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After photos surfaced in the media displaying US forces assisting ISIL terrorists, Javad al-Talaybawi said that the Americans are planning to take ISIL commanders away from Tal Afar that is under the Iraqi forces' siege.
In the meantime, member of Iraqi Parliament's Security and Defense Commission Iskandar Watut called for a probe into photos and footages displaying US planes airdropping aid packages over ISIL-held regions.
Watut further added that we have witnessed several times that US planes dropped packages of food stuff, arms and other necessary items over ISIL-held regions, and called on Iraq's air defense to watch out for the US-led coalition planes.
© Pixabay
The policy was revealed when authorities turned down a visa for HRW's new Israel and Palestine director Omar Shakir, a US citizen, at the request of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In a letter, rejecting Shakir's application, Israel accused HRW of being "engaged in politics in the service of Palestinian propaganda, while falsely raising the banner of 'human rights.' "
© christophurous / InstagramThe seeds are protected for hundreds of years at the facility.
The recent deposit to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault consisted of 50,000 seeds from several countries around the world including the US, Britain, and Pakistan. The area was chosen due to its lack of tectonic activity and permafrost, allowing for efficient storage of the seeds in temperatures below freezing.
© WikipediaEngraving of the Four Freedoms at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C.
In 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave what became known as the Four Freedoms speech. He proposed that there were four freedoms that people everywhere in the world should enjoy. Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear. The speech was mainly concerned with national security and democracies that were heading into a world war. The first two freedoms are enshrined in the Bill of Rights. The last two were and are revolutionary.
Unfortunately ever since the Four Freedoms were first spoken it have been used politically to gear America up for war. They became a cornerstone of American Exceptionalism and intervention.
Comment: Political Ponerology should be required reading for all journalists. It lays out in detail how good ideas can be hijacked for a psychopathic purpose, right under the noses of sincere, well-meaning people.
© Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesWhite House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, left, speaks Saturday with White House chief strategist Steve Bannon in the Oval office as President Trump speaks on the phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
On Thursday at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Bannon and Priebus sat down with Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the annual gathering of thousands of activists.
The "big moment," as the interview was cast, began with a question on media accuracy. Reports of feuding between Bannon, former executive chair of Breitbart News, and Priebus, former chair of the Republican National Committee, were downplayed immediately.
Comment: Further reading: The Fourth Turning and Steve Bannon Pt. 1: Why He's Wrong, Even Though He's Right
© Ministry of defence of the Russian Federation / SputnikDisposal of mines found by the Russian Armed Force Mine Action Centre sappers in Aleppo.
"The US administration has now declared the fight against terrorism its main priority. I think, now is the time when the documents [on Syria] elaborated last year could become the basis for [Russia-US] collaboration in the fight against terrorism," he told journalists in Geneva where a new round of UN-sponsored Syria peace talks begin on Thursday.
"The new administration has spent very little time in office so far," he added. "It's hard to expect the White House, Pentagon, CIA and other structures who influence the US foreign policy to agree on a joint position on this very complicated issue... So Americans just should be granted time to complete this process."
© Getty ImagesSecretary of State Rex Tillerson (from left), Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and Mexican Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong
Before the two American envoys left for Mexico, President Donald Trump told Tillerson it was "'gonna be a tough trip,' because we have to be treated fairly by Mexico," during a roundtable meeting with manufacturing CEOs Thursday morning. The visit comes at a time when US immigration officials have carried out large raids on and deportations of illegal immigrants.
Tillerson and Kelly met with Mexico's Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong on Thursday, after which they spoke to reporters.
The two countries agreed to host a meeting in the coming months between Mexico, the US and other countries in the region that will discuss development, stability and the different causes of migration, Videgaray said. "It will be a long way to go" to come to an agreement "that will serve both interests," he said.
Comment: Disconnect! How does the US team come away with one impression and the Mexican team with the opposite? Incomplete homework? Preconceived bias? Fault/no fault divide? Perhaps this was an instance where business ploys do not translate well into international scenarios, nor do they help solve differences if your intent is to keep neighbor countries as reliable and cooperative partners.
© Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty ImagesTV news broadcast
Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of leader Kim Jong-um, died on February 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in a suspected poisoning. CCTV footage from that day shows a man believed to be Jong-nam being sprayed in the face by a woman identified as Indonesian Siti Aishah, who has since been detained by police.
Along with the Interpol request, Malaysian police have also asked the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur for an interview with two suspects they believe are residing there. "If you have nothing to hide, you should not be afraid to cooperate, you should cooperate," Malaysia's police chief, Khalid Abu Bakar, said at a press conference on Thursday, Reuters reported. However, a North Korean official at the embassy told the media that no formal request for interviews has been received, but did not respond when asked if such a request would be honored.
One of the suspects, Hyon Kwang Song, who is an official at the embassy, will not be served with an arrest warrant due to diplomatic immunity, according to Khalid. The second suspect, Kim Uk Il, an employee of North Korea's state-owned airline Air Koryo, will face "the process of the law" if he does not come forward, Khalid warned.
© Tribune News/Kompas TVSuspects arrested top left: Doan Thi Huong (Vietnamese), Unidentified North Korean, Siti Aisyah (Indonesian), Ri Jong-choi (North Korean)
Comment: Additional commentary from RT:
From KCNA, (North Korean Jurists Committee) a state-run North Korean news agency: "What merits more serious attention is the fact that the unjust acts of the Malaysian side are timed to coincide with the anti-DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] conspiratorial racket [rocket] launched by the South Korean authorities.According to CNBC:
The biggest responsibility for his death rests with the government of Malaysia as the citizen of the DPRK died in its land," KCNA said. "Malaysia is obliged to hand his body to the DPRK side, as it made an autopsy and forensic examination of it in an illegal and immoral manner. This proves that the Malaysian side is going to politicize the transfer of the body in utter disregard of international law and morality and thus attain a sinister purpose," it said.
Kim was once seen as a possible successor to his father, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, but he gave up any political ambitions in favor of his younger half-brother, Kim Jong-un. The murder victim spent many years living abroad keeping low profile. Unconfirmed media reports claimed that he sent a message to his younger sibling pleading for his life after being forced into exile.
South Korean and U.S. officials say he was assassinated by North Korean agents. North Korea has not acknowledged his death.UPDATE 24 Feb, 2017 TIME:
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said the two women - one Vietnamese, one Indonesian - arrested last week had been paid for carrying out the fatal assault on Kim Jong Nam using a fast-acting poison.
He declined to say if they had been used by a foreign intelligence agency. Police are also holding one North Korean man, but are seeking another seven in connection with the murder.
The banned chemical weapon VX nerve agent was used to kill Kim Jong Nam, the North Korean ruler's outcast half brother who was poisoned last week at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, police said Friday. The announcement raised serious questions about public safety in a building that authorities went 11 days without decontaminating. The substance, deadly even in minute amounts, was detected on Kim's eyes and face, Malaysia's inspector general of police said in a written statement, citing a preliminary analysis from the country's Chemistry Department.See also:
Dr. Bruce Goldberger, a leading toxicologist who heads the forensic medicine division at the University of Florida, said even a tiny amount of VX nerve agent — equal to a few grains of salt — is capable of killing. It can be administered through the skin, and there is an antidote that can be administered by injection. U.S. medics and military personnel carried kits with them on the battlefield during the Iraq war in case they were exposed to the chemical weapon. "It's a very toxic nerve agent. Very, very toxic," he said. "I'm intrigued that these two alleged assassins suffered no ill effect from exposure to VX. It is possible that both of these women were given the antidote."
- N. Korea denies report man killed in Malaysia airport was Kim Jong-un's half brother
- Half-brother of N. Korean leader dead in Malaysia, reports claim he was murdered: Update female suspect detained
- Kim Jong Nam assassination caught on CCTV
© Adrees Latif / Reuters
On Wednesday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a suit against Downhole Technology, which manufactures equipment used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The company is accused of violating federal laws when it fired Kenneth Echols after he complained about his coworkers wearing a KKK hood to torment him.
Comment: Not to say Israel is correct but Human Rights Watch does seem to have an agenda: