Former Egypt President Mohamed Morsi dies in court
Former President Mohamed Morsi died on Monday 17th June, in court after the conclusion of a trial session in the espionage lawsuit. According to Egyptian State Television, Morsi suffered a heart attack following the court hearing and his body has been transferred to a hospital in preparation for burial arrangements.
Morsi, aged 67, died after a court session in his espionage trial ended. The ousted Morsi asked to speak at the session, and the judge gave him permission.
He then reportedly fainted in court and was later pronounced dead.
Morsi was elected in democratic elections in 2012 after the 2011 revolution ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak. He was overthrown in a coup by the Egyptian military, who installed current President Abdel Al-Sisi as the leader.
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Egypt’s ex-President Mohamed Morsi buried in Cairo
Egypt’s first freely elected president buried in Cairo at dawn, his son says, with some Morsi family members present.
He was buried at dawn alongside other senior figures of the Muslim Brotherhood, his son, Ahmed Morsi, said on his Facebook page. The burial was attended by members of the family in Cairo’s Madinat Nasr after authorities refused to grant permission for a burial in Morsi’s home province of Sharqiya in the Nile Delta, Ahmed Morsi said. “We washed his noble body at Tora prison hospital, performed prayers for him in the prison mosque … the burial was at the cemetery for Muslim Brotherhood spiritual guides,” Ahmed wrote.
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Morsi ‘killed’ by Egyptian government, son says
In a Twitter post, Morsi’s son, Abdullah, named a number of officials whom he called “partners” of el-Sisi “in killing the martyr president”.
He particularly accused incumbent and former interior ministers Mahmoud Tawfiq and Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, respectively. He also named judges Shirin Fahmy, Shaaban al-Shami and Ahmed Sabry, as well as Attorney General Nabil Sadek and Abbas Kamel, the head of the intelligence service. Egyptian authorities have yet to comment on the claims by Morsi’s son. At the time of his death, Morsi – a leading member of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood who won the country’s presidential election in 2012 – faced a host of legal charges, which he, along with various human rights groups and independent observers, said were politically motivated.
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“Tyrants” for the death of Mohammad Morsi was murdered: Turkish President
“History will never forget those tyrants who led to his death by putting him in jail and threatening him with execution,” Erdogan, a close ally of Morsi, said in a televised speech in Istanbul. The Turkish leader called the former Egyptian president a “Martyr” Turkey had been among Morsi’s biggest supporters.
“May Allah rest our Morsi brother, our martyr’s soul in peace,” said Erdogan, who had forged close ties with the former president. Thousands in Istanbul joined in prayer for Mohammad Morsi on Tuesday. The prayer was called by Turkey’s religious authority Diyanet and took place in the city’s Fatih mosque.
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Turkey: Protesters at Egypt Embassy over Morsi’s death
World reaction
Malaysia, Qatar pay tribute to former Egyptian president, but reaction from other governments has been largely muted. The United Nations has called for an “independent inquiry” into the death of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who died aged 67 after collapsing in a Cairo court on Monday, according to state media. United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric offered condolences to Morsi’s relatives and supporters.
Human Rights Watch: Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, called Morsi’s death “terrible but entirely predictable”, given the government’s failure to allow him adequate medical care. “What we have been documenting for the past several years is the fact that he has been in the worst conditions. Every time he appeared before the judge, he requested private medical care and medical treatment,” Whitson told Al Jazeera.
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UN fears Myanmar internet blackout a ‘cover’ for abuses
Mobile internet has been shut down in parts of conflict-torn western Myanmar under a government decree. A UN investigator warns the army could be using the blackout as a cover for “gross human rights violations.”
United Nations special rapporteur Yanghee Lee warned that Myanmar’s military could be committing rights abuses under the cover of a mobile internet ban in Rakhine and Chin states. Thousands of troop reinforcements have been deployed to the western region, where ethnic rebels are waging an insurgency for more state autonomy.
The internet blackout began on June 21 when the government ordered mobile providers to cut data services to nine townships. “I fear for all civilians there,” Lee said in a statement, calling for the restrictions to be immediately lifted. “I am told that the Tatmadaw [Myanmar’s army] is now conducting a ‘clearance operation,’ which we all know by now can be a cover for committing gross human rights violations against the civilian population.”
