[Garowe Online] During cabinet ministers meeting of Somalia’s northeastern administration of Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... , the cabinet rejected recent plan proposed by the Federal Minister of Constitutional Affairs for the scheduled constitutional review process, Garowe Online reports.
The cabinet described the proposed plan "incorrect" and does not meet the legitimate course for the constitutional review process according to the Somali Provisional Federal Constitution.
This comes following recent visit made by Federal Minister of Constitutional Affairs, Abdirahman Jibril Hosh to Garowe and held meetings with several brass hats regarding his Ministry’s plan.
However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... Former Puntland President and Federal Senator Abdirahman Mohammed Farole strongly slammed Hosh’s plan and noted it contradicted with the legitimate constitutional process.
Close sources revealed that Minister Hosh is aiming to expedite the flawed process to obtain funds from international community supporting federalism process in Somalia amid anticipated cabinet reshuffle.
Following the cabinet meeting, a press statement on Puntland’s stand on the constitutional review was released to the media on Thursday.
"Puntland administration urges Federal government and leadership of both Parliament Houses to prevent interference in the constitutional review process which is mandated to the parliamentary committee and independent review committee that made up of representatives from Federal member states according to Article 133 of the Provisional Constitutions," read the statement.
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[AlAhram] President Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi hailed the Egyptian people on the fourth anniversary of the mass protests on 30 June 2013, saying they should be proud of what has been achieved so far, but that there is still a long way to go.
Sisi said in a televised speech that the government has achieved much since 2013, specifically in "fighting terrorism, confronting foreign powers that support terrorism and economic development".
Friday marks four years since millions of Egyptians erupted into the streets to protest the rule of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, who had been elected one year earlier.
Morsi, who was removed from office on 3 July 2013 and tried on various charges, has been incarcerated ever since.
"30 June is a unique example of popular revolution, as the people demanded change and the institutions responded," the Egyptian president said, adding that Egyptians also took a stance against terrorism in their protest.
"Four years on, we see a lot of sacrifices from security forces... and we continue to fight turbans until victory," El-Sisi said.
Hundreds of Egyptian security personnel have been killed in attacks by Islamist bully boyz on army and police forces ‐ mostly in northern Sinai ‐ in the last four years, while the military has killed hundreds of Lions of Islam as part of its ongoing campaign to end the insurgency in North Sinai.
El-Sisi said in his speech that after 30 June, "Egypt regained its leading international role, standing against countries that support terrorism and standing by countries rebuilding their institutions."
El-Sisi also said that electing a new parliament in 2015 was a political success for Egypt.
On the economic front, El-Sisi said that the government has "launched mega development projects across Egypt... We also implemented an economic programme that is changing the reality of Egypt and resolving the economic crisis."
In mid-2014, Egypt launched a plan to introduce fiscal reforms, including levying new taxes and fuel subsidy cuts ‐ the latest of which were announced on Thursday ‐ to ease a growing budget deficit ‐ currently estimated at 12.2 percent of GDP ‐ as well as floating the Egyptian pound in November 2016.
The first increase of fuel prices came in November, shortly after the pound flotation, raising prices up to 78 percent.
"Changing the status quo requires a long time, but we are already seeing improvement in economic indicators and in the atmosphere of investment and economic growth," he said.
"I salute the people for bearing the hard measures that we had to take... I am confident in the future," El-Sisi concluded.
[Breitbart] The highest court in Ghana dismissed the decision by former President John Mahama to allow two former Guantánamo Bay prisoners entry into the West African country back in January 2016 as "unconstitutional."
The country’s Supreme Court ruled that the ex-president required approval from Ghanaian politicians for the transfer to take place.
The court gave Ghana’s parliament three months to approve or deny entry to the detainees who were once held at the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, commonly known in the press as Gitmo.
"Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih al-Dhuby had been held as enemy combatants but were cleared for release in 2009," notes the News Agency that Dare Not be Named (AP). "The two Yemenis were the first Guantanamo prisoners resettled in sub-Saharan Africa and arrived in January 2016."
Former President "Mahama has said the detainees were taken in after a direct request by the United States government and did not pose a security threat. Several religious and civil society groups protested their transfer to Ghana," it adds.
According to the CIA World Factbook, Ghana is a predominantly Christian with only about 20 percent of the population identified as Moslem.
[Al Jazeera] A US federal appeals court has thrown out a lawsuit by the families of two Yemeni men allegedly killed as innocent bystanders in a US dronezap in 2012 but one of the judges said US "democracy is broken" after announcing the ruling.
The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel in Washington on Friday upheld a lower court's finding that it had no say over the president's drone programme.
