Geopolitics - what is going on in the world

[dallysingh101 7,461]

Suicide or murder? I wonder how many more girls have run away from these arab countries and are being housed in the west? This reminds me of a lot of apneean in the 80s, who would run away from home because of 'family problems' and then be housed with other similar girls by social services. Word would quickly spread about the girls and their location (usually through minicab drivers) and gangs of men would target them for sex.   

 

Haunting pictures emerge of Saudi sisters, 23 and 24, whose bodies were found decomposing in a Sydney unit - as the mystery deepens

• Two sisters found dead in Canterbury unit in Sydney's south-west on June 7 
• Their names are Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23
• Detectives have yet to determine a cause of death, but they likely died in May
• It is understood they fled Saudi Arabia in 2017 to seek safe shelter in Australia
• Do you know more? Email tips@dailymail.com

 

The first pictures have been released of the two Saudi sisters who were found dead in Sydney's south-west in 'suspicious' circumstances - as cops plead for assistance in solving the mystery.

The bodies of Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, were found in their first-floor unit in Canterbury, in Sydney's south-west, on June 7.

Detective Claudia Allcroft said on Wednesday that investigators believe the women died in early May - a month before their decomposing remains were uncovered by officers conducting a welfare check.

'Detectives are interested in speaking with anyone who may have seen or who may have information about the women's movements in the days and weeks prior to their deaths,' she said.

Police are yet to determine a cause of death.

They are also unable to say what the women did for work, despite both women having their own Australian Business Names. 

 

Pictured: Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24. She and her sister were found dead in Sydney's south-west under 'suspicious' circumstances

 

 

'We hope that someone may be able to assist our investigators - either through sightings, or those who knew the sisters and may have some information on their movements prior to their death,' Detective Allcroft said.

She added that the manager of their apartment building contacted police in mid-March.

'I believe there was food that had been left out in the common areas, and he contacted police as he was concerned for their welfare,' she said.

Attending officers said the women 'appeared fine' and there was no further action required. 

The family are assisting police with their inquiries. 

Amaal and Asra were discovered in separate beds of their first-floor Canterbury unit on June 7 after they failed to pay rent for four weeks, and mail was piling up outside their door.

During the initial investigation, police said their bodies had been there for 'some time', had no obvious signs of injury, and there were no signs of forced entry.

Daily Mail Australia understands the siblings fled Saudi Arabia without their family in 2017 when they were 18 and 19.

They were engaged with a refugee service five years, which helps foreign nationals escaping persecution and seeking asylum.

The sisters were not in regular contact with their relatives back home, sources previously told Daily Mail Australia.

Asra took an AVO against a 28-year-old man in late-2018, but it was later withdrawn and dismissed in January the following year.

In another court matter, the owner of their Canterbury unit filed a civil case against Asra on May 13 this year. 

Landlords can issue tenants with legal warning notices via the civil court for overdue rent before taking further action to have them removed from the property. 

That action was taken four weeks after sheriff's officers went to the apartment to serve the women with an eviction notice - alongside police - and the grisly discovery was made. 

It is unclear what attempts were made by real estate company, Property Investors Alliance (PIA), which was managing the lease, to contact Asra during the weeks before the sisters were found.

PIA refused numerous requests for comment by Daily Mail Australia.

Despite their traumatic past, locals said the women were cheerful towards neighbours.

Staff at a nearby service station said the women started visiting in 2020, just before the Covid pandemic, and were regulars until May when they stopped passing by. 

They described the pair - one brunette and the other dyed blonde - as 'quiet' but 'very friendly', and said they would only respond to questions. 

One female attendant said the sisters would visit the store to pick up drinks during the day, but only appeared to fill up their black BMW coupe with petrol at night. 

'One girl would come in to buy iced coffee and sometimes V [energy drink]. ' Sometimes two or three times a day,' one female attendant said.

'I never served her sister but I would see them walking up the street together. When I found out what happened to them, I was very shocked and confused.

The Department of Home Affairs would not confirm if the women were seeking asylum in Australia. 

'The department does not comment on individual cases,' a spokesman said. 

Daily Mail Australia also contacted the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia for comment.

In 2019, a Four Corners report found around 80 Saudi Arabian women had tried to seek asylum in Australia in recent years. 

The investigation found the many of them were fleeing Saudi Arabia's male guardianship laws, which allow their husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles and sons to control their lives.

The sisters' reasons for leaving their homeland remains unclear and Daily Mail Australia does not suggest it was due to guardianship laws.  

The latest revelations come after Daily Mail Australia revealed there were two prior welfare checks, one done by police, on the women in the months leading up to their discovery.