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Cut off from the world
Telecoms operator Telenor Group said the Ministry of Transport and Communications had ordered a temporary shutdown of services because of “disturbances of peace” and the “use of internet activities to coordinate illegal activities.”
Ministry permanent secretary, Soe Thein, told local media the measure was in line with Myanmar’s Telecommunications Law, which allows for services to be blocked “when an emergency situation arises.”
More than a million people live in the parts of Rakhine and Chin affected by the measures. Given that many do not own personal computers, the mobile blackout effectively cuts them off from the outside world. Insurgents with the Arakan Army have been fighting government troops in the troubled region since late 2018, seeking more political autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists. Both sides have been accused of committing abuses. Some 35,000 civilians have been displaced by the conflict, which has also spilled into neighboring Chin state.
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Conflict escalates
The statement from Lee, an independent expert who reports to the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Myanmar, said there were credible reports army helicopters had launched an attack on Rakhine’s Minbya Township on June 19. The following day, the Arakan Army fired on a navy ship in the state’s capital, Sittwe, killing two soldiers. The same area was the site of a brutal government crackdown in 2017 that sent around 750,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing over the border to Bangladesh. The military was accused of committing atrocities against the stateless ethnic minority, including arson, rape and mass killings. The military denies these allegations.
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Iran shoots down US drone aircraft
Iran shot down a United States military drone, further escalating the already volatile situation playing out between Washington and Tehran in the Middle East. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had shot down an “intruding American spy drone” after it entered into the country’s territory Thursday 20 June.
A US official confirmed to CNN a drone had been shot down, but said the incident occurred in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most vital shipping routes.
The United States countered with its own coordinates, suggesting that the drone had been flying in international airspace when it was shot down, at a point about nine nautical miles southwest of that cited by Iran. US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, added further detail in a statement Thursday, describing the downed drone as a RQ-4A Global Hawk High-Altitude, Long, Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS).
The head of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, said the shooting down of the drone had sent a warning to the US. “The only way for our enemies to be safe is to respect our sovereignty, national security, and the national interests of the great Iranian nation,” Salami said, according Tasnim. According to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency, the drone was shot down by Khordad-3 medium range air defense missile.
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Iran claims it hacked and controlled US drones, shows footage from missions as proof
If war breaks out, no country will manage its ‘scope and timing,’ Irani Gen. Gholamali Rashid warns US
A senior Iranian commander claimed his country has managed to take control of several US drones. As proof of Tehran’s claim, it has released some footage, apparently taken from the drones’ cameras.
“Seven to eight drones that had constant flights over Syria and Iraq were brought under our control and their Intel was monitored by us and we could gain their first-hand intel,” Iran’s FARS news agency quoted Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
The agency released a video, which it called “one of the many proofs in support of General Hajizadeh’s remarks.”
The three-minute video shows footage apparently taken on several different occasions by aircraft, presumably US drones. Half of it seems to show a single episode, in which an MQ-9 Reaper armed drone crash-lands after its operator apparently lost control. The drone is then shown destroyed on the ground by an airstrike.
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Palestinians reject economic part of US peace plan
The United States has revealed a proposal to create a $50bn global investment fund for the Palestinians and neighbouring Arab states, designed to be the economic engine of the long-awaited US Middle East peace plan.
The plan was posted on the White House website on Saturday, two days before a US-led workshop in Bahrain where the economic portion of the so-called “deal of the century” is set to be discussed.
The Manama conference is taking place despite opposition from the Palestinians, who will not attend.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday rejected the economic plan and the US peace effort, which is led by President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner.
“The economic situation should not be discussed before the political one,” Abbas said on Saturday. “As long as there is no political solution, we do not deal with any economic solution.”
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Qatar to distribute over $10 million new Gaza aid funds
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories: Gulf state Qatar is set to distribute more than $10 million in aid to thousands of cash-strapped Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, a Qatari official said. The money was brought into the Hamas-controlled enclave Sunday evening by the Qatari ambassador to Gaza and is expected to be distributed Monday or Tuesday, the official said on condition of anonymity. More than 100,000 families will each receive payments of $100, he added. Another $15 million would be provided for infrastructure and cash-for-work projects, the official said. Palestinians lined up outside post offices throughout Gaza to receive their funds, but were ultimately turned away.
Kamal Musbah, 46, told AFP at midday he had been waiting since the early morning outside a post office in Gaza City. “We don´t know anything yet,” he said.
