UPDATE: Important Headline Correction
Posted: July 26, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Entertainment, Humor, Mediasphere, The Butcher's Notebook, White House | Tags: Correction, Headline, Kenya, media, news, Parody, President Obama, satire Leave a commentError: Previous headline said “Elecocutes”. Should be “Electrify”. We apologize for any inconvenience.
[VIDEO] Kenyan Politician Nearly Lights Himself on Fire in Attempt to Combat Kenya’s Underground Alcohol Industry
Posted: July 10, 2015 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Food & Drink, Global | Tags: Alcohol, Alcohol by volume, Alcoholic beverage, Alcoholism, Country of origin, Drink, Kenya, Kenya Bureau of Standards, Manufacturing, Methanol 3 CommentsWhat’s more dangerous: drinking illegal, highly alcoholic beverages possibly laced with methanol, or setting those drinks on fire in front of a crowd?
William Kabogo, governor of Kenya’s Kiambu County, figured that one out the hard way this week when he tried to make a point about just how badly he wants to eliminate Kenya’s underground alcohol industry by lighting a big pile of alcohol-filled bottles on fire….(read more)
Enforcing Sharia Compliance: Infamous Saudi Religious Police Unit Debuts on Twitter
Posted: April 25, 2015 Filed under: Law & Justice, Religion | Tags: Al Sharpton, Allah, Copts, Halal, Islam, Islamic terrorism, Kenya, Muslim, Qur'an, Sharia, The Christian Science Monitor, Twitter, United States Constitution Leave a commentJordan Schachtel reports: Saudi Arabia’s Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, known as “Haia” in the Wahhabi Kingdom, has arrived on Twitter under the verified username @PvGovSa.
“Haia can arrest anyone for violating Islamic customs and dietary laws, such as women smoking, couples celebrating Valentine’s Day, or either gender eating pork or consuming alcohol.”
“Abdul Rahman Al-Sanad, president of the commission, inaugurated the account and announced the formation of a higher committee for media and public relations to improve the Haia’s public image,” the Saudi Gazettereports.
The group’s initial tweet read, “In the name of Allah and Allah’s blessing kicks off the official account of the General Presidency for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice on Twitter asking Allah to benefit by everyone.”
“Several controversial acts have embroiled the Sharia-enforcement agency over the years. In 2002, 15 young Saudi girls died from burns and smoke inhalation after the religious police prevented them from leaving their school while it was on fire.”
Haia is the Saudi Arabian government’s “religious police” that seeks to enforce the customs of the Koranic Sharia law within the country.
The religious entity patrols the streets ensuring that individuals, particularly women, are maintaining a Sharia-compliant lifestyle, which includes dressing properly (wearing a full cloak) and remaining separated from men at all times. The Haia agency is also known for enforcing Saudi Arabia’s ban on female automobile drivers. Read the rest of this entry »
UPDATE: Islamist Attack on Kenya Christian Students: Death Toll Rises to 147
Posted: April 2, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, War Room | Tags: African Union Mission in Sudan, al Qaeda, Al-Shabaab (militant group), College football, Garissa, Islamism, Kenya, Nairobi, Somalia, Uhuru Kenyatta 3 CommentsAt least 70 147 Kenyan students were massacred Thursday when Somalia‘s Shebab Islamist group raided a university, the interior minister said, the country’s deadliest attack since US embassy bombings in 1998.
“Unfortunately, we lost… a number of lives, we have not confirmed fully…”
“We are mopping up the area,” Interior Minster Joseph Nkaiserry told reporters, saying that four gunmen had been killed after Kenyan troops launched an assault on the final building where the insurgents had holed up for over 12 hours.
“The terrorists, 90 percent of the threat has been eliminated… we have been able to confirm that four terrorists have been killed.”
“Unfortunately, we lost… a number of lives, we have not confirmed fully, but it is in the region of 70 students, and 79 have been injured, nine of them critically,” he added.
The masked gunmen began the assault before dawn, using grenades to blast open the gates of the university in the northeastern town of Garissa, near the lawless border with war-torn Somalia, before attacking students as they slept. Read the rest of this entry »
BREAKING: Gunmen Storm Kenya’s Garissa University College
Posted: April 1, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, War Room | Tags: Al-Shabaab (militant group), Associated Press, CCTV, Garissa, Kenya, Mandera, Mombasa, Somalia, The Pentagon, Uganda Leave a commentHeavy gunfire and explosions have been heard at Garissa University College near the border with Somalia.
