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‘That is not the son I raised’:
5/24/2016 4:04:25 AM
How a British citizen became one of the most notorious members of ISIS

An undated photograph of El Shafee Elsheikh, 27, a Londoner who joined the Islamic State. He has been identified as one of the Britons who supervised the torture and killings of Americans and British hostages in Syria.
Family photo An undated photograph of El Shafee Elsheikh, 27, a Londoner who joined the Islamic State. He has been identified as one of the Britons who supervised the torture and killings of Americans and British hostages in Syria.

The last member of the group of British jailers who supervised the torture and killing of Western hostages held by the Islamic State has been identified as a 27-year-old Londoner who traveled to Syria in 2012.

El Shafee Elsheikh, a British citizen whose family fled Sudan in the 1990s, was one of four jailors dubbed the “Beatles” by their prisoners because of their British accents. The cohort’s most prominent figure was Mohammed Emwazi, better known as “Jihadi John, whose videotaped beheadings of American and British hostages became a global emblem of the Islamic State’s brutality.

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Senate set for showdown ...
5/24/2016 4:07:18 AM
... over women in the draft

Senate set for showdown over women in the draft
Provided by The Hill Senate set for showdown over women in the draft

DATA[ The Senate is heading for a showdown over women registering for the draft.

Supporters of requiring women to sign up for Selective Service see the upper chamber as their last best hope for getting legislation to President Obama's desk.

They've turned their attention to the Senate after suffering a setback in the House, which last week dropped language requiring women to register from its version of the annual defense bill.

Proponents say women already have the green light to serve in combat roles, hurting the legal argument for excluding them from the draft. But opponents say Congress needs to spend more time studying the politically tricky issue instead of tucking it into a massive "must pass" bill.


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Angelina Jolie to teach at London School ...
5/24/2016 4:10:20 AM
... School of Economics on women in conflict

FILE - In this Dec. 5, 2015, file photo, actress Angelina Jolie Pitt talks during the Cambodia International Film Festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Angelina Jolie Pitt first came to Cambodia 16 years ago to film “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” - the gun-toting, bungee-jumping, supremely toned action hero that made her a star. She’s back now for another movie, “First They Killed My Father,” as a director, and the subject matter is a far cry from Lara Croft. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File): Angelina Jolie Pitt talks during the Cambodia International Film Festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The Associated Press Angelina Jolie Pitt talks during the Cambodia International Film Festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. By Emma Batha

LONDON, May 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie is to join the London School of Economics (LSE) as a visiting professor on a new masters course on women, peace and security, the school announced on Monday.

The LSE said the course, which starts next year, is the first of its kind globally and will be run by the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security which was launched last year by Jolie and Britain's former foreign secretary, William Hague.

"It is vital that we broaden the discussion on how to advance women's rights and end impunity for crimes that disproportionately affect women, such as sexual violence in conflict," Jolie, a special envoy for the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), said in a statement.


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Yemen
5/24/2016 4:14:51 AM
.... suicide attacks kill at least 45 army recruits

People gather at the scene after a pair of suicide bombings attack in the southern city of Aden, Yemen, Monday, May 23, 2016. Yemeni security officials say that a pair of suicide bombers killed dozens of people in the southern city of Aden.© AP Photo People gather at the scene after a pair of suicide bombings attack in the southern city of Aden, Yemen, Monday, May 23, 2016. Yemeni security officials say that a pair of suicide bombers killed dozens of people in the southern city of Aden.

SANAA, Yemen — A pair of suicide bombings killed at least 45 people in Yemen's southern city of Aden on Monday, security officials said.

They said the bombings targeted young men seeking to join the army.

One suicide car bomber targeted a line outside an army recruitment center, killing at least 20. A second bomber on foot detonated his explosive vest among a group of recruits waiting outside the home of an army commander, killing at least 25. Scores of others were wounded, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Yemen has for nearly two years been gripped by a war pitting the internationally recognized government against Shiite rebels who control the capital, Saana, and are allied with forces loyal to a former president.



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RE: News ~ Good & Not
5/25/2016 3:25:36 PM
File photo taken in 2013 shows J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, testifying at a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C.Charles Dharapak, AP File photo taken in 2013 shows J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, testifying at a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C.

Five suspects have been arrested for involvement in a growing IRS impersonation scam that has bilked an estimated $36.5 million from 6,400 victims nationwide, federal officials said Tuesday.

Nabbed Monday in Miami, Fla., the suspects are accused of making multiple calls in which they claimed to be IRS or Treasury officials, told unwitting victims they owed tax debts, and threatened arrests if payments weren't sent immediately, the office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said.

The five allegedly persuaded the victims to wire payments via MoneyGram, Walmart2Walmart and other money wiring services.

"These arrests indicate that TIGTA is making significant progress in our investigation of the IRS impersonation scam that continues to sweep the country, resulting in reported taxpayer losses of more than $36 million," Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George said in a statement.

The arrests stemmed in part from an Oct. 2015 call to a fraud hotline established by the Senate Special Committee on Aging, TIGTA said. The caller reported that her husband, after receiving a purported IRS arrest threat and demand for a nearly $2,000 payment, drove to a local Walmart store to wire the money.

The distraught victim crashed his car while en route, but was so worried that he left the accident scene to wire the money, said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who chairs the Senate panel.

The fraud hotline investigator who received the victim’s report traced the wire transfer to Minnesota, and provided the information to TIGTA. Investigators identified two of the suspects by checking Walmart surveillance tapes, Collins said.

Cautioning taxpayers to avoid being duped, George stressed that legitimate IRS and Treasury officials would not make phone demands for tax payments via money transfer systems.

George's office identified the suspects as Jennifer Valerino Nunez; Dennis Delgado Caballero; Arnoldo Perez Mirabal; Yaritza Espinosa Diaz and Roberto Fontanella Caballero. The five are allegedly responsible for almost $2 million in fraud schemes that victimized more than 1,500 victims, TIGTA said.

The suspects are Cuban nationals who were known to each other and resided in the Miami area, TIGTA said. Investigators believe they may have used electronic equipment that enabled them to mask their calling locations as they phoned victims in Minnesota, Arkansas and Texas.

Federal court complaints filed in the three states were not immediately available Tuesday.

The investigation is continuing as TIGTA searches for other suspected conspirators and copycats who may have tried to duplicate the alleged crime scheme. Since mid-April, some scammers have instructed victims to pay purported IRS tax debts with Apple iTunes cards, TIGTA said.


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