Musbah and around 200 other people erupted with frustration when they were told in the afternoon to return the next day.
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‘Historic’ UK decision outlaws arms sales for Saudi war on Yemen
By Gavin O’Toole
British weapons, particularly aircraft and missiles, are crucial to Saudi Arabia’s war effort in Yemen.
Campaigners hailed an “historic” ruling by the United Kingdom’s court of appeal declaring British arms sales to Saudi Arabia for use in its war against Yemen unlawful as a potential turning point in the conflict.
The decision in London follows a challenge by the Campaign against Arms Trade (CAAT) that accused the UK government of licensing arms sales despite a clear risk their use could breach international humanitarian law. Although it will not halt the Saudi-led war in Yemen – in which an estimated 100,000 people have died since 2016 – it adds enormous support to international efforts to end the conflict. “This ruling is huge,” said Sam Perlo-Freeman, a research coordinator at CAAT. “We can see that arms sales for use in Yemen are now being challenged internationally – in the US and Europe – but this from a court in one of Saudi Arabia’s top two arms suppliers takes that to a whole new level “It is historic in terms of the government’s approach to export licences being found to be illegal and adds huge momentum to the campaign both in this country and internationally for a halt to arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the Saudi-led coalition.”
Since the Saudi-led coalition began its military intervention in Yemen in 2015, the UK has licensed at least 4.6 billion pounds ($6bn) worth of arms to Saudi forces. Weapons and military support from Britain to Saudi Arabia – that now accounts for 43 percent of London’s arms exports – is crucial to the war effort.
However, public disquiet has grown about Britain’s role with a poll commissioned by CAAT indicating only six percent of people in the country support arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The UK’s sales have significantly bolstered the Saudi air force’s capability to carry out air attacks in Yemen. The final six Typhoon jet fighters of 72 ordered in 2007 were delivered in 2017. The following year, Riyadh signed a memorandum of intent to buy an additional 48 Typhoons
CAAT has been arguing for three years that the sales break UK laws, which block export licences if there is a clear risk of weapons being used in “serious violations” of international humanitarian law.
Perlo-Freeman added: “We welcome this verdict but at the same time really think it should not have taken a three-and-a-half-year court procedure to get the UK government to even start considering doing the right thing. “The British government’s whole priority in promoting arms exports over everything else and in choosing to support and enable the Saudi-led war on Yemen – which is causing the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world – is fundamentally wrong.”
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A winnable nuclear war? New Pentagon document shows US military thinks so
The Pentagon document laying out the US doctrine of nuclear operations was publicly available for about a week, then made ‘official use only.’ What’s inside is a chilling reminder that Washington sees nuclear war as winnable.
“Nuclear Operations,” or Joint Publication 3-72, was dated on June 11 and made private since, but not before it was downloaded by Steven Aftergood, an activist at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). It is currently available on the FAS website as a PDF.
The publication “provides fundamental principles and guidance to plan, execute, and assess nuclear operations.” The rest of it is in the same matter-of-fact tone, even when discussing practical consideration of potentially world-ending weapons.
“That kind of thinking itself can be hazardous. It can make that sort of eventuality more likely instead of deterring it,”Aftergood told the Guardian on Wednesday.
Arguably, the US military’s job is to consider all possibilities and the decision whether to use nuclear weapons is ultimately in civilian hands in this case, those of President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration has paid a lot of attention to nuclear matters, updating the US Nuclear Posture Review last year and earmarking funds for modernizing the US “nuclear triad”: bombers, land-based missiles and submarines. However, Trump has also announced the US would leave the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia by next month. The fate of the New START arms control treaty with Russia, set to expire in February 2021, is very much up in the air.
In such circumstances, the Joint Chiefs doctrine stating that “Using nuclear weapons could create conditions for decisive results and the restoration of strategic stability,” might be taken as a cause for alarm, and with good reason.
The document also describes nuclear bombers as offering “the greatest degree of flexibility in the triad because they can be a highly visible sign of resolve and, once ordered to conduct a nuclear strike, are recallable.” It’s a dry, factual statement, but when coupled with the presence of B-52 strategic bombers on Russian borders earlier this week, it begins to sound like a threat.
Asked about the document, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said it was removed from public access “because it was determined that this publication, as is with other joint staff publications, should be for official use only.” There was no explanation as to how or why it was published in the first place, whether it was a mistake or a deliberate message to other governments.
