Terrorists' powerful weapon: Encrypted messages

Terrorists in the modern age have a tool in their arsenal that allows them to operate under the radar: technology.

After a series of unexpected and devastating attacks, counter terrorism officials believe that it’s getting harder to track  because they “go dark” through the use of encryption messaging and apps.

The act of encryption, when a message is encoded so others can’t read it, is centuries old. Think of Egyptians and cryptography or Julius Caesar and the Caesar cipher. But now, the Internet and tech advancements have propelled encryption into the digital age. Most encryption programs transform information into a series of letters and numbers, which can only be opened with a key. One message can have multiple codes, each with a different key, making it a nearly impossible to crack.

Hard-partying jihadi woman was not a suicide bomber

 
The hard-partying jihadi who cops said blew herself up during a police raid was actually killed when a fellow terrorist standing nearby detonated his own suicide vest, authorities revealed Friday.
Hasna Aitboulahcen, 26, as well as her cousin Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind of the deadly Paris attacks one week ago, and a third, unidentified terrorist were killed during the operation at an ISIS hideout in Paris on Wednesday.
Witnesses said the woman — who became radicalized just a month ago after a life of sex, booze and smokes — shouted “Help me, help me!” and “He’s not my boyfriend” seconds before the explosion, which sent her head shooting out the apartment’s window and across the street.
Authorities initially believed that she was the one wearing the suicide vest.

Check out the winner of the 2015 Zimbabwe's Mr Ugly pageant.

A 42-year-old unemployed man was crowned Zimbabwe's ugliest man at a pub pageant in Harare -- but the contest turned ugly when the runner-up accused judges of bias.

Maison Sere, who was missing several teeth and dressed in torn overalls, beat off five other contestants for the $500 Mr Ugly prize -- a large sum in a country facing massive unemploment.

"I want to thank God for winning this title, last time I came fourth. I just want to thank the judges for recognising me as the winner," Sere told journalists during a night of festivities Friday attended by 200 revellers.

The Five Million-Man March Is It Realizeable !!!!!

ABOUT 42 Igbo organizations have planned to organize a five million-man march for what they describe as true federalism in the five south eastern states in December.
They say the protest march will hold simultaneously in Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi and Imo states at a date before Christmas. The Founder of Igbo Youth Movement, IYM, Evangelist Elliot Uko, made this known after a marathon meeting with Igbo traders organizations and some Niger Delta groups.
The Niger Delta groups which attended the meeting yesterday at the IYM secretariat in Enugu included, Union of Niger Delta and South-South Youth Congress, among others.
According to Uko, 13 different marches for the restructuring of Nigeria will hold in Afikpo, Abakaliki, Nsukka, Enugu, Aba, Umuahia, Ohafia, Okigwe, Owerri, Orlu, Onitsha, Nnewi and Awka.
He said that, “these peaceful marches will be led by the clergy and students groups in each of the cities and towns in the South East.

Buhari Should Dialogue With Massob. NEYPDI

A group of Northern youths under the aegis of North-East Youths Peace Development Initiative, NEYPDI, yesterday urged President Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government to dialogue with those agitating for Biafra, instead of applying force against them.
The group also dissociates itself from the call for the Igbos in the north to vacate the area.
The National President, NEYPDI, Alhaji Kyari Idris Abubakar, in a statement said:

Igbos Should Start Coming Home. MASSOB

The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, has directed all Igbo living outside Igbo land to start returning home and re-establish their businesses and investments in the South-East.
The Indigenous People of Biafra on a Peaceful Protest over the Arrest of the Director of Radio Biafra, along Ikwerre road in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Photo: Nwankpa Chijioke
Decrying what he described as the nonchalant attitude and insensitivity of many Igbo people residing in northern and western parts of the country the MASSOB National Director of Information, Mr. Uchenna Madu, said that, “we have decided and promise to provide adequate security for lives and property in Igboland.
MASSOB shall defend Igboland with our blood, valour and enthusiasm. It is our unflinching service to our father land.

Nigeria Has Abandoned Me In My Days Of Distress. Siasia

The Chief Coach of Dream Team VI, Samson Siasia has cried out that he is gradually losing hope on the release of his mother since those who are supposed to take the matter very seriously have not even deemed it fit to contact him or his family on the issue.
Speaking to the Nation, Siasia said the abductors of his mother, Madam Beauty Ogere Siasia, are still insisting that he must cough out N150m if he wants to see her again.
 “My friend as I speak with you my faith in getting my mother released from the kidnappers’ den is fast diminishing because those that supposed to handle the matter since I am on national duty seems not to be concerned at all.

Ohanaeze: No Right Thinking Person Would Support Biafra.

