The U.S. and South Korea conducted a big military exercise Saturday, storming a simulated North Korean beach defense as tensions on the Korean Peninsula continue to rise and Kim Jong Un threatens to wipe out his enemies.
The amphibious landing drills on South Korea’s east coast are part of eight weeks of exercises with the U.S., which the South has said are the largest ever. North Korea responded to the drills calling the exercises “nuclear war moves” and threatened to respond with attacks, according to Reuters.
Tensions between the North and South raged on this week as Seoul announced more sanctions on Pyongyang, which the North responded by firing short-range ballistic missiles into the sea as a show of defiance and vowing to “liquidate” all remaining South Korea assets at a former joint factory park.
The missile firing came a day after North Korea media printed photos of Kim posing next to what appeared to be a mock-up of a nuclear warhead. Also, South Korea lawmakers said that the number of North Korean cyberattacks on the South has doubled over the past month.
The U.S. Navy said about 55 American Marine aircraft and 30 U.S. and South Korean ships, including the USS Bonhomme Richard and USS Boxer, took part in Saturday's military drill on the beaches near Pohang.
“They will penetrate notional enemy beach defenses, establish a beach head, and rapidly transition forces and sustainment ashore," the U.S. military said in a statement before the exercise, according to Reuters.
North Korea said it was prepared to counter the U.S. and South Korean forces “with an ultra-precision blitzkrieg strike of the Korean style.”
North Korea also reported it has a missing submarine, two defense officials told Fox News Friday. One official said the submarine is a 70-foot Yono class “midget” submarine that is diesel powered and ahs a crew of two, with room for a squad of saboteurs.
Earlier this week, Kim ordered its military to improve its nuclear attack capability by conducting more missile tests. He also claimed his country had miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles, which could be launched at South Korea.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Report says ISIS forcing birth control on sex slaves
The ISIS terror group’s unspeakable acts now include pushing birth control on young women forced into sex slavery.
To keep the sex trade running, ISIS fighters are aggressively forcing birth control on their victims so they won’t get pregnant as they are raped repeatedly while being passed among them, the New York Times reported Saturday.
The paper said more than three dozen Yazidi women who recently escaped ISIS captivity described in interviews the numerous methods the militants used to avoid pregnancy, including oral and injectable contraception and sometimes both.
In at least one case, a woman was forced to have an abortion in order to make her available for sex and others were pressured to do so, the Times reported.
In its warped view, ISIS believes it’s okay for a man to rape a woman he enslaves, but it is not okay to rape a woman he enslaves who is pregnant, according to the paper.
The methodical use of birth control could explain why doctors caring for the recent escapees at a United Nations-run clinic in northern Iraq have seen so few pregnancies.
Of the more than 700 rape victims from the Yazidi ethnic group examined at the clinic just 5 percent became pregnant during their enslavement, a gynecologist doing the exams told the Times.
“We were expecting something higher,” Dr. Nezar Ismet Taib, who oversees the clinic, told the paper.
A 16-year-old with the first initial M told the Times that during her 12 months of captivity, she was forced to swallow a red pill in front of the ISIS fighter who bought her.
“Every day, I had to swallow one in front of him,” she said. “He gave me one box per month. When I ran out, he replaced it. When I was sold from one man to another, the box of pills came with me.”
She learned months later she was being forced to swallow birth control pills, the Times reported.
To keep the sex trade running, ISIS fighters are aggressively forcing birth control on their victims so they won’t get pregnant as they are raped repeatedly while being passed among them, the New York Times reported Saturday.
The paper said more than three dozen Yazidi women who recently escaped ISIS captivity described in interviews the numerous methods the militants used to avoid pregnancy, including oral and injectable contraception and sometimes both.
In at least one case, a woman was forced to have an abortion in order to make her available for sex and others were pressured to do so, the Times reported.
In its warped view, ISIS believes it’s okay for a man to rape a woman he enslaves, but it is not okay to rape a woman he enslaves who is pregnant, according to the paper.
The methodical use of birth control could explain why doctors caring for the recent escapees at a United Nations-run clinic in northern Iraq have seen so few pregnancies.
Of the more than 700 rape victims from the Yazidi ethnic group examined at the clinic just 5 percent became pregnant during their enslavement, a gynecologist doing the exams told the Times.
“We were expecting something higher,” Dr. Nezar Ismet Taib, who oversees the clinic, told the paper.
A 16-year-old with the first initial M told the Times that during her 12 months of captivity, she was forced to swallow a red pill in front of the ISIS fighter who bought her.
“Every day, I had to swallow one in front of him,” she said. “He gave me one box per month. When I ran out, he replaced it. When I was sold from one man to another, the box of pills came with me.”
She learned months later she was being forced to swallow birth control pills, the Times reported.
Methane On Mars? Rocket Mission To Find Life
A new mission to find life on Mars will launch today as a Russian rocket lifts off from Kazakhstan.
ExoMars is a joint project between the European and Russian space agencies.
The rocket will launch two unmanned probes which will travel across space for seven months.
The Trace Gas Orbiter will hunt for methane gas in the Martian atmosphere and show if it was generated by geology or biological processes.
Methane is a gas largely produced by living organisms and could prove life once existed on the planet.
The second probe, Schiaparelli, is a trial lander which will test technology ahead of the later mission.
ExoMars 2018 will send another rover built in the UK to drill below the planet's surface to look for signs of life.
The two missions will cost over £900m, but if traces of life are found this could be one of the biggest discoveries of all time.
Planetary scientist Dr Peter Grindrod, from Birkbeck, University of London, who is funded by the UK Space Agency, said: "It's incredibly exciting.
"This is a series of missions that's trying to address one of the fundamental questions in science: is there life anywhere else besides the Earth?
"Finding that life exists elsewhere in the solar system would be a huge discovery, so the evidence has to be strong.
"As they say, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
Apple and the FBI
If Apple creates the sort of vulnerability that the FBI is looking for them to create, it's going to be a target, everybody's going to want a piece of it, in the US law enforcement is going to want to use it on a regular basis, and even beyond law enforcement, organised crime is going to want to have a piece of this.
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A court order demanding Apple to help the US government unlock the encrypted iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters is having implications far beyond this one case.
Pitting law enforcement against civil liberties advocates, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is demanding that Apple help the FBI bypass security features of an iPhone recovered from Syed Rizwan Farook, who, along with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people in December 2015 during a mass shooting.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is fighting the order, calling it an "overreach by the US government," NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has called it the "the most important tech case in a decade," while civil liberties advocates have accused the US government of using the case to establish a dangerous legal precedent.
President Erdogan vows to bring terror 'to its knees'
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to bring terrorism "to its knees" after an attack in the capital Ankara that killed at least 34 people.
Mr Erdogan said the suicide car bomb would serve only to strengthen the resolve of Turkey's security forces.
The explosion, in Guven Park in the Kizilay district, a key transport hub, wounded at least 125 people.
Interior Minister Efkan Ala said an investigation would conclude on Monday and those responsible would be named.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but government sources are casting suspicion on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The Kurdish rebels have carried out a series of attacks on Turkish soil in recent months. The so-called Islamic State group has also targeted Ankara recently.
Mr Erdogan said in a statement that terror groups were targeting civilians because they were losing the battle against Turkish security forces.
Calling for national unity, he said Turkey would use its right to self-defence to prevent future attacks.
"Our people should not worry, the struggle against terrorism will for certain end in success and terrorism will be brought to its knees," he said.
According to Turkey's state-run news agency, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has postponed a visit to Jordan following the bombing.
The United States condemned the attack. US State Department spokesman John Kirby said: "We reaffirm our strong partnership with our Nato ally Turkey in combating the shared threat of terrorism."
Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also condemned the attack, saying there was "no justification of such heinous acts of violence".
Turkey's pro-Kurdish political party issued a statement condemning the attack. The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said it shares "the huge pain felt along with our citizens".
The HDP is frequently accused of being the political wing of the PKK, an accusation it denies, and of not speaking out against PKK violence.
The blast happened at about 18:40 (16:40 GMT) on Sunday and the area was evacuated in case of a second attack.
Turkish Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu told a news conference that 30 people were killed at the scene and four died later in hospital. Two of the dead are believed to be the attackers.
Mr Muezzinoglu said 125 people were being treated at several hospitals in Ankara, of whom 19 are in a critical condition.
Last month, a bomb attack on a military convoy in Ankara killed 28 people and wounded dozens more.
That bombing was claimed by a Kurdish militant group, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK). It said on its website that the attack was in retaliation for the policies of President Erdogan.
Turkey, however, blamed a Syrian national who was a member of another Kurdish group.
Last October, more than 100 people were killed in a double-suicide bombing at a Kurdish peace rally in Ankara.
The BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul said three attacks in the Turkish capital in less than six months show the multiple security threats that Turkey now faces.
The country that was the stable corner of the Middle East and the West's crucial ally in a volatile region is now at a dangerous moment, he said.
What Your Resume Should Look Like in 2016
“In today’s job market, your resume needs to immediately stand out,” says Dawn Bugni, a professional resume writer in Wilmington, N.C. Attention spans are at an all-time short, with hiring managers spending just six seconds looking at a resume before deciding whether the applicant is worth further consideration, a recent study by TheLadders found. (That’s if a human looks at it at all; before your application even reaches a hiring manager, it usually has to make it past an automated applicant tracking system.)
As hiring continues to increase, job seekers will face stiff competition this year. Follow the tips below to make your resume shine in 2016.
Like this resume? Click here for a downloadable template. (Resume courtesy of Wendy Enelow.)
1. Enhance your contact information.
Put simply: hiring managers are busy; make their job easier by hyperlinking your email address so that you’re only one click away, says Wendy Enelow, co-author of Modernize Your Resume: Get Noticed…Get Hired. Bear in mind that you expose yourself to identify theft if you include your full mailing address, says Enelow, so only put your city, state, and zip code on your resume. Also, use active links to your LinkedIn profile and any other social media accounts that are fit for recruiters.
2. Make the page “pop.”
Depending on the industry, you can distinguish your resume by punching up the design, but exercise caution: a graphic artist, for example, has more creative leeway than an accountant.
Enelow’s co-author Louise Kursmark recommends using color to make your resume unique. To stay professional, consider making only section headers blue, for example, and leaving the rest in black, Kursmark suggests. And replace the outdated Times New Roman with a more modern font such as Cambria, Calibri, or Georgia, Enelow says. (As standard typefaces, they translate well between operating systems.)
3. Ditch the objective statement…
Today’s hiring managers aren’t concerned with what is it you’re looking for—they’re focused on finding the right hire. Thus, “the objective statement has become obsolete,” says Tiffani Murray, an HR professional and resume writer at Atlanta-based Personality On a Page.
…and lead with a summary.
To capture the hiring manager’s attention, start your resume with a short professional synopsis that states your years of experience, job history, and big career achievements. Instead of labeling the section a “summary,” use the header to highlight your area of expertise, says Enelow.
4. Guide the reader’s eye.
The Internet has changed reading behavior, says Kursmark: “People don’t read top to bottom anymore. They’re constantly skimming and looking at different parts of the page, and if you don’t structure your resume to appeal to that, a lot of good material will get overlooked.” Therefore, use bolded text to ensure your achievements stand out.
5. Beat the robots.
Many medium and large companies use software to weed out candidates. Your resume will need the right keywords to get through, so mirror the language of the job posting, advises Bugni, and pay attention to detail. “Changing something as simple as ‘customer service’ to ‘client relations’ can get your resume approved or rejected,” she says.
