The Indian Panorama

Category: Middle East

  • USHA Denounces Turkish Offer to Negotiate the Kashmir Dispute

    USHA Denounces Turkish Offer to Negotiate the Kashmir Dispute

    ATLANTA (TIP): “The US Hindu Alliance (USHA), representing 3 million Hindus in America, strongly denounces Turkey’s desire to intervene in the internal affairs of India. We also ask the Government of India to strongly reject Turkey’s offer for mediation in the dispute over Kashmir between India and Pakistan”, said a May 1 press statement from the organization.

    “On the eve of his two-day trip to India, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had suggested that India should be open to a multilateral dialogue on the issue of Kashmir, in which Turkey would be willing to play an important role.

    Such statements only add to worsen the law and order condition in the state of Jammu & Kashmir and promote greater antagonism against India. It is this type of statements by Muslim leaders and organizations outside of India that is fueling the hatred towards Hindus and India among Kashmir’s small but active Muslim separatist population.

    “When Turkey continues to occupy Arab territory that had been part of Syria and incorporated the Hatay province into the Republic of Turkey just as Pakistan has occupied parts of Jammu & Kashmir, it has no moral right to offer such mediation services to India. Even if its motives are benign and it has moral authority, the Kashmir dispute is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and no other country has the right to interfere and further vitiate the atmosphere.

    “The dispute between India and Pakistan involves the annexation of territory Pakistan had seized through force, which India has consistently referred to as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) and its illegal transfer of some of the same territory to the People’s Republic of China.

    ‘It is a well known fact that Pakistan had conducted a decades long proxy war against India using its homegrown Jihadi terror groups. This has destroyed the image of Islam and Muslims worldwide. As the leader of a prominent Islamic country, Turkey has the obligation to stop terrorism emanating from the Pakistani Soil. We hope Prime Minister Erdogan will genuinely pursue a policy against Jihadi Terrorism everywhere as Turkey also had suffered losses due to terror attacks on its own soil”.

     

     

  • Israel shows off F-35 stealth fighters for first time

    Israel shows off F-35 stealth fighters for first time

    TEL AVIV (TIP): Israel on May 1 showed off its new F-35 stealth fighter jets recently delivered from the United States as part of an air show marking its annual Independence Day celebrations.

    Three of Israel’s five stealth fighters took to the skies along the Mediterranean coast off Tel Aviv as thousands of people gathered at the waterfront to watch.

    The F-35s, made by US-based Lockheed Martin, were the highlight of the show, which marked 69 years of Israeli independence.

    Israel has received the initial five jets since December with the aim of allowing it to maintain its military superiority in the turbulent Middle East, particularly regarding its arch-foe Iran.

    It plans to purchase a total of 50 F-35s. Its first jets are to be operational this year.

    While other countries have ordered the planes, Israel – which receives more than USD 3 billion a year in US defence aid – says it will be the first outside the United States with an operational F-35 squadron. Among its main features are advanced stealth capabilities to help pilots evade sophisticated missile systems. The pilot’s ultra-high-tech helmet, at a cost of about $400,000 each, includes its own operating system, with data that appears on the visor and is also shared elsewhere.

    Thermal and night vision as well as 360-degree views are possible with cameras mounted on the plane. (AFP)

  • US blacklists 271 Syrian chemists, other experts over sarin attack

    US blacklists 271 Syrian chemists, other experts over sarin attack

    WASHINGTON (TIP): The US government put 271 Syrian chemists and other officials on its financial blacklist Monday, punishing them for their presumed role in the deadly chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town in early April.

    In one of its largest-ever sanctions announcements, the Treasury Department took aim at the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), which it said was responsible for developing the alleged sarin gas weapon used in the April 4 attack.

    The attack left 87 dead, including many children, in the town of Khan Sheikhun, provoking outrage in the West, which accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of being responsible.

    The sanctions will freeze all assets in the United States belonging to the 271 individuals on the blacklist, and block any American person or business from dealing with them.

    According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington-based think tank, the SSRC is Syria’s leading scientific reasearch center, with close links to the country’s military.

    The center was the subject of two earlier sanctions declarations, in 2005 and 2007, due to its alleged role in developing weapons of mass destruction.

    The Treasury asserted in a statement Monday that the SSRC is behind the Syrian government’s efforts to develop chemical weapons and the means to deliver them.

    The 271 either have scientific expertise for the program or have been involved in it since 2012, the statement said.

