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© Isaac Lopez and Sarah Feinsmith
I have known Google longer than most. At Opera, we were the first to add their search into the browser interface, enabling it directly from the search box and the address field. At that time, Google was an up-and-coming geeky company. I remember vividly meeting with Google's co-founder Larry Page, his relaxed dress code and his love for the Danger device, which he played with throughout our meeting. Later, I met with the other co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin, and got positive vibes. My first impression of Google was that it was a likeable company.
Our cooperation with Google was a good one. Integrating their search into Opera helped us deliver a better service to our users and generated revenue that paid the bills. We helped Google grow, along with others that followed in our footsteps and integrated Google search into their browsers.
© ReutersA civil-defense member breathes through an oxygen mask after what rescue workers described as a suspected gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun in rebel-held Idlib on April 4.
The latest report by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria on September 6 offers some of the most conclusive evidence yet of allegations that Assad's forces carried out the April 4 attack on Khan Sheikhun in which more than 80 civilians were killed.
"Government forces continued the pattern of using chemical weapons against civilians in opposition-held areas. In the gravest incident, the Syrian Air Force used sarin in Khan Sheikhun, Idlib, killing dozens, the majority of whom were women and children," the UN report said, declaring the attack a war crime.
A government warplane dropped sarin, an odorless nerve agent, on the town in rebel-held Idlib Province, the commission said.
The United States at the time immediately blamed Assad's government and launched a punitive strike on Shayrat air base, where the report says the plane took off.
© Journal NEO
Article 22 of the Convention states:
1. "The premises of the mission shall be inviolable. The agents of the receiving State may not enter them, except with the consent of the head of the mission.Article 45 states that even
2.The receiving State is under a special duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity.
3.The premises of the mission, their furnishings and other property thereon and the means of transport of the mission shall be immune from search, requisition, attachment or execution."
"If diplomatic relations are broken off between two States, or if a mission is permanently or temporarily recalled:The Vienna Convention is one of the foundations of international relations. Without it, and the ancient customs enshrined in it, international relations cannot exist. The United States of America is a state party to the Convention and so is bound by it as part of international law and as part of American law.
(a) The receiving State must, even in case of armed conflict, respect and protect the premises of the mission, together with its property and archives;
(b) The sending State may entrust the custody of the premises of the mission, together with its property and archives, to a third State acceptable to the receiving State;"
© Stripes, via Arabic mediaStranded ISIS convoy: there are over 600 in the group, which includes civilian family members.
Earlier this week we reported on the unusual deal which allowed a large convoy of Islamic State fighters and their families to exit their contested stronghold along the Syrian-Lebanese border under the watch of the Lebanese and Syrian armies and Hezbollah after being defeated. As first announced by Hezbollah's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah in a speech Monday night, the deal involved the transportation of 26 wounded and 308 ISIS fighters, along with 331 civilian family members via buses and ambulances to Syria's eastern province. The controversial deal was struck in return for the bodies of 9 Lebanese soldiers, kidnapped by ISIS in 2014.
That convoy was allowed to enter Syria but was attacked by the US-led anti-ISIL Coalition on Wednesday as it crossed open desert on its way to the Islamic State stronghold of Deir Ezzor. Per coalition statement, the convoy wasn't attacked directly - just outlying ISIS vehicles which were attempting to join and bolster the transport. Part of the highway in front of the convoy, including a key bridge, was further targeted in order to stop its movement.
© CC0 / Pixabay
Sharyl Attkisson details, in meticulous fashion, how those in power - modeling their work on propaganda techniques developed by the late Dr. Joseph Goebbels - create well-funded attack campaigns to destroy the reputations of their enemies, and to influence public opinion to their advantage.
"Paid forces devise clever, covert ways to change the landscape in ways you can't imagine," she writes.
The visit has been anticipated for a long time. This will be the first time a Saudi king visits Russia. The event is very symbolic against the background of burgeoning rapprochement between the two countries. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to visit the Kingdom in a few days.
The Saudi Vision 2030 long term development program has been launched to move the Kingdom from oil profits and dependency on the United States to diversified modern economy and strong military potential, allowing it to implement independent foreign policy. The main goal is to lay down the basis of its independence from natural resources. Saudi Arabia is intensifying its diplomatic efforts. Russia is a partner in the Kingdom's far-reaching ambitious plans. The potential of bilateral relations development is extraordinary.
© Mihail Metzel / Sputnik
And they won't be intimidated/derailed by the crumbling unipolar order.
Xiamen made it clear the BRICS are all-out engaged to "redress North-South development imbalances," with Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasizing the necessity of a more just international order, echoing President Putin's calls for a "fair multipolar world," and "against protectionism and new barriers to global trade."
Xi, the host at Xiamen, where he was once mayor, went out of his way to stress, "we five countries [should] play a more active part in global governance."
Russian economy looks rosy but neocons cover up their bad predictions and failed causing much damage
Russian mission in NY; Kremlin compound, Moscow
The gist of the Hellevig report is that the US and NATO campaign against Russia has failed to do much damage and now their propaganda outlets, media and think-tanks are lying to conceal the failure.
The punchline of the report reads: "We predict Russia to push through the 4 trillion level in 2017 and overtake Germany by 2018 to become the world's fifth biggest economy."
Hellevig also warns against the illusion of a friendly United States: "Russia must understand that the Russia containment strategy of the West will be there for years to come, and will only disappear the day when they gather the courage to understand that Russia has overcome. Therefore, Russia must root all its economic strategy and development efforts in a firm understanding of this reality, and never to count on West in anything. Russia must, focus on China, the East, and the rest of the world."
Speaking to RT at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, Brown said that although the "mood" towards Russia isn't great in Washington at the moment, the two nations have overcome poor relations before.
"I would recall the mood in 1984-1985, when Russia was described as an evil empire, but very soon thereafter, there was the very important agreements between President Reagan and President Gorbachev," he said.
Brown added that the relationship between Moscow and Washington can "start going up" towards a "much better relationship in the future."
Comment: How does the UN come to these conclusions while never once visiting and/or investigating the sites? The Syrian government has invited the UN, but they've refused to come. With Russia and Syria seeing the end of the Syrian war, the West must be getting desperate to smear this victory.