Deso Dogg: German rapper turned ISIS, ISIL, or IS

Denis Mamadou Gerhard Cuspert (born 1975), also called his stage name, Deso Dogg, is a former German rapper and signed to Streetlife Entertainment, releasing three albums: Schwarzer Engel (2006), Geeni'z in collaboration with Jasha (2008) and Alle Augen auf mich (2009).

He put his rap career on hold after converting to Islam and taking the name Abou Maleeq. He later moved to Egypt and eventually to Syria, to fight on the side of the jihadist anti-government forces, under the nom de guerre of Abu Talha Al-Almani (meaning The German Abu Talha). He was injured during the fighting in the northern-Syrian town of Azaz in an air-strike conducted by the Syrian Army. In 2014 he gave his oath of allegiance to Islamist-Jihadi group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

There are conflicting reports about his death. A number of international media outlets have run reports based on Islamist online sources that he was killed on 20 April 2014 as a result of infighting amongst the Jihadi groups fighting in Syria, after the rival Al-Nusra Front launched a suicide attack against an ISIL post. However German newspaper Die Welt quoted other foreign fighters as denying Cuspert's death and attributing the confusion to the death of another ISIL member who also used the alias of Abu Talha Al-Almani.

The United States Department of State added Cuspert to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists on 9 February 2015.

Cuspert was born in Kreuzberg, a Berlin district to a German mother and a Ghanaian father. The father left the family while Cuspert was still a baby.^[5] He was later raised inCharlottenburg, Moabit and Schöneberg. His mother remarried an African-American U.S. Army officer with whom Cuspert had permanent conflicts. He had a troubled youth and spent some time in juvenile detention center.^[6] In 1995 he began a rapping career with varying success, as he got increasingly involved in street trouble and eventually in crime.

Islamic State (ISIS) savages behead three Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers|| This information contains disturbing Images

ISIS has released its latest beheading video of three Peshmerga soldiers as a warning to their sworn enemies on Kurdish New Year.

UK Daily Mail  The Islamic State has released a shocking new video, featuring the execution of three Kurdish prisoners in Iraq. Dressed in orange boiler suits with their hands bound behind his back, the Kurdish soldiers are each marched through the ruins of a bombed out building by an ISIS fighter.

All three prisoners are then beheaded in front of a large crowd of local residents, including a number of children. 

Each time the prisoners are individually shown being forced to  knees. They have all had their heads shaved and dressed in matching uniforms. The footage briefly stops to reveal the names of each prisoner,revealing their rank and background in the Peshmerga.

A bearded ISIS fighter gives a speech, promising greater attacks on the Kurds if their government do not stand down in their fight against the extremist group. A variety of close up shots from different camera angles are used to show the prisoners waiting to be executed. 

A number of heavily ISIS soldiers with their faces covered in black balaclavas are shown as the camera pans away during the dreary speech. Some of the fighters appear to be standing on top of a wall, hoping to get a better view of the execution. 

Crowds of local residents can also be seen surrounding the man, waiting for the impending public execution to commence. The video ends with three ISIS fighters pulling out their knives and beheading their prisoner. Close up shots of the bloodied bodies are shown.

The video was released by an official ISIS media branch in the Iraqi province of Nineveh and appears to be an attempt to scare the Kurds from fighting ISIS.

Islamic State calls on backers to kill 100 U.S. military personnel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Islamic State has posted online what it says are the names, U.S. addresses and photos of 100 American military service members, and called upon its "brothers residing in America" to kill them.

The Pentagon said after the information was posted on the Internet that it was investigating the matter. "I can't confirm the validity of the information, but we are looking into it," a U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Saturday.

"We always encourage our personnel to exercise appropriate OPSEC (operations security) and force protection procedures," the official added.

In the posting, a group referring to itself as the "Islamic State Hacking Division" wrote in English that it had hacked several military servers, databases and emails and made public the information on 100 members of the U.S. military so that "lone wolf" attackers can kill them.

The New York Times reported that it did not look like the information had been hacked from U.S. government servers and quoted an unnamed Defense Department official as saying most of the information could be found in public records, residential address search sites and social media.

The Times quoted officials as saying the list appeared to have been drawn from personnel mentioned in news articles about air strikes on Islamic State. The group's forces control parts of Syria and Iraq and have been targeted in U.S.-led air strikes.

The posting, addressed to disbelievers, Christians and "crusaders" in America, included what the group said were the names, military service branch, photos and street addresses of the individuals. The posting includes the military rank of some but not all of those named.

(Reporting by Will Dunham and Eric Beech; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Judge Ends Chris Brown's Court Saga About Ex-girlfriend Rihana

Chris Brown has finally put his 2009 attack on Rihanna behind him, at least legally. A judge in Los Angeles ended Brown's felony probation, more than six years after the R&B singer attacked his then-girlfriend hours before the Grammy Awards. (March 20)

Suge Knight bail set at $25 million in fatal hit-and-run case

By Michael Fleeman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A judge set bail on Friday at $25 million for Suge Knight in a murder case, agreeing on the amount requested by prosecutors who had described the rap mogul in court papers as being "incapable of stopping his violent criminal behavior."

Knight, 49, is accused of running down two men

with a pickup truck at a Los Angeles area burger stand on Jan. 29, killing one of them, following an argument on the set of a commercial for the film “Straight Outta Compton.”

The Death Row records co-founder had been held without bail on charges of murder, attempted murder and two counts of hit-and-run with an added allegation of committing a violent felony while free on bail in another case.

At a bail-review hearing, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen also set a preliminary hearing for April 13.

Knight, who has been taken to the hospital after several of his recent court appearances, collapsed following the hearing and was taken out of the courtroom on a gurney, his attorney told the Los Angeles Times.

In seeking the multimillion-dollar bail, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed an extensive motion of 295 pages of legal papers and supporting material portraying Knight as a career criminal and repeated violator of probation and parole dating back to 1987.

The motion alleges that Knight is “physically incapable of stopping his violent criminal behavior” and that since being released from prison in 2002 he “has continued his repugnant life of crime.”

Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Barnes noted Knight was free on bail in a robbery case involving the theft of a paparazzo’s camera at the time he allegedly ran down Terry Carter, 55, and Cle “Bone” Sloan, 51, with a Ford F-150. Carter died; Sloan survived his injuries.

The prosecution motion also alleged that Knight is part of an “ongoing extortion scheme” in which new rappers arriving in Los Angeles and Las Vegas are required to pay him a "tax."

Knight has pleaded innocent and his lawyers have denied that he intentionally tried to kill Carter and Sloan. One attorney, Matthew Fletcher, also says Knight is blind in his left eye and may not have seen clearly during the incident.

Knight has previous convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and could face 25 years to life in prison under California's so-called three-strikes law if he is convicted at trial.

(Reporting by Michael Fleeman; Editing by Dan Whitcomb, Eric Beech and Christian Plumb)