ISIS complains about 'conspiracy theories' claiming that the group is a puppet in the hands of western intelligence agencies

© AFP Photo/HO/Al-Furquan Media
An image grab taken from a propaganda video released on March 17, 2014 by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)'s al-Furqan Media allegedly shows ISIL fighters at an undisclosed location in the Anbar province

    

The Islamic State (Isis) group has released a new issue of its slick propaganda magazine Dabiq, featuring articles justifying the enslavement of Yazidi girls and condemning conspiracy theorists, as well as a report by British hostage John Cantlie.

The 79-page English language publication's ninth issue, titled They Plot And Allah Plots, opens with a front-page photo of US Secretary of State John Kerry posing with Arab foreign ministers after talks on an anti-IS coalition in Saudi Arabia in September last year.

The picture is followed by a piece praising a botched jihadi attack on a Texas cartoon contest, carried out by two self-professed IS sympathisers, earlier in May.

The gunmen, named as Elton Simpson, 30, and Nadir Soofi, 34, were shot dead by a police officer guarding the event organised by hard-line conservatives critical of Islam at Garland's Curtis Culwell Centre near Dallas.

The publication also features an article suggesting that the terror group is losing militants to conspiracy theories.

Titled Conspiracy Theory Shirk (Sin) the piece implies that some fighters have grown delusional because of conjectures saying that IS is a puppet in the hands of western intelligence agencies.

"If the mujahedeen liberated territory occupied by the kuffar [infidels], they would say that the kuffar allowed them to do so because kafir [disbelievers] interests' necessitated a prolonged war," the article reads.

"According to these theorists, almost all the events of the world were somehow linked back to the kuffar, their intelligence agencies, research, technology, and co-conspirators! Conspiracy theories have thereby become an excuse to abandon jihad."

Pelted with Quranic quotations, the magazine details recent IS military actions in Iraq and Syria, particularly praising a suicide attack carried out by what it says were two German twins at an army base near Baghdad in April.

In another section, the publication justifies, on purported religious grounds, the enslavement and rape of Yazidi women kidnapped in northern Iraq in July 2014.

Part of the magazine is dedicated to portraying IS as a functional state rather than a terror group.

An article titled Healthcare In The Khilafah follows up on a video released in April, announcing the supposed launch of an Islamic State Health Service that parroted the British National Health Service (NHS).

In an attempt to lure Muslims living in developed countries to travel to a war zone, the article features pictures of clean hospital facilities and boasts of the opening of a medical college in Raqqa, Syria, and of a college for medical studies in Mosul, Iraq.

Claiming that the extremist group provides "the Muslims with extensive healthcare" the piece says: "The Islamic State offers everything that you need to live and work here, so what are you waiting for?"

The reality on the ground is very different. In March, Abu Mohammed, an activist living in Raqqa, told IBTimes UK that under IS rule, Islamist fighters were granted free access to health care but common citizens were not.

Mohammed said private health clinics in the city had been closed and the public hospital in Tel Abyad was open but charged high prices for treatment.

As in previous issues, the magazine ends with an article purportedly penned by British photojournalist John Cantlie, who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012 and has since appeared in a series of IS videos.

In it Cantlie slams the US policy in the Middle East and warns of the growing threat IS poses to the West.

The 44-year-old was captured with US journalist James Foley and held with other American and British hostages Steven Sotloff, David Haines, Alan Henning and Peter Kassig, who have been all murdered by IS militants.

He previously hinted he has accepted the role of IS news anchor/reporter in order to survive.

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Will the rain ever end? Flooding could last for weeks, as more heavy rain targets Texas, Oklahoma

© the Weather Channel

    

Officials in parts of Texas are warning that flooding could last for weeks in the wake of unprecedented amounts of May rainfall. Those rainfall totals, which have now topped 20 inches since May 1 in at least two cities, will climb still higher over the Memorial Day weekend as thunderstorms dump even more rainfall on an already water-logged region. The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi, Texas, says flooding is likely to continue for weeks along the Nueces River just west of Corpus Christi. The flooding is affecting a stretch downstream of the Wesley Seale Dam, which impounds Lake Corpus Christi. That reservoir has reached its full capacity due to widespread heavy rainfall upstream across South Texas this month.

