the first to reach the "dark" side of the moon, if the project succeeded.
The mission will be used to study geological conditions on the moon's far side, which is not visible from earth.
Zou said the far side of the moon had a "clean electromagnetic environment, which provides an ideal field for low frequency study".
"If we can can place a frequency spectrograph on the far side, we can fill a void," Zou said.
No comments:
Post a Comment