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Bomb

Suicide bombers attack Chinese consulate in Pakistan's Karachi


CNBC
Fri, 23 Nov 2018 16:04 UTC
karachi consulate bombing
© Asif Hassan | AFP | Getty ImagesPakistani security personnel stand next to burned out vehicles in front of the Chinese consulate after an attack in Karachi on November 23, 2018.
Three suicide bombers attacked the Chinese consulate in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi early on Friday, but were killed before entering the building, the city's police chief said.

At least two police officers were killed in the attack, which was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), an ethnic insurgent group that said it opposes Chinese exploitation of natural resources in the country's southwest. It also describes itself as the Balochistan Liberation Army.

All Chinese staff at the consulate are safe, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered an inquiry into the incident.

The attack was the most prominent attack in Pakistan against neighbor and ally China, which is pouring billions of dollars into the country as part of its vast Belt and Road initiative.

A blast and gunshots rang out early on Friday in the affluent Clifton neighborhood, where the consulate is located, and a plume of smoke rose over the area after the explosion.

Comment: Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the assault:
"The failed attack against the Chinese consulate was clearly a reaction to the unprecedented trade agreements that resulted from our trip to China," Khan said on Twitter. "The attack was intended to scare Chinese investors and undermine CPEC. These terrorists will not succeed."
Police are linking the attack to India:
Pakistani police say they are investigating whether a Baluch separatist commander suspected of orchestrating a suicide attack against the Chinese Consulate in Karachi is sheltering in India.
...
But two police and two Pakistani visa applicants were also killed in the violence, which was claimed by a Pakistan-based separatist militant group known as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
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On November 24, Pakistani counterterrorism police officer Umar Khitab said the attackers used a foreign-made C-4 plastic explosive and suggested that India was involved.

Khitab also suggested that India was involved, saying that the BLA was backed by "the 'enemy country'," a reference to India.

Khitab said the authorities believed Baluch separatist commander Aslam Achhu masterminded the attack and that he may now be in India.
The Chinese consulate wasn't the only place targeted on Friday. Hours after the failed suicide bombing, another explosion took the lives of over 30 people and injured 50 more in a market in Kalaya.
Three children and 28 mourners are believed to be among the 31 victims, according to local Geo TV. The network says that another 33 people were injured in the suicide blast on Friday after the attacker went to the market on a motorcycle.

Meanwhile, AFP citing local officials gives a different account, saying that the improvised explosive device was hidden in a carton of vegetables. The agency also put the death toll at 31 and said that 50 more people were injured, with 17 in critical condition.

The attack on a market was labeled "terrorist" by Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari, who also blamed US failures in neighboring Afghanistan for the blast.
The conflicting report says the attacker drove a motorcycle into the market before detonating the explosive. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the second blast, saying it was a suicide bomber, not an IED. The death toll is now listed as 57, with 75 wounded.

See also:

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Pistol

Alabama police admit to killing the wrong suspect in mall shooting case

Carol Robinson
AL.com
Fri, 23 Nov 2018 16:18 UTC
Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr.
© FacebookEmantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr.
A 21-year-old man shot and killed by Hoover police at the Riverchase Galleria Thanksgiving night likely did not fire the rounds that wounded an 18-year-old and 12-year-old, police announced Friday night.

Earlier Friday, the Jefferson County Coroner's Office identified the slain man as Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr. Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector while the department does not typically issue media updates during an internal investigation, there was information discussed with local media Friday night that merits update and clarification.

Preliminary information gathered Friday night, Rector said, indicated that two individuals were involved in a physical altercation that led to a 21-year-old male shooting an 18-year-old male multiple times. The 18-year-old victim was indeed shot and transported to UAB Hospital, where he remained on Friday.
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No Entry

Meth addict drops her baby on his head while running through traffic


WESH 2
Fri, 23 Nov 2018 16:12 UTC
meth addict
Deputies in Marion County say a woman dropped an infant on his head, fracturing his skull, when they tried to get her to stop running in and out of traffic Monday.