The case began in 2015 when two family members of Faisal bin Ali Jaber, who brought the "wrongful death" case against then-President Barack Obama I bowled a 129. It’s like — it was like Special Olympics, or something... in 2015, were killed by a dronezapYemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... in 2012.
US 'expands Yemen dronezaps policy'
Faisal's nephew Waleed, 26, and brother-in-law Salem, a father of seven and noted anti-extremist imam, were killed in the strike alongwith three others.
Faisal's lawsuit requested an apology from the US government and declaration that the strike was unlawful. The lawsuit did not seek monetary relief.
Judge Janice Rogers Brown, who was appointed by former President George W Bush and is known for her conservative decisions, agreed with two other judges that the president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and only Congress can provide oversight of his military actions.
"But congressional oversight is a joke, and a bad one at that," Brown said in a separate opinion.
"This begs the question: if judges will not check this outsized power, then who will?"
The other two judges on the panel, both appointed by Obama, did not join her separate opinion.
Shelby Sullivan-Bennis, an attorney for rights group Reprieve which helped file the case, agreed with the judge, telling Al Jazeera that legal precedents which stop courts from ruling on "political questions" like the drone programme are outdated.
"When a senior judge raises an alarm about our democracy, it's time to sit up and take notice," Sullivan-Bennis said. "Judge Brown appears profoundly uncomfortable with her court giving our president carte blanche to kill innocents abroad."
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07/01/2017 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... 's ministry of defence has announced the arrival of a new group of Ottoman Turkish armed forces to the military base where The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... began its training mission last week.
The forces are set to take part in joint exercises within the framework of a defence agreement signed between Doha and Ankara aimed at raising Qatar's defence capabilities, supporting "counter-terror" efforts, and maintaining security and stability in the region.
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07/01/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm sure the Turks intend to provide the Saudis with all the "security and stability" they can stand.
[Iran Press TV] Qatar says the Saudi-led blockade against Doha is a "bloodless declaration of war," a day after the Persian Gulf Arab country rejected as "unreasonable" the demands presented by Saudi Arabia and its allies to end the unprecedented diplomatic row with the emirate. So if war is diplomacy by other means, a "bloodless declaration of war" means a declaration of diplomacy?
Qatari Defense Minister Khalid bin Mohammad al-Attiyah made the remarks in an interview with the UK-based Arabic-language al-Araby al-Jadeed newspaper published on Friday.
He added that what Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt had done against Qatar, including closing the land, sea and air borders, were in fact "harming the citizens and damaging the social fabric" of the Persian Gulf.
Attiyah arrived in the Turkish capital Ankara to hold talks with his Turkish counterpart Fikri Isik and the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the issue of a Turkish base in Qatar.
"Qatar and Turkey maintain historic ties and my visit comes in the context of boosting defense cooperation between the two countries," Attiyah said in Ankara.
The unprecedented crisis in the Persian Gulf region unfolded on June 5, when Riyadh, Manama and Cairo cut ties with Doha, officially accusing it of "sponsoring terrorism" and destabilizing the region. Qatar, however, has slammed the measures as unjustified, saying they are based on false claims and assumptions.
On June 24, Qatar officially announced that the four countries had sent it a list of 13 wide-ranging demands and given it 10 days to comply with them or face unspecified consequences.
The demands include shutting down the Doha-based Al Jazeera broadcaster, scaling back cooperation with Iran, closing the Turkish military base in Qatar, and paying an unspecified sum in reparations. Qatar later said the demands were "unrealistic, unreasonable and unacceptable."
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07/01/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Oil has rallied the last few days in anticipation something will happen.
[DAWN] A senior Saudi official on Thursday denied as "baseless" a New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... report that Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has been confined to his palace and barred from travelling abroad after being replaced by the king’s son as next in line to the throne.
The official said that Mohammed bin Nayef, a veteran interior minister, was continuing to host guests and there were no restrictions at all on his or his family’s movements.
Mohammed bin Nayef, who was admired in Washington for quashing an Al Qaeda insurgency in the kingdom between 2003 and 2006, was relieved of all his duties a week ago.
In his place as crown prince, King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... appointed his son Mohammed bin Salman who also serves as defence minister and leads an ambitious reform agenda to end Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... ’s over-reliance on oil.
