RTWed, 03 May 2017 13:29 UTC
© Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters
They were discussing a controversial new system, allegedly used to fight fake IDs.
The Aadhaar system involves biometric information such as blood and fingerprints stored in encrypted format, and initially, the government said it would only be voluntary.
However, the court was hearing three petitions against Aadhaar on Tuesday, with the petitioners arguing that Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act, which was introduced via this year's latest Budget and Finance Act, is unconstitutional.
Section 139AA requires Indian citizens to cite their Aadhaar details or enrolment ID of their Aadhar application form in order to complete their income tax returns, as well as to apply for a PAN [Personal Account Number] starting from July 1.
This makes it mandatory for citizens to get the unique identity number.
Adam Garrie
The DuranWed, 03 May 2017 12:42 UTC
© Mike Segar, Sergei Karpukhin / ReutersU.S. President Donald Trump, Russia's President Vladimir Putin
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have held a telephone conversation in which the leaders of two of the three world super-powers discussed pressing matters of war and peace.
The conversations were serious in tone with both leaders pledging to maintain close contact with the other. Putin and Trump also said that the respective foreign ministers of each country, Sergey Lavrov and Rex Tillson will be in close contact with each other in order to bolster the fragile Syrian ceasefire.
Comment: For an excellent breakdown of the Trump presidency and the end of the American Empire, check out:
Behind the Headlines: Facts Intrude on the Reality Creators: The Rapid Decline of the American Empire
While he campaigned on removing corruption from Washington politics and dialing back on US military aggression overseas, Trump appears to have learned a few hard lessons in his 1st 100 days in office. The US 'deep state' cannot be so easily dismantled, and it appears Trump has been forced to concede to the reality that, since America was built on the domination of other nations, it must continue to dominate if it is to survive in its current form.
But those pesky concepts - reality and facts - keep intruding on the dream of a New American Century. From Syria to North Korea (and everywhere in between) the US is being thwarted by the relatively quiet and unshakable resolve of Russia and China to assert their right to international preeminence as the largest and most populous nations on the planet. More to the point, the 'center' of the globe is clearly Eurasia, while America sits isolated from this center by the world's two largest oceans.
RTWed, 03 May 2017 12:39 UTC
© Fayez Nureldine / AFPSaudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
It's impossible to build bridges between Saudi Arabia and Iran due to Tehran's "extremist ideology" and ambitions to "control the Islamic world," Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud, the kingdom's defense minister.
The official shared his views in an interview with MBC television, broadcasted by Saudi media. Asked if there's any room for dialogue with Iran, the 31-year-old prince replied: "How can I come to an understanding with someone, or a regime, that has an anchoring belief built on an extremist ideology? What are the interests between us? How can I come to an understanding with this?" he said, as cited by AP.
"We know we are a main target of Iran."
"We know that the aim of the Iranian regime is to reach the focal point of Muslims [Mecca] and we will not wait until the fight is inside Saudi Arabia and we will work so that the battle is on their side, inside Iran, not in Saudi Arabia," the official noted, according to Reuters, without giving further details.
RTWed, 03 May 2017 12:32 UTC
© 30th Space Wing (Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.) / Facebook
An unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) has been launched from a US Air Force base in California just seven days after the first launch.
The three-stage ICBM blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 07:02GMT Wednesday. It traveled around 4,200 miles to a test range near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
The test of the Minuteman III missile follows a similar launch on April 26 from North Vandenberg Air Force Base. The move comes amid rapidly growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, although the mission was planned "over the past 10 months," according to the 30th Space Wing, which conducted the test.
RTWed, 03 May 2017 12:07 UTC
© Bolat Shaikhinov / Sputnik
Washington is dispatching a top State Department official as the US representative at the new round of intra-Syrian talks in Astana that kick off Wednesday. The move follows a call between US and Russian leaders, in which they discussed de-escalation in Syria.
While the US did send its observers to two previous rounds of the ceasefire talks, which were sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran and hosted by Kazakhstan for the fourth time, its senior representative at the meeting was US Ambassador to Kazakhstan George Krol. This time, however, its representative will be Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Stuart Jones, who previously served as US ambassador to Iraq in 2014-16 and to Jordan in 2011-14, Reuters reported, citing the State Department."Ambassador Jones' participation as the US observer is indicative of US support for a political resolution to the Syrian crisis," the US Embassy in Syria, which closed its operation in Damascus in 2012 but keeps working through other diplomatic missions,
wrote on Twitter.
RTTue, 02 May 2017 07:26 UTC
© Carlos Barria / ReutersChinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump attend a dinner at the start of their summit in Florida, U.S., April 6, 2017
The 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles the US launched against Syria last month was just
"after-dinner entertainment," which "did not cost the president anything," the US commerce secretary said, while President Trump called the attack a "tough decision."
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross delivered the controversial comments while speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference on Monday,
according to Variety.
US President Donald Trump's executive order to launch an attack on a Syrian military airfield on April 7 in response to an alleged chemical attack in the town of Khan Shaykhun, which killed around 80 people on April 4, was apparently just "after-dinner entertainment," according to Ross.
The missile volley killed at least 14 people, including nine civilians.
Comment: For more information see the articles below:
RTThu, 27 Apr 2017 15:14 UTC
© Gregor Fischer / AFPHaving to watch her back? German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen.
A German Army officer arrested
on suspicion of plotting an attack had procured a firearm
and registered himself as a Syrian refugee, prosecutors said.
He may have attempted to put the blame for the possible assault on migrants, local media reported.
The arrest was accompanied by
searches at 16 locations across Germany, Austria, and France, according to the prosecutor's office.
The officer is stationed in France but was assigned to a military facility in Hammelburg for qualification courses, where he was arrested.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Nadia Niesen of the Hessen prosecutor's office said
the suspect also had a potential accomplice - a 24-year-old student who might have been involved in the alleged plot.
"It is understood that the accomplice was aware of the [prime suspect's plan] to register as an asylum seeker," she added.
Comment: Western military officers running around Europe committing terrorist attacks against their own people and blaming it on the 'Muslim invaders'. Will wonders never cease...
Since the above report went out on April 27, RT has published the following update. Some key details have changed in the narrative:
German Defense Ministry probes possible far-right terrorist cell in Bundeswehr - media
2 May 2017Germany's defense minister has canceled a visit to the US to focus on the arrest of an army officer suspected of planning a racially motivated attack. Authorities believe the man was part of a network of up to five people, according to German media.
That sure sounds like a counter-insurgency terror cell. And the Defense Minister cancelling a trip to DC over it? It was clearly a big deal...
Ursula von der Leyen was scheduled to travel to New York and Washington DC on Wednesday and Thursday for meetings with US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and UN officials.
However, she canceled the trip to focus on the arrest of a German army officer referred to as Franco A., who is suspected of planning a right-wing terrorist attack.
Ah, now it's a 'right-wing' terror attack, not a 'Muslim' terror attack.
Germany's chief federal prosecutor's office said on Tuesday there were "preliminary indications of preparations for a serious attack against the state."
The plot thickens further...
The 28-year-old officer was arrested in the German city of Hammelburg last week, on suspicion of hiding a gun in a bathroom at Schwechat airport in Vienna.
Ok, wait a second. The earlier (above) RT report on this said:
According to the prosecutor's office, the 28-year-old was first detained by Austrian police when he attempted to conceal a 7.65mm pistol at a lavatory inside Vienna International Airport.
Compare and contrast: we're now told he was only arrested
once.
Investigators later discovered he had used a fake identity to successfully register as a Syrian refugee, despite not speaking any Arabic, raising concerns that he was attempting to carry out an attack to frame refugees.
Defense Ministry officials have since found Nazi memorabilia, swastikas, and Nazi symbols at the barracks where Franco A. was stationed, according to various media reports.
They removed any mention of that in the updated report.
Bild has reported that police also found a "death list" allegedly compiled by the suspect, which included left-wing anti-fascist activists.
That too.
A 24-year-old student and alleged co-conspirator in possession of explosives was also arrested last week, with prosecutors saying that both men harbored "xenophobic views."
Mention of explosives was also removed.
However, the 24-year-old may not have been Franco A.'s only co-conspirator. Germany's Hannoveriche Allgemeine newspaper reported on Tuesday that the Defense Ministry now believes Franco A. was part of a network consisting of up to five people.
Meanwhile, Germany's Armed Forces Association (Bundeswehrverband) and political opponents have lashed out at von der Leyen after she told ZDF on Sunday that the country's army has an "attitude problem" and "clearly has a weakness of leadership on several levels."
"No one can understand how a defense minister can walk away from the match and criticize her own team, so to speak," Armed Forces Association spokesman André Wüstner told broadcaster MDR on Tuesday, describing the comments as "unbelievable."
Those thoughts were echoed by Rainer Arnold, defense policy spokesman for the Social Democrats (SPD), who demanded an apology from the defense minister.
"That she accuses the whole army of having an attitude problem leaves me speechless. Every honest soldier feels insulted," Arnold said, as quoted by the Local.
The investigation surrounding Franco A. has been handed over to the office of Germany's chief federal prosecutor, with a spokesman on Tuesday citing "preliminary indications of preparations for a serious attack against the state."
The German Defense Minister wouldn't cancel a meeting in DC with Mattis because her army has 'an attitude problem'. She would do so, however, if something pretty serious was going on.
Typically in these operations, the covert op guys just 'pull rank' when caught red-handed. And that's usually the end of the matter. So the fact that this particular plot is getting media attention means we could be looking at copy-cat maneuvers from lower-ranked military personnel who want to ape their heroes and are motivated to 'get Muzzy'.
See also:
'The State Cannot Convict Itself': Operation 'Gladio' & the Crimes of U.S. EmpireOperation Gladio: State-sponsored terror - 1992 BBC documentary
RTTue, 02 May 2017 20:33 UTC
© Mike Segar / Reuters
A lawsuit brought against the Democratic National Committee, and its former chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, by Bernie Sanders donors has revealed the DNC believes its own rules of impartiality don't apply, and they can pick whatever candidate they wish.
"We could have voluntarily decided that, 'Look, we're gonna go into back rooms like they used to and smoke cigars and pick the candidate that way," DNC's lawyer Bruce Spiva told a Florida court.
© AP Photo/ Michel Euler
The case, being brought to the High Court in London by Libya's Sovereign Investment Fund, also known as the Libyan National Investment Authority, was called "rare" in its level of secrecy by Simon Hart, a lawyer specializing in financial litigation.
The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) is a US$67 billion oil-wealth fund that was established by former Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
Obama greeting the hereditary dictator of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.
Welcoming and supporting dictators who act in U.S. interests is the usual behavior of any U.S. president. U.S. media support such.
But when Trump talks and meets some head of state who works for the interests of his own country, he is breaking some iron rule of established U.S. foreign policy. In FP-circles "talking with the enemy" is seen as a sincere crime. Trump invited the duly elected president of Philippine Rodrigo Duerte and mused casually about meeting the DPRK head of state Kim Jong-il. Both are seen as insufficiently deferring to U.S. diktats.
Thus someone in Washington DC ordered up a media campaign depicting Donald Trump as coddling dictators.
Comment: For an excellent breakdown of the Trump presidency and the end of the American Empire, check out:
Behind the Headlines: Facts Intrude on the Reality Creators: The Rapid Decline of the American Empire