Local media say that two policemen and a student have been injured and rushed to hospital, and Kenyan defence forces are said to have arrived at the scene.
It is not clear who is responsible for the attack, but Somali al-Shabaab militants have frequently targeted Kenya in the past few years….developing….
2 Senior Shabab Members Reported Killed in Somalia
Posted: October 28, 2013 Filed under: Breaking News, War Room | Tags: Al-Shabaab (militant group), al-Shabab, Federal Government of Somalia, Kenya, Middle Juba, Somalia, United States Navy SEALs 1 CommentMOGADISHU, Somalia) —Abdi Guled reports: A member of the Somali Islamic extremist group al-Shabab and a Somali government intelligence official say a military strike, possibly a drone attack, killed at least two senior al-Shabab rebels.
The al-Shabab member, who gave his name as Abu Mohamed, said one of those killed was al-Shabab’s top explosives expert, known as Anta. He said a drone targeted a car carrying al-Shabab rebels in Somalia’s Middle Juba region.
A Somali intelligence official in Mogadishu said the attack occurred as al-Shabab members went to intervene in a clan dispute. The official insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to share intelligence.
Earlier this month, United States Navy SEALS attacked a coastal Somali town to take down a Kenyan al-Shabab member. The SEALs withdrew before capturing or killing their target.
Kenya Mall Attack: Recovered Bodies May Be Gunmen
Posted: October 18, 2013 Filed under: Breaking News, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: Abdi Dhuhulow, BBC, Kenya, Nairobi, Norway, Somalia, Westgate, Westgate shopping center 1 Comment
A woman shields a baby as a soldier stands guard inside the Westgate shopping mall after a shootout in Nairobi, on Sept. 21, 2013. Kabir Dhanji / EPA
Sophie Brown reports: Bodies recovered from the Westgate shopping center on Thursday are probably those of two attackers, according to a Kenyan official. Ndung’u Gethenji, who heads the committee investigating the Sept. 21 attack, said AK47 rifles were found next to the bodies, ruling out the possibility that they were soldiers since the army does not use those weapons.
Meanwhile, one of the suspected gunmen has been identified as Norwegian Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, 23, who was born in Somalia, the BBC reports.
More than three weeks on, it remains unclear how many gunmen were involved in the attack and whether any escaped. Authorities initially reported that 10 to 15 militants were at the mall but surveillance video appears to show only four men.
VIDEO: Kenya Mall Massacre – First moments Captured in Amateur Video
Posted: September 24, 2013 Filed under: Global, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: al-Shabaab, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kenya, Nairobi, Shopping mall, Twitter, United States 1 Comment
Kenyan Mall Massacre Hero: Off duty SAS soldier with handgun saved 100 lives
Posted: September 23, 2013 Filed under: Guns and Gadgets, Self Defense, War Room | Tags: al-Shabaab, East Africa, Kenya, Nairobi, Shopping mall, Somalia, Special Air Service, Westgate, Yemen 3 CommentsAn off-duty member of the SAS emerged as a hero of the Nairobi siege yesterday, after he was credited with saving up to 100 lives. The soldier was having coffee at the Westgate mall when it was attacked by Islamists on Saturday. With a gun tucked into his waistband, he was pictured helping two women from the complex.
He is said to have returned to the building on a dozen occasions, despite intense gunfire. A friend in Nairobi said: ‘What he did was so heroic. He was having coffee with friends when it happened.
‘He went back in 12 times and saved 100 people. Imagine going back in when you knew what was going on inside.’ Read the rest of this entry »
How al-Shabaab picks its targets
Posted: September 23, 2013 Filed under: Global, Think Tank, War Room | Tags: al Qaeda, al-Shabaab, CNN, Kenya, Nairobi, Osama bin Laden, Peter Bergen, Somali, Somalia Leave a comment
A Kenyan police officer guards the entrance of a building near the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday, September 23. Gunmen burst into the mall and opened fire in a deadly attack on September 21. Kenyan authorities sounded increasingly confident Monday that they had brought the three-day standoff to a close, reassuring a nervous public that there was little chance of escape for any surviving Al-Shabaab gunmen who had terrorized the mall, killing dozens of people.
Nairobi mall attack fits with Al-Shabaab’s motives
(CNN) — Peter Bergen reports: Al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda’s brutal Somali affiliate, has claimed credit for the attack by multiple gunmen at an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya that has already killed at least 59 people.
This should not be a surprise. For Al-Shabaab, the mall was an attractive target because Westerners, including Americans, frequented it. The mall is also in the capital of Kenya, a country that Al-Shabaab has good reason to dislike, as the Kenyan military played a major role in handing their forces a defeat last year when they liberated the key Somali port of Kismayo from their control.
