Zoobia Shahnaz, 27, was charged with bank fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering and is being held without bail.

Ms Shahnaz was born in Pakistan and worked as a lab technician in the US.

Prosecutors say she took out fraudulent loans of $85,000 (£63,000) in order to buy the bitcoin online.

Bitcoin is an online currency. Despite not being legal tender – it can’t be used to pay for traditional goods and services – the value of bitcoin has rocketed this year.

It has been exploited by criminals to launder money. British authorities are pushing to increase regulation of the currency.

According to court records, Ms Shahnaz, who lives in Brentwood on Long Island, was a lab technician at a Manhattan hospital until June.

Prosecutors said that Ms Shahnaz obtained a Pakistani passport in July and booked a flight to Pakistan with a layover in Istanbul, intending to travel to Syria.

She was arrested at John F Kennedy airport carrying $9,500 in cash, just under the limit of $10,000 that a person can legally take out of the country without declaring the funds.

Searches of her electronic devices showed numerous searches for Islamic State-related material.

Ms Shahnaz faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the money laundering charges and up to 30 years for the bank fraud charge.

Her lawyer, Steve Zissou, said she was sending money overseas to help Syrian refugees.

“What she saw made her devoted to lessening the suffering of a lot of the Syrian refugees and everything she does is for that purpose,” Mr Zissou said outside the courthouse.

–

Source: BBC

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It said a statement was prepared by experts after they met briefly on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Vietnam on Saturday.

There has been no official confirmation from the US about the statement so far.

The Kremlin say they also agreed there was no military solution to the conflict in Syria.

A meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin was widely expected at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit, but few details have emerged.

In total the two leaders had three encounters in the Vietnamese port city of Da Nang since late on Friday.

They met for the first time in July at the G20 summit in the German city of Hamburg.

Questions over Donald Trump’s ties to Moscow have dogged his presidency, with key former aides under investigation for alleged collaboration with Russian interference in the 2016 election. The Kremlin has denied the allegations.

While there was no official comment from the White House, a statement released by the Kremlin on Saturday said the leaders had “agreed that the conflict in Syria has no military solution”.

They also confirmed their “determination to defeat Isis [another term for IS]” and called on all parties to take part in the Geneva peace process.

According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, they also promised to maintain existing Russian-US military channels of communication to prevent “serious incidents involving the forces of partners combating IS”.

Russia has been the Syrian government’s main ally in the six-year long civil war. The US meanwhile has been backing Syrian Arab and Kurdish rebels on the ground, and since 2014 it has led a coalition carrying out air strikes against IS in Syria.

The jihadist group has been pushed out of its main strongholds in the country in recent months by a combination of offensives involving the Syrian army and the US-backed Kurdish and Arab coalition.

Mr Trump and President Putin posed side by side for a photo in custom-made blue shirts for the summit on Friday. They also shook hands as leaders sat down for talks on Saturday morning and later exchanged a few words before a “family photo” of attendees.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also met his US counterpart Rex Tillerson earlier the same day, a source from the Russian delegation told Interfax news agency. The Kremlin said the two had co-ordinated the statement on Syria especially for the meeting in Da Nang.

Questions over whether the two leaders would formally meet or not were raised after conflicting statements from the White House and the Kremlin on Friday.

–

Source: BBC

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Following the Minority’s press conference last week, which highlighted a report from the Libyan government suggesting that between 50 to 100 Ghanaians have joined the terrorist group, ISIS, Mr. Amankwah said the claims that had been made were unsubstantiated, and had the potential of jeopardizing national security.

[contextly_sidebar id=”LbHvwVJHKhuOH7jF14HDsXnT3MhdhopO”]“Issues they raised were not substantiated. The issues bordered on security matters and security matters are not like Makola or Kejetia matters where you can handle it anyhow. Some of us are considering dragging him to the privileges committee so that henceforth, such matters will be well handled as far as the legislature is concerned,” Collins Amankwah had told Citi News.