Kayla Morgan, 23, is charged with aggravated child abuse and resisting.

Officials with the Marion County Sheriff's Office said they were called to the area of Highway 315 and Highway 40 after receiving reports that a woman holding an infant was running in and out of traffic.

When deputies approached Morgan they said she purposely dropped the baby on the ground head-first. The infant suffered a fractured skull from the incident, deputies said.

After she was taken into custody, Morgan was treated at a hospital.
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Boat

Norway refuses to disclose details of frigate collision or the role of US officer on board


Sputnik
Thu, 22 Nov 2018 15:20 UTC
frigate collision
© REUTERS / Jakob Ostheim/Norwegian Coastal Administration
A US officer had a central role on the bridge ahead of the collision, which may set the Norwegian Navy back its entire annual budget; however, he had no formal responsibility, the national broadcaster NRK reported.

The US officer was receiving training from his Norwegian colleagues when the frigate KMN Helge Ingstad collided in the early hours of November 8 with the fully loaded oil tanker Sola ST off Norway's west coast. The frigate was under NATO command at the time, returning to its home port in Bergen after participating in NATO's huge Trident Juncture exercise off Trondheim, national broadcaster NRK reported.

When the collision occurred shortly after 4 a.m., there were seven people on the bridge of the frigate, which is usually manned by only five people. The US officer was being trained to become a duty chief, which was confirmed by NATO. Based on its sources, NRK claimed that the US officer had a central function on the bridge ahead of the collision, but no formal responsibility.

Comment: NATO drills fallout: Norwegian frigate almost entirely underwater after oil tanker collision

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Newspaper

Stupidity of most mainstream media coverage has me defending Russians... again!

Simon Rite
RT
Sat, 24 Nov 2018 15:40 UTC
Russian fan holding bear flag
© Sputnik / Mihail Mokrushin
I often find myself writing in defense of Russia and Russians, then vowing to keep away from the subject for a while. It never lasts, because some coverage is so idiotic, I can't help but start angrily bashing away at my keyboard.

I've noticed how the media's framing of Russia affects the way it's viewed for some years, although obviously it's more pronounced now post-Skripal. I personally have no desire to defend anything governments do or say to each other, but there is a fallout which colors how people and cultures are seen, and that's what really annoys me. Russians are not all spies, oligarchs or any of the other cliches.

Shortly after I moved to Moscow in 2006 I came home for Christmas, a bag packed with decoratively-wrapped bottles of vodka and matryoshka dolls, fresh from the duty free to hand out as presents.
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No Entry

Trump may close US-Mexico border if rush of illegal migrants threatens loss of control

Neil Munro
Breitbart
Thu, 22 Nov 2018 00:00 UTC
Central american Migrant caravan
© AFP/File Alfredo ESTRELLATrump’s threat to close the border also comes amid reports that White House officials may pressure Mexico to accept the temporary return of asylum-seeking migrants pending the courtroom resolution of their pleas for asylum in the United States.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he may close the U.S.-Mexico border if the rush of illegal migrants pushes border management out of control.

"If we find that it's uncontrollable, Josh, if we find that it's - it gets to a level where we are going to lose control or where people are going to start getting hurt, we will close entry into the country for a period of time until we can get it under control," Trump told a gaggle of reporters in Palm Beach, Florida, according to a transcript prepared by Grabien.com.


Comment: Reports from Mexico indicate that could well be the case:
Mexican journalist Alex Backman has released a stunning expose on the caravan from Central America. He says the migrants are robbing and stealing in Mexico. They carjack cars containing just one occupant. There are even accounts of rapes. Many of the migrants will not let people film them. If they see someone filming them through a car window, they stop the car and demand the phone. Backman suspects the reason they don't want to be filmed is because they have criminal histories.

"If you don't have borders, you don't have a country," he said. "Democrats want open borders."

