Suspect Who Tried To Execute A Philadelphia Police Officer Cited His Pledged Of Allegiance To The Islamic State As The Reason

CNN: Police: Officer shooting suspect pledges allegiance to ISIS

The 30-year-old man suspected of shooting and injuring a Philadelphia police officer Thursday night said that he pledges his allegiance to the Islamic State, and that is the reason that he committed the shooting, an official said at a police news conference Friday.

Philadelphia police Officer Jesse Hartnett shouted desperately into his police radio after someone, authorities say, approached his patrol car and shot him as he sat there Thursday night.

"Shots fired! ... I'm bleeding heavily!" Hartnett shouts in a recording of his radio call for backup. "I'm bleeding. Get us another unit out here!"

Hartnett not only survived but managed to fire back and wound the gunman after what authorities say was an apparent attempt to execute the officer at a city intersection.

WNU Editor: This story is going to dominate the U.S. cable news networks.

More News On ISIS Inspired Terror Attack In Philadelphia

Philadelphia police: Attacker ‘tried to execute’ officer, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State -- Washington Post
Philadelphia Police Officer Wounded in Ambush on His Patrol Car -- NYT
Police: Suspect says he shot cop 'in the name of Islam' -- USA Today
Dramatic Photos Capture Moment Gunman Allegedly Tried to 'Execute' Philadelphia Police Officer -- ABC News
Suspect in Pa. cop ambush said he acted 'in the name of Islam,' police confirm -- FOX News
Man who shot Philadelphia police officer cited Islam as motive: official -- Reuters

North Korea's Nuclear Test Raises Fears That Iran Will Benefit From Its Results

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (R) and Chairman of North Korea's Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong-NAM meet in Tehran on Saturday, September 1, 2012. Press TV (Iran)

Business Insider: North Korea's nuclear test reveals a major flaw with the Iran deal

North Korea's fourth nuclear test could have been a crucial step toward Pyongyang developing thermonuclear capability — and a breakthrough for a second country with potential nuclear ambitions, as well.

Iran has established ties to the North Korean nuclear-weapons program. As The Daily Beast notes, Iranian officials, including Iranian nuclear program head Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, were present during North Korea's three previous nuclear tests — in 2006, 2009, and 2013.

Testing data is a potential bonanza for a nuclear-weapons program. It could include information about the design and yield of the device detonated — or about the size and configuration of the bomb's uranium hemisphere or plutonium core. Testing data could indicate the weight and shape of the nuclear device, its triggering mechanisms, or the warhead's material composition.

WNU Editor: These fears have been around for a very long time .... U.S. Wants Sanctions Enforced Against Iranian And North Korean Arms Networks.

Is North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un Playing One Super-Power Over The Other?

New York Times: With Nuclear Test, North Korea’s Leader Asserts Role of Instigator

SEOUL, South Korea — The young leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, has often been dismissed as inexperienced, erratic and even clueless. But with the North’s test of a nuclear bomb this week, Mr. Kim appears to have mastered a strategy that has served his reclusive country well: playing one big power against another.

The nuclear test quickly increased tensions between the United States and China. In a strong rebuke on Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry called China’s approach to North Korea a failure, saying that something had to change in its handling of the isolated country it has supported for six decades. On Friday, China suggested that it was the Americans, not the Chinese, who were largely to blame for the North’s nuclear program.

The United States also used the North’s test to tighten a trilateral alliance with Japan and South Korea in the region, a relationship that China has long viewed as a check on its power.

WNU Editor: The China that I know does not like to be told what to do .... and they sure as hell hate being manipulated. Bottom line .... North Korea's nuclear test made China realize .... again .... that this country will go to extremes to not only try to get what they want from the West .... but to also get what they want from China.

Update #1: I have already heard about these feelers from North Korea from my Chinese readers .... North Korea seeks China help on treaty with U.S., or more tests - source (Reuters) .... the Chinese are not happy with this "threat"

Update #2: I mentioned earlier that the U.S. remarks that China's policy vis-a-vis North Korea was a mistake .... U.S. Blames China For Failing To Rein In North Korea. It is because it gives China the excuse to blast back at the U.S. while not focusing on North Korea .... where the focus should be.

Update #3: This is not the reason why North Korea decided to have an atomic test .... Is North Korean girl band connected to nuclear test? (CNN)

A Look At North Korea's Newly-Opened Science And Technology Center

CNN: Inside North Korea: High-tech science center lauds nuclear advances

Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN)At the Korean demilitarized zone, speakers are blasting propaganda and troops are massing, but in the heart of Pyongyang, talk is only of the purported success of North Korea's first hydrogen bomb test.