In one of the checks the women, the pair were described as 'timid' and refused to let anyone enter the apartment.

But after protests from a concerned party, the sisters eventually allowed the check to occur, but spent it huddled together in the far corner of the unit. 

One sat down while the other cowered behind her as they answered simple questions about their wellbeing. 

'They were standoffish and didn't really want to talk,' a source said. 

'Something felt off, but they said they were ok. What more could anyone do?' 

In a separate incident months earlier, the sisters' black car - which was towed away from their apartment last week - was keyed.

Anyone who may have information that could assist detectives is urged to contact Burwood Police Station or Crime Stoppers. 

 

TIMELINE 

2017: It is understood Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, fled Saudi Arabia to seek safe shelter in Australia.

Began communications with a refugee agency which helps people escaping persecution. 

2019: Asra took an AVO out against a man, but it was later dismissed.

2020: They frequently visited a service station around their flat, with locals describing them as 'friendly'.

2022: Police conducted two welfare checks early in the year.

In one of the checks, the pair were described as 'timid' and refused to let anyone enter the apartment.

They eventually allowed officers to enter, but stayed huddled together in the far corner of the unit.

May, 2022: The owner of their Canterbury unit filed a civil case against Asra on May 13.

That action was taken four weeks after sheriff's officers went to the apartment to serve the women with an eviction notice.

June 7, 2022: Officers conducting a welfare check made the grisly discovery. 

There was no sign of forced entry. 

Police believe the sisters died in May, but have not been able to determine a cause of death.

 

[dallysingh101 7,461]

Professional hit?

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11053593/Saudi-Arabian-sisters-dead-Canterbury-unit-daughters-connected-family.html

[proudkaur21 2,218]

China- Taiwan issue, Ukraine-Russia war, Israel bombing Gaza.... Will there be a world war by the end of this decade?

[dallysingh101 7,461]

2 hours ago, proudkaur21 said:

China- Taiwan issue, Ukraine-Russia war, Israel bombing Gaza.... Will there be a world war by the end of this decade?

I think so. Might come up sooner than people think too. 

 

We have to be careful of characteristic stupidity from juts in our panth too. Simranjeet Singh Mann has proven this with recent statements. 

[5aaban 792]

https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/no-education-rarely-stepped-out-of-house-afghan-sikh-woman-recounts-life-under-taliban-rule/article65737936.ece

No education, rarely stepped out of house: Afghan Sikh woman recounts life under Taliban rule

“We used to think 10 times before stepping out of our houses.”

Manpreet Kaur, a mother of two, rarely stepped out of her house following the swift Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last year and her children barely had any idea of the world outside.

Their grim existence of nearly a year changed on August 3, when they arrived in India as part of a group of 28 Afghan Sikhs who were flown in from Kabul with the help of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Indian World Forum and the Central government.

Recounting the hardships of living under Taliban rule, Ms. Kaur said, "Being a minority, there was a constant fear of being targeted. The Sikh and Hindu families in Kabul have been spending sleepless nights. The places of worship are not safe. The Gurdwara Karta-E-Parwan was attacked by terrorists on June 18." "We used to think 10 times before stepping out of our houses. For our children, going out was out of the question. If we had to step out, we covered our faces," she said.

She claimed most of the minorities in Afghanistan have no access to education as sending children to schools means "risking their lives".

"If a child goes to an educational institute, there they will be harassed. Mostly those who want to study, come to India," Ms. Kaur said.

Taranjit Singh, another Afghan Sikh who arrived in India on August 3, has a three-year-old child suffering from a heart ailment. He said that due to minimum access to hospitals his child could not get proper treatment in Kabul.

"We are hoping to get him treated here in India," Mr. Singh told PTI.

Activist Kavita Krishnan, who has been involved in the evacuation of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus to India, said the Centre should have a policy of offering citizenship to such refugees in India and providing them work.

“Our country is more than capable of just offering citizenship to these refugees. Not just the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus but all refugees should be offered this help by the government.”

"The Centre doesn't arrange facilities for refugees. Even when they were compelled to do so, for the Tamil refugees, their camps were extremely ill-equipped. If the Centre treated the refugees with respect and compassion, they could easily provide work for them," Ms. Krishnan told PTI.

She alleged that refugees are only "talking points" and "propaganda" for the Centre.

"The Centre should understand that the refugees, with whatever work they do here, are contributing to the GDP of this country," Ms. Krishnan said.

[dallysingh101 7,461]

Number of suspected modern slavery victims hits new record with more than 4,000 referred to Home Office between April and June this year, figures show

• From April to June, 4,171 potential victims of modern slavery were reported 
• The figure is the highest on record and a significant rise from that of last year 
• The rise has partly been driven by claims of slavery to avoid deportation  

 

There are more victims of modern slavery in the UK than ever before, new figures show. 

