An execution site with 17 apparent victims of extrajudicial killings was found near the Old City of West Mosul, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. The find is among a flood of evidence of atrocities being committed by Iraqi troops, the rights group pointed out.

The site was studied by international observers, whose evidence has proven reliable in the past, HRW said in its latest report. It was located in a Mosul neighborhood west of the Old City retaken from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) back in April.

An unnamed shopkeeper reportedly led observers into an empty building in the area and showed them a row of 17 male corpses, barefoot but in civilian dress, surrounded by pools of blood. Many of the corpses were blindfolded and had their hands tied behind the back. The shopkeeper told the observers Monday that the Iraqi Security Forces' 16th Division - recognizable by their badges and vehicles - has been in the area four nights before, and that he heard multiple gunshots from the area around the empty building. The bodies that he saw next morning were lying in positions suggesting they were shot dead there.

The discovery is one of several instances of suspected extrajudicial killings by Iraqi troops in Mosul, HRW continued.

Are we once again witnessing the politicization of intelligence of the kind that led to the 2003 invasion of Iraq? Only applied to Iran this time?

There are a number of indications that such a process may indeed be underway. The latest was disclosed in the wake of Monday's certification by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that Iran is indeed complying with the letter of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the Iran nuclear deal.

The New York Times published part of the backstory shortly after the certification was formally delivered to Congress. Here's the most interesting paragraph (although the whole article needs to be read in order to get a better sense of how just how close the United States is to a real crisis both with its allies and Iran):

At an hourlong meeting last Wednesday, all of the president's major security advisers recommended he preserve the Iran deal for now. Among those who spoke out were Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson; Defense Secretary Jim Mattis; Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the national security adviser; and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to an official who described internal discussions on the condition of anonymity. The official said Mr. Trump had spent 55 minutes of the meeting telling them he did not want to.

I found it passing strange that Trump used all but an hour to keep saying that he didn't want to approve the certification. After all, such a conversation would become mighty trying for all parties (except the principal), something similar to persuading a really stubborn four-year-old he had to go to the dentist because he would otherwise lose his teeth. And it was very difficult to imagine that Trump was, by himself, making substantive or even political arguments as to why he shouldn't certify that Iran was complying with the JCPOA in the absence of any real evidence that it wasn't.

Some 331 Palestinian minors were arrested by Israel between January and May this year, a 62 per cent increase on figures from 2012 to 2015, NGO Defence for Children International - Palestine (DCIP) revealed yesterday.

According to a report released by the human rights group, Israeli forces regularly abuse Palestinian children, depriving them of food, subjecting them to beatings and preventing them from accessing legal counsel.

Accountability Programme Director at DCIP, Ayed Abu Eqtaish, stated: "For over a decade, ill-treatment of Palestinian children in the Israeli military detention system has been widespread and systematic."

From the persistent and institutionalised ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children, to the systematic denial of their due process rights, emerges a system of control far removed from justice.

Kuwait has ordered the Iranian ambassador to leave the country within 48 days, according to Iran's ISNA news agency. It comes amid a diplomatic row between the two nations.

"Under the pressure of Saudi interventionist policies, and the baseless accusation of Iranian interference...Kuwait has announced that...Alireza Enayati, the Iranian ambassador to Kuwait, must leave within 48 days," ISNA reported.

Earlier on Thursday, Kuwait ordered Iran to reduce its embassy staff and shut down technical offices, Reuters reported, citing state news agency KUNA. Iranian state television said Kuwait's Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador and ordered the number of diplomats to be cut from 19 to four, and for cultural and military missions to be closed. Kuwait's state minister for cabinet affairs, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Sabah, who is also acting information minister, confirmed earlier on Thursday that Kuwait had taken diplomatic action against Iran.

"Following the Supreme Court ruling on the case...the government of Kuwait has decided to take measures, in accordance with diplomatic norms and the Vienna Convention, towards its relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran," he told AFP, declining to elaborate.

Kuwait also decided to freeze any activities involving joint committees of the two countries, a unnamed Foreign Ministry source told KUNA.

Prime Minister Theresa May has shrugged off accusations that her government is 'sitting' on a report on alleged Saudi Arabian funding of UK extremists in order to protect diplomatic ties and lucrative trade deals with the Gulf kingdom.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, the Tory leader dismissed claims the report had been shelved to cover up British arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

British weapons have allegedly killed civilians in the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

The Pentagon, which never liked the CIA program, now gets to run the entire US war in Syria by itself

The Washington Post is reporting that Trump has "decided to end" CIA's program to funnel arms, money and training to Syria's largely Islamist rebels.

There's a couple of things to say about that.

1. We're going to need confirmation that this has indeed happened. Ideally from people who have a direct line to some of the CIA-backed groups.
2. Is this the definite end of the CIA program, or a temporary halt? The aid was already frozen once before, in February-March of this year, but was then restored.
3. Is the end of CIA backing going to be coupled with instructions to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to stop their aid to rebels as well? Seeing how inclined the US is to appease the Saudis, and how fast its influence over Turkey is shrinking, I don't see it.
4. Will the end of the CIA program be coupled with increased aid to the rebels by the Pentagon? Will the CIA-backed groups actually be cut off, or just go from CIA-backed to Pentagon-backed? That's a particularly pertinent question for southeastern Syria around al-Tanf where Pentagon-backed groups like Commandos of the Revolution rub shoulders with CIA-backed groups like Lions of the East. Many of these CIA-backed groups were trained by US Special Forces hired out to the CIA, so links between them and the US military already exist.

President Trump's announcement this week to end the CIA's covert arming of militants in Syria is an admission of defeat. The US has lost its six-year war for regime change in the Arab country. It's time to wrap it up.

It's not over yet, of course. It remains to be seen if Trump's decision can in fact be implemented. Can the CIA be reined in to obey orders? Will the US be able to stop regional client regimes, like Saudi Arabia, from stepping up their covert supply of American weapons to the militants in Syria?

Also, Trump's decision does not mean the US and its allies will withdraw ground and air forces from Syria, where they are illegally operating in violation of international law.

Nevertheless, the American president's declared ending of the CIA's role in fueling the insurgency in Syria should be seen as a welcome move. It is the right thing to do, and a brave one also because of the anti-Russia flak he is bound to receive for taking the decision. It would have been politically expedient for Trump to have not pulled the plug on the CIA in Syria. But by doing so, he is bound to compound the anti-Russia hysteria gripping Washington and large sections of the media accusing him of being a "Kremlin stooge".

Donald Trump has praised his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a rather odd way, calling him a "great guy" who "loves holding my hand." It's not the first time the US president has made headlines for his hand-holding.

During an interview with the New York Times on Wednesday, reporter Maggie Haberman noted that Macron had been "very deferential" to the US leader.

In response, Trump called Macron a "great guy," as well as "smart" and "strong."

However, the leader then slipped in a rather unexpected remark about the French president. "[He] loves holding my hand," Trump said. "People don't realize he loves holding my hand. And that's good, as far as that goes."

Affordable credit and central bank capital allocations have lost their efficacy boosting national economies due to the enormous gains in household indebtedness, from the US to Russia, to Japan, and central bankers are seeking to avoid a new global recession by keeping consumers within their means.

Following the lead of the US Federal Reserve, other major central banks, including those in the UK, Eurozone, Japan, and Russia, are all considering ending the almost 10-year era of cheap credit money that helped their respective national economies overcome the toxic consequences of the most recent global economic crisis, as well as regional economic setbacks.

The end of the party, however, is poised to bring on a harsh hangover, with policies of austerity and the environment characterized by lower consumer purchasing power set to define the next 10-year economic cycle. Whilst not necessarily being a bad thing, the nascent era of normalcy in monetary policy will favor savings over borrowing and spending, and wealth accumulation instead of buoyant gains in sales in goods and services.

The United States has ended the laptop ban on US-bound flights from certain airports in the Middle East and North Africa, according to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Saudi Arabia's King Khalid International Airport was the last of the ten airports to be exempted from the ban.

On its website Saudi Arabian Airlines confirmed that its two hub airports which serve the US have received clearance from the DHS.