    “These sweeping sanctions target the scientific support center for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s horrific chemical weapons attack on innocent civilian men, women and children,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

    “These sanctions are intended to hold the Assad regime and those who support it — directly or indirectly –accountable for the regime’s blatant violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 2118,” he said. Assad has said the attack was a “fabrication” by the West. But the US military quickly responded on April 7, firing 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield to punish the government and send a warning against any further chemical weapons attacks. (AFP)

  • ‘Unchecked’ Iran could become another NKorea: US

    ‘Unchecked’ Iran could become another NKorea: US

    WASHINGTON (TIP): US secretary of state Rex Tillerson has termed the Iran nuclear deal a failure and said an “unchecked” Tehran could become another North Korea, but stopped short of threatening to derail the landmark agreement.

    Tillerson said the US is conducting a comprehensive review of its Iran policy and added that the Obama-era nuclear deal only “delays” Tehran’s goal of becoming a nuclear state.

    “This deal represents the same failed approach of the past that brought us to the current imminent threat we face from North Korea. The Trump administration has no intention of passing the buck to a future administration on Iran,” he said at a hurriedly-convened press briefing.

    “Iran’s nuclear ambitions are a grave risk to international peace and security,” Tillerson said. His toughen stand on Iran yesterday came a day after the Trump administration notified the Congress that Tehran is complying with the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by former president Barack Obama to limit the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ability. The administration said it has extended the sanctions relief to Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme.

    Iran has defended its nuclear programme as purely civilian and its supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei warned in November that Tehran would retaliate if the US breached the nuclear agreement. Tillerson, seeking to reinforce the idea that the US is forcefully countering Iran’s destabilising behaviour in the Middle East, also described Tehran as a “leading state sponsor of terror”.

    “The evidence is clear: Iran’s provocative actions threaten the United States, the region and the world,” he said.

    “An unchecked Iran has the potential to travel the same path as North Korea and take the world along with it. The United States is keen to avoid a second piece of evidence that strategic patience is a failed approach.”

    Tillerson accused Iran of intensifying multiple conflicts including the one in Syria, undermining US interests in several countries, continuing to support attacks against Israel, and sponsoring cyber and terror attacks across the world. Tillerson’s comments were synonymous with Donald Trump’s rhetoric, who on many occasions -during his presidential campaign and afterwards – criticised the nuclear deal reached between Iran and the US, the UK, Russia, France, China and Germany.(AFP)

  • UN, Russia set for Syria meet without US

    UN, Russia set for Syria meet without US

    GENEVA (TIP): The UN’s Syria envoy said today that he will hold talks with Russian officials next week but without the US present after previous plans for a trilateral meeting were “postponed”.

    UN peace mediator Staffan de Mistura said his meeting with Russia’s deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov is set for Monday in Geneva.”The trilateral meeting is not off the table, it is simply being postponed”, de Mistura told reporters.

    Asked why US President Donald Trump’s representatives decided to skip the meeting, de Mistura said: “you should ask them, frankly.”

    Syrian regime supporter Moscow and opposition-backer Washington had been the key foreign powers shaping the UN’s Syria peace process.

    De Mistura has previously asked for more clarity from Trump’s administration on its vision for the Syria talks.

    US officials have in recent weeks voiced commitment to support a negotiated solution to the conflict.

    Monday’s sitdown with Gatilov “will be a very intense bilateral meeting”, de Mistura said. He also restated his desire to convene a sixth round of UN-backed talks involving Syrian rivals next month. The previous rounds have failed to produce concrete results. (AFP)

     

  • Dubai gurdwara creates world record with breakfast for people from 101 nations

    Dubai gurdwara creates world record with breakfast for people from 101 nations

    A gurdwara in Dubai broke the world record for serving free breakfast to the maximum number of people from diverse nationalities.

    Gurdwara Guru Nanak Darbar entered the Guinness World Record on Thursday for serving continental breakfast titled ‘Breakfast for Diversity’ to 600 persons from 101 countries in an hour-long event in Jebel Ali.

    The Khaleej Times reported that schoolchildren, government officials and diplomats attended the event while Indian ambassador to the UAE Navdeep Singh Suri was the chief guest. People from different parts of the city flocked to the Jebel Ali Gardens and filled a temporary tent made for hosting the marathon breakfast event.

    The officials from the Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that the gurdwara broke the previous record of 55 nationalities having a continental breakfast, organised by Nutella at the Milan Expo in Italy in 2015.

    The gurdwara, which is known for serving free meals to all visitors through its community kitchen, caters to over 50,000 Sikh devotees in the United Arab Emirates.

    “Sikhism has always embraced diversity as it has been part of our faith and belief that we are all human beings to be treated with respect,” Surender Kandhari, chairman of the Gurdwara Guru Nanak Darbar, told the daily. “The gurdwara has been spearheading charity and volunteer work not only for the Indian community but for the entire UAE community as well. We feel blessed to give in any form, as this is our selfless service to the society,” he said.

  • Nearly 100 migrants feared missing after boat sinks off Libya: Coastguard

    Nearly 100 migrants feared missing after boat sinks off Libya: Coastguard

    TRIPOLI (TIP): Close to 100 migrants were feared missing after their boat sank off the Libyan coast near Tripoli on Thursday, a coastguard official said.

    Coastguard spokesman Ayoub Qassem said 23 migrants were rescued from the craft off Gargaresh, a western suburb of Tripoli. Survivors said the inflatable boat had set off with about 120 people on board.

    “Some 97 are still missing, including 15 women and children,” Qassem said. “What happened is that the base of the boat got wrecked and the boat had sunk.”

    Libya is the main departure point for migrants hoping to reach Europe by sea, and more than 150,000 have made the crossing from Libya to Italy in each of the past three years. (AP)

  • Assad says army ‘gave up’ all chemical weapons in 2013

    Assad says army ‘gave up’ all chemical weapons in 2013

    DAMASCUS (TIP): Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his government handed over all its chemical weapons stockpiles in 2013 and could not have been behind last week’s suspected sarin attack.

    “There was no order to make any attack… We gave up our arsenal a few years ago. Even if we have them, we wouldn’t use them,” Assad said in an exclusive interview with AFP in Damascus on Wednesday. (AFP)

    Coalition airstrike mistakenly kills 18 Syrian rebels: Pentagon

    WASHINGTON (TIP): An airstrike on Tuesday by a US-led coalition fighting Islamic State mistakenly killed 18 members of the Syrian Democratic Forces south of the city of Tabqa, Syria, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

    “The strike was requested by the partnered forces, who had identified the target location as an ISIS fighting position,” it said in a statement, referring to the Islamic State militant group by an acronym. “The target location was actually a forward Syrian Democratic Forces fighting position.” (Reuters)

  • Coalition airstrike mistakenly kills 18 Syrian rebels: Pentagon

    Coalition airstrike mistakenly kills 18 Syrian rebels: Pentagon

    WASHINGTON (TIP): An airstrike on Tuesday by a US-led coalition fighting Islamic State mistakenly killed 18 members of the Syrian Democratic Forces south of the city of Tabqa, Syria, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

    “The strike was requested by the partnered forces, who had identified the target location as an ISIS fighting position,” it said in a statement, referring to the Islamic State militant group by an acronym. “The target location was actually a forward Syrian Democratic Forces fighting position.” (Reuters)

    Assad says army ‘gave up’ all chemical weapons in 2013

    DAMASCUS (TIP): Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his government handed over all its chemical weapons stockpiles in 2013 and could not have been behind last week’s suspected sarin attack.

    “There was no order to make any attack… We gave up our arsenal a few years ago. Even if we have them, we wouldn’t use them,” Assad said in an exclusive interview with AFP in Damascus on Wednesday. (AFP)

  • America Launches Missile Attack at Syrian Base after Chemical Weapons Attack kills 100

    America Launches Missile Attack at Syrian Base after Chemical Weapons Attack kills 100

    Piqued by Syria’s use of banned chemical weapons that killed at least 100 people, the U.S. military launched dozens of cruise missiles Thursday, April 6 night at a Syrian airfield

    Two U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea, the USS Ross and the USS Porter, fired 59 Tomahawk missiles intended for a single target -Shayrat Airfield in Homs province in western Syria, the Defense Department said. That’s the airfield from which the United States believes the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fired the banned weapons.

    The Pentagon said people were not targeted, and there was no immediate word on casualties. U.S. officials told NBC News that aircraft and infrastructure at the site were hit, including the runway and gas fuel pumps.

    “Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children,” President Donald Trump said in remarks from Mar-a-Lago, his family compound in Palm Beach, Florida.

    “It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,” said Trump, who called on other countries to end the bloodshed in Syria.

    NBC news reported that a White House official said that more than two dozen members of Congress were briefed by administration officials on the missile strike. Vice President Mike Pence returned to the White House after having gone home for dinner Thursday evening and monitored the events from the Situation Room, officials said.