In a disaster declaration issued Thursday, Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal said water releases from the dam began this past weekend "in order to prevent damage to [the dam] and to avoid uncontrolled downstream impacts." About 100 homes have already been cut off by floodwaters, and hundreds of homes are at risk of flooding in the days ahead. The rising Wichita River prompted evacuations of parts of the east side of Wichita Falls, Texas Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The river is forecast to crest on Tuesday about one foot below its record crest from late June 2007.

Over 100 locations in the central and southern Plains are currently reporting river flooding, the majority of which are in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri. Many cities have already clinched a top five wettest May in their weather records. At least four locations, including Wichita Falls and Corpus Christi, have now recorded their wettest May on record. You can read more about that below in our rainfall records section. With the weather pattern remaining virtually the same through Memorial Day weekend, additional flash flooding and worsening river flooding is likely to occur. As mentioned already, a persistent weather pattern has been fueling the heavy rain in the Plains.

© TEP
The Jet Stream is stuck in place over the Southern U.S., has been for weeks – bringing up a record amount of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. This is an unusual weather pattern unlike anything we’ve ever seen before in the annals of meteorology. We’re seeing May rainfall totals across the Southern U.S., for which there is no previous precedent mentioned in recorded history.

    

A southward dip in the jet stream has been locked in place over the western states, allowing it to launch disturbances into the Plains. Those disturbances provide the necessary lift in the atmosphere to trigger thunderstorm development as they intercept a warm, moist air mass in place near the surface of the earth. Unfortunately, it appears this weather pattern will stay in place through Memorial Day weekend, triggering additional rounds of rain and thunderstorms. The higher threat for additional heavy rainfall in the most saturated areas of Oklahoma and Texas is through Sunday, when clusters of slow-moving thunderstorms are expected. Right now, our forecast guidance suggests at least some parts of the Lone Star State may still see locally heavy rain again on Monday

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Mysterious red lights spotted over Russia

© Dmitry Yushkevich
'The first picture was taken at 12.49am. Immediately, at 12.50am, I decided to take a second shot to ensure that the camera hadn’t made a mistake, or that there was some bug or glare [on the lens].'

    

Photographs show red lights hovering about the ground and then moving vast distances in less than one minute.

An amateur photographer has captured pictures of what he claims is a 'UFO' after seeing strange red lights hovering above Omsk. Dmitry Yushkevich was taking images of his home city of Tara late at night on May 15 when he noticed six unusual-looking lights.

'They were arranged one behind the other,' he wrote on his Vkontakte page, after uploading the photos. 'The first picture was taken at 12.49am.

'Immediately, at 12.50am, I decided to take a second shot to ensure that the camera hadn't made a mistake, or that there was some bug or glare [on the lens].

'At first I didn't notice the object on the second image, as I only saw it at home as I processed the images. On the second image the object is behind the television tower, and that is why I did not notice it right away.'

© Dmitry Yushkevich

    

© Dmitry Yushkevich
Dmitry Yushkevich was taking images of his home city of Tara late at night on May 15 when he noticed six unusual-looking lights.

    

There is no official explanation for what the lights could be, although previously some experts have said that insects or glare on the camera lens, or satellites moving in space have been the cause of other supposed UFO sightings.

However, the Omsk region is known for its strange happenings including crop circles and numerous claims of unidentified flying objects in the sky at night.

Vladimir Krupko, head of the Omsk planetarium, said: 'We have an astronomical camp in the Omsk region where we study the sky for about a month.

'One time I went from the camp to a field for a walk and found a 'vertetrav' crop circle, with spirals that went to the side, slowly twisting. Wheat was put into these circles and were intertwined. For me, such a 'vertetrav' is a mystery and I cannot understand if it is connected with earth or space.'