Mohammed bin Salman’s promotion ended two years of speculation about a behind-the-scenes rivalry near the pinnacle of royal power, but analysts said he still had to win over powerful relatives, holy mans and rustics.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2017 00:00 ||
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#3
These two boys sharpening their knives while they wait for the king to croak?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/01/2017 12:57 Comments ||
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#4
I assumd he was one of the very elderly brothers and half-brothers who have been dividing government duties among themselves for a generation, but according to Wikipedia he is only 59. He will have his personal investments to attend to, of course, and in these troubled times a man has to take care of his future income stream because the old guarantees are no longer certain, but after that time will hang heavy... and plotting is a cultural vice.
[DAWN] Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... said on Thursday it was working with the United States and Kuwait to respond to a list of demands presented by Arab states who have accused Doha of supporting terrorism, an allegation that ignited a regional crisis between the US allies.
The feud erupted on June 5 when Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and travel links with Qatar, accusing it also of courting regional foe Iran. Qatar denies the allegations.
The four countries have sent Doha a list of 13 demands, including closing the state-funded Al Jazeera television station and reducing ties to Iran, an official of one of the four countries said. They gave Doha 10 days to comply.
The deadline is expected to expire on Sunday. Kuwait, which retained ties with Qatar, is trying to mediate in the dispute with the support of the United States.
In Washington on Thursday, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told news hounds that Qatar, together with the Americans and Kuwaitis, was preparing responses.
"We have to set the conditions first in order to pursue these negotiations," Sheikh Mohammed said.
At a later event, Sheikh Mohammed said the future of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council could be at risk. The security group comprises Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2017 00:00 ||
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Gotta keep up the national tradition. But it was nice to see it questioned, however briefly.
[IsraelTimes] Department for Local Government won’t stop event taking place, despite fears that its organisers have ties to terror groups.
A pro-Paleostine event due to be held in London will go ahead, despite government threats to ban it over alleged links to terror group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,.
The Paleostine Expo is expected to draw around 10,000 people to the Queen Elizabeth II Centre (QEII) in London, on the weekend of 8 and 9 July.
Earlier in the week, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid wrote a letter to organisers, Friends of Al Aqsa, to express concerns over their links to terror groups.
He is quoted in the Guardian as citing "concerns that your organization and those connected with it have expressed public support for a proscribed organization, namely Hamas, and that you have supported events at which Hamas and Hizballah ‐ also proscribed ‐ have been praised".
Speaking to Jewish News on Tuesday, Department for Communities and Local Government front man said: "We have worked with the QEII Centre to carry out checks following concerns raised about the Paleostine Expo 2017. Following these checks, we have agreed the event can take place as planned."
The event is billed as "the biggest social, cultural and entertainment event on Paleostine to ever take place in Europe", and will feature speakers including anti-Zionist Israeli-born speakers Ilan Pappe and Miko Peled, journalists Ben White and Peter Oborne, and controversial former National Union of Students president Malia Bouattia.
Also appearing is Iyad Burnat, who has previously been denied entry to the UK, and John Pilger documentary maker and journalist from Australia. When Burnat was turned away from Britannia in September 2016, he blamed the "Zionist lobby" and pointed to an article about his planned visit in Jewish News.
[IsraelTimes] Sabrina de Sousa hopes to avoid serving prison time for 2003 abduction of Abu Omar authorized by US and Italia.
A former CIA agent who was found guilty of kidnapping an Egyptia holy man by an Italian court more than a decade ago said Thursday she intended to return to Italia to face her sentence, but hopes to avoid prison.
Sabrina de Sousa, who holds dual American and Portuguese nationality, said she would leave Portugal to face the Italian courts over the abduction of radical preacher Abu Omar
...whose mother knew him as Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr. He was involved with Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish Islamic group in northern Iraq that the United States said had ties with Saddam Hussein's regime, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda. In 2013 Italy reactivated the case against him in absentia. At the time it did not seem likely Egypt would give up its native son to serve his sentence...
from a Milan street in 2003 in an operation allegedly led jointly by the CIA and the Italian intelligence services.
She has already gone on trial in absentia along with 22 others in what were the first legal convictions in the world against people involved in the CIA’s extraordinary renditions program that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"I’m going back to Italia next week to serve a sentence that will be determined by the Italian courts," 60-year-old de Sousa told AFP, saying she hoped to be released on parole and carry out community service.
At the end of February, Italian President Sergio Mattarella granted her "a partial pardon of one year’s imprisonment," reducing her jail time to three years of a lenient form of sentence that does not necessarily need to be served behind bars and allows the convict to work.
Italia then withdrew the European arrest warrant issued after her arrest in October 2015 at Lisbon airport.
In an email sent from the US where she was preparing to have surgery, de Sousa said she would like to do her community service in Portugal but added that "even if I could... I would have reason to be very concerned about what would happen to me."
