The Express Tribune analyses the videos, pictures shared on social media since the neighbours have come face-to-face

More than 16 years after OSHA suggested a comprehensive silica dust standard is necessary, stakeholders such as the American Foundry Society continue to meet and argue about the issue.

Traffic on Interstate 95 was diverted for hours after a group of armed men fled from police near Wakefield, Mass. on Saturday. Massachusetts state police say 11 suspects have been taken into custody.; Credit: Michael Dwyer/AP

Eleven people were taken into custody Saturday after an hours-long standoff with police early Saturday outside Boston.

While police engaged in negotiation, members of the group engaged the public on social media, saying their group was called "Rise of the Moors."

The heavily armed men were said to be driving from Rhode Island to Maine for "training."

The incident started around 1:30 a.m., when state police noticed two cars stopped at the side of I-95 near Wakefield, Mass., apparently out of fuel. As troopers stopped to assist, they noticed that some individuals near the cars had "military-style" gear, and were carrying long guns and pistols, Massachusetts State Police Col. Christopher Mason told reporters.

"You can imagine 11 armed individuals standing with long guns slung on an interstate highway at 2 in the morning certainly raises concerns and is not consistent with the firearms laws that we have in Massachusetts," Mason said.

Police requested backup, and thus began a standoff that lasted several hours. The men refused to lower their weapons, saying that they "don't recognize our laws," police said. Some of the armed men fled into a nearby wooded area, police said, and a portion of I-95 was closed for several hours.

The standoff was broadcast on social media

Around 4 a.m., a man whom the Boston Globe identified as Jamhal Talib Abdullah Bey said he was broadcasting live from I-95 and said that he told police they had nothing to fear.

"I reassured them that we are not sovereign citizens," a man who appeared to be Bey said in a live-streamed video. "I reassured them that we are not Black identity extremists. I reassured them that we are not anti-police. I reassured them that we are not anti-government. I reassured them that these men here will not be pointing guns at them. I reassured them that we are trying to come to a peaceful resolution."

"We're going to our private land to train, which is our Second Amendment right," he said, showing a vehicle he said contained camping equipment.

As police tactical teams brought in armored vehicles to surround the area, and negotiators interacted with the men, they ultimately surrendered. Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan told reporters the suspects were expected to appear in court on Tuesday morning.

State police "don't have any knowledge about this particular specific group" but as state police "it is not unusual for us to encounter people that have sovereign citizen ideologies — I'm not saying that this group does — but we have had those encounters before in the past," Mason said at a Saturday morning press briefing.

"We train to those encounters," Mason continued. "We very much understand the philosophy that underlies that mindset. And we train our officers, actually, at the academy, on these interactions and how to de-escalate those situations, and how to engage with people that have that philosophy and mindset and resolve those situations in a peaceful manner."

The group calls itself "Rise of the Moors"

The same man appearing to be Bey said in a later video: "They keep portraying us as being anti-government, but we're not anti-government at all."

The group's website lists Bey as a leader of the "Rhode Island State Republic and Providence Plantations." According to the site, Bey served in the military for four years, some or all of that time in the Marines, after which he began studying "Moorish Science."

That website, "Rise of the Moors," explains that Moors are not "sovereign citizens" because "sovereignty does not stand alone," but can rather be considered synonymous with "nationality."

"The record show that the Moors are the organic or original sovereigns of this land — America," the FAQ says. "When we declare our nationality as Moorish Americans we are taking back the position as the aboriginal people of the land, to which the sovereign power is vested in."

Bey's group may be associated with the Moorish sovereign citizen movement, which the Southern Poverty Law Center characterizes as an offshoot of the antigovernment sovereign citizens movement. Moorish sovereigns "have come into conflict with federal and state authorities over their refusal to obey laws and government regulations," SPLC writes.

"The Moorish Sovereign movement is a rapidly growing group of people who believe that they belong to a sovereign nation that has a treaty with the US but otherwise operates outside of the federal and state laws," JJ MacNab, a fellow at George Washington University's Program on Extremism, explained on Twitter.