Between April and June, 4,171 potential victims of human trafficking, slavery or forced labour were reported to the Home Office. 

The figure is the highest since records on modern slavery began in 2009. 

It is also a rise of 10 per cent from the previous quarter and up a third from the same period in 2021.

Figures show the highest number of child victims and 589 referrals involved county lines drugs gangs, also the highest number since records began.

Overall, 14 per cent of referrals involved county lines, with three-quarters (446) of these concerning boys.

The figures for suspected modern slavery victims have risen each year, excluding 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.

Last year, 2,727 potential victims were identified - the highest annual figure since records began, when the number was 552.

Of the potential victims, 54 per cent claimed exploitation as adults and 39% claimed exploitation as children.

Some 43 per cent claimed their exploitation took place overseas, compared to 36 per cent in the previous three months.

The vast majority, 79 per cent, of the suspected victims were male. The most commonly reported form of exploitation for adult victims was labour exploitation, 32%, while children were most often referred for criminal exploitation - 44%.

Maya Esslemont, director of After Exploitation, a non-profit organisation, said the news: 'Could represent a loss of trust between survivors and the authorities, as the latter can no longer promise victims that they will be protected from deportation if they comply with an investigation.

 'We are worried to see a rise in recorded modern slavery cases, at a time when the life circumstances of so many survivors seems uncertain.

'Since the Nationality and Borders Act was brought into force, survivors no longer have a "guarantee" of support even if they are recognised by the Home Office's own decision makers as victims.

'Today's figures show just how urgently this government needs to step up and address the long-term challenges facing each of the victims recognised as an NRM statistic.'

Last year, almost 30,000 people were known to have crossed the channel in small boats to reach the UK - likely an underestimate. This was a huge rise from 2020 when just 8,400 made the crossing.

The rising figures are likely driven by the rise in illegal immigrants claiming to be victims of modern slavery to avoid deportation.

In 2020, almost one in six used the defence as victims of trafficking or modern slavery are protected through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), a unit run by the Home Office.

Claims doubled from 5,135 to 10,613 between 2017 and 2020.

It was reported last year that those making the claim included Albanian gangs growing cannabis in the UK. 

Albanians comprised the largest number of claims from foreign nationals in the last five years. 

One case included Armelind Rexha, who appeared in court in 2019 charged with growing cannabis worth up to £672,000. A judge accepted his claim that he had been forced to do it after he cited the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Home Office minister Baroness Williams of Trafford said last year: ‘There are concerns about the potential for a referral to the NRM to be used to frustrate immigration enforcement processes to gain access to support inappropriately. 

'There has been a growth in NRM referrals being made after a person enters immigration detention.

‘This raises legitimate concern that some referrals are being made late in the process to frustrate immigration action and that legitimate referrals are not being made in a timely way.’

The government has proposed to crack down on the use of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to block deportation and criminal prosecution.

So far in 2022, over 13,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel and the total number for the year could double that of 2021.

The surge in channel crossings has largely been fuelled by people-smuggling gangs helping migrants to make the dangerous journey across the Channel.

According to the Home Office, 50 suspected criminal gang members were arrested last year in connection to small boat crossings. 

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has also made several arrests this year connected to human trafficking as the number of Channel crossings continues to rise. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11102361/Number-suspected-modern-slavery-victims-hits-new-record-4-000-April-June.html

[Premi5 3,302]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62524922

Author Salman Rushdie, who suffered years of Islamist death threats after writing The Satanic Verses, has been attacked on stage in New York state.

The Booker Prize winner was speaking at an event at the Chautauqua Institution at the time.

Witnesses say they saw a man run on stage and either punch or stab Mr Rushdie as he was being introduced.

A video posted online shows attendees rushing onto the stage immediately following the incident. 

The attacker is said to have been restrained by those on the scene.

[dallysingh101 7,461]

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace admits 20-year military campaign in Afghanistan ended in failure - and fears grieving parents will think their sons and daughters died for nothing

• Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the Afghanistan campaign was a failure
• He fears families of dead personnel will feel their sacrifice was for nothing 
• He said Britain and her allies were right to stay in Afghanistan for 20 years 

The Defence Secretary has admitted the 20-year military campaign in Afghanistan – which cost the lives of hundreds of British troops – ended in failure.

A year after the Taliban swept back into power, Ben Wallace said he feared grieving parents would wonder: ‘What was it all for?’

Monday marks the anniversary of the Islamist militants walking unopposed into Kabul, sparking a frantic fortnight that saw Western troops pack up and leave. In an exclusive interview, Mr Wallace described his feelings as everything UK troops had fought and died for ‘crumbled before our eyes’.

 

British service personnel, including the Royal Marine Commandos, pictured, spent 20 years battling the Taliban before withdrawing almost one year ago

 

 

Mr Wallace spoke to the Daily Mail to mark the first anniversary of Operation Pitting, the UK’s largest evacuation effort since the Second World War.

More than 1,000 personnel were involved in a death-defying mission to rescue UK nationals and entitled locals after the Taliban swept aside Western-trained Afghan forces with embarrassing ease.

Mr Wallace, a father of three, was working all hours and suffering sleepless nights after receiving death threats from animal rights extremists – who thought dogs should be prioritised as part of the airlift.

He was enjoying a rare opportunity to spend time with his 11-year-old son when they saw a memorial to Guardsman Michael Sweeney, 19, in Blyth, Northumberland.

Mr Wallace said: ‘It was a rare evening off and we had been working all hours. I wasn’t getting to see much of my family.

‘But my son and I went for a walk and saw Gdsm Sweeney’s war memorial, which was immaculately kept. He was the only soldier from Blyth killed in Afghanistan. I looked at the picture of him and I looked at my son.

‘Then it occurred to me – this young man had died for the very event that was collapsing before our eyes.

‘And I thought about his mother and father who’d lost a teenage son, and experienced such loss. And what was it all for?

‘I worried that was the question the families of fallen troops would ask themselves. I worried they’d think it was for nothing, when actually Afghanistan meant so much.

‘We’d gone there for the right reasons and stayed for 20 years, we’d done security, economic development, education, but we’d failed.

‘And history told us when the West left the country, it was going to go back to how it had been. We were leaving people behind, conceding the country to the Taliban... mainly because the West didn’t really want to stay. And if they didn’t want to stay, why did they go there at all?’

Asked why he felt it so personally, Mr Wallace, a former Scots Guards officer, said: ‘Because I’m a soldier. Because it is sad and the West has done what it’s done. We have to do our best to get people out and stand by our obligations.’

The Taliban’s resurgence in late 2020 and early 2021 had severe implications for a brave cohort of Afghans who had risked their lives to support British military and diplomatic operations in the country.

The Daily Mail’s award-winning Betrayal of the Brave campaign led to the Government gradually doing more to help the thousands of former translators, guards and other staff resettle in the UK.

But the consensus remains among campaigners that Britain moved too slowly to help. Mr Wallace said: ‘When we started the relocation scheme they were not queuing up in their thousands, the country was stable enough. What we hadn’t done then was bring many people back.

‘But suddenly, as the fabric of the country began to fold, these people suddenly became very vulnerable. We didn’t just turn up at the airport and there was a coherent plan. Given another ten days we would have got almost everyone out.

‘Launching Operation Pitting, it was one of those times in government when you don’t know the outcome of what you’re intending to do.

‘We’d done a reconnaissance visit some months beforehand but even so, when the Paras and 16 Air Assault went down there, they didn’t know what they’d find. Nobody could have predicted such a rapid collapse of the Afghan government. In the aftermath we didn’t know whether the Afghans were going to turn nasty.’

Mr Wallace’s worst fears were realised on August 26 when an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 13 US troops and at least 170 Afghans outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai airport.

A year after Operation Pitting, Mr Wallace told the Mail: ‘In terms of the British Government’s response, I don’t have regrets. I am proud of the Afghan relocation scheme (ARAP) – it is still going and will keep going. More people are arriving here every week. We stood by our word and got those people out. On my watch, we did our very best.’

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11107691/Defence-Secretary-Ben-Wallace-admits-20-year-military-campaign-Afghanistan-ended-failure.html

 

 

[dallysingh101 7,461]

Just how much these wasps are now owned:

 

Seven Sandhurst cadets and instructors from the UAE are expelled in scandal

 

 

The Sovereign's Parade concluded in traditional manner at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst yesterday, albeit in the Queen's absence.

But I can reveal that the parade-ground pomp and splendour masked a deeply embarrassing chapter in Sandhurst's history.

Only days ago, its Commandant, Major General Duncan Capps, felt obliged to expel no fewer than seven overseas cadets — all of them from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

 

'The cadets' instructors got the boot too,' my man on parade tells me. 'It was because of what are described as 'disciplinary incidents'.'

Capps won't have taken such decisive action lightly, not least because of the diplomatic discomfort it will cause the Foreign Office — and because of the potential cost to the Treasury. 

 

 

Oil-rich countries pay handsomely for their links with Sandhurst; the UAE recently built a new accommodation block there, the Zayed Building, at a cost of £15 million.

The expulsions come at a time of fraught relations with the UAE. The ruler of Dubai was ordered to pay a record £554 million to his former wife and their two children by a British court last December. Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a horse race-loving friend of the Royal Family, will have to pay for Princess Haya's security for the rest of her life after she fled to Britain to escape him.

It followed previous High Court judgments that the sheikh orchestrated the abductions of two of his daughters and used military-grade surveillance software to launch a phone-hacking operation on British soil. He has denied the findings.

At Sandhurst, there can be cultural differences between Arab princelings and British officer cadets.

 

Capps did his best to sound a warning of this last year, when, in an interview for a Middle East readership, he said: 'Regardless of background or position, officer cadets are treated the same. Monarchs are treated just like everyone else.'

Some find this hard to accept. 'One of them in my intake wanted to be excused early morning stag [guard duty],' a Sandhurst alumnus tells me, 'so he went up to the company sergeant major with a bunch of £10 notes — a whole wad — in his hand.

'The company sergeant major took his head off. Figuratively. And put him on guard at two in the morning.'

At one point, the problem became so severe that the military police investigated allegations of 'huge bribes' — BMWs and Mercedes cars, Rolexes and foreign holidays — being offered to Sandhurst instructors.

More recently, there have, I've been told, been difficulties on 'cultural days' to London.

'You'd go up to see a play or go to a museum — and it descended into chaos when alcohol was introduced to the equation,' explains another Sandhurst man.

The less impressive overseas cadets were, he adds, known as 'Floppies' – 'F****** lazy overseas potential enemies'. An Army spokesman declines to comment.

[dallysingh101 7,461]

Dozens of teenagers serving in the armed forces claim to have been raped or sexually assaulted by comrades or instructors in the last year

• Nearly half of the alleged victims were in training at Army College in Harrogate 
• Figures suggest 47 recruits under 18 allegedly victims of sexual assault last year
• One case has been proven, four are ongoing and 11 transferred to civilian police 
• Inquiry last year found female members were being let down by army bosses
• Comes after Ministry of Defence zero tolerance policy towards sexual offenders

 

Dozens of teenagers who have served in the armed forces alleged that they have been sexually assaulted by fellow comrades or instructors, according to defence chiefs. 

Nearly half of those claiming to be victims of sex attacks were undergoing training at an Army college in Harrogate, north Yorkshire, which is attended by school-leavers as young as 16 years old, according to The Sun. 

According to figures which emerged just one year after a report by MPs accused military bosses of covering up rape and sexual abuse to protect themselves, one in ten teenage girls in the service claim to be victims of a sex attack.

New figures released by ministers following an inquiry by the Commons defence committee suggest that 47 recruits under 18 said they were sexually assaulted or raped last year. 

 

The inquiry concluded that female members of the military were being let down by senior officers. 

Armed Forces Minister Leo Docherty told MPs that 37 of the 47 victims were female, with one case proven, four ongoing and 11 transferred to the civilian police. 

Incidents within the force are usually dealt with by the Royal Military, which is responsible for the policing of service personnel. 

Of the complaints, 22 were based at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate at the time of the offence. 

Figures suggest there were nearly 300 girls aged 18 and under serving in the forces during the attacks.  

Colonel Philip Ingram a former Army commanding officer said: 'These statistics are shocking whatever way you look at them.

'They highlight the most basic of failures in command at a number of different levels and yet it takes a parliamentary question to get the information into the public domain, delivered by the very minister who continuously says the MoD is making huge progress in addressing inappropriate behaviours.

 

'Until defence gets some form of independent oversight then it will continue to cover up what can only be described as atrocious acts.'

An MoD spokesman said: 'Sexual assault or harassment has no place in the Armed Forces and all allegations are taken seriously and investigated by the service police.

'We continue to improve reporting mechanisms so personnel feel safe in raising issues and confident allegations will be acted on.

'This includes creating a victim and witness care unit, ensuring complaints of bullying, harassment or discrimination are dealt with by outside the chain of command, and strengthening the levers available to discharge someone who has committed a sexual offence.'

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Defence published its zero tolerance approach to sexual offenders within the armed forces. It applies to the Royal Navy, RAF and the Army under one approach. 

Key changes included introducing the administrative discharge from service with no option to serve elsewhere for those found guilty of sexual offences. 

The policy also states that sexual relationships between instructors and trainees are unacceptable and will result in the instructor being discharged.  

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11110103/Dozens-teens-armed-forces-claim-raped-sexually-assaulted.html

[dallysingh101 7,461]