Blackfire

Facebook says it has removed 32 accounts and pages believed to have been set up to influence the mid-term US elections in November. It said it was in the "very early" stages of the investigation and did not yet know who was behind the pages. It said the account creators had gone to greater lengths to hide their identities than a Russia-based campaign to disrupt the US presidential vote. It described attempts to erase election interference as an "arms race." What did Facebook discover? The social network said in a blog that it had identified 17 suspect profiles on Facebook and seven Instagram accounts. It said that there were more than 9,500 Facebook posts created by the accounts and one piece of content on Instagram. In total more than 290,000 accounts followed at least one of the pages involved, it added. Facebook said the suspect accounts had also run about 150 ads on Facebook and Instagram, costing a total of $11,000 (£8,300). The most po[CENSORED]r fake accounts were: Aztlan Warriors Black Elevation Mindful Being Resisters Why can't Facebook be sure who is responsible? The "bad actors" went to far greater lengths to cover their tracks than the Russian-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) had in the past, Facebook said. This included using virtual private networks (VPNs) to hide their location, and using third parties to run ads on their behalf. Furthermore, the social network said it had not found evidence of Russian IP (internet protocol) addresses. But it did find one link between the IRA and the new accounts. One of disabled IRA accounts shared a Facebook event hosted by the Resisters page. The page also briefly listed an IRA account as one of its administrators. It added that it "may never be able to identify the source" for the fake accounts. "The set of actors we see now might be the IRA with improved capabilities, or it could be a separate group," explained Facebook's chief security officer Alex Stamos. "This is one of the fundamental limitations of attribution: offensive organisations improve their techniques once they have been uncovered, and it is wishful thinking to believe that we will always be able to identify persistent actors with high confidence." Fake news 'crowding out' real news, MPs say Facebook halts InfoWars founder's posts Facebook is in 'arms race' with Russia What is the company doing about it? Facebook has removed the suspect accounts, but says other legitimate page administrators unwittingly interacted with them. For example, after the Resisters account created a Facebook event for a protest on 10 to 12 August called "No Unite the Right 2", five other page owners offered to co-host the demonstration and posted details about transportation and locations. Facebook said it had contacted the admins involved and would alert the 2,600 users who had expressed interest in the event. How have US politicians reacted? Democratic congressman Adam Schiff said: "Today's announcement from Facebook demonstrates what we've long feared: that malicious foreign actors bearing the hallmarks of previously-identified Russian influence campaigns continue to abuse and weaponise social media platforms to influence the US electorate." "Foreign influence actors remain readily capable of mani[CENSORED]ting raw emotion and societal divisions to prey on unsuspecting Americans who use these same social media tools for legitimate political expression, organisation, and advocacy." The Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who is vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, also pointed his finger at Moscow. "Today's disclosure is further evidence that the Kremlin continues to exploit platforms like Facebook to sow division and spread disinformation, and I am glad that Facebook is taking some steps to pinpoint and address this activity," he said. "I also expect Facebook, along with other platform companies, will continue to identify Russian troll activity and to work with Congress on updating our laws to better protect our democracy in the future." Republican Senator Lindsey Graham added that he intended to pursue retaliatory measures. "I will be introducing Thursday a sanctions bill against Russia that has everything but the kitchen sink in it," he declared. "It'll be the sanctions bill from hell. And any other country that is trying to interfere with our election should suffer the same fate."

V2 text . Effect

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I agree to remove it why we need it ?. they made a clup then forget it . i hate clups just wasting for time .

