ISIS Leader Al-Baghdadi Escaped to Sirte in Libya, Home of Gaddafi

ATP - The leader of the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL_ISIS ) Takfiri terrorist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has moved from aTurkey to Libya to escape the hunt operation of the Baghdad Intelligence Sharing Center after he was traced down and allegedly targeted a number of times in Iraq and the Syria, sources said on Tuesday.

Sources in Libya said al-Baghdadi has arrived in Sirte, the hometown of the slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, which is under the control of the ISIS Takfiri group.

The ISIL Leader is running a secret life as his life is at stake more than anyone in the world now. Al-Baghdad's terrorist group is under massive airstrike by the Syrian, Russian and Iraqi Air Forces all throughout the Western Iraq and Eastern Syria.

Six things that could send you to an early grave - and it's not just drinking and smoking

ATP - We all know the things we do that are bad for us - smoking, drinking too much, eating junk food.

But a new study has revealed that there may be hidden dangers in the things we do everyday, and don't even think about - such as sitting down and sleeping. 

Sitting in a chair for more than seven hours a day, and sleeping for more than nine hours a night were particularly damaging when combined with other risk factors, the research suggested. 

Scientists have now called for those activities to be incorporated in a list of behaviours known to increase the risk of premature death.

They appear in a catalogue of six factors that raise the chances of dying early:

Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons against Isis but hopes they ‘will never be needed’

Vladimir Putin has said he hopes nuclear warheads will not be needed after Russia launched cruise missiles from its submarine at Isis targets in Syria.

During a meeting in the Kremlin, Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told the President that Kalibr cruise missiles had been fired by the Rostov-on-Don submarine from the Mediterranean Sea for the first time.

In addition to conventional warheads, President Putin said the new cruise missiles could also be equipped with nuclear warheads, before adding he hoped they would “never be needed”.

NASA: Antarctica Gaining More Ice than Losing

ATP - The continuous melting of ice at the poles of the Earth has been a powerful indication of the effects of global warming on our planet for quite some time now – and it's important to note these new results don't contradict the fact that glaciers are melting at an increased rate. But it does mean that, for the next few years at least, new ice gain is outweighing that loss.

"We’re essentially in agreement with other studies that show an increase in ice discharge in the Antarctic Peninsula and the Thwaites and Pine Island region of West Antarctica," said glaciologist Jay Zwally, lead author of the study. "Our main disagreement is for East Antarctica and the interior of West Antarctica – there, we see an ice gain that exceeds the losses in the other areas."

Russia goes ballistic in Syria; Turkey issues a warning

Russia does not appear to be forgiving of the downing of its plane after Turkey cited airspace. The country has been aiming at Turkey at its economic and military ends drawing warning from the country to avoid further conflicts. 

Russia warned previously it will retailiate against Turkey following the downing of its warplane. Consequently, it has been doing so for the past days that it has prompted concerns across the globe including possibly risking NATO's military intervention. According to McClatchy, a United Nations official said that the Russian seemingly have "gone ballistic" in their efforts to end Turkey's influence across Northern Syria.

PDP berates INEC over announcement of Yahaya Bello as Kogi Governor-elect

ATP - The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has described the declaration of Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as the winner of yesterday’s supplementary election in Kogi State by the Independent National Electorial Commission, INEC, as a waste of time, scarce national resources and ridiculous shadow-chasing.

According to the opposition party, the nation’s electoral body while trying to satisfy the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC Federal Government, succeeded in making mockery of itself and the entire electoral process, by that announcement.

The party also stated that Bello who apart from not being a valid candidate, polled just 6885 vote in the so-called supplementary election as against the 204,877 votes garnered by Governor Idris Wada of the PDP in the overall election.

Partner FG for economic prosperity, Aisha Buhari tells private sector

ATP - The wife of the President, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, on Sunday in Lagos, urged the private sector to partner with the Federal Government to build a strong and viable economy.

She made the call at the investiture programme of Mrs Nike Akande as President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

Represented by Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, the president’s wife said the Federal Government was taking steps that would make the country more investment-friendly both for foreign and local investors.

She congratulated Akande on her election as President of LCCI and advised her to work with the Federal Government to fashion out viable economic policies that would accelerate development in the country.

Saraki lobbies French parliament on B’Haram, Lake Chad project

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has called on the French government to be more decisive in supporting war against terrorism, particularly the  Boko Haram insurgency in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria and the neighbouring  West African countries, colonised by France.

Saraki, according to a statement by his Special Adviser ( Media and Publicity ), Yusuph Olaniyonu, made the appeal during a two-hour bilateral meeting with the President of the French Senate, Senator  Gerard Larcher at the on-going COP 21Globe Parliamentary  meeting in Paris.

The statement,  issued on Sunday also explained that Saraki, on the occasion,  also urged France to strengthen the existing trade relations with Nigeria.

Air strikes on Raqqa 'kill 32 Islamic State fighters'

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 15 blasts shook the northern and eastern outskirts of Raqqa on Sunday, killing 32 IS fighters and wounding more than 40.

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A Raqqa-based activist group that reports on IS, known as Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), said warplanes struck IS positions on the edge of the city.

RBSS did not say which country carried out the air strikes while the Observatory said they are believed to be from the US-led coalition that began targeting IS in Syria in September 2014.

Russia and a US-led coalition that includes France have been pounding Raqqa.

UK air strikes against Isil in Syria will fuel the rise of terror, says Bashar al-Assad

ATP - The UK's bombing campaign against Isil fighters in Syria is "illegal" and will only cause the “cancer” of terrorism" to spread, Bashar al-Assad has said in an interview published on Sunday.

The Syrian president mocked Britain’s decision to launch air strikes, blaming the West for the rise of the terror group, as well as for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Syrians.

An RAF Tornado jet takes off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus after MPs in the House of Commons voted to bomb Isil in Syria  Photo: JULIAN SIMMONDS/The Telegraph

Speaking from the tranquil surroundings of his Damascene palace, shielded from the distant thuds of war in the suburbs, Assad said the UK's actions would "support terrorism".

“It will be harmful and illegal and it will support terrorism, as happened after the coalition started its operation a year or so [ago] because this is like a cancer,” Assad said.

Turkey angered by rocket-brandishing on Russian naval ship passing Istanbul

Turkey accused Russia of a "provocation" on Sunday after a serviceman on the deck of a Russian naval ship allegedly held a rocket launcher on his shoulder while the vessel passed through Istanbul.

Relations have deteriorated sharply since Turkey last week became the first NATO member in more than half a century to down a Russian plane, which it said had violated its airspace while flying sorties over Syria. The pilot was killed.

The NTV news channel broadcast photographs that it said showed a serviceman brandishing a rocket launcher on the deck of the landing ship Caesar Kunikov as it passed on Saturday through the Bosphorus Strait, which bisects the city of Istanbul. It said the ship was believed to be en route to Syria.

US-led raids kill at least 32 ISIS fighters in northern Syria

BEIRUT - At least 32 Islamic State group fighters were killed on Sunday in apparent US-led coalition raids on Syria as President Bashar al-Assad slammed Britain's decision to participate in air strikes.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said at least 32 fighters had been killed in some 15 strikes on the group's stronghold of Raqa province in northern Syria.

The monitor's head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said at least 40 jihadists were also wounded in the strikes, which hit ISIS headquarters and bases to the north, east and southeast of provincial capital Raqa city.

Though climate change is a crisis, the population threat is even worse

ATP - The perennial cry: we need to talk about climate change. And this week,with world leaders in Paris, we have been. But only up to a point. For the likely impact of the rising global population is almost entirely absent, not only from the debate about climate change, but also from that about loss of biological diversity, food and water security, disease, pollution and energy.

Let’s just remind ourselves of the population statistics of the past half century. In just over half my lifetime, the world’s population has more than doubled, from 3 billion people to now more than 7 billion. The ability to feed some of this growing population has in no small part been a consequence of the advent of the green revolution: that is, the industrialisation and intensification of agriculture and the entire food production system.

Pressure mounting on Dutch to join Syria air strikes

ATP - Pressure is mounting on the Netherlands to join US-led air strikes against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, with several lawmakers late Thursday joining calls for a bombing campaign.

The Dutch cabinet however said it will reach a decision to take part in the US-led operation only once "all military and political aspects" of the Syrian conflict had been discussed.

"As far as we are concerned it's high time action is taken against IS in Syria," Raymond de Roon of the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) told a late-evening meeting of Parliament's Commission for Foreign Affairs.

"It will be good to see a stop being put to IS's Syrian pipeline," added Han ten Broeke, lawmaker for Prime Minister's Mark Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).

Russia Presents Evidence Of Turkey-ISIS Oil Trade

ATP - The charges and counter-charges have been fast and furious since last week, when the Turkish air force shot down a Russian fighter jet near Turkey’s border with Syria. But now it’s getting personal.

The Russian Defense Ministry is accusing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his family and his country’s leadership of being tied up in illegal trade in oil with the so-called Islamic State (IS), and that Turkey is the group’s chief customer.

“Today, we are presenting only some of the facts that confirm that a whole team of bandits and Turkish elites stealing oil from their neighbors is operating in the region,” Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov told a Moscow news conference Wednesday. He said thousands of trucks ship “large quantities” of the oil into Turkey.

Insurgency And December Deadline: How Far?

Boko Haram’s Evolving History

Claimed to have been inspired by the skewed understanding of the teaching of Ibn Thaimiya, a foremost 14th Century Islamic scholar, theologian and logician (also known as Sheikh ul-Islam), the Boko Haram’s spiritual leader,Ustaz Muhammed Yusuf, began his da’awah (Islamic preaching) as a firebrand cleric that gained fame in his characteristics attack and hate of the establishment.

Yusuf had his grand mosque popularly known as Markas, which was located in the heart of Maiduguri at Bayan-Quarters. In 2009, adherents of the Muhammed Yusuf, then known and referred to as members of Yusufiyya Movement, took their faith to the extreme when they began to advocate for a full-fledged Islamic state governed strictly by the Sharia System of Jurisprudence.

$2bn arms deal scandal: Dasuki implicates ex-Governors, PDP chiefs

The immediate past National Security Advicer, Col Sambo Dasuki, rtd, has opened a can of worms regarding the $2bn arms deal, saying the money was shared among some ex-governors, Chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and former Ministers, The Nation reports.

DAILY POST recalls that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and a Federal Government committee are investigating the disappearance of $2bn meant for the procurement of arms during the administration of former President, Goodluck Jonathan.

Nigeria Slashes MTN N1.4 Trillion Fine As Nigeria's CEO, Michael Ikpoki, Resigns

Michael Ikpoki, CEO MTN NigeriaThe MTN Group has released the statement below announcing the resignation of its Nigerian CEO just as the N1.4 trillion fine imposed on the company was slashed by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC.

"MTN Nigeria's CEO Michael Ikpoki and the head of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Akinwale Goodluck have tendered their resignations with immediate effect," the company said in a statement Thursday morning.

"They are replaced by Ferdi Moolman as MTN Nigeria CEO and Amina Oyagbola as its head of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs. Mr Moolman was previously COO at MTN Irancell and most recently CFO at MTN Nigeria. A Nigerian national, Ms Oyagbola also retains the position of MTN Nigeria's Head of Human Resources. She formerly headed regulatory affairs at the Nigerian operating company."

Iran’s air force to enter Syria conflict: report

BEIRUT – Iran is preparing to deploy two fighter jet squadrons to Syria to conduct strikes on behalf of the Bashar al-Assad regime, according to a Kuwaiti daily with close access to Moscow’s military intervention in the war-torn country.

“The Iranian participation [in the Syrian conflict] is headed for more advancement with preparation for the arrival of two fleets of Iranian planes,” sources in the Damascus joint operations room of the “4+1” military coalition of Russia, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Hezbollah told Al-Rai's newspaper’s chief international correspondent, Elijah J. Magnier.

Erdogan Blackmails NATO Allies

ATP - You know the country has really gone to the dogs when Washington’s main allies in its war on Syria are the two biggest terrorist incubators on the planet. I’m talking about Saudi Arabia and Turkey, both of which are run by fanatical Islamic zealots devoted to spreading violent jihad to the four corners of the earth. Not that the US doesn’t have blood on its hands too. It does, but that’s beside the point.

The point is that if you’re trying to sell your fake war on terror to the public, then you might want to think twice about lining up with Grand Sultan Erdogan and King Chop-Chop of Riyadh. The optics alone should have sent the White House PR team running for cover. I mean, couldn’t they have hired squeaky-clean Iceland to join the fray just to persuade the public that the ongoing proxy war wasn’t a complete sham. Which it is.