6. Forgo a “skills” section.
Weave your talents into your work experience. “Employers are looking for more than a list of skills,” says Murray. “They want to know how you’ve applied them.” The exception: It’s beneficial to have a designated section when applying for a skills-based job that requires specific qualifications, such as an IT specialist.
7. Maximize your real estate.
Despite what you may have heard, you don’t necessarily need to limit your resume to one page. “A resume is as long as it needs to be to convey value. And not one word more,” says Bugni. That said, a two-page resume may be appropriate for someone with 30 years’ experience—not for a recent college graduate. To conserve space use bullet points, active verbs, and industry-specific acronyms, and don’t state the obvious (e.g., including “references available upon request”).
Donald Trump: Will Republicans split over frontrunner?
There has been a change in the Republican presidential race over the past few days.
It may have been barely noticeable. But it is important and could have a significant impact come the general election in November.
Let's take things back to Friday. Donald Trump organised a big campaign rally in Chicago. Many people lined up before dawn to attend, but a significant number were not Trump supporters.
They were there to protest against the Republican frontrunner.
They weren't quiet or discreet while in the hall. They made their presence known and their voices heard.
At some point in the afternoon, the Trump campaign discussed things with the Chicago police. Donald Trump says they couldn't guarantee they had enough officers to cope with any unrest. The police say that simply isn't true.
Whoever is right or wrong, the Trump campaign decided to postpone the event.
As people left the hall, there were angry confrontations between Trump supporters and those who celebrated "shutting him down". With tensions high and emotions inflamed, a few of the exchanges erupted into fist fights.
The police cleared the hall, but that pushed the violence onto the streets where, again, there were a number of fights.
One American TV channel described the situation as a "near riot", but more measured heads said while it was loud and angry, the clashes were small in scale and sporadic in nature.
Trump insisted he did the right thing to protect people, saying "professional protesters and "thugs" were inciting the crowd.
A short time after the cancellation, one of Trump's Republican rivals, Ted Cruz spoke to the media. The Texas senator condemned those who would try to restrict the first amendment rights of others, but insisted Trump himself had set the tone.
"When you have a campaign that disrespects the voters, when you have a campaign that affirmatively encourages violence, when you have campaign that is facing allegations of physical violence against members of the press, you create an environment that only encourages this sort of nasty discourse," Cruz said.
On the campaign trail Trump has had to face a lot of protesters.
At various times he suggested punching those who object in the face, throwing them out in sub-zero temperatures after removing their coat, and said that in times past such people would have left the hall "in a stretcher".
At a rally in North Carolina, a 78-year-old man hammered a forearm smash into the face of a demonstrator who was being led from the hall.
He has now been charged with assault and Trump says he's considering paying his legal fees.
But despite the problems in Chicago, Trump has not changed his approach
So what has changed?
On Thursday, during the last Republican debate, the candidates were asked if they would support the nominee no matter who it was.
All agreed.
But 48 hours later those positions appeared more flexible.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio told the media he didn't know if he could support Trump if he won. "Its getting harder each day," he said.
"You wonder if were headed in a different direction today where were no longer capable of having difference of opinion but in fact protests become a licence to take up violence and take on your opponents physically.
"American politics is turning into the comments section of a blog."
And Ohio Governor John Kasich, who has tried to keep his campaign positive, said if Trump won it would be "extremely difficult to support" the Republican ticket in November.
In a later interview he wouldn't say if he thought the billionaire businessman was fit to be president
For two senior Republican figures - candidates for the US presidency no less - to question if they could support their own party in a general election is significant and indicative of how uncomfortable the party is with the rise of Trump.
It could actually split the Grand Old Party.
Trump's campaign has no precedent in modern presidential races. And it may actually change the face of politics in the US.
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