    “We feel that the strike itself was proportional, because it was targeted at the facility that delivered this most recent chemical weapons attack,” Tillerson told reporters on Thursday night.

    “There was a thorough examination of a wide range of options, and I think the president made the correct choice and made the correct decision,” Tillerson said.

    Syrian television characterized the missile strike “as American aggression” Friday morning. But Ahrar Al Sham, the largest Syrian armed rebel group, told NBC News it “welcomes any U.S. intervention through surgical strikes that would deter the Assad regime capabilities to kill civilians and shorten the suffering of our people.”

    Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for the Defense Department, said initial assessments showed that the airfield was severely damaged, reducing Syria’s capability to deliver chemical weapons.

    Tillerson and Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, have bluntly blamed Syria for the chemical weapons attack, whose victims included at least 25 children.

    “We have a very high level of confidence that the attacks were carried out by aircraft under the direction of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and we also have very high confidence that the attacks involved the use of sarin nerve gas,” Tillerson said Thursday night.

    In a combative speech at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, Haley warned: “When the United Nations consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times in the life of states that we are compelled to take our own action.”

    There was no immediate reaction to the missile strike from Russia, which Tillerson and Haley have accused of having turned a blind eye to Syria’s transgressions.

    Tillerson said there were no executive-level communications with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the missile strike. But he confirmed that U.S. officials had “multiple conversations” with the Russian government in accord with U.S.-Russian military “deconfliction” agreements.

    “We sought no approval from Moscow or at any other level within the Russian infrastructure,” Tillerson said. “This was simply following rules that we have put in place in agreement with the Russian military to deconflict. Because our target in this attack was not Russia.”

    Noting the 2013 U.N. arrangement under which Syria agreed to surrender its chemical weapons under the supervision of Russia, Tillerson said Thursday night: “Clearly, Russia has failed in its responsibility to deliver on that commitment from 2013. So, either Russia has been complicit or simply incompetent in its ability to deliver on that agreement.”

    McMaster said the missile strike wouldn’t have wiped out Assad’s “capacity to commit mass murder with chemical weapons.” But he said: “This was not a small strike. I mean, it was not a small strike. And I think what it does communicate is a big shift in Assad’s calculus – it should be, anyway.”

    (Source: NBC News)

    About the Missile Attack on Syria:

    * Fifty-nine Tomahawk missiles were fired from American destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean at Al Shayrat airfield in Syria, where officials said Mr. Assad’s chemical weapons attack this week originated.

    * Mr. Trump ordered the strike after two days of intense deliberations that involved two meetings of his top national security advisers, including one that Mr. Trump conducted from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

    * In announcing the strikes on Thursday evening, Mr. Trump called the chemical attack “very barbaric” and said his decision would “prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.”

    * Administration officials described the missile strikes as a message to the world about Mr. Trump’s resolve and his commitment that the United States will no longer “turn away, turn a blind eye.”

    * The Russian military, which is active in Syria, was notified of the strikes in advance, though American officials did not personally inform President Vladimir V. Putin. In a briefing, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson criticized Moscow for failing to live up to its promise in 2013 to destroy all of Syria’s chemical weapons, calling Russia either “complicit” or “incompetent.”

    Source - NYT 
  • EU to start checks at external borders

    EU to start checks at external borders

    BRUSSELS (TIP): Europeans will face systematic checks at the external borders of the EU’s Schengen border area from Friday under legislation designed to tackle “foreign fighters” returning from Iraq and Syria.

    “Member States will as of tomorrow have an obligation to carry out systematic checks against relevant databases at the external borders, also on EU citizens,” a European Commission spokeswoman said Thursday.

    This is “in order to verify that persons crossing the borders do not represent a threat to public order and internal security.” The EU said it was “in response to the attacks in Paris in November 2015 and the growing threat from foreign terrorist fighters.” The EU first proposed the measures after the November 2015 Paris attacks and the 28 member states adopted them on March 7. (AFP)

  • Hamas execute 3 Palestinians over Israel ties

    Hamas execute 3 Palestinians over Israel ties

    GAZA CITY (TIP): The Islamic militant Hamas group ruling the Gaza Strip says it has executed three Palestinians accused of `collaborating’ with Israel.

    Hamas says they were hanged at a police compound on Thursday morning as dozens of Hamas leaders and officials watched.

    Hamas has launched a local media campaign against those it suspects of spying for Israel after a militant, Mazen Faqha, was found dead in Gaza last month.