© Dmitry Yushkevich
'At first I didn’t notice the object on the second image, as I only saw it at home as I processed the images. On the second image the object is behind the television tower, and that is why I did not notice it right away.'

    

He also said that in 1990 to 1991 UFOs regularly flew over Omsk, the first spotted by employees of the Omsk Synthetic Rubber Plant. They noticed an object in the sky with a 'cloud of gas in the middle and two reddish lights on the edges'.

Similar objects were seen the same evening, including by a couple travelling on the motorway by car.

Mr Krupko said: 'They saw a bright beam of light illuminating the ground. The woman said to her husband to slow down, and the object flew over the road, turned the beam of light on and lit them up. The car stalled.

'On the edge of the object they counted 12 lights. It was hanging for half an hour and then flew to the south. Similar objects have been spotted by fishermen who suddenly found their watches running slow for a week.'

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Facebook activity, status updates reflect people's personality traits - report

© Reuters/Dada Ruvic

    

People suffering from low self-esteem are more likely to post their relationship status on Facebook, a new study has found.

A report from Brunel University, published Friday, found that the popular Facebook "relationship status" feature was used by individuals with low self-esteem to generate attention to distract from their own feelings.

"People with low self-esteem are more likely to see the advantage of self-disclosing on Facebook rather than in person," the report said.

However, rather than providing a boost of self-confidence, the romantic status posts "tend to be perceived as less likeable," it added.

Data collected from a sample of 555 Facebook users took into account the frequency with which users engaged with the social network, whether or not they were involved in a relationship and the amount of time they spent checking Facebook.

"Sixty-five percent of participants were currently involved in a romantic relationship, and 34 percent had at least one child," the report said.

A total of 57 percent checked Facebook on a daily basis, and spent an average of 108 minutes a day actively using it, it added.

The report also found that "narcissists" were likely to post about their achievements, rather than relationships, "indicating that narcissists' boasting may be reinforced by the attention they crave."

They were also more likely to post about health and fitness regimes "suggesting that they use Facebook to broadcast the effort they put into their physical appearance," the report said.

Psychology lecturer Dr Tara Marshall, from Brunel University London, said: "It might come as little surprise that Facebook status updates reflect people's personality traits. However, it is important to understand why people write about certain topics on Facebook because their updates may be differentially rewarded with 'likes' and comments."

"People who receive more likes and comments tend to experience the benefits of social inclusion, whereas those who receive none feel ostracized," she said.

"Although our results suggest that narcissists' bragging pays off because they receive more likes and comments to their status updates, it could be that their Facebook friends politely offer support while secretly disliking such egotistical displays," Marshall said.

"Greater awareness of how one's status updates might be perceived by friends could help people to avoid topics that annoy more than they entertain."

In the past, the links between usage of social media and emotional stability have been exploited by advertisers and social networks alike.

In July 2014, it was revealed that Facebook was performing manipulative social experiments on unknowing users.

The social media giant changed the information posted on 689,000 users' home pages and discovered it was able to influence the way users felt via "emotional contagion."

In their study, conducted with academics from Cornell University and the University of California, Facebook altered the levels of positive and negative "emotional content."

This approach subtly changed users' views so they found themselves posting more positive or negative content, depending on levels of exposure.

Activists criticized these social experiments as "scandalous," "spooky" and "disturbing."

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Hailstorm causes major damage to apples, peaches and cherries in Greece

Hailstones

    

Major damage was caused to apples and peaches in Kastoria and Kozani as a result of hailstorms last Tuesday. As reported to Agrotypos by the head of the branch of EL.GA Kozani, Mr George Vrontzou, "on Tuesday we had hail in the regions of Kastoria and Kozani and even in the area of Platanorema, Servia and Velventos."