"They rely on an alternative history that borrows from Moorish Science Temple, Black Hebrew Israelism, Nation of Islam, UFO theories, phony Native American tribes, and the pseudo-legal arguments crafted by white supremacist 'patriot' groups in the 1970s," MacNab said.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

An ambitious female television reporter is driving through New Mexico when she hears that a Texas millionarie's teenage daughter has been kidnapped. Knowing the girl's father lives nearby, she quickly lines up an interview. The situation quickly spins out of control, however, and the reporter finds herself at the center of a tense situation that could have devastating consequences for all involved.

More layoffs and damaging cuts loom as districts move deeper into the school year with their budgets depleting and Congress stalemated over emergency relief.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: The desire of the Kurds along Iraq’s northern border to govern themselves is receiving more resistance from Iraq’s central government. Iraqi army forces are demanding Kurdish troops withdraw from oil fields and military bases around Kirkuk, a city in the Kurdistan region that voted for independence last month. Kirkuk also has 10% of Iraq’s known oil reserves. Washington Post’s Loveday Morris is in Baghdad covering this standoff joins me now via Skype. First of all the significance of this. Why is it so important?

LOVEDAY MORRIS: There’s been a longtime conflict between Baghdad and Kurdistan over these disputed territories. Most significant of which is Kirkuk because of the oil reserves. But the referendum last month has really sharpened these disputes because you have Baghdad opposing independence and so it feels like they have to restate its territorial claims these areas. So that’s why we’re seeing a lot of tension right now.

HARI SREENIVASAN: And just to give people a little bit of a brief timeline – Iraqi forces control this area for a while and then in June ISIS took over the area and now it’s kind of back in Kurdish hands?

LOVEDAY MORRIS: Right. So in June 2014 Iraq lost control of a lot of the areas and we have this huge collapse in the face of an ISIS offensive. Over 100,000 soldiers fled and Kurdish forces moved in some of these areas – some of them maybe took from ISIS and others just moved into into the vacuum. And so Iraqi forces have been in these areas since June 2014. And that’s their main demand that they return to the areas.

HARI SREENIVASAN: What’s the likelihood that this standoff right now turns violent? Into some sort of a civil war?

LOVEDAY MORRIS:: I think at this point both sides don’t want violence. Al-Abadi, the prime minister, is really trying to defuse the situation by saying there’s going to be no military attack. But at the same time there is this buildup of forces so that I think they are trying to, in a way, intimidate the Kurds to withdraw from some areas but they don’t want to see a fight per say. But in this really tense situation there can be a small spark and things can turn violent quite easily.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Thank you.

The post Iraqi, Kurdish forces in standoff, weeks after Kurdish vote for independence appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

Source: www.businessinsider.com - Friday, May 08, 2020
The US Navy sent two ships into the middle of a South China Sea dispute on Thursday as the commander of US Pacific Fleet warned China to stop "bullying" other countries in the region. A US Navy littoral combat ship and a cargo vessel conducted "presence operations" near the West Capella, a Malaysia-contracted drillship at the heart of a standoff with China and, to some extent, Vietnam. Adm. John Aquilino, commander of US Pacific Fleet, said in a statement Thursday that China "must end its pattern of bullying Southeast Asians out of offshore oil, gas, and fisheries." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories . The US Navy warned China to stop "bullying" other countries in the South China Sea as two Navy ships sailed into the middle of a dispute in the contested waterway. The Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Montgomery and the Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship USNS Cesar Chavez conducted "presence operations" near the West Capella, showing apparent support for the Malaysia-contracted drillship that has been hassled by Chinese ships in recent months. Adm. John Aquilino, commander of US Pacific Fleet, said in a statement Thursday that the US is "committed to a rules-based order in the South China Sea and we will continue to champion freedom of the seas and the rule of law." He continued: "The Chinese Communist Party must end its pattern of bullying Southeast Asians out of offshore oil, gas, and fisheries. Mi

'What are we supposed to do?' one hiker whispered as a puma stared them down in Sequoia National Park.

A cutting head of a waterjet cutting system is provided having an environment control device and a measurement device. The environment control device is positioned to act on a surface of a workpiece at least during a measurement operation to establish a measurement area on the surface of the workpiece substantially unobstructed by fluid. The measurement device is positioned to selectively obtain information from within the measurement area indicative of a position of the cutting head relative to the workpiece. A control system is further provided and operable to position the cutting head relative to the workpiece at a standoff distance based at least in part on the information indicative of the position of the cutting head relative to the workpiece obtained by the measurement device. A method of operating a waterjet cutting system is also provided.

A portable bracket is removably attached to a structure, such as a tree, for the purpose of relieving the strain on a hunter who is holding and aiming their firearm. A bracket comprising a back plate and a horizontal plate is secured to a tree using a strap and binder arrangement. The firearm support is portable and lightweight and maybe useful for other purposes within a campsite, such as holding a lantern and a like.

A days-long tense standoff between protesters and police is grinding on at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The numbers of protesters barricaded inside the school has dwindled to about 100, and their food supplies are rapidly depleting after police surrounded the campus on Sunday. The situation is growing so desperate for the remaining protesters that several of them unsuccessfully attempted to escape the police siege by climbing through sewer drains, according to local media . Police say they've arrested about 1,100 people in the past day. At a Tuesday news conference , officers accused the protesters of crimes such as taking part in riots and possessing dangerous weapons. Authorities have threatened to use live ammunition against the demonstrators, though they say that level of force is a last resort. Protesters are pleading for help. A video posted by protest leader Joshua Wong features a message from a masked woman who is identified as a student at Polytechnic University. "We have

What the Oka crisis reveals about this week's pipeline standoff, COVID-19 sparks fears of a hockey stick shortage, Bernie Sanders impersonator James Adomian, charting U.S. Attorney General William Barr's next move, why pop music works, revisiting the death of Malcolm X and more.

Australia's biggest grain handler and a global infrastructure giant reach agreement on the use of WA's rail freight network, but farmers' hopes this will lead to fewer trucks transporting grain may be dashed.

A man who was shot by police in northern Victoria last week, after he and his brother allegedly threatened officers with a knife and a tomahawk, appears in court charged with assaulting police.

A man is in custody following a six-hour standoff in eastern Prince Edward Island that started when police responded to a domestic dispute that quickly escalated when officers learned the suspect could be armed.

Research Event

Event participants

David Roberts, Assistant Professor and School of Security Studies Lead for Regional Security and Development, King's College London
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Associate Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House
Chair: Sanam Vakil, Deputy Director and Senior Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House

Research Event

Event participants

David Roberts, Assistant Professor and School of Security Studies Lead for Regional Security and Development, King's College London
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Associate Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House
Chair: Sanam Vakil, Deputy Director and Senior Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House

Research Event

Event participants

David Roberts, Assistant Professor and School of Security Studies Lead for Regional Security and Development, King's College London
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Associate Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House
Chair: Sanam Vakil, Deputy Director and Senior Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House

A bold approach to the sanctions issue is necessary to refocus efforts on the actions needed to break the political stalemate in Zimbabwe before elections are held that otherwise threaten to be as violent and undemocratic as the 2008 round.

The standoff has created massive traffic jams at border control gates of member countries.

Premiership Rugby could end up in a standoff with the Six Nations over the release of players for Tests affected by Coronavirus.

Lisa Wilkinson, 59, and Karl Stefanovic, 44, were once Australia's most loved breakfast show co-hosts, known for their on-screen chemistry and decade-long friendship. 

Demonstrators protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline were injured on Sunday after increased tensions. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas after a group of protesters moved into restricted areas. Authorities also doused protesters with water from fire hoses despite frigid temperatures. Photo: James MacPherson/AP Photo

A single factory in Malaysia supplies about 10% of the world’s rare earth oxides, used in everything from cellphones to lasers to missiles. Controversy over the final resting place for the slightly radioactive byproducts has pushed the plant to the brink of closure. Host Meagan Cantwell talks with freelance writer Yao Hua Law about calls to ship the waste back to where it was originally mined in Australia, and how stopping production in Malaysia would mean almost all rare earth production would take place in China.  In another global trade story, host Sarah Crespi talks with freelance writer Sam Kean about close links between the slave trade and early naturalists’ efforts to catalog the world’s flora and fauna. Today, historians and museums are just starting to come to grips with the often-ignored relationships between slavers and scientists. This week’s episode was edited by Podigy. Download the transcript (PDF) Ads on this show: Kolabtree and MagellanTV Listen to previous podcasts. About the Science Podcast [Image: James Petiver, 1695; Music: Jeffrey Cook]