 

The apex Igbo socio–cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, on Friday disowned the Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and his cohorts in their struggle for Biafra agitation.

Addressing reporters in Awka, the Chairman, Forum of State Presidents of Ohanaeze in the seven Igbo –speaking states, Dr. Chris Eluomunoh, said no right thinking person would support what he called the madness of the group .

He said: “You will notice that Ohanaeze has been very silent on the issue of Biafra insurgency, though the youth wing of Ohanaeze has been speaking on it. Ohanaeze, as the Igbo cultural group, cannot support Biafra and we dissociate ourselves from it totally.

19 Confirmed Dead And 170 Rescued Yesterday From Islamist militants Attack In Bamako Mali.

Islamist militants killed 19 people in an attack on a top hotel in the capital of Mali before Malian commandos stormed the building and rescued 170 people, many of them foreigners.
Two militants were killed.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced the death toll and said seven people were wounded in the attack, which has been claimed by jihadist group Al Mourabitoun and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Friday's assault on the Radisson Blu hotel comes a week after deadly Islamic State attacks in Paris that killed 130 people. Tha Mali attack was the latest in a series of deadly raids this year on high-profile targets in the country, which has battled Islamist rebels based in its desert north for years.

Sylvester Stallone and lovely daugthers at the Creed premiere in Westwood.

Sylvester Stallone made the Creed premiere in Westwood, California on Thursday night a family affair, posing with his wife, Jennifer Flavin, and his three gorgeous daughters. It's safe to say all eyes were on Sophia, 19, Sistine, 17, and 13-year-old Scarlet, who stole the show on the red carpet thanks to their stunning good looks.

Not surprisingly, Sistine, who turned heads in a white minidress, is an aspiring model. The teenager is following in the footsteps of her 47-year-old mother, a former model.

Lucky Man Saved From The Hands Of Ritualists In Anambra, Nigeria.

Anambra state police command has apprehended two members of vigilance group, who allegedly attempted to murder four persons for alleged ritual purposes at Otuocha in Anambra East local government area.

The victims were cut with machete by the nine member gang who kidnapped them in their farm at Igbariam in Anambra East council area.

Reacting to the development, Anambra state police commissioner, Hosea Karma, who confirmed the incident, maintained that anybody pretending to be vigilante operative without the approval of the traditional ruler and the president general of that community under the supervision of the divisional police officer would be seen as illegal and treated like a criminal.

Happening Now ! Dangote Truck Ran Into Many Cars In Asaba And Many Feared Dead

A Dangote trailer collided with several cars along the Asaba-Onitsha expressway and went up in flames this afternoon in Asaba. Many people are feared dead in the accident. Fire service was able to control the fire but the accident is causing serious traffic gridlock coupled with the long line at a close NNPC station due to fuel scarcity. More photos

PDP suffering from hallucination -APC

All Progressives Congress (APC) has reacted angrily to the allegation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the party was behind an alleged assassination attempt on deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu. The party described it as induced hallucination.
The PDP had, through its spokesman, Olisa Metuh, alleged that there was plot to exterminate Ekweremadu and other opposition leaders by the APC, adding that lives of key opposition members were in danger.
Reacting to the allegation, APC Acting National Publicity Secretary, Timi Frank, said it was unfortunate that the PDP resorted to cheap blackmail, adding that the party was yet to purge itself of ‘its cheap and manipulative strategies which only helped it to the doldrums that it is in today.”

Isis Is Not The World Most Deadly Terror Group, Boko-Haram Is.

After three attacks in as many weeks — in Paris, Beirut and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula — in which a total of at least 397 people were killed, the world's attention is fixed on the Islamic State and its horrific brutality.

But in northeastern Nigeria, another group is even deadlier: Boko Haram.

The Nigerian jihadist group was behind the killings of 6,644 people in 2014, compared to 6,073 deaths at the hands of ISIS militants, according to the 2015 Global Terrorism Index, published by the Institute for Economics and Peace on Wednesday.
The death count in Nigeria rose just as the report was released. At least 14 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded after two female suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a busy market in the northern town of Kano; Nigerian authorities blamed Boko Haram for the attacks.

Islamist Gunmen attack luxury hotel in Bamako Mali Today, 170 taken hostage.

Islamist gunmen stormed a luxury hotel packed with foreigners in Mali's capital Bamako on Friday, taking 170 hostages in a former French colony that has been battling rebels allied with al Qaeda for several years.

A senior security source said some of the hostages had been freed after being made to recite verses from the Koran. The French newspaper Le Monde quoted the Malian security ministry as saying at least three hostages had been killed.

The raid on the Radisson Blu hotel, which lies just west of the city center near government ministries and diplomatic offices in the former French colony, comes a week after Islamic State militants killed 129 people in Paris.