Back in April, Trump made comments about “getting rid” of nuclear weapons altogether, and speculated about a major arms control treaty with Russia and China. Given his current trade war with Beijing and the continued hostility towards Russia driven at least in part by ‘Russiagate’ conspiracy theories at home, it is unclear whether such a treaty will ever go beyond hopes and dreams.
The US is the only country ever to use nuclear weapons in battle, against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Neither was a primarily military target.
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Pentagon’s plan to counter China with robotic ships may be impractical or even bluff
The US Navy is eyeing a large-scale introduction of robotic surface ships of various sizes as a counter to China’s boosted capabilities. The vision, however, relies on not-yet-proven technologies and may even be a bluff. The world’s largest navy feels threatened by Beijing, whose advancements in anti-ship missile technologies and large investments in its own naval assets over the past years mean that a conflict near China’s shores may not end in US favor. Among the Pentagon’s plans to deal with the problem is to switch away from larger ships in favor of smaller ones and make scores of them robotic.
A drone ship would be cheaper to build and operate since it doesn’t need all the facilities for the meatbags and the drones may be spread over wider areas.
The US admirals seem confident enough in this vision to request $629 million in 2020 for research and development and want to spend a total of $4.5 billion on the efforts though 2024, according to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service. Automatization and introduction of drones in combat is a process that happens in many nations, but it’s evolutionary, so it remains in question whether the US Navy can do it quickly, drone expert Denis Fedutinov told RT News.
“Obviously, first you build relatively small boats to develop the technologies and then gradually switch to larger crewless ships that can conduct a wider range of missions,” he said.
The US Navy may have been emboldened by the trials of the Sea Hunter, the 135-ton autonomous trimaran ship developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as an anti-submarine sensor platform. The robotic ship (accompanied by a manned convoy which checked on her systems from time to time) managed to travel from San Diego to Hawaii and back all on her own earlier this year.
Boeing’s experimental large unmanned submarine Orca won a contract from the Navy this year, with four ships in the pipeline now another testament for the progress of the robotic technologies at sea.
But even if the technology for remotely-controlled or partially autonomous vessels will be there within years, there will be other considerations, pointed out Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst at the Pentagon. Even the vast budgets that the DoD gets these days are still limited. And drones come with their unique vulnerabilities.
“Before you deploy, you’ve got to have a system in place that can counter any means to knock out [the drones] especially given how expensive they are going to be,” he told RT.
One widely publicized example was Iran tricking a US RQ-170 Sentinel spy drone to land on its territory by spoofing GPS data, Maloof said. One can imagine a similar scenario could allow somebody to hijack one of the US Navy’s robotic crafts and get access to all the technology on it.
“They could take this robotic ship and turn it against us. Let’s say it’s armed with ballistic missiles, and those get into the wrong hands. There are a lot of consequences here, that have not been addressed,” he said.
On the other hand, he added, the entire buzz about the robotic fleet and how China’s naval build-up would be nullified by it may be the modern incarnation of the Strategic Defense Initiative. The Reagan-era program made the Soviet Union believe that its nuclear deterrence could be countered by the US anti-ballistic missile systems and invest a lot of resources into preventing this outcome. But in reality the SDI was to a large degree fiction. “It was a big bluff. We still don’t have the technologies for that,” Maloof said.
‘Courtesy RT News’
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America accuses India of religious extremism and anti-Muslim policies
The 2018 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom released by Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State, on Friday stated that Hindu-groups had used “violence, intimidation, and harassment” against Muslims and low-caste Dalits in 2017 to force a religion-based national identity.
But the Indian authorities have rejected the report, saying that there’s no right “for a foreign entity/government to pronounce on the state of our citizens’ constitutionally protected rights”. The India foreign office also claimed that “India is proud of its secular values.” But for many analysts, facts on the ground paint a completely different picture where, on a regular basis, Muslim youths are taken out of their houses and beaten up till they die.
Rights groups have already shown their reservations over the stance of Indian government and its patronage to Hindu extremists who wish to convert Muslims to Hinduism or force them to quit India. Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, has asked the Indian government on multiple occasions not to violate secular values of the constitution if India desires to remain a stable and harmonized society.
The report is important in sense that a BJP government has assumed office in India once again. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was able to sell out his anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim narratives to proclaim a great victory.
