World News & Breaking News II

JOHANNESBURG — A South African judge on Friday convicted athlete Oscar Pistorius of "culpable homicide" in the death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

A conviction of culpable homicide, the term for manslaughter in South Africa, carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence. Pistorius had already been cleared of murdering Steenkamp.

Pistorius has been granted bail and will return to court on Oct.13 to find out whether he will be imprisoned and, if so, for how long.

A day earlier, Judge Thokozile Masipa said state prosecutors had failed to prove Pistorius, 27, was guilty of premeditated or second-degree murder.

However, Masipa found the actions by Pistorius — an Olympic and Paralympic athlete known as the Blade Runner for his use of specially designed prosthetic legs — to be "negligent."

Reading a lengthy explanation of the evidence and charges, Masipa told the court Thursday that she found Pistorius "acted too hastily and used excessive force" when he fired four times into the door of a toilet stall in his apartment, killing Steenkamp, 29, on Valentine's Day in 2013.

Masipa's decision to acquit Pistorius of murder was met with criticism from South Africans.

"Culpable homicide is not enough. The life lost doesn't get justice," said entrepreneur Nzolo ezee bidla, 25, on Friday, as he sat glued to the TV in a Johannesburg bar.

Pistorius was also convicted on one of three unrelated firearm charges.

The judge ruled that the athlete was guilty of unlawfully firing a gun in a public place when a friend's pistol he was handling discharged under a table in a restaurant in Johannesburg in early 2013 — weeks before Steenkamp's killing.

Pistorius was acquitted on two other gun charges, including a count of firing a gun in public and a count of illegal possession of ammunition in the Pretoria home where he killed Steenkamp.

Pistorius, who stood calmly with his hands folded in front of him as Masipa delivered her final verdict Friday, had denied the prosecution's claims that he had deliberately shot Steennkamp in the early hours of Feb. 14 last year.

Prosecutors accused Pistorius of intentionally killing her by firing through the door of the stall where, they alleged, she had taken refuge following an argument.

Pistorius claimed he thought Steenkamp was in bed and that he accidentally shot her through the bathroom door, mistakenly believing there was an intruder in his home.

As the track star prepared to spend a month waiting for sentencing, some South Africans said he has already suffered enough.

"I think they must forgive him," said bartender Thato nailane, 25. "He is suffering emotionally. A light sentence would be better. He suffered for (6 months) being on trial."

Mannie Witz, a criminal defense attorney in Johannesburg, said state prosecutors could lodge an appeal but that the Pistorius defense team is unlikely to do so.

"There is still a long way to go," he said, adding he doubted Pistorius would get the full jail term.

Collins reported from Berlin. Contributing: The Associated Press;

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Isil want to assassinate the Pope, says Iraq's ambassador to Vatican

Habeeb Al Sadr warns that Isil's "band of criminals" could have Pope Francis in its sights, ahead of the pontiff's visits to Albania and Turkey

Pope Francis is at risk of an assassination attempt by the Islamic extremists of Isil, the Vatican has been warned, ahead of his first visit to a Muslim-majority country this weekend.

As the 77-year-old pontiff prepares to travel to Albania on Sunday for a one-day visit, Iraq's ambassador to the Holy See said there were credible threats against the pontiff's life.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church could also be vulnerable when he travels to Turkey in November, the ambassador said.

Jihadists from Isil have in recent weeks boasted of wanting to extend their caliphate to Rome, the heart of Western Christendom, and have talked of planting the jihadist black flag on top of St Peter's Basilica.
Habeeb Al Sadr said there were also indications of a more specific threat against Pope Francis, who recently spoke out in favour of the US and its allies halting the advance of Isil in Syria and Iraq.

"What has been declared by the self-declared Islamic State is clear – they want to kill the Pope. The threats against the Pope are credible," the ambassador told La Nazione, an Italian daily, on Tuesday.

"I believe they could try to kill him during one of his overseas trips or even in Rome. There are members of Isil who are not Arabs but Canadian, American, French, British, also Italians.

"Isil could engage any of these to commit a terrorist attack in Europe."

The ambassador said the Pope had made himself a target by speaking out against the human rights abuses committed against Christians in Syria and Iraq, as well as by his approval of attempts by the US to try to roll back Isil.
"In cases like this, where there is an unjust aggression, then it is licit to halt the aggressor," he said in an interview during his flight back from a visit to South Korea last month.

"But I stress 'halt'. I don't say bomb, or make war, but rather stop him," the Pope said.

The ambassador, who has been stationed in Rome for four years, said: "This band of criminals does not just issue threats – in Iraq they have already violated and destroyed some of the most sacred sites of the Shiite faith. They have struck at Yazidi and Christian places of worship. They have declared that whoever is not with them, is against them. Either convert or be killed. And they are doing it – it is a genocide."

The Vatican downplayed the warning, saying that it had received no credible reports of a threat to the Pope's life and that he would not be changing his daily routine or reviewing his trip to Albania.
"There are no specific threats or risks that would change the Pope's behaviour or the way the trip is organised," said Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman.

During the Pope's trip to Tirana, the Albanian capital, on Sunday, he will celebrate Mass in the city's main square and drive around in his open-topped Popemobile, as usual, Father Lombardi said.

The Pope wanted there to be "no obstacles" between him and the ordinary people he will encounter.
No extra security measures would be taken for the Albania trip, despite previous warnings that Albanian jihadists who had returned home from fighting in Syria or Iraq might be planning an attack.

Vatican security officials are "calm" ahead of the one-day visit, the Rev Lombardi said.

The trip to Albania is intended to celebrate the rebirth of Christianity after religious belief was crushed under the Communist rule of Enver Hoxha, and to demonstrate how Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims live in harmony in the country of three million people.

Hoxha, a hardline dictator, declared Albania the world's first atheist state in 1967 and allowed the persecution of Catholics.
The Pope's trip to Turkey, which will include events in Ankara and Istanbul, is expected to take place on Nov 29 and 30.

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(CNN) -- Witnesses say as many as 500 migrants died in the Mediterranean Sea when their boat was intentionally sunk by people traffickers, the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday.Two survivors interviewed by the IOM and Italian police in Sicily said the traffickers became enraged and rammed the overcrowded boat after the migrants refused to move to a smaller vessel.

The survivors -- both Palestinian men from Gaza who were rescued separately after days in the water clinging to flotation aids -- said they had first left the port of Damietta in Egypt on September 6, with some 500 men, women and children from the Middle East and Africa aboard.

The migrants were forced to change vessel three times during four days at sea but refused a final move when the traffickers tried to make them move to a boat they believed not to be seaworthy.

The Palestinians' account was corroborated by several other survivors who were interviewed on the Greek island of Crete, the IOM said.

They said the people smugglers, who they said were Palestinians and Egyptians, had begun yelling and throwing sticks at the migrants after they refused to leave the boat before then ramming the vessel.

"After they hit our boat they waited to make sure that it had sunk completely before leaving. They were laughing," said one. "When the boat was first struck, one of the passengers killed himself in despair by hanging," he said.

IOM: Many children among dead

By Tuesday morning, authorities in Italy, Malta and Greece confirmed the rescue of 10 migrants from the lost vessel, the IOM said. Three bodies have also been found.

Those on the boat included Syrians, Palestinians, Egyptians and Sudanese, as well as Palestinians, the witnesses said.

Based on their testimony, the IOM believes as many as 100 children may have been on board.

'"If survivors' reports are confirmed, this will be the worst shipwreck of migrants in years, not an accidental tragedy, but the apparent deliberate drowning of migrants by criminal gangs who extort money for their desperate journeys," said IOM spokesperson Leonard Doyle.

"Their actions are as callous as they are evil."

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'Shocking and unacceptable'

According to the IOM, the latest reported sinking would take the death toll off Europe's shores this year to nearly 3,000. In 2013, the organization's Missing Migrants Project estimated the total for the year to be 700 deaths.