REPORT: Al-Shabaab Claims Three Americans Among Gunmen in Kenya Mall
Posted: September 22, 2013 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: al Qaeda, al-Shabaab, Kenya, Nairobi, Somalia, Twitter, Uhuru Kenyatta, United States 2 CommentsBridget Johnson writes: Al-Shabaab is claiming that there are American gunmen among those still holed up in the Westgate mall in a standoff with Kenyan and Israeli special forces.
The Somali al-Qaeda affiliate tweeted a series of names on its latest account before Twitter against suspended the group. Al-Shabaab has been creating new accounts each time they get shut down but a movement of pro-Kenyan tweeters has been tracking down the new accounts and complaining to Twitter.
“We received permission to disclose the names of our mujahideen inside #Westgate,” their latest account tweeted.
They proceeded to tweet the names one by one, including Ahmed Mohamed Isse, 22, “native” of St. Paul, Minn., Abdifatah Osman Keenadiid, 24, of Minneapolis, and Gen Mustafe Noorudiin, 27, of Kansas City, Mo.
PHOTOS: Hundreds die in weekend attacks
Posted: September 22, 2013 Filed under: Global, War Room | Tags: Iraq, Kenya, Nairobi, Peshawar, Sadr City, Saturday, Sept, Sunday 2 Comments
Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013: Peshawar, Pakistan. Pakistani women grieve over the coffins of their relatives, who were killed in a suicide attack on a church. The suicide bomb attack killed scores of people Sunday, in one of the worst assaults on the country’s Christian minority in years. An assault by Islamic extremists at a Kenya mall, a suicide attack on a Pakistani church and assaults by suicide bombers targeting mourners at Shiite and Sunni funerals in Iraq have killed more than 250 people and injured at least 470 others since Saturday. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)
A recap of key events:
— Saturday, Sept. 21, through Sunday, Sept. 22: Nairobi, Kenya — Islamic extremist gunmen lobbing grenades and firing assault rifles inside an upscale mall in Nairobi kill at least 68 people, wound more than 175 others and hold an unknown number of others hostage.
— Saturday, Sept. 21: Baghdad — A wave of attacks, mainly on a Shiite funeral in Baghdad, kill 104 people and wound more than 140 others.
— Sunday, Sept. 22: Peshawar, Pakistan — A pair of suicide bombers blow themselves up amid hundreds of worshippers at a church in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 78 and wounding more than 140 others..
— Sunday, Sept. 22, Baghdad — Iraqi authorities say a suicide attacker killed at least 16 people and wounded at least 35 others at a Sunni funeral.
Here’s a gallery of photos from the last 48 hours of violence in Kenya, Pakistan and Iraq:
Americans among injured in deadly Kenya mall attack as Al Qaeda-linked Somali militant group claims responsibility
Posted: September 21, 2013 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, War Room | Tags: AK-47, al-Shabaab, al-Shabab, Kenya, Kenyan, Nairobi, Uhuru Kenyatta, United States 2 CommentsReporting from Fox news and AP: The Al Qaeda-linked Somali militant group al-Shabab is claiming responsibility for a deadly attack targeting non-Muslims at an upscale mall in Kenya’s capital.
A statement from al-Shabab on its official Twitter feed Saturday says the attacks, which killed at least 39 and wounded 150, including American citizens, are retribution for military action by Kenya inside Somalia. The group said it was now shifting the battlefield to Kenya. Police say they are treating the assault as a “terrorist attack.”
Witnesses say the gunmen asked victims they had cornered if they were Muslim: If the answer was yes, several witnesses said, those people were free to go. The non-Muslims were not. Read the rest of this entry »
How Successful Networks Nourish Good Ideas
Posted: September 18, 2013 Filed under: Think Tank | Tags: Audience effect, Clive Thompson, Douglas College, Kenya, Ory Okolloh, Sturgeon's Law, Theodore Sturgeon, Vanderbilt University, wordpress Leave a comment
Illustration: Simon C. Page
Clive Thompson writes: In 2003, Kenyan-born Ory Okolloh was a young law student studying in the US but still obsessed with Kenyan politics. There was plenty to obsess over. Kenya was a cesspool of government corruption: Transparency International ranked it as one of the most corrupt public sectors in the world. Okolloh spent hours talking to her classmates and law professors about politics, until eventually one suggested the obvious: Why don’t you start a blog? Read the rest of this entry »