As dictator Kim Jong Un celebrated his birthday, CNN, the only U.S. broadcaster operating in the country, spoke to North Koreans at the newly-opened Science and Technology Center.

Architecture student Lee Won, visiting the center that is the public face of the government's push to develop its technological and scientific capabilities, said that it was "one of his favorite places."

Asked what he thought of the purported H-bomb test, the 27-year-old said: "I think it is very wonderful, it is a very good result for our country's safety."

WNU Editor: Pure North Korean propaganda via through CNN.

South Korea Resumes Its Propaganda Broadcasts Against North Korea

CNN: South Korea reactivates propaganda speakers as tensions with North rise

Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN)Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have once again ratcheted up as South Korea responds to its northern neighbor's latest antagonism.

The South reactivated its propaganda speakers near its heavily fortified border with North Korea on Friday following Pyongyang's announcement about its purported H-bomb test earlier in the week.

Seoul announced that, as of midday Friday local time (10 p.m. Thursday evening ET), it has resumed broadcasting propaganda using loudspeakers over the demilitarized zone, the heavily guarded buffer between the two Koreas.

WNU Editor: I was told that these broadcasts are really not that loud ... and more of a nuisance .... even on the South Korean side.

More News On South Korea Resuming Its Propaganda Broadcasts Against North Korea

South Korea’s Resumption of Propaganda Broadcast -- The Atlantic
South Korea Punishes Kim Jong Un With K-Pop for Nuclear Test -- Bloomberg
Seoul hits North Korea with barrage of K-Pop -- USA Today
A look at decades of propaganda battles between the Koreas -- Washington Post

Saudi Crown Prince: 'War With Iran Will Not Happen'

Prince Mohammed bin Salman © Muhammad Hamed / Reuters

Al Jazeera: Saudi prince: War with Iran not going to happen

Deputy crown prince tells British magazine an Iran-Saudi war would mean catastrophe for the conflict-wracked region.

Saudi Arabia does not foresee war with its arch foe Iran despite heightened tensions between the regional heavyweights, its deputy crown prince was quoted as saying.

Saudi Arabia severed relations with Iran after an attack on its embassy in Tehran on Sunday following the kingdom's execution of Shia religious leader Nimr al-Nimr, who was put to death along with 46 mostly Sunni Muslims convicted on terrorism charges.

Asked about the possibility of war, Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the Economist magazine: "It is something that we do not foresee at all, and whoever is pushing towards that is somebody who is not in their right mind.

WNU Editor: The Crown Prince made this comments when interviewed by The Economist .... Saudi Arabia: Young prince in a hurry (The Economist)

More News On Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Remarks That War With Iran Is Not Going To Happen

Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says war with Iran 'will not happen' -- IBTimes
No war with Iran, says Saudi deputy crown prince -- Al Arabiya
Deputy crown prince says Saudis will not allow war with Iran -- Express Tribune/Reuters
All-out war with Iran won't happen – Saudi Defense Minister. -- RT
Saudi deputy crown prince: War with Iran not foreseen 'at all' -- Middle East Eye

Golden Mao Statue In China Is Destroyed After Public Outcry

A man looks at a giant statue of late chairman Mao Zedong under construction near fields in a village of Tongxu county, Henan province, China, Jan. 4, 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS/STRINGER

New York Times: Golden Mao Statue in China, Nearly Finished, Is Brought Down by Criticism

ZHUSHIGANG, China — Days after photographs of a giant, golden statue of Mao spread across the Internet, drawing ridicule for its grandiosity amid the bare fields of Henan Province, the statue has been quickly torn down.

Demolition teams arrived Thursday morning, villagers said, and by Friday morning only a pile of rubble remained.

The 120-foot-tall statue, erected at a cost of $465,000, according to the local news media, had been under construction for months and was nearing completion when it began to attract attention.

WNU Editor: Everyone who is over the age of 55 in China remembers what life was like under Mao .... that is why this golden statue was torn down. I have been going to China for years. I lived there in the mid-1980s. I have gotten to know hundreds of people while I was there. When I bring up Mao .... there is zero support/sympathy/understanding for him. He may be on the Chinese money and have his portrait in Tienanmen Square .... but he is despised by the generation who lived under him. The younger generation has a different point of view .... and that is because many of them do not know what life was like under him.

More News On The Destruction Of The Golden Mao Statue In China

Giant Mao statue 'removed' from Henan village. -- BBC
'Mega Mao' no more as ridiculed golden statue destroyed -- The Guardian
Mao Zedong Statue Destroyed: Chinese Leader’s Giant, Gold-Painted Statue Lacked Government Approval -- IBTimes
Giant gold Mao statue 'demolished' in China following public outcry: report -- DW
Chinese village destroys lavish golden statue of Chairman Mao -- Mashable