Record haul-out for Pacific walrus

The animals usually rest on sea ice but will head to beaches if that platform is not available

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Huge numbers of Pacific walrus have been coming ashore in northwest Alaska.

An estimated 35,000 animals were pictured at the weekend hauling themselves on to land north of Point Lay, about 500km southwest of Barrow.

The gathering was photographed as part of an annual survey undertaken by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Walrus will generally rest on floes of Arctic sea ice, but when that is not available will head to nearby beaches.

Andrea Medeiros, a spokeswoman for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, told the Associated Press wire agency that the animals' mass movement was first detected on 13 September, and that they have been moving on and off shore ever since.

Observers have reported seeing carcasses, which may be from dead animals killed in a stampede. The biggest of these tusked beasts can weigh in excess of two tonnes.

Scientists were heading to the area to perform necropsies to determine the exact cause of death, Andrea Medeiros added.

The animals were pictured as part of an aerial survey conducted by Noaa

First Person - Indonesia's child jockeys

Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 29 Σεπ 2014

In Indonesia's remote southern island of Sumbawa, children as young as five compete as professional jockeys in traditional horse races. The young racers often stare death in the face while chasing around a dusty track in front of cheering spectators. Predominantly from poor families, the jockey's race when when they're not studying at school and earn enough to support their entire families. Sahrul Ramadan, an eight-year-old child tells Al Jazeera his story.

ΝΕΑ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΚΟΥΡΔΙΚΟ ΜΕΤΩΠΟ NEWS FROM THE FRONT Kurds

Guy Laroche Spring/Summer 2015 Runway Show | Paris Fashion Week PFW | Fa...

 PARIS - See the latest ready-to-wear collection from Guy Laroche during Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2015. Designer Marcel Marongiu takes inspiration for this collection from Claire McCardell's vintage style. Camo fabric made from panels of plexiglass features alongside less structured dresses.

Model Appearances: Alex Yuryeva, Alexandra Agoston, Bruna Ludtke, Diana Moldovan, Dorota Kullova, Elena Melnik, Emma Oak, Emma Waldo, Estee Rammant, Franzi Mueller, Gabriele Regesaite, Hannare Blaauboer, Iana Godnia, Irina Nikolaeva, Jane Grybennikova, JiHye Park, Julia Frauche, Justyna Gustak, Kamila Hansen, Larissa Hofmann, Manuela Frey, Marta Ortiz, Martyna Budna, Ming Xi, Nastya Zhidkikh, Roxy Kiscinska, Svetlana Zakharova, Viktor Van Pelt, Yulia Serzhantova

Nouveauté 2015 : Kawasaki Ninja H2R

Par CindyB, le 30 septembre 2014

Depuis le temps que Kawasaki nous met l’eau à la bouche avec ses teasers, on sait enfin de quoi sera faite la Ninja H2 R : du carbone, un compresseur et surtout un moteur de 300 chevaux !

Il faut dire qu’avec ses nombreuses vidéos où l’on ne voyait quasiment rien, Kawasaki nous a vraiment donné envie de découvrir sa future sportive. Au final, pas de quoi être déçu puisque la Ninja H2R s’offre un moteur de quatre-cylindres en ligne cube de 998 cm3 qui développe, tenez-vous bien, 300 chevaux ! Oui, vous avez bien lu, 300 chevaux !

Niveau poids, il ne faut pas avoir d’énormes biceps – maire une belle de paire de… – pour s’amuser avec cet engin tout droit sorti du paradis motard puisque la Kawasaki Ninja H2 ferait, selon nos estimations, environ 170 kilos à sec !

Nouveauté 2015 : Kawasaki Ninja H2R. (Photo DR)

Côté esthétique, Kawasaki n’a pas fait les choses à moitié. La sportive de luxe se pare de carbone quasiment partout, d’où son poids plume, ainsi que d’ailerons aérodynamiques façon  Formule 1 et d’un revêtement chromé sur les carénages et réservoir. Rien que ça !

L’usage de cette Kawasaki Ninja H2R, qui sera disponible aux alentours de février-mars dès 2015, est bien évidemment réservé à la piste. Mais attention, on garde ce qui fait le plus mal pour la fin… Son prix : entre 50 000 et 55 000 €, et sur commande uniquement. Les quantités ne sont pas encore définies et dépendront de la demande, a-t-on précisé chez Kawa. Vous avez intérêt à être sage si vous voulez que le père noël passe à la fin de l’année.

Pour ceux qu’elle fait rêver, une version route, appelée Kawasaki Ninja H2, sera présentée lors du salon de Milan. Elle devrait développer « seulement » 200 ch et coûter aux environs de 25 000 euros. (Toutes les photos ici)

Nouveauté 2015 : Kawasaki Ninja H2R. (Photo DR)

Caractéristiques de la Kawasaki Ninja H2R :

Modèle	Kawasaki Ninja H2R
Prix estimé	Entre 50 000 et 55 000 €
Poids	170 kg à sec (estimation MJ)
Puissance	300 chevaux
Moteur	4-cylindres en ligne cube de 998 cm3
Boîte de vitesse	6 rapports
Dispo	Février – Mars 2015
Esthétique	Ailerons aérodynamique empruntés à la F1
Pneu avant	120/ 600 R 17
Pneu arrière	190/650 R 17
Boîte à air	Métallique
Utilisation	Réservée à la piste

Cindy Belpalme

Read more at http://news.moto-journal.fr/nouveautes/nouveaute-2015-kawasaki-ninja-h2r#uhH5loAsRo2jUtCo.99

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Al Qaeda official warns against Islamic State in new speech

Posted: 27 Sep 2014 09:14 AM PDT


A senior al Qaeda official, Muhammad bin Mahmoud Rabie al Bahtiyti, also known as Abu Dujana al Basha, has released a new audio message seeking to undermine the Islamic State, which was disowned by al Qaeda's general command in February.

Al Basha's speech was released by al Qaeda's official propaganda arm, As Sahab, on Sept. 26. It was first obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Al Qaeda's senior leaders have not directly addressed the Islamic State's claim to rule over a caliphate stretching across large portions of Iraq and Syria. Instead, they have sought to undermine the Islamic State's ideological legitimacy in a variety of more subtle ways. (Other parts of al Qaeda's international network have specifically rejected the Islamic State's caliphate claim.)

Al Basha does not name the Islamic State, but his speech is clearly aimed at the group and its supporters.

Al Basha sets forth al Qaeda's goals, saying the group is dedicated "to the oneness of Allah ... as we call to disbelieve the tyrant and disavow polytheism and its people." Al Basha says al Qaeda seeks "to establish the absent Shariah and empower this religion."

It is often claimed, wrongly, that al Qaeda is interested only in attacking the West, or carrying out mass casualty attacks. But the organization has repeatedly stated that its jihadists seek to create societies based on their radical version of sharia law. Al Qaeda wants to build Islamic emirates, or states, based on this sharia. It is for this reason that most of al Qaeda's resources since its founding have been devoted to waging insurgencies against governments in the Muslim-majority world that it deems to be corrupt.

Imposing sharia and creating Islamic emirates are steps to al Qaeda's ultimate stated goal, which al Basha explains.

"We call to restore the rightly-guided Caliphate on the prophetic method, and not on the method of deviation, lying, breaking promises, and abrogating allegiances - a caliphate that stands with justice, consultation, and coming together, and not with oppression, infidel-branding the Muslims, killing the monotheists, and dispersing the rank of the mujahideen," al Basha says, according to SITE's translation.

Although al Basha does not mention the Islamic State by name, his description of al Qaeda's proposed caliphate is intended to undermine al Baghdadi's claim to power. Al Basha's reference to "abrogating allegiances" is probably a reference to theoath of allegiance (bayat) that Abu Bakr al Baghdadi swore to Ayman al Zawahiri and then broke.

Al Qaeda-allied jihadists have argued against the Islamic State's caliphate claim, saying it was imposed on Muslims and even jihadists without consultation. And this is a theme in a Basha's speech.

In al Qaeda's ideological schema, the caliphate can be resurrected only after respected jihadists give it their seal of approval. Al Baghdadi's organization has tried to impose its caliphate throughout much of Iraq and Syria, frequently fighting with other jihadist organizations, including the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's official branch in Syria. Leading jihadist ideologues have criticized Baghdadi's caliphate on this basis, as well as for other reasons.

Al Basha warns against "extremism," which, ironically enough, is one of al Qaeda's key charges against the Islamic State. In Syria and elsewhere, al Qaeda has been attempting to portray itself as a more reasonable jihadist organization. Because the Islamic State refuses to consult with other Muslims and jihadist groups, not just in creating a caliphate, but also in other matters, al Qaeda accuses the group of pursuing an extremist path. Of course, al Qaeda is extremist by any reasonable standard, and has spilled more Muslim than non-Muslim blood throughout its existence. Still, because of the Islamic State's excessive violence, particularly in Syria, al Qaeda has been marketing itself as a more mainstream jihadist organization.

Al Basha addresses the jihadists' rank and file, urging them to avoid joining the Islamic State and subtly encouraging Baghdadi's fighters to defect from his army. Al Basha openly worries that the jihad in Syria has been squandered because of the infighting between the groups opposed to Bashar al Assad's regime. Al Qaeda blames the infighting on the Islamic State.

"I address my speech and my advice to my brothers on the frontlines in Sham [Syria] among those who have been deceived by slogans and titles, to use your heads and have insight, and to weigh the matters fairly," al Basha says. "Rescue the ship of jihad, and reach it before it deviates from its course and settles on the path of the people of desires. Strive to turn off the sedition and restore cohesion among the mujahideen."

At the end of his audio speech, al Basha addresses those jihadists who disapprove of al Qaeda's understated response to the Islamic State's caliphate claim. Al Basha says that he and others wanted to defend al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri's reputation against the Islamic State's slanders, but Zawahiri ordered them not to.

"The Sheikh [Zawahiri] ordered his brothers to be silent and not protect his honor," al Basha says. "He considered that out of concern for the benefit of this Ummah [Muslim community], and a hope that Allah will fix the condition, and that the sedition will be suppressed."

Al Qaeda's leaders and branches have repeatedly urged the jihadists in Syria to reconcile. However, their efforts have been fruitless.

Veteran al Qaeda leader

Al Basha has taken on a more prominent and public role for al Qaeda in recent years. In December 2013, he argued that jihad is necessary to implement sharia law in Egypt. In late August he issued a statement urging followers to strike American and Israeli interests in support of Muslims in Gaza.

Although al Basha was not initially a public persona for al Qaeda, he was well-known to US counterterrorism officials for years. In January 2009, the US Treasury Department designated al Basha as an al Qaeda terrorist, noting that he was Zawahiri's son-in-law. Al Basha was located in Iran at the time.

Treasury found that he "served on an al Qaeda military committee and provided military training that included urban warfare tactics for al Qaeda members." Among other duties, al Basha "drafted training manuals for al Qaeda as well as a book on security that was used as a template for al Qaeda's surveillance operations."

Al Basha is a longtime member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad as well as al Qaeda, and was reportedly involved in al Qaeda's 1995 bombing of the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Zawahiri tasked al Basha with moving members of Zawahiri's family to Iran after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.





2 AQAP commanders reported killed in Shabwa drone strike

Posted: 27 Sep 2014 12:11 PM PDT


Adel Hardaba, an AQAP leader reported killed yesterday. Source: Yemen Forum.


Following the US drone strike that took place on Sept. 25, local reports from Shabwa province suggest that two prominent leaders in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have been killed. [See LWJ report: US launches second US drone strike in Shabwa in 2 weeks.]

The two AQAP commanders thought killed in Thursday's strike were identified as Adel Hardaba and Muhader Ahmad Muhader by both Arabic press reports and Twitter accounts affiliated with AQAP. A formal AQAP statement regarding the deaths has yet to be released.

According to media reports, Adel Hardaba, who hails from Lahj, was an AQAP commander in the Lawdar region of Abyan in southern Yemen, located close to the border of Baydha province. Hardaba has a long history of fighting for AQAP in the Lawdar region. Reports from August 2010 claim that he was arrested following clashes between Islamist militants and Yemeni forces in Lawdar.

Hardaba was reportedly involved in intense fighting around the city of Lawdar in April 2012 during which AQAP briefly controlled the city before a Yemeni military push to dislodge the militants. Following his brief arrest by the Yemeni Popular Committees during the course of fighting for Lawdar in April 2012, Hardaba went into hiding and disappeared.

This is not the first report of Hardaba's death as a result of a drone strike. Local Yemeni media had reported that Hardaba was killed in a US drone strike on August 10, 2013.

The second AQAP member reported killed in yesterday's drone strike, Muhader Ahmad Muhader, is believed to hail from Lahj province's Tha'alab region and served as a local AQAP commander in Lahj. Local sources told the Yemeni news outlet Aden al-Ghad that Muhader was "accused by the security authorities of being one of the most prominent leaders belonging to Ansar al Shariah that has carried out widespread assassination operations in Lahj that have included security officials and [private] citizens." Ansar al Shariah is AQAP's political front in Yemen.

Little is known about Muhader from the Arabic press, except that he was considered one of AQAP's "rehabilitated" members as recently as last year. In March 2013, Muhader met with the governor of Lahj province, Ahmad Abdullah al Majidi, who urged Muhader to start "a new, white page" in his life. At that meeting, Muhader reportedly ensured the governor that he would be trustworthy and would "be among those rehabilitated that will participate in pursuing and disseminating the principles of moderation and staying away from extremism and terrorism." The same report mentioned that Muhader was a member of AQAP's "advocacy committee."


Islamic State assaults Baiji oil refinery

Posted: 26 Sep 2014 07:59 PM PDT


The Islamic State has launched multiple suicide assaults in an effort to retake Iraq's largest oil refinery, in Baiji in Salahaddin province. While it has conducted numerous attacks on the refinery in the past, mainly utilizing mortars, the jihadist group has stepped up the resources used in the latest round of operations.

