SAS hit squad on its way to Iraq to hunt down and eliminate ISIS leaders

Since the ISIS militants have become knowledge on how to avoid airstrikes, a decision has been taken to dispatch nearly 60 SAS fighters to Iraq to hunt down and eliminate Islamic State leaders – one of the primary targets is believed to be Jihadi John, the Briton who is supposed to have killed British and American hostages in a series of gruesome executions.
The SAS squadron from Hereford was supposed to travel to Afghanistan to hunt Taliban leaders but have been ordered to proceed to Iraq and turn their attentions on ISIS.
As indicated by a senior Whitehall source, some good early progress had been made against IS but they know how to avoid the jets now and, the only to defeat them is to get up close to them on the ground. Moreover, while hunting for top Islamic State leaders on the ground, they will also help to pinpoint targets for air strikes.
This revelation has come a month after it had been revealed in the media of how SAS troops with sniper rifles and heavy machine guns had killed hundreds of Islamic State extremists in a series of deadly quad-bike ambushes inside Iraq. It seems soldiers from this elite fighting unit had eliminated ‘up to eight terrorists per day’ in the daring raids, carried out during the past four weeks. The method was to airdrop small groups of soldiers into IS territory in RAF Chinook helicopters so that they could take on the enemy. The targets used to be identified by drones operated either from an SAS base or by the soldiers themselves on the ground using smaller devices.

India expresses solidarity with Pakistan – Parliament observes silence to mourn the slain Pakistan children

#IndiaWithPakistan In a show of solidarity with neighbor Pakistan, both the houses of the Indian parliament observed two minutes of silence in the wake of the terror attack in Peshawar.
Prime Minister Narenda Modi has condemned the killings and had called up his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to assure him of all assistance from India. In the course of their talks Prime Minister Modi expressed hopes that the children who were witness to the horrific attack and loss of their friends would come through this trauma through counselling.
The Indian Prime Minister also added during his telephonic talk with Nawaz Sharif, that this moment of shared pain and mourning should also be taken as a call for the two countries and all those who believe in humanity to join hands and to decisively and comprehensively defeat terrorism.
Schools in India also observed two-minute silence in memory of the dead.
It was a bloody carnage that left the world stunned when the Taliban terrorists in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar shot dead 141 people, including 132 school children, after storming into an Army Public School in the morning hours.

Peace in Peshawar shattered - Taliban attacks Army Public School, kills nearly 100 students

#Peshawar Yesterday it was a one-man terror attack in Sydney and today it is a Talban attack in the Army Public school in Peshawar – reports indicate nearly 100 dead in this Peshawar school attack and most of them are innocent children who do not understand the meaning of violence.
It seems five or six militants wearing security uniforms had entered the Army Public School's auditorium, where a military team was conducting first-aid training for students. Majority of the casualties were results of a suicide blast. Many of the students were the children of military personnel and aged 16 or under.
The school is located at the edge of a military cantonment in Peshawar – it has witnessed some of the worst violence during a Taliban insurgency in recent years.
The attack was apparently to avenge army operations in which hundreds of Taliban fighters are believed to have been killed in a recent military offensive in North Waziristan and the nearby Khyber area. This has been confirmed by a spokesman of the Taliban.
The officials have indicated that gunfire and explosions were heard as security forces surrounded the area and the army has confirmed that most of the school's 500 students have been evacuated. However, it is not clear how many are being held hostage in this #PakSchoolSiege.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sees this attack as a "national tragedy" and the Pakistani opposition politician and former cricket captain Imran Khan has, while condemning the attack, has labeled it as "utter barbarism".

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai’s message to the world – make schools, not tanks

Brave heart 17-year-old Malala Yousafzai, the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace prize, has tried to shake the world leaders out of slumber when, in her acceptance speech in Oslo, Malala gave her unique message – build schools, not tanks.
She is from Pakistan and won this year’s Nobel Prize for Peace along with Indian child rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi.
At the ceremony, Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel committee, at the ceremony in Oslo, the capital of Norway described both the recipients as ‘a young girl and a somewhat older man, one from Pakistan and one from India, one Muslim, the other Hindu; both symbols of what the world needs: more unity and fraternity between the nations.’
It may be recalled that Malala, a schoolgirl from Swat in Pakistan became a global icon after she was shot and nearly killed by the Taliban on Oct 9, 2012, for insisting that girls had a right to education. She had a miraculous recovery when she was flown for extensive surgery to Birmingham, England.
After recovery, she continues to stay in London with her family ever since, continuing both her education and activism. Taliban bullets could not rob her of her determination.
During her acceptance speech, she has asked several pertinent questions to the world - why is it that countries which we call `strong’ are so powerful in creating wars but so weak in bringing peace? … Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard? Why is it that making tanks is so easy, but building schools is so difficult?” These are some questions that world leaders need to ask themselves and put their heads together and solve issues by peaceful methods.
Malala has reiterated that she will continue this fight until I see every child in school, and her wish is to one day become the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Afghanistan looks to pomegranates to revive its economy

Kandahar is a province in Afghanistan that is more associated with the Taliban than its famous pomegranates and it is now that harvest time is coming to an end for these fruits. These fruits are usually packed in boxes or jute sacks and sent to markets and warehouses in Pakistan and the Middle East.
This is a key produce for the country and it needs to reach more profitable destinations in Europe and other places so that the export could improve the economy of Afghanistan.
Right now, delegates have gathered in London for a conference on Afghanistan and, the prospects for reducing the reliance on foreign aid are increasingly focused on two sectors of the economy: agriculture and hydrocarbons.
In this conference, already a beginning seems to have been made by Pomegreat Juice Company that buys quality pomegranate concentrate from all over the world. It has set its sights on Afghanistan. In the London Conference on Afghanistan, Mr Pritchard of the Pomegreat Juice Company has reportedly signed a multimillion pound supply agreement with the Kabul-based Omaid Bahar Fruit Processing Company to buy 1,000 tonnes of pomegranate concentrate.
It could prove a blueprint for Afghan agriculture in the years to come if all goes to plan and be a step towards good days to come.
However, Najlla Habibiyar, the head of Afghanistan's Export Promotion Agency, has her doubts. She is aware of the extent of challenge that would be faced by Mr Pritchard and his Afghan partners because it is tough for Afghan farmers to make a living from pomegranates. Poppy (from which opium is made) is a better option. Pomegranates need "work, time and a good market", the poppies pose no such problem – the poppy farmers know that they will always get paid, even if their crops get eradicated.
Of course, pomegranate production is also on the rise but, there is a difference – the poppy farmers can expect the buyers to come to them while the pomegranate growers could face huge obstacles to get their fruits to the market.