    Israel had sentenced him to nine life sentences for directing suicide bombings. He was freed along with more than 1,000 other Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a single Israeli soldier in 2011.

    Israel had sentenced him to nine life sentences for directing suicide bombings. He was freed along with more than 1,000 other Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a single Israeli soldier in 2011. (PTI)

     

  • Chemical attack kills 22 members of a single family in Syria

    Chemical attack kills 22 members of a single family in Syria

    BEIRUT (TIP): The grief-stricken father cradled his 9-month-old twins, Aya and Ahmed, each in the crook of an arm. Stroking their hair, he choked back tears, mumbling, “Say goodbye, baby, say goodbye” to their lifeless bodies.

    Then Abdel Hameed Alyousef took them to a mass grave where 22 members of his family were being buried. Each branch of the clan got its own trench.

    More than 80 people, including at least 30 children and 20 women, were killed in the chemical attack on the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun early Tuesday, and the toll could still rise. The Alyousef family, one of the town’s main clans, was hardest hit.

    Another member of the family, Aya Fadl, recalled running from her house with her 20-month-old son in her arms, thinking she could find safety from the toxic gas in the street. Instead, the 25-year-old English teacher was confronted face to face with the horror of it: A pick-up truck piled with the bodies of the dead, including many of her own relatives and students.

    “Ammar, Aya, Mohammed, Ahmad, I love you my birds. Really they were like birds. Aunt Sana, Uncle Yasser, Abdul-Kareem, please hear me,” Fadl said, choking back tears as she recalled how she said farewell to her relatives in the pile.

    “I saw them. They were dead. All are dead now.”

    The tragedy has devastated the small town. It also deepened the frustration felt by many Syrians in opposition-held areas that such scenes of mass death, which have become routine in the country’s 6-year-old civil war, bring no retribution or even determination of responsibility.

    The US and other Western countries accused President Bashar Assad of being behind the attack, while Syria and its main backer, Russia, denied it. Despite world condemnation, bringing justice is difficult in the absence of independent investigation of Syria’s chemical arsenal, which the government insists it has destroyed. (AP)

  • Suicide truck bombing kills 15 in Baghdad: Iraqi officials

    Suicide truck bombing kills 15 in Baghdad: Iraqi officials

    BAGHDAD (TIP): A suicide truck bomb targeted a police checkpoint in southern Baghdad on Wednesday night, killing 15 people and wounding 45, according to Iraqi officials.

    The bomber detonated the vehicle, an oil tanker laden with explosives, security and hospital officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity under regulations. Three policemen were among the dead while the rest were civilians, and a number of policemen were also wounded, the officials said.

    No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State group has carried out similar attacks as their territorial hold in Iraq weakens.

    Iraqi forces are fighting IS in western Mosul, where some 2,000 IS fighters are launching fierce counterattacks. After the beginning the operation to retake Mosul in October, Iraqi authorities in January declared they have liberated eastern Mosul, which is separated from the city’s western neighborhoods by the Tigris River.

    Western Mosul is densely populated and has proven to be a much more difficult fight for Iraqi and coalition forces, which have resorted to greater use of artillery and airstrikes to clear and hold territory.

    A number of airstrikes in western Mosul have resulted in high civilians casualties, according to residents interviewed by The Associated Press. The U.S.-led coalition says a strike in western Mosul on March 17 likely resulted in civilian casualties and is investigating the incident. Iraqi witnesses have said that airstrikes earlier this month killed scores of civilians. U.S. officials have said that the munitions used by the U.S.-led coalition that day should not have taken the entire building down, suggesting that militants may have deliberately gathered civilians there and planted other explosives that were detonated by airstrikes. (AP)

  • Several hurt in clashes at Turkey’s Brussels consulate

    Several hurt in clashes at Turkey’s Brussels consulate

    BRUSSELS (TIP): Several people were injured and taken to hospital after supporters and opponents of the Turkish government clashed outside the country’s consulate in central Brussels on Thursday, Belgian police said.

    Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel condemned the violence, which he linked to a forthcoming referendum in Turkey on increasing the powers of President Tayyip Erdogan.

    “The Belgian government has absolute zero tolerance for any spillovers from the Turkish referendum. I condemn the riots at the embassy in Brussels,” he said on Twitter.

    A police spokeswoman said she could give no further details on the number of people hurt or the nature of their injuries. The Turkish mission to Brussels could not be immediately reached for comment.