He adds: "the most affected are mainly apples in Kastoria and peaches, apples and cherries in Kozani. As of yet, there are no accurate estimates of the destruction. EL.GA announced compensations would be granted and producers have been given fifteen days to report the extent of the damage."

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Snow in New England for Memorial Day weekend

© Via twitter@KeithCarson
Portage Lake, Maine

    

The start to the Memorial Day weekend, which is the traditional start to summer, was greeted with a reminder of winter in some areas of northern New England.

Snow came down heavy at times Saturday morning in northern New England. Visibility dropped to a quarter mile at times due to the heavy snow.

The snow was due to a cold upper-level low that moved through the region. Light rain changed to snow in spots early Saturday morning as temperatures continued to plummet. High temperatures on Friday afternoon reached the 50s and 60s but dropped to the 30s and 40s by sunrise on Saturday.

Below is a picture from Portage Lake, in northern Maine, from Saturday morning.

One inch of snow accumulated in Presque Isle, Maine and 5.2 inches was reported near Portage, Maine.

The snow this morning is the second latest measurable snow on record in Caribou, Maine. The latest measurable snowfall in Caribou is 0.2 inches on May 25, 1974.

    

Chilly Start to the Holiday Weekend

Temperatures dropped into the 30s for parts of northern New England and Upstate New York on Saturday morning as high pressure moved into the region from Canada. Frost and freeze warnings were issued for Friday night and Saturday morning across portions of the Northeast.

A record low was even set in Glens Falls, New York when the temperature fell to 31 degrees.

It was even colder on Mount Washington in New Hampshire where temperatures bottomed out at 10 degrees with a wind chill of 18 degrees below zero when a wind gust of 68 mph was reported. Snow was also reported here overnight.

It will remain cool during the afternoon, with high temperatures up to 10 degrees below where they should be for this time of year. Winds will be gusty at times which will make if feel even cooler.

The good news is that this will not last long as a significant warming trend is on the way. Northern New England will go from winter on Saturday morning to summer by Monday.

Skiing for Memorial Day

If you are not quite ready for summer activities yet and have not put your skis away then you may be in luck. Parts of the Rockies and Sierra Mountains have also seen snow recently, which is allowing a few resorts to stay open for skiing this holiday weekend.

Arapahoe Basin in Colorado is open this Memorial Day weekend and has more base to ski on than they did in March. They also reported some fresh snow on Saturday morning.

Mammoth Mountain in California will also be open this Memorial Day weekend due to snow that fell last week. They are offering a ski, bike and golf package.

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Apocalyptic rainstorm brings floods to Moscow streets, lightning blasts gas station

Flooded road in Moscow

    

A heavy rainstorm washed over the Russian capital on Friday, prompting an extreme weather warning, sending torrents of water rushing down the city's streets, and blowing up a gas station with lightning.

[embedded content]

After a warm muggy Friday afternoon, the sky above Moscow suddenly darkened, sending the city into twilight. Soon after, the clouds erupted in a powerful thunderstorm.

The thunderstorm was accompanied by winds of up to 38 miles per hour (17 meters per second), fresh breeze to fresh gale by international standards. Forecasts say the rainy weather will continue through the night and into Saturday.

© RIA Novosti/Alexey Kudenko
Floods in Moscow

    

Part of Moscow's Profsoyuznaya Street was flooded in the deluge. Some drivers were forced to push their half-submerged cars while nearly being washed away by the wake created by drivers lucky enough to keep driving.

The thunderstorm became a social media hit, with numerous photos of the watery apocalypse flooding Muscovites' Instagram accounts. While others just enjoyed the view...

...Some almost had to swim home. Communal services say that 90 streets in total were partially flooded.

The thunderstorm caused actual destruction as well. An explosion sparked by a lightning strike shook a local petrol station during the storm, according to witnesses. The blast also shattered windows in nearby buildings and started a fire.

No casualties have been reported. The fire was extinguished, and emergency service workers confirmed that lightning had caused the blaze.

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