Singapore News Channel, Singapore News Network

Law enforcement officials in Phoenix, Arizona arrested a man on Thursday who was alleged to be the former leader of an Al-Qaeda terrorist group in Iraq. Ali Yousif Ahmed Al-Nouri is accused of murdering two Iraqi police officers in 2006 in the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

Al-Nouri allegedly participated in the killing of two officers in the Fallujah Police Directorate as part of a division of Al-Qaeda that focused on killing Iraqi police.

After an Iraqi judge issued a warrant for Al-Nouri’s arrest, the government of Iraq requested Al-Nouri’s extradition.

According to a news release from the Department of Justice, Al-Nouri’s arrest was carried out by the FBI Phoenix Field Office and the U.S. Marshals Service.

More 

Incident: Possession with Intent to Distribute Narcotics School Zone/Possession with Intent to Distribute Large Amount Heroin/Fentanyl Mixture
Date of Incident: January 28, 2020
Location: 1000 block of John Street Salisbury, MD
Suspect: Isaiah D Phillips (30 years of age)
Narrative:
Over the course of the last month, the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office Community Action Team (CAT) conducted a drug investigation into Isaiah D. Phillips selling large amounts of heroin from the 1000 block of John Street, Salisbury, Wicomico County, Maryland, 21804. On 01/28/2020, surveillance was established on Phillips. Phillips was observed selling heroin to another subject at a location in Salisbury, Maryland. A traffic stop was conducted on the buyer after meeting with Phillips. A K-9 scan was conducted and the buyer was found to be in possession of 200 bags of heroin. Later in the day, a traffic stop was conducted on Phillips after leaving his residence. Phillips was found to be in possession of 70 “buns” (700 individual bags of heroin). A search and seizure warrant was then authored for Phillip’s residence located on the 1000 block of John Street, Salisbury, MD. The following was located inside the residence:

• 100 “buns” of heroin (1,000 individual bags of heroin)
• 299.22 grams of unpackaged heroin/ fentanyl mixture
• 350.76 grams of cocaine
• A digital scale and packaging material.

Phillips residence is located across the street from Bennett High School. A total of 1,900 bags of heroin, $2,031.00, a large amount of unpackaged cocaine and unpackaged heroin was located and seized during the operation.

The Delmar Police Department assisted with the operation. This investigation is ongoing at this time and additional charges are pending against Phillips and his co-conspirator.
Based on the manner of packaging/distribution methods utilized by Phillips, the controlled dangerous substances seized have a street value of over $110,000.00.

Charges: Possession with intent to distribute heroin, Possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl, Possession of large amount of heroin, Possession with intent to distribute cocaine, Possession with intent to distribute narcotics in a school zone

It was almost the Lunar New Year and Pan Chuntao was feeling festive.

He knew there were reports of a virus in his city, Wuhan. But local officials urged calmness. There was no evidence it was transmitted person to person, they said. They had not reported a new case in days.

On Jan. 16, the 76-year-old left his two-bedroom apartment to attend a government-organized fair.

“We told him not to go because we saw some rumors on WeChat of doctors getting infected,” said Pan’s son-in-law, Zhang Siqiang. “But he insisted on going. He said, ‘The government says it’s not a problem, there are no cases anymore.’ ”

Pan and his daughter may now be among the the 14,300-plus people infected with a new strain of coronavirus — an outbreak that has killed at least 304 people in China, spread to more than 20 countries, disrupted the global economy and left 55 million people in China’s Hubei province under an unprecedented lockdown.

Pan was one of millions of Chinese who mingled, traveled and carried on with daily life during the critical period from mid-December to mid-January.

More

[Fears of new virus trigger anti-China sentiment worldwide]

Washington Free Beacon founding editor Matthew Continetti on Friday said that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is opening the door for Michael Bloomberg if other establishment candidates fail to defeat Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) in early primary states.

On Friday, the DNC eased requirements to qualify for future debates, despite a crowded primary field. Continetti said the gambit shows that the party is looking to the billionaire as Plan B if former vice president Joe Biden continues to struggle.

“If Bernie wins Iowa, he’s already very well positioned in New Hampshire. That will set the Democrat party on fire,” Continetti said during Fox News’s Special Report. “And that’s why I think you’ve had this rule change to allow Mike Bloomberg into the debates. This is their insurance policy if the Biden campaign collapses.”

More

MIAMI — It’s unfair. Always has been, not that anyone particularly cared.

The outside perception of Andy Reid always felt unfair despite the fact that he’s been a better head coach than his reputation would lead you to believe.

Not anymore, though.

Not after Reid’s Chiefs captured Super Bowl 2020 with a stirring 31-20 comeback win over the 49ers at Hard Rock Stadium before a decidedly pro-Kansas City crowd of 62,417.

Reid is a Super Bowl champion now and no one — not even the cynical detractors in Philadelphia — ever can take that away from him.

More

Dylann Roof on Tuesday appealed his federal convictions and death sentence in the 2015 massacre of nine black church members in South Carolina, arguing that he was mentally ill when he represented himself at his capital trial.

In a 321-page legal brief filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Roof’s lawyers asked the court to review 20 issues, including errors they said were made by the judge and prosecutors that “tainted” his sentencing.

One of their main arguments is that U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel should not have allowed Roof to represent himself during the penalty phase of his trial because he was a 22-year-old ninth-grade dropout “who believed his sentence didn’t matter because white nationalists would free him from prison after an impending race war.”

More

The White House National Security Council told former National Security Adviser John R. Bolton that he couldn’t publish his book manuscript, now sought by Democrats to bolster their case in President Trump’s impeachment trial, unless he deleted top-secret material.

NSC senior director for records Ellen Knight told Mr. Bolton’s lawyer, Charles Cooper, in a letter obtained by The Washington Times that the book manuscript “appears to contain significant amounts of classified information.”

“It also appears that some of this classified information is at the TOP SECRET level,” she wrote on Jan. 23.

More

[Revealing classified information to unauthorized people is a federal crime under the Espionage Act of 1917. Former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for leaking classified information to a New York Times reporter. –Editor]

The Senate Intelligence Committee plans to call the whistleblower whose complaint was the impetus for impeachment proceedings against President Trump, according to a top Republican senator.

With impeachment headed to a likely acquittal next week, Sen. Lindsey Graham described on Sunday how Republicans in the chamber are gearing up for investigations on three fronts.

“The Senate Intel Committee under Richard Burr has told us that they will call the whistleblower,” the South Carolina Republican said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures.

“I want to understand how all this crap started,” he added.

More