According to the National Iraqi News Agency, the Islamic State utilized at least eight suicide car bombs in a single day during its latest assault. In previous days, the Islamic State deployed several additional suicide car bombs to attack Iraqi military positions in and around the refinery.

Shafaq News reported that "terrorists detonated three car bombs on Tuesday night before they [blew] up tankers at dawn on Wednesday, led by a suicide bomber." Joel Wing of Musings on Iraq noted on Twitter that it was the second day of suicide attacks on the refinery.

This new assault comes as US and coalition airstrikes have begun to target Islamic State-held oil assets inside Syria. The BBC notes: "The raids, carried out by US, Saudi and UAE aircraft, targeted 12 refineries in Syria on a third night of air strikes against the militants." US Central Command has also released video showcasing airstrikes on "Jeribe West Modular Refinery" in Syria.

The Islamic State has been in control of Iraq's Baiji oil refinery in the past. Since June, Iraqi troops and Islamic State forces have battled for control of the facility.

Below are pictures reportedly taken outside of Baiji that show dark smoke billowing from the refinery.







View Iraqi and Syrian Towns and Cities seized by the Islamic State and its allies in a larger map


AQAP executes Yemeni intelligence director

Posted: 27 Sep 2014 10:27 AM PDT


Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) announced yesterday that its members have executed an intelligence director in the central province of al Dale'. The intelligence director, identified as Mohammad Taher al Shami, was killed along with four of his associates in the city of Rada'. Some reports identify al Shami as a political security director in the province.

AQAP has been active in al Dale' province of late. Last week, the group announced that it had taken eight individuals described as Shiite Houthi rebels captive after AQAP broke the rebels' siege of the city of Damt. According to media reports, among the eight individuals taken by AQAP were the intelligence director and his associates executed yesterday. The kidnapping occurred while al Shami and his forces repelled AQAP fighters from Damt, killing four. There was no explanation as to why AQAP considered al Shami and his associates to be linked with the Houthi rebels.

Shortly after last week's kidnapping, AQAP demanded the bodies of its four slain fighters in addition to a sum of 20 million riyals (about $93,000) as ransom for the hostages.

AQAP's announcement of its capture of eight Houthi rebels last week came as tensions were rising in the country due to the Houthis' growing presence in Sana'a. The Houthis staged massive protests in the Yemeni capital over the weekend and violently clashed with Sunni militiamen aligned with the country's main Sunni party, Islah. AQAP subsequently issued astatement on Sept. 23 declaring an open war on the Shiite Houthis and calling on Sunnis to take up arms against them.

The following pictures were posted by a self-identified AQAP member on Twitter:




The tweet accompanying the picture above reads: "Execution of the political security director in #Damt Mohammad Taher al Shami and his associates in Rada'
This is what emerged as retribution for the rafidis [derogatory term for Shiites], so the lions [AQAP fighters] took him captive in Damt."




The tweet accompanying the picture above reads: "Al Shami, the apostate, the director of political security that was captured by the lions of al Qaeda with his associates in the battle of Damt against the rafidis [derogatory term for Shiites], they dug their graves with their [own] hands.."

ΩΡΑ ΓΙΑ ΔΙΑΒΑΣΜΑ__Η ΑΘΗΝΑ ΤΟ ΧΩΡΙΟ ΠΟΥ ΕΓΙΝΕ ΠΡΩΤΕΥΟΥΣΑ

ΜΙΑ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΚΗ ΑΝΑΔΡΟΜΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΑΘΗΝΑ ΜΕΤΑ ΤΗΝ ΑΠΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΩΣΗ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΥΣ ΤΟΥΡΚΟΥΣ ΤΟ 1833,ΤΩΝ ΕΡΧΟΜΟ ΤΩΝ ΒΑΥΑΡΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΩΣ ΕΞΕΛΙΧΤΗΚΕ.

30 ΝΕΚΡΟΙ ΟΡΕΙΒΑΤΕΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ΕΚΡΗΞΗ ΤΟΥ ΗΦΑΙΣΤΕΙΟΥ ΣΤΗΝ ΙΑΠΑΩΝΙΑ ΒΙΝΤΕΟ Volcano Erupts Onto Climbers in Japan

The Mt. Ontake Volcano erupted yesterday in Japan, catching a group of climbers in its path. There were around 250 climbers on the mountain at the time. Currently 30 people have been killed, 40 injured and 7 people missing, including one individual who tweeted a photo of the summit only minutes before the eruption. The recorder of this footage successfully found safety in a utility hut. 
Video: Kuroda Terutoshi