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Muslims are under Threat in PM Modi’s India
Since after the electoral win of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, the country has been undergoing a massive socio-political change and moving towards an extremist Hindu state. Media reports suggest that freedom is under threat in India where secular values are being replaced with extremist Hindu ideologies where religious minorities enjoy little space to practice their religious teachings.
Muslims are the most vulnerable target to the extremists in India who offer them two options; become Hindu or leave the country. “First, a campaign was launched to convert religious minorities to Hinduism. The right-wing groups called it ‘home-coming.’ Now, they are demanding bans on certain books and beef eating. Those who don’t listen to these groups are being targeted every now and then,” Rakesh Batabyal, an associate professor at the Centre for Media Studies in New Delhi, told an international media outlet.
Senior leader of Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Muzaffar Hussain, last year expressed his anger and warned Indian leadership of one more partition if atrocities against Muslims are not stopped. “I want to tell Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he should put an end to the killing of Muslims in the name of cow slaughter. This country has once been partitioned into two, and there can be more partitions if killings of Muslims are not
Markandey Katju, a former Indian Judge, has recently said that Indian democracy is under threat not because of Muslims or Pakistan but solely because of sitting Indian Prime Minister who is turning India from a secular state to an extremist Hindu state.
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India successfully test fires hypersonic cruise missile
India conducted a successful first test flight of the indigenously developed Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) from a base off the Odisha coast. The only other countries that possess this technology are the US, Russia and China. The HSTDV is an unmanned scramjet (allowing supersonic combustion) demonstration vehicle that can cruise up to a speed of mach 6 (or six times the speed of sound) and rise up to an altitude of 32. km in 20 seconds. It has a range of uses, including missiles of the future, and energy-efficient, low cost and reusable satellite-launch vehicle.
What gives a hypersonic missile its potency is the speed at which it travels, said Rajeshwari Rajagopalan, an expert on space and nuclear technology at the New Delhi- based Observer Research Foundation think tank. Countries like Russia and China have perfected this technology which makes it key for India to acquire it, she said. “This test today puts India in an elite club of nations definitely, but India will have to perfect the technology with many more tests,” said Rajagopalan.
India’s HSTDV was test-fired by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at 11.27 am, a statement from the defence ministry said. The aim of the mission was to “prove a number of critical technologies for futuristic missions”.
A hypersonic missile is a “quick reaction missile” which makes it invaluable in offensive as well as defensive uses, said W. Selvamurthy, a former DRDO scientist. In case of defence, it can be used to intercept incoming missiles in the outer atmosphere or in the inner atmosphere. It will help add to India’s ballistic missile defence capabilities, he said.
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Missile test moves DRDO a step closer to hypersonic flight
By Ajai Shukla
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) took a step towards the coveted technological goal of achieving hypersonic flight with the launch of a technology validation mission. “DRDO today launched a Technology Demonstrator Vehicle to prove a number of critical technologies for future missions from Dr Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha… The data has been collected and will be analysed to validate the critical technologies”, announced the DRDO.
Rockets have long travelled at hypersonic speeds, but they have the advantage of carrying their own oxygen along with their fuel. Achieving hypersonic flight with an air-breathing engine is the greater challenge. Only Americans, French, Chinese and Australians have managed 10-second hypersonic flights. The DRDO has targeted a 20-second flight.
Hypersonic flight involves travelling at speeds above Mach 5, or 1,500 metres/second. An airliner travelling at hypersonic speed would reach from New York to Tokyo in a couple of hours.
Hypersonic flight also achieves military objectives, such as carrying larger payloads than conventional rockets. Since a hypersonic missile does not have to carry oxygen it uses the oxygen freely available in the ambient air that allows it to save weight, and carry a larger payload. This is called having a larger “payload fraction”.
The key challenge in hypersonic flight is to develop an engine that can remain alight even when the air it breathes is being rammed the combustion chamber at a velocity of 6.5 Mach. That is why it is called a “supersonic combustion ramjet”, or “scramjet” engine.
While the Wednesday mission was not intended to achieve hypersonic flight, it had the aim of validating key technologies essential for hypersonic flight.
Amongst these technologies was a launch vehicle a modified Agni-1 missile to launch the technology demonstrator vehicle and boost its velocity the guidance systems, and heat shields for protection during re-entry.