Two children and their great-grandmother are among five people to have died in a raging wildfire in northern California, reports say. Two firefighters died on Thursday, 17 people are missing and tens of thousands have fled their homes. The fires in Shasta county are being sucked up by strong winds to form "fire tornados" that are uprooting trees and overturning cars, fire officials say. Firefighters are battling the blaze, which is only 5% contained so far. The blazes, known as the Carr fire, have destroyed at least 500 structures and are threatening thousands of homes. The wildfire began on Monday after a car malfunctioned. It has scorched over 48,000 acres (194 sq km) of land - an area larger than the city of San Francisco. The photos that explain the world's wildfires Reality Check: Mapping the global heatwave Why wildfires are breaking out in the 'wrong' countries Sherry Bledsoe has confirmed that her grandmother Melody Bledsoe, 70, and her two children Emily Roberts, five, and James Roberts, four, died in the fire, reports say. They were caught in the path of the fire as they were about to evacuate their home in the town of Redding, NBC reported. Melody Bledsoe's husband, Ed, earlier described how she had called him while he was out shopping and told him to return home because the fire was getting close to the house. When he reached home he found it destroyed and surrounded by police tape, he said. Another relative told Two firefighters - fire inspector Jeremy Stoke, and a bulldozer operator who has not yet been named, died trying contain the blaze. More than 3,400 firefighters have been deployed - but the local fire department has warned that hot, dry weather is forecast for the rest of the week, and could make the blaze worse. "We are seeing fire whirls - literally what can be described as a tornado," California department of forestry and fire protection (CalFire) chief Ken Pimlott told reporters. "This fire was whipped up into a whirlwind of activity" by gale-force winds, he said, "uprooting trees, moving vehicles, moving parts of roadways." "These are extreme conditions... we need to take heed and evacuate, evacuate, evacuate." Fire whirls, also known as fire "tornadoes", are spinning vortexes of air, ash and fire They form when rising hot air begins to rotate and forms a vortex that picks up flammable gases and burning debris vegetation Fire whirls typically only last a few minutes but can be very dangerous because they can move quickly They can reach dozens of metres in height, with core temperatures as high as 1,090C. About 37,000 residents have been forced to leave the area. One local, Liz Williams, found herself and her two children stuck in traffic as people rushed to evacuate. She eventually fled by foot. "I've never experienced something so terrifying in my life," she told AP news agency. "I didn't know if the fire was just going to jump out behind a bush and grab me and suck me in." The Carr fire is one of almost 90 active large fires in the US, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. In California, the Ferguson fire has killed one firefighter and led to the closure of much of Yosemite National Park, while the Cranston fire in Riverside County in the south has burned 11,500 acres (46 sq km) of land. Wildfires are a common occurrence in California during the state's long, hot, dry summers. However, experts say this has been the worst start to the fire season in 10 years - partly due to the 2012-2017 drought that killed off large amounts of vegetation. In December, Governor Jerry Brown said devastating wildfires fuelled by climate change had become "the new normal", and that large fires "could happen every year or every few years".

¤ Nickname: Blackfire ¤ Grade: Moderator ¤ New Tag: [Guard ThunDerZM]

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The UK's opposition to the death penalty has not changed, the security minister has said - after a government letter about two IS suspects emerged. Ben Wallace said the message from Home Secretary Sajid Javid to the US attorney general - that the UK would not "require assurances" over the death penalty - was a "rare decision". But Labour said the UK was abandoning a "principled opposition". The IS suspects were captured in Syria and could be sent to the US for trial. Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheik, from London, are accused of being the last two members of an IS cell dubbed "The Beatles", which killed Western hostages. After the pair were caught in January by US-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters they complained they would not get a fair trial because the UK government had stripped them of their British citizenship. Who were the Islamic State group 'Beatles' cell? Families of IS victims say 'Beatles' pair 'should face trial' Where should the IS 'Beatles' be tried? The UK could provide intelligence as part of the men's prosecution in the US. For years, Britain sought assurances from foreign governments that the death penalty would not be used in cases where the UK provided information or extradited suspects. But, in a letter leaked to the Telegraph, Mr Javid said he would seek no assurances about Kotey and Elsheik's sentences. Asking an urgent question in the Commons, shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said it was not possible to be a "little bit in favour" of the death penalty. Describing the UK stance as "abhorrent and shameful", she called on ministers "even at this late stage to reverse this decision". But Mr Wallace maintained ministers had complied with the European Convention on Human Rights and international law in relation to the cases. He said: "The crimes that we are talking about involve the beheading and videoing of those beheadings of dozens of innocent people by one of the most abhorrent organisations walking this Earth. "And simply to say if we were unable to prosecute them in this country, that we should simply let them free to roam around the United Kingdom... is simply bizarre and not justice to the victims." Mr Wallace was challenged by MPs from all parties to explain the decision. Former Tory attorney general Dominic Grieve said it represented a "major departure from normal policy" and the "issue is going to continue to haunt the government". Labour's Yvette Cooper, who chairs the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said the home secretary had "unilaterally ripped up" the UK's principles, adding: "What the minister [Mr Wallace] has said today is a contradiction of the longstanding abolition of the death penalty strategy." All part of a deal? By James Landale, BBC diplomatic correspondent Why might Mr Javid take this decision, in apparent breach of long-standing British policy? Perhaps the real motivation is the government's desperation to avoid having to try these two men in Britain. Cases like these are extremely difficult to prosecute because of the difficulty in obtaining evidence, finding witnesses, and establishing what crimes have been committed in which jurisdiction. And in his letter, Mr Javid argues that a more successful prosecution is more likely in the US where laws are different to the UK. What ministers and MPs believe is that Mr Javid is attempting to smooth the way for the Americans to take the cases by letting them know that the UK will not, for once, kick up a fuss about the death penalty. In other words, this is all part of a deal. Read more from James Where does the UK stand on the death penalty? Normally, Britain seeks assurances from foreign governments that the death penalty would not be used when the UK provided information or extradited suspects. Number 10 said it was "a long-standing position of the government to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle". But it added that - in the case of "the Beatles" - it was "a priority to make sure that these men face criminal prosecution". The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner said a senior British government official says this was not the first time that the UK had dropped its request for assurances that the death penalty would not be used - although they did not go into details. But our correspondent said if the pair were sent to the controversial US military prison Guantanamo Bay - where some suspects have been detained for years without trial - the UK would withhold intelligence. Amnesty International said the UK was "leaving the door wide open to charges of hypocrisy and double standards". Who are the suspects? Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheik were members of an IS cell known as the Beatles, because of their British accents. The group - which included two others from west London, Mohammed Emwazi, nicknamed "Jihadi John", and Aine Davis - were radicalised in the UK before travelling to Syria. US officials believe they beheaded more than 27 Western hostages and tortured many more. Each was known to their hostages by their respective Beatles moniker - Paul, Ringo, John and George. Emwazi, who was the alleged ringleader and appeared in videos showing hostages being beheaded, was killed by a drone strike in 2015. Davis was convicted of being a senior IS member and was jailed in Turkey last year. UK-born Kotey is of Ghanaian and Greek Cypriot background, while Sudan-born Elsheikh came to London as a child and later became a British citizen.

Israel says it has carried out an evacuation of members of Syria's White Helmets civil defence group from a war zone in south-western Syria. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had acted on a request from the US, the UK and other European nations. Some 422 volunteers and family members were taken to Jordan via the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights overnight. The White Helmets describe themselves as a volunteer workforce that acts to save people in Syria's war zones. Although they operate only in rebel-held areas, they say they are non-partisan. Supporters of President Bashar al-Assad, and his ally Russia, say the White Helmets support the rebels and also have links to jihadist groups. The unstoppable momentum of Assad’s war Why is there a war in Syria? Jordan said it had authorised the passage of 800 people, but it was later reported that several hundred were unable to make the journey. Those successfully evacuated included about 100 White Helmets, with the rest family members. The evacuated volunteers had been working in an area controlled by the Syrian opposition in the south-west of the country and had been trapped by a government offensive. They were driven to the border with the Golan Heights and taken on from there by Israeli troops. The IDF said they had "completed a humanitarian effort to rescue members of a Syrian civil organisation and their families", saying there was an "immediate threat to their lives". They said the civilians were transferred "through Israel" and "subsequently to a neighbouring country". Although Israel is not directly involved in the Syria conflict, the two countries have been in a state of war for decades. Despite the intervention, the IDF said that "Israel continues to maintain a non-intervention policy regarding the Syrian conflict". Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon later confirmed the evacuees were White Helmet members and their families, though neither he nor the IDF named the country receiving the civilians. However, Jordan's government confirmed it had "authorised the United Nations to organise the passage of 800 Syrian citizens through Jordan to be resettled in Western countries". It said that "Britain, Germany and Canada made a legally binding undertaking to resettle them within a specified period of time due to 'a risk to their lives'". UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt hailed the operation in a tweet A later statement from Mr Hunt and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said: "White Helmets have been the target of attacks and, due to their high profile, we judged that, in these particular circumstances, the volunteers required immediate protection." The UK would provide such protection to "as many of the volunteers and their families as possible". "We pay tribute to the brave and selfless work that White Helmet volunteers have done to save Syrians on all sides of the conflict," the statement read. The White Helmet members and their families will be held in a "restricted area" of Jordan and assessed by the UN, pending resettlement.

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