"Portugal after all threw me in prison for 10 days with no plausible reason for doing so."
Omar was kidnapped on February 17, 2003, before being transferred to Egypt where his lawyers say he was tortured, in a case that highlighted the controversial secret renditions of suspected turbans by the United States and its allies.
"This operation was approved by the highest levels of the US government," said de Sousa.
"What US officials in Washington and some in the Italian Government were told was that Abu Omar was a dangerous terrorist; and with that justification the CIA chief in Rome obtained the necessary approvals," she added.
"This obviously turned out not to be the case and Abu Omar was released from an Egyptian prison. As with most cover-ups lower level officers like myself end up paying the price for decisions for which we had no input."
#3
Looks like a so far successful legal strategy to drum up sympathetic press for a non-incarceration sentence with the ultimate goal of an issue-free permanent residency in Portugal.
Only explanation for ever going to Portugal after being tried in abstentia, and her leaving the US now. Wonder who's paying the legal fees?
#8
"Will Merkel to Turks still look edible
When backed up by someone more credible,
Whom, if I get shrewish,
My nuclear jewfish
Might kipper... mein Herren? Regrettable."
[DAWN] Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa lamented the firing incident on protesters in Parachinar by Frontier Constabulary personnel last week, which had resulted in the death of four civilians, and said an inquiry has been initiated and that "those responsible shall not be spared".
According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations on Friday, Gen Bajwa said that the FC Commandant in Parachinar has already been changed following the firing incident by "FC troops while handling the post-blast mob situation."
"Notwithstanding the irreparable loss, four shaheeds and injured due to the firing have been given separate compensation by the FC," the army chief was quoted as saying.
The military's media wing further said that the government has "now announced compensation for Parachinar victims at par with other such victims elsewhere in the country".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2017 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has hailed the liberation of the Iraqi city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... from the occupation of ISIS terrorist group after three years.
In a message to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Friday, the Iranian president extended his congratulations to him and the Iraqi nation over the "liberation of the biggest ISIS-controlled city in Iraq" and the breaking free from the "yoke of crime and violence" that had been unprecedented in recent centuries.
He added that this great victory was achieved thanks to cooperation, coordination, dedication and struggle by the Iraqi people, army soldiers and Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), commonly known as Hashd al-Sha'abi, backed by neighboring countries.
Rouhani added that the major victory "shows the significance of a genuine fight against those criminals who cruelly displayed violence and murder in the name of Islam."
He expressed the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s readiness to continue with the all-out fight against these criminals across the Middle East.
In a statement on Thursday, the Iraqi premier announced an end to ISIS's "state of falsehood" following the recapture of the historical Grand al-Nuri Mosque at the heart of Mosul.
"The return of al-Nuri Mosque and al-Hadba minaret to the fold of the nation marks the end of the ISIS state of falsehood," Abadi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
"WE rule this rubble!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/01/2017 9:54 Comments ||
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#2
Is he aware that the Kurds still control that area?
[Iran Press TV] Germany's national security council has approved a controversial deal to sell nuclear-capable submarines to the Israeli regime, a report says.
The leading German weekly news magazine, Der Spiegel, reported on Friday that the Federal Security Council had approved the deal, without giving any sources for the information.
It added that the $1.5-billion purchase included three Dolphin-class submarines, to be manufactured by the Germany-based conglomerate ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.
Each of the submarines is said to be capable of carrying a total of up to 16 torpedoes and submarine-launched cruise missiles (SLCM). The SLCMs have a range of at least 1,500 kilometers and are believed to be capable of delivering a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead. Israel already has five such submarines.
In mid-November last year, a report broadcast by Israel’s Channel 10 claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's personal attorney and long-time confidant, David Shimron, had actually served as a local representative of ThyssenKrupp, arousing suspicions over the premier's personal interests in the deal.
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[IsraelTimes] Outcry after deaths of three babies prompts Paleostinian Health Ministry to issue more permits and funding for treatment.
So will they end up with Hamas in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, or will Gaza and the West Bank end up going their separate, unproductive ways? It's so exciting, watching the future unfold.
[AnNahar] Nearly half a million displaced Syrians have returned to their homes since the beginning of the year, mainly to find family members and check on property, the UN refugee agency said Friday.
The agency said it had seen "a notable trend of spontaneous returns to and within Syria in 2017."
Since January, about 440,000 people who had been displaced within the war-ravaged country had returned to their homes, mainly in Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Damascus, Andrej Mahecic, a front man for the agency, known as the UNHCR, told news hounds in Geneva.
In addition, around 31,000 refugees in neighboring countries had also returned, he said, bringing to 260,000 the number of refugees who have returned to the country since 2015.