In the actual hypersonic flight demonstration, which the DRDO intends to carry out within a year, the Agni-1 booster would release the hypersonic vehicle after re-entry, which would then ignite its kerosene fuelled scramjet engine and fly for a significant duration of time.
A key challenge is developing the super-materials that can withstand the extreme temperatures and pressures of hypersonic combustion. This includes Niobium alloy, Hafnium and Nickel-based superalloys.
Last month, speaking at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, the DRDO chairman mentioned hypersonics as one of the key areas for future wars.
“We are confident of achieving hypersonic flight for a significant period of time within the next four years”, states a senior DRDO manager.
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India Now Supports Israel at the UN against Palestine. Are They Allies?
India broke with decades of its post-independence political traditions by unprecedentedly supporting “Israel” at the UN and voting against granting consultative status to a Palestinian NGO that allegedly has ties with Hamas, therefore formally allying with the self-professed “Jewish State” at the this global body and confirming that Modi’s second term in office will see his country more determinedly siding with the fading Unipolar World Order at the multipolar one’s expense.
India just made history at the UN earlier this week, but in what’s sure to be interpreted as an ignoble way by the supporters of the emerging Multipolar World Order. Encouraged by the massive mandate that he received after his resounding re-election last month, Modi gave the go-ahead for his government to break with decades of its post-independence political traditions by unprecedentedly supporting “Israel” at the global body and voting against granting consultative status to a Palestinian NGO that allegedly has ties with Hamas. The self-professed “Jewish State’s” deputy chief of mission in India praised this diplomatic pivot by tweeting “Thank you #India for standing with @IsraelinUN and rejecting the request of terrorist organization “Shahed” to obtain the status of an observer in #UN. Together we will continue to act against terrorist organizations that intend to harm”, in what certainly signifies that Modi’s second term in office will see his country more determinedly siding with the fading Unipolar World Order at the multipolar one’s expense.
India had hitherto been trying to make inroads with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), but its hopes for future progress on this front have likely been dashed by the self-inflicted soft power damage that it just did by diplomatically allying with “Israel” at the UN. Although Resistance leader Iran continues to beg India to reconsider its decision to abide by the US’ unilateral sanctions regime against it, it’ll now be doing so with the full knowledge that the South Asian state is officially one of its hated “Israeli” foes’ key allies in thwarting the attempts of the Palestinians to have a greater global voice in publicizing their plight. This would make the Islamic Republic’s further outreaches to India even more humiliating than before, possibly raising the chance that it might finally give up in order to save “face” and protect its hard-earned and very proud reputation as the world’s leading anti-Zionist state.
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We won’t sell out our allies or principles to strike Syria deal with US, says Putin
Russia will not reach any agreement with the United States on the future of Syria at the cost of Syria itself or Moscow’s interests and principles, President Vladimir Putin has said. During his annual Q&A session on Thursday, a journalist asked Putin if there would be a “grand deal” with the US on Syria as the country begins to recover from years of hostilities and destruction. “What do you mean ‘a grand deal’? Sounds like some commercial act. No. We don’t sell out our allies, our interests or our principles,” Putin said.
He said that Russia is willing to negotiate a political transition in Syria with various stakeholders. “Can it be done? I believe it can, provided there is goodwill of everyone involved in the conflict.”
Putin highlighted Turkey and Iran as Russia’s immediate partners in resolving the Syrian crisis, but said countries like the US, Israel, Egypt, and Jordan have legitimate interests in what happens in Syria as do the European nations, which were hurt by mass migration triggered by it. “We have to work together on it,” he stressed. “RT News’
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Islamic State captives ‘must be tried or freed’, says UN’s Bachelet
The UN says tens of thousands of Islamic State fighters and family members being held in Iraq and Syria must be tried or released. Human rights Chief Michelle Bachelet also called on countries to take responsibility for their citizens and take them back if not charged.
The last IS strongholds fell in March and some 55,000 people are being held., including thousands of foreigners.
But many nations have shown reluctance to bring their citizens back. The countries fear prosecutions of IS fighters may be difficult and public opinion is often strongly against repatriation. Some countries have also refused to recognise the children of IS members born in Syria and Iraq as citizens, despite their parents having nationality. Ms Bachelet said that children in particular had suffered “grievous violations” of their human rights. But many nations have shown unwillingness to allow repatriation. Researcher’s estimate that more than 40,000 foreigners from 80 countries joined IS in Iraq and Syria between April 2013 and June 2018.