    Ties between Turkey and European Union states have deteriorated in recent weeks over Turkish government attempts to rally support for Erdogan among expatriate Turks.

    Erdogan reacted with fury after Germany and the Netherlands – which, like Belgium, have big Turkish minorities – moved to restrict political rallies on their soil in the run-up to the April 16 referendum.

    Kurdish news agency Firat said the Thursday incident took place as people arrived at the consulate in Brussels to cast early ‘no’ votes in the referendum. Reuters was not able to confirm that independently. (Reuters)

     

  • Suicide attack kills 25 in Damascus court house

    Suicide attack kills 25 in Damascus court house

    BEIRUT: At least 25 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack at a court house in Damascus on Wednesday, state media reported, the second bomb attack in the Syrian capital in five days. The attack targeted the Palace of Justice in central Damascus not far from the Old City. State news agency SANA said there were a “number of wounded” in addition to the initial death toll of 25. The bomber set off his explosive device after the police tried to stop him from entering the building, Ahmed al-Sayyid, a senior state legal official told al-Ikhbariya TV.

    No further details were immediately available.

    On Saturday, scores of people, most of them Iraqi Shi’ite pilgrims, were killed in a double suicide attack in Damascus claimed by an alliance of jihadist groups known as Tahrir al-Sham.

     

  • Iraqi forces retake over a third of west Mosul: Commander

    Iraqi forces retake over a third of west Mosul: Commander

    MOSUL (TIP): Iraqi security forces have retaken more than a third of west Mosul from the Islamic State group since launching an assault on the area last month, a commander said today. “Around more than a third of the right bank (west Mosul) is under the control of our units,” Staff Major General Maan al-Saadi told AFP.

    Mosul is split by the Tigris River, and its eastern side is referred to as the left bank, while the western is known as the right back. Iraqi forces launched the operation to retake west Mosul — the most populated urban area still under IS control — on February 19, pushing up from the south.

    IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes and other support have since retaken most of the territory they lost. (AFP)

  • Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to be released

    Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to be released

    CAIRO (TIP): Hosni Mubarak, who was overthrown as president of Egypt in an uprising in 2011, will be released from detention in a military hospital, the public prosecutor ruled on March 14, his lawyers and judicial sources said.

    “He will go to his home in Heliopolis,” Mubarak’s lawyer Farid El Deeb said, adding the ageing former president would likely be released Tuesday or soon after.

    Mubarak was cleared of murder charges this month in his final trial, having faced various charges ranging from corruption to ordering the killing of protesters who ended his 30-year-rule.

    He had one more jail sentence to serve but was cleared after serving time for the murder charges, judicial sources and the state news agency said.

    The prosecution subtracted the time served in the murder case from the time he was meant to serve for a separate case in which he was found guilty of appropriating funds reserved for maintaining presidential palaces.

    Mubarak was originally sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for conspiring to murder 239 demonstrators during the 18-day revolt – an uprising that sowed chaos and created a security vacuum but also inspired hope for democracy and social justice.

    An appeals court ordered a retrial that culminated in 2014 in the case against Mubarak and his senior officials being dropped. An appeal by the public prosecution led to a final retrial by the Court of Cassation, the highest in the country, which acquitted him on March 2. (Reuters)

  • Iran successfully tests ballistic missile

    Iran successfully tests ballistic missile

    TEHRAN (TIP): Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency is reporting that the country’s Revolutionary Guard has successfully tested a ballistic missile.

    The Thursday report quotes Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, chief of the Guard’s airspace division, as saying the missile destroyed target from a distance of 250 kilometers (155 miles). The report says the sea-launched ballistic missile dubbed Hormoz 2 was tested last week. The report provided no additional details. (AP)

  • Saudi king Salman visits Indonesia with huge entourage, tons of gear

    Saudi king Salman visits Indonesia with huge entourage, tons of gear

    JAKARTA (TIP): King Salman today began the first visit by a Saudi monarch to Indonesia in almost 50 years, seeking to strengthen economic ties with the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.

    The king — who is accompanied by about 1,000 people, including princes and ministers — disembarked from his official plane at a Jakarta airport+ and was welcomed by President Joko Widodo and a guard of honour.

    Almost 460 tons of equipment have been flown in for the visit, including Mercedes limousines and escalators for the king to descend from his plane. Most has been transported to the resort island of Bali, where the king will take a holiday after visiting Jakarta.

    It is the first visit by a Saudi Arabian king to Indonesia for 47 years, and is one of the highlights of a rare Saudi royal tour of Asia+ which is seeking investment as the world’s biggest oil exporter tries to diversify its economy.

    “This is an extremely historic visit for us,” Indonesian Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung was quoted as saying in local media before the visit.

    Salman will hold talks later with Widodo at the Indonesian leader’s official residence in Bogor outside the capital Jakarta. The king will give a speech to parliament tomorrow.

    Business deals could be announced, and a series of cooperation memoranda are also set to be signed on issues ranging from security, to health and education during the three-day visit to Jakarta. (AFP)

  • Car blast kills 51 in Iraq, scores wounded Islamic State claims responsibility

    Car blast kills 51 in Iraq, scores wounded Islamic State claims responsibility

    BAGHDAD (TIP): A car packed with explosives blew up on Thursday, February 16, in southern Baghdad, killing at least 51 people and wounding 55, security and medical sources said, in the deadliest such attack in Iraq this year, says a Reuters report. Islamic State, which is on the defensive after losing control of eastern Mosul to a US-backed Iraqi military offensive, claimed responsibility for the bombing in an online statement.

    As it cedes territory captured in a 2014 offensive across northern and western Iraq, the ultra-hardline group has stepped up insurgent strikes on government areas, particularly in Baghdad. Security sources said the vehicle which blew up on Thursday was parked in a crowded street full of garages and used car dealers, in Hayy al-Shurta, a Shi’ite district in the southwest of the city.

    The death toll could climb further as many of the wounded are in critical condition, a doctor said.

    The bombing is the second to hit car markets this week, suggesting the group has found it easier to leave vehicles laden with explosives in places where hundreds of other vehicles are parked. (Reuters)

  • Hundreds of Yemenis with US visas stranded in Djibouti

    Hundreds of Yemenis with US visas stranded in Djibouti

    JOHANNESBURG (TIP): Hundreds of Yemenis with US visas are stranded in the tiny African state of Djibouti because of President Donald Trump’s ban on entry for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, an American lawyer there said Feb 1.

    “These are all children, parents and the spouses of US citizens,” lawyer Julie Goldberg told The Associated Press, emphasizing that those stranded are not refugees. They received visas last week, she said.

    More than half of the 200-plus Yemenis are children, including a 3-year-old whose parents are permanent residents in the US and has never seen her father in person, said Goldberg, an immigration lawyer.

    She has obtained a court order dated Tuesday from the US District Court in California’s central district instructing the US government to not enforce Trump’s executive order and allow the Yemenis to fly to the United tates.

    The court order calls on the US government to not cancel “validly obtained and issued immigrant visas” and to return passports containing those visas so people can travel to the US. Goldberg is now seeking an airline that will comply with the court order.

    “It’s super frustrating,” she said of the Yemenis’ plight. “They’re running out of money. Djibouti is very expensive. They can’t go back to Yemen, they would be killed.”

    Yemen has been engulfed in conflict since 2014. A Saudi-led coalition, backed by the United States, has been carrying out an air campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels for nearly two years. Djibouti and Yemen lie on opposite sides of the narrow Bab al-Mandab — Arabic for “the gates of grief” —straits at the mouth of the Red Sea.

    Mohamed Mosleh Jeran is one of the Yemenis waiting in Djibouti. After his family’s home was blown up in Yemen’s conflict, he and his wife and two young children spent two years in Djibouti. Last month, the younger son died during what should have been a routine surgery. On Thursday, the family received their US visas and looked forward to joining Jeran’s father, a U.S. citizen, in New York City. (AP)

  • In shift, Donald Trump warns Israel against new settlements

    In shift, Donald Trump warns Israel against new settlements

    WASHINGTON (TIP): President Donald Trump on Feb 2 warned Israel that constructing new settlements “may not be helpful” to Middle East peace efforts, striking a tougher line with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

    Trump has been perceived as sympathetic to the settlements, which are considered illegal by most of the international community. Shortly before taking office, he vigorously criticized the Obama administration for not vetoing a United Nations Security Council measure condemning settlements.

    But in a statement Thursday, the White House said, “While we don’t believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal.”

    The White House said the administration “has not taken an official position on settlement activity” and the president would discuss the issue with Netanyahu when he travels to Washington later this month. The two leaders are scheduled to meet at the White House on Feb. 15.

    The US statement came hours after Netanyahu vowed to establish the first new West Bank settlement in over two decades “as soon as possible,” promising to make up for the court-ordered demolition of an illegal settler outpost. It was his latest step to expand Israeli settlement construction in the wake of Trump’s inauguration.