“The statements made by a colleague, Collins Owusu Amankwah about dragging me to the Privileges Committee are most uninformed. He is clearly an out-liar in Parliament who does not know what is going on and is probably on a desperate move to court attention,” Ablakwa told Citi News.

According to him, the National Security Minister had met with the leadership of Parliament on the matter, and significant moves had been made to address the situation, which made Collins Amankwah’s comments more unfortunate.

“Following the Minority’s press conference on the report put out by the Libyan government, National Security moved in to meet with us in Parliament last Friday. The meeting was held in the Speaker’s office and chaired by Prof. Mike Ocquaye. The leadership of both sides of the House were present. The National Security Minister and his team had a session with us on the contents of the report to assure us that they are on top of the situation. They are collaborating with the Libyan authority and we have established a way forward on this matter in a bi-partisan approach moving forward,” he said.

“We in the Minority have said that matters of National Security of such sensitive nature should always attract a bipartisan approach and we in the Minority are impressed so far with the meeting that took place.”

–

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to Okudzeto Ablakwa, who is also the Minority spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, the group’s proactiveness to uncover the story which had largely gone unnoticed deserved to be appreciated.

[contextly_sidebar id=”H2bHCTCUG19tKK3grVs60pKslgZHB7aV”]”I thought that the Minority would be commended that we are being diligent, and that we are following [the matter]. As ranking member on the Foreign Affairs committee, I’m not supposed to just be cocooned within the Ghanaian space and follow only what the Ghanaian media has talked about,” Ablakwa noted on Eyewitness News.

The report issued by the Libyan government, said Ghanaian migrants feature prominently as members of the terrorist group.

The report placed Ghana in the second highest category suggesting that between 50 to 100 Ghanaian migrants are frontline fighters for the so-called Islamic State in Libya.

There have been claims that the Minority had only publicized the report for political reasons, and had failed to carry out any checks to ascertain its veracity.

However, Okudzeto Ablakwa rejected these allegations, claiming that they had done background checks before making the report public, and had done so in the interest of the country.

“The Minority of the Parliament of Ghana is a responsible Minority. We would never set out to cause fear and panic, that is not our intention. You can’t be mischievous and play partisan politics with issues to do with national security and the fight against terrorism. Since the 28^th of September when we picked up the report, we have proceeded to carry out the checks that a Minority can, to at least establish minimum credibility within the constraints and limitations of a Minority. I didn’t have to be in Libya to carry out the checks,” he added

“There are many things we come across in the course of doing our work on the Foreign Affairs Committee, many things that we use the backroom diplomatic and security channels to address. But on this particular matter, to the extent that an international press conference had been held and whether the Ghanaian media talked about it or not, it was already out there. This is a matter that is already in the public domain so we set out to do some further work and to obtain the report and study it.”

Gov’t investigating report

In response to the Minority’s public comments on the matter, the Majority said on Wednesday that the government is investigating the report, and will certainly break its silence on the matter after the investigation.

Ablakwa urged the government to treat the matter as a top priority, as it potentially concerned the safety of Ghanaians.

“This is a very serious matter and that is why we believe that government must accord it all the seriousness it deserves. We did conduct background checks” he insisted.

–

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post We must be commended for exposing ISIS report – Ablakwa appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

A report issued by the Libyan government said Ghanaian migrants feature prominently as members of the terrorist group.

[contextly_sidebar id=”K2uEXmeMLmXzS4dDeqM7pmjiq3rkSO5A”]The report placed Ghana in the second highest category suggesting that between 50 to 100 Ghanaian migrants are frontline fighters for the so-called Islamic State in Libya.

Following the report, the Minority in Parliament charged government not to allow the Ghanaian IS fighters into the country until they are properly investigated and given security clearance.

“Government must put measures in place to ensure that none of these alleged Ghanaian Islamic State fighters are allowed to return to Ghana without strict security clearance and surveillance,” the Minority spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The Minority also called on government to ensure that Ghana’s international reputation is not affected over Libyan report.

But Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Frank Annor Dompreh, at a counter press conference said government will certainly break its silence on the matter after the investigation.