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Ethiopia coup thwarted after army chief killed by his own bodyguard at home
The Ethiopian army’s chief of staff has been shot dead inside his home by his own bodyguard, said the country’s prime minister who linked the assassination to a thwarted coup attempt. Military leader Seare Mekonnen was killed at his residence in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa along with a retired army general visiting him at the time. Mr. Mekonnen’s bodyguard has been arrested over the deaths on Saturday evening. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appeared on state television on Sunday to reveal details of a failed coup in the northern region of Amhara, which he claimed was led by a high-ranking military officer and others within the military.
Mr. Abiy said state forces were in “full control” in Amhara following a gun attack in the regional capital of Bahir Dar on Saturday night.
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ISIS may turn its eyes to India after suffering defeats in Middle East
Suffering defeats in the Middle East, Islamic State may now eye India, setting up underground cells in various states of the world’s second-largest country, a local intelligence agency has reportedly warned.
India has become increasingly vulnerable to the threat of Islamic State-inspired (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorist attacks, according to NDTV, citing three intelligence letters sent to police chiefs in the state of Kerala.
“After loss of territory in Iraq and Syria, IS is urging operatives to take up violent forms of jihad while staying back in their respective countries,” reads one of the letters.
The terrorist group may also target key installations in Kochi, Kerala’s most populous city with 2 million people, another letter says. Local police officials estimate that roughly 100 Kerala residents have joined IS in the past few years, while around 3,000 have been “deradicalized” and are now under surveillance.
The southern state lies close to Sri Lanka, where terrorist attacks in April resulted in the deaths of over 250 Christians celebrating Easter.
The news comes after an Islamic State-affiliated mouthpiece reportedly announced the creation of the ‘Wilayah al-Hind’, or ‘Indian Province’. Shortly afterwards, the terrorist group said it had established an additional stronghold called ‘Wilayah Pakistan’.
IS once wreaked havoc in Syria and Iraq, where it established a ‘caliphate’ and enforced strict sharia rules? Now, the group is declining in the region following successful campaigns by Syrian government forces backed by Russia and the US-supported Iraqi military.
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Nigeria suicide blast kills 30 in Borno
(June 16, 2019) Thirty people were killed in a triple suicide attack in northeast Nigeria on Sunday, emergency services reported, marking the biggest mass killing this year by suicide bombers. Three bombers detonated their explosives outside a hall in Konduga, 25 kilometres from the Borno state capital Maiduguri, where football fans were watching a match on TV. “The death toll from the attack has so far increased to 30. We have over 40 people injured,” Usman Kachalla, head of operations at the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), said. An earlier toll from the blasts said 17 were dead and 17 others were wounded.
Boko Haram’s campaign has claimed about 30,000 lives and displaced millions of people from their homes. The violence has spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting the formation of a regional military coalition to battle the group.
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Iraqis storm Bahrain embassy, burn US & Israeli flags to protest ‘deal of the century’
Baghdad (27 Jun, 2019) Not all Iraqis welcomed Bahrain’s foreign minister’s call for peaceful co-existence with the state of Israel, which Khalid bin Ahmed al Khalifa made Wednesday as the Kingdom hosted a conference to peddle the US’ Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.
Condemning Donald Trump’s so-called ‘deal of the century’, hundreds of protesters took to the streets, accusing Gulf nations of being “Arab Zionists who have sold their Arab identity for a failed deal.”
At around 10:00pm local time, the crowd reached the Bahrain embassy in Baghdad before people began to climb over walls. Soon after, the mob began to burn Israeli and American flags inside the compound’s garden, as others waved Palestinian banners to show solidarity with their struggle against Israeli occupation.
While the diplomatic building itself was not stormed, the crowd did manage to place a Palestinian flag on top of it, AP reports. By midnight, Iraqi security forces had cleared out the scene after clashing with protesters. At least 54 people were arrested, Iraqi interior minister Yassin al-Yassiry told al-Sumaria.
Bahrain immediately condemned the violence and recalled its envoy for consultations, stressing that Baghdad has a responsibility to protect the embassy. “Bahrain condemns the attack on the Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Republic of Iraq by the demonstrators (which) led to sabotage in the embassy building,” the ministry of foreign affairs said. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also denounced the violence.