    Netanyahu repeatedly clashed with President Barack Obama during the Democrat’s eight years in office, and Trump has vowed to be a better partner for Israel. Following the U.N. vote, Trump tweeted, “Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!” _ referring to the date of his inauguration.

    Trump has already appeared to slow his promises to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – a promise often made by presidential candidates, but never carried out in office because of fears the move would inflame tensions in the region.

    Newly sworn-in Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke by phone Thursday with Netanyahu.

    The prime minister’s vow to establish new West Bank settlements came as Israeli security forces were completing the evacuation of Amona, where they broke into a synagogue to remove dozens of Israeli protesters who had barricaded themselves inside. Netanyahu’s pro-settler government had unsuccessfully tried to block the evacuation of Amona, but Israel’s Supreme Court rejected all appeals after determining the outpost was built illegally two decades ago on private Palestinian land.

    Speaking at a ceremony in the West Bank settlement of Ariel, Netanyahu expressed “great pain” over the removal of Amona. (AP)

  • Indian American actor Kal Penn raises thousands of dollars for Syrian refugees

    Indian American actor Kal Penn raises thousands of dollars for Syrian refugees

    NEW YORK (TIP): Indian American actor Kal Penn launched a fundraising campaign to aid Syrian refugees after being asked to leave the US by an online troll. The 39-year-old “House” star launched a Crowdrise.com appeal to help those left stranded by President Donald Trump’s weekend executive order to keep Muslim travelers from seven countries around the world out of America. “To the dude who said I don’t belong in America, I started a fundraising page for Syrian Refugees in your name,” Penn tweeted on Saturday, January 28.

    “I just want to keep it short and let you know that so far, you have raised a total of $813,533 & counting for Syrian Refugees through International Rescue Committee (“in the name of the dude who said I don’t belong in America”, haha)! I’m so speechless. Thank you for continuing to share our stories on social media for folks who would like to contribute. More than 20,443 of us have joined together to donate. To borrow a phrase from a friend, this is obviously about so much more than any one of us. Thank you, and keep it up! Wonder how high we can get this number”, Penn wrote on the online fund raising website on February 2.

    The funds raised would go to the International Rescue Committee.

    Kalpen Suresh Modi, better known as Kal Penn, was born to Indian parents in New Jersey. He’s starred in several popular TV shows like House M.D., How I Met Your Mother and the Harold and Kumar movies. In 2013, President Obama appointed Penn to serve on the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

  • ISRAEL’S FLYING CAR PASSENGER DRONE MOVES CLOSER TO DELIVERY

    ISRAEL’S FLYING CAR PASSENGER DRONE MOVES CLOSER TO DELIVERY

    The Cormorant, billed as a flying car, is capable of transporting 500kg (around half a tonne) of weight and travelling at 185 km (115 miles) per hour. It completed its first automated solo flight over terrain in November. Its total price is estimated at $14 million. (Reuters)

    After 15 years of development, an Israeli tech firm is optimistic it will finally get its 1,500 kg (1.5 tonne) passenger carrying drone off the ground and into the market by 2020.

    The Cormorant, billed as a flying car, is capable of transporting 500kg (around half a tonne) of weight and travelling at 185 km (115 miles) per hour. It completed its first automated solo flight over terrain in November. Its total price is estimated at $14 million.

    Developers Urban Aeronautics believe the dark green drone, which uses internal rotors rather than helicopter propellers, could evacuate people from hostile environments and/or allow military forces safe access.

    “Just imagine a dirty bomb in a city and chemical substance of something else and this vehicle can come in robotically, remotely piloted, come into a street and decontaminate an area,” Urban Aeronautics founder and CEO Rafi Yoeli told Reuters.

    Yoeli set up the company, based in a large hanger in Yavne, central Israel, in 2001 to create the drone, which he says is safer than a helicopter as it can fly in between buildings and below power lines without the risk of blade strikes.

    There is still plenty of work required before the autonomous vehicle hits the market.

    The Cormorant, about the size of a family car and previously called the ‘Air Mule’, is yet to meet all Federal Aviation Administration standards and a test in November saw small issues with conflicting data sent by on board sensors.

    With 39 patents registered to create the vehicle, Yoeli has little concern about competitors usurping him.

    One industry experts said the technology could save lives.

    “It could revolutionise several aspects of warfare, including medical evacuation of soldiers on the battlefield,” said Tal Inbar, head of the UAV research centre at Israel’s Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies.

    Source: Reuters