Is the big bugger still in town ?

Click here to access an article in The Independent suggesting that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi might be hiding these days inside the city of Mosul. This information comes from "a senior Kurdish official" who spoke to The Independent. Let's hope the USA can quickly find the big bugger and drone him. There's an even better idea. Iraqi soldiers might simply find him in hiding, and put him in a bag bound for Baghdad.

Zombie in the Elysées Palace

In The New York Times, the journalist Adam Nossiter has written an article [here] about the French president François Hollande.

The author looks upon Hollande as a living dead specimen who seems to be politically alive. Our president “still occupies the magnificent gilded Élysée Palace, still gives speeches attended by important people and still attends ribbon-cuttings”, whereas nobody believes for an instant that he’ll survive the forthcoming presidential election.

Hollande’s most unexpected recent attack—not only on his enemies, but on his former friends and associates—was a book of “secrets” published by two journalists, Gérard Davet and Fabrice Lhomme. It's title in English : A President Shouldn't Say Such Things.

In earlier days, François Hollande could only be bruised by a very tough opponent. Nowadays, he succeeds in doing the job all on his own.

Beginning of the end of the liberation of Mosul

Elite Iraqi soldiers moved into the north of Mosul yesterday, in the neighborhood of Gogjali. A few hours later, the general Taleb Cheghati Al-Kenani, in command of Iraqi counter-terrorist troops, said it was the beginning of the end of the liberation process that had started a fortnight ago. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of other Iraqi soldiers are encircling the city from the east, the north and the west, while the US-commanded coalition controls the air space.

Wounded Iraqi soldier
[Photo by French photographer Laurent Van der Stockt for Le Monde]

Experts believe that Daesh would have between 3,000 and 5,000 individuals in the city, striving to defend to the bitter end the place where their chief Abou Bakr Al-Baghdadi had proclaimed a caliphate over Iraqi and Syrian territory taken in 2014.

Moving into Mosul

Click here to see dramatic footage from Mosul. The journalist Arnaud Comte and his cameraman are working in a nasty environment.

Halloween without laughter

Dressed up to kill

In the centre of Toulouse, at 3 o’clock in the morning, police found a Halloween prankster disguised in black and khaki military wear, and carrying a fake assault weapon.

They picked up the 26-year-old idiot, who had already terrified several people in the street where he had been strolling along casually. In the scuffle, his fake gun was broken. The fool, already known to the police, couldn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to do whatever pleased him on Halloween night. He was taken back to the police station, where he was charged with using a weapon to threaten people and presenting an apology for terrorism. Then he spent the night in solitary confinement.

I think he deserves some kind of special Halloween prize for poor taste.

Iraqi forces enter Mosul

The Iraqi army announced today that their forces have entered Mosul.