But Mahecic said this is a mere "fraction" of the five million Syrian refugees hosted in the region.
He said the main factors prompting the displaced to return home were "seeking out family members, checking on property, and, in some cases, a real or perceived improvement in security conditions in parts of the country."
He said it was too early to say if the returns might be directly linked to a palpable drop in violence since The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... agreed at talks in Astana in May with Russia and Iran, allies of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... , to establish four safe zones across Syria to ban flights and ensure aid drops.
But this week, the UN's special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told the Security Council that since the May 4 deal, "violence is clearly down. Hundreds of Syrian lives continue to be spared every week, and many towns have returned to some degree of normality."
Mahecic nonetheless cautioned that "while there is overall increased hope linked to the recent Astana and Geneva peace talks, UNHCR believes conditions for refugees to return in safety and dignity are not yet in place in Syria."
"The sustainability of security improvements in many return areas is uncertain, and there remain significant risks of protection thresholds for voluntary, safe and dignified returns not being met in parts of the country," he said.
"Access to displaced population inside Syria remains a key challenge," he added.
But "given the returns witnessed so far this year and in light of a progressively increased number of returns", the agency had begun scaling up its operations inside Syria to better be able address the needs of the returnees, he said.
Syria's war has killed more than 320,000 people and forced millions from their homes since it began in March 2011.
#3
Once they leave, don't let them back in. If they feel safe enough to return to their homeland, then they're no longer refugees and don't need asylum.
[Al Jazeera] A fact-finding mission by the UN's chemical watchdog, the OPCW, has concluded that sarin or a sarin-like substance was used as a chemical weapon in the April 4 attack in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun.
The confidential report released on Thursday by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will now be taken up by a joint UN-OPCW panel to determine whether Syrian government forces were behind the attack.
"Based on its work, the FFM (fact-finding mission) is able to conclude that a large number of people, some of whom died, were exposed to sarin or a sarin-like substance," said the report, parts of which were obtained by AFP news agency.
"The release that caused this exposure was most likely initiated at the site where there is now a crater in the road," it added.
"It is the conclusion of the FFM that such a release can only be determined as the use of sarin, as a chemical weapon."
At least 87 people, including many children, were killed in the attack that the United States, La Belle France and Britannia have said was carried out by Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... 's forces.
The US launched a retaliatory cruise missile strike days later against a Syrian airbase from where it alleges the chemical weapons attack was launched.
The OPCW did not visit the Shayrat airbase in Homs or the town of Khan Sheikhoun, where the attack took place, in rebel-held Idlib.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley ...first woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina, and the second Indian-American governor in the country, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. At the age of 39, Haley is the youngest current governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems... said in a statement that she had the "highest confidence in the OPCW report".
"Now that we know the undeniable truth, we look forward to an independent investigation to confirm exactly who was responsible for these brutal attacks so we can find justice for the victims," she added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2017 00:00 ||
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BEIRUT: The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia aims to “liberate” the area between Azaz and Jarablus held by Turkey-backed Syrian rebels, a YPG commander said in a statement relayed on a social networking feed by a US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces official.
Commander Sipan Hemo did not give a timeline or details of plans to take the area, which was seized by the Turkey-backed rebels last autumn from Islamic State, but said he regarded Turkey as an occupying force there.
His comments, in a statement to a Kurdish newspaper, were distributed by Naser Haj Mansour, a senior official in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), of which the YPG is a leading component.
Posted by: badanov ||
07/01/2017 00:00 ||
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Copies of the passports were discovered by Syrian Defence Forces in Raqqa
ISIS handed out documents reading 'passports to heaven' to motivate fighters
Fighters believe they will be rewarded with paradise if they die protecting ISIS
Front of passport says 'No God but Allah, Muhammed is the Messenger of God'
Iranian children got golden keys for unlocking the gates of Paradise when they walked through the minefields during the Iran-Iraq war. ISIS suicide bombers get actual passports to show the guards. No name or photo in it, but the guards of Paradise will surely recognize their own, no matter how mangled.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/01/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Iranian children got golden keys for unlocking the gates of Paradise
I understood they were plastic. Maybe gold-colored?
#2
They will be surprised when they discover that they are one of the 72 virgins. Oh and that they have no sex or reproductive organs. That's how they remain virgins.
#7
Of course, the Iranian children were also given blankets to wrap themselves in as they walked through the minefields. The regular soldiers were too disturbed by seeing pieces of kids flying all over the place. The blankets helped by keeping the parts together.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
07/01/2017 15:09 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