Trump's statement comes two days after a San Francisco judge temporarily shut down his November 9 border reforms at the request of a group of ACLU lawyers. The reform denies illegal migrants the right to ask for a full asylum and the right to live in the United States.

Trump's threat to close the border also comes amid reports that White House officials may pressure Mexico to accept the temporary return of asylum-seeking migrants pending the courtroom resolution of their pleas for asylum in the United States.

Comment: See also: DOJ says federal judge ruling to block asylum restrictions 'absurd' & will be appealed

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Attention

Black Friday 2018: Homo-Americanus hungrily stalks flat screen TVs


RT
Sat, 24 Nov 2018 15:06 UTC
NYC shoppers
© Reuters / Stephanie KeithPeople shopping during a Black Friday sales event at Macy's flagship store in New York City on Thanksgiving.
You'd be forgiven for thinking internet shopping has made night-long queues in the November cold and frenzied fights over discounted TV-sets things of the past - but you'd be wrong. Black Friday traditions are stronger than that.

It's the year 2018 and while online retail giants like Amazon continue to kick the proverbial ass and take names of bricks and mortar stores, it appears thousands of old-school shoppers still enjoy the adrenaline and satisfaction of literally chasing a bargain.

Sadly, the chaos once reserved for Black Friday has leaked into Thanksgiving Thursday. The day intended to be spent with loved ones over turkey dinner, has been somewhat overshadowed by the department store race to pull in the first customers.
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Handcuffs

Pakistan arrests Cleric whose supporters held violent rallies over Blasphemy Law


RFEL
Fri, 23 Nov 2018 00:00 UTC
Khadim Hussain Rizvi
© Arif Ali/APKhadim Hussain Rizvi speaks to supporters during a protest following the Supreme Court's decision to acquit Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi of blasphemy, in Lahore on November 2.
Pakistani authorities have arrested a radical Islamic cleric whose followers held violent rallies against the acquittal of a Christian woman in a blasphemy case.

Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the leader of the hard-line Tehrik-e Labaik party was arrested late on November 23 in the eastern city of Lahore, the party said in a statement.

Police said that Rizvi's supporters clashed with police soon after he was taken away, with at least five people wounded.
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Santa Hat

Professional Santa fired from parade after saying he wouldn't consider hiring a female Santa

Tom Dillane
NZ Herald
Sat, 24 Nov 2018 10:40 UTC
Neville Baker Santa
© Michael CraigNeville Baker has been the Farmers Santa Parade Santa for the past four years. He runs My Santa, a recruitment company that specialises in training and placing professional Santas.
The man who Farmers ditched as their longstanding Santa in tomorrow's Auckland Christmas parade has said he is taking legal advice over a "big wrong" done to him.

Neville Baker told the Herald on Sunday tonight it had been insinuated he was a "pervert".

"Everyone is picking things out and making me to look to be stupid. I'm going to take legal advice right across the board I'm going to address this because there's been a big wrong."

Comment: Since when do "family values" include gender-bending traditional beloved characters? If you're going to cast for a bio-pic, you're going to choose an actor who conforms to the look, including the gender, of the person being depicted. The same goes for Santa Claus. That suggesting this would mean you lose your contract is yet another example of the runaway train of SJWism.

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Stock Up

Gold losing its luster as palladium prices soar but Russia keeps smiling


RT
Sat, 24 Nov 2018 13:50 UTC
An employee places ingots of 99.98 percent pure palladium on a table
© Reuters / Ilya NaymushinAn employee places ingots of 99.98 percent pure palladium on a table.
Palladium prices have been hitting record highs, jumping more than nine percent this year - the best performance among major metals, and investors are betting the bull run is just getting started.

Almost 70 percent of palladium demand comes from the auto industry, according to researcher CPM Group. The metal, which is used mainly in catalytic converters, has benefited from the automobile industry's move away from diesel to petrol engines. The shift has boosted demand in a market which currently has limited supply.
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