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Nicaragua arrests four men suspected of ties to ISIS - US says they were on their way to Mexico

isis suspects
Four men with suspected ties to the Islamic State militant group were captured on Tuesday by members of the Nicaraguan armed forces after entering the country illegally from Costa Rica, Nicaraguan police said.

The identities of three of the men matched those of suspects featured in an alert attributed to U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) warning that three possible terrorists had recently arrived in Central America.

In a statement, Nicaraguan police said two of the men were Egyptian nationals and the other two were Iraqi. The four were due to be deported back to Costa Rica, it added.

The Egyptians were named as Mohamed Ibrahim, 33, and Mahmoud Samy Eissa, 26, while the Iraqis were Ahmed Ghanim Mohamed Al Jubury, 41 and Mustafa Ali Mohamed Yaoob, 29.

The first three men were named in the HSI alert published by Mexican media on Monday, which identified them as possible members of Islamic State headed for the United States.

Comment: Two days ago, Breitbart reported the following:
Mexican authorities are on high alert regarding three ISIS-linked terror suspects who are believed to be making their way from Central America to Mexico and potentially the U.S. border. Authorities were warned the suspects could try to enter Mexico within a large migrant group or with the help of human smugglers.

Breitbart News exclusively confirmed that Mexican Federal Police are on alert, preparing to encounter or arrest Ahamed Ghanim Mohamed Al Juburi from Iraq, and Ibrahim Mohamed and Mohamed Eissa from Egypt. The three men are believed to have entered through Panama in May, crossed through Costa Rica on June 9, and could be headed to Mexico, a leaked internal security memo revealed. The documents make reference to BITMAP, the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations' Biometric Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program, a collection of databases on "special interest aliens, violent criminals, fugitives and confirmed or suspected terrorists encountered within illicit pathways."

A document obtained by Breitbart News from Mexico's Federal Police revealed that on June 21, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned Mexico about the suspects and asked for cooperation in attempting to stop them if they were encountered in or approaching Mexico. The document asked for cooperation from all Mexican agencies.
Interestingly, this comes after the first "credible" information hinting at ISIS using Latin America as a means of entering the U.S. The idea had been floating around in recent years, but it was only after the following story made the news that it hinted at a real possibility: And now we have the first arrests of exactly that scenario. Coincidence?


Microscope 1

Breaking barriers or dangerous for women? Dutch tech university opens 'female-only' teaching positions

women stem sciences
© Reuters / Paul Hackett/File
A Dutch engineering university unveiled a plan to hire only women for some of its teaching positions, as a solution to combat gender biases at work. RT has heard different opinions on whether the method actually helps the cause.

In hopes of boosting diversity and fighting "implicit gender bias," Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands opened permanent teaching vacancies "exclusively" for women in one of its programs. Men can be considered for the job only if no suitable female candidates are found in six months.

Comment:


Attention

US Navy combat ship collides with Canadian freighter

USS Billings Canadian Freighter
An advanced U.S. Navy combat ship that is slated to be commissioned as the U.S.S. Billings collided with a berthed freighter in Montreal on Monday, FreightWaves reported. Both ships were damaged as a result, but their crews were safe. The U.S. Freedom-class littoral combat ship hit the M/V Rosaire A. Desgagnes at about 2PM on Monday, according to Lt. Cmdr. Courtney Hillson, a Navy spokesperson.

The Billings is 378 feet long and sustained damage below the waterline as a result. The damage to the 452 foot dry bulk vessel it collided with has not been fully assessed yet. The bulk vessel is owned by Quebec-based Transport Desgagnés.

The U.S. Navy is reportedly still investigating the incident and despite the fact that the Billings was "capable" of making it to its Florida homebase, it is being kept in Montreal for additional damage assessments.

Cheeseburger

No free lunch: Bernie's #CancelStudentDebt is a dangerous scam

bernie sanders ocasio cortez
© Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse/Getty
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduce the college proposal on June 24, 2019.
This week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed that it was "literally easier" for her to win the congressional election than pay off her student loan debt-which says something unfortunate about both the cost of college and the electorate's choices.

Ocasio-Cortez was commenting on Sen. Bernie Sanders' new plan to eliminate $1.6 trillion in student debt and transform higher education into a "free" and "fundamental right." "This proposal will make it possible for every person in America to get a college education no matter what their financial situation," Sanders explained.

This might surprise some people, but every person in America can already get a college education no matter his financial situation. Most poor Americans, in fact, can attend college for a relatively reasonable price tag. Sanders' socialization of the university system would be far more helpful for high-earning individuals. One Georgetown University study, for example, finds that a bachelor's degree is worth $2.8 million on average over a lifetime, which tells us that college is often a pretty good investment.

Compass

Multiple jets losing GPS signal in Israeli airspace - 'unexplained disruptions'

Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv

Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv
Israeli authorities are at a loss to explain multiple instances of pilots losing their connection to global positioning satellites around Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport.

On Wednesday, the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) confirmed reports that "many" pilots had been losing their Global Positioning System (GPS) signals mid-air, and that the problem has been occurring for weeks.

Comment: Haaretz adds:
Confirming there had been GPS disruptions for approximately the past three weeks, an IAA statement said these affected only airborne crews and not terrestrial navigation systems. An aviation source told Haaretz the interruptions occur only during daytime, but "do not put pilots and passengers at risk."


Pilots use GPS for navigation within the Israeli airspace, and for takeoff and landing. The source said pilots have alternative instrument landing and navigation systems that are not reliant on the GPS to work. Another source said the announcement was meant to notify incoming flights to turn off GPS systems, and use the alternative instruments, as long as the interruptions continue.

Israeli authorities had worked from the outset to locate the source of the problem and fix it, the IAA added. Asked if an explanation for the disruption had been found, an IAA spokesman said: "No. I don't know." Sources in the Israeli Airline Pilots Association told Haaretz there have been recurring interruptions in the GPS systems in the eastern Mediterranean.

Asked for comment, a spokeswoman for Israel's Defense Ministry said only that the disruption was an IAA matter. "At no stage has there been a safety incident stemming from the GPS disruption in the context of the precision of navigation and flight corridors," the IAA said. In its post on Tuesday, the IFALPA said the loss of the GPS signal may create numerous alerts for systems.

Members of the Israeli Airline Pilots Association said this is an unusual development that is not common worldwide. "It's unexpected and you don't know to what extent the jamming will be and where it will catch you," said one member. "This is not a local incident, but a big and significant event, and we are confident that the IAA and the civil aviation authorities will solve it," he said.



No Entry

China tells Canada to stop meat shipments over fake export documents

pigs in pen
© Reuters/Todd Korol/File
Pigs in their pen on a small farm outside of Calgary, Alberta, April 2, 2009.
China said on Tuesday it wants the Canadian government to stop allowing meat shipments to China after bogus export certificates were discovered.

The announcement comes just four days before China and the United States are due to sit down to work on settling a trade dispute that has caught Canada in the crossfire.

An investigation into Canada's export certificates has revealed as many as 188 "counterfeit" veterinary health documents and the existence of "obvious safety loopholes," the Chinese Embassy in Canada said in a statement on its website.

Canadian Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in a statement that the Canadian Food and Inspection Agency (CFIA) confirmed it had found "inauthentic export certificates."

Ambulance

Disturbing trend: Teen tourist sickened during vacation in Dominican Republic

Candela Saccone

Candela Saccone
A teenage girl from Argentina has gone into a coma while vacationing in the Dominican Republic, with doctors pointing to a life-threatening diabetic condition - even though her family says she has no history of diabetes.

Candela Saccone, 15, had been scheduled to return home from Punta Cana on June 19 after traveling there earlier in the week, but she reportedly got sick that morning.

Her mother, Natalia Knetch, told CNN's Spanish-language news channel that she rushed the teen - who was displaying symptoms of dizziness, dehydration and vomiting - to a local medical center, where doctors diagnosed her with diabetic ketoacidosis.

The condition is described online by the Mayo Clinic as a "serious complication of diabetes that occurs when your body produces high levels of blood acids called ketones." It normally develops "when your body can't produce enough insulin," the clinic says.

Comment: Something strange is afoot in the DR.


Dollar

Over 60% of college grads regret their education after being bogged down with student loan debt

student debt
© Reuters / Andrew Burton
Protest against student loan debt
Nearly two thirds of US college graduates have serious regrets about their education, with many resentful of taking on huge student loan burdens or pursuing worthless humanities degrees, a recent survey has found.

More than a quarter of college graduates with at least a Bachelor's degree regretted taking out unaffordable student loans more than anything else, according to Payscale's online salary survey, conducted in April and May and published on Tuesday. Millennials were especially rueful of their poor financial choices, though Generation X came in a close second, and even some Baby Boomer respondents fingered debt as the source of their regrets.

With student loan debt set to surpass $1.6 trillion this year, exceeding even Americans' prodigious credit card debt, it's easy to see why so many grads are wishing they'd never signed their loan papers, especially as tuition for even public colleges has surged by 62 percent in the last decade. Over a third of students attending private colleges cursed their student loan debt as their primary regret, while just under a quarter of their public college peers shared the sentiment.

Comment: See also:


Attention

Dutch police seize 2,500 kilos of crystal meth in Europe's largest drug bust

dutch drug bust
© Politie Landelijke Eenheid
Dutch police have made the largest seizure of crystal meth in European history, finding 2,500kg (5,500lbs) in a hidden crawlspace at a warehouse in Rotterdam.

The drugs, with an estimated street value in the hundreds of millions, were discovered last week during a raid on a business premises.

Officers noticed the upper floor of the building was far smaller than it appeared from the outside, and eventually discovered a hidden compartment stuffed with the highly addictive drug, according to a Dutch police press release.

The police wasted no time in incinerating the seized drugs. Meanwhile, the investigation led officers to another warehouse in Utrecht where they discovered 17,500 liters of chemicals used to produce cocaine and other drugs. The inquiry into this extensive drug syndicate is ongoing and police believe the vast trove of crystal meth was destined for export.

Handcuffs

New Mexico mother who boiled puppies and forced her children to watch arrested on abuse charges

Martha Crouch
© AP
A New Mexico woman is accused of running a house of horrors where she tortured and beat some of her 15 children and forced them to watch as she boiled their puppies alive, authorities said Tuesday.

One of Martha Crouch's seven daughters told investigators that after one of the family's dogs gave birth, the mother "took the puppies and put them into a giant pot and boiled them, making all the kids watch," according to court documents.

The 17-year-old girl said the horrific incident happened on the same day that her dog Pip was shot and killed by her mom.

San Juan County sheriff's office investigators heard the stomach-churning allegations and others of abuse and neglect when they opened a probe following the arrest of one of Crouch's adult children on assault with a deadly weapon.

Since then, the New Mexico Children, Youth and Family Department has received hundreds of pages of reports with complaints about Crouch and her husband Timothy from social services agencies in multiple states including Alaska, Kansas, Missouri and Montana.