“This is not a matter that is new, the government is fully aware of this. We have done enough checks at the Ministry [of Foreign Affairs], and the Ministry is already aware. What is important is that, the ministry is conducting investigations on this matter… We think that soonest, the Republic and for that matter the government, will come up with the full disclosure and findings of what indeed is the truth or otherwise,” he said.

Mr. Dompreh also challenged the report,  saying for now, the identity of the supposed Ghanaians believed to have joined the terrorist group, has not been confirmed.

“In the report, it is being alleged that some Ghanaians have been mentioned – the authenticity of these Ghanaians have not been proven at this stage,” he added.

KNUST student joins ISIS

This comes on the back of reports that a graduate from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Nazir Nortei Alema had joined the terrorist group in 2015.

Harry Sarfo, a German Ghanian, had also in the early part of 2017, confessed to having been a fighter for ISIS.

The 28-year-old, who is serving a three-year prison term in Germany on terrorism charges, said he had however avoided participating in the group’s violence.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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This was contained in a report from an enquiry into crimes committed in cities across Libya by the so-called Islamic State released by the Head of Investigations at the Office of the Attorney General, Al-Seddiq al-Sour.

Addressing a press conference in late September, al-Sour said the government had identified other countries such as Senegal, Mali and Niger, as also having their nationals as part of ISIS in Libya.

In the report, the Libyan Attorney General said Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Sudan, had more than 100 of their nationals serving in the Salafi jihadist militant group.

It said Ghana, Gambia, Senegal, Niger, Chad, Mali, and Eritrea, had between 50 and 100 of its nationals in the militant group committing various crimes in Libya.

The inclusion of some Ghanaians in ISIS is an issue that has not been thoroughly investigated by Ghanaian authorities, as no official government communication has denied or confirmed the report.

KNUST graduate joins ISIS

In 2015, the Daily Guide newspaper reported that, a 25-year- old graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Nazir Nortei Alema, had joined the terrorist organization.

Extracts from Nazir’s WhatsApp message, received by Kabir, his brother, read as follows: “Pray for me, for I will never forget you in my prayer and it’s my hope and prayer that we meet again if not in this world then in Jannah (paradise). I love you all. May Allah grant us understanding and guide us all to the straight path. Asalaamu alaikum.”

“I told you a lie to please my Allah. The deception was to go do some research work in far away Prestea while the main idea was to move far away from you all to the Islamic State (IS). I know it might sound kind of crazy for you but your son really had to take this bold step to get out of the corrupt system of Ghana which has democracy first on its list.”

Nazir’s family confirmed his disappearance, and he has since not returned.

German-Ghanaian who denounced ISIS faces war crimes charges

Harry Sarfo, a German Ghanian, earlier this year, also confessed to having been a fighter for ISIS. The 28-year-old, who is serving a three-year prison term in Germany on terrorism charges, said he had however avoided participating in the group’s violence.

–
By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Over 50 Ghanaians fighting for ISIS – Libyan gov’t appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The terror group is said to have confirmed that the 45-year-old was killed in an air strike in the Iraqi province of Nineveh.

Reports claim ISIS fanatics are scrambling to find a successor to the terror chief, who announced the formation of the group’s so-called caliphate in Mosul in 2014.

A ban on jihadis talking about the leader’s death has now been lifted, according to a source who spoke to Iraqi media.

If confirmed, his death would mark another devastating blow to the jihadist group after its loss of Mosul, which Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Monday had been retaken from ISIS after a gruelling months-long campaign.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said today that it also had information from top ISIS group leaders confirming the death.

‘Top tier commanders from IS who are present in Deir Ezzor province have confirmed the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, emir of the Islamic State group, to the Observatory,’ director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

‘We learned of it today but we do not know when he died or how.’

The Pentagon said today that it had no information to corroborate the claims.

‘We take any report of this nature with a large dose of salt,’ Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, told Fox News.

‘We will verify it. We will look at the intelligence available … and we will give a statement when we have the requisite facts.’

