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New Trump Travel Ban Order Will Exclude Iraq And Current Visa Holders, US Officials Say

President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban order will exclude Iraq, but continue to impose restrictions on the other six Muslim-majority nations that were included in the original order, US officials said.

The new executive order is expected to be signed on Wednesday (1 March) that will temporarily prohibit people travelling from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US.

Four officials reportedly told the Associated Press on Tuesday (28 March) that the change was made following pressure from the Pentagon and State Department, who urged the White House to consider Iraq’s leading role in fighting Isis and rethink their decision on imposing travel restrictions on the ally.

The revised travel ban order will replace the earlier version that was blocked by a federal court on multiple legal grounds. The new order was reportedly drafted to eliminate the legal hitches.

The initial order that came at the end of January led to mass protests in the country and abroad after many people were left stranded at airports waiting to reunite with family members. In the initial days of implementation of the order, even the green card holders and visa holders from the seven nations were barred from entering the country.

According to the Washington Post, which cited “people familiar with the matter”, the new version will exempt current visa holders from the travel ban and remove an exception to the refugee prohibition for religious minorities.

Justice Department lawyers reportedly hope the new version was more likely to pass legal hurdles and will also not leave any travellers detained at US airports. The paper also wrote that learning from the previous experience, the White House administration could implement the order at a date later than the signing date.

Meanwhile, CNN’s White House reporter tweeted that Trump may not sign the revised executive order on Wednesday as was being expected. The signing has been pushed to next week following positive reviews of Trump’s address to the joint Congress session on Tuesday.

Amid positive reviews of speech, WH officials have scrapped plans for Trump to sign new travel ban EO tomorrow, per a senior admin official.

Source: IBTimes

March 1, 2017
ISIS Militants Being Killed At Level They Cannot Sustain, Says British General

The US-led coalition effort against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is killing the group’s fighters more quickly than it can replace them, a senior British general said on Tuesday (Feb 28), with more than 45,000 killed by coalition air strikes up to August last year.

On Tuesday, US-backed Iraqi forces continued their offensive in Mosul, where several thousand ISIS militants, including many who travelled from Western countries to join up, are believed to be based.

“We are killing Daesh at a rate that they simply can’t sustain,” said Major-General Rupert Jones, deputy commander for the Combined Joint Task Force coalition, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.

“The enemy cannot sustain the attrition that they are suffering and therefore they lose terrain, they lose battles.”

The top American commander in Iraq said earlier this month he believed US-backed forces would recapture ISIS’ two major strongholds – Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq – within the next six months.

Jones said that while the battle would not be over with the fall of Mosul or Raqqa, it would be the beginning of the end.

“The inevitability of their destruction just becomes really a matter of time,” he said, adding that the group’s leadership was now focussed on little more than survival.

‘BRUTAL REGIME’

The coalition estimates that the number of ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria is at its lowest level in more than 2.5 years, with the group having lost 62 per cent of the territory it once controlled in Iraq and 30 per cent in Syria.

Jones said the number of foreign fighters travelling to join ISIS had dropped by between 75 and 90 per cent, both due to it being harder to get in and out of Iraq and Syria and because the reality of doing so had been exposed as unappealing.

“The big idea that Daesh were putting out there, the kind of glamour… has been exposed for what it is, it is a lie,” he said. “They recognise that what you are actually signing yourself up to is going to live under a brutal regime.”

He said ISIS had refocused its attention on radicalising people outside Iraq and Syria to carry out attacks locally, so the coalition still had work to do on countering the group’s ideology.

The coalition estimates that ISIS activity on Twitter has fallen by 45 per cent since 2014, with 360,000 of the group’s Twitter accounts suspended, and the lifespan of an ISIS-linked social media account reduced to less than two days.

Source: ST

March 1, 2017
Police Report Lodged Against The Imam Who Allegedly Made Offensive Remarks On Jews, Christians

A police report has been made over remarks made by an imam, who allegedly insulted Christians and Jews during his Friday sermons at a mosque.

In response to TODAY’s queries, a police spokesman said: “The police confirm that a report has been lodged. We are unable to comment further as investigations are ongoing.”

A spokesperson for the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) said it is aware of the case and is assisting the police with their investigations.

In a post uploaded on his Facebook page, A Muslim Convert Once More, the writer, who signed off as Mr Terence Helikaon Nunis, said the imam had made the insulting remarks during his Friday sermons on Jan 6 and Feb 24 at the Masjid Jamae (Chulia) in South Bridge Road.

Mr Nunis also uploaded a video of the imam, who was not identified, giving his sermon on Jan 6.

In his post, uploaded on Feb 24, Mr Nunis said: “We should not encourage this sort of thinking or condone this sort of supplications.”

The Muis spokesperson said: “As part of due process, the individual has been placed on leave whilst investigations are ongoing. Muis takes a very serious view of any behaviour or speech which promotes feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different faith communities.”

Source: Today

March 1, 2017
In Trouble Over ‘Bakal Jenazah’ Number Plate (Malaysia)

Using bakal jenazah (future corpse) as his number plate landed a motorcyclist in trouble with the law.

The 20-year-old was arrested during an operation against various road offences and vehicle thefts at about 2.50pm on Monday.

Instead of the normal lettering followed by numbers, the motorcyclist’s licence plate had the word bakal jenazah.

Bad taste: Police have seized the motorcycle with the ‘bakal jenazah’ words on the number plate. The owner is seen here at a police station in Kota Kinabalu.

Kota Kinabalu police chief Asst Comm M. Chandra said apart from the illegally modified licence plate, they were also investigating whether the motorcycle was stolen.

Twenty vehicles were inspected during the operation that was carried out near the Karamunsing complex here.

Continuous efforts to trace stolen vehicles as well as nabbing those found using fake or illegally modified licence plates will be carried out to prevent crime, ACP Chandra said.

Source: TheStar

March 1, 2017
Filipina Scolds Woman Who Questioned Her For Having ‘Singapore’ Emblazoned In Shorts

A reader sent us a video of a commotion in a hawker centre. According to the reader the woman, a Singaporean, questioned the Filipina about why she had ‘Singapore’ emblazoned in the back of her shorts. The Filipina who got upset with the woman’s question went ballistic with her attracting many onlookers.

According to the reader, the woman is a maid who had engaged in a game of weekend netball before the incident.

Do you think the word ‘Singapore’ should be better respected?

Source: www.theindependent.sg

February 28, 2017