In turn, Baghdad expressed “deep regret” over the incident. “The government of Iraq affirms its absolute rejection of any acts which threaten diplomatic missions, their safety and the security of their personnel,” it said in a statement.
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‘We have lots to discuss’: Putin & Trump meet at G20 summit in Osaka
Japan : Osaka ( 28 Jun, 2019) US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin have gathered for long-awaited face-to face talks at the G20 Summit, as the two countries face the lowest level of trust in each other in decades. Flanked by their diplomatic teams, Trump and Putin made brief statements to the press before shaking hands and beginning closed-door talks in Osaka, Japan.
Trump said the agenda would include trade and disarmament, expressing confidence that “a lot of very positive things are going to come out of the relationship” with Russia.
“We have lots to discuss,” Trump added.
Putin noted that while the two leaders hadn’t spoken face-to-face since the Helsinki summit last summer, US and Russian officials have been consulting with one another over the past year. The meeting in Osaka, Putin remarked, will allow the two leaders to “follow up” on discussions that have been taking place over the past 12 months.
Their comments were followed by a barrage of questions from journalists, with one reporter asking Trump if he would press Putin on alleged Russian meddling in US elections.
“Yes, of course I will,” President Trump responded. He then pointed at the Russian leader and said: “Don’t meddle in the elections.” Putin smiled back.
While the Mueller report found no evidence that Trump “colluded” with the Kremlin, his meeting with Putin has predictably caused mass pandemonium among diehard Russiagaters.
The gathering raised further suspicion among Trump’s most vocal critics after the president told a reporter that he would have a “good conversation” with Putin, but what they will discuss is “none of her business.”
In an interview with the Financial Times before the meeting, Putin said he remained cautiously optimistic about the bilateral talks, while acknowledging that US-Russia relations have become “more dramatic and explosive.”
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Israel says GPS mysteriously disrupted in its airspace but planes secure
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel is experiencing unexplained GPS disruptions in its airspace but measures are in place to allow safe landings and takeoffs at its main international airport, the government said on Wednesday 26th June. The announcement by the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) followed a report by the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA) that “many” pilots had lost satellite signals from the Global Positioning System around Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.
Confirming there had been GPS disruptions for approximately the past three weeks, an IAA statement said these affected only airborne crews and not terrestrial navigation systems. Israeli authorities had worked from the outset to locate the source of the problem and fix it, it added.
Asked if an explanation for the disruption had been found, an IAA spokesman said: “No. I don’t know.”
“At no stage has there been a safety incident stemming from the GPS disruption in the context of the precision of navigation and flight corridors,” the IAA said.
The Israeli military said its operations were unaffected.
“The issue is of civilian concern and the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) provides technological support in order to facilitate freedom of movement within Israel’s airspace,” a military spokeswoman said.
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Lost GPS in Israeli airspace? Blame you-know-who!
Israeli media have speculated that Russia might be behind the reported GPS disruptions at Ben Gurion international airport, prompting the Russian embassy to rejected the claims as ‘fake news.’
Pilots flying in and out of Israel’s biggest international airport have been experiencing trouble with their Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite signal, forcing them to switch to the older Instrument Landing System (ILS), the Israel Airports Authority said on Wednesday, without speculating about the culprit.
“As a result of the disturbances, changes were made in some of the entry procedures for landing to ensure safety,” the IAA said in a statement, adding that “at no stage was there a safety incident” related to the troubles.
The GPS problems have been going on for the past three weeks, according to the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA). The IAA says that “all of the elements in Israel have been working to solve the problem and find the source of the problem” from the first day.
This has not stopped the media from breathlessly speculating that “Russia” was behind the problem, citing anonymous sources and unnamed officials.
One anonymous “aviation source,” for example, told the liberal daily Haaretz that the disruptions only happen during the daytime.
Likewise anonymous but “high-ranking” military sources reportedly told Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) radio that Russia was to blame, pointing to electronic warfare systems at the Khmeimim airbase in Syria, some 350km (217 miles) north of Ben Gurion. The Russian expeditionary force in Syria has used the airbase to conduct operations against Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS) terrorists and other militants.
The Russian embassy in Tel Aviv rejected those claims as “fake news” that it “couldn’t give a serious response to.”
Publicly, the IDF declined to comment on the source of the interference, saying only that its own operations and “superiority in the electromagnetic spectrum” were not affected.