Coalition spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon added: ‘We cannot confirm this report, but hope it is true.

‘We strongly advise ISIS to implement a strong line of succession, it will be needed,’ he added.

There was no official confirmation or denial of the news on social media platforms used by ISIS.

Russia’s army said Sukhoi warplanes carried out a 10-minute raid on May 28 at a location near the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, where group leaders had gathered to plan a pullout from the area.

The US-led coalition fighting the jihadist group in Syria and Iraq said at the time it could not confirm whether the Russian strike had killed Baghdadi.

The Iraqi-born leader of ISIS has not been seen in public since making his only known public appearance as ‘caliph’ in 2014 at the Grand Mosque of Al-Nuri in Mosul.

ISIS destroyed the highly symbolic site before Iraqi forces could reach it as they pushed the jihadist group from Mosul, where Iraq’s government formally declared victory on Monday.

With a $25-million US bounty on his head, Baghdadi has kept a low profile and was rumoured to move regularly throughout ISIS-held territory in the area straddling Iraq and Syria.

His death, if confirmed, would be a new blow to the group which is also battling a US-backed coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters for control of its Syrian stronghold Raqqa.

Earlier this month, an ISIS preacher and leader was executed by the militants after he accidentally suggested that al-Baghdadi had died.

Senior ISIS leader and preacher, Abu Qutaiba was burned to death in the group’s stronghold town of Tal Afar, Alsumaria News reported.

In January it was reported the leader had been ‘critically injured in airstrikes in northern Iraq.’

The Pentagon said in December it believed that the ISIS chief was alive, despite repeated efforts by the US-led coalition to take out the jihadist group leader.

Baghdadi was born Ibrahim Awad al-Samarrai in 1971 in Tobchi, a poor area near Samarra, north of the capital Baghdad.

His family included preachers from the ultra-conservative Salafi school of Sunni Islam, which sees many other branches of the faith as heretical and other religions as anathema.

He joined the Salafi jihadist insurgency in 2003, the year of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and was captured by the Americans. They released him about a year later, thinking he was a civilian agitator rather than a military threat.

It was not until July 4, 2014, that he seized the world’s attention, climbing the pulpit of Mosul’s medieval al-Nuri mosque in black clerical garb during Friday prayers to announce the restoration of the caliphate.

Thousands of volunteers flocked into Iraq and Syria from around the world to become “Jund al-Khilafa”, or soldiers of the caliphate.

At the height of its power two years ago, Islamic State ruled over millions of people in territory running from northern Syria through towns and villages along the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys to the outskirts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

It claimed or inspired attacks in dozens of cities including Paris, Nice, Orlando, Manchester, London and Berlin, and in nearby Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

In Iraq, it staged dozens of attacks targeting Shi’ite Muslim areas. A truck bomb in July 2016 killed more than 324 people in a crowded area of Baghdad, the deadliest attack since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The loss of Mosul and the siege of Raqqa, Islamic State’s capital in Syria, by a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led force stripped Baghdadi of the trappings of caliph and made him a fugitive in the desert border area between the two countries.

–

Source: Daily Mail UK

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State media say six strikes hit the town of Derna in neighbouring Libya.

Gunmen earlier attacked a bus carrying worshippers in central Egypt, killing at least 28 people and wounding 25 others.

President Sisi said he would “not hesitate to strike terrorist camps anywhere”.

Announcing the strike in a TV speech late on Friday, he promised to “protect our people from the evil”.

Countries which supported terrorism should be punished, he said, as he appealed to US President Donald Trump for help.

Although no group immediately said it was behind the attack, Islamic State (IS) militants have targeted Copts several times in recent months, and vowed to do so again.

“Daesh strategy depends on driving a wedge between Muslims and Christians,” Mr Sisi said, using an alternative name for IS.

The Copts killed on Friday had been travelling to the Monastery of St Samuel the Confessor, 135km (85 miles) south of Cairo, from Minya province when their bus came under fire.

It was in a small convoy that was stopped on a desert road near a police station on the border with Beni Suef provinces.

Up to 10 gunmen wearing military uniforms attacked the convoy, eyewitnesses said. The gunmen then fired at the vehicles with automatic weapons before fleeing, they added.

Minya Province Bishop Makarios said many of the victims were shot at point blank range, the New York Times reported.

He said that children had been on the bus and were among the dead, adding that a pick-up truck in the convoy carrying workmen at the monastery was also targeted.

Minutes after President Sisi’s speech, the White House released a statement of support from Mr Trump.

“This merciless slaughter of Christians in Egypt tears at our hearts and grieves our souls,” he said.

“America stands with President Sisi and all the Egyptian people today, and always, as we fight to defeat this common enemy,” he added.

–

Source: BBC

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Residents of Marawi City, in the south of the country, were urged to remain indoors as at least 15 gunmen from a Muslim rebel group called Maute stormed the streets brandishing assault rifles.

The group, which is also known as the Islamic State of Lanao, have reportedly received support from Isis.

Troops and a special police force were deployed to the city after residents in a nearby village raised the alarm and appealed for help.

President Rodrigo Duterte then declared martial law and a state of emergency in the province of Mindano. General Eduardo Ano, the military chief of staff, said at least one police officer was killed and eight soldiers were wounded in the fighting.

“I’m appealing to residents of Marawi City to stay home, drop on the ground if they hear gunshots,” Mamintal Adiong Jr, the governor of the Lanao del Sur province told The Philippine Star newspaper. “They have to lock their doors and gates too.”

Local reports suggested that the militants had entered a local hospital and raised a black Isis flag above the roof, although this information was officially verified by the army.

Witnesses reported seeing men in attire similar to that worn by Isis militants walking the streets before firing at houses and government buildings.

“There [were] no indications that an attack like this will happen. There are no checkpoints in the city,” one resident said. “Everything is in silence. No news about the city government. Everything is vague.”

Vice governor Mamintal Adiong Jr, a senior member of the Marawi council, said that local emergency response teams from across the region had been mobilised to help residents trapped in the crossfire.

In March, President Duterte pleaded for help from mayors in Muslim areas of the south of the country to deal with Islamist militants, and threatened to impose martial law there if the problem was not tackled.

Last year the president pledged to ignore human rights if the breakup of Isis in the Middle East worsened the Islamist insurgency in his country.

The Maute is a radical Islamist group composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas and some foreign fighters.

They are thought to have taken their name from its founder Abdullah Maute.

–

Source: Independent

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During his 35-second video, a student says he does not understand if ISIL militants are Muslim or not. In her answer, the teacher says ISIL seek to protect Muslims and thereby they are good people.

The controversial teacher works at an İmam Hatip school established by the state-run Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA), which is largely funded by the Turkey’s ruling AK Party government since 2002.

Turkish government’s education projects in foreign countries are largely managed by the TİKA.

Here is how the teacher answers the questing regarding the ISIL:

Pupil: Teacher, can I ask you a question? I heard yesterday on the issue of these ISIS. I don’t understand because …..- Are they Muslim or what are they?

Teacher: What ISIS? A Muslim organization which seeks to provide protection to the Muslim people of Syria for example. Or people of Palestine, or Egypt. They are fighting for this country.

Pupil: So they are good?

Teacher: Well, they are good, but the state wants to fight them.

Pupil: Means, news say they are bad, but in fact they are good?

Teacher: Right

Pupil: But in reality they are good?

Teacher: Yes normal, are we trusting the news?

Pupil: Teacher, killing people, they are good?

Teacher: Why [teacher] how many have they killed?

Pupil: It means they are good because they kill people?

Teacher: Well! Did they give that beautiful news that – Oh man we killed Bin Laden.

Pupil: So now results Bin Laden was a good man?

Teacher: How many officers were killed to kill Bin Laden?

Pupil: OK teacher, Bin Laden…

Teacher: Out of 28 people participating in his killing, 26 were killed. 26, Italian (TV) has given this news. These are the most realistic news.

–
By:turkeypurge.com

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