"The numbers dying off Europe's coasts are shocking and unacceptable," said IOM director general William Lacy Swing.

"These are women, children and men who only hope for a more dignified life. The risks they take reflect their desperation and we cannot keep abandoning them to their fate."

Authorities are also investigating reports that 200 more people are missing off Libya and that another 15 drowned off the coast of Egypt, the IOM said.

Each year, tens of thousands of people are rescued from the Mediterranean, according to the European Union border agency, Frontex. The
United Nations has expressed dismay over the rising number of migrants dying at sea.

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bd popeye said:

The report below is horrible. My condolences to the families of the lost.

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Australia raids foil reported ISIS beheading plots
Australian counterterrorism forces detained 15 people Thursday in a series of suburban raids after receiving intelligence that the Islamic State militant group was planning public beheadings in two Australian cities to demonstrate its reach.

About 800 federal and state police officers raided more than a dozen properties across 12 Sydney suburbs as part of the operation -- the largest in Australian history, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Andrew Colvin told the Associated Press. A sword was removed as part of evidence at one of the homes.










Separate raids in the eastern cities of Brisbane and Logan were also conducted.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the plan involved kidnapping randomly selected members of the public off the streets in Sydney and Brisbane, beheading them on camera, and releasing the recordings through Islamic State's propaganda arm in the Middle East.

Later Thursday, Attorney General George Brandis confirmed that a person born in Afghanistan who had spent time in Australia and is now working with the Islamic State group in the Middle East ordered supporters in Australia to behead people and videotape the killings.

"If the ... police had not acted today, there is a likelihood that this would have happened," Brandis told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Brandis did not name the Australian. But Mohammad Ali Baryalei, who is believed to be Australia's most senior member of the Islamic State group, was named as a co-conspirator in court documents filed Thursday. Police have issued an arrest warrant for Baryalei, a 33-year-old former Sydney nightclub bouncer.

A 22-year-old Sydney man, Omarjan Azari, appeared in court Thursday and is accused of conspiring with Baryalei and others to act in preparation for or plan a terrorist act or acts.

Prosecutor Michael Allnutt said he was involved in a "plan to commit extremely serious offenses" that was "clearly designed to shock and horrify" the public. It is not immediately clear what sentence Azari faces if convicted. The accused did not apply for bail and did not enter a plea. His next court appearance was set for November 13.

Azari’s attorney, Steve Boland, said during the hearing that the allegation against his client was based "on one phone call." He did not speak to reporters outside court.

Dozens of police spent Thursday searching Azari's home and a car parked across the street from his house. One officer pulled a memo out of the car from the Australian National Imams Council outlining concerns about Australia's new anti-terrorism proposals. The council did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

A second man was charged Thursday night in connection with the raids. The 24-year-old, who police didn't name, was charged with possessing ammunition without license and unauthorized possession of a prohibited weapon. He was released on bail and ordered to appear in court next week.

Nine of those detained were later released, New South Wales police said.

A crowd of around 300 people protested the raids at a rally in Sydney on Thursday night.

Uthman Badar, a spokesman for the Islamist group Hizt ut-Tahrir, warned of a growing unrest within Australia’s Muslim community.

“We are tired of being made scapegoats. The government is the terrorist,” he said in front of supporters wearing anti-government placards, according to News.com.au.

“We would be fools to think we can now wake up and feel safer,” he added. “We are not fools to be deceived. There is anger in the community. We have been victimized for years and years.”

Meanwhile, Abbott told reporters that he had been briefed on Wednesday night about the operation and discussed the planned beheadings.

"That's the intelligence we received," he told reporters. "The exhortations -- quite direct exhortations -- were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in ISIL to networks of support back in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country."

The planned violence resembled the murder of Lee Rigby, a British soldier who was attacked and killed in May 2013 by two Nigerian-born Muslim converts near the Royal Artillery Barracks in southeast London.

"This is not just suspicion, this is intent and that's why the police and security agencies decided to act in the way they have," Abbott added.

The arrests come just days after the country raised its terror warning to the second-highest level in response to the domestic threat posed by supporters of ISIS.

"Police believe that this group that we have executed this operation on today had the intention and had started to carry out planning to commit violent acts here in Australia," Colvin said. "Those violent acts particularly related to random acts against members of the public. So what we saw today and the operation that continues was very much about police disrupting the potential for violence against the Australian community at the earliest possible opportunity."

New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said right now is a “time for calm.”

"We need to let people know that they are safe, and certainly from our perspective, we know that the work this morning will ensure that all of those plans that may have been on foot have been thwarted."

Last week, Australian police arrested two men in Brisbane for allegedly preparing to fight in Syria, recruiting jihadists and raising money for the Al Qaeda offshoot group Jabhat al-Nusra, also known as the Nusra Front. Colvin said the raids conducted in Brisbane on Thursday were a follow-up to that operation. It was not yet clear how the investigations in Sydney and Brisbane were linked, he said.

However, Fairfax Media reported that the arrests of the men averted a terror attack by mere days.

The government raised its terrorism threat last week from "medium" to "high" on a four-tier scale on the advice of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization. The domestic spy agency's Director-General David Irvine said the threat had been rising over the past year, mainly due to Australians joining ISIS to fight in Syria and Iraq.

When announcing the elevated threat level, Abbott stressed that there was no information suggesting a terror attack was imminent.

Police said at the time there was no terrorist threat to the Group of 20 leaders' summit to be hosted by Brisbane in November which will bring President Barack Obama and other leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies to the Queensland state capital.

Australia has estimated about 60 of its citizens are fighting for ISIS and the Nusra Front in Iraq and Syria. Another 15 Australian fighters had been killed, including two young suicide bombers.

The government has said it believes about 100 Australians are actively supporting extremist groups from within Australia, recruiting fighters and grooming suicide bomber candidates as well as providing funds and equipment

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Bernard said:

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airsuperiority said:

Just when I was finishing up with this post, I clicked into my Facebook and saw this

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This is very creepy because this video alone tells you several things:
Professional Cameraman/Photographer, Marketing Analysts...basically people with professional specialized skills contributed to this video and clearly the IS is taking their marketing to social media.

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solarz said:

You know what this reminds me of? Iron Man 3. It might sound like the stuff of conspiracy theories, but ISIS is clearly a lot more sophisticated than al-Qaida. Just compare their videos with those from bin Laden. Add to that their savvyness with social media campaigns, and it's pretty clear that ISIS leadership is made of people from first-world countries.

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airsuperiority said:

I agree. From what I'm sensing, and also based on that article posted by someone earlier, my guesses are, that IS is extremely organized. They have a lot of organizational experience, and I have a feeling there's a central command surrounded by departments of lieutenants and auxiliary units, and then the general grunts. Lieutenants probably lead their own teams or brigades, while there are probably auxiliary departments responsible for marketing, and finally the finance is centralized for dispersal or small cash that are pillaged are held by lieutenants for to trickle downstream. I also doubt all IS operatives are as brutal, but local killings are enforced by sergeants or central command, and key hostages are passed to central command for processing. Anyways these are my guesses, and I guess we will see what's going on pretty soon.

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solarz said:

That in itself is not so surprising. What is amazing is that such a sophisticated, likely centralized, and probably massive, organization has not been wiped out by the Americans long ago. Compare this with how easily the US finds Taliban/al-Qaida networks the moment they get too big.

There are only two possibilities I can think of:

1- ISIS bankrolling is handled by an organization that is sophisticated and powerful enough to hide its operations from the CIA, NSA, and FBI (we can be certain that a good portion of the money is being funnel from the US itself) combined. Now that is the stuff of Illuminati.

2- The US is not really interested in wiping out ISIS, for various reasons, and is allowing it to remain operational, with only